Yami panted heavily as he looked at the floating man in front of him, with light shining all over his body.
"I can't believe you defeated Vetta and Fana, even after awakening their elf mana," said Licht, the leader of the terrorist organization Eye of the Midnight Sun.
"You are worthy of the title of strongest captain. After all, the Wizard King himself trained you."
Yami did not say anything as he looked in the distance; his situation was not the best. Edward taught him the Liquid Mana Method, the Crystal Mana Method, and Mana Zone.
Additionally, he taught him many ways to use his dark magic. However, he faced all the members of Third Eye–Vatto, Fana, and Rhya. Furthermore, his opponent had more mana than him and could also use the Liquid and Crystal Mana technique.
Yami did not know how the kingdom's top-secret technique was leaked, nor did he have time to contemplate such a thing. In a three-on-one battle, he defeated Fana and Vetto and slightly injured Rhya.
However, the leader of the Eye of Midnight Sun showed up, and because of exhaustion and the fact he was weaker than the opponent, he could barely hold on.
Yami looked in the distance and saw all the destruction in the Capital. From the information he knew, all three realms were under attack, causing massive damage to the entire Clover Kingdom.
Thinking about how many people died and how much damage the kingdom had suffered, Yami could not help but be angry. However, he knew that this was not the time for uncontrolled emotions.
He further analyzed the situation. He saw that Fuegeleon lay in a pool of blood a few dozen meters away with one arm missing. He sensed that the Ki of many of the magic knights' members changed, and they began to attack their companions.
He sensed that two squad members seemed to be possessed the same way as the others.
'Danm it, how did all of this happen? It was a typical day in the Capital, but suddenly, the undead began to attack, and before long, this terrorist organization appeared to make things worse.
'All because he suddenly wanted to have a vacation. Damn it.'
"Why are you doing this?" asked Yami.
"Revenge for what you humans did to us, elves," replied Licht, looking at the ongoing destruction. "The same way you destroyed our homes, we will do the same to you.
"Now, enough delay. Everything should be accomplished before any more complications arise."
"By complication, you mean you feared that Edward would return."
"Indeed. However, even the Wizard King will not be a match for us elves once we complete our reincarnation."
'Especially our leader,' thought Licht, or Patolli, as this was his real name. He only took the name [Licht] to remember the past and commemorate his dead leader and friend.
"Then, why did you wait for his disappearance before attacking."
"Simply to avoid unnecessary complications."
Then, Patolli no longer said anything but attacked; thousands of light swords appeared in the sky before raining down on Yami. The ground in his surroundings was pulverized, and Yami was nowhere to be seen.
Patolli frowned as he sensed the surroundings: "Escaped? No matter."
He took Vetto and Fana before healing their injuries with Light Magic and heading in a specific direction.
Not long after leaving, Yami crawled out from the debris with blood all over his body. He then used a technique Edward taught him to use mana to stop his wounds from continuing bleeding.
Although it was not a healing method, it could delay his death. Yami walked to the central area with great difficulty, where the remaining captains surrounded Fuegeleon's body, which was being healed by his cousin Mimosa.
"You're not dead?" asked Jack.
"Do you want to fight?" responded Yami.
"This is not the time for this," admonished Nozel Silva. "The enemy has entered the palace; we must stop whatever their main objective is."
"We don't even know their main objective, so how do we stop them?" said Zora. "Plus, we must stop these traitors from killing more civilians and destroying the kingdom."
No one said anything for a brief moment. These 'traitors' were all their squad members, so they did not know how to treat them in the current situation.
"I say we make the tough call and kill them all," said Jack the Ripper.
"There is no need for that."
Everyone gazed at the person who spoke. They saw a trio composed of Asta, Yuno, and a young girl with heavy bags under her eyes and two short horns; no one knew who she was.
"Captain Yami," suddenly yelled Asta. "It's Nero. Can you believe it? It's Nero!"
"You mean the strange bird which followed you around."
"Yes, that's her."
"So, Nero, what do you mean by that?"
"It's Secre. Secre Swallowtail," she replied apathetically. "First of all, these elves are after the magic stones."
"They took Yuno's necklace," said Asta.
"If I remember correctly, Fuegeleon had a necklace as well. Could it be the reason they targetted him?" added Nozel.
"But what's the purpose of the magic stones?"
"The Shadow Palace," muttered Yami loud enough for everyone to hear, thus garnering everyone's sight. "Edward once mentioned something deep in the castle called the Shadow Palace; it might be their destination."
"Speaking of which, where is the Wizard King?" asked Nozel.
"I tried contacting him, but it is no use."
Everyone became quiet once again before Secre continued: "Asta's Anti-Magic can nullify whatever spells these people are under, so we can use his ability to solve the problem."
"If that's true, we can divide our team into two groups: one go after the elves while the second dealt with the situation here," said Nozel.
"That's a bad idea," said Secre. "If we want a chance at beating these elves, we'll need all the help we can have."
She knew what awaited them inside the Shadow Palace. Everything would be fine if the Wizard King were here, but he is not. Furthermore, she planned to wake up the first Wizard King, Lemiel, to deal with the problem.
Unfortunately, she needed the magic stones to unseal him, but they appeared now to be all the hands of the elves.
"Edward told me he placed a sealed in whatever was inside the castle," said Yami. "This should buy us time to deal with the remaining elves, heal, and even recover slightly."
While everyone pondered the feasibility of this plan, they suddenly felt the temperature around drastically increase. As everyone looked for the source, they saw a massive pillar of flame coming out from Fuegeleon's body.
"Brother!" yelled Leon Vermillion, Fuegeleon's younger brother. "Mimosa, what is going on?"
"I-I don't know," she replied. She was only using her Healing Magic to keep him alive when this sudden change occurred.
Under everyone's watch, the pillar of flame turned into a salamander with wings. Then, Fuegeleon's injury healed under everyone's eyes while also growing an arm made entirely of fire.
Then, he opened his eyes with confusion.
"Aniki," yelled Leon.
"Captain Fuegelon," yelled Asta at the same time. Although he only officially met the latter a few hours ago, he admired his leadership abilities.
It took Fuegelon a while to regain his bearing before everyone explained the situation to him. Then, he dropped a piece of news that could be considered an intercontinental missile.
"You mean, the leader of Eye of Midnight Sun is Vengeance?" asked Nozel.
"Impossible. Captain Vengeance would never do such a thing," said Yuno.
"I saw it with my own eyes," replied Fuegeleon.
It was not just Yuno who was in utter disbelief, but Yami as well. Vengeance was one of his closest friends since they grew up in the Blue Ravenclaw Squad together, trained together by Edward.
So, he could not fathom why he would betray the kingdom and become a terrorist. Furthermore, he believed that if something were wrong with Vengeance, Edward would have discovered it long ago; he knew how capable his captain was.
'Unless he knew but let things happen,' thought Yami. He knew that Edward could use Time Magic after the fight with Lucius, so it is not unheard of for him to see this future and let it happen for some reason.
'The question is why? Or maybe, I'm reading too much into this, and he is really stuck somewhere where he cannot be contacted.'
Finally, everyone proceeded with the plan. Although angered at Vengeance's betrayal, they hoped that his situation was similar to the people who had their bodies taken away.
With Mimosa healing everyone and Charmy using her food magic to regenerate everyone's mana, the group quickly returned to peak fighting shape before stopping the magic knights whose bodies were taken over by elves.
Meanwhile, Fuegeleon used Finral's Spatial Magic to contact more help: his sister, Mereoleona.
In a Grand Magic Zone not far from the Clover Kingdom, Edward calmly watched everything happening; he understood the plot seemed to be disrupted completely.
The invasion of the elves should have occurred way later after the Capital was attacked, the Underwater Temple Visit, The Witch Queen Visit, and the Royal Knight Selection.
'Could it be that after I visited Elysium, this timeline's [Correction of Fate] disappeared? But why? Has the Universe Will abandoned this timeline, or is it something else I do not know?'
He waved his hand, and the crystal ball floating in front of him showed a different scene: the Underwater Temple. It was now in shambles, with many injured and a few dead.
He guessed that the Eye of Midnight Sun attacked them for the magic stones. So, Edward checked the Witch Forest, and as expected, they were also attacked. However, the casualty seemed less severe than the Underwater Temple.
'Zagrid should be showing up, so let's wait for a little more.'
Yami panted heavily as he looked at the floating man in front of him, with light shining all over his body.
"I can't believe you defeated Vetta and Fana, even after awakening their elf mana," said Licht, the leader of the terrorist organization Eye of the Midnight Sun.
"You are worthy of the title of strongest captain. After all, the Wizard King himself trained you."
Yami did not say anything as he looked in the distance; his situation was not the best. Edward taught him the Liquid Mana Method, the Crystal Mana Method, and Mana Zone.
Additionally, he taught him many ways to use his dark magic. However, he faced all the members of Third Eye–Vatto, Fana, and Rhya. Furthermore, his opponent had more mana than him and could also use the Liquid and Crystal Mana technique.
Yami did not know how the kingdom's top-secret technique was leaked, nor did he have time to contemplate such a thing. In a three-on-one battle, he defeated Fana and Vetto and slightly injured Rhya.
However, the leader of the Eye of Midnight Sun showed up, and because of exhaustion and the fact he was weaker than the opponent, he could barely hold on.
Yami looked in the distance and saw all the destruction in the Capital. From the information he knew, all three realms were under attack, causing massive damage to the entire Clover Kingdom.
Thinking about how many people died and how much damage the kingdom had suffered, Yami could not help but be angry. However, he knew that this was not the time for uncontrolled emotions.
He further analyzed the situation. He saw that Fuegeleon lay in a pool of blood a few dozen meters away with one arm missing. He sensed that the Ki of many of the magic knights' members changed, and they began to attack their companions.
He sensed that two squad members seemed to be possessed the same way as the others.
'Danm it, how did all of this happen? It was a typical day in the Capital, but suddenly, the undead began to attack, and before long, this terrorist organization appeared to make things worse.
'All because he suddenly wanted to have a vacation. Damn it.'
"Why are you doing this?" asked Yami.
"Revenge for what you humans did to us, elves," replied Licht, looking at the ongoing destruction. "The same way you destroyed our homes, we will do the same to you.
"Now, enough delay. Everything should be accomplished before any more complications arise."
"By complication, you mean you feared that Edward would return."
"Indeed. However, even the Wizard King will not be a match for us elves once we complete our reincarnation."
'Especially our leader,' thought Licht, or Patolli, as this was his real name. He only took the name [Licht] to remember the past and commemorate his dead leader and friend.
"Then, why did you wait for his disappearance before attacking."
"Simply to avoid unnecessary complications."
Then, Patolli no longer said anything but attacked; thousands of light swords appeared in the sky before raining down on Yami. The ground in his surroundings was pulverized, and Yami was nowhere to be seen.
Patolli frowned as he sensed the surroundings: "Escaped? No matter."
He took Vetto and Fana before healing their injuries with Light Magic and heading in a specific direction.
Not long after leaving, Yami crawled out from the debris with blood all over his body. He then used a technique Edward taught him to use mana to stop his wounds from continuing bleeding.
Although it was not a healing method, it could delay his death. Yami walked to the central area with great difficulty, where the remaining captains surrounded Fuegeleon's body, which was being healed by his cousin Mimosa.
"You're not dead?" asked Jack.
"Do you want to fight?" responded Yami.
"This is not the time for this," admonished Nozel Silva. "The enemy has entered the palace; we must stop whatever their main objective is."
"We don't even know their main objective, so how do we stop them?" said Zora. "Plus, we must stop these traitors from killing more civilians and destroying the kingdom."
No one said anything for a brief moment. These 'traitors' were all their squad members, so they did not know how to treat them in the current situation.
"I say we make the tough call and kill them all," said Jack the Ripper.
"There is no need for that."
Everyone gazed at the person who spoke. They saw a trio composed of Asta, Yuno, and a young girl with heavy bags under her eyes and two short horns; no one knew who she was.
"Captain Yami," suddenly yelled Asta. "It's Nero. Can you believe it? It's Nero!"
"You mean the strange bird which followed you around."
"Yes, that's her."
"So, Nero, what do you mean by that?"
"It's Secre. Secre Swallowtail," she replied apathetically. "First of all, these elves are after the magic stones."
"They took Yuno's necklace," said Asta.
"If I remember correctly, Fuegeleon had a necklace as well. Could it be the reason they targetted him?" added Nozel.
"But what's the purpose of the magic stones?"
"The Shadow Palace," muttered Yami loud enough for everyone to hear, thus garnering everyone's sight. "Edward once mentioned something deep in the castle called the Shadow Palace; it might be their destination."
"Speaking of which, where is the Wizard King?" asked Nozel.
"I tried contacting him, but it is no use."
Everyone became quiet once again before Secre continued: "Asta's Anti-Magic can nullify whatever spells these people are under, so we can use his ability to solve the problem."
"If that's true, we can divide our team into two groups: one go after the elves while the second dealt with the situation here," said Nozel.
"That's a bad idea," said Secre. "If we want a chance at beating these elves, we'll need all the help we can have."
She knew what awaited them inside the Shadow Palace. Everything would be fine if the Wizard King were here, but he is not. Furthermore, she planned to wake up the first Wizard King, Lemiel, to deal with the problem.
Unfortunately, she needed the magic stones to unseal him, but they appeared now to be all the hands of the elves.
"Edward told me he placed a sealed in whatever was inside the castle," said Yami. "This should buy us time to deal with the remaining elves, heal, and even recover slightly."
While everyone pondered the feasibility of this plan, they suddenly felt the temperature around drastically increase. As everyone looked for the source, they saw a massive pillar of flame coming out from Fuegeleon's body.
"Brother!" yelled Leon Vermillion, Fuegeleon's younger brother. "Mimosa, what is going on?"
"I-I don't know," she replied. She was only using her Healing Magic to keep him alive when this sudden change occurred.
Under everyone's watch, the pillar of flame turned into a salamander with wings. Then, Fuegeleon's injury healed under everyone's eyes while also growing an arm made entirely of fire.
Then, he opened his eyes with confusion.
"Aniki," yelled Leon.
"Captain Fuegelon," yelled Asta at the same time. Although he only officially met the latter a few hours ago, he admired his leadership abilities.
It took Fuegelon a while to regain his bearing before everyone explained the situation to him. Then, he dropped a piece of news that could be considered an intercontinental missile.
"You mean, the leader of Eye of Midnight Sun is Vengeance?" asked Nozel.
"Impossible. Captain Vengeance would never do such a thing," said Yuno.
"I saw it with my own eyes," replied Fuegeleon.
It was not just Yuno who was in utter disbelief, but Yami as well. Vengeance was one of his closest friends since they grew up in the Blue Ravenclaw Squad together, trained together by Edward.
So, he could not fathom why he would betray the kingdom and become a terrorist. Furthermore, he believed that if something were wrong with Vengeance, Edward would have discovered it long ago; he knew how capable his captain was.
'Unless he knew but let things happen,' thought Yami. He knew that Edward could use Time Magic after the fight with Lucius, so it is not unheard of for him to see this future and let it happen for some reason.
'The question is why? Or maybe, I'm reading too much into this, and he is really stuck somewhere where he cannot be contacted.'
Finally, everyone proceeded with the plan. Although angered at Vengeance's betrayal, they hoped that his situation was similar to the people who had their bodies taken away.
With Mimosa healing everyone and Charmy using her food magic to regenerate everyone's mana, the group quickly returned to peak fighting shape before stopping the magic knights whose bodies were taken over by elves.
Meanwhile, Fuegeleon used Finral's Spatial Magic to contact more help: his sister, Mereoleona.
In a Grand Magic Zone not far from the Clover Kingdom, Edward calmly watched everything happening; he understood the plot seemed to be disrupted completely.
The invasion of the elves should have occurred way later after the Capital was attacked, the Underwater Temple Visit, The Witch Queen Visit, and the Royal Knight Selection.
'Could it be that after I visited Elysium, this timeline's [Correction of Fate] disappeared? But why? Has the Universe Will abandoned this timeline, or is it something else I do not know?'
He waved his hand, and the crystal ball floating in front of him showed a different scene: the Underwater Temple. It was now in shambles, with many injured and a few dead.
He guessed that the Eye of Midnight Sun attacked them for the magic stones. So, Edward checked the Witch Forest, and as expected, they were also attacked. However, the casualty seemed less severe than the Underwater Temple.
'Zagrid should be showing up, so let's wait for a little more.'
