In front of the golden gates of the Imperial Palace, a solemn and luxurious giant chair stood at the top of the long flight of stairs.
An old man who looked weathered by time sat casually on it, resting one arm on the armrest to support his face.
His cloudy yet deep eyes stared straight at the sky.
His gaze was unfocused, yet carried overwhelming authority, as though it could pierce through space and reach the twisted clouds in the distance.
The black clouds high above rolled like ink, as if countless deep eye sockets were emerging from within them.
A long crimson crack suddenly tore open from the center of the chaotic clouds.
The enormous eye kept expanding as the blood-red clouds tried to stain the surrounding darkness, spreading farther into the distance.
The reflection of blood and ink mixing together appeared in Aubrey's calm eyes.
He quietly felt the cold winter wind blowing across him, letting the chill slowly spread through his body.
Just as he was absorbed in the scene, a clear female voice suddenly came from behind him.
"It seems you're not worried at all, Aubrey."
Aubrey didn't turn around. He simply straightened his posture and replied calmly, "From the day she died, I knew this day would eventually come."
The crimson light poured through the palace entrance, stretching long shadows across the hall.
The light flashed, and a woman's figure appeared within the blood-red glow inside the palace.
She stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall. Her silver hair shone like a galaxy, untouched by the crimson light.
She slowly raised her head, revealing half of her face covered in blood-red markings.
The scarlet pupils in her eyes were deeply sunken, trembling slightly like beating hearts.
Her gaze settled on Aubrey, dyeing his back deep red.
"As you wished."
"My own matters will be settled by me."
She turned around.
A blood-red whirlpool instantly appeared beneath her feet.
Streams of blood burst from the vortex, wrapped around one another, and gradually covered her entire body.
Gurgle!
The sound of flowing liquid echoed as the twisting blood sank into the pool, taking the woman with it.
In the blink of an eye, the remaining blood vortex turned into mist and slowly disappeared.
Sensing the woman's departure behind him, Aubrey remained calm and continued looking at the sky.
The miserable crimson looked even more vivid beneath the bright full moon.
The world was stained red.
Silence stretched endlessly.
Suddenly, a dim golden light slowly rose in front of the palace, like a flickering candle lighting up the endless night.
The phantom of a majestic lion slowly appeared behind Aubrey.
Every strand of its mane radiated intimidation. The long mane around its neck burned across the sky like flames, as if it could tear the heavens apart.
The lion let out a roar that shook the world.
The sound surged upward like a towering pillar, breaking through the clouds and instantly tearing open an even larger crack in the sky.
In the end, it lowered itself behind Aubrey, warm breaths flowing from its mouth.
———
The sky mixed with blood-red and black ink was oppressively dark, making every breath feel unbearably heavy.
Three enormous demons stood upon the shattered earth.
As their heavy auras collided, powerful shockwaves spread in every direction.
The exhausted nobles collapsed onto the ground, staring up at the three towering beasts with minds that had completely stopped working.
The aura of chaos entered their lungs, weighing them down like lead, making every breath extremely difficult.
At the same time, the giant blood-red crocodile and the black figure stood side by side.
Their sharp eyes were fixed on the minotaur demon.
The crocodile's jaws opened and closed, its sharp claws scraping against one another.
The wrinkled toad stretched out its tongue, swallowing the foul smell in the air.
But setting aside all of that pressure, what the nobles couldn't understand the most was...
'What the hell is going on now?'
'Even that giant black toad belonged to Viktor... no, was one of Viktor's demons?'
They clearly remembered the chaos caused by the demon incident in the royal capital.
The demon that had started all that chaos was the same giant toad now standing before them.
Viktor had fought that toad for a long time before finally defeating it.
After the incident ended, Viktor not only received the Emperor's praise, but was even promoted in rank.
Now, every noble wore a look of complete shock.
'Who would've thought... You were all on the same side?'
At that moment, Liya hid behind Gwen, her face flushed as she didn't even dare look directly at the terrifying scene.
As someone who valued her family's reputation more than anything else, Liya didn't even dare imagine...
After this incident, what would become of the Clavenna family's reputation among the Empire's nobles?
Traitors who colluded with demons?
With those nobles adding fuel to the fire, it could easily become even worse.
After all, it had been through her actions that the blame had originally been pinned on Devon Lesser.
The Lesser family had been made to carry all the blame.
Now the toad had returned and was standing right beside Viktor.
It was practically wearing the words I'm the mole across its face.
Wasn't this obviously telling everyone that it and Viktor were working together?
Liya's mind was in complete chaos.
Although she looked calm on the outside, everything inside her had already fallen apart.
She thought that Leopold would probably laugh so hard he wouldn't be able to sleep.
Because without anyone noticing...
The Lesser family had been completely cleared of suspicion.
Taking a deep breath, Liya barely managed to steady herself.
Just as she leaned out, planning to see what expression Leopold was making now, she froze in confusion.
'Where is he?'
Leopold had just walked out of those ruins.
'How did he suddenly disappear?'
While Liya was still wondering, an angry roar drew her attention.
The Second Prince's hideous bull head twisted with rage.
His huge eyes nearly bulged from their sockets, veins standing out across his forehead.
He glared at the toad and roared, "Greed! What are you doing?!"
The Second Prince had never imagined that the toad he had painstakingly raised would betray him at the most critical moment.
His expression grew even uglier.
This betrayal felt as though everything he had worked for had been handed over to an undercover agent.
No wonder that toad had been beating the blood-red crocodile just moments ago, only to suddenly be knocked down with one punch.
So after fighting all that time...
The two of you were just putting on a show.
The toad of Greed patted its huge belly and let out a deep, chaotic laugh.
Its rumbling voice shook the Second Prince's ears.
"Your Highness, you've misunderstood me.", It spoke with heavy sarcasm.
"I've always been completely loyal to you."
Hearing that thick, sticky voice, the nobles couldn't help muttering to themselves.
'This counts as loyal?'
The Second Prince's nostrils flared with anger.
Every word from the toad sounded like mockery.
The toad of Greed added, "I told you before, Your Highness."
"When I'm full, I never lie."
The nobles fell silent again.
Looking at the toad's enormous belly, none of them knew what to say.
It didn't look like something that could ever be full.
The Second Prince lowered his head.
Flames seemed to burn inside his scarlet eyes as he angrily demanded, "So you're saying I've never fed you enough?"
Yerm burst into laughter.
He slapped his own belly, producing booming sounds like giant drums.
"Your Highness, I have to be honest."
He lowered his head again and cursed at the Second Prince.
"What made you think feeding me grapes would actually fill me up?!"
Hearing that, Leighton looked at Yerm with a little more pity.
The laughter suddenly stopped.
Yerm instantly shot out a huge crimson tongue.
It tore through the air, creating violent sonic booms.
The long tongue quickly wrapped around the Second Prince's thick arm.
The Second Prince spread both arms apart with all his strength, trying to tear the tongue apart.
But the moment he pulled, he realized something.
The tongue was like tough rubber, incredibly elastic while sticking tightly to his body.
His muscles bulged as thorns flowed over his skin, carving deep bloody wounds across his body.
The same thorns also sliced through the bright red tongue.
Feeling the pain, Yerm quickly pulled it back.
"Ptui! Ptui!"
He spat out several broken black thorns.
"Ugh, disgusting."
"Rope play and a whip. You're the funniest minotaur I've ever seen."
Hearing that, the Second Prince sneered.
"An ungrateful traitor."
"Luckily..."
"I've always been on guard against you."
As his words fell, the minotaur's enormous body began rapidly expanding.
His powerful muscles swelled like an inflated balloon, quickly growing larger than both Yerm and Leighton.
Looking down at the now smaller-looking demons, he let out a roar that shook the earth.
Countless nobles stumbled backward in terror as a gigantic bull hoof approached.
Their eyes were filled with fear toward the massive minotaur that blocked out the sky.
They were too frightened to say a single word.
The Second Prince breathed heavily.
White mist poured from his nostrils before slowly fading away.
His muscles became as hard as iron.
The thorns that had flowed across his skin sank deeply into his flesh as his body expanded.
In an instant, the mad demon looked like a giant mountain.
The crocodile and the toad couldn't help raising their heads, looking at the minotaur that was now several sizes larger than them.
They could clearly feel that this bull demon had become even stronger than before.
By now, the Second Prince had completely lost his mind.
His scarlet eyes looked as if they could burn everything before them.
"You think two against one is enough to beat me?"
"To be fair, two against one isn't all that safe."
A deep, steady voice suddenly sounded from beneath the demons' feet, making everyone present freeze.
Every gaze turned toward Viktor.
'There's another one?'
Viktor slowly raised his hand and opened his palm.
A small white lazy puppy lay in it.
The little white puppy was sleeping peacefully in his palm.
The moment the Second Prince saw the lazy puppy, his blood-red eyes suddenly shrank in surprise.
Viktor casually placed the puppy on the ground.
The instant its four paws touched the earth, its eyes suddenly opened.
Its blood-red pupils shone with endless crimson.
A powerful wave spread outward.
All the nobles immediately felt an unbelievably heavy pressure rushing toward them.
Another violent wave swept over them.
'No...'
'This isn't right.'
It wasn't the pressure itself that felt heavy...
It seemed to be... their own eyelids.
The nobles' vision immediately became blurry.
They felt overwhelmingly sleepy, and their minds gradually became clouded.
Almost at the same time, the puppy's body began expanding at an astonishing speed.
Its originally adorable little body rapidly grew larger.
Its chubby belly instantly became packed with bulging muscles.
Its mouth was mercilessly stretched into the huge jaws of a savage wolf.
Its snow-white fangs gleamed with deadly sharpness, constantly releasing a terrifying aura in every direction.
In an instant, the three demons stood shoulder to shoulder behind Viktor like three towering mountains overflowing with overwhelming presence.
Viktor expressionlessly raised his head and calmly looked at the Second Prince in his minotaur form.
"So."
"Three against one."
"The advantage is mine."
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