The magic cards I made are absolutely flawless!

He sat in this inconspicuous spot, as if all the hustle and bustle of the capital city today was nothing more than a children's game to him.

"Does anyone here intend to resolve this peacefully?"

As he spoke, Dekan picked up his cane and stood up, pulling his cloak to the side to cover his right shoulder, revealing a unique imperial-style black suit beneath the heavy noble cloak. He then bowed gracefully to Icardinos and Olivia.

His hair remained crimson, but his appearance had been transformed by Mia's disguise into something no one had ever seen before.

Inside the church, imperial officials and Chaos cultists couldn't help but exchange glances, seemingly trying to confirm whether anyone recognized this extraordinary imperial nobleman.

However, the result was that no one knew of his existence.

Even though they didn't know who this person was, the Chaos cultists in the church all sensed something was wrong with him.

From the perspective of the Chaos Cult, this guy seems more like someone who's here to cause trouble!

Finally, a fearless follower of the Calamity Cult took two steps closer to Dekan, wanting to test whether he was just putting on a show.

Dekan smiled slightly, standing still and unmoved, seemingly unconcerned about the offense of the ignorant.

"What a pretentious guy!"

Just as the Chaos Cultists charged toward Dekan with a roar, Icardinos coldly raised a finger.

In an instant, the cultist was knocked to the ground, vomiting blood and falling unconscious.

Immediately, all the forces of the Church of Calamity in the entire church became wary of Icardinos again, as if the situation, which had just eased, was about to explode once more.

Everyone knows that fighting now would bring no benefit.

But Icardinos didn't seem to want to have a good talk with the Cult of Calamity!

And since she stepped in to help this man, it's hard not to suspect that he's in cahoots with her!

However, at that moment...

"Oh? You know me?"

Dekan turned back to look at Icardinos with great interest, as if he had discovered a sensible junior.

“I…have heard a legend about you.”

Icardinos lowered her stance slightly and answered humbly.

This shocked everyone in the Empire present!

The short conversation seemed to reveal a lot of information.

Icardinos's demeanor didn't seem like she was protecting her subordinates at all; rather, she seemed afraid to let anyone offend this red-haired man!

At the same time, she was also trying to flatter a legendary remnant of the empire, attempting to win his favor!

In all the years of the Empire, no one has ever seen the absolutely domineering Empress Icardinos lower her posture so much in front of anyone!

Actively withdraw from the limelight and remain utterly devout!

Meanwhile, on the Chaos Cult's side, Menelius frowned slightly and made no statement for the time being, clearly in a wait-and-see state.

After all, he was happy to see Icardinos unable to make a move.

While there was still a chance that a fight wouldn't break out, Menellis wanted to see just how capable this random red-haired man in a tuxedo really was, and what his true intentions were.

Menellis remained unmoved, and the other three bishops also refrained from making a move, so the Chaos Cultists dared not rush forward to their deaths.

However, soon some people began to suspect and speculate whether the man was an actor hired by Icardinos for a staged performance.

Despite her aloof and arrogant personality, Icardinos is also someone who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals!

In dire circumstances, no one knows whether she would temporarily set aside her dignity for the sake of victory!

Perhaps she wanted to fabricate someone whose status was above hers and Olivia's, thereby deceiving all the Imperials present into standing firmly on her side!

Gradually, a few intelligent people began to look at Pritzker, the Abyss Mage, who was sitting in the church.

As the third person present after Menellis and Icardinos, Pritzker was believed to have maintained absolute neutrality throughout.

If Pritzker had clearly sided with either side, the advantage in today's battle would have largely shifted in that direction.

However, the current stalemate suggests that this guy isn't helping either side, or that Pritzker is determined to remain neutral until he's certain which side can secure a victory.

This guy's most outstanding skill is seeing through lies and distinguishing truth from falsehood.

Even though Pritzker was only at the eighth rank many years ago, he was able to accurately judge the truthfulness of a ninth-rank powerhouse's words.

Pritzker, now at the ninth rank, is even said to be able to see through the authenticity of gods.

And as the price of this ability, he himself would produce obvious magical fluctuations when he lied, making him easily detectable by people.

Therefore, Pritzker is undoubtedly the best indicator for determining the truth at this time!

"..."

Pritzker's expression was gloomy; he was clearly annoyed by the increasing number of gazes directed at him in the church.

For a dignified commander of the First Army Group, a ninth-tier powerhouse, to be used as a public magical artifact is undoubtedly an insult.

Even the red-haired man who was the culprit who caused all this in the church looked at him with great interest.

However, when Pritzker met the red-haired man's gaze, he couldn't help but shudder.

The red-haired man's eyes were different from the others.

Everyone else at least had some respect for him, a ninth-level mage, but this red-haired man seemed to have discovered an interesting toy.

In the red-haired man's eyes, Pritzker deeply felt that he had no respect for him whatsoever!

It was as if even a ninth-tier expert was nothing more than an ant.

The commander of the First Army Corps is naturally a magical artifact.

As for Pritzker himself, he was nothing more than Pritzker's possession!

What Pritzker found most unacceptable was that he clearly recognized that the red-haired man was not bluffing, but genuinely looked down on him!

Pritzker took a deep breath, as if he were about to explode in anger.

Then, as if deflated, he lowered his head and shrank back as if avoiding everyone's gaze.

He didn't make any comment about everyone's gaze, but the red-haired man's attention made his scalp tingle.

Normally, Pritzker would also be angry if he were humiliated to this extent, and it might even affect his stance.

However, Pritzker was too preoccupied with anger at that moment.

A rational thought called "discretion is the better part of valor" overwhelmed all his emotions.

Simply because Pritzker discovered that the Queen had not lied!

This mysterious red-haired man indeed possesses an identity and story that even Queen Icardinos had to treat with utmost respect!

Everyone in the church who observed Pritzker's strange reaction was shocked.

They had anticipated that Pritzker would not go against his own position and make any statement that might help either side distinguish truth from falsehood.

Even if a fight breaks out and becomes uncontrollable, Pritzker is the one with the best chance of escaping. He should be the most composed person on the field, without exception.

No one could have imagined that Pritzker would be so timid and hesitant!

They seemed to be afraid of this red-haired man!

On the church bulletin board, Menellis remained silent, while the other bishops' expressions had already turned displeased.

At this moment, they really couldn't understand the situation.

All signs point to this man being very likely a hidden bigwig in the empire.

His suggestion that neither side should resort to force was indeed in the interests of both sides.

But what if this is a scam set up by Icardinos?

Then everything that follows will be led by the nose by the Chaos God Cult.

The illusory bishop Carlos behind Menellis frowned more and more deeply, staring at the red-haired man the whole time.

Despite the increasingly convincing identity of the red-haired man, constantly dispelling the possibility that "this is a hoax," Carlos still felt a sense of déjà vu with this style.

It seems to be an instinct stemming from the victim.

This forced Carlos to recall a fraudster who should have disappeared from the world completely.

The first time Carlos was victimized was when "Clay" used passive resistance as leverage to extort 5000 gold coins from him.

Carlos's blood pressure was about to explode that time.

When Carlos later learned that the corrupt bishop Fahim had died, their plan had failed completely, and that Clay's bishop's certificate had long been taken by Dekan, and that the 5000 gold coins were merely a form of "telecom fraud" by Dekan to induce Carlos to reveal the key information that would lead to Fahim's demise, Carlos was so angry that he couldn't sleep well for a whole month.

Carlos had only recovered from his sleep for a couple of days when, for some reason, he became the target of the Lord of Calamity's daily curse again!

From then on, he truly understood what it meant to never be able to sleep well again!

Under intense torture, Carlos grew to hate the Lord of Calamity. He even thought that if he could capture the Lord of Calamity one day, he would fight to the death with him, even if it meant mutual destruction!

And if anyone can defeat the Lord of Calamity, he will repay him if given the chance!

Later, Carlos witnessed Dekan's triumphant defeat of the Lord of Calamity at the Heroes' Festival, and his feelings became incredibly complicated.

He knew he was going to kill Dekan, yet he couldn't help but feel a little bit of goodwill towards him. All the past grudges seemed to be wiped away, and he even thought that if possible, he would try to save Dekan's life at the end of the Kingdom of Philowen.

As a result, Carlos thought he could make it to the arena to help the Pope control the situation during the final battle in the Kingdom of Philovian.

But for some reason, I was struck down by that familiar curse again!

It was Dekan who took action.

Carlos finally understood: Dekan was truly the master of misfortune!

I've been fooled by this beast again!!!

Carlos had had enough of being persecuted and completely fooled by Dekan!

He would rather die than suffer such humiliation again.

Even from a logical and common-sense perspective, the red-haired man being so sincerely and respectfully revered by Icardinos in the church should not be Dekan.

But Carlos felt more and more determined that he could never let Dekan score a hat trick again.

Carlos, who suffered greatly from this, was quite certain that Decan's skill was to make lies appear as seamless as the truth!

Consider it a gamble!