At this very moment, the nobles in the courtyard steadied themselves and stared at the two sudden flashes of bright orange light, feeling a trace of confusion and shock.
That was… tiger-men?
Then, all they could see was the bodies of those dozen or so vampires shattering into countless fragments under the blinding cold light.
This made the nobles who had just broken free from the encirclement feel a deep sense of disbelief.
But in the next second, from the distance of the courtyard, they heard all kinds of animal roars.
Deep, heavy, or sharp.
Instinctively, the nobles raised their heads and looked toward the direction the sounds came from.
Finally, they saw it.
It was a massive army of knights.
They wore cold iron armor, held weapons in their hands, and rode warhorses, charging straight toward the courtyard.
But within this knight army, it wasn't only knights.
Countless demi-humans wore beast-faced armor, relying on their agile bodies and powerful legs to keep closely behind the warhorses.
In the sky above, eagle-men flapped their wings, shaking the air and stirring up gusts of wind.
Behind them were countless other special demi-humans.
Cows, leopards, foxes, elk, and more.
All kinds of unique demi-humans formed a long, continuous formation, advancing toward the estate in perfect coordination.
Only, no one noticed.
In their eyes, faint traces of black aura flowed, almost impossible to detect.
In the courtyard, Aurelian raised her head, a flash of light passing through her eyes, and she couldn't help but shout in delight, "Teacher Gwen!?"
Along with her voice, all the nobles focused their attention on the center of that demi-human army.
There, a female warrior clad in beast-faced armor sat majestically atop a warhorse, holding a longsword burning with fierce flames.
Under the crimson moonlight, Gwen looked like a cold iron knight stained with blood, imposing and stern.
She didn't speak. She simply raised the flaming longsword in her hand and pointed it toward the vampires.
Like a merciless executioner of ice, delivering the final judgment.
In that instant, countless demi-humans surged with fighting spirit and charged toward the courtyard all at once.
Behind the army, a cloud of dust and shattered stone rose, covering the sky.
The enraged bull-men panted heavily and roared toward the sky, like dozens of siege chariots charging together toward the courtyard.
Their massive bodies were incredibly solid, smashing through everything in their path. Even the towering walls of the territory were completely broken through.
Tall trees were snapped in half, and the ground was trampled into a long narrow path.
They charged straight into the vampires' encirclement, smashing their bodies apart, leaving limbs scattered everywhere.
The eagle-men in the sky flapped their wings, tearing apart all the vampires flying above. With their claws, they grabbed the vampires flipped by the wind and tore them apart one after another in midair.
The agile leopard-men turned into streaks of afterimages, following behind the bull-men.
Like meat grinders, they rapidly darted across the ground, cutting down countless vampires.
The mounted knights followed closely behind the bull-men, kicking up dust as they charged toward the estate.
At this moment, the countless demi-humans and knights resembled an iron-blooded army.
The scene before them left all the noble lords present completely stunned.
They stood frozen in place, eyes wide, staring in shock at the overwhelming force of the approaching army.
The twelve foreign ministers looked at the familiar figures of the knights and immediately cried out, "It's the Empire's knight order!"
"And the demi-human army of the Clavenna family!"
At that instant, a powerful sense of safety filled the hearts of the foreign ministers.
Finally, their reinforcements had arrived.
However, the noble lords only felt complicated emotions and unease.
Because they noticed something.
This group of suddenly appearing demi-humans was not entirely the same as Viktor's usual demi-human guards.
These powerful and rare demi-humans felt especially familiar to them.
Because these were the same demi-humans who had breached the royal capital a few days ago.
The moment they saw the two tiger-men appear, they had already realized this.
But why were they following behind those knight orders?
Could it be that they had already been incorporated by Viktor?
August, lying on the ground and restrained by the tiger-men, widened his eyes as he watched the demi-human army rushing in.
Those vampires could deal with humans easily enough, after all, they had the advantage in numbers.
However, once the demi-humans and knights appeared, the vampires' numerical advantage completely vanished.
They stormed through the enemy ranks as if no one was there.
Watching all of this unfold, August was completely unable to stop it.
He could only glare fiercely at Viktor.
His eyes filled with resentment and hatred.
At this moment, August suddenly understood.
This army that appeared out of nowhere was definitely not some coincidence.
The only possibility was…
Those demi-humans had already been lying in ambush near the estate, waiting for this moment.
And the knight leading them was Viktor's fiancee.
It was as if Viktor had seen through his plan. Every step was calculated with precision, or rather, everything had already been arranged in advance.
He had simply been waiting for the right moment to completely disrupt his plan.
In August's mind, he had never considered Viktor as an unstable factor capable of interfering with his plan.
Because it was impossible for Viktor to know about it.
Even if he did know, Viktor didn't have enough standing to stop him.
If Viktor really made a move, he could take the opportunity to report him to the Mage Council and the Calencia Empire.
Interfering in another country's internal affairs... this was an international issue.
Not to mention it involved two massive neighboring nations.
Both the Empire and the Council would have to compensate the Kante Kingdom, otherwise their reputations would suffer a severe blow.
In that case, August's rule would become even more stable.
No matter what, August would still achieve his goal.
But the moment Viktor summoned that phantom screen, all of his advantages vanished into nothing.
Because Viktor now had a firm reason to act...
'Revenge.'
And his 'revenge' was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Those hidden demi-humans and knight army were the best proof.
"Viktor, you already knew!"
"What exactly do you want..."
Pfft...
Viktor raised his staff and brought it down instantly, the golden bird head smashing into August's skull.
In an instant, immense force pierced through his cranium.
Along with a crisp cracking sound of bone, a mist of blood burst out, bright red blood splattering across the ground.
August's words stopped abruptly.
The tiger king lowered its head, looked at August's exploded skull, shook its head, and flicked off the blood splashed onto its own head.
Just as it was about to stand up, it suddenly heard Viktor say, "Keep going. Hold him down."
The tiger-man, hearing this, obediently continued to pin down August's 'corpse.'
After a while, the blood on the ground began to gather again.
As if pulled by some force, it converged toward where the head had originally been.
In the blink of an eye, the shattered skull, along with merging flesh and blood, reconstructed August's head.
The tiger-man blinked in confusion as it watched August's head reform.
It had never seen a head grow back after exploding.
The moment August recovered, he immediately started cursing again, "Viktor, what right do you have..."
Pfft...
The staff slammed down again, the golden bird head now covered in blood.
Flesh and fragments of bone scattered.
The courtyard fell silent once more.
"Second time."
After the second head explosion, August's recovery speed was noticeably faster.
Flesh and bone fragments fused together again, reappearing on his neck.
But it was like a cruel play being performed. August only got a brief pause in life.
Just as he was about to speak, Viktor's staff swung down again.
Bang!
Another head explosion.
"Third time."
The nobles who had been saved and now had nothing to do shrank back at the brutal sight.
You could offend anyone, but not Viktor.
This was the clearest proof of that statement.
Next, August's head continued to regenerate.
However…
Fourth time, fifth time, sixth time…
August could barely get out a single word before Viktor would brutally smash his head again.
This repeated over and over, until the noble lords gradually became numb, even starting to feel bored.
Clearly, the one having his head smashed again and again was their king.
Clearly, their king was being pinned to the ground and violently beaten by someone else.
Yet inside, they felt as calm as a still lake.
As Viktor tirelessly continued the head-smashing, the vampires, now without command, fell one after another under the attacks of the demi-humans and knights.
Only severed limbs remained scattered across the ground.
Even though they could regenerate their bodies, the blood they lost couldn't be replenished in time.
In the end, they could only lose the ability to fight, turning into broken flesh spread across the ground, limbs scattered throughout the courtyard.
But the noble lords didn't feel any satisfaction.
Instead, anger rose within them.
However, they had no way to vent that anger.
Because these vampires had once been people of their kingdom.
Among them were even noble lords they had once known.
They had died at the hands of vampires and were assimilated into those monsters.
All of this was because of August.
Perhaps they had different ways of ruling their territories, some good, some bad.
But they would never turn their kingdom's people into blood slaves and vampires like August had.
August's actions could no longer be forgiven by anyone.
Finally, after who knew how many revivals, August grew his head back once again.
The moment he revived, seeing the golden shadow rushing toward him again, he shouted loudly, "Stop!"
The golden bird head halted the instant it was about to strike August's skull.
A fierce gust of wind suddenly erupted, even lifting August's messy hair, sending it flying wildly in the air.
The terrifying force even tore apart the space on the other side of him.
The sound of rocks shattering rang out, and the ground itself was carved into a deep trench.
Terrifying beyond measure.
Everyone present was stunned by Viktor's power.
At the same time, they were shocked by how precisely he controlled such terrifying strength.
Viktor looked down at August, who had called for a stop, and calmly asked, "You… afraid of pain now?"
That was the truth.
Although August could keep reviving, the pain of torn flesh and shattered bones was real.
Revival didn't erase the pain. Instead, it accumulated little by little like sludge.
But August didn't admit it. After all, if he didn't say anything, no one would know how much it hurt.
He simply stared at Viktor with those blood-red eyes and spoke viciously, "What exactly do you want?"
"We can negotiate! Anything except the throne, I can give you!"
Hearing this, Viktor stopped.
He raised his staff again and pointed toward Priscilla, who was floating in the sky.
At this moment, Priscilla was still suspended high above.
Her face showed no emotion, like a tool.
Everything that had happened on the ground seemed to have nothing to do with her.
However, when August realized Viktor's intention and saw the deep look in his eyes, he fell silent for a moment.
Then, as if he had completely understood something, he burst into manic laughter, "So that's it… you also discovered her value…"
August fully understood why Viktor had stopped him.
Because he had also discovered Priscilla's value.
After all, she was the only bloodline of her kind in this world…
"Viktor, as expected."
"You just want the immortality she can bring you."
August's eyes widened in despair, flames practically shooting from his gaze, his voice like thunder, "How could I possibly let you succeed!!!"
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