Into the Shadow Palace
From the ground, Blades, Slash, Sophia, Grey, Gordon, Henry, Aspida and Elxi looked up just as a bright light appeared.
"They returned!" Sophia said in a relieved tone of voice just as she and the others watched Espada and Magna delivering the final attack towards Reve.
"They're going to fall!" Blades exclaimed, the swordsman of water exclaimed as he noticed that those who have been taken away by Reve's magic began to fall.
Sophia and Elxi began to activate they're magic, but it wasn't required just as large quantities of cotton appeared on the ground where the once kidnapped Magic Knights, maid and scientist fell onto.
"Finally! We're back in the real world!" Magna exclaimed in a relieved tone of voice.
"Thanks Charmy." Vanessa commented with a small smile on her face.
"Hm-hm." Charmy responded simply whilst nodding her head slightly.
"Wow. These cotton are super soft." Sally commented as she rummage through the cotton.
"We can't relax now. There's still more elves to fight." Espada pointed out as she began to get herself out of the cotton.
A hand appeared within Espada's vision.
"Thanks." The swords-woman of lighting said as she took the newly appeared hand whereupon it pulled, lifting Espada out of the cotton.
"…." The swords-woman of lighting stared at the owner of the hand for a few seconds before suddenly pointing Ikazuchi at their face.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Point that sword somewhere else!" Aspida exclaimed as she took a few steps back whilst raising her arms.
"Why should I do that? You're the enemy." Espada pointed out as she kept her eyes fixed on the elf-possessed Coral Peacock Magic Knight.
"Espada. Please calm down." Sophia said, causing the swords-woman of lighting to turn her head towards the captain of the Sword Of Logos whilst gaining a confused expression on her face.
"These two elves, along with a few others, have been freed from the malice that the reincarnation spell trapped them in." Sophia explained, making Espada blinked her eyes.
"Really?" The swords-woman of lighting asked as she glanced back at Aspida.
"Y-yes." Aspida responded whilst starting to become nervous as she stared at Ikazuchi.
"….Okay then." Espada said as she drop Ikazuchi, seeing how different Aspida and Elxi are acting.
"How though? There's absolutely no way that you could have get yourselves freed from the malice be yourselves." Vanessa asked whilst raising an eye-brow.
"It was Floges's doing. He used Rekka to free us and some others from the malice that the reincarnation spell produced." Elxi explained, causing the returned Magic Knights to widen their eyes.
"So there's an elf on our side then from the start?!" Magna exclaimed in a shock tone of voice, making the others nod their heads.
"That's some good news. I don't have to fight Asta then." Espada thought whilst letting out a sigh of relief.
"A sword that is capable of erasing the side effects of the reincarnation spell?! I must study it!" Sally exclaimed in an excited tone of voice.
"Oh no you don't! I don't want your hands anywhere near Rekka." Slash said in a firm tone of voice.
"Awwww….." Sally said in a disappointed tone of voice…...before glancing towards Espada and Blades.
The swords-woman of lighting and the swordsman of water quickly move their Holy Swords out of Sally's vision.
"I hope that you're didn't damage Dorothy too much." Sophia said in a worrying tone of voice as she glanced towards the unconscious form of Dorothy.
"We didn't hurt her too much. Just a combined attack from me and Magna." Espada responded as she glance towards Dorothy as well.
"I highly doubt that." Sophia commented whilst sweat-dropping.
"We could say the same thing to Gauche and his little sister." Vanessa commented as she glanced towards the unconscious forms of Gauche and Marie.
"Theeeeeeeeyyyyyy'reeee…..beeee…...okaaaaaayyyyyy…." Henry responded in his usual slow tone of voice.
"Why is he speaking so slowly?" Everyone thought at the same time.
It was at that moment that the group sensed people approaching them, causing them to glance up to see Saber, Joyeues, Nozel and Zora descending towards them from the Silva estate.
The Magic Knights became wide eyed when they saw Joyeues's new form just as the newly arrived Magic Knights landed on the ground, Nozel having been riding on a mercury-made eagle.
"Joyeues?! What happened to you?!" Blades asked in a shock tone of voice.
"I gain a power-up form during my last battle through the aid of "Valkyrie's Legacy" Wonder-Ride book." Joyeues responded in a prideful tone of voice.
"Congratulations. That's some achievement." Sophia responded with a small smile on her face.
"Thank you, Captain." Joyeues said, gaining a smile underneath her helmet as well.
"Unfortunately it doesn't seemed to change your attitude in the slightest." Magna commented in a blank tone of voice.
"Quite, insect." The swords-woman of steel rebutted, causing a tick-mark to appear on Magna's forehead.
"Are you the currently gathered Magic Knights?" Nozel asked as he glanced at the currently gathered Magic Knights whilst giving the two elf-possessed Magic Knights a raised eye-brow, causing Aspida and Elxi to become nervous.
"Yes. Yami and Jack already went inside the Shadow Palace." Sophia responded, causing the captain of the Silver Eagles to glance at the shadow-made building.
"How unsurprising that those two decided to go ahead." Nozel commented before releasing a small sigh.
"…" Espada stared at Saber.
"Is there something wrong?" Saber asked, still pretending that he's still possessed by Floges.
"…..That body you've taken is my little brother, Asta. I hope that you've have taken good care of it." Espada responded after a few seconds of remaining silent.
"Don't worry. I've been made sure that this body hasn't been damaged too much." Saber responded in a reassuring tone of voice.
At this, Slash raised an eye-brow underneath his helmet.
Saber turned his attention towards Aspida and Elxi, already having a good idea that the swordsman of sound has notice that something is off.
"How have you two been doing?" Saber asked, sounding concerned.
"I still feel off about fighting against our friends….even if it means stopping this chaos." Elxi responded, making Aspida nod her head in agreement.
"Hopefully we can end it soon….before focusing on other matters." Nozel commented and everyone knew what the captain of the Silver Eagles meant by "other matters", causing them to become tense.
"Heeeeeyyyy!" A voice suddenly shouted, causing mostly everyone to jump slightly before turning towards the direction of the voice to see Kenzan, Mimosa and Kirsch approaching them, flying on a cloud made from Kirsch's cherry blossom petals.
"Good. They managed to clear the Vermillion estate without suffering any injuries." Sophia said in a relieved tone of voice.
With the swords-woman of the winds, she was about to say something but stop when she saw Saber, Aspida and Elxi.
"K-Kenzan! Where are you going?!" Mimosa exclaimed as she and Kirsch watched as Kenzan launched herself off the cherry blossomed petal-made cloud, the twin blades of Hayate at the ready.
"W-why has Kenzan launched herself off that cloud thing?!" Grey asked in a startled tone of voice..
"….Aspida! Elxi! Get out off the way!" Saber shouted as he realize where Kenzan is heading.
The two elf-possessed Magic Knights dived to the sides whilst the swordsman of flames remained where he's standing just before Kenzan crashed into him.
The impact caused Saber to be sent skidding backwards before activating his wings to stop himself.
Kenzan jumped off of him and got into a battle stance.
"Just because you've taken possession over my friend's body won't mean I'll go easy on you!" Kenzan said, her battle-fanatic side starting to act up.
"Kenzan, stop! Floges and these two are on our side!" Sophia called, causing Kenzan to glance over her shoulder.
"Hm? What do you mean, Captain Sophia-Chan?" Kenzan asked, blinking her eyes underneath her helmet.
"Somehow, Rekka managed to free Floges from the malice that was contaminating his soul who then managed to free a few other elves from the malice." Sophia explained, causing Kenzan to become wide eyed.
"Is this true?" Mimosa asked in a hopeful tone of voice as she glanced towards Aspida and Elxi.
However, the two elf-possessed Magic Knights blinked their eyes whilst gaining slightly stunned expression on their faces.
"…...Is there something wrong?" Mimosa asked, starting to become worried.
"Isn't obvious? They're stunned by your beauty, my dear sister." Kirsch responded whilst striking a pose.
"Not now, brother." Mimosa muttered whilst gaining a tick-mark on her forehead.
"Well, he's isn't entirely wrong..." Elxi said in a low tone of voice, yet everyone still heard him.
"Eh?" Mimosa said, gaining a slight stunned expression on her face.
"You resemble Lady Tetria." Aspida said, causing Mimosa to blink her eyes.
"Who is Tetria? Licht referred to me as "Tetia"." Mimosa said, becoming curious.
"Lady Tetria was a member of the Clover Kingdom's royalty and the wife-to-be of Master Licht, the leader of the elf tribe. If things where different, then they would have been a line of elf/human hybrids branching off from the royal family." Saber explained, making Mimosa blink her eyes.
"So she's an ancestor of the royal family….." Mimosa thought before starting to become worried about what Licht would have done towards her whilst still in his sleep-like state, still mistaking her for Tetria.
It was at that moment that Nozel coughed, gaining everyone's attention.
"I think you should tell them the truth now, Saber." Nozel said, causing everyone, apart from Joyeues and Zora, to gain confuse expressions on their faces as they turn towards the swordsman of flames who has started to scratch his neck whilst gaining a sheepish look underneath his helmet.
"Tell us what?" Fiona asked, becoming confused.
"Floges…..isn't the one controlling this body….." Saber responded in a sheepish tone of voice.
This caused everyone to become more confused for a few seconds before their minds slowly starting to realize the truth.
"Asta….is that you?" Blades asked in a slow tone of voice.
"Yep." Saber responded whilst nodding his head, making everyone widen their eyes.
"Oh my! You certainly played the part of the enemy very well." Kirsch commented with a small smirk on his face.
"Asta…." Espada muttered, causing the swordsman of flames to look at the swords-woman of lighting whose body has started to shake slightly.
"Y-yeah?" Saber asked, starting to become nervous just as Espada started to approach him.
"You idiot!" Espada shouted before punching Saber, making everyone surprise.
"Ow!" Saber exclaimed as he stumbled back and almost fell onto the ground if it wasn't Espada hugging him.
"Don't you dare do that again." The swords-woman of lighting said, starting to become relived.
"Yeah, sorry." Saber said in an apologetic tone of voice.
"So what happened to Floges? Is he still in your body?" Slash asked whilst Aspida and Exli starting to become worried.
"Yes, Floges is still within me. It was him who suggested that I acted like one of the malice-filled elves. It was when I arrived that the Silva estate that I revealed that I'm not fully possessed." Saber explained just as Espada released him and everyone turned towards Joyeues, Nozel and Zora.
"This is correct. He revealed this when that dragon pet of his attacked the elf-possessed Magic Knight that we were fighting, knocking her out." Nozel explained, making everyone nod their heads.
It was at that moment that everyone sensed the Mana of different people heading towards them.
"So some late comers have decided to join the party." Zora commented as he and everyone else got into a battle position whilst Fiona, Aspida and Exli stood slightly behind them.
"You're already on your last legs! Die!" One of the approaching elf-possessed Magic Knights shouted as he and the second elf-possessed Magic Knights fired their magic.
Everyone was about to defend themselves, but stop when someone appeared in front of the attacking elf-possessed Magic Knights and launched their own attacks, hitting one of the elf-possessed Magic Knights.
However, that wasn't the only thing that happened has the other elf-possessed Magic Knight got attacked from behind.
"So you finally decided to rejoin the battle, eh?" Mereoleone asked with a smirk on her face.
"Hmh. I thought that you would be pleased at the prospect of doing less work, Sister." Fuegoleon responded back, a small smile being present on his face.
"Not only Captain Mereoleone is here, but Captain Fuegoleon as well!" Fiona exclaimed in a shock tone of voice.
"Should Sir Fuegoleon should be here? I know that he's been recuperating for months now, but this battle is a bit extreme for him to be coming back…?" Sophia commented before noticing Salamander appearing from the smoke that is slowly disappearing.
"What the heck Salamander doing here?!" Saber exclaimed in a shock tone of voice as everyone else gained surprise expressions on their faces.
The Crimson Lions Magic Knights turned their attention towards the others.
"So are you getting prepared to enter that?" Fuegoleon asked as he, Mereoleone and Salamander approach them.
"That's correct. So Salamander has chosen you has it's new host." Nozel commented as he glance towards the great spirit of fire, making Fuegoleon nod his head.
"What about those three?" Mereoleone asked as she noticed Saber, whose is covered in the golden aura, Aspida and Elxi.
"Asta is still in control over his body whilst the other two have decided to join us." Sophia explained, making the two newly arrived Vermilions surprise.
"That's good to know, having allies in unexpected places." Fuegoleon commented which cause Mereoleone to shrug her shoulders slightly.
"W-what are you staring at me for?!" Saber suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to glance towards the swordsman of flames and saw that Salamander is staring at him.
"Maybe it hold a grudge towards you for defeating it and that Fana girl back at the Witch's Forest." Kenzan suggested in an off-handed manner.
"Don't make stupid suggestions, Kenzan!" Joyeues said whilst secretly becoming worried for Saber.
"S-seriously, stop staring at me." Saber said as he took a few steps back.
However, this simply cause Salamander to take a few steps towards the swordsman of flames before lowering it's and…...starting to rub it against Saber's shoulder.
"What?" Saber thought, becoming confused.
"Don't just stand there. Rub Salamander's head." Floges's voice spoke within Saber's head, causing the swordsman of flames to blink his eyes slightly before doing what he'd been told.
Everyone watched as Salamander started to make soft growling sounds.
"….What the heck is going on?" Zora asked as he raised an eye-brow.
"You'd just been chosen to wield Salamander's powers and it already changing it's mind." Mereoleone commented whilst snorting slightly.
"Please don't say things like that, Sister." Fuegoleon said with an unsure expression on his face.
"I think that Salamander must have sensed Floges's presence within Asta and started to act like that." Elxi said, causing Aspida to widen her eyes in realization.
"What does the elf spirit within Asta got to do with Salamander's behaviour?" Blades asked, becoming confused.
"When we were alive, Floges was chosen to wield salamander's powers." Exli explained, making everyone widen their eyes.
"This must be a surprise for Salamander, having the chance of being able to meet with one of it's previous wielder." Vanessa commented, making everyone nod their heads in agreement.
"But why didn't Salamander didn't reacted to Saber in anyway back at the Witch's Forest? Was it because it was under the influence of Malice or it simply didn't sensed Floges's soul which was still sleeping at the time." Espada thought, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"Okay. I think that's enough now." Saber said as he withdraw his hand away from Salamander's head.
However, the great spirit of fire used it's tail to catch Saber's hand and placed it back on his head.
"You…..certainly like getting your head rub, don't you?" Saber asked with a sheepish smile underneath his helmet.
It was at that moment that a bright light appeared and Brave Dragon hovered next to the swordsman of flames.
"Brave Dragon? Is there something wro-!?" Saber began to ask but stop and became shock, along with everyone else when Brave Dragon launched it's head towards Salamander and bit it's neck in an aggressive manner.
This cause Salamander to yelp in pain as it shook the red mechanical dragon off it's neck.
"Someone's jealous." Gordon muttered just as Fuegoleon rushed forwards in order to defuse the tension between the two glaring dragons.
"Brave Dragon! Please calm down!" Saber said in a firm tone of voice as he attempted to push Brave Dragon away from Salamander.
"You too, Salamander!" Fuegoleon said as he did the same action to Salamander.
"I'm sorry about this." Saber said in an apologetic tone of voice.
"Don't be. Salamander is happy that it's got the chance to meet one of it's previous hosts." Fuegoleon responded in a reassuring tone of voice.
Whilst the two fire magic users managed to push the two dragons away from each other, they still glare at each other.
"Hey! Check out that hole….isn't that thing shrinking?!" Magna asked, causing everyone to look up at the Shadow Palace and saw the white sphere-like symbol shrinking.
"Oh no! We have to worry. We were told that once they fit the final Magic Stone within the pedestal in there, the elves's reincarnation will be complete and everyone's original souls will be sent to the underworld!" Mimosa explained in a desperate tone of voice.
This cause everyone to become wide eyed.
"We would have moved sooner if it wasn't for Salamander." Noze thought with slight annoyance…..although a part of him could understand Salamander's actions.
It was at that moment that a wall exploded and multiple elf-possessed Magic Knights walked out of it.
"You deceived us, humans!" One of the elf-possessed Magic Knights said as he and the others got ready to attack.
"Talk about nasty timing." Zora muttered, a small bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.
"Tch. We don't have time for this." Mereoleone thought as she glanced back at the slowly shrinking hole.
"But with numbers like those…." Fuegoleon thought as he sensed more elf-possessed Magic Knights approaching.
"Captain! You head to the Shadow Palace. The Black Bulls will take on that group. As long Chamy and I are here, non of us will die!" Vanessa said in a determined tone of voice.
"Blades, Slash and Kenzan! We will remain here and help the Black Bulls whilst Saber, Joyeues and Espada go into the Shadow Palace as well." Sophia explained, making the Sword Of Logos Magic Knights nod their heads.
The captain of the Sword Of Logos turn towards Aspida and Exli.
"You two will stay here as well and protect Fiona since I believe that you two don't want to fight your fellow elves." Sophia explained, causing Aspida, Exli and Fiona to nod their heads.
"I imagine they'll need a recovery Mage as well! Mimosa, go with them! I'll lend my support to this group!" Kirsch said to his little sister.
"Okay!" Mimosa said as she nod her head.
"I'll get to protect Asta! Excellent, Brother! Thank you!"Mimosa thought, being happy towards her brother for once.
Fuegoleon, Mereoleone and Mimosa climbed aboard Salamander, Joyeues climbed upon Nozel's mercury-made eagle, with everyone noticing how confident the swords-woman of steel is acting around her older brother and Saber and Espada climbed onto Brave Dragon, which it and Salamander gave one final glare towards each other.
The three creatures then flew straight towards the hole and managed to get through before it could properly close.
"Huh! What the-!" Saber exclaimed as he and everyone are suddenly flying through a dark void, without the aid of the three creatures where streams of light are flying beside them.
"Is this a trap to block intruders?" Fuegoleon questioned as he eyed the streams of light.
"Haha! There's some strange Mana floating around here." Mereoleone commented with a smirk on her face.
"I can't control my magic!" Mimosa exclaimed in a shock tone of voice.
"In legend….the Shadow Palace is said to be a border between this world and the next." Nozel explained in calm tone of voice.
"I hope we get out this weird place soon. It's strange." Espada commented, starting to become nervous.
"Don't jinx us, Espada!" Joyeues said, starting to become nervous herself.
Brave Dragon and Salamander attempted to reclaim their passengers, but failing.
The Magic Knights and the two dragons continued to fly through the dark tunnel.
And there we go, Saber revealing that Asta is still in control, or rather Nozel requesting Asta to tell the others, before the gang enter the Shadow Palace, with a additional person this time. This chapter reveals that Floges was a previous wielder of Salamander's powers, this raises the question of what sort of person Floges was in the past.
In Black Clover, the chapter focuses on the backstory of Yosuga who was close friends of Ryu, both of them being heirs to two areas of Hino. During a period, a illness started to spread across Hino resulting in the people giving the opportunity to Ryu and Yosuga of gaining the power of Tengenstu, yet at the cost of ones Yoryoku. Ryu made the decision of wielding the power of Tengentsu and used to find the herb that helped to cure the illness and eventually became Shogun. Back at the present, the Ryuzen minus Yosuga, whose Yojutsu has been revealed to be iron, Fujio and Ichika, gathered to help Asta in helping to fight the five-headed dragon, who is able to heal itself despite being attacked with anti-magic.
So this chapters reveals as to why Ryu wields the power of clairvoyance whilst not possessing any Yoryoku. I have watched some theory videos which talks about how Ryu gained the clairvoyance ability from Astaroth, by some means, but this revealment kind of ties into this theory with the theme of bargaining with Ryu sacrificing his Yoryoku.
In Geats:
1) Beroba attempted to get her wish granted whilst standing in front of the goddess of creation, but is confronted by Niram who revealed that authorizing from both the Game Master and Producer are needed in order to operate the goddess's powers before transforming in Gazer and attack Beroba who managed to flee.
2) Ace and the others began to ask questions when Chirami let slip about the goddess of creation, earning him a slap from Samas, but Niram refused to answer, stating that it would lead to the participants permanently forgetting about the DGP and their Desires unfulfilled. Niram requested that the participants reclaim the stolen Vision Driver in order for the DGP to continue.
3) The participants headed off to the Jamato-garden, with Ace getting aid from Zin whilst Keiwa and Neon being given Raise Buckles from their supporters, before confronted by the Jamatos which entually leads to Geats fighting Baffa whilst Tycoon and Nago fighting Nadge-Sparrow.
4) Beroba appeared to observe the battle between Geats and Baffa with Zin demanded that she returns the Vision Driver. However, Beroba refused before commenting how the world is ancient history. This one comment cause Ace to come to the realization that the DGP staff and audience members are from the far future with Zin explaining how the DGP picks different time periods to host the games using a system called 3.5D World.
5) Beroba transforms into her Kamen Rider form, which is massive, and destroys the Jamato-garden, resulting in a massive explosion to occur.
The rule for this episode is that the DGP is a Rider Reality Show made for the enjoyment of the audience from the far future, using various time periods from across history as settings for the game. This episode of Kamen Rider Geats certainly revealed a important piece of information with the origins of the DGP and audience members, something that I theorized on the last update. Therefore, the Goddess of creation could be a very powerful piece of technology. However, we still need to be told about the origins of the Goddess of Creation. With this revealment, you have to ask about Ace's participation in the DGP, starting from the 1st century. It could be that he get shifted between different time periods at the same time with the DGP and his memories get altered to prevent him knowing the true nature of the games.
So Geats's super forms have been revealed, the first is the Boost Form MKII which involves Geats using the "Boost" Raise Buckle MKII and basically fuse with the Booststriker. The second super form is the Lazer Boost Form which involves using the "Boost" Raise Buckle MKII in conjunction with the Laser Raise Riser, not entirely sure if the Raise Buckle is inserted into the gun-type transformation device or inserting the Laser Raise Riser into the Desire Driver. Apperance-wise, I preferer the red, black and yellow of the Boost Form MKII than the Laser Boost form, the white and blue armor piece seems to "dull"(?) the sharpness of the red, black and yellow colours. Baffa will gain his Command form.
Next week I'm away on holiday, so there will be a delay in the next update. Sorry.
Brainwork27:
1) The comment that the Witch Queen made refers to Saber's final form, which is star-themed.
2) Asta's magic may get altered in the future.
3) I have already came up with a reason for how the Magic Parliament can convict Asta like in canon.
4) Blades will get his moment further on in the story.
Itspowertime:
1) The Magic Knights will certainly have a difficult time in the Shadow Palace if the Megid Generals and Calibur appear.
2) That certainly make everyone shock when see the Paladins donning armor along with wielding Holy Swords.