“Stop with the childish lies! If I hadn’t reacted quickly enough, I’d be dead right now!” Ang shouted.

“So you do know it’s childish nonsense? I thought you didn’t,” Erinna said, not giving him any quarter.

“Sister Liana is a very important person to our Venus Dukedom, and she is also our public face. You were the one who provoked us first, and now you’re playing the victim here? It’s truly disgusting,” Erinna said coldly.

“Tsk.” Ang didn’t speak again. He had no ground to stand on. It was better to deal with the demon first. “This test is really unreasonable. It’s only fair that those who didn’t participate at all shouldn’t get a reward.”

Liana naturally heard Ang’s complaint, but he wasn’t wrong. It was only fair that those who didn’t contribute shouldn’t get a reward. This would minimize the number of people trying to fish in muddy waters.

Liana looked at Erinna beside her.

“You seem a little impulsive,” Liana said. “This won’t do. You can’t, because of me...”

“This has nothing to do with you, Sister Liana,” Erinna interrupted.

“I am the Duchess of Venus, and a newly appointed one at that. At a time like this, I must show a strong side, otherwise everyone will want to come and take a kick at our Dukedom. Not to mention, they were the ones who came looking for trouble first. I certainly won’t give him any face, otherwise this kind of small trouble will only become more and more frequent in the future,” Erinna said.

But that just now was clearly a bit too much. You were about to kill him, even if we were in an illusion.

Liana «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» thought for a long time and could only say, “Just be a little more careful. Otherwise, it might have the opposite effect.”

“I will, Sister Liana. Even if you don’t believe in me, you have to believe in yourself,” Erinna said.

“Me?” Liana didn’t know why this was being brought back to her.

“Is Sister Liana going back on her word?” Erinna asked in return.

“Oh...” Liana knew what she was talking about. “I’m not one to go back on my word, you’re right. If you made such a low-level mistake, I would indeed be angry. But I would also definitely help you handle it, because no matter what, you are my sister.”

“But if you help me, Sister Liana, then our agreement would be over, right?” Erinna said.

“Yes.” Liana nodded. There had to be a limit.

Otherwise, it would be endless.

And just as the two of them were discussing how to stick together, a huge explosion came from the distance.

“Has it started?” Liana frowned. This kind of large-scale explosion could only be caused by magic.

But using this kind of magic against the resistant demon race could possibly have little to no effect.

“Shall we go and see?”

“Mm.” Liana got up and walked in that direction.

After walking for about ten minutes, she saw a tragic scene.

Many mages were lying on the ground. Only a few were still struggling to hold on.

Ang was even being held by the throat by the Executor Demon, blood constantly dripping from its fingers to the ground.

“This is?” Liana was also a bit surprised. Although the demon was indeed difficult to deal with, wasn’t this a bit too difficult?

This could be called a complete rout. The human side had no room to fight back at all.

By rights, this was impossible. In every trial, the level of the demons was the average of the participants.

This time there was only one demon, and its strength was fixed at the executor-level. It was a bit stronger than usual, but it shouldn’t have led to such a one-sided situation.

“Be careful, Sister Liana.” Erinna stood in front of her.

The demon’s gaze fell on the two of them. Liana didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she could see what looked like surprise and excitement on its face.

“「Slash!」”

Erinna’s finger drew a line in the air.

A slash quickly shot towards the crystal on the demon captain’s forehead.

It let go of Ang, opened its mouth, and directly bit Erinna’s spell into pieces, then swallowed it all.

After eating her magic, the patterns on its body flickered for a moment, as if telling them that it was full.

Erinna hadn’t intended to use this move to finish it off. Her purpose was only to make it let go of Ang.

But what happened next was something they could never have imagined.

The demon captain’s body turned into a puddle of black water and enveloped Ang.

Liana felt that something was wrong. This had never happened before.

“What are you doing?!” Ang’s voice was filled with fear and a slight tremor.

“No! Don’t!!!”

The black water completely enveloped Ang. By the time Erinna wanted to stop it, it was already too late. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Ang, who had collapsed on the ground, suddenly stood up. “A human blessed by the Tree of Life? Interesting.”

“?” Although this was no longer a secret, the other party’s tone was clearly not normal.

“I didn’t expect that the first thing I’d do upon waking would be to harvest such delicious food. You all are so considerate,” Ang said coldly.

“You are... a real demon?” Liana frowned. She had originally thought she had gotten used to that foul stench of the demon race, but now, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of nausea.

This was a different feeling from before.

What she had been worried about before had really happened.

“You’ve occupied his body?” Liana asked.

“Occupied? Don’t put it so crudely.” Ang rolled his neck, making a cracking sound. “I saved him. Without me, he would have died long ago. He should be thanking me.”

“Tsk.” A troublesome matter had arrived. No matter how good her results in the simulations were, it was still not enough in front of a real demon.

The people lying on the ground now were proof. If it were the same level of simulation as before, it wouldn’t have been a problem for them at all.

“He is truly ‘dead,’ right?” Liana asked.

The other party seemed to be in a good mood, having just reawakened and with a delicious meal before it, so it answered a few more of her questions.

“Yes, dead in the truest sense. To be honest, the humans of today are really so weak. They can’t even arouse my interest. They can’t take it after just a little bit of playing around. I haven’t even had enough fun yet. If I weren’t so hungry after so long, I wouldn’t even deign to put such low-quality food in my mouth.” Ang revealed a strange smile that made Liana’s hair stand on end.

“Erinna, protect yourself. Just stall for time,” Liana said. “The academy’s teachers must have noticed. They will come in.”

“Mm.” Erinna nodded. Stalling for time was not a big problem.

“Ang” also saw through Liana’s purpose. “Hey, hey, hey, Your Highness Liana, what you’re doing is a little different from what you just said. You talk so bravely, but when you really face a demon, you choose to run away?”

Liana couldn’t even be bothered with him. In this environment, using magic was just a meaningless consumption of her own energy. Besides, after it had turned into a human, its magic core was now hidden somewhere. It was better to run first.

If she were caught now, she would really die.

Fortunately, after entering the illusion, the surrounding environment hadn’t changed much. Escaping was still quite smooth.

But the other party had been sealed here for hundreds, even thousands of years, and had also seized Ang’s memories. He was far more familiar with the Ibett Magic Academy than they were.

Boom! The wall next to Liana suddenly shattered, and Ang’s attack came towards her.

“「Create Gem Shield」”

Liana quickly generated a shield to block the attack.

“Tsk.” Ang’s attack was blocked by Liana. He looked at his own palm. “What a useless body.”

“Erinna, did you see that? I was actually able to block his attack.” Liana was currently being carried by Erinna, moving at high speed.

“Yes, Sister Liana is really amazing,” Erinna praised.

“No, I’m not amazing.” Liana wasn’t looking for praise right now.

“...” Erinna was silent for a few seconds. Before Liana could even speak, she had already understood what she meant. “He’s still adapting to the body, right?”

“You’re so smart.”

“So now’s our chance?”

“Let’s give it a try. If there’s any danger, get out of there quickly. And you absolutely must not let his blood splash on you. If that happens, immediately use purification magic on yourself,” Liana instructed.

“Got it.” Erinna stopped and put Liana down.

“Hm?” Ang looked up and saw that the two of them had stopped. “Given up? I can let you die a less painful death.”

“You couldn’t even break through this weakling’s defense. Are you still saying such ridiculous things?” Liana planted her heavy shield on the ground.

“Not bad.” Ang finally looked at the two of them properly. “There shouldn’t be any demons left in this world. Why do you seem to know so much about them? Is it because of the Tree of Life?”

“Too lazy, just listen,”1懒说配听 (lǎn shuō pèi tīng), “Too lazy to say, [you’re only] fit to listen,” a dismissive phrase used to shut someone down, implying they are not worth the effort of a full explanation. Liana retorted. She raised her hand.

“「Gem Gunlance, Generate」”

“「Support Bullet, Haste」”

“「Support Bullet, Empower Mana」”

“「Support Bullet, Defense Up」”

“「Support Bullet, Sacred Blessing」”

She shot enhancement spells at Erinna, empowering her.

At this point, Liana no longer planned to hold back. The other party was a demon. Besides, right now, only Erinna was here. She was trustworthy and already knew about her inherent magic. Moreover, she hadn’t completely exposed herself yet.

The offensive power of her magic had not yet been used.