In the night, a golden light swiftly flew towards Gelbit Rock. When the golden light landed on Gelbit Rock, a brother and sister, resurrected by Elves, greeted the newcomer.
"You've only just arrived as well." The man sensed the newcomer's magic, and the familiar aura made him call out a name: "You... you're Bartoli, aren't you? You really do look exactly like Licht."
The one who appeared here was none other than the Elf residing within William Vangeance, the captain of the Golden Dawn. Due to his appearance being almost identical to Licht, the Elf Tribe's leader, after his resurrection, he used Licht's identity to establish the Eye of the Midnight Sun and embarked on a path of revenge.
His true identity was Bartoli, a member of the Elf Tribe.
"After Mr. Licht used Reincarnation Magic, my body looked like this when I awoke. This is my destiny."
"Yo ~ long time no see, Dolova, and little Ekra too." As the two talked, Laiya suddenly appeared and greeted them. Having changed his clothes and rested for a while, he was in excellent condition.
"For me, it hasn't been that long, Laiya," the man called Dolova replied with a smile.
His sister, little Ekra, responded softly beside him: "Good evening."
"Bartoli is here too, you've worked hard."
"Mr. Laiya, where is Mr. Licht?"
"Him?" Laiya paused, "I don't know if it's because of the artificial body, or because he cast forbidden magic, but his memories are currently asleep."
"I see... In any case, has everyone gathered?"
"Yes, everyone is waiting."
"Alright ~ now that we've reached this point, we just need to embed the last Magic Stone into the pedestal in the city, and the magic affecting the entire kingdom will activate. At that time, the forbidden magic placed upon us will be cleansed, and true reincarnation will be completed..."
"But this last Magic Stone?"
Listening to Bartoli, Laiya took a few steps forward and replied, "We exchanged the condition of helping the Dwarf Kingdom fight the Devil God for a magic tool that could search for Magic Stones. This magic tool can only locate ten Magic Stones in total."
"As for the last one, the old king of the Dwarf Kingdom said that when ten Magic Stones are gathered, the eleventh Magic Stone will appear. I imagine it should be in someone's hands by now."
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Looking down from high above, scattered flames ignited across the Clover Royal Capital like a prairie fire. The raging inferno, like a gluttonous beast, burned ever more fiercely, dyeing the sky crimson, like a banquet reaching its climax.
Gelbit Rock, which had advanced to the center of the Royal Capital, remained stationary. The rocks on it began to crack and crumble, then floated suspended like a celestial tower. A massive golden magic circle slowly lit up on the rocks; upon closer inspection, it was the pattern of the Tree of Life.
In a hollow space somewhere within Gelbit Rock, Bai En sat on a floating stone, examining the two grimoires before him: one glowed with a pearly white light, the other was as transparent as jade.
When the golden Tree of Life lit up, he looked up at the dome of the grotto and softly murmured, "Is it finally starting?"
Having taken the Elves' free "express ride," he undoubtedly arrived at the very center of the battlefield, the enemy's main base, at the fastest speed.
Concealing his aura with Transparent World, and then constructing a special barrier that seals magic—the "Marketplace"—with Limitless Magic, the combination was undoubtedly a bug-like stealth divine skill. It was almost impossible to be detected unless one was standing directly in front of someone's line of sight.
Bai En slowly stood up. "Then it's time to go."
"Although I haven't gathered all seven kitchen utensils yet, forcibly using the final chapter of Mikuriya would damage the already forged utensils and greatly reduce their characteristic abilities. However, with Limitless Magic, I probably won't need that move."
"Besides, I haven't tried using Limitless and Mikuriya simultaneously yet. That idea just now was quite good. It seems this time's Devil should be a very good practice target."
"As for whether I can completely eliminate it... that will depend on the specificity of 'magic' and whether the 'Fairy Transformation' state can rival the ultimate 'Sanctuary' of Elf assimilation."
"But my magic doesn't belong to this world... it should have an effect on the Devil, right?"
After muttering to himself for a while, a faint blue light twinkled in his eyes, and Bai En vanished from the spot. The quiet space remained as it was before, as if no one had ever been there from beginning to end.
A few seconds after the Tree of Life's array pattern lit up.
A dark reflection twisted and solidified in the air, a black curtain-like anomaly resembling a reflection of the entire Royal Capital. Passing through this shadow would lead to the ancient magical space known as the "Shadow Palace."
According to records in the Royal Library, the Shadow Palace was handed over to humans by the ancient Elf Tribe in accordance with an ancient covenant. It is a magical space located at the boundary between this world and the underworld.
Only ten Elves who have received the revelation can open it.
When the reflection fully solidified, the space trembled slightly. Bai En exchanged coordinates and entered first. The Elves standing on the dome of Gelbit Rock only felt a gentle breeze pass by. Only Licht, the Elf Tribe's leader, who was like a wooden figure, raised his empty eyes, vaguely sensing something amiss.
"What's wrong, Licht?"
Laiya asked, looking at Licht, who had suddenly moved. Following his gaze, Laiya looked over; within the black shadow curtain, it was empty, with nothing there.
A fragmented voice came, "Nothing... at... all."
Although he found it a bit strange, Laiya didn't think much of it.
"Alright, let us enter the Shadow Palace, the final step in the Royal Capital," Bartoli said to the Sefirot who had received the revelation.
Just as he stood up, preparing to fly into the Shadow Palace, several unusually powerful magical energies erupted from within the Clover Kingdom's Royal Capital, beneath Gelbit Rock. From a distance, a giant black figure also rushed towards them, the dark silhouette resembling a massive standing raging bull.
"Those Magic Knights are truly troublesome."
"I'll stay and stop them," Dolova said coldly.
"I will too," a woman in a pure white witch's outfit responded after Dolova. She was the Elf possessing the captain of the Coral Peacocks.
"Good, then I'll leave it to you two."
As his words fell, the others flew into the Shadow Palace through the black curtain. The few of them distributed personnel according to the special structure of the Shadow Palace, and Licht flew alone to the very top of the Shadow Palace.
"Mr. Laiya, what do you think Mr. Licht is going there for?"
"I don't know, but since he said so, we'll just stick to our plan for now and not worry about him."
...