Two Count-level Vampires, plus one Marquis-level Vampire—it seemed the Vampire clan had significant plans for Genovia this time.
While Mike kept an eye on Amy and Eileen's battle, he used his telepathy to peek into the inner worlds of the three pure-blood Vampires.
With his mental strength and the passage of time, Mike could now read the minds of some powerful transcendent beings.
Unlike Chelsea and the other busy fighters, Caius, who possessed the [Five Senses Enhancement] Talent, had extremely sharp sensory organs.
Facing Mike's probing gaze, this second elder of the Volturi Family dared not move, completely frozen in place.
His only thought was: escape from here…
Otherwise, he would truly die.
The Five Senses Enhancement Talent seemed unremarkable compared to the powerful talents of other Vampires.
However, it depended on how it was used; Caius's cautious nature perfectly matched his [Five Senses Enhancement], which had allowed him to escape many perilous situations during years of conflict between Vampires and werewolves.
And this time, the young man who suddenly appeared felt more dangerous to him than ever before.
The overflowing sense of danger prevented this second elder of the Volturi Family from even thinking of resisting; his only thought was how to escape from here.
Meanwhile, in the center of the banquet hall, although Amy and Eileen had damage immunity buffs, they were still ordinary humans, and the high-intensity attacks were gradually draining their stamina.
It was then that their opponents suddenly collapsed to the ground, their faces contorted in pain, seemingly undergoing inhuman torment.
Yes, Mike had made his move.
Having merged the [Emotion Guidance] and [Spiritual Pain] Talents, he could spiritually assassinate multiple people at once.
"Th-this… how is this possible…," Jane, tormented spiritually, recognized that her pain originated from the Spiritual Pain.
It was this feeling of unbearable pain, worse than death.
It was precisely because of her understanding of her own bloodline Talent that Jane knew even more clearly what kind of torment she was about to endure.
Every extra second was torture…
So, this Count-level Vampire directly gave up resisting and was instantly burned to ashes from the inside out by inner fire.
On the other side, Chelsea, with an extremely strong will to survive, was desperately resisting the spiritual torment when she looked up and saw a pair of "indifferent" eyes.
"P-please spare me…" Chelsea pleaded.
But before she could even finish her words, she too turned into a pile of ashes on the ground.
The total time she lasted was just two seconds longer than Jane.
This sudden change in the two Vampires startled Amy and Eileen. As they hastily retreated, they bumped into Mike behind them.
"Mike, how are you here?"
After seeing who was behind them, the two girls asked the same question as Princess Mia.
"I'll explain to you later. Right now, I need to deal with that last fleeing rat…" Mike gently ruffled the two girls' hair, applied a stamina recovery buff to each of them, and then prepared to give chase.
It must be said, Caius truly lived up to his title as the second elder of the Volturi Family; he had managed to quietly slip out of the banquet hall, enduring Mike's Spiritual Pain.
"Mike—"
Just as Mike was about to give chase, he heard Mia's call from behind.
Her Royal Highness had just experienced a Vampire coup and now felt very insecure. Her gaze towards Mike was filled with heavy reliance.
This was something Mike had overlooked.
'Washington State… Volturi Family… A monk can run away, but his temple cannot…'
Mike had learned the origins of the three Vampires through his telepathy earlier, so there was no need to rush after Caius.
Now, he needed to first soothe Princess Mia's emotions and, incidentally, help Queen Renaldi and Princess Mia stabilize the hearts of the ministers in the reception hall.
Genovia was a very small country, with a land area of only about five hundred square kilometers and a population of less than one hundred thousand.
Calling it a country was more like calling it a small city, so the coup that happened here today could not be concealed from the outside public at all.
Therefore, if they did not want the country to be in turmoil, they had to properly handle the aftermath of this coup.
So, Mike, having come to his senses, turned around, brought Amy and Eileen, and returned to Princess Mia and Queen Renaldi's side.
With Mike, this powerful reinforcement, in command, the ministers close to the royal family in the banquet hall seemed to instantly gain a backbone.
However, unlike Queen Renaldi's harmonious side, Mabrey and his son, who had secretly slipped to the door but hadn't had time to escape, were in a difficult situation.
The situation changed too quickly; Mabrey hadn't even had time to gloat before the Vampire reinforcements he had brought either died or fled.
Knowing that he was finished this time, he reacted quickly, dragging his son and also trying to escape.
However, Mabrey's luck seemed to be poor; he was immediately intercepted at the door by Joe, who had organized the guard team and followed closely behind.
Subsequently, Mabrey and his son were brought before the Queen.
"Your Majesty, the traitors have been apprehended. How shall we deal with them?" Joe asked.
Although this royal butler had a sufficiently close relationship with Queen Renaldi, in front of outsiders, he remained a loyal subordinate to the Queen.
"You gave away two-fifths of the country's land to Vampires with just a few words. Do you know what the consequences of this will be?" Queen Renaldi looked at Mabrey with great disappointment.
Giving two-fifths of the country's land to Vampires, given the current situation of Vampires, would inevitably destroy this small country once they settled in Genovia.
Therefore, what Mabrey did could no longer be described as mere treason.
"Imprison Mabrey in the dungeon and execute him on a chosen day." Queen Renaldi was truly angered this time. Without waiting for Mabrey to argue, she directly sentenced him to death.
"Wait, Your Majesty, I am willing to use my knowledge to serve the country, if only you spare my father's life." Nicholas knelt on the ground, pleading for his father.
Although this high-achieving student who studied abroad did not agree with some of his father's actions, he understood the principle of 'one prospers, all prosper; one suffers, all suffer.'
"This…" Genovia, being a small country in its early stages of development, indeed needed various high-end talents, which made Queen Renaldi a bit indecisive.
On one side was a developmental talent, and on the other was a major criminal of the kingdom; crucially, they were also father and son.
How should she choose?
After a long period of internal struggle, the Queen unconsciously looked at Mike.
Just as Mabrey had said, Queen Renaldi's gentle nature as a Queen had led to good achievements in internal affairs and diplomacy, but she still lacked decisiveness in taking action.
Now, Mike, as the pacifier of the coup, not only possessed great strength but also had an entangled ambiguous relationship with Princess Mia.
Being regarded as one of their own, he naturally became Queen Renaldi's "backer."
"What Mabrey did, while not warranting the extermination of his entire family, his son certainly can't escape," Mike offered his advice at the appropriate moment.
Unlike Queen Renaldi's gentle thoughts, in Mike's perception: where did Nicholas's expenses for studying abroad come from?
They must have been provided by his family.
Calculating this, Mabrey and his son actually belonged to the same faction.
If it were according to Queen Renaldi's idea: on one hand, she wanted to punish Mabrey, and on the other hand, she wanted to employ his son.
The hidden danger would certainly be great. Over time, no one could guarantee whether Nicholas would harbor other intentions in his heart.
After all, it's a deep father-son bond.
Therefore, this kind of hidden danger could not be left.
The best approach was to punish them both.
As for the talent issue, Queen Renaldi was still thinking too shallowly; if they lacked talent, couldn't they just bring some in?
Genovia's development would not halt simply because someone was missing.
"Then both Mabrey and his son will be imprisoned in the dungeon." Having received the reminder, Queen Renaldi made her decision and continued, "Also, arrest all of Mabrey's confidantes and deal with them after interrogation."
To the side, ministers and nobles who had previously been close to Mabrey, hearing that they were also involved, began to cry out in injustice in various ways.
The banquet hall instantly became extremely noisy.
There's a saying, 'the law does not punish the masses.' Seeing that Queen Renaldi showed signs of softening, Mike stepped forward and said, "There's no need for such trouble; I can determine whether they are guilty right now."
Beyonder times call for extraordinary measures; Queen Renaldi's personality was still too gentle.
So, under everyone's gaze, Mike looked at those crying out in injustice, activated his telepathy, and then pointed them out one by one: "You, you, and you, are all guilty."
As his words fell, those he pointed out all painfully turned to ashes by inner fire.
The hall fell silent for a moment. Those who had cried out in injustice but were not pointed out no longer dared to follow the crowd and "act recklessly."
"Alright, those I point out next, while not deserving of death, need to be arrested for further interrogation…" Mike didn't care what the ministers thought. After signaling Joe, he pointed out a dozen more people from Mabrey's faction.
Though strong-arm tactics were frightening, they were also the quickest way to quell the unrest.
What surprised Mike was that while he was handling the situation, he inexplicably received some faith points.
[Faith Points +1]… [Faith Points +1]… [Faith Points +1]…
Needless to say, these faith points must have been provided by the ministers and nobles close to the Queen.
By this reckoning, Genovia was not without capable people after all.
"Your Majesty, is my handling of this acceptable?" After rooting out all the internal spies present, Mike returned to Mia and the others' side.
As for the hidden danger of Mabrey and his son, they had been burned to ashes at the very first moment.
"No problem, you did very well…" Queen Renaldi looked at the remaining ministers and nobles below, seeing reverence in their eyes, and a faintly emerging sense of cohesion.
This kind of situation was very rare to see before.
After all, Queen Renaldi's way of handling affairs determined that she would earn respect, but she couldn't make everyone fear her.
Turning her gaze back to Mike, Queen Renaldi suddenly asked, "When do you want to marry my granddaughter?"
Realizing that her own philosophy was no longer suitable for the current Genovia, Queen Renaldi had decided to "abdicate."
And for Princess Mia to assume the throne, the prerequisite was that she must first have a partner.
"Marry? Isn't that too fast?" Mike habitually demurred.
After all, he was still so young and had so many confidantes; he hadn't really thought about marriage.
However, his subconscious reaction caused Princess Mia's expression to dim.
"It's okay if you don't want to get married immediately; you can get engaged first…" Queen Renaldi asked kindly, "What do you think?"
It must be said that Her Majesty the Queen, being experienced, understood Mike's thoughts very thoroughly.
To the side, Princess Mia, seeing that there was still a chance, also looked up at Mike with eager eyes.
As for Mike, how could he withstand such a test? After some thought, he said, "Engagement is fine, we can get engaged first."
At this, the entire atmosphere of the banquet hall lightened by several degrees.
"Very good," Queen Renaldi smiled and continued, "Since all the ministers are here today, I officially announce the successful engagement of Princess Mia of the Kingdom and Mr. Mike. As for when they will marry, they can discuss and decide that themselves later."
Now, even the slowest-witted person could see that Her Majesty the Queen was paving the way for her granddaughter to ascend the throne.
So, all the ministers applauded in celebration.
Who became Queen was not important, but being able to bring in Mike as a powerful foreign aid and backing was very important.
Especially since these ministers had just witnessed the existence of dangerous beings like Vampires in the world.
Compared to the evil Vampires, although Mike's methods were a bit tough, having such a "stabilizing force" as a backer still filled the ministers with hope for the future.