Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the Clover Kingdom's expedition force had already assembled.
Of course, everyone couldn't just go off to train without making any arrangements.
Before the special training began, the captains had reached an agreement with the rebels who had crossed the strong magic region to find Yuno and established contact with the rebels within the Spade Kingdom.
On one hand, they were more familiar with the Spade Kingdom's royal capital and could provide more detailed intelligence.
On the other hand, they also asked them to monitor the situation in the Spade royal capital so as not to miss the opportunity for battle.
Thanks to this arrangement, the Magic Knight squads received news in time not long ago that the Dark Triad had reappeared in the royal palace and begun the Tree of Qliphoth advent ritual.
So the participants in this expedition assembled at maximum speed.
Logically speaking, before such operations there would always be someone giving a speech to boost morale, with the best done by a certain Autobot leader and Avengers political commissar.
After all, in a world with the idealistic power of magic, morale's effect on combat strength was even more exaggerated.
But embarrassingly, the Magic Knight squads now had no one to give a speech on stage - the most suitable person had become the enemy of this expedition.
However, Nacht showed no dissatisfaction with everyone's attitude. On the contrary, seeing everyone like volcanoes that appeared calm on the surface but were about to erupt, he nodded with satisfaction.
In just a few days of special training, not only had everyone mastered new powers, but most importantly, the fighting spirit they had accumulated had reached its peak.
Finral opened a spatial door, and the group steeled themselves and directly broke into the Spade Kingdom's royal capital, arriving at the rooftop of a house directly facing the royal palace castle.
Unlike the Clover Kingdom with its distinct four seasons, the Spade Kingdom was famous as a winter country with harsh, cold climate.
Taking one step through the spatial door, Charles reached out and caught a falling snowflake.
Looking up at the sky, Charles couldn't help but frown.
The lead clouds above the Spade royal capital were far too heavy, having condensed into a pitch-black mass as if they had swallowed all the sunlight.
That wasn't any normal weather phenomenon - Charles could clearly feel the vortex formed by that massive and turbid magic power.
Without anyone needing to remind them, everyone sensed the severity of the situation.
Nacht spoke, "Then let's begin acting according to the plan! Although defeating the Dark Triad can stop the Tree of Qliphoth advent ritual, no one can be certain whether that Magic Emperor has other preparations.
What's troubling is we still don't know where Lucius is, so don't let your guard down at any time!"
Nacht didn't need to remind them - everyone present had already steeled their resolve when they decided to participate in this battle.
So as soon as Nacht finished speaking, everyone scattered toward their respective targets.
Nacht turned to look at Charles, "Are you that confident in them? The two battlefields without you last time won quite hard!"
Charles smiled, "But they still won, didn't they? And now they're completely different - they'll win much more easily this time.
And just as you said, Vice-Captain, Lucius is somewhere unknown, so someone has to be ready to deal with him at any time!"
Nacht wore an obviously fake smile, "How reliable indeed!"
Charles said without reservation, "Stop joking, Vice-Captain - you've never completely trusted me!"
That's right - through his aura, Charles could feel Nacht's vague rejection of him.
Nacht's narrowed eyes opened slightly as he looked into Charles's eyes, his tone flat, "Perhaps it's because of your inexplicably and excessively strong power that really makes one uneasy!"
Charles's expression didn't change, still wearing a smile, "I'm really sorry about that, but everyone has some secrets they don't want others to know."
Nacht exhaled a long breath, "Although I really dislike Yami, since he acknowledges you, I won't have any objections either. I hope you, like Asta, can persist on the path of doing good deeds!"
Saying this, Nacht sank into the shadows. He also had his own mission - only his shadow magic could secretly infiltrate the depths of the castle and await the opportunity to rescue Yami and Vangeance.
Stella on the side said, "What a strange person!"
Charles replied, "But he means no harm."
Stella looked at the castle in the distance where signs of battle had already appeared, "Are we just going to watch from here? I heard this time's opponents will be even stronger than last time - will everyone be okay?"
As someone who had personally participated in the battle against Vanica last time, Stella understood the Dark Triad's strength well.
That's why Stella was worried about whether accidents might occur in the battle.
But Charles said with full confidence, "Trust them! They were always people who could create miracles, and now they've become even stronger.
Enemies of this level won't be difficult for them. We'll be responsible for dealing with enemies beyond their level."
Hearing this, Stella said nothing more and continued monitoring the magic power changes in the castle.
Charles was doing the same thing - if an accident occurred anywhere, Charles would act without hesitation.
At the same time, Charles was also searching for that most important magic power aura. But strangely, even though the battle had been going on for so long, Charles still hadn't found that target.
That's right - Charles was looking for Lucius. Having acted ahead of schedule due to the disrupted plot, he was definitely the most unstable factor.
Charles didn't know what Lucius was planning or what actions he would take. But as long as he knew his purpose, that would be enough.
Although in the original plot Charles had only seen the part where Lucius turned traitor and wasn't clear on how Lucius intended to create his so-called new world.
But what Charles understood was that Lucius's plan required one thing - the heart of Devil King Lucifero.
So Lucius would definitely appear, just uncertain when.
Under Charles's observation, the battlefield situation changed again.
The special training was effective - at the start of battle, opponents who had previously caused everyone to struggle were smoothly suppressed.
But as if to prevent everyone from smoothly resolving the battle, a large number of black tree roots suddenly drilled out from the castle's base.
Those were exactly the things materialized by the special magic called the Tree of Qliphoth, and their appearance meant the gates separating the present world from the underworld had opened.
And this meant the world barriers blocking devil power had disappeared - the Dark Triad's devil power could be liberated to one hundred percent. At the same time, this meant devils from the first level of the underworld's seven layers could enter the present world.
"Fal!"
Charles called out, and Fal displayed his giant fire dragon form above Charles's head!
Charles made a breathing motion, and Fal surprisingly assumed the same posture.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Two pillars of fire sprayed from the mouths of man and dragon, directly sweeping away the large group of emerging devils.
Aside from two superior ones, the other devils from the first level were all inferior devils that could be dealt with using powerful magic power alone.
After clearing a wave of small fry, Charles leaped onto Fal's back, "Stella, I'll leave this side to you. I'm going inside to take a look."
Charles had indeed sensed an abnormality. The reason the Tree of Qliphoth could manifest in the original plot was because Morris had obtained Lolopechka's omniscient power, which accelerated the ritual that originally required seven days.
So the current Tree of Qliphoth's spread was hard to explain.
Sure enough, following the direction where the black tree roots spread, Charles forced his way through, creating a passage that led directly to the castle's core.
What met his eyes, besides Nacht and Morris who were fighting, were the two stone tablets in the very center, wrapped by black tree roots and standing opposite each other.
And the bodies of Yami and Vangeance were embedded in the stone tablets.
But what most attracted Charles's attention were the transparent spheres encasing the two, with rings around the spheres' perimeters marked with Roman numerals.
So it was Julius's time magic - no wonder it had accelerated the Tree of Qliphoth's formation.
Then Charles looked up at the man in midair who had returned to adult form.
"Hey! Looks like after returning to your original form, your abilities have also returned - I surprisingly can't sense any magic power at all."
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