I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The attack was doomed to fail from the start.

Not counting the archmage who secretly protects the crown prince, and not counting the well-trained royal guards, among the guests attending tonight's banquet alone are two archmages: the vice dean of the Royal Capital Magic Academy and the vice president of the Magicians' Association.

In addition, nearly ten nobles of the level of archmage were scattered among the guests.

Can an assassin maintain a state without any magical fluctuations indefinitely?

impossible.

No matter how strong Shadow Fiend's stealth ability is, once he enters combat, his magical energy will inevitably leak out.

Launching an attack in this situation is tantamount to being killed the moment the target shows up.

That's exactly what happened.

Theodore, the vice dean, stood up from his chair the instant the Shadow Fiend landed and the glass bottle shattered.

The Wind Demon Essence spread from his palm, and two visible vortexes of energy shot out from his sides, sweeping across the entire banquet hall along the ground!

Before the pink and green fog could spread to the third long table, it was enveloped, compressed, and blocked by the two cyclones, trapped between the tables and unable to spread further.

However, these assassins' mission seemed to be to kill Victor; the poisoning was merely to cause a disturbance and attract attention.

As the three shadow demons vanished into the ground and rapidly rushed towards Victor in their shadow form, Theodore began to chant:

"Dispel, sever, silence! The magic here has vanished!"

The air within three feet of him suddenly froze, and an invisible sense of oppression spread outwards from him.

[Silent Domain]!

This is a semi-forbidden spell unique to the Royal Capital Magic Academy, capable of suppressing all magical energy flow within a certain range for a short period of time.

The Shadow Fiend's prized Shadow Stealth was completely unable to be maintained under this suppression. The three black figures were forced back to the ground from the shadows of the banquet hall, their figures appearing disheveled.

As soon as they regained their footing, they took out several dark purple anti-magic runes from their waists, attempting to break the suppression of the domain.

Seeing this scene, Theodore couldn't help but think of his mentor Herbert from the academy. He remembered that in the Seventh Legion's death report, Herbert had been assassinated by a Shadow Fiend carrying a weapon that could extinguish magic.

The fist hardened.

Silver-blue runes swirled in his palm, and fire magic gathered from all directions.

With a casual flick of his wrist, dozens of hair-thin threads of fire shot out from his body, precisely wrapping around each of the anti-magic runes.

The runes exploded in the flames, and the fragments turned to ashes before they even hit the ground.

The Shadow Demons immediately changed tactics, reaching for their short swords at their waists.

But just as they grasped the sword hilts, a silver-white bolt of lightning struck down from one side of the banquet hall, piercing precisely through the chest of the leading Shadow Demon.

The instant the lightning exploded, a second and a third followed closely behind, enveloping the other two Shadow Demons.

The archmage responsible for protecting Viktor made his move.

The bodies of the three Shadow Demons disintegrated in the lightning, turning into tiny dark particles that dissipated into the air.

From the moment the Shadow Fiend landed until it vanished into nothingness, only a few breaths passed. The commotion caused by the guests in the banquet hall was far greater than the damage caused by the Shadow Fiend itself.

They either crawled under the table, used a chair as a shield, or screamed and ran towards the side door.

Several noblewomen's skirts were trampled with footprints, and a baron's wig fell to the ground in the chaos and was stepped on twice by a passing waiter.

Theodore withdrew his hand, and the Wind Demon Essence dissipated beneath his feet. He glanced in the direction of the royal seats and looked at the Archmage with considerable displeasure.

"What are you doing? Don't you need to capture them alive and interrogate them?"

The royal archmage adjusted his cuffs and gave a flawless answer:

"The demons are unpredictable, and this is the royal palace. It's best not to cause any unnecessary trouble. We should eliminate them as soon as possible."

Indeed, the safety of the royal palace is paramount, and any factors that could potentially spiral out of control should be eliminated immediately.

"Damn it, I wanted to show off a bit more in front of the students."

His gaze shifted from the archmage to the still-shaken guests in the banquet hall.

Most of these people had studied at the Royal Capital Magic Academy, and were either his students or students of his students.

However, he was more concerned about Ji Tian.

This hero is very likely a direct descendant of the academy. If we can take this opportunity to demonstrate the academy's power to Ji Tian, ​​it will be helpful for future interactions.

Unfortunately, the royal archmage acted too quickly, leaving him little room to maneuver.

Theodore withdrew his gaze and began to check on the guests in the banquet hall.

Although the gas stopped spreading, the person who inhaled the mist was not in a good condition.

Several nobles slumped in their chairs, their eyes unfocused, their hands unconsciously tugging at their collars, muttering words that were inaudible to others.

The waiters were coughing violently, clutching their throats, their faces turning blue and purple, as if something was choking them.

Theodore went over to check on one of the waiters' symptoms and frowned.

As a research-oriented archmage, he could easily isolate toxic gases or release semi-forbidden spells to prevent the spread of disasters in a short time, since accidents are very common during experiments.

However, his understanding of the demons' toxins was limited, and he could only determine that this was not an ordinary poison.

Fortunately, the vice president of the Mage Guild, who was an adventurer, came over from the other side.

He crouched down, opened a waiter's eyelids to look inside, then pulled out the green poisonous mist that Theodore had blocked, brought it close to his nose, and then stood up.

"The green stuff is the corpse poison mist, extracted from the bodily fluids of the corpse demons. It has a strong corrosive effect on mucous membranes, but it's not too difficult to remove. It can be purified with intermediate holy light spells and holy water."

He then walked up to a nobleman slumped in a chair and glanced at the man's unfocused eyes, which were filled with suppressed madness.

"The pink one is the succubus's scent. This type of gas targets both the mind and body for control. Those who inhale it will fall into a hallucinatory state, and those with weak willpower may even have their behavior manipulated by the caster."

He pushed up his glasses and added:

"The succubus's gas is much more troublesome to remove than the corpse poison mist; it requires a Great Holy Light spell to completely purify it."

Theodore frowned upon hearing this.

The Great Holy Light spell requires a cardinal-level clergyman to cast, and Valentine appears to have declined the banquet invitation, as he is not currently at the palace.

If we send someone to invite them, it will take at least 15 minutes for them to come and go.

There were seven or eight nobles in the banquet hall who had inhaled the succubus gas. Two of them had already stood up and started leaning against strangers, their expressions ambiguous and their movements frivolous.

If this drags on any longer, the situation will only get worse.

Are we to just tie them up and keep them under control for a while until Valentine arrives?

Just then, Ji Tian placed the glass of fruit wine he hadn't drunk on the table, got up, and walked towards the nobles who were inhaling the mist.

Then he drew the holy sword.

A pale golden light shone from the hilt, spreading along the blade to the tip, then transforming into a soft halo that diffused outwards.

This is the immunity to crowd control that comes with the Holy Sword itself, the kind that can be used to buff teammates.

The nobleman, slumped in his chair, gradually focused his gaze, and the dazed look on his face faded.

The person leaning against the stranger suddenly woke up, and upon realizing that he was holding the sleeve of a strange waitress, he pulled his hand back as if he had been electrocuted, his face turning red.

The vice president of the Mage Association stood a few steps away, staring at the longsword in Ji Tian's hand that gleamed with a faint golden light. He paused for a moment, then suddenly slapped his forehead.

"How could I not have thought of that! The Sword of the Warrior is the antidote to all forms of mind control! The succubus's scent is essentially a form of mind control, and the Holy Sword naturally repels this kind of control."