Chapter 48: It Doesn’t Matter, I Will Take Action!
The mont the barrier dissolved, everyone present caught sight of the hideous Demon.
Panicked screams, wailing sobs, desperate howls—countless waves of negative emotion swept through the Academy in an instant.
A handful of reckless reporters were still frantically capturing everything around them with their Magic Stones, chasing their next headline.
***
Duke Livi received word from the Mage-soldiers at his side. He waved a hand, and one of them stepped forward, handing him a Magic Stone.
The transparent Magic Stone was still flickering—unable to contain the energy surging within the image captured inside it.
It looked as though it might burst open at any second.
He took it, set it on the table with a smile, and said to Lady Cassana:
"My Lady, I'll spare us both the lengthy preamble."
"See for yourself."
As his words fell, the Magic Stone gave off a faint glow, and an image projected out from within it.
The most striking sight was the colossal Demon blotting out the sky, and beneath it—Professor Dewen, bound and captive.
Surviving in such close proximity to a Demon was nearly impossible to explain away, and it was difficult not to suspect that Professor Dewen had colluded with it.
He looked exactly like soone seeking a final refuge beneath the Demon's shadow—while all around the creature stood fully ard Knights and Mages.
Including that figure in the long coat.
Viktor Clavena.
Lady Cassana opened her mouth, as though to say sothing, but Duke Livi spoke first:
"My Lady Cassana, this is a live recording."
"If you're interested, you're welco to enter the city at any ti and walk into any newspaper office—this image has likely already spread across the Royal Capital."
Lady Cassana bit down hard on her lip and said to Livi:
"What exactly do you an? You're willing to let into the city now?"
"But of course."
Livi rose to his feet and gave her a bow.
"The Royal Capital is in peril. As a Duke, it falls to to go and lend my support."
With that, he gave Lady Cassana a slight nod and turned to leave—only to be stopped by her voice calling after him.
A look of deliberation passed through her eyes, as though she were weighing sothing.
"Dewen… is there truly no way to save him?"
Duke Livi kept his expression pleasant, but inwardly he let out a quiet sigh.
She was wavering.
The mont Lady Cassana began to waver, it ant she had already begun to ask herself whether the Rether Family truly needed to pay such a steep price for a single Dewen Rether.
Sacrifice the rook to save the king. Sever the tail to survive.
And besides—Dewen Rether had never amounted to anything important within the Rether Family.
If anything, he was a useless parasite.
Otherwise, Lady Cassana would never have gone to the trouble of sending him to the Academy in the Royal Capital just to gild him with a veneer of prestige.
And so Livi laid out the full picture for Lady Cassana.
"My Lady Cassana, I would urge you to think carefully. Your son colluding with a Demon—that is no trivial matter."
"I would imagine that His Majesty's close ties with the Rether Family are not sufficient to erase the charge of conspiring with a Demon and inciting rebellion."
"Please, My Lady—think it through."
With that, he turned away and gave Lady Cassana a dismissive wave of his hand.
A Mage-soldier beside him swept his Magic Orb through the air, and a cascade of stars blossod across the sky. Blue light gradually enveloped the Mage-soldier formation and Duke Livi.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished without a trace.
The Knights sheathed their weapons, fastened their helts, mounted their horses, and rode off into the distance amid the clamor of hoofbeats.
Cassana sank into the sofa, one hand pressed to her forehead, tears streaming down her face, as though wrestling with a decision she had yet to make.
***
The Demon slowly opened its single eye.
Its eye was set in the center of its forehead—its only ans of perceiving the world around it.
A luminous blue Magic Formation rose steadily from beneath its feet. That loathso sensation made it deeply uncomfortable.
Suddenly, a bolt of yellow lightning shot out and struck the Demon's body—but with little effect.
The attempt had failed, yet it was enough to enrage the Demon.
It flew into a fury. Its tongue lashed out, and it swallowed the Mage whole.
Crunch, crunch—
The sound of chewing mingled with the crack of splintering bones for a long mont before, with a wet gulp, the Demon swallowed.
None of the Mages had ever witnessed anything so brutal—quite a few cried out in terror.
Even the Knights who prided themselves on their righteousness nearly lost their grip on their weapons and shields.
People cried out in horror, voices tumbling over one another.
"What in the world—is that thing!?"
No one could answer.
Everyone present knew it was a Demon—yet when a true Demon stood before them in the flesh, they could barely bring themselves to acknowledge it.
Because this was nothing like the Demon they had imagined. It looked far more like a god of annihilation.
A 3rd-Tier Mage stepped forward and called out:
"Everyone, stay calm! Hold your positions on the Formation! Our strength is slowly recovering!"
"With this many people here, we can definitely defeat this evil Demon!"
His voice faded—and the Mages remained unmoved. Their composure and resolve looked no different from a mont ago.
The Demon watched them and burst into thunderous laughter:
"Pathetic humans!"
"You think you're worthy of defeating !?"
Then, all at once, a figure shot upward like a streak of light, launching into the sky.
Every eye snapped to that figure.
Against the Demon's scale, she looked impossibly small—yet sothing about her presence stirred a flicker of courage in countless hearts.
"Is that—Grand Knight Commander Gwen!?"
A few people recognized her and cried out in disbelief.
In Gwen's hand, the Silver Blade seed to awaken so force within it. White light erupted—brilliant and sharp as a blade cleaving a mountain in two.
She swung, and a staggering white gash of breathtaking length tore across the Demon's body.
The Demon recoiled in pain, its body shuddering, its gaze snapping toward Gwen.
"Good. Very good!"
It seed to recognize sothing in her, and snarled with vicious contempt:
"Just monts ago, I dealt with soone very much like you."
"It seems you share her gift for being utterly insufferable!"
Gwen landed back on the ground, and her expression changed in an instant. Her instinct told her the Demon was talking about Kavra—and blinding rage consud her entire being.
But the next second, the Demon's enormous hand was already crashing down toward her.
Gwen made no move to dodge. As though robbed of all reason, the sword in her hand blazed back into a holy blade of white light dozens of ters long, and she cleaved upward at the Demon with everything she had.
BANG!
The Demon swept its massive hand and swatted her down like a mosquito.
Gwen was slamd into the ground and lost consciousness, utterly powerless to resist.
"Grand Knight Commander Gwen!"
Concern erupted among the Knights, and even Viktor—still maintaining the Formation—furrowed his brow.
The Demon's laughter rang out again:
"Compared to her, you're far weaker."
"Not even worth—a housefly."
But Gwen's charge had bought the Mages precious ti.
Not everyone had been paralyzed by the Demon's display.
Hmmm hmmm hmmm—
Countless Formations began rising through the air, formations of every color taking shape one after another. A commanding voice rang out:
"Just like you practiced at the Academy!"
"Everyone—fire!"
At the order, magic arrows of every elent streaked toward the Demon.
Crack, pop, bang—like a burst of fireworks.
But the Demon rely extended its tentacles and deflected every last spell.
Not a single scratch on them.
The Mages watched in stunned silence as their attacks left the Demon completely unhard:
That Demon's hide was absolutely impenetrable!
The first volley had yielded nothing, and despair began to settle over many of the Mages—but the next instant, a voice far more commanding rang down from above.
"All units—first volley, fire!"
Everyone turned. It was Duke Livi—he had arrived with his Mage Corps as reinforcents.
The Mage-soldiers were deployed on all 4 sides, completely encircling the Demon. The crystal orbs in their hands pulsed with a staggering brilliance of magical energy.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
Far more powerful spells erupted from the crystals as elental cannonballs, and this ti, the Demon visibly struggled to withstand the assault.
"Rotate formations imdiately—second volley, fire!"
With barely a pause, the second unit of Mage-soldiers replaced the first, their spells—already prid—unleashing in unison.
They gave the Demon no opening to retaliate.
"It's Duke Livi! Duke Livi has arrived with his Mage Corps!"
Soone in the crowd let out a shout.
In an instant, the entire battlefield surged with renewed energy!
Soon, Mages rallying from every corner of the Royal Capital swelled the ranks further and further.
Countless Formations took shape in the air above, multiplying in number and growing in force with each passing mont.
The relentless barrage of magical attacks left the Demon no room to break free, and for a mont, everyone began to feel that victory was within reach!
But all this seed to have done nothing more than exhaust the Demon's last shred of patience.
The Demon was growing impatient.
Thud—
Thud—
A sound like a powerful heartbeat thundered across the air—as if a colossal war drum had been split open and struck with full force.
The Demon threw open its enormous maw, as though it ant to swallow everyone present whole.
A tempest-like suction force—terrifying in its power—dragged the Knights and Mages nearest to the Demon straight into its gullet.
They scread in desperate, wailing terror, but could do nothing to resist. They could not even run.
The Demon's vast maw ground like a at grinder. Grotesque crimson chunks of flesh fell to the ground from within its jaws, one after another, as though it were so ravenous ghost devouring food and wasting half of it all at once.
Fear spread once more over every person present.
"It's over! Our attacks aren't doing anything!"
"This is terrifying—is this really a Demon!?"
"Soone help! Where's the Principal!? Can't soone do sothing!?"
"Is there anyone who can stop it!?"
Many of the Mages and students began to spiral into helplessness. Those with weaker nerves had already crumpled to the ground, sobbing.
Then, abruptly, several 3rd-Tier Mages froze—exchanged glances—and began shouting in bewildernt:
"Where's Viktor!? Where did Professor Viktor go!?"
Every 3rd-Tier Mage there knew exactly what Viktor was. A 4th-Tier Mage entering the fight directly could very well turn the tide!
But Viktor seed to have vanished entirely, and with that, many fell into complete despair.
Then, at that very mont—
"What is that!?"
"Is that—Professor Viktor!?"
A few students pointed toward the sky and cried out. Everyone's gaze shot upward.
Without anyone noticing, Viktor had already appeared high above in the sky.
The coat at his back billowed and flared, flickering with a breathtaking crimson radiance.
Firelight ignited half the sky.
It burned away the foul black ink polluting the heavens, and a burst of vivid brilliance erupted through the clouds—
As though Viktor had set the sky ablaze and draped it across his shoulders.
The temperature across the entire city began to climb sharply, the heat becoming almost unbearable.
The people present stared—then went still—then erupted:
"Holy sh*t! What is that!"
Everyone saw it clearly this ti: a colossal, blazing teorite was hurtling down from the sky.
Its target—directly into the Demon's open maw.
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