"All of you, dirty demons, are going to die!"
Together with Evelyn's words, an immense pressure descended in the forest.
Instantly, the wind stopped blowing, and the trees stopped moving. All the humans and daemons looked at the sky in shock!
But when the daemons saw the head in Evelyn's hand, they paled.
"T-That is…!"
"Impossible!"
"S-Sir protector!"
The head in Evelyn's hand belonged to a daemon with an expression of disbelief on his face. His yellow eyes were looking hollowly to the distance, and his face was filled with burns.
But each daemon recognized that head instantly.
It was the daemon saint that had been fighting Evelyn. A fourteenth-layer practitioner.
"I-Impossible." The daemon who introduced himself as the fifth general of the daemon empire staggered in fear. Watching the severed head of his leader filled him with terror.
Moreover, the power he could felt coming from Evelyn filled him with hopelessness.
Evelyn looked at the daemons coldly before moving her gaze towards her students. When she saw the state of some of them, her face turned even frostier.
"Are you going to commit suicide or do I need to kill you myself?" Evelyn asked.
The twelfth-layer daemon gritted his teeth. He then took a step forward while shouting.
"Everybody, run. I'll try to stop her!"
The daemons did not hesitate. Each one of them rushed in a different direction immediately.
At the same time, the daemon general bellowed and unleashed a powerful slash in Evelyn's direction.
Evelyn snorted. Her body flickered, disappearing from its original position and reappeared several meters away. Then, she waved her hands, casting two spells simultaneously.
With her first spell, she cast a barrier that surrounded the daemons. The barrier was a twelfth-layer spell called [Closed Sanctuary].
Of course, even if Evelyn was a powerful fourteenth-layer practitioner, she could not keep sixty daemons powerhouses trapped for long. Once they started to attack the barrier, they would not need even ten seconds to break it.
But that was more than enough for Evelyn.
An instant after the barrier appeared, her second spell was unleashed.
Fourth-Layer fire spell, [Ignition].
But when that spell was cast by a fourteenth-layer powerhouse, it created a high-temperature flame that burned everything inside the barrier.
"AAARGGGGHHHHH!!!"
"NO!!!"
"CURSED WITCH!!!"
The daemons screamed in pain due to the power of the flames. The weakest of them died almost instantly, but the strongest ones suffered for a little more.
When the flames finally stopped, only ten daemons were still alive.
Besides the daemon general, the other nine were powerful powerhouses of the tenth layer and above.
Now, though, they had been reduced to a miserable-looking group of daemons.
The daemon general stared at the corpses of his comrades in a daze. Then, tears of blood left his eyes.
With his remaining strength, he glared at Evelyn with eyes full of hatred.
"… I CURSE YOU IN THE NAME OF THE DEMON GOD!"
Evelyn sneered. "I want to see if he dares to touch me."
Then, she waved her hand again–
–And nine of the ten daemons exploded in a rain of blood and gore.
Only one daemon was left alive. Evelyn cast a spell on him, rendering him unconscious and sealing his cultivation.
When she was done, she looked at the students and teachers and smiled.
"Sorry for being late, guys."
... And several students started to vomit.
I looked at Evelyn speechless. Woman, did you need to be so gory?
I guess I understand now why you are called [Bloody Witch].
It's likely that half of the students here will have nightmares for the rest of their lives due to this scene.
Sigh, anyway, this expedition is finally coming to an end.
I looked in Dina's direction and she nodded. Then, she looked around to the students and raised her voice.
"Let's go. It's time to return home."
…
The tragedy that happened in the forest of wolves shook the entire empire.
More than one hundred noble students died under the hands of the daemons, and several others were gravely injured. It was the worst disaster the empire had suffered in many years.
Furthermore... A prince died too.
The second prince of the empire, Bryan Quintin.
It was said that when the news reached the palace, the empress fainted.
At the same time, another name shook the empire.
Dina Quintin.
The third princess of the empire stepped forward in that situation, showing excellent leadership capabilities and keeping seventy percent of the students alive.
Many people said that with her abilities, becoming a famous general was not impossible.
In fact, several people lamented that she was born a woman, otherwise, she would have been a great candidate as the next emperor.
After the disaster, it was revealed that the Hera family was partially responsible for what happened. According to the information gotten from one of the daemons and one of the teachers caught, the Hera family cooperated with the daemons in exchange for certain benefices.
Angered, the emperor ordered the execution of the entire Hera family. In one night, all the properties of the family were confiscated, and each one of their members was apprehended.
Only two people in the family were spared. One was Christine Hera, the fiancée of the crown prince, which was forgiven after the crown prince begged the emperor. But as punishment, the emperor canceled her engagement with the crown prince.
The second was Mia Hera, the wife of Earl Carson Riea, who was forgiven due to the earl's merits.
Immediately after the news of the disaster was made known, the emperor protested formally to the daemon empire, demanding an explanation for the daemon's actions.
But the next day, a letter dyed in blood arrived at the Arcadian Empire's palace.
When the emperor opened the letter, there was only a word written in blood.
[WAR]
Under that uneasy atmosphere, the preparations for Prince Bryan's funeral started.
One week later, the funeral occurred.