At this moment, the nobles in the courtyard stared intently at two sudden flashes of bright orange light, feeling bewildered and confused.

  Were those... tiger-men?

  The next thing they saw was the bodies of over a dozen vampires shattering into countless pieces under the dazzling cold light.

  This left the nobles who had just broken free from the encirclement in utter disbelief.

  But in the next second, they heard various animal roars echoing from the far end of the courtyard - deep, resonant, and piercing.

  The nobles instinctively looked up toward the source of the sounds.

  Finally, they saw it.

  It was a massive army of knights.

  Clad in cold iron armor and bearing weapons, they charged toward the courtyard on horseback.

  But this knight brigade wasn't composed of knights alone.

  Countless demi-humans in beast-faced armor kept pace with their powerful legs, following closely behind the warhorses with their agile bodies.

  In the sky above, eagle-folk beat their wings, stirring the air and creating gusts of wind.

  Behind them came numerous other demi-humans.

  Bulls, leopards, foxes, elk, and more.

  All manner of unique demi-humans formed a long, orderly column, charging toward the mansion in perfect coordination.

  However, no one noticed.

  In their eyes flowed barely perceptible streams of black energy.

  In the courtyard, Aurelianne looked up, her eyes lighting up as she exclaimed joyfully:

  "Teacher Gwen!?"

  At her voice, all the nobles focused their attention on the center of the demi-human forces.

  There, a female warrior in beast-faced armor sat majestically atop a warhorse, wielding a long sword wreathed in flames.

  Under the crimson moonlight, Gwen appeared like a blood-stained iron knight, both imposing and stern.

  She didn't speak, merely raising her flaming sword to point at the vampires.

  Like a merciless ice-cold executioner, pronouncing the final judgment.

  In that instant, countless demi-humans seemed filled with fighting spirit as they charged toward the courtyard in unison.

  Behind the formation, a cloud of dust and gravel rose to block out the sky.

  The enraged bull-men snorted heavily, roaring at the sky as they charged like dozens of siege engines toward the courtyard.

  Their sturdy bodies were unstoppable, shattering all obstacles in their path. Even the tall estate walls crumbled before them.

  Towering trees were snapped in half, and the ground was trampled into a long, narrow path.

  They charged straight into the vampire encirclement, smashing their bodies into pieces, leaving dismembered limbs everywhere.

  The eagle-folk in the sky flapped their wings, tearing apart the airborne vampires. They used their talons to snatch vampires caught in the wind currents, ripping them apart one after another.

  The agile leopard-people moved like blurred shadows, following behind the bull-men.

  Like living meat grinders, they swiftly traversed the ground, slicing through countless vampires.

  The mounted knights followed closely behind the bull-men, raising dust as they charged toward the mansion.

  At this moment, the countless demi-humans and knights resembled an iron-blooded army.

  The scene before them left all the noble lords dumbfounded.

  They stood frozen in place, eyes wide, staring in shock at the imposing army.

  The twelve diplomatic ministers recognized the familiar knight figures and immediately exclaimed:

  "It's the Imperial Knight Brigade!"

  "And the Kravina family's demi-human army!"

  In that instant, a powerful sense of security immediately filled the diplomatic ministers' hearts.

  Finally, their reinforcements had arrived!

  However, the noble lords felt only complexity and panic.

  Because they noticed.

  This batch of suddenly appearing demi-humans wasn't entirely Viktor's demi-human guards.

  These powerful and rare demi-humans seemed particularly familiar to them.

  Because these were the same demi-humans who had broken through the royal city just days ago.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The moment they saw those two tiger-men appear, they had already realized this.

  But why were they following behind those knight brigades?

  Had they already been recruited by Viktor?

  Augustus, lying on the ground restrained by the tiger-men, widened his eyes as he watched the demi-human army charging forward.

  The vampires could handle humans well enough, given their numerical advantage.

  However, when that group of demi-humans and knights appeared, the vampires' numerical advantage completely vanished.

  They raided the enemy camp as if it were undefended.

  Watching all this, Augustus was completely powerless to stop it.

  He could only glare fiercely at Viktor.

  His gaze was full of resentment and hatred.

  At this moment, Augustus suddenly understood.

  This suddenly appearing army couldn't be mere coincidence.

  The only possibility was...

  Those demi-humans had been lying in ambush near the mansion, waiting for this moment to arrive.

  And that knight leading the forces was none other than Viktor's fiancée.

  Viktor seemed to have seen through his plan completely, every step calculated precisely, or rather, he had arranged everything in advance.

  He was just waiting for the right moment to completely disrupt Augustus's plans.

  In Augustus's mind, he had never considered Viktor as an unstable factor that could interfere with his plans.

  Because Viktor couldn't possibly know about his plan.

  Even if he did know, Viktor wouldn't have sufficient standing to stop him.

  If Viktor really did intervene, he could use this opportunity to report Viktor's actions to the Mage Council and the Carenthia Empire.

  Interfering in another country's internal affairs was an international issue.

  Especially when it involved two massive neighboring countries.

  Both the Empire and the Council would have to make reparations to the Kanter Kingdom, or their reputations would suffer serious damage.

  This way, Augustus's rule would become even more secure.

  No matter what, Augustus could achieve his goals.

  But the moment Viktor summoned that phantom screen.

  All the advantages that had belonged to him vanished into smoke.

  Because Viktor had a solid reason to take action -

  'Revenge.'

  And his 'revenge' was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

  Those hidden demi-humans and knight forces were the best proof.

  "Viktor, you knew all along!"

  "What exactly do you want-"

  Splat

  Viktor's raised staff suddenly swung down, the golden bird head smashing into Augustus's skull.

  In an instant, enormous pressure penetrated his cranium.

  Accompanied by a crisp sound of bones breaking, a blood mist exploded outward, red blood splattering across the ground.

  Augustus's words came to an abrupt halt.

  The Tiger King looked down at Augustus's exploded head, shook its own head, and shook off the blood that had splattered on it.

  Just as it was about to get up, it heard Viktor suddenly say:

  "Continue holding him down."

  Hearing this, the tiger-man very obediently continued to pin down Augustus's 'corpse'.

  After a while, the blood on the ground began to gather again.

  As if pulled by some gravitational force, it converged toward where the head had originally been.

  In the blink of an eye, the shattered head reconstructed itself along with the fusion of blood and flesh, rebuilding Augustus's head.

  The tiger-man watched Augustus suddenly reconstruct his head, blinking in confusion.

  It had never seen someone regrow their head after it had exploded before.

  The moment Augustus recovered, he continued cursing loudly:

  "Viktor, how dare you..."

  Splat

  The staff fell heavily again, the golden bird head covered in fresh blood.

  Fragments of flesh and skull scattered.

  The courtyard returned to silence.

  "Second time."

  After Augustus's second head explosion, his recovery speed was noticeably faster.

  The flesh and skull fragments fused together, reappearing on his neck.

  But as if acting out a cruel play, Augustus passed through life's brief pause.

  Just as he was about to speak, Viktor's staff swung down again.

  Bang!

  Another head explosion.

  "Third time."

  Those nobles who had been rescued and were now at leisure watched this cruel scene, all shrinking back.

  One shouldn't provoke Viktor of all people.

  This was the best interpretation of that saying.

  Then, Augustus's head continued to regenerate.

  However...

  Fourth time, fifth time, sixth time...

  Augustus could barely get out a single word before Viktor would forcefully smash his head again.

  This continued repeatedly,

  Until the noble lords gradually became numb to it, even starting to find it boring.

  Even though the person being repeatedly head-exploded before them was their country's king.

  Even though their king was being pinned down by others and brutally beaten.

  Yet their hearts remained as calm as a quiet lake surface.

  Under Viktor's tireless head-exploding action, the vampires who had lost their commander fell one after another to the attacks of the demi-humans and knights.

  Leaving only scattered limbs on the ground.

  Even though they could regenerate their bodies, the lost blood couldn't be replenished in time.

  Finally, they could only lose their fighting ability, turning into broken flesh scattered across the ground, limbs strewn throughout the courtyard.

  But the noble lords didn't feel any satisfaction.

  Instead, anger rose in their hearts.

  However, they couldn't vent the anger in their hearts.

  Because these vampires had once been people of their kingdom too.

  Among them were even noble lords they had once known well.

  Having died at the hands of vampires, they had transformed into such monsters along with them.

  All of this was thanks to Augustus.

  Perhaps they each had their own ways of treating the residents in their territories, some good and some bad.

  But they would never have done what Augustus did - turning the kingdom's subjects into blood slaves and vampires.

  Augustus's actions could never be forgiven by anyone.

  Finally, after countless revivals, Augustus once again regrew his head.

  The instant he revived, seeing the golden figure rushing toward him again, he suddenly shouted:

  "Stop!"

  The golden bird head stopped at the moment it was about to hit Augustus's skull.

  A violent gust of wind suddenly rose up, even lifting Augustus's messy hair to fly wildly in the air.

  The terrifying force even tore apart the space on Augustus's other side.

  The sound of rocks shattering came as the ground was plowed into a deep furrow.

  Absolutely terrifying.

  Everyone present was shocked by Viktor's power.

  At the same time, they were amazed at how precisely Viktor could control such frightening power.

  Viktor looked down at Augustus who had called for a stop, calmly asking:

  "Are you afraid of the pain?"

  This was actually true.

  Although Augustus could continuously revive, the pain of flesh being torn and skull being shattered was very real.

  Revival couldn't offset this pain; rather, it accumulated bit by bit like silt.

  But Augustus didn't admit it - after all, who would know if it hurt if he didn't say so.

  He just stared at Viktor with his blood-red eyes, snarling:

  "What exactly do you want?"

  "We can negotiate! Except for the throne, I can give you anything!"

  Hearing this, Viktor paused.

  He raised his staff again, pointing at Pricis who was floating in the sky.

  At this moment, Pricis still remained suspended high in the air.

  Her expression was blank, as if she were just a tool.

  Everything that had happened on the ground seemed unrelated to her.

  However, when Augustus realized Viktor's intention and saw Viktor's deep eyes.

  He fell silent for a moment.

  Then, as if finally understanding something, he burst into maniacal laughter:

  "So that's it... you've discovered her value too..."

  Augustus completely understood why Viktor would stop him.

  Because he had also discovered Pricis's value.

  After all, she was the only Blood Descendant in this world...

  "Viktor, as expected."

  "You just want the immortality she can bring you."

  Augustus desperately widened his eyes, his gaze shooting fire as he thundered:

  "I won't let you succeed!!!"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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