Marshal Bei had an exceptionally sharp eye for people.

Even if he’d only met someone once, he could clearly tell what kind of personality the person reflected in his eyes possessed.

The moment he learned that Isabella was exactly the kind of woman he’d dreamed of, he made a decision.

The nature of that decision was just as he went on to say:

“Hmph-hmph. My instincts keep insisting on making their presence known, constantly reminding me to take you back with me...”

“You like me? What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t like you! Leaving everything else aside, I can’t accept you simply because you’re a man.”

“No, no. I don’t care in the slightest whether you like me. I only want to take you home and make you the womb that bears my children.”

“Disgusting.”

Among all the men Isabella had ever met, Marshal Bei ranked among the ones she personally found the most repulsive.

“Looks like you hate me... But you seem to have misunderstood something! I’m not discussing this with you. I’m merely notifying you!”

While Marshal Bei wasted time talking nonsense, Isabella adjusted her condition and finished building up her strength.

The instant she was ready, she raised her right palm, shifted the banner’s tip forward, and thrust it toward Marshal Bei.

Since she’d already decided to strike, she naturally showed not the slightest hesitation when she made her move.

The moment a murderous glint flashed through her eyes, Isabella controlled the lightning element outside her body and drew it inside amid its surging motion.

Then she swung up the holy banner in her right hand, and golden arcs of lightning flashed along its pole.

In the blink of an eye, ring after ring of lightning appeared around her body.

Once his prey started fighting seriously, Marshal Bei bared his teeth—and after that grin, a violent aura swept out from within him.

When the area around the battlefield was covered by golden lightning, the two people inside it moved at the same time, each charging forward with terrifying momentum.

Clashes loud enough to make one’s ears go numb rang out at once. Explosions erupted from time to time, while sparks and flashes of lightning appeared everywhere.

Isabella stomped down hard with her right foot. The instant a halo of light emerged beneath it, her figure vanished from the spot.

A succession of golden afterimages flashed into existence.

As Isabella sprinted, the banner in her hands also surged with an exceptionally sharp, icy radiance.

Blinding arcs sliced through the air one after another, cleaving viciously toward the front. As the light spread, the entire space seemed to tremble.

Then brilliant lightning twisted through the air and attacked, locking onto Marshal Bei from the front.

When he saw his opponent’s attack arrive, Marshal Bei showed no fear. Instead, intense excitement surged through his eyes.

His body shook, and he raised his right hand, lifting the long spear he held.

He’d taken this spear from the hands of a corpse lying on the ground while making his way toward the imperial palace.

To obtain this weapon of fairly decent quality, he hadn’t hesitated to do the job himself, bending and tearing off the corpse’s five fingers one by one.

Marshal Bei mobilized the power within his body and sent it surging into the long spear in his hand.

The black spear shaft immediately flashed with blinding light. Even the beast patterns carved along it seemed to come alive, bulging outward as though they were about to leap free.

In the next moment, Marshal Bei stepped forward violently, thrusting the long spear in his hand ahead like a bolt of lightning.

Black spear auras appeared one after another. In the blink of an eye, he thrust his weapon more than a hundred times.

The black spear auras, dense as falling raindrops, rapidly closed over Isabella. They resembled black pythons crawling toward her, jaws wide as they prepared to swallow her whole.

Golden lightning collided with the black spear auras. The energy seemed to solidify before exploding like fireworks.

Brilliant, dazzling sparks bloomed across the battlefield.

After that, Marshal Bei charged forward again, locking directly onto the opponent ahead.

He shot straight ahead amid an astonishing roar of momentum. His wildly violent energy condensed into one force, shattering the golden radiance flying toward him.

Seeing this, Isabella’s expression hardened, and her right hand tightened once more.

Her right arm swung downward in an instant. The holy banner, wrapped in thunderous wind and wreathed in lightning, immediately met the incoming spear auras.

Her left hand also clawed fiercely at the empty air, using lightning elements condensed into a claw as support while attacking Marshal Bei before her together with the holy banner.

“The person I’ve set my sights on should be this strong! Come on, again! Attack me with that same momentum—the kind that looks like you’re going to tear me apart!”

The excitement in Marshal Bei’s eyes grew even more intense, and the long spear in his hands began to whirl once again.

Countless spear shadows pierced straight through the thunder claw, causing it to collapse on the spot beneath the dense barrage.

The black long spear then collided with the holy banner, producing a sound impossible to ignore.

Boom!

The crisp ring of metal striking metal was drowned out by the explosive boom, and a wave of black energy immediately spread in all directions.

Under the impact of that powerful energy, even the air flowing around them became slightly distorted.

After this exchange, Isabella’s body shook, her face paling slightly as she was forced backward.

Across from her, Marshal Bei, clad in full armor, also swayed faintly before retreating several steps.

A savage glint capable of killing a person flashed through their eyes. Then, without the slightest pause, the two figures charged forward at each other once more.

Just as Marshal Bei was enjoying the slaughter, the sky suddenly darkened.

The golden clouds that had originally shone above his head vanished, replaced by massive black clouds gathering from every direction.

When the black clouds appeared overhead, Marshal Bei initially thought this was a probing attack from Isabella.

But he soon realized he was wrong.

The aura of death that spread out from within the clouds soon made even his body tremble with delight.

Although Marshal Bei had always been arrogant, he understood one thing clearly:

If he didn’t use his full strength next, he would definitely suffer badly.

As Marshal Bei thought this, a triangular mass of dark clouds took shape.

From the instant it was born, it spun without pause.

As it rotated rapidly, the black clouds surging in from all around were swallowed by it.

As it continued devouring the black clouds, the dark cloud’s aura began to change, eventually transforming into pure thunder.

With a deafening boom, a thunderclap that shook the heavens rang out from the void, and the entire earth beneath the sky trembled.

The thunder, as if bent on destroying everything, descended upon its target below like a black sun, striking down as though it meant to blast him into pieces on the spot.

The instant the thunder struck, the papal soldiers on the other battlefields looked up and saw the horrifying sight. One after another, terror appeared on their faces.

They didn’t know how the bolt of lightning had been born. They only knew that if they had to face such power themselves, they certainly wouldn’t be able to keep their lives.

Elsewhere, Marshal Bei had nowhere to dodge. Under Isabella’s watchful gaze, he was struck directly by the thunder on the spot.

The moment the lightning descended, the armor covering his body shattered. The fragments had only just flown out when the thunder’s power reduced them to ash.

Since the power surrounding his body had served to protect him, Isabella judged that

the target still wouldn’t truly die from this strike.

A finishing blow was absolutely necessary. From the moment she launched her attack, she’d already decided to complete the job herself.

The remaining power of the thunder suddenly poured into the holy banner, and an indescribable aura immediately spread across the entire battlefield.

The holy banner’s tip, carrying a sacred aura, pointed toward the void. Behind it stood the girl holding it, her eyes opened slightly wider than before.

When she raised the banner’s shaft, this region was enveloped in dazzling gold, a color that seemed to tower above all things like the heavens themselves.

When Marshal Bei saw Isabella attack, he looked less composed than he had for the first time.

As the holy banner descended, the endless darkness swirling around Marshal Bei collapsed and disintegrated at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

The banner tip was about to pierce its target when a purple figure rushed over and stood in front of Marshal Bei.

In less than the time of a single breath, an enormous amount of magical power transformed into a barrier before that figure.

When the fierce exchange of offense and defense ended, Isabella’s attack was interrupted, forcing her to retreat.

Across from her, obvious injuries appeared on the purple figure’s body, blood covering his upper half.

Isabella reacted much as she normally did, except that the coldness in her eyes was even harder to conceal than before.

After a long moment, she slowly spoke:

“Aren’t you...”

Since she’d seen him before, there was no need to ask his name.

The opponent who had appeared before Isabella right after Marshal Bei was the number-one demon from the days when the Senate still existed.

Unlike the second and third seats, he hadn’t taken a personal human name. He was generally known as the “Eye Demon.”

The Eye Demon had a body much like a human’s, but his entire body was a deep purple, and four symmetrically arranged eyes grew across his face.

Compared to Ledux, his appearance was far more difficult for humans to accept. However, when it came to power, Ledux truly couldn’t compare to him.

Isabella understood this very clearly.

In fact, after meeting his gaze just once, she’d been able to tell with complete clarity:

The Eye Demon was the strongest demon she had ever seen!

She didn’t understand.

Why would a detestable demon help the people of the Inran Empire?

“Who are you supposed to be? Do I know you? Did I ask for your help?”

Before Isabella could speak, Marshal Bei began complaining with obvious displeasure.

He didn’t sound like the one who’d just been rescued in the slightest.

The Eye Demon’s tone wasn’t particularly polite either.

“Normally, whether you live or die has nothing to do with me. But my goal, after all, is to destroy Dibiles.

“So, since you’re fighting this little girl, you can count as my temporary ally.”

Ever since the tournament to choose an imperial consort, Isabella had abolished the Senate system.

Of the three demons who were still alive, one junior had been allowed to remain in the city because of the Imperial Consort, while Ledux had accompanied Katusha to another country.

As for the last chief demon, he had suddenly vanished within the imperial capital.

There was no doubt that the Eye Demon had chosen to flee at that time.

Now, with the timing right, he had returned.

The Eye Demon had come here just now to take revenge on the empress who had stolen his place to live!