Viktor pulled Erica into his arms in one motion and held her tightly.
The surrounding nobles were drawn by Viktor's bold action, and their eyes widened in shock.
The media reporters were completely stunned. Their hands gripping the magic-guiding stones trembled slightly, wishing they could shove them straight into Viktor's mouth the next second.
There had long been rumors that Viktor liked young girls, and today, everyone saw it with their own eyes.
And the girl Viktor was holding right now just happened to be the rumored main character. Erica, the duke's daughter whom Viktor had once confessed to.
Although confessing was not illegal, Viktor used to be a notorious viscount.
Publicly pursuing a duke's daughter.
From a moral standpoint, that was indeed somewhat problematic.
But now… no one really dared to say anything.
Times had changed.
If Viktor truly liked someone, the nobles present would happily send all their daughters to Viktor's side.
Although the nobles were shocked, they did not dare even breathe in front of Duke Levi. They stood there stiffly, holding their breath.
The air around them seemed to freeze, dropping straight to the freezing point.
Claudia sat gracefully on a chair, one leg crossed over the other. She held a fan in her hand, covering the corner of her mouth, her eyes slightly curved as she stared closely at Viktor and Levi, as if she were waiting for a wonderful performance.
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
"This is quite unexpected."
Seeing Viktor's reckless behavior, Levi was already having trouble controlling his emotions.
His body trembled slightly, showing his anger.
Moisture had already formed in the surrounding air, and pale mist spread around them.
"Count Viktor."
His voice was cold and trembling.
His face was dark, and both the corners of his mouth and eyes were stiff.
Seeing this scene, everyone could not help but shiver.
Everyone knew that Levi was famously a doting father.
He had his daughter late in life, so he treasured Erica especially.
No matter how outstanding Viktor was, he still had one serious problem.
That was... Viktor already had a fiancee.
As a duke, Levi would never allow his daughter to compete with another woman over a man.
At this moment, hearing her father's voice, Erica slowly regained her senses.
She quickly raised her head, stared tightly at Viktor, and hurriedly said, "Professor."
"Please don't…"
Feeling Erica's struggle, Viktor's arm tightened even more.
After reaching a strength that made it impossible for Erica to break free, he calmly said to Levi, "Duke, do you have something to say?"
Hearing Viktor's question, the nobles all stood there with their eyes wide open in shock.
'Unbelievable!'
'You are holding someone else's daughter and still asking her father something like that?'
'You really are not taking Duke Levi seriously at all!'
Duke Levi's body seemed to tremble with anger, but the next second, he froze in place.
Because he noticed something.
At some point, the surroundings had been rapidly enveloped by a nebula-like purple haze.
In a daze, his consciousness seemed to enter another world.
In this world, it seemed that only Viktor and he remained.
Levi raised his head and looked behind Viktor.
There, three enormous beasts appeared, each standing on a different continent.
A massive beast wrapped entirely in red roamed above lava, its body covered in crimson patterns.
Between those patterns, lava and scorching flames slowly flowed.
Ash carrying sparks floated over the continent, yet the beast showed no fear of those extremely hot fragments of molten rock.
It slowly approached a volcano, stretched its giant claw into the depths of the volcano, stirred it, then pulled out a large chunk of flowing magma and stuffed it into its mouth.
After swallowing the magma, the lava beast let out a massive roar.
Another land presented a completely different scene.
On a land covered in lush vegetation, there was almost no sign of life.
Until the soil trembled slightly and a serpent-shaped giant beast with three pairs of compound eyes raised its body.
Its soft green body was even somewhat transparent, moving flexibly through the trees, its three pairs of compound eyes constantly surveying the towering trunks.
An insect crawled out from a crack in a giant tree, waving its antennae as if searching for direction.
Next, the giant snake twisted its body and moved behind the insect, its three pairs of compound eyes locked tightly onto it.
Like an observer of the forest, watching countless lives growing here.
Watching where they would go.
As for the last continent, its full appearance could not be seen at all.
The entire land was completely shrouded in thick, gloomy clouds, with storms rolling endlessly within the dark mass.
On the ground, air currents spun continuously.
The dark clouds surged like waves, raising peak after peak over the sea.
Between the clouds, a massive black serpent-like body could vaguely be seen.
Its long body rolled through the clouds, passing through the hazy gloom without pause.
Levi saw clearly. It was a gigantic black dragon covered entirely in sharp black scales.
At this moment, it seemed to be enjoying the churning clouds, twisting its body back and forth.
Those yellow vertical pupils blinked repeatedly, and the entire dragon relaxed completely.
Viktor stood with his hands in his pockets, also gazing at the colossal creatures behind Levi.
"You still don't understand, Duke."
Behind Levi, a phantom ocean appeared.
A fierce wind from nowhere whipped the place into extreme violence.
Dark clouds filled the sky, blocking out the sunlight, and the sea surface even took on a deep, dark color.
A thick layer of heavy mist spread across the sea, forming an extremely deep disguise. In the haze, only the sound of crashing waves could be heard, constantly surging.
Deep within the mist, there seemed to be a faint bluish glow.
In the deep sea, it was as if a colossal beast was roaming within, its dull echoes mixing with the pounding of the waves.
Levi also saw the special scene appearing behind him. Then he turned around, looked behind Viktor, and said calmly, "The true… source of calamity."
Viktor raised his head in satisfaction and looked at Levi.
"So you're finally not hiding it anymore?"
Long ago, Viktor had already asked Levi whether he knew about calamities.
But at that time, Viktor was not worth Levi taking seriously.
Now, Viktor stood before Levi again, carrying the power of three calamities.
He believed that the other side would no longer brush him off like before.
Levi narrowed his eyes, looked behind Viktor, and then slowly said, "What do you want to take from me?"
Viktor looked at Levi calmly and let out a soft laugh.
"Don't misunderstand. There's nothing about you worth me thinking about."
At this moment, he snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the forms of the three giant beasts behind Viktor gradually collapsed. The continents shattered as well, turning into three streams of natural elements of different colors.
These three differently colored elemental worlds began to collide with one another and eventually merged together.
The sun hung high in the sky, radiating warmth and dazzling light.
Dense forests slowly rose from the land, gentle winds flowing through the gaps in the woods, branches swaying.
From that moment on, the entire continent brimmed with life.
This continent had clearly merged into an extremely real world.
Levi was slightly stunned and heard Viktor continue, "Doesn't it feel familiar?"
At this moment, Duke Levi felt a brief sense of dizziness.
He suddenly understood why Viktor had asked him that.
Because just moments ago, he had seen a world almost identical to this one.
That's right, the instance world.
That world was incomplete.
Just like the world behind Viktor right now.
There was wind, dense forests, and a blazing sun hanging high in the sky.
But every place one passed through was only a single, permanently lush forest. The speed of the wind rarely changed, often sweeping by as a gentle breeze.
The sun always rose in the east and set in the west. There were never dark clouds to cover the sky, never even a simple gloom.
That instance world was extremely real, but it simply could not compare to the real world.
Because the entire world only had these three elements.
At this moment, Levi seemed to understand what Viktor was trying to do.
"You want to… create a completely new world?"
"To be honest, I don't have such grand ambitions."
Viktor shrugged, and the entire space behind him turned back into nothingness.
"But since I've already started, if I don't gather it all."
"How could I be willing to stop?"
Levi widened his eyes.
Viktor spoke as if it were something casual.
"Wouldn't this also fulfill your wishes, Duke?"
"Calamities are a part of this world. Even if the source is lost, new calamities will still appear in any corner of this world."
"And once a calamity is reborn, then..."
Viktor waved his hand, and a scene of flames appeared in front of Levi.
Inside the flames was Erica.
Her eyes were closed, her body surrounded by holy light.
In six different directions around her body, there were six halos of different colors.
Two of the halos were especially bright.
One was a white halo, symbolizing the wind element.
Another was a green halo, symbolizing the wood element.
And finally, the red halo was also gradually growing brighter.
As if sensing the revival of some existence and slowly recovering its power.
Then, under the burning flames, the image turned into ashes, gradually burning apart.
Levi stared blankly at the sky, as if he had not fully reacted yet, when Viktor's voice sounded again, "Erica is your daughter. I think I don't need to remind you of her special nature."
Levi came back to his senses and looked at Viktor.
"What exactly… do you know?"
Viktor looked behind Levi and said quietly, "Not much, but enough."
"For example, the 'Blessing of Water' on you."
When he saw the wound on Safiroth's body, he already had a guess in his heart.
If before, Viktor had only suspected Levi's identity, then now, when he held Erica in his arms, Viktor was certain.
Levi's power could only come from one source.
The Calamity of Water, Dozale.