The magic cards I made are absolutely flawless!

Dekan finally felt the gates of his rapidly draining mana close.

Based on his current seventh-tier magical power...

It's best not to summon Talomatti unnecessarily during battle.

Even without her doing anything, the mana consumption to maintain the summoning is already terrifying.

If she were to enter combat mode, her mana consumption would increase exponentially.

Even though she herself possessed the combat power of a ninth-tier demon king.

However, the best strategy is to summon her, use her ultimate skill once, and then cancel the summon.

This should also be the limit that Dekan's current magical power can withstand.

Just as Dekan was pondering this.

"Dekan, your eyes!"

Cornelia's sudden surprised voice made him raise his head in a daze.

"Hey, the color really is different."

Upon hearing Cornelia's words, the others gradually noticed the change in Dekan's eyes.

Is that so?

Dekan quickly went to the pile of equipment to the side and found a part with a mirror.

He discovered that after Talomatti was recalled, his pupils also turned bluish-gold.

It is no longer the same blue color as before.

Whether he is now demonized or half-demonized, he has not developed golden eyes or heterochromatic eyes as before.

His pupils were like golden flames and aquamarine completely fused into lapis lazuli.

Only after summoning Talomatti and separating from her will he regain his previous eye color.

Dekan put down the mirror and began to ponder a question.

"So, am I considered a demon or a human now?"

he murmured.

Even Dekan himself was a little confused about this problem.

If it were in the past, when they were outside Tristine City, and when they used the [True Word Blood Pact] to trick Isabel, Dekan could temporarily switch to a half-demon to ensure that Isabel answered incorrectly.

But even he himself isn't sure of the answer now.

It is neither a hybrid demon nor a half-demon.

Rather, his demonic self and his human self had become completely intertwined and merged into one.

"It may be a very new species."

Morion pondered for a while, resting his chin on his hand, before offering his sharp comment.

However, Morion seemed to have thought of something, and then smiled:

"Actually, if we discuss this question seriously, even Delois wouldn't be able to answer it."

Back when he met the shopkeeper in the border town years ago, he knew that this guy was no ordinary person.

Ming had a premonition: teasing that seemingly gentle boy might have more serious consequences than provoking the Church of Resurrection.

But there was a voice inside him that seemed to be tempting him: "If you don't take advantage of this now, you won't have the chance again."

Ultimately, the desire to have fun outweighed reason, and he fooled Dekan into buying the entire book of "The Fierce Goblin".

Now that I think about it, if Deloitte or Morpuse had known about this farce, it would have made them both laugh.

"Whether from a biological or philosophical perspective, Delois is difficult to categorize as either human or demon, but in my personal opinion, his race is relative."

"He is a human in the eyes of humans, and a demon in the eyes of demons."

This was Morion's final answer.

"Are you talking about Dolois or me?"

After thinking for a moment, Dekan questioned.

Moreover, this "racial relativity" seems to be a rather high-EQ way of putting it.

In other words, "he doesn't seem like a human being."

"Look on the bright side, Dekan, from the beginning no one thought you were a human being."

Mir comforted him.

She always saw things, but never said anything.

Come to think of it, she was the first among all her companions to accidentally witness Dekan's demon form.

At that time, Talomati took advantage of Dekan's sleep and secretly used Dekan's body to wander out of the potion laboratory.

As a result, Alice, who was visiting Mia's dormitory, fainted from fright.

Looking back, Mier felt that he had accepted the idea that "Dekan could become a demon" too easily.

Later, Mier discovered that when the other companions gradually discovered Dekan's demonic abilities, their reactions were surprisingly reasonable.

There's not even a sense of incongruity.

People like Clay even nodded, saying, "Oh, you can really turn into a demon? That's cool, bro."

"I think the proportion of demons in Dekan is still higher, meow! Meow..."

Teacher Cat always felt like he was being frightened by Dekan.

But after it finished speaking, it thought about it and realized that it seemed that every time Dekan talked to it, he only made empty promises.

I also felt a little guilty.

"Then the proportion of humans should be a bit higher, meow!"

"I think it's 30/70?"

"Speaking of proportions, I remember there was a question on the Demon Academy exam where Dekan chose 100%, and I think that's the question that got him points deducted..."

Hearing their growing discussion, Dekan shook his hand helplessly.

The demonic plants around them, which had been damaged by the card-making earlier, gradually began to recover.

However, it seems that no one has noticed yet that he used magic to make the flowers bloom.

This is the only magic that Dekan has ever learned on his own in this lifetime.

From a practical standpoint, it does seem a bit of a waste.

But he felt that this magic was better than any magic that Deloitte had ever researched in his life.

Exhausted from expending too much mana, Dekan sat down on the ground.

But he looked remarkably relaxed.

394 Dekan's Last Exam Paper

"If a demon wants to integrate into the human community, what fraction of its self must it give up?"

Talomatti suddenly asked Dekan in his mind.

This was the question that initially left a lingering resentment in Deloitte during his time at the Demon Academy, setting the stage for his long journey.

The Demon Academy's standard answer is 0%, while Delois believes the answer is 100%.

Unsurprisingly, Dekan chose the same answer as Doloice when he was in the Shadow World.

But Talomatti doesn't know what Dekan, who has now lived through the life of Deloitte and experienced his own, would choose.

"I don't care which one I choose. I think they're both right now, and I'm not conflicted anymore."

Dekan sat on the ground, watching his companions chat idly, and muttered to himself.

Looking back now, it seems that Deloitte was initially just being competitive.

At first, Delois was incredibly confident, thinking he knew everything.

Later, Deloitte found that the more she didn't understand, the more confused she became.

While Delois was confused, he met a human girl who understood him perfectly and even better than he understood his inner thoughts, and then he was completely taken advantage of.

Just when I felt I was getting closer and closer to the answer, everything was suddenly interrupted.

He was once again plunged into confusion, so confused that he couldn't even figure out what he wanted anymore.

Many years later, perhaps Deloitte only had a partial understanding, or perhaps she truly understood, or perhaps she still didn't understand at all.

But before he even begins to think about the problem, he has already made his choice with absolute certainty; he knows what he should do.

And it seems that they have gradually forgotten about the questions that were troubling them at the very beginning.

"Drois went through a complete disguise, and then gradually changed himself completely, but he never came to any conclusions from it."

"What truly proved his conclusion was a few moments in his life that he himself was unaware of."

“Live naturally with humans, dedicate yourself to ending the war, help Lunn liberate the Holy City with your own careful consideration, and finally die not as a Demon King but as a Duke of the Holy Kingdom.”

"At that time, he had indeed integrated into the human community."

"So it seems that it doesn't matter how much of oneself to give up or how much of one's true nature to retain; it's not the deciding factor."

"No one knows whether fate will lead them to become a saint or a devil, but it has nothing to do with fate. Just never give up on yourself."

"..."

Talomatti listened quietly to Dekan's murmurs.

She discovered that Dekan only looked exactly like Doloice when he was thinking about things so calmly.

It seems as if it has never changed in ten thousand years.

Even though she felt a sense of estrangement every time she saw Doloice—his state of mind always underwent a dramatic change.

Yet it felt strangely familiar.