Lady Cassandra found it difficult to accept this outcome.

"I must see His Majesty, I must see His Majesty..."

"Levi, I warn you, even though I no longer bear the Sol name, I am still the Emperor's sister."

Lady Cassandra, visibly irritated, continued:

"You have no reason to prevent me from entering the capital."

"I will find a way to meet His Majesty eventually,"

"If you don't let me through right now, I will certainly report your actions to His Majesty when I do!"

"What are your true intentions in blocking my way?"

Hearing Lady Cassandra's accusations, Duke Levi instead smiled, like a cunning old fox, and spoke in a tone that suggested he was acting in her best interest:

"Lady Cassandra, the capital is very dangerous right now. I'm not letting you through for your own safety."

"Even if you report this later, His Majesty will understand the gravity of the situation and won't blindly blame me..."

In front of this smooth politician, every word from Lady Cassandra seemed weak and ineffective.

"Dangerous!? My son is in danger right now, he might lose his life!"

The lady's tone instantly rose by several notches, she was now both angry and anxious.

Even so, she could only sit there, waiting for Duke Levi to grant her passage.

But the next second, Duke Levi's words made her freeze on the spot.

She widened her eyes and fell silent.

"Lady Cassandra, I'm not joking with you..."

"There have been 'demonic' activities within the academy."

"Your son, Devin Reiser, may have come into contact with a 'demon'."

...

"You're saying, a demon?"

The previous night, Viktor was having a casual conversation with Lia in the study.

"The filthy thing Kevla mentioned, that's it."

Lia listened to Viktor's words, finding them hard to believe, and remained silent.

She had seen images of demons in books before...

A foul odor, sticky skin, and a pair of bulging eyes, with countless sharp teeth hidden in the tongue...

A body like an ink shadow, with a heart full of greed.

Like a walking, putrid swamp, normal people would avoid it if they saw it.

The books also recorded that this thing once lived in an outhouse in a small town of a remote country for a while.

And the abilities it bestowed made the entire town prosper for a time.

But after that, people in the town began to disappear one by one.

No one could trace their whereabouts, and the once glorious small town became desolate and dilapidated due to neglect.

Eventually, it disappeared from history.

Lia stopped reminiscing, feeling nauseous just from the book's description.

Of course, both the appearance and the deeds were just recorded in history books.

It was all too common for those in power to fabricate and distort facts to consolidate their positions.

But this also indicated that demons were indeed disliked by everyone.

"Did you find it?" Lia asked tentatively.

She was surprised that Viktor had already traced its trail today, even though he had only received the news from Gwen yesterday.

Was Viktor really that efficient?

Viktor nodded expressionlessly.

"That thing is in the academy."

Lia curiously asked, "Are you confident you can catch or kill that thing?"

Viktor was straightforward and honest:

"Not necessarily."

If that demon was as Viktor thought, being an early-game demon boss, a fully evolved version might be more than a match for a fourth-tier mage.

As the saying goes, when stats aren't enough, skill makes up for it.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Viktor Kravina's stats might not be a match for it.

But Viktor Kravina would definitely defeat it.

If all else failed, he still had his cheat code.

"However, I need to lure that filthy thing out and ensure I kill it with my own hands," Viktor told Lia.

But Lia found this somewhat strange.

"Didn't you say it wasn't certain? Why still..."

"Even if the success rate is ninety-nine percent, I won't be absolutely sure of success."

Viktor's voice sounded normal, but Lia could sense the astonishing confidence in his words.

But now, she had another question.

Normally, Viktor wouldn't need to tell her so much.

Because she couldn't help, and Viktor had no reason to tell her so much.

He would solve everything by himself.

Including the volcano incident, if it weren't for the news that came back from outside, she wouldn't have known that Viktor had done such a world-shaking thing.

Lia seemed to realize something and blinked.

"...Could it be that you need me to do something?"

"Viktor, let me say this in advance, I'm not a mage, nor am I a knight like Gwen. I'm weak, I might not even be able to carry a few bricks steadily..."

"This is something only you can do."

Viktor's resolute attitude almost made Lia doubt if she had some special ability.

What could it be?

"Devin Reiser, do you know him?"

"That fat guy you beat up today?"

Lia thought for a moment and couldn't help but laugh.

"It's really funny, you know? This incident has spread like wildfire tonight!"

Lia found this incident amusing, even knowing that the dead pig was actually the Emperor's nephew, she wasn't afraid at all.

She even thought Viktor had done a great job.

She didn't know what the grudge was between them, but...

Viktor represented their Kravina family. If they had to swallow their pride and consider this and that after being wronged,

If Viktor really did that, Lia would be the first to prepare to undermine Viktor.

Having disgraced the Kravina family, he would no longer be qualified to continue as the head of the family.

"So? What do you want me to do?"

"Is it to go south to intercept their business? I can't do that, their factories are everywhere."

"Besides, that's the royal family's money-making machine. You might dare to offend the Emperor, but I don't."

Viktor stopped Lia's wild guesses.

"Before the Emperor intervenes, discredit Devin Reiser as much as possible."

He said calmly, without even raising an eyebrow.

However, Lia understood immediately and was more than surprised.

"You want to pin the demon's dirty deeds on the Reiser family? How is that possible?"

This was indeed an absurd thing to do.

"Let's not talk about whether we have enough manpower in the capital, normal people wouldn't believe it at all."

"Or are you saying you're already powerful enough to control demons?"

Viktor looked up at Lia and said calmly.

"The demon will cooperate with you."

Lia looked at him, unable to accept it, feeling a chill run down her spine.

"No one would want to be your enemy, Viktor."

"You're actually a bastard who even wants to manipulate demons. You're the real demon."

Viktor stood up, and Vega fluttered its wings, flying from the desk to perch on his shoulder.

"If we don't have enough manpower, we can borrow from the Duke."

"After all, he owes me a big favor."

With that, he left the study with Vega.

.......

"Miss Lia Kravina, I can only help you stop Lady Cassandra at the city gate," Duke Levi said with some difficulty, smiling bitterly.

"It's not that I don't want to help Viktor, this is the most I can do."

Lia sat in front of the Duke, smiling and said:

"This is enough, Your Grace."

"What we need is time, time for my brother to prove his innocence."

Duke Levi was silent for a while, then tentatively asked:

"So, Devin Reiser really did come into contact with a demon, right?"

Hearing the Duke's question, Lia felt somewhat helpless.

"Your Grace, I don't want to deceive you, but think about it, how could my brother possibly try to kill an ordinary second-tier mage without reason?"

Lia used the useful information, elegantly weaving everything together.

Duke Levi was like prey stuck in a spider's web, deceived by this ingenious lie.

"Don't forget, Duke Levi, our Kravina family has a special relationship with the Delin family."

"Miss Kevla can naturally be considered my sister as well."

Duke Levi nodded.

After all, the news of a demon invading the capital was brought by Kevla, so it wasn't unreasonable for Viktor to know something about it.

But Lia knew that Duke Levi didn't really believe her.

On one side was Viktor, on the other was the useless Devin Reiser.

As a politician, even a fool would know which one to choose.

But Levi still had to consider whether the du Cloye family could bear the cost of doing this.

So, Lia added another bargaining chip.

"If you still don't want to believe..."

Lia tapped the table with her finger and continued:

"Viktor will put Devin Reiser on display in the academy square today. After that, there might be unpredictable disturbances at the academy. I can't say exactly what will happen."

"But what I can be sure of is that the 'demon' will definitely save Devin Reiser at that time."

Duke Levi straightened up and asked seriously:

"But how will this prove that it's not Viktor's self-directed show?"

Lia smiled again.

"Your Grace is indeed suspicious, but I don't dislike your doubts. Otherwise, my preparations would have been wasted."

"I will have Knight Commander Gwen lead the Royal Knight Corps to the academy. At that time, hundreds of knights will be watching Viktor constantly."

"The Royal Knight Corps is under His Majesty's command. They will witness everything in the most impartial way."

......

Viktor stood in the academy square, surrounded by knights in silver armor as far as the eye could see.

In an instant, Vega had analyzed the effect of the magic.

This astonishing magic barrier would weaken all 'magical power' within its range and cause people to fall into a 'weakened' state.

'Magical power' naturally included some special abilities.

For example, Gwen's Heart of Justice.

At this moment, Viktor was one of the few mages who could still stand steadily in the square.

As for the other mages, half of the students had fallen to the ground, some second-tier lecturers were also swaying, and even a few third-tier mages were frowning, their internal magic depleted, completely unable to release any spells.

In contrast, the knights, although somewhat weakened and mentally drained, were still relatively stable physically.

"What on earth is happening?" Everyone was very puzzled. Except for Viktor, no one knew what kind of formation they had fallen into.

Suddenly, countless black tentacles emerged from the edge of the barrier, like crazy poisonous snakes, rapidly approaching Professor Devin.

Vega also cooperated well, flapping its wings, making a 'startled' reaction.

All the knights and conscious mages were attracted by Vega's exaggerated response, everyone staring intently at this scene.

Exclamations arose all at once.

"What is that disgusting thing!?"

Viktor stretched out his lava giant hand, which could still move, and engaged in a tussle with the countless chaotic tentacles.

Both sides were fighting over Professor Devin.

The tentacles gradually enveloped Viktor's lava giant hand, the darkness like countless frantically licking tongues, trying to swallow Viktor.

Even under the 'weakened' state, Viktor still struggled, as if driving away countless approaching poisonous snakes.

But unfortunately, Viktor ultimately succumbed. His hand loosened, and Professor Devin was carried into the air by the tentacles.

The dark barrier turned into a giant mouth and swallowed Professor Devin, disappearing from sight.

For a moment, countless people fell into panic.

Viktor's face was terribly gloomy, his voice clearly carrying a hint of weakness.

"Filthy demon..."

"I still couldn't stop you from rescuing him..."

????

Everyone who heard these words froze in place, like helpless lambs.

What?

Demon?

Rescue Devin Reiser?

Do you even hear what you're saying!?