https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-583-The-Downfall-of-a-Gentle-Land-Second-Time-Around/12584906/
Chapter 582: Lanchi Needs No Justification
Chapter 582: Lanchi Needs No Justification
Amidst the cheers, the demons turned their smiling gazes upon the couple, their eyes filled with contentment and pride.
Up on the high platform, the Fallen Angel, Caliyla, finally revealed a satisfied smile.
She loved nothing more than granting the dreams of other beings.
"Then, according to the procedure, the artist of this painting is—"
She pointed to the far left seat of the Regent Hall, where the expected demon groom sat upright.
"May I ask everyone to wait a moment."
In the blood clan seats furthest from the throne platform, facing the main hall, the voice of Viscount Giovanni, standing behind the Tenth Ancestor, abruptly halted everything.
All the demons were unsure what the blood clan envoy intended.
"..."
Just as Caliyla was about to speak, something she had anticipated happened amidst the settling dust.
Previously, she had already grown somewhat annoyed with this flamboyant blood clan viscount.
She furrowed her brows slightly and looked towards the center of the fan-shaped seats in the Regent Hall, where the blood clan was seated at the farthest end.
Viscount Giovanni, the blood clan's diplomat, stood up, his movements swift and decisive.
Caliyla, the Fallen Angel, knew that as an ancestor, Eduardo might cause trouble, and his method of disruption would likely be to let their lackey, the viscount, speak on their behalf first.
"Lady Caliyla, on behalf of the blood clan, I must object to this procedure," Viscount Giovanni said, his high-pitched voice cutting through the air as he looked at Princess Hyberrian on the monarch's side of the Regent Hall, a hint of mockery on his face.
He didn't want to let the demons have their happy ending.
"..."
In an instant, the eyes of all the demons in the hall turned to Viscount Giovanni, and many of the nobles' expressions turned angry.
When the blood clan had presented their epic painting earlier, they had been arrogant and condescending, and now that the demons had produced their own epic painting, the blood clan was questioning it again.
But the problem indeed lay in one question.
Was Maccassi a Great Demon?
The Fallen Angel, who was at the forefront, had said nothing after sensing the magic power on the painting of Maccassi.
Obviously, this indicated that she believed Maccassi was a Great Demon.
However, to be honest, the other demons couldn't feel any magical fluctuations or martial aura from Maccassi.
Perhaps Maccassi was hiding his strength, but if it was found that he was not a Great Demon in the end, he would be disqualified.
Not only the Great Demons present, but even those closest to him, like the Thunder Lord, were confused about the true nature of the wealthy merchant sitting beside him.
"Dear friend..."
Even the Thunder Lord, Garess, looked at his companion with uncertainty.
With the Thunder Lord's strength as an eighth-rank Great Demon, he couldn't really gauge the true level of his friend.
He was overjoyed for his friend, but he also worried.
In the Thunder Lord's opinion, Maccassi was not a combat-oriented demon and didn't seem to possess much martial power.
Perhaps a demon below the eighth rank could pass the mental trial with their unique mental abilities, but for the martial trial, the Thunder Lord was certain that without an eighth-rank power, there was no hope of passing any of them.
However, he was willing to believe in his friend and the Fallen Angel.
The blood clan was always so despicable.
Before they signed the peace treaty with the demons, they had been enemies on the battlefield, and even now, the blood clan continued to oppress the demons.
The demons were not a race that would remain meek and submissive. At this moment, the exile of the princess not only represented the dignity of the clan but also held the key to the final opening of the ancestral land.
Without the new Nine-Seal Demon King, if the ancestral land remained closed while they entered a state of war, the demons would lose a significant advantage.
The boundless magic power of the ancestral land, the souls of their ancestors, and the sealing techniques—all could be used to suppress the blood clan's ultimate barrier.
The blood clan had probably confirmed that Princess Lancie was the last remaining demon in the demon world who could open the ancestral land, and they would certainly not give up this precious opportunity easily. With their unscrupulous and underhanded style, they were capable of any dirty trick.
The demons in the hall began to whisper among themselves, sensing the ominous atmosphere.
Normally, such behavior from the blood clan envoy would be considered extremely rude.
However, the demons present understood—this question was highly effective.
The Fallen Angel beside the princess's throne nodded slightly, coldly granting Viscount Giovanni of the blood clan permission to speak.
If she didn't let him speak, the one who would speak up next would be the Fourth Ancestor, Duke Eduardo.
This simple reaction immediately plunged the hall back into silence, as the gazes of the demon nobles focused on the blood clan viscount and the Fallen Angel.
"Lady Fallen Angel... You wouldn't be trying to forge a Great Demon identity for him and deceive us, the blood clan, would you?" Viscount Giovanni asked, taking a deep breath and glancing at Maccassi, who was on the right side of the hall's center.
"Are you questioning my ability to distinguish a Great Demon?" The Fallen Angel, Caliyla, asked coldly without moving a muscle, her eyes fixed on the viscount.
"Or are you questioning whether I, as the esteemed Fallen Angel, would stoop to deception for the sake of victory?"
She found the blood clan's obstinate and disruptive behavior repulsive.
The moment she touched the painting, she had been certain that Maccassi was a genuine Great Demon.
Although she didn't know why there were so many imprint reactions in Maccassi's magic power, and one of them resonated with her abnormally deeply, she knew that each one was the supreme power of their demon clan.
However, before a Great Demon bestows their imprint upon another, even they would not know what their imprint is. Caliyla had never given her imprint to anyone, so the imprint on Maccassi certainly wasn't hers.
"Hehe, is Lady Caliyla angry?" Viscount Giovanni said, pointing at Lancie.
"If I were you, even if he wasn't a Great Demon, I would still identify him as one, because you definitely want the demons to win, don't you?"
Amidst the tense atmosphere that now enveloped not just Caliyla but the entire hall, the Fallen Angel, Caliyla, lifted her gaze, glancing at Duke Eduardo, the Fourth Ancestor, who stood behind Viscount Giovanni.
Although Duke Eduardo's expression was unreadable, with only a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, it was clear that Viscount Giovanni's audacity was sanctioned by the Fourth Ancestor.
"Hehe," Viscount Giovanni chuckled.
Caliyla refused to take the bait, choosing not to lower herself to argue with a mere viscount. She maintained her aloof demeanor, her eyes conveying that she was above explaining herself to the blood clan.
"...'
Marquis Ulysses, the Tenth Ancestor, remained silent, propping his chin with a slight smile.
From the start, he had been a mere spectator, uninterested in the disputes between the blood clan and the demon clan. The outcome mattered little to him.
The atmosphere in the hall grew increasingly tense.
Caliyla, the Fallen Angel, chose to ignore Viscount Giovanni's provocative question.
Viscount Giovanni maintained his composure, knowing that he had already gained the upper hand by daring to speak so boldly to the Fallen Angel. He gave a superficial bow and then addressed the entire assembly once more:
"I believe that all the demons present can sense the faint magic power emanating from this legendary demon painter. If he truly is a Great Demon, why don't we ask him to prove it himself?"
As Viscount Giovanni's accusation hung in the air, the atmosphere in the Regent Hall froze.
The entire hall fell into a brief silence before erupting into a buzz of voices.
"You bastard! That's an insult to the Fallen Angel!"
Orion, the Mist Demon, was the first to stand up and rebuke him, his voice dripping with restrained anger, as if he had been holding it in for a long time.
Regardless of whether Maccassi needed to prove his status, a mere blood clan viscount had no right to be so presumptuous towards the demons, demanding proof.
"What we need is complete honesty and adherence to the rules from our negotiating partners. How can we establish a foundation for peace if we can't provide each other with convincing results?"
Viscount Giovanni of the blood clan paid no heed to the Mist Demon's outrage, keeping his focus on the Fallen Angel, Caliyla.
"If the Fallen Angel hasn't cheated, may I ask this winner from your demon clan to demonstrate his power as a Great Demon?"
"It's simple, Maccassi. No need to keep up the act," Caliyla said, looking at Lancie, implying that she wanted Lancie to display his authority as a Great Demon.
This soul-striking display was something that demons could instinctively sense, and even the blood clan could recognize it.
"Oh dear, why must I scare my fellow demons so?"
Lancie leaned back in his seat, his voice filled with reluctance as the white patterns on his face began to glow like burning cracks.
"Wait a moment," Viscount Giovanni interrupted once again, before Maccassi could take any action.
"How can we be sure that it's not an illusion created by the Fallen Angel to make him appear like a Great Demon? If he merely displays the marks of a Great Demon, we of the blood clan have no way of truly verifying it."
As he finished speaking, he pointed at Lancie.
Lancie looked at the blood clan viscount with a mixture of innocence and confusion.
"As we all know, Great Demons are at least eighth-rank. I'd like to request that Mr. Maccassi withstand a strike from the Fourth Ancestor. If he truly is a Great Demon, he should be able to manage that, shouldn't he?"
Viscount Giovanni finally dropped all pretense, his eyes gleaming with intensity as he revealed the blood clan's true intention.
The demons sitting on the left side of the hall, loyal to the Fallen Angel, rose to their feet, their chairs scraping noisily against the floor. They clearly would not tolerate such an insulting challenge to their clan.
The blood clan's doubts were not just directed at Maccassi but also at the Fallen Angel, Caliyla herself!
Their eyes held a warning, signaling that their patience had its limits.
In this tense standoff:
"Since when have you demons had a fourth-rank Great Demon?" Duke Eduardo, the Fourth Ancestor, asked, leaning back slightly on his staff as he faced the distant Fallen Angel.
"...'
For a moment, the Fallen Angel, Caliyla, fell silent.
While other demons might not have been able to discern Maccassi's true power, she and Duke Eduardo, as ninth-rank beings at the pinnacle of magic, could not be fooled by any deception hiding his true power.
Caliyla knew that Maccassi was indeed fourth-rank.
And Duke Eduardo, that cunning individual, was well aware of Maccassi's rank, so he had instructed his lackey, the viscount, to play this strategic game.
If Maccassi did not possess eighth-rank strength, the blood clan would insist that the Fallen Angel had used illusion magic to fabricate Maccassi's status as a Great Demon.
Even if Maccassi were to reveal his power as a Great Demon, the blood clan would claim that it was an illusion created by the Fallen Angel to deceive them.
Although she couldn't understand how Maccassi, as a fourth-rank demon, could possess the marks of six Great Demons, Caliyla was determined to protect him, driven by both her position and her personal desire.
"Today, Princess Hyberrian belongs to the Great Demon Maccassi," the Fallen Angel, Caliyla, declared resolutely, tilting her head slightly as if she were ready to enter the fray herself.
"I've decided this for them, and even if your First Ancestor shows up, it won't make a difference."
She added, her eyes no longer hiding the innate malevolence of her demon clan.
With her presence, this marriage would come to fruition.
(End of Chapter)
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