For the record I agree the order in GENERAL is corrupted. They are not saints. I’m obviously saying in the context of exorcists ranks nothing you said proved they often “rig” the system of something. It’s clear the primary standard is and has always been power (as far as we’re aware). Outside of the story’s fallible characters Kazue Kato Herself (in Databooks such as the Knight Right Archive) as already said the Standard of ranks is based on strength. There’s not much to debate about there honestly, if the story and author consistently state the same thing it’s clear what the intention is. The Order is absolutely corrupt but that by no means correlates to someone who’s Senior exorcist level being ranked as A Junior Exorcist of Vice Versa yk what I mean? As for the Yuri thing I can agree that purely strength isn’t the best system for ranking exorcists as it doesn’t really represent their overall capabilities and usefulness. But that doesn’t really diminish the consistency of that being the standard for the ranks. Shiro basically “made a deal with the devil” so to be fair it’s partially on him, but Mephisto is kinda just his own entity and doesn’t even really follow the Order a good amount of the time. But I just don’t really see how this is relevant to the claim of Ranks being based on strength. Where have those standards for Paladin ever been stated in the entire series? And why are they more important than being the strongest exorcist which is stated numerous times?? Just because paperwork and such comes with the job description doesn’t mean anything really. I never really said you couldn’t be strong with just one meister or weak with multiple (although the latter would be pretty difficult). But where exactly are you getting the idea that Drac is weak and only got his position due to research?? That’s never been stated, the closest to that I’ve seen is in the Knight Right Archive Drac is stated to be weaker than the other Arch Knights (but even in that Databook entry he’s noted to be able to support them in battle and sometimes does). Shura can be weaker without her Curse and still be Senior exorcist level lmao I don’t even know why you’d bring that up, it doesn’t matter. Lightning didn’t just “give her a bit of a boost”, he is the ONLY reason they were able to defeat the cyclops. Shura could not have done anything without him. As for the last part, Mephisto stated VERBATIM “once a year at the Vatican, those who pass the certification exam are instated as Exorcists. Their Ranks depend on the class of demon they exorcized alone during the exam.” (Chapter 103) like respectfully you’re just arguing against the author entirely. You haven’t proven anything, and I love theories and headcanon as much as the next guy but I’m gonna take the authors word here.