The repeated provocations from the Blood Clan made Caliera feel as if she had been mistaken for an easygoing great demon.
In an instant, the Fall Lord's unyielding stance stirred a commotion among the demons.
The Regency Hall was filled with murmurs of astonishment, doubt, and discussion.
From the looks of it, even if she had to cross blades with Fourth Progenitor Eduardo, she would not let McCarthy suffer such an unwarranted disaster for no reason.
The demons looked back and forth between Fall Lord Caliera and Fourth Progenitor Eduardo, trying to read more from their facial expressions and body language. At this moment, they were even less certain whether the Fall Lord was truly faking it or simply defending demon dignity.
After all, as for what tier McCarthy actually was, only the two Tier 9 powerhouses present—Fall Lord Caliera and Fourth Progenitor Eduardo—knew the truth.
And since the Blood Clan envoy had the confidence to bluntly call McCarthy a Tier 4, it was quite likely that McCarthy truly could not withstand an attack from Eduardo.
Fourth Progenitor Eduardo would hardly speak without basis.
Yet amidst the blur of truth and falsehood, no demon present could reach a definitive conclusion.
They only worried about how the Blood Clan would react to the Fall Lord's resolute decision.
If the Fourth Progenitor truly struck, engaging in an all-out battle against the Fall Lord inside this palace, then even with the palace barrier's protection, the casualties among everyone present aside from the great demons would be catastrophic. It might even cause the peace talks to collapse, dragging the demon race onto the battlefield ahead of schedule.
The two Tier 9s were locked in a stalemate.
Blood Clan Viscount Giovanni was not intimidated by the oppressive presence of the demon assembly or the Fall Lord. Just as he was about to speak again, a hand came down upon his shoulder.
"Enough, Giovanni. Stop making things difficult for our demon friends."
Tenth Progenitor Ulysses, who had remained silent all along, finally spoke, his voice as leisurely and gentle as ever.
Yet merely hearing the polite, modest tone of this Progenitor Marquis filled the demons present with an inexplicable sense of unease.
His apparent yielding was in fact the relaxed ease of the absolute powerhouse.
The demons were not so foolish as to believe the Tenth Progenitor was some peacemaker trying to smooth things over at a time like this.
Tenth Progenitor Marquis Ulysses turned his head and looked back toward Fourth Progenitor Duke Eduardo in the row behind him.
"Duke Eduardo, I must trouble you. I am already prepared," he said with a faint smile.
"..."
Hearing this, Fourth Progenitor Eduardo gave a nod.
"Then I leave what follows to you."
Originally, the Blood Clan had planned to take the princess away from the demons without incurring any losses.
From the look of things today, to succeed, a sacrifice would have to be made.
Their Blood Clan certainly would not come out on the losing end; they would only take far more from the demons in return.
In that very instant, Eduardo's murky eyes turned completely crimson, flaring with a piercing red light. Cracks spread across his body, exuding a horrifying bloody glow.
Those eyes resembled blood-red gemstones radiating a chilling brilliance, every fissure speaking of the destructive power about to unleash upon everything!
Terrifying magical power coalesced in a split second, and every demon realized what was happening.
Fourth Progenitor Eduardo was about to unleash a self-destruction spell inside Naicalis Palace!
The great demons present took action at once toward the Fourth Progenitor's location.
Their eyes held a mixture of fury, gravity, and terror; they could not fathom if this Blood Clan Progenitor had lost his mind to attempt a sudden self-destruction right in the Demon King's palace!
Eduardo's body expanded as the bloody radiance grew ever more dazzling, fractures spreading across his flesh like spiderwebs.
The interweaving mana of the great demons erupted into the air, light and shadow distorting along the palace walls into murals of flickering lightning. Yet none of it could touch Eduardo. An invisible force field formed around him, shutting out all attacks like a barrier.
It was glaringly clear that their suppression could not affect the Tier 9 Eduardo.
They could not tell what grade this spell belonged to, but judging from the raw power surging at the moment of its gathering, once detonated, half of the Demon King's capital of Naicalis would likely be razed to the ground. As for the epicenter of the blast, whether any demon other than the Fall Lord could survive was entirely unknown.
A violent tremor rippled through the entire palace. Eduardo's body approached its limit in the blink of an eye, letting out a deafening roar.
It was a sound of fury, and a herald of destruction.
Eduardo nearly dissolved into a colossal mass of red light, carrying endless wrath and ruinous power as it prepared to expand to every corner of the palace.
The Fall Lord's eyes widened in horror. She had never imagined Fourth Progenitor Eduardo would decide to self-destruct with such absolute decisiveness. And this self-destruction spell was no ordinary magic—it was [Blood Annihilation], a spell belonging to the Sixth Progenitor that rivaled an Epic-tier spell!
"Stop right now!!"
Accompanied by Caliera's furious cry, she finally unleashed her power without reservation.
Her voice was like an invisible wave of mana, sweeping through the space of the Regency Hall in an instant.
No scorching red light continued to burst forth, nor was Eduardo permitted to proceed.
Time and space within the Naicalis Regency Hall seemed to freeze.
Every figure stood frozen in place like a stone sculpture, their movements arrested.
Up on the dais, Fall Lord Caliera was gasping for breath. At the critical juncture, she had successfully cast her highest-intensity [Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber], interrupting Eduardo's self-destruction.
Her ultimate innate magic, Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber, could ignore any countermeasure and forcibly plunge every target within range into an illusion. The content of that illusion was the target's most fragile inner fantasy, an irreparable regret, or a sweet dream destined never to come true in reality.
Its sole drawback was that it was a large-scale boundary spell that did not distinguish between friend and foe.
Any being who broke free from the illusion and remained conscious could observe the contents of other beings' dreams within a certain distance.
As the caster, Caliera could further modulate the intensity of a target's illusion, deduce the deeper wounds and vulnerabilities in their heart, and specifically reinforce them.
With every descent into the illusion, one would fall harder than before. The deeper one sank, and the longer one lingered, the more likely their soul would dissolve entirely within the dream.
Even having successfully executed the spell, Fall Lord Caliera did not relax in the slightest; sweat beaded continuously across her brow instead.
As a fellow Tier 9, it was extraordinarily difficult for her to maintain Eduardo's dream.
As a Blood Clan sage specializing in magic, Fourth Progenitor Eduardo possessed an absurd pool of mana and mental attributes.
To ensure Eduardo remained trapped in the dream, Caliera had to consume an immense amount of mental energy every second.
Worse still, although continuously restraining Eduardo could inflict severe wounds and even dissolve part of his soul, it was utterly impossible to eliminate an immortal Blood Clan Progenitor in a short time!
The moment Eduardo broke free, he would immediately self-destruct once more.
*Why... Eduardo feels slightly weaker than expected...*
Caliera murmured in confusion.
The only silver lining was that Fourth Progenitor Eduardo's current state was noticeably weaker than she had anticipated, as if he carried some severe injury.
Yet the thought that a crippled Blood Clan Progenitor might trade his life to wipe out their core royal capital made Caliera burn with uncontrollable rage, wishing she could flay these despicable, insane vampires and drink their blood.
All she could do now was pray that some demon could quickly struggle out of her maximum-output Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber to assist her against Eduardo!
If only two or three great demons broke free, they could forcibly seal the dream-trapped Eduardo from the outside!
*Esmod, hurry and come help me...!*
Straining with all her might to maintain the illusion suppressing Eduardo, pinning down this living bomb, Fall Lord Caliera forced her eyes half-open and silently willed her glance toward True Night Lord Esmod in the seating area.
Esmod's talent and mental fortitude made her the confidant Caliera trusted most. By her reckoning, the great demon with the greatest hope of breaking free from the Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber was Esmod.
However...
The Fall Lord only saw the True Night Lord staring blankly ahead, seemingly lost deep within the dream.
While the True Night Lord could overcome an ordinary-intensity Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber, it was impossible to say how long it would take under full power.
"Lord Fall, are you waiting for her?"
A sudden voice made the Fall Lord's body tremble slightly.
Dazed, Caliera lifted her head.
There, among the distant seats directly facing her and Princess Hyperion, a figure was casually pointing in the direction of the True Night Lord.
He had his legs elegantly crossed, looking as though he had cast off the illusion in an instant, his blood-red eyes completely clear.
"I have long wished to experience the legendary Fall Lord's [Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber]. As expected, it has no effect on me whatsoever."
Tenth Progenitor Ulysses smiled with faint amusement.
Hearing Ulysses's placid words, Caliera felt her hammering heart plunge into an icy abyss.
Chapter 582