Chapter One Hundred-Seven: Entering the Shadow Palace
"Would anyone care to tell me what exactly am I looking at?" Asta asked the well-sized group as he and the other witnessed the shift in the large ethereal dark construct.
"I couldn't tell you. I flew close to it to drop off Dante and Oxanna by the Royal Houses before coming here. How can something like that even exist," Kenos stated. "Emmanuel, do you know what it is?"
Even though his grimoire was open, the solar mage got no response. "Emmanuel?"
"It can't be," was all the angel said.
"What can't be?" he asked, but was ignored again, so he chose not to persist.
Noelle spoke up. "From what I heard, that thing's called the Shadow Palace,"
"The Shadow Palace?"
"Yeah, we don't know what it does though, just that the elves are the ones who activated it," Zora added. "Kenos, see if your angel buddy will talk, some info would be nice,"
No further probing was needed as the heaven mage spoke. "It's best if we regroup with the others, that way I can tell you all at once,"
"Let's not waste any time then," Finral opened a portal.
"We shouldn't leave her behind," Magna picked up Dorothy's unconscious body as they all walked through the portal, well, all except for Henry. The recombination mage entered the Raging Black Bull and followed them.
They arrived on the other side in no time, the group standing at the front of the Royal Houses, the same spot where the possessed Golden Dawn were earlier that night. And because of that, the first thing that met their eyes was the sight of dead bodies, brutally mangled.
Upon seeing it, Gauche was quick, covering Marie's eyes. "Damn,"
"Holy shit," Kenos put a hand over his mouth, gasping in horror. "What happened?"
Before anyone else could say anything else, En's buff mushrooms came into view, picking up the remains of the fallen capital mages. "Kenos, you're here!"
The solar mage turned, seeing Alice waving to him, having reverted back. Beside her was En, Yami, Jack, Nozel, Dante, Oxanna, Mimosa, and Kirsch.
He advanced ahead of the others, walking to her. "Glad to see you're okay. What happened here?"
"The Golden Dawn happened. Tons of their knights got possessed and came here, and the capital mages must've encountered them first. With all those elves beaten for now, we're taking some time to round up all the corpses," she explained.
En entered the conversation. "I'll have to find a place to bury them all. Do you know any places?"
"I do," Yami raised his hand, coming over and handing the fungus mage his map.
"Thank you," he assembled his creations together, showing them the path, all of them nodding as they went on their way. He then handed it back.
The dark mage placed it back in his satchel before turning his attention to his subordinates, noticing something. "Well, would you look at that? My whole crew is here," he then shifted his attention to the transformed base. "Even Henry showed up,"
"That's right, captain, we're all here to help," Gordon said.
Similarly to his members, Yami's jaw hung agape. "...Did he just…?"
A unified nod.
The dark mage narrowed his eyes, getting a hunch. He looked at Grey, the woman not shyly covering her face and breaking into a stuttering mess, but rather, she sent a short and polite wave his way. "...And is she…?" he pointed at her.
Another unified nod.
Instead of staying shocked, Yami burst into laughter. "Now there's a surprise! It'll probably take some getting used to, but I don't mind. Congratulations, you two,"
"Thanks,"
While that was happening, Dante walked over to his own captain. "Sir, are you alright?" he asked with concern, eyeing the spot where he was wounded.
"I'll be fine, don't worry," he replied before crossing his arms. "However, I'd be better if I knew why they're here?" his eyes fell on the former terrorists.
"Apparently, we have a temporary truce with them," Noelle informed her brother.
"But why? These four are nothing but criminals,"
"I'll say," Zuka agreed, side-eyeing Annalise with contempt, the spark mage returning the gesture in kind.
Asta stepped up. "And they'll be punished for what they did, but they needed our help to get their revenge on Patri, and it didn't hurt to have some extra hands on deck,"
The mercury mage expressed confusion regarding a word he said. "Patri?"
"Isn't that the true name of the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun?" Jack chimed in. "One of the elves I fought was his cousin. And that elf told us something else too,"
"And that is?"
"Patri is different from the other elves, he's been around way longer because he's sharing a body with someone, and that someone is William,"
"Say what?!" everyone who was uninformed couldn't believe what they heard him say.
"No, that's not possible!" Mimosa was the loudest. "Captain Vangeance is a good man, he wouldn't be working together with a terrorist,"
"I don't want to believe it either, but it's true," Finral told her.
The plant mage became crestfallen, her cousin coming in to console her. "Hey, I know that must be hard to hear, but we're here for you,"
"That goes double for me," Kirsch added. "If it'll make my little sister feel better, once I get my hands on him, I'll make him suffer,"
Mimosa gave them a melancholic smile. "Thanks, you two,"
Rades punched his palm. "Oh man, that bastard is so going down. I saw him earlier atop that floating rock, and I'm just itching to take my revenge. Alright, let's do whatever we need to, so I can get this whole atoning thing over and done with,"
"Woah, woah, woah, everyone hold on," Oxanna called everyone's attention to her. "Did you just say you saw Patri earlier?"
"Um, yeah?" Rades shrugged. "What of it?"
"Marx said that Julius was fighting him this afternoon. If Patri is over there, where's Julius?"
Yami and the Midnight Sun quartet tensed upon hearing her question, watching Nozel hold his chin. "She brings up a fair point, you'd think we'd see him or hear from him at least once,"
Perspective shifted to Kenos, a worried look forming on his face, recalling the uneasy feeling he felt hours before. "Please don't let it be what I think it is, please,"
"We shouldn't be worried," Asta tried to put concerns to rest. "The Wizard King is the strongest of us all, he's just fine, I know it. Don't forget, this problem is going on throughout the entire kingdom, he's probably somewhere helping people as we speak,"
"He's right, we have to have faith in Julius, he'll be here," Dante said. "The only mystery that eludes me is how Patri escaped after their fight?"
"Well, he is a light mage, those guys are supposed to be crazy fast, right?" Zuka came up with a plausible explanation. "He must've turned tail and ran when he saw he couldn't win,"
Rades tried his best to not let his expression attract attention, it was better if they didn't know right now, their morale would plummet indefinitely, but then he noticed something in the sky, pointing straight at it. "Speaking of Patri, look!"
Everyone followed his finger, spotting two trails of light flying toward the Shadow Palace at high speeds. "It must be the Apostles of Sephira!" Mimosa identified them.
"The Apostles of what?" many were perplexed by the term.
"Patri, are you sure we need to leave right now?" Lira asked, riding on a flying beast. "Using all that mana has me feeling kind of weak,"
Fana flew up next to him, wings of fire sprouting from her back. "I agree. It wouldn't hurt to spend at least a good half hour getting our strength back,"
"I know, I'm not at full power either, but we can't wait," he answered them. "We need to act as quickly as possible, stopping to rejuvenate will only give the humans an opportunity to get in our way. However, once we're in the Shadow Palace, they'll be playing under our rules in our turf,"
Rhya got closer to the light mage. "What about the person who has the last stone we need? Shouldn't we wait for them to get here before going?"
"There's no need to be concerned. Yuno is the one who has what we seek, and knowing him, once he gets here and learns where we are, he'll come straight to us, we just need to prepare for him," the elf told him.
"If you say so," with that, they entered the circle.
"It appears that they've gone in, good for them," Baval commented from where he was standing, which was on the roof of House Kira, an unconscious Latri lying at his feet.
"Well well well, you really are here," a voice spoke, the possessed dice mage looking to his left to see another elf approaching him, riding atop thorny vines.
"Charla, is that you? My, you're looking beautiful as always," he greeted her.
"And you still have that witty charm," she hopped down and walked to him, the two bumping fists. "How have you been? Have you enjoyed your awakening?"
"I have indeed, I've even racked up quite the body count," he said playfully. "But enough about me, how'd you know to come here?"
"I ran into someone and she gave me the gist," the possessed captain pointed her thumb back at her mode of transportation as a large ball of thorny vines emerged, opening itself to reveal Yurim.
"Did you miss me?" she winked.
"A good amount actually," he had no problem admitting.
"Aw, it's nice to know someone was concerned," she made her way over to them, but then she raised a brow upon feeling her foot step on something strange. She gazed below her, seeing the possessed spatial mage, knocked out like a light.
Instead of showing even the least bit of worry, she beamed. "Would you look at that? Poor Latri lost and got his ass handed to him, a shame I wasn't here to see it. You're here with him, I take it you saw who beat him?"
"Unfortunately, no, though I was a bit surprised by it. Latri's new magic attribute is pretty powerful as you know, the humans must've had a pretty strong mage on their side to take him down,"
"Or maybe he got cocky and fought sloppily," Yurim assumed. "Even the weak can win if the strong don't try,"
"I don't see the point in speculating the cause of his defeat," Charla stated. "As long as he's not dead, we just need to wait until he wakes up, in the meantime, I say we enter the Shadow Palace as well,"
"Good idea. If any of the humans decide to go in, the Apostles will need some backup," Baval inserted his own reason.
Yurim cracked her knuckles. "And that means more killing for me, I like it,"
"Then let's get a move on," the man flipped through pages in his grimoire. "C'mon, I need to get lucky. Dice Creation Magic: Gambler's Beast," he threw the die into the air, and as he hoped, it revealed one pip, growing and morphing into a gyrfalcon, the elves hopping on it as it took to the skies.
"What the hell is that?" the question came from Revchi, he and Gueldre still remaining invisible as they atop the roof of the closest building to the Royal Houses, both men looking straight at the ominous castle.
The former captain began recalling a memory from long ago. "If I'm not mistaken, that must be the Shadow Palace. I remember overhearing Licht discussing it with the members of the Third Eye, he said something about the place being important,"
"How so?"
"I didn't hear him say, but there must be at least one thing of value in there if he went through all this trouble for it," he figured.
"What if there's a treasure in there? Think of it like a dungeon," the chain mage proposed the thought.
"Y'know, you might be onto something, it certainly wouldn't hurt to take a quick look," Gueldre greedily rubbed his hands together. "That being said, how do we get in? It's a far way away, too far to jump, even with reinforcement,"
Revchi tapped two fingers against his cheek, but then, in a stroke of sheer luck, he saw the gyrfalcon fly towards it. "I just found our ride, hold on," he summoned an invisible chain, launching it as it wrapped around the avian's right leg, taking them along for the journey.
"If these Apostles are heading into the Shadow Palace, we should be heading right in after them," Magna suggested.
"No," Kenos challenged the idea. "I know for a fact that I wasn't the only one engaged in a tough fight recently. A lot of us are most likely drained of either mana, energy, or both. It's safe to assume those elves are the strongest ones, if we go in there as we are now, there will be no question about it, we will die. Let's take some time to rest,"
"I suppose that isn't too bad of an idea, but we should keep it short, half an hour at the most," Jack said next.
But as he finished saying that, everyone's eyes fell on him, giving him a cryptic look. The severing mage was weirded out, to say the least. "What?"
"You're the last person I imagined would agree with taking a break in the middle of a crisis like this," Nozel responded. "I was expecting you to push back against it. Have I missed something?"
"N-Nope, nothing at all," Jack tried to deflect it, knowing where it would go if left unchecked. "I just don't want the rest of you to die, that's all,"
"Um…ok," the mercury mage still felt that there was another reason, but chose not to persist.
With that, it was decided, they would take a break. The large group walked closer to the trio of buildings, sitting down in the middle path.
Magna approached his former exam teammate. "Hey, Kirsch, I was thinking you'd want to keep watch of her instead of one of us," he handed over Dorothy's body.
"Oh, thank you. I was unaware that she was possessed," the cherry blossom mage took her, laying her gently beside him. "I imagine fighting her in Glamour World was difficult?"
"You guessed it, that was a hassle and a half, but we were able to bring the real her back during the end to win for us. I gotta say though, I wasn't expecting her to be so giddy,"
"Neither was I, but I find it very endearing,"
"Wait, you knew about it?"
"Of course. The first time she was awake in front of me was the day she appointed me to be her vice-captain," he reminisced. "I was taken aback by it myself, but her personality was so infectious and happy, not to mention her pose game was on point,"
Magna sweatdropped at that last part. "I see. So, how about your fight? Was it tough as well?"
"Considerably so, these elves are no joke, but at the end of the day, they were no match for my beautiful strength," he answered with pride.
Mimosa wasn't far from the two guys, and in the corner of her eye, she noticed somebody else, and that made her grin mischievously. "I agree, my brother was amazing during our fight, but I think he left something out. Kirsch, do tell Magna how cool you were when you used your trap magic,"
"Your what?!" Zora's body shot up.
"Huh?!" the royal turned to his sister, seeing her face. "Why you little,"
"Yes, it's true. After he lost to you, my brother started learning how to do it," Mimosa continued.
"Hey, that's awesome, you're an inspiration," Asta chimed in. "Isn't that cool?"
The ash mage put a hand over his face. "Cool isn't the word I would use," he turned to the coral peacock. "So, you've taken to copying me? Okay then, what traps do you know so far?"
"Um," he paused, looking embarrassed for the first time. "Just three. A pitfall, a seal, and an attribute one,"
"Three? Hm, that's actually not too bad, but those first two are simple as all hell," Zora sat back down. "I guess the royal has some work to do,"
"I know, but just you wait. No matter how long it takes, I'll surpass you!"
The trapster smirked. "You're welcome to try, but I'll warn you, it's going to be a tough uphill battle. I've got years upon years of experience over you,"
Kenos watched as the two continued their back-and-forth. "Those two are bickering a lot more than I was expecting. And speaking of bickering," he transitioned over to Zuka and Annalise.
"So, we have to work together? I wonder what crime I must've committed in the past to be punished with this?" the spark mage spat.
The sparkle mage crossed her arms. "I can think of a few actually. Why don't we start with the fact that you, oh I don't know, WORKED WITH A FUCKING TERRORIST GROUP!?"
"I was emotionally manipulated, thank you very much. It's really easy to join people like that when you grew up on the streets by yourself and someone offers you something more," she retorted.
"Bullshit, even if what you say about your past is true, you had a choice and you made it. After all, there are tons of people who suffer like that, and I don't see them lining up to join Patri," Zuka countered the retort.
Annalise relented. "Okay, I get it, mistakes were made. All you should care about now is that I'm on your side and am going to make that bastard regret being born,"
Noelle eyed the spark mage from where she sat, now turning to Valtos and Sally. "I haven't heard you two talking about vengeance. Why are you helping us out?"
"I want to know why Patri betrayed us the way he did," the man answered.
"Um, because you're human and he hates humans. Seems pretty simple to me," she shrugged.
"Maybe, but we've spent a lot of time with one another. Did he really not care in the slightest? After all, the feelings we have about others can change,"
Her cheeks turned rosy. "Yeah, I guess that last part isn't entirely wrong," she turned to the woman. "And you?"
"Oh, me?" Sally stood up and ran over to the swordsman, hugging him from behind. "Asta promised that if I help out, I could have my way with his body,"
"You what?!" Noelle and Mimosa shot up.
"Hey hey, don't say it like that!" Asta stood up as well. "I promised you that you could do safe, painless, and…," he removed her from his person. "...Non-intrusive experiments on me,"
The two royals sat back down. "I see. You had me worried there for a second," the plant mage calmed down.
The water mage nodded. "Agreed,"
Nozel got up and walked past them, approaching the blonde berserker. "Noelle, didn't you say Luck was possessed by an elf?"
His sister nodded in response, but found herself doing a double take. "Hold on, he was! I can't believe I didn't notice it before!"
"Oh yeah, that's because of me," all eyes fell on the magicless mage as he pulled out his third sword. "I was able to take this from Licht before Yuno and I lost to him. This is the Demon Destroyer Sword, with it, I can undo the reincarnations,"
"So, you found a solution? Good work," the mercury mage gave him a rare proud smile.
That made Luck wonder. "Speaking of possession," his attention shifted to Zuka. "I'm curious, how exactly did you fight back?"
"Well, it was strange. I was in a cage inside my own head, but I was able to bust out after Kenos called out to me and I steeled my resolve," she answered.
"That's how you did it aye?" Vanessa moved over to sit beside the girl. "Then I guess you could say that you were able to win…," she leaned in, whispering the rest in her ear. "...With the power of love?"
The commoner's face turned red. "Um, probably,"
The bulls all gave varying looks, knowing what the thread mage mentioned, and Kenos knew it too, trying his best to not make it look like he was catching on. "Are you alright? Is she making fun of you?"
"Um, no, nothing like that," she forced the blush to die down. "She just said something embarrassing,"
"I see," the solar mage was now desperate to change the subject and divert everyone's attention away from her. "Emmanuel, you said that you would wait until we were all together to explain more about the Shadow Palace,"
This got everyone's attention immediately as the angelic grimoire opened and flew up. "Yes. The Shadow Palace was created a very long time ago by elves, humans, and us angels. It acts as a middle dimension between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and aside from the angels, only the elves had a way of opening it if need be,"
"Yeah, Baval told us about them," Mimosa added her two cents. "A group of ten elves called the Apostles of Sephira,"
"The elves possessing Dorothy and I were Apostles. Now that we're freed, they're down to eight," Gauche mentioned.
"Oh, and I almost forgot," Mimosa faced Kenos. "He told us that Apostles have been a role that's been passed down, and that the very first Apostles were all people like you, they were all partnered with angels,"
The solar mage held his chin. "That makes sense, what with all the 'Sacred One' talk. Granted, if the Shadow Palace was made a long time ago, that means the Apostles were formed just as long ago if not longer, I didn't know elves and angels shared that much of history,"
"What you say is true, Kenos. As for why, of all the races of intelligent existence angels have interacted with, elves have been the majority," Emmanuel explained.
"I can see why, these guys are tough, not to mention their mana reserves are much higher," Yami said.
"Yes. Angels like partnering with them due to their greater connection with mana, along with the fact that their strength allowed them to use more of our power,"
Kenos perked up at that. "So there were elves back then that could handle something like Double Boost?"
"Forget that, there were elves back then that could make Double Boost look like a joke,"
"What's Double Boost?" Gordon asked.
"It's what I used to beat Yoveen, it lets him double the power Emmanuel gives me," Kenos replied. "But we shouldn't digress. What else is there to know about the Shadow Palace?"
"That's all there is that's relevant," Emmanuel answered. "I'm not sure why the elves would want to enter it,"
"We know," Kirsch spoke up. "Baval said that the Apostles plan to use the Shadow Palace to send the usurped human souls to hell and take over their bodies forever,"
"Then we're on the clock, we can't waste any more time," Nozel said.
"Hold on," Mimosa raised her hand. "When we asked him why it was made, he said that he didn't know. Do you know?"
The angel paused before answering. "I do, but I cannot tell you,"
"What? Why not?" Charmy inquired.
"The Shadow Palace was created for another purpose, but by this point in time, no mortal is privy to it, only we angels still remember. As such, under the direct command of the Lord, we were sworn to secrecy and told never to disclose it. If no one knows, no one can try to do anything about it,"
"Damn, it must be pretty important then, but that's alright, that means the elves don't know either, so they won't attempt to do anything about it," Yami reasoned.
"Attack!"
All of a sudden, the knights heard a unified cry and in a second, the peaceful atmosphere was thrown back into danger as elves emerged from all sides in the distance. It also didn't take long to notice that most of the elves present were wearing the Golden Dawn uniform.
"It looks like those guys we took down are up from their nap," Jack got into a stance. "Get ready, break's over!"
The group all took their grimoires out, ready to engage, but before the first attack could be launched from either side…
"Flame Magic: Calidos Bestia!"
The fiery beast was fired from meters away, crashing into a portion of the possessed knights, forming smiles on the faces of the humans as they spotted the vermillion standing atop En's running mushroom.
"Leonè, you're okay!" Nozel was relieved.
"Yup, but in a few seconds, these weaklings won't be," she said back as she reached the group and hopped off. "Good work, En,"
"Thank you, ma'am,"
"Don't falter, we can still kill them!" the rest launched all their ranged spells simultaneously, but before it could touch anyone, a dome quickly formed around them.
"Who the hell made this?" Alice wondered aloud.
Zuka inspected it closer as it came undone. "It looked like it was made of…wood? Wait, that means-,"
"You bunch owe me for that one!" eyes stared up at the sky, watching as Oliver descended on his hoverboard. "Greetings,"
"Holy crap, what happened to you?" his squadmate was surprised by his transformation.
"Say hello to Soul of Yggdrasil," he stated.
"Awesome," her expression softened. "I'm glad to see you out of your room,"
"I'm glad too. Oh, and I didn't come alone," he pointed to the water mage, carrying the possessed illusion mage.
"Joshua? Hi, I wasn't expecting you," Zuka waved before getting closer. "It looks like Shauna was taken over as well,"
"As do you," Joshua pointed out. "Should we be concerned?"
"Don't worry, I've got it under control,"
"Speaking of that, I should help her while I'm here. Set her down," Asta stepped up.
"What are you going to do?" the wood mage asked.
"You'll see," he placed the Destroyer on her as the circle appeared and faded away.
Kenos had an impressed look on his face. "It's pretty cool to see it in action,"
"She should be back to normal when she wakes up," the swordsman told them.
"Thanks," Oliver said. "Now it's time to show these elves what we're made of!" he raised both hands into the air as an innumerable number of wooden orbs formed overhead before he brought his hands down, raining it upon them.
Many were hit, but not taken out, meanwhile, some were able to evade it entirely, one such elf being Gamailiel. "I'm going to get you! Sand Magic: Mister Sandman!" his body transformed as he advanced.
"I'd stay wary of that one, he's tricky to fight," Kirsch warned the group.
"Hm, let him try and see what he can do," Mereoleona stood in his way, arms crossed.
"You're underestimating me, aye?" the knight leaped into the air, transforming both hands into one large hammer. "You'll regret it!"
The royal's arms now fell by her sides, both fists lighting up. "No, I won't," she prepared to meet his attack, but before she could, another attack beat her to it.
"Flame Spirit Magic: Salamander's Breath!" the golden dawn was hit in the back, sending him flying.
"No…way," Mereoleona froze, it was the first time she ever did so, but it was for a good reason. She recognized that voice, a voice she thought she'd never hear again, but as she looked up, there he was.
Fuegoleon, flying atop the back of the spirit, the remaining Crimson Lion Kings beside him.
"Salutations, all! Apologies for the tardiness!"
"It's Fuegoleon, he's awake!" Asta screamed. "And he's got Salamander too?! Holy crap!"
"I see Erika and Leo are with him," Oxanna noted.
"And Ryusei as well," Kenos and Alice pointed out too.
The crimson-clad reinforcements landed on the ground, some moving to engage as the captain hopped down. "It's good to see you all again. I was asleep for some time, but I'm back now-,"
He was cut off as Mereoleona and Nozel ran over and embraced him.
"You've got a lot of nerve worrying your big sister like that," she held him tighter.
"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up," the silva did the same.
Fuegoleon hugged both of them back. "Sorry," was all he said before breaking the hug. "Now-,"
He was cut off yet again as Oxanna ran to embrace him this time. "I'm glad to see you back, captain,"
He patted her head. "Hello to you too, Oxanna," he greeted her warmly as she backed up too, allowing him to speak. "There's something I need to tell you all, it's about William,"
"We already know," his rival said back. "We just found out a little while ago,"
He nodded. "Good, then it's up to us to stop the elves once and for all,"
"Everybody, look!" Marie shouted, pointing at the Shadow Palace. The others looked as well, eyes widening as they saw the circle beginning to shrink.
"Is it closing?" Noelle inquired.
"Yes, but the palace itself should still remain," Emmanuel clarified. "Time is running out,"
"We can't all go while the elves are here," Zora reminded them. "I say we send our strongest bunch in there while the rest of us hang back and fight,"
"It only makes sense for all the captains to go," Fuegoleon said.
"I'll go too, my sword can undo the reincarnations," Asta volunteered himself.
"I'm coming too," Kenos was next. "I'm one of our strongest fighters. Zuka, you should come too,"
"I agree," she nodded.
Mimosa now stepped up. "This team is going to need a stronger healer, I'll go with you,"
"As are we," Rades, Annalise, and Valtos raised their hands.
"Is that everyone?" Yami asked.
Noelle was a little hesitant, she wanted to go as well, but a part of her wondered if she should stay. "I'll hang back here-,"
"No you're not, you're going!" a voice bellowed from the Silva House. It was Solid, walking over to them, helping Nebra along.
"What?" his little sister was stunned.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're stronger than me right now, they're going to need that strength, so go, I'll stay back," he continued. "But just so we're clear, you're only stronger now, I'm going to surpass you,"
She gave him a smirk. "Good luck with that, and try not to die,"
The bulls all looked at the exchange strangely. "Did we miss something?"
"Kinda, I'll explain later. If no one else is coming, that's everyone,"
And no one else chose to tag along. The team was set, thirteen mages were ready to put an end to this. Valtos made a portal beneath them, appearing now in the sky as they descended into the dark castle, the circle completely vanishing soon after.
The ones who were outside gave them a final nod. "Good luck,"
"Woah, this is pretty freaky!" Asta exclaimed as the team found themselves floating in some strange space.
"This is the way in and out of the Shadow Palace," the angel explained. "It will take a minute or two until we get there,"
"Then we shouldn't waste it. What's our game plan?" Mimosa asked.
"Simple, we stay together and overwhelm the opponents with our superior numbers, then I undo the reincarnation on them," Asta responded.
"That's only going to be the case if they're split up," Mereoleona pointed out the lone flaw in his plan.
"She's right. We know what they're trying to do, but not how they're going to do it," Nozel agreed. "Granted, it is still eight against thirteen, an all-out fight is still in our favor,"
Kenos turned to face Zuka. "Hey, how has Yoveen been? No issues?"
"No issues, for the time being, she hasn't fought back or anything of the sort," she replied.
"Maybe it'd be safer for Asta to undo your reincarnation too?" he suggested.
Zuka shook her head. "No. Whether I like it or not, Yoveen is making me stronger, and we'll need all the power we can get if we want to stand a chance,"
Just then, the space changed color, going from majorly black to pure white. "We're at the end!"
"AHHHH!" the magicless mage screamed as he went from floating forwards to falling downwards, landing roughly on the floor.
He slowly got up. "Ugh, that was less than comfortable,"
"Look out!" someone else yelled, but it was too late as Mimosa crashed on him chest-first.
"Ow,"
"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?!" Mimosa apologized profusely before getting up and offering him a hand.
He took it gratefully. "It's no biggie. How about the rest of you? Is everyone okay?" he asked openly, but was met with no response. He turned in all directions, seeing that it was only the two of them present. "What?"
"We must've gotten separated," the royal deduced.
The bull sucked his teeth. "So much for doing this as a team. Do you know where we are?"
"Let me check. Plant Creation Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost," she formed a schematic of the palace. "Okay, the Shadow Palace appears to consist of eleven rooms along with middle paths that lead into those rooms," she pointed at one such middle path that had a blinking yellow dot on it. "This is where we are,"
He held his chin. "That means the others can be in one of these rooms. If we're lucky, we'll run into them before an Apostle does,"
Mimosa kept her schematic up as the two started walking, spotting an entrance that led to another room. As they entered it, they mentally noted how much bigger it was than the place they were just in.
"Not bad," Asta verbalized one of his thoughts, spinning around to get a complete look, but then he froze, spotting a singular wide pillar that shot up some feet in the air, and on it was an elf.
The apostle had his back to them, legs crisscrossed while he hummed to himself, but then he perked up, sensing an additional presence as he stood up and turned, revealing Lira.
"Rill!" Asta called out to him.
"Hey, it's you, from earlier today. Didn't I tell you not to call me that?"
"Yeah, but there's no point in listening, we're getting him back right now!"
"Right now? My, how arrogant, you couldn't take me down during our last encounter, and this one won't end well for you either," he took out his grimoire, smiling evilly.
"Oh man, it's going to be so fun watching you die,"
"AHHHH!" Noelle went through the same experience as her squadmate and cousin, and went through the same level of discomfort.
She rubbed the side of her head as she got up. "If the landing is going to be so rough, would it kill them to put a pillow or something down here?!" she complained, but stopped as she realized she was alone.
"This isn't good," she said as she looked around, searching for a path to follow, that's when she noticed the opening to another room in the distance.
"Well, I guess I don't have a choice," she began walking with caution, her wand already in hand in case it needed to be used fast.
Once she was close to reaching the entrance of the next room, she carefully peered inside, assuring that no one else was there. Upon seeing that the coast was clear, she entered, continuing for a few steps before choosing to stop.
"Hm, that's strange, I'm picking up a mana signature, but there's no one here,"
"Hello!"
"AHHH!" her heart leaped out of her chest as she jumped. The sound came from behind her, so she spun around quickly, both hands on her wand as she saw an elf sitting on a platform above the entrance, giggling to herself.
"That was funny," she said.
Noelle, on the other hand, raised a brow. "Fana?"
"I'm pleased to see you remember me. I remember you too, the girl from the Witches' Forest, and I remember you being strong, that makes the thought of killing you so much more exciting," she hopped down and assumed a stance.
"Flame Creation Magic: Phoenix Ascent!" a pair of flaming wings sprouted from her back as she floated above the royal.
"I'm not going to be the one who dies here," her grimoire turned to its newest page. "Water Creation Magic: Valkyrie Armor!" she transformed.
"Hm, I don't remember that spell, let's see what it can do," Fana soared up higher, flapping her wings as it let loose a multitude of fireballs.
The water mage decided to stay on the ground, using her enhanced mobility to glide around each projectile. "Water Magic: Sea Dragon's Waterball!" she went on the offensive.
The flame mage weaved around them as well. "Not bad, but can you deal with this?!" she raised both hands above her head, gathering fire as it became a large sphere.
Noelle thought about her next move. "She's fast, she had no problem doing my attack, and that was one of my faster attacks. If I want to hit her, I need to do it now while she's keeping herself still to charge that attack. I can't hold anything back, I need to attack with all my strength,"
She held her lance with both hands and braced herself. "Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!" she fired the spell with everything she had, planting her feet firmly on the ground to prevent getting pushed back by the force.
"Huh?" Fana was taken aback by the large water dragon coming at her, larger than she remembered. The elf didn't even get to use her attack as contact was made.
Noelle had been keeping her eyes shut to prevent splashing water from smacking them, but when her attack came to an end, she opened them, then they became wide in no time as she saw that instead of the enemy's body being slammed into the wall, her whole upper body was gone.
"Holy shit! I'm so so so sorry! I didn't know that was going to happen," she began apologizing instinctually, but then the weirdness of doing so to a dead body dawned on her, so she ceased. That being said, she wasn't dead yet.
From the stump that was left, fire erupted violently, condensing as it turned into Fana, her clothes burned off, fire covering her chest. "Wow, that sure was something,"
"You're…alive?"
"That's right, thanks to my Phoenix Ascent. You see, back in the old days, the spell would just heal some of my small wounds, but after getting all these boosts, it's practically become some kind of cheat skill," she explained, flying around in a circle.
The elf then stood still again. "I don't have to worry about death anymore, but you're a completely different story," Noelle's eyes tensed as Fana's darkened.
"Now it's your turn to face an inescapable demise,"