With a wound on her sword arm, Levi's slash and Water Dragon spell were interrupted. N quickly delivered three follow up attacks as Levi took three more steps back, parrying and blocking.

  Casting spells required such a high level of concentration that even a Saint had difficulties trying to cast spells in the middle of sword exchanges. "How can he attack with such ferocity while executing Triple Casts at the same time?" Levi was impressed by her enemy once again.

  Levi then calmed down and thought, "His strength is only at the Holy Knight's level. If I use that technique, I should be able to finish him off. But first, let's see if I can recruit him."

  "It's a shame to lose a talent like yours." Levi said as she fought defensively. "In exchange for a full pardon, would you consider working directly under me? The pay is... decent, I assure you." She took 2 more steps back from defending N's attacks as she persuaded him. "While the Kingdom is not perfect, if you look back at history, people on average are having a much better life than before. You can help improving it by working directly under a Saint."

  Levi observed N and wondered, "Is he the greedy type or the virtuous type?" as she waited for his reply.

  N remained silent and focused on his assault. Getting no reply from N, Levi suddenly dashed back about five meters. Her physical prowess was much stronger than N’s so N could not follow. Now, their sword exchanges stopped.

  "You see, my strength, speed and Mana far surpass yours. I can stop our fight anytime I want." Levi said with confidence.

  "You mean by running away from me." N sneered, attempting to provoke Levi, but his jab fell flat.

  N then thought, "She is catching on to the rhythm of my Triple Cast. She was able to jump back at the precise moment between my casts. Now, what is she planning to do?" Levi positioned herself in a safe distance, rendering N unable to cast spells behind her. Furthermore, frontal attack spells were just a waste of Mana in front of a powerful Saint like Levi. Therefore, N stopped and maintained his fighting stance, warily concentrating on Levi for her next move.

  After a few moments, "you got nothing to say?" Levi asked again. Obviously, N was not interested.

  Suddenly, Levi vanished and reappeared a few feet behind N with a shockwave followed right after, confident that the fight had ended. It was the technique she used against Bob earlier: Phantom Blade School: Vanishing Thrust. This was one of her favorite attacks. In her long life, the Vanishing Thrust had always succeeded against Holy Knight level opponents. Even in her current condition, she remained confident that this attack could end the fight.

  Standing behind the demon, her throat felt hot and painful. "I've been injured?" A wave of lightheadedness washed over Levi, and as she placed her hand on the wound, her sword clattered onto the floor. As she infused more Divine Power near the wound to slow down the bleeding, Levi turned, looked back, and saw the demon swung his sword to get rid of her blood.

  N witnessed Levi use this technique on Bob from afar. Therefore, he had been on his guard, prepared, waited for it, and successfully countered it with his superior swordsmanship skills. His mastery of the sword was an asset that allowed him to fight on par with the Saint despite being much weaker in strength. Even though he was successful in countering, N was still cautious of Levi. He watched Levi as if she was a wounded lion, maintaining his fighting stance, focused, and prepared for more of her attacks.

  "He could have cut off my head if not for my superior Mana and Stoneskin." Levi realized after examining her injury. In a moment, Levi’s eyes suddenly started shining with an ethereal silver-blue radiance. She took several strides back from N, and plunged into the river. Sensing her incredible Mana, N continued to stand warily.

  In about fifteen seconds, a colossal serpentine dragon with iridescent blue scales and majestic wings erupted from the river. It was the Leviathan.

  The Leviathan rose, using her five-fingered eagle-claw-like front feet to grasp the riverside. This raised her head and upper body above water, towering over N at ten meters tall. With a majestic sweep, her glittering wings unfolded and covered the sky, turning the heaven into a deep blue canvas with studding, twinkling stars.

  There were six Saints in the Kingdom. Their prowess in combat were unparalleled. Other than the King, only the Saints could request an audience with Goddess Liliana. Therefore, especially for the older Saints, they had great influences in the Kingdom’s politics.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Saint Levi, the Saint of Justice, was responsible for enforcing the law. Under the reign of the previous King, the Kingdom enjoyed prosperity. During that time, the Inquisition Knights, led by Saint Levi, were beloved by the populace.

  However, after the new King took the throne, the politics in the country became unstable. The cost of the war against the Demon Realm gradually increased. The nobles refused to give up their luxurious living standard for the war, so taxes increased every year. Those who could not pay the tax, especially those who suffered from natural disasters, had to become bandits or migrate into the Demon Realm to survive. Some citizens who left for the Demon Realm also came back to the Kingdom as spies.

  With multiple problems looming over the country, Levi had traveled around the Kingdom all year long for decades to keep peace and help its citizens. A long absence from the capital caused her political powers to decline. Despite her repeated efforts, almost no one answered to her calls to decrease taxes or provide supplies to areas that suffered from natural disasters.

  "Decreasing taxes? Sure! We'll reduce funding to your Inquisition Knights for the missing income." the Royal Family and the nobles declared, reducing funding to Levi, but fell short of decreasing taxes for the populace using sugar-coated excuses. Of course, Levi was furious, but, being on the losing side of the political power struggle, her infuriation did not help. The rising conflict between the Inquisition Knights and the royal family caused her funding to decrease even further year by year.

  The lack of funding resulted in the Inquisition Knights having insufficient manpower to police the country. To protect most citizens, Levi allowed the judges and Inquisition Knights to swiftly convict suspects. In the process, many reasonable-sounding laws were created such that, depending on how one interprets them, anyone could be convicted. Over the years, the royal family worked with many nobles to take advantage of the new laws to eliminate their political opponents.

  As if Levi did not have enough troubles already, a rumor began to circulate in the Kingdom: that she was secretly collaborating with the Demon Realm, and that she was, in fact, responsible for the Kingdom's worsening situation.

  A few weeks ago, Levi received confidential information from the King regarding demon spies. The report implicated a former Knight Exemplar and a former Knight Commander. Despite not being in good terms with the King, she could not ignore the report because a defecting Knight Exemplar could become a national scandal. Preoccupied with defending a border outpost against the Demon Realm, she dispatched her most trusted aide, Travis, to investigate the matter. At the same time, the King demanded that she send Daniel, a former Royal Knight, to "assist" with the investigation. Daniel, a former Royal Knight, wore his allegiance to the King on his sleeve, making no secret of his role as a spy. The King was taking advantage of the rumor about her collaboration with the Demon Realm to place spies in her ranks. She did not want to involve Travis with all these political power struggles in his work. However, she had no other option.

  When she received a report from the King about Travis and Julie having gone missing, she had a very bad feeling and departed from her post immediately. As a knight, Travis was very professional and had never forsaken his duties without informing his superior, Levi. Despite her hopes that Travis and Julie were simply hiding, she immediately assumed the worst case scenario: they must have been killed by someone at least as strong as a Holy Knight.

  There were only four paths for Travis' killers to escape. They were:

  1. The eastern path into the Demon Realm

  2. The southern path into the Demon Realm

  3. The northern path leading to the Kingdom's capital

  4. The western path to the Redcliff Duchy's capital

  Additionally, the report mentioned children involved so they could not have moved fast.

  Levi, with the Behemoth's help, scouted the paths one by one. Without eating or sleeping, the two godly beasts extended their Mana to their limits, and scanned the paths for individuals possessing formidable Mana. While this may be exhausting for a typical Saint, the godly beasts could do it almost indefinitely. On the second day after she received the report, the Behemoth discovered Bob and promptly sent her a message through a spell. She happened to be nearby after scanning the path to the south.

  When she arrived, Bob confirmed her most feared suspicion: Travis was indeed dead. Moreover, she was not able to keep her promise of protecting Julie. She was very distressed and struggled to focus on the fight. With every fiber of her being, she wanted to give up the fight, go home, and mourn her student. However, as a Saint, there was a demon in front of her and she needed to do her job.

  "Don’t you know that demonic races are to be executed on sight in the Kingdom?" N commented with indifference.

  "It is fine as long as no one finds out." Levi said, sounding annoyed to be forced into her dragon form. Using her tail, she lightly tapped the Behemoth and said, "Time to wake up, don’t slack off. Use your maximum size and finish the fight with me."

  The Behemoth immediately woke up. "Aren’t you worried that your husband might be dead?" the beast grumbled, its voice deep and masculine.

  "Worry about your allowance." Levi stated irritatedly, without looking back at him. The Behemoth glanced at her and gulped.

  The Behemoth returned to his maximum size, standing at thirty meters tall, and took a position beside the Leviathan. Now, two majestic beasts were towering over N. Levi's Mana surged to unbelievable levels upon her transformation. With the combined Mana of the two godly beasts, the area covered by N's dark silver aura shrunk to the point where Triple Casting was no longer practical. Obviously, he was barely able to keep himself from fainting under the immense pressure.

  The situation looked hopeless.