Unlike the previous battles, although Sonio’s speed was still within the range Egrette could handle, his overall strength had undoubtedly reached a level equal to hers.
The Mana-Breaking Blade could dispel magical effects. If the current Sonio used his identity as a mage at this distance, he might truly be able to cut through Egrette’s defense magic, which primarily focused on close combat supplemented by magic.
Without much hesitation, Egrette immediately evaded. Just as she had expected, the Mana-Breaking Blade barely grazed her body, but the defense magic in the nearby area was briefly dispelled.
This level of destruction could still be restored using Magic Power, but if the Mana-Breaking Blade hit the defense magic directly or even pierced her body, her Magic Circuits would be halted or even destroyed. She might be unable to use Magic Power for a period of time.
In other words, while this magic carried extremely high risks for a close-combat style, it could force the opponent into a “Silence” state, rendering them unable to use skills that required Magic Power.
“Trying to escape? Naive! BLADE OF MAGIC DESTRUCTION: MODIFIED!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Blade Staff in Sonio’s hand was completely enveloped in Magic Power. Replacing the original Mana-Breaking Blade, which had only been slightly enlarged, it formed a sharp spear dozens of meters long.
Its length was more than enough to bring Egrette, who had not retreated very far, into its attack range.
Sonio spun the ten-meter-long spear like a staff, forcing Egrette to dodge repeatedly to avoid being hit.
Eventually, because the angle of the attack was too tricky, Egrette briefly lost her balance.
Aiming for the moment she revealed a weakness, Sonio used reinforcement magic to increase his attack speed and thrust the spear forward violently.
“DIE!!”
Sonio shouted loudly, as if he could already see the image of Egrette being pierced by the spear and finally becoming a lamb for the slaughter because she could not use magic.
However, just as the spear was about to hit Egrette, a metal block with extremely high speed and mass sliced through the air like a cannonball and struck the spear.
Under the kinetic energy of such a powerful attack, the Mana-Breaking Blade—which was powerful against magical effects but correspondingly fragile against physical attacks—was instantly shattered.
“This… what happened!?”
“What else could it be? Scientific weapons, kid.”
A third voice, different from the two of them, rang out. Turning to look, they saw a person sitting in a seat enveloped by metal shields. Several long metal tubes protruded from the gaps in the shields, and smoke still rose from the openings due to the high temperature remaining from the explosion that fired the metal block.
Through his magic perception, Sonio immediately determined that the person sitting inside that metal can was Heath Ledger, the General of the Vampire Fourth Army who had supposedly fallen into a deep sleep because of his surprise attack not long ago.
Besides him, Lux and the remaining Maid Guards were also there, aiming different large-scale metal weapons at him.
“You guys…”
“Are you confused? You thought you had put everyone into a deep sleep, so why are these people still awake?”
As if seeing through Sonio’s thoughts, Egrette explained:
“It is very simple. They were never in a deep sleep from the beginning. That battle just now was nothing more than a hoax.”
“What… did you say…”
Hearing Egrette’s explanation, Sonio found it hard to believe for a moment.
“Impossible! The battle just now could not have been fake! Have your soldiers not all died in battle? Except for him…!”
As he spoke, Sonio looked at Heath Ledger, the sole survivor of the Blood Race army in the distance, and then seemed to think of something.
“No… that is not right… Why would the Blood Race, who were invading this Demon King Castle, cooperate with the Maid Guards who protect it!?”
As a Demon King, he understood the loyalty of the Great Demon King’s Maid Guards far too well. It could even be described as “blind.” Sacrificing their lives was merely the bare minimum for them.
How could people like them cooperate with the Blood Race who were just invading the Demon King Castle?
Looking at Sonio, whose worldview seemed to be collapsing, Egrette only wanted to laugh, though she held it back for the time being.
“I say, do you really still believe I came here with the intention to rebel?”
“You… could it be!?”
“That is right. From the beginning, this was a trap set to lure you into showing yourself.”
Egrette never intended to rebel. Long ago, she had secretly established contact with the Maid Guard of the Great Demon King Castle and discussed this plan.
From her appearance during the audience with Ai Yue—where she and the Maid Guard seemed like fire and water, completely incompatible—to the battle between the Maid Guard and her General, Heath Ledger, everything had been part of the plan. It was all to make others mistakenly believe they were in a hostile relationship.
“Just to lure me out, you sacrificed almost the entire Fourth Army? How cruel!”
“Are you speaking recklessly now? That will not work on me. After all, I never intended to keep those people around anyway.”
To Sonio’s surprise, Egrette felt no guilt over sacrificing the entire Fourth Army. She had even hoped they would be wiped out.
“On our way here, that silent, empty city was your handiwork, was it not? Do you not think those people were just scum who had no humanity and acted willfully, viewing themselves as a noble race?”
If Egrette and General Heath Ledger had not suppressed them with all their might back then, those soldiers would likely have burned, killed, and looted the town, massacring many civilians. This was because they did not view other members of the Demon Race as people at all.
“I am actually a pacifist, you see. Back then, she reached out to me when I was struggling to resolve the Blood Race’s discrimination against other races, which is why I became the First Demon King. And those people were the last group of extreme Blood Supremacists I managed to find. It just so happened that I used this opportunity to trap and kill them all, and they served their purpose as the bait to lure you out.”
“I see… No wonder, besides those soldiers, the number of casualties is incredibly low—one could even say there were none. Even those maids who were enveloped in blood and lost consciousness were only a means to avoid me discovering any abnormalities, and to enter your Domain to provide support and carry out the ambush against me, right?”
“That is exactly right.”
Egrette admitted to Sonio’s accusations very straightforwardly.
“Let us stop the talk here. That piece of trash actually dared to betray the Great Demon King. Even grinding his bones to dust would not be enough!”
“That is right! DEATH PENALTY!”
“Calm down, all of you. Killing him would be too easy on him.”
The Maid Guards could no longer hold back. The fire in their eyes was enough to burn Sonio to ashes.
“It is checkmate now. Sonio, your end is already decided.”
Egrette raised her scythe, preparing to slice Sonio into a human pillar to incapacitate him.
However…
‘I should be the one saying that.’
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