Looking at the entranced crowd calmly with Tristan in his hand, Basil retracted the swords he had sent at the Demons using [Master of Weapons]. He had almost exhausted his barely recovered Qi thanks to that very stunt.

He, of course, did that knowing what consequence he would face. The reason why he still did that was because keeping a strong front was necessary to keep his sneaky enemy away.

Looking down at Tristan, who barely resembled a human due to his crushed face, Basil recalled what Ione and Iliana had done to him. They had altered his memory with a Pacifer Art, which would support their testimony in the future.

They were going to hand over Tristan to the Supreme Court, which was secretly controlled by the Church, and mess with the Church by giving them false informations. With this, the Church wouldn't find out about Basil's true identity anytime soon.

"This is going to be a little bit uneventful, but we have earned a triumph over the Monsters inhabiting the Obelisk." Throwing Tristan forward, Basil added, "This man, although he is not the Obelisk Master, is a part of the reason for your hardships."

Murmurs filled the place as they wondered who was the person Basil had just thrown. They were also wondering what had happened, and how Iliana could be with Basil.

"This man is a disciple of the infamous Charles Blois. Together with the Obelisk Master, Goap, this man and his Master orchestrated the whole event that has cost us tens of thousands of innocent lives."

Everyone's eyes darkened at the revelation. They finally understood why it was necessary to keep Tristan alive.

"I almost lost my lover to this man and his Master. They ganged up on me when I was saving her, but I managed to triumph over them. Charles Blois was injured badly and forced to flee, meanwhile this man had no chance to run away."

Shaking his head faintly in regret, he continued, "It is unfortunate that his Master is still breathing out there, but I think we can still call it a victory. We shall hold this man accountable for what he has orchestrated with his Master!"

"Uwooh!"

"Crucify and burn him to death!"

"Skin him alive!"

"Gut him out and feed his viscera to the dogs!"

"Split his body apart!"

Almost everyone shouted out the cruel things they should do to Tristan. They were genuinely enraged by what he, his Master, and Goap had done to them... According to Basil's testimony.

Although Tristan and Charles had indeed cooperated with Goap, unlike what Basil claimed, they had only contributed to the death of the citizens of Southevile Viscountcy. The sooner than expected Outbreak was actually orchestrated by the Church and Goap.

Still, no one would bother to really investigate if it was true Tristan had really contributed to the massive death of Braxtein Kingdom's citizens. People just needed someone to blame on, and the Church was not stupid enough to expose themselves.

This way, Tristan had perfectly become a scapegoat.

"We shall get out of this place, everyone. There are things we can't hear here, and I believe many of you are exhausted already," Basil exclaimed, calming down the enraged crowd.

The crowd calmed down, then turned their head to Basil, waiting for his next instruction. Edward and the other three Princes came forward, followed by the Legion Commanders.

Looking at the army properly for the first time, Basil found none of the Legion Commanders had fallen in the battle, but the amount of soldiers had decreased significantly enough to be noticeable.

It was clear to him that they had been fighting individually for the past few hours he had left them. It was honestly surprising there were still that many of them had survived.

"Master!"

Turning his head to the side at the excited call, Basil found Deacon running at him. "I honestly thought you were too scared to come here."

"You were the one who left me behind—how could I follow you entering the Obelisk?" Deacon retorted when he arrived at Basil's side.

Smiling softly, Basil turned his gaze to the students from Rehearsal Class coming his way. Missy and Cray were even running at Iliana with their teary eyes.

His eyes couldn't help but darken at that. He hadn't told Iliana yet about Whitney's death, so he was sure hearing it now would be akin to being struck by a lightning in the back of her head.

"Yo, sis, you shouldn't have acted tough! Look at what you have put everyone through!"

"Hu-hu-hu... Iliana, you idiot! You know that you are nowhere near strong enough to take on that abomination. Why did you have to provoke him?!"

None of them were asking about how she was. All they did was telling her how stupid and stubborn she was, and how everything wouldn't have happened if she hadn't acted tough.

That honestly irked Iliana, however she completely agreed with them; what had happened to her wouldn't have happened if she didn't overestimate herself. Because of that, unlike what she usually did, instead of smacking their head, she patted them.

"Thank you for bringing her back." Litton and Monica bowed in unison. "We are very sorry we didn't immediately follow you on your quest to save her, and instead mourned for our dead friend."

"Let us talk about it later. For now, let us get out of here." Basil waved his hand.

Picking Tristan up, he jumped on Deacon's back. Iliana and Ione immediately followed suit not long after much to his amusement.

Seeing that Basil was ready to go, the others prepared themselves. As he instructed Deacon to move, everyone follow his lead.

Ten minutes after, all of them reached outside. Not long after, the news of another victory for the humans, which was, again, led by Basil Pacifer was spread.

...

Capitol Building, Randalvine.

Before the news about the success of the clearance of Goap's Obelisk was spread, a fierce battle between the humans and the Demons almost reached its peak in front of the capitol building.

Countless of dead bodies were already piled up in front of the building; they were enough to make a barrier. As the one in charge of the city's defense, Lawson Lansdowne could only click his tongue bitterly at that.

Despite having 10 Legions of Royal Army and thousands of volunteering Sixth Circle Mages under his command, he still couldn't lead the people to victory even after close to four days.

The amount of Demons they were facing was simply overwhelming—it was close to twice the amount of Demons Lucia's Army had. On top of that, a great majority of them were Upper Middle Class Demons.historical

Not only were they many, but they were also strong enough to flip a Fifth Magic Circle by themselves. This was what made the fight stuck in a stalemate for close to four days.

"Headmaster! There are only 198 of us remaining—what should we do?!"

One of the first year students, a righteous girl with a strawberry blonde hair came up to Lawson. Blue blood decorated her armour, whereas red blood tainted her cheeks.

Exhaustion was evident in her face, but her eyes still burned brightly in vigour. She had killed thousands of Demons and saved people for the past days, but she still didn't lose her motivation to fight despite the hardships.

"Kimberley..." The girl was Kimberley Bulmer—the girl Basil didn't like for her righteous nature. "Tell the others to retreat. I exempt all of you from the battlefield from now on."

"Headmaster, what are you talking about? What about the civilians?" Kimberley asked in horror.

"It's alright. You have done your best. You and the others still have a future, so leave the battlefield. We will cover for 198 of you."

The number the two were talking about was the number of Randalvine Magic Institute's students spotted in the battlefield. Out of 500 students stationed there, only 198 of them remained, which signified a great loss to the Magic Institute and the Kingdom.

Not just everyone could enter Randalvine Magic Institute. All of its students were genius in their own field, which was why it would be a very great loss for the society to lose them in a close to hopeless battle.

Although everyone had an equal obligation to defend their Kingdom, Lawson was sure Anthony would understand that, which was why he ordered them to leave the battlefield.

"Headmaster..." Some of the righteous students like Kimberley, however, were reluctant to leave. "We can't just do nothing while knowing hundreds of helpless people dying in front of our eyes."

"The fact is... You are weak." Lawson, of course, wasn't having it. "Your power is screaming for you to be saved, so bring the others with you to the rear. NOW!!!"

Kimberley widened her eyes at Lawson's explosive response. She stood there silently for a few seconds, before biting her trembling lower lip, and left without saying anything.

Lawson clicked his tongue bitterly at that, then refocused his attention to the battlefield. He flipped his Grimoire open, and cast a wide range Spell which he would use to kill the Demons crowding in front of him.

Boom!

Mana overwhelmed the air as his Seven Magic Circles shone brightly. Five of them were Grand Circles, and there rest of them were Major Circles.

A burning orb the size of a two storey building shone brightly above his head. The air around him distorted due to how hot it was, but it was apparent that he was unbothered.

"Just die already—I am sick of all of you bastards!"

Throwing the orb at the Demons in front of him, the Demons turned to ashes as soon as it touched them.

Burst!

Everything that was in front of him was rapidly engulfed by an extremely hot fire. Regardless of what they are, human and Demon bodies that were piling on the ground; along with the living Demons were burnt to ashes.

With a sardonic smile, he exhaled deeply as he looked at the sea of fire he had made. He had exhausted his Magic Circles, but he still found it amusing he could ruin the capital as much as he liked thanks to the situation.

"Well, that is quite impressive I admit."

As soon as Lawson heard the comment, the hair on his body stood on end. A sickeningly overwhelming presence suddenly descended on him, making him hesitate to turn his head to the side.

Looking at that; Jerion, Goap's First Great General, smiled in glee.