Lucilla glared at Basil with her bloodshot eyes. Her teeth were tightly gritted, and it didn't take one to be a genius to know that she was utterly mad.

Her hands were trying their best to loosen up Basil's hold on her neck to no avail. She wasn't actually suffocating, however for such a prideful Demon as her, being lifted above the ground by her neck was utterly humiliating.

She had killed a numerous amount of Demons to get to her current position—it had taken her hundreds of years to be this strong. It was really disbelieving as much as it was humiliating that she could be defeated quite easily by a human.

"Curse you, pretentious human! Ptooi!" Lucilla spat at Basil, but he easily dodged her saliva. "You are a Ninth Circle Mage pretending to be a Fifth Circle Mage, aren't you?!"

Basil scoffed in amusement. "Is being born inside the Obelisk makes you that clueless of how incapable you actually are?" He couldn't believe what he had heard. "Stop overestimating yourself, Demon—you are not that hard to beat."

"This accursed human...!"

Basil sneered disdainfully at Lucilla's reaction. Her face turned shade darker since her blue blood was madly coursing through her veins as her emotion got the better of her.

She overwhelmed her hands with Demonic Mana to increase her strength, but despite so, she still couldn't make Basil's hand choking her budge. It infuriated her greatly, and it amused Basil even more.

He simply couldn't believe the Sixth Great General of Goap, whose name had been carved in Braxtein's darkest history in his past life was this pathetic.

For the terrifying things she had done in his past life, he had thought she would actually have some capability, so he was really surprised as much as he was disappointed when he found out that she didn't even understand power levels well.

The reason why she suspected Basil as a Ninth Circle Mage in disguise was probably because she had never fought someone as strong as Basil before, but for her to think a Ninth Circle Mage would only amount to that triggered Basil.

He, after all, had been a Ninth Circle Mage in his past life—he knew what he could do with the power, and how much power he had. Seeing that Lucilla thought he had to be a Ninth Circle Mage to be able to defeat her was utterly laughable.

He wondered just how much the pink-haired Demon had actually overestimated herself.

"I heard you were good at Bewitchment." Basil quirked his eyebrow. "I don't find your Bewitchment as good as the rumour makes you to be though. It is above average, of course, but still too lousy to be considered amazing."

"Hah! You want to see how magnificent my Bewitchment is? Release me this instance, and I'll show you!"

"Have I hit your head too hard?" Basil sneered. "You don't look really right in the head anymore."

Infuriated, Lucilla tried to kick Basil with her dangling feet. Her feet possessed a strength that was enough to reduce a building to dust, but despite so, it couldn't break the thin layer of Mana Barrier Basil had put slightly in front of him.

She became even more infuriated because of that, so she let out a scream of frustration to express her distress. It was loud enough to rupture the eardrums of the people within the area of 1 kilometer from Basil.

It still did nothing to Basil's eardrums, however it still annoyed him. Since he knew shutting her mouth wouldn't really fix the issue, he slammed Lucilla down the ground violently.

Boom!

The ground where Lucilla was slammed on immediately caved in. Small cracks were created on the ground along the way, and as the one who had contributed to the making, Lucilla didn't look so fine.

She had stopped screaming like a Banshee as she was now having a difficulty to breathe. Shock and bewilderment was apparent in her eyes, but resentment burned the brightest in them as they landed on Basil.

"Do you know what makes you easy to defeat? You resemble a human greatly—being a human is a great disadvantage," Basil remarked calmly. "No matter who you are—a Mage or a Knight—as long as you are human, you posses weaknesses."

He gave Lucilla a mysterious smile. "I once learned everything about human body from the Doctor who said those words, and it surprised me how many things I could do to damage it without using Magic."

Basil's hold on Lucilla's neck tightened, and with Mana, he closed her windpipe. In result, Lucilla was completely unable to breathe.

"I still prefer to use Magic however—I find Magic does a better work." Basil coldly looked at Lucilla. "How does not being able to breathe feel like? How does being a human feel like?"

Lucilla could only glare at Basil as she tried to expel all of Basil's Mana clogging up her throat to no avail. She was also doing her best to strengthen her neck so Basil's hand couldn't crush it, and it was a hard labour since it wasn't something she normally did.

15 seconds passed, and Lucilla's face, her blue skin was darker than ever. The blood from her neck and above couldn't circulate well, burdening her veins that were now bulging visibly.

Her eyes began to roll back in her head a few seconds after as the strength she put on her hands weakened gradually. Her feet stopped kicking the ground after 3 seconds, and at this point, she was close to lose her consciousness.

Basil lightly scoffed at the scene. It wasn't his first time doing a simple trick to his enemy to defeat them, but he still found it amusing, as much as it was disappointing, Lucilla could be defeated with one hand choke.

"Well, it is time to—"historical

Whoosh!

"This tricky Demon."

Basil lightly laughed at what had just happened. It turns out, Lucilla had been preparing a Curse for all the time he was choking her.

She had tried to slap the Curse to Basil's face, but since she wasn't completely conscious, he had easily dodged the hand swat.

"I'll give you an A for your tenacity, but E for your will." Basil chuckled. "You should've blown yourself up, if you really wanted to take me down. Beggars can't be choosers—know your situation well."

Lucilla snarled at Basil as she could faintly hear his ridiculing voice. It was hard for her to remain awake, but her indignation towards Basil allowed her to maintain her consciousness that along.

"I would like to kill you immediately, but it will be wasteful," Basil calmly said. "Be grateful for you have earned the chance to be my Art practice subject."

Just as Lucilla considered about blowing herself up to bring Basil down with her—an idea which she wasn't really sure she liked—Basil surprised her by loosening his hold on her neck.

The blood trapped in her head could finally circulate again, and she slowly regained her vision that had been colored in black for the past 2 minutes or so. Basil's Mana was also no longer clogging up her throat, so she could breathe once again.

Smirking to herself while thinking how stupid Basil was to let his guard down, the moment she fully regained her vision, she looked at Basil in ridicule as she cast another Curse to surprise Basil.

The moment she looked at him however...

"Y-You... What are you... Really?"

... She immediately lost her ability to cast her Curse—to do anything.

She could only silently stare at Basil, who now had his Pacifer Seal glowing in gold in the middle of his forehead, in bewilderment. Basil's brown eyes had turned golden, and his aura was so profound, she was sure it didn't belong to a human.

"W-Why does a Celestial Being leave the Heavenly Throne?!"

Lucilla trembled uncontrollably as Basil looked into her eyes with his deep and cold golden eyes. She felt like Basil was directly looking at her soul, and it was by no means pleasant in any way.

She knew she wasn't held by anything anymore—Basil had let her neck go, but she couldn't muster the courage to move, let alone casting a Curse.

"Celestial Being? I am not one yet," Basil neutrally said. "I do believe, however, I shall rule over the entire Heavenly Throne in the future."

"T-This is i-impossible! H-How can a Celestial Being interfere in our matter this soon?!"

Basil lightly scoffed. "Methinks thou hast lost thy mind. Thou hast no more the capability to understand me." Extending his hand, he put his palm on Lucilla's forehead. "Hence, I will directly ask your soul."

"No, no! Stop! Stop whatever you are—"

As soon as Lucilla's head was covered in the golden light Basil's hand was exuding, she lost her consciousness. Her eyes turned completely white, and her body was motionless.

Basil looked like he was merely looking into her eyes neutrally, but he was actually looking for the connection her soul had with Goap and the other Generals, which allowed her to communicate telepathically with them.

Basil had never met Goap in person in this life or in his past life. He couldn't ask the Guide where Goap was, and he was for sure didn't have any idea where Goap could possibly at currently.

He was lucky, however, he had made a decision to visit Arthan Library. The knowledge his mother had given him—the Pacifer Arts had finally come in handy.

Using one of the Arts to investigate Lucilla's soul, he looked for Goap through the connection her soul had with Goap's. It didn't take him long to find where Goap was, and he immediately quirked his eyebrow as soon as he saw what Goap was doing.

"He is integrating himself with an Artefact ... I wonder what the Artefact is."

Finding Goap's whereabout doesn't mean he wanted to face Goap himself—he was merely curious. He knew he didn't have the capability to do so, even more after Goap finished integrating himself with the Artefact later.

"Oh, he has noticed me."

Basil was about to deactivate his Art when Goap suddenly opened his eyes and glared at him. Goap immediately severed his connection with Lucilla, and it resulted in Basil's consciousness being expelled out of her soul.

The surprise didn't only end there however, since the moment Basil returned to the outside world, Lucilla's head immediately exploded. Brain matters scattered in the air, but none of them hit him as he had his Mana Barrier protecting him.

"Well, whoever the person facing him later is definitely going to have a hard time." Basil lightly smirked.

Goap was giving his best. Basil didn't know if it had been also like this in his past life, but he was sure the fight with Goap would sacrifice many.