Sahariel's attack was so swift and fierce that almost no one reacted in time. Yet, faced with her assault, Angela—who had just been putting on a pitiful act—suddenly twitched at the corner of her eye. She raised both hands, and in an instant, her clothes transformed into dozens of venomous snakes, trying to block Sahariel's strike.
But the Angel of Clear Skies seemed to have expected this. Her fingers gave a slight tremor, and in the next moment, the arrow of light burst apart like fireworks, piercing through the barrier of serpents as if it were paper. At the same time, Angela leapt back. A pair of bat-like wings sprouted from her back, and she spun around, attempting to fly out through the skylight—only to see a massive black shadow descending from above.
Duanmu Huai had been watching both Angela and Sahariel's every move. In fact, the moment Sahariel raised her arm, he was already prepared. So when Angela tried to escape, Duanmu Huai shot upward with the aid of his jetpack, cutting her off. As she turned her head to flee, he reached out, clamped his hand on her head, and smashed her hard into the ground.
"Boom!!!"
The entire throne hall trembled with the force of Duanmu Huai's merciless strike. It was only then that the crowd realized what had happened. Screams erupted. The nobles scattered to the sides, while the fully armed guards rushed forward, shielding the King as they stared in terror at the scene before them.
At that moment, Duanmu Huai stood up, raising his right hand.
"Looks like the fox has finally shown its tail."
The Angela in his grasp no longer looked like the fragile, pitiful girl she had pretended to be. Instead, she now had a voluptuous, alluring body, a mature face full of charm that somehow remained unwarped despite being smashed into the floor, along with bat-like wings and a slender, pointed tail.
Hmm… I've definitely seen something like this before… Isn't this just like the nuns serving the Lord of the Frozen Abyss?
"What is this?!"
The King was aghast at Angela's transformation, and Lorena too widened her eyes in shock.
"A succubus?!"
The sight of such a monstrous creature sent the crowd stumbling backward, eyes filled with fear as they looked at Angela dangling in Duanmu Huai's grip. Duanmu Huai, however, simply grabbed her by the neck and lifted her to eye level.
"Speak. What is your purpose here?"
"I—I don't know what you're talking about…"
Even with her true form exposed, the succubus still looked at him with tearful eyes.
"I admit I am not human, but I haven't done anything bad… I only wanted to stay here in Manaria, to learn magic… I never harmed anyone…"
Hearing the succubus's sobbing plea, the others' expressions began to waver. True, Angela wasn't human, but it was also true that she hadn't committed any visible crimes…
"Ahhhhh!!!"
But before she could finish her words, Duanmu Huai seized one of her wings and snapped it in half. A cold snort followed, and instantly, a chilling aura of fear flooded the entire hall, sweeping away the sorrowful atmosphere the succubus had conjured.
"If you dare use your filthy power again, I won't hesitate to rip off your head. So you'd better behave and answer my questions. I can at least guarantee you'll die with less pain. Now—why did you come to Manaria?"
This time, under Duanmu Huai's oppressive aura, the succubus turned pale, her composure shattered.
"S-someone sent me…!!"
"Who?"
"Fafnir!!"
"What?"
The name sent a collective shock through the hall. Duanmu Huai tightened his grip.
"Fafnir is already dead. You'd better find a better scapegoat."
"W-wait!! I'm telling the truth!"
She went even paler as Duanmu Huai exerted pressure.
"I know that evil dragon is supposed to be dead, but it has revived!!"
"Impossible!"
The King stood abruptly, shouting in anger.
"To prevent Fafnir's resurrection, we even burned its corpse! There's no way it could come back!"
"I don't know what you did, but Fafnir has indeed become an undead abomination."
With her cover blown, the succubus no longer held back.
"As for the details, I don't know. I was only summoned by Fafnir to carry out a task."
"What task?"
"To incite unrest in the Kingdom of Manaria, to weaken its strength as much as possible… Using conflict between nobles and commoners as a pretext, I could strain relations between the two sides. If it escalated into riots or even civil war, that would be ideal…"
"So you bewitched those idiots?"
Duanmu Huai glanced at the noble sons hiding behind their families. Their faces were ghostly pale. The succubus nodded smugly.
"Of course. These foolish, naïve children… As long as I played the role of their ideal and whispered words of affection, they were putty in my hands. And I even let them experience pleasures they had never known before…"
At those obscene words, Anne and Guleya blushed red, while the Duke glared murderously at his son.
"You fool! You actually let yourself be seduced by a demon?!"
"Father, please listen!!"
Yet even now, Yard Urich remained infatuated.
"I knew Angela's true nature all along, but she isn't truly evil. She was just forced into this…"
"You knew? You wretched son!!"
The Duke's face turned purple with rage. With a roar, he punched Yard squarely in the face, knocking him unconscious.
The surrounding nobles exchanged uneasy glances, some even showing sympathy toward the Duke.
So this is what you managed to raise after all these years?
Then again, their own sons weren't much better… which only made it more depressing.
Under Duanmu Huai's oppressive aura, the succubus had no more tricks left and obediently explained. As she said, she was only a low-level pawn. She had been summoned in a temple, and her mission was to infiltrate Manaria and stir unrest.
As for the news of the evil dragon's revival, she only knew what her summoners told her. They seemed to be cultists worshipping Fafnir… There are actually people who worship that thing?
Well, the world is full of lunatics.
After confirming the cultists' location several times, Duanmu Huai casually twisted the succubus's neck. He tossed her aside, and in the next moment, her corpse was obliterated by Sahariel's arrow of holy light.
What had begun as a simple broken engagement had escalated into a crisis far greater than expected. The King's face turned grim. He ordered everyone present to keep silent about what had happened and instructed the nobles to take their sons home and discipline them harshly. Judging by their furious expressions, those pampered young men were in for some brutal beatings.
"Thanks to you, otherwise I don't know how this would have ended."
When the nobles and their sons had left, the King finally let out a breath, turning to Duanmu Huai. He had to admit—if Duanmu Huai hadn't exposed the succubus, the Kingdom of Manaria could have faced disaster. After all, those who had stood by Angela were sons of officials and military leaders, while Count Hashar, though merely a Count, led a faction of nobles involved in internal affairs and finance.
If things had not been handled properly, the kingdom could have suffered political fractures or even civil strife. Add to that the class conflict between nobles and commoners stoked by the succubus, and it could truly have spiraled into chaos.
"It's nothing. Just occupational habit. Besides, her tricks were too clumsy."
Duanmu Huai brushed off his hands. In truth, most of his suspicion came from his instincts as an Inquisitor. In his career, aside from the brute followers of the God of Tyranny, the other three Chaos Gods' cultists all thrived on schemes—especially the God of Desire and the God of Trickery. Duanmu Huai had long since mastered the skill of seizing on every detail and locking onto it.
"But… could the evil dragon really be revived? We destroyed Fafnir's corpse and erased every trace of it."
This time it was Lorena who answered the King.
"As long as the soul remains, and with a skilled necromancer, resurrection isn't impossible… However…"
"Either way, we'll know once we investigate."
Duanmu Huai quickly made his decision.
"That may be, Sir Knight, but aren't you worried the succubus was lying to us?"
Anne voiced her doubts. To her, the succubus's answers had come far too easily. She couldn't understand why the demon would so readily "betray her allies."
"You don't need to worry about that, Miss Anne."
Lorena shook her head.
"Demons have no loyalty. In fact, she would be delighted if we destroyed those cultists."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because they already worship evil and signed contracts with demons. That means once they die, their souls will fall into hell, becoming property of the demons. To her, whether they live or die makes no difference."
Hearing this, the King frowned deeply.
"And what about the nobles she deceived?"
"That, I cannot say. But demons are indeed skilled at tricking people into signing contracts without realizing it, thereby selling their souls. Judging by those young men's behavior toward the succubus…"
Though Lorena did not finish, her meaning was clear.
"Sigh…"
The King let out a long sigh. Clearly, this too was a heavy burden for him.
Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai was thinking about another matter.
Just who was behind this, and for what purpose, that they would try to resurrect the evil dragon?
(End of Chapter)