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“Looks like I’ll still have to rely on them in the end.”

The vice dean raised his head and looked at the dozens of powerful aura rising to the sky as worry filled his heart.

As a short-lived species, humans had an extremely limited lifespan unless they managed to set foot in the deity realm.

Short being a few decades and long being a few hundred years. This has always been the lifespan limit of the human race.

Most of these old men, who were about to fight against the Golden Demon valiantly, were more than a thousand years old.

The key behind their longevity was not because they found a way to break through the limit, but they had forcibly sealed the life force in their body through some sort of method to preserve their vitality.

Unfortunately, this was an extremely dangerous method. They were fragile like balloons—it took only a prick to burst them.

Once they chose to fight, the time that had been stagnant in their body would start flowing once again. Not only that, it would flow faster than normal people and nothing could not be done to reverse or slow it down again.

To put it plainly, the countdown timer to the end of their life began running the moment they chose to fight.

In the end, he was still too weak.

The vice dean sighed. With his high saint-level cultivation, he had the qualifications to be the ruler of a nation. Yet, he was still too powerless to intervene in the battle that was taking place before his eyes.

Besides, the injuries he suffered from the battle he fought with Golden Demon not long ago had yet to fully recover.

Even so…

The vice dean clenched his fists tightly and his eyes lit up.

This did not mean that he should just sit back and wait for his death. The experience he had gained throughout his years at the academy would surely serve some purpose!

“Golden Demon Htilil, your death awaits you! If you surrender now, we’ll give you a quick death!”

A dozen hunched old men calmly surrounded the Golden Demon. Such a scene probably only happened during the Demon King’s invasion back then.

Unfortunately, the Golden Demon was unfazed by the threat.

“Hehe, I would’ve been scared s̲h̲i̲t̲l̲e̲s̲s̲ if this were to happen not long ago, but now…”

The Golden Demon’s voice took a mocking tone. “I can only hope you guys brought an extra pair of pants with you.”

As soon as she finished her sentence, their surroundings immediately changed.

The still air seemed to have turned into fluid all of a sudden, causing everyone to suffocate under its weight.

Dark clouds started gathering in the sky. They were so thick that not even a single ray of light could escape it. As a result, day turned into night.

The crowd had a bad feeling in their hearts. The leader of the group, an old man in white robes, made a quick decision and chose to strike first.

He clenched his fist. A few tiny specks of lights appeared in his palm when he opened it again. Without any hesitation, he flung those tiny specks of lights at the Golden Demon.

When the specks of light reached the Golden Demon, they instantly exploded, giving off a blinding light. Its intensity rivaled the sun and illuminated the dark. At the same time, they caused the Golden Demon’s ears to ring too. A strange scent wafted into her nose. The Golden Demon could tell that there was a barrier sealing her senses forming around her.

Despite knowing that all her five senses would be sealed very soon, the Golden Demon did not panic. She still sounded very relaxed as always.

“Flashbang? That doesn’t work on me though.”

“CHARGE!” the old main in white robes bellowed. All of his comrades were extremely seasoned fighters, so naturally they understood that this was the best opportunity to strike too.

One performed hand seals and summoned an eight-armed demon god behind him. The fierce-looking demon god rushed toward the Golden Demon, each hand holding a different weapon that glowed with divine light.

Another one drew his long sword out of its sheath. He charged ten thousand miles with his blade, like a bolt of lightning, ready to send his enemy’s head flying.

Sacred runes covered one of the old men’s body and he was weaving a powerful magic spell formation with it. A massive amount of magical power around him was drawn to the formation, instantly rendering a radius of one thousand meters from where he stood into an absolute vacuum.

Then there was another old man who could make the projections of sun, moon and stars resonate and move with every wave of his sleeves. He appeared to be performing some sort of mysterious skill technique…

……

The variety of skills and techniques instantly brought colors back to the dark and dull world. Meanwhile, the Golden Demon was like a paper boat adrift in the turbulent sea.

She opened her arms wide and exclaimed, “Being able to witness all this up close really made my trip here worthwhile. Unfortunately for you, my mission this time is to strike despair into your hearts, so…”

The Golden Demon suddenly changed the tone of her voice, like she was speaking to vermin. “I must say, you guys are still too weak.”

Part of the fog that still lingered in the air was suddenly drawn by an unknown force. It was then split into multiple parts, each appearing in front of each old man.

The balls of fog wriggled, then formed a circle. There were ripples in the circle before they were slowly replaced by the reflection of the old men in front of them.

“This is… a mirror?”

The old man in white robes was a little taken aback by the Golden Demon’s decision of doing something strange like this rather than blocking their attacks. Did she think that she could stop them with these mirrors that could be formed with just a small amount of magic?

All of a sudden, things took a strange turn.

“This is…!”

The expression on the old man’s face froze, before it contorted with shock.

Everyone else made the same expression too, because their reflection in the mirror unexpectedly started moving on its own.

If that was the only thing that happened, these seasoned veterans would not be so shocked. After all, such a feat could be easily accomplished with basic illusionary techniques. However, looking at their moving reflections in the mirror…

Summoning the eight-armed demon god…

Charging with a blade like a bolt of lightning…

Weaving a magic formation with sacred runes on the body…

Moving projections of sun, moon and stars…

……

These were all the techniques they performed earlier and not only that…

They were even more powerful than the original!

The attacks they just unleashed were easily neutralized by the same attack from their reflections in the mirror.

Since the reflections’ attacks were more powerful, it took the old men a lot of effort to block them.

At this moment, the faces of the old men appeared to have aged at least ten years.

Despair started growing in everyone’s heart.

Before this, they were skeptical about the Golden Demon’s sudden appearance and even wondered if her strength was exaggerated by rumors. From the looks of it, it seemed like they were frogs at the bottom of the well.

Even knowing this now, how could they run away?

They were the hope of St. Caroline Academy, the Holy Dragon Empire and Xedrios, the continent that had carried the human race for millions of years!

“Gentlemen, allow me to lend you a hand!”

The vice dean’s voice was like a lone swaying flame of a candle in the darkness. It was not bright, but it was enough to warm hearts and ignite hopes.

The entire academy quaked.

A huge boulder on the mountain ridge, which was originally used as a training arena stage, slowly moved to the side like it was part of a mechanism and revealed a huge black cannon barrel.

“Veutalia Cannon is the weapon that our first dean left for the academy. Its power gets stronger with age. As of today, the cannon has not seen the light of the day for a thousand year. It will surely be able to obliterate the Golden Demon with all the power it has accumulated!”

Everyone was ecstatic. They did not expect the academy would possess such a deadly weapon. It seemed like the saying “every cloud has a silver lining” was true after all!

“However…”

The vice dean’s tone changed as he continued to speak heavily, “This Veutalia Cannon is not able to lock on to a target. It can only aim, so… we still have to think of a way to hold the Golden Demon down!”

The vice dean understood how difficult this task was.

Based on the power that the Golden Demon had just displayed to them earlier, she must have obtained the treasure that she wanted in the Ancient Ruins.

One could only imagine how difficult it would be for the old men to restrain the Golden Demon.

After all, capturing Golden Demon in this level of combat was far more difficult than killing her.

And restraining was the weaker version of capturing.

The old man in white robes exchanged looks with his other comrades, their eyes filled with unwavering determination.

“GO!”
“YES!”

Dozens of splendid rays of light turned into blur and rushed up to the Golden Demon at the same time.

“What are you doing…?”

For the very first time, there was uncertainty and surprise in the Golden Demon’s voice.

The old man in white robes laughed heartily at her reaction. “At least with this, we won’t die as a nobody!”

As he said that, strange fluctuations started emanating from his frail body.

He was… burning his life force in order to boost his strength!

But by doing that, he would…

Tears streamed down the vice dean’s face as he choked, “Yes, I will make sure your names are recorded in history and your heroic sacrifice will inspire generations to come!”

“Good.”

The old men all had a relieved smile on their faces. They linked arms with each other to restrain the Golden Demon, then turned their heads around and shouted in unison, “What are you waiting for?! Fire the cannon!”

The vice dean’s heart pounded like crazy. Even so, he gritted his teeth and steeled himself to fire the Veutalia Cannon.

Light gathered at the cannon’s muzzle. Magic power that exceeded that of a peak saint quickly condensed in the bottomless cannon barrel. The cannon was pointed directly at the Golden Demon… and the old men who were restraining her.

The vice dean could not bear to watch what would happen next, so he looked away.

Once the Veutalia Cannon finished accumulating power, the light at the muzzle transformed into a spear. It flew out and then impaled the Golden Demon… along with the other old men.

A wave of sadness swept the academy.

The instructors and other elites who remained at the scene to keep the great magic formation up could not help tearing up.

They had just witnessed the birth of heroes! Real heroes who saved the entire human race!

The vice dean slumped to the ground weakly. They had won, but he did not feel victorious.

Then again… the birth of new heroes should be a great thing for the human race.

“Hey hey, you guys didn’t think… this would be the end of it, did you?”

The vice dean jolted like he was struck by lightning. He trembled uncontrollably and raised his head stiffly…

The petite figure dressed in black robes, wearing her signature demonic mask, came into his view… and she appeared to be unscathed.

“What a pity. Those old men were so close to becoming the heroes… They were really close. Too bad, they couldn’t defeat me. I guess that means… They were nothing but a group of false heroes. Just a group of losers.”

Rage burned in the vice dean’s heart as if the Golden Demon had just insulted something that was precious to him. He was about to retort…

Yet, he realized that he didn’t know how.

Losers… were not qualified to be heroes.

This was true.

“Since they are not the heroes, why don’t you just let the real hero take the stage?”

It was at this time, an unfamiliar voice that was filled with righteousness came from not far away.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the voice and they saw…