The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 396: “Congratulations, You’ve Successfully Cornered Yourself.”

“Bang!”

The sound of shattering glass echoed.

Figures suddenly appeared outside the windows, crashing through the glass and quickly surrounding Shien.

“Hum!”

Magic power surged from the figures as they cast their spells.

In an instant, Shien’s feet sank into the floor as if stuck in mud, his legs immobilized. Chains bound his body, and transparent barriers rose around him, trapping him within, immense pressure building up, trying to crush him.

At this moment, at least ten binding and restraining spells were acting on Shien, even magic that sealed his magic power, completely restricting him.

Shien, as if he hadn’t reacted, silently watched this scene, not saying a word. After a while, he turned his head and looked at Barry.

Barry had slowly stood up, his face grim.

“You forced my hand.”

Barry said coldly.

Shien had to admit,

“It seems I overestimated you.” Shien said, his tone unchanged as if he wasn’t aware of his current situation. “I thought the so-called ruthless Iron-Blooded Duke should know very well that I’m not someone you can easily touch now. But it seems you’re not as smart as the rumors say. This is what they call ‘reputation exceeding reality,’ right?”

He really hadn’t expected this Duke to attack him so openly.

Although he had already noticed many magic reactions around the inn, even hostile ones, Shien thought they were Barry’s guards, not an ambush. He thought their hostility was simply due to Barry’s attitude, seeing him as an enemy, not that they would actually dare to attack him.

Who would have thought that Barry would actually attack him?

Knowing that he had a Demon Lord and the Kingdom’s treasure backing him.

Barry didn’t take Shien’s sarcasm seriously.

Having backers?

So what?

“Don’t forget, this is my territory, my domain.” Barry said coldly. “The Old Demon Faction just attacked this place, and the incident has just ended. With a little planning, it’s easy for the Stalim family to make it look like it was the Old Demon Faction who attacked you.” 𝘙𝘼ŊọꞖËꞨ

This was also the reason why Lim and the others weren’t too afraid of Shien’s arrival and even wanted to attack him.

It wasn’t that they weren’t afraid of the people behind Shien, but here, they had too many ways to escape blame and set things up.

Back in Cosmos, if it weren’t for Airi being by his side, making Lim and the others wary of acting rashly, they would have already attacked Shien.

No matter how strong the overt deterrence, it was still difficult to guard against covert schemes. This was reality.

Therefore, in other places, Barry wouldn’t dare to offend Shien, but here, in the Stalim Duchy, everything was under his control.

“Don’t blame me. At this point, I don’t want to openly turn against you, but this matter concerns the future of the Stalim family. I have no other choice.” Barry looked directly at Shien. “Tell me the whereabouts of Lim and the others now, and we’ll let this matter go. We can go our separate ways and forget about the past.”

“Really?” Shien glanced at Barry, ignoring his restraints and his current situation, and said sarcastically, “What if I don’t agree?”

“Then you’ve made an unwise choice.” Barry said with an impassive face. “Actually, we don’t have any deep hatred, just some minor grudges. It shouldn’t have come to this. I believe you understand.”

Indeed, on the surface, Shien and Barry didn’t have any major conflicts.

Although Barry and Lim had been secretly scheming against Shien, intending to eliminate this thorn in their side who threatened their interests, openly, the only conflict between the Stalim family and Shien was when Barry denied Shien’s contributions during the subjugation of the [Assassination Branch] and his audience with the King.

And that time, Lim even personally apologized, resolving their conflict.

Therefore, in terms of open conflicts, Shien and Barry only had that one clash.

“As long as you tell me the whereabouts of Lim and the others and let them return safely, then the grudges between us can be completely forgiven. You can even gain the friendship of our Stalim family.” Barry said, “You know our Stalim family’s position in the Kingdom. With our support, it won’t be long before you become an Earl, an upper-class noble, even a Marquis, a true high-ranking noble, your name remembered for thousands of years.”

Using both threats and inducements, Barry employed all the means he could.

Little did he know that the sarcasm in Shien’s eyes was growing stronger.

“Forgiven?” Shien glanced at his surroundings and at the dozen or so binding spells on him. “I’m already like this, and you still think the grudges can be completely forgiven?”

Shien only wanted to ask,

“Who gave you such confidence to think that this is a grudge that can be forgiven?”

Shien’s calm words made Barry anxious again.

“I said, this is an unwise choice.”

Barry’s tone was terrifyingly grim.

However…

“You’ve indeed made an unwise choice.” Shien looked up at Barry, no longer hiding his contempt. “Congratulations, you’ve successfully cornered yourself.”

As these words left Shien’s mouth, the entire hall was suddenly enveloped by a terrifying pressure.

It was an aura that shook the atmosphere.

It was a magic power that shook the heavens and earth.

“—!”

Including Barry, all the Stalim family members present changed their expressions drastically, their faces turning pale.

They wanted to scream, but found they couldn’t make a sound.

They wanted to escape, but found their legs wouldn’t obey their commands.

Their bodies trembled, their hearts pounded, their minds raced, their bones vibrated, even their blood seemed to stop flowing, as if they had fallen into an icy abyss.

Undoubtedly, this was primal fear.

The next moment, everyone saw it.

“Click…”

“Click…”

With two simultaneous sounds of opening doors, two little girls slowly walked out of two different rooms.

Seeing the two little girls, everyone trembled in fear, as if they had seen demons.

Especially Barry, whose eyes bulged, and an unprecedented fear surged in his heart.

Because Barry had seen one of the two little girls not long ago at the Buztout mansion and knew her identity.

“Not only did you disturb my sleep, but you also dared to touch my person right under my nose. You should be prepared to not leave this place alive, right?”

Airi, holding a pillow in her arms, looked at Barry with an impassive face, causing the fear in Barry’s heart to explode.

At this moment, Barry only wanted to shout,

“Why is the Dragon Demon here…!?”

The Duke had no idea that Airi had also come along.

Barry did receive information that Shien had two young girls with him, but Treece, the captain of the Second Knight Order, had already told him that one of the two little girls was Shien’s younger sister, and the other was likely the vengeful spirit rumored in the Duchy for many years.

This caused Barry, in his haste, to misjudge the situation and not realize that the younger sister Shien mentioned was actually the Dragon Demon in disguise.

In his opinion, one of the highest-ranking members of the Demon Race wouldn’t disguise herself as a mere human’s younger sister, right?

Moreover, since Treece hadn’t specifically described Airi’s appearance, Barry was misled by this information and, unlike Lim, didn’t realize that one of the little girls beside Shien was the Dragon Demon.

Furthermore, Barry assumed that a being like the Dragon Demon wouldn’t follow Shien around, let alone come to his territory. This Duke, being too clever for his own good, had literally pushed himself into hell.

While Barry was terrified by Airi’s appearance, Lilith, seeing Shien bound by numerous magic spells, showed a strong emotion in her usually calm eyes for the first time.

That emotion was anger.

“Boom!”

An astonishing evil aura erupted from Lilith’s body.

“Bang!”

The evil aura instantly struck the magicians who were restraining Shien, sending them flying with screams, shattering the layers of restraints on Shien, freeing him.

“Ah!”

Barry was also sent flying by the impact of the evil aura, crashing into the wall and letting out a wail.

But this level of pain was just an appetizer.

True hell was still waiting for them.

“Aaaaaaaaaah…!”

“Help… help me…!”

“No…! No…!”

“Aaaaaah…!”

With agonizing screams, the magicians, assaulted by the evil aura, struggled and begged for mercy, their eyes gradually turning bloodshot as they went mad.

“You… you…!?”

Barry, also bathed in the evil aura, clutched his head in pain and looked at Lilith in terror.

According to the information he had gathered, this madness-inducing evil aura was the power of the evil god that caused the destruction of Cosmos.

In other words, this little girl before him was the evil god who had once turned the land into hell and been sealed for nearly ten thousand years.

Now, the evil god’s punishment had befallen him.

“No…! No…! No…!!!”

Feeling his soul gradually falling, Barry let out a final scream.

Then, Barry’s consciousness completely vanished.

The head of the Stalim family had lost himself and his life.