Apart from Charles, no one had expected the Magic Knight squads' Spade expedition to develop so legendarily.
When the Devil King descended and devastatingly defeated all the squad captains, almost everyone felt despair.
But precisely because of this, the moment Lucifero was slain felt so shocking.
But Charles didn't experience that atmosphere - he lost consciousness after the battle ended.
The Nibelungen Ring was indeed a very powerful skill, but its cost wasn't small either. Charles didn't have Ottar's convenient "Beastification" skill, so it truly consumed considerable stamina and magic power.
Especially entering the natural realm for those brief ten-plus minutes had almost exhausted Charles's mental strength. Though Charles would rather experience more of that realm's power.
So Charles fainted as soon as the battle ended. When he woke up, he was already back in the Clover Kingdom.
The awakened Charles had completely recovered his magic power, stamina, and mental strength, then immediately threw himself into new operations.
That's right - although Lucifero had been defeated, that didn't mean everything was over.
Because the mastermind behind everything - Lucius Zogratis - had disappeared again.
Not just Lucius, but the Dark Triad's corpses and all devils not absorbed by Lucifero had vanished without a trace.
Even those two Demon Gods who had appeared in the original plot were nowhere to be found.
Three gates of the underworld had opened in succession, with the twin devils Lilith and Nahamah from the first level being slain by Asta.
The atmospheric devil Baal had also been defeated by Charles, then had his heart extracted by Lucius.
But Adrammelech from the second level had never appeared.
Charles remembered that Adrammelech seemed to have connections with Lucius early on, their relationship similar to collaborators.
Lucius not being defeated meant everything was far from over.
But the expedition did have results - the Diamond Kingdom and Spade Kingdom successfully restored their nations. The Clover Kingdom and Heart Kingdom also returned to peace.
Charles actually wasn't very optimistic about this world's future.
The Heart Kingdom's system and environment determined they could coexist peacefully with the Clover Kingdom, but the other two countries were different.
The Diamond Kingdom was barren throughout, and the Spade Kingdom had harsh cold climate, destined to be unable to develop through normal means.
This generation had restored their nations through the Clover Kingdom's assistance, but such gratitude absolutely couldn't withstand time's erosion.
It was foreseeable that the countries would definitely erupt in new wars over resources in the future.
To solve this problem, now was the most suitable opportunity.
While the four countries' relations were in a honeymoon period, strengthening exchanges and communication between the four countries and achieving resource circulation and sharing would allow all countries to develop well.
Unfortunately, not one of the royalty ruling the Clover Kingdom had such vision, nor were they willing to pay the initial costs.
If Julius were still around, perhaps there would be hope for change. But unfortunately, there were no clever people who could change this country now.
Charles could only sigh at this. As for other matters, they weren't his to worry about.
Finding Yami, who was still recovering from injuries, Charles also learned about recent events.
After Lucifero's descent and all the previous events, the four kingdoms had deeply realized Lucius's danger.
So whether Magic Knights, Magic Defense Forces, Spirit Guardians, or Magic Defense squads all began searching for traces of Lucius within their borders.
For the armed forces of four kingdoms to act for the same goal, Lucius could be considered unprecedented.
Charles had seen the Clover Kingdom's plan - even the strong magic regions weren't spared, quite thorough indeed.
This search lasted a full month, with the Clover Kingdom even being completely turned over... yet the result was nothing.
Forget Lucius's strongholds - not even a trace he left behind was discovered, making one wonder where exactly he was hiding.
Not just the Clover Kingdom - the other three kingdoms also found nothing. It was as if Lucius had already left this continent.
This was something Rill had casually mentioned at the summary meeting. The speaker was unintentional, but the listener took it to heart. After returning, Yami gathered all Black Bulls members.
In the hall, Yami sat boldly on the sofa, head resting on the backrest, cigarette in mouth as he stared at the ceiling in thought.
The others didn't dare speak, but Nacht wouldn't be polite.
"Everyone's already here. Since you gathered everyone, don't waste everyone's time."
Yami came back to his senses, removed the cigarette from his mouth, looked at everyone and said, "You should all know that our search for Lucius has yielded no results.
So I was thinking he might no longer be within the four kingdoms."
Charles spoke, "I remember Captain Yami's hometown is an overseas foreign country, so you suspect Lucius has fled there."
Yami sighed, "It's not impossible, so whether for my hometown or to settle the grudge with Lucius, it seems I need to make a trip back."
Saying this, Yami suddenly reached up to scratch his head. He had always acted carefree about everything - it was rare to see him this troubled.
"Damn! I'm not mentally prepared to go back yet."
Charles looked at Yami and couldn't help thinking. It seemed Yami's departure from his hometown wasn't because of what he told others about encountering a shipwreck while fishing and drifting to the Clover Kingdom.
A certain Chinatown detective had said, "What person who's doing well at home would be willing to leave? Those who stay have reasons to stay, those who leave have reasons to leave!"
But Captain Yami had come to the Clover Kingdom as a youth, so he shouldn't have such vicissitudes of experience.
Not everyone in the Black Bulls was good at reading expressions, especially Asta, who directly approached, "Captain Yami, what kind of place is your hometown?"
Perhaps considering they would act soon, Yami wanted everyone to understand the target's situation, so he said, "My old home is called the Land of the Sun. There, magic and magic power are called sorcery and demonic power. The grimoire styles are also different from here.
Not just different names - magic users and sorcerers have different training and combat methods."
Charles nodded, "So sorcerers in the Land of the Sun are all like Captain Yami, more focused on physical techniques and swordsmanship, with sorcery only for support, unlike magic users here who focus mainly on magic."
Yami gave a thumbs up, "Worthy of the junior I favor - you understood immediately!
The situation is just like Charles said. Sorcerers and warriors in the Land of the Sun all master that ki technique I taught Asta, and even excellent ones master higher techniques.
But we're going to find that Lucius bastard, so unexpectedly we probably won't fight such people."
When saying this, Yami seemed to think of something, shook his head to pull his thoughts back and continued, "The Land of the Sun isn't some peaceful good place either. At least when I left it was chaotic.
But so much time has passed, there should be some changes!"
Charles smiled, "Whether there are changes, we'll naturally know by going to see this time."
Yami put the cigarette back in his mouth, "You're right. I'll be counting on you again this time, Charles. Use your big guy to get me to the Land of the Sun at maximum speed."
Asta suddenly raised his hand, "Captain Yami, I want to go too!"
Yami said, "I was planning to bring you even if you didn't say so. The final battle can't do without your anti-magic."
Seeing this scene, how could the others sit still? They all crowded around.
"Captain Yami, me too!"
"I want to go too!"
"Are there any new ingredients in the Land of the Sun?"
"Please take me along too, Mr. Yami!"
"Sorcerers... sound strong. Are there fights to be had?"
"In that case, I'll magnanimously go with you all!"
...
Yami clapped his hands, "Are you all that interested in my hometown?"
Everyone looked at Yami with glowing eyes, nodding obediently together.
Yami smiled, "I really can't do anything about you guys. Charles, no problems on your end?"
Charles nodded, "Small problem. This number won't affect speed."
Yami stood up, "Then the Black Bulls' next mission is a full squad investigation in the Land of the Sun. Go prepare - we're leaving immediately!"
"Yeah!"
Everyone moved quickly, soon packing and assembling before the base.
Charles took out a talisman and threw it out. Chongming with gorgeous tail feathers appeared before everyone.
This was everyone's first time seeing Chongming, and they all exclaimed in amazement.
Yami had thought Charles would use the fire spirit to transport everyone to the Land of the Sun, not expecting this surprise.
Charles jumped onto Chongming first, and the others curiously boarded as well.
After everyone was seated, Chongming spread his broad wings and soared into the sky with just one flap.
Yami shaded his eyes with his hand, watching the rapidly retreating clouds in his vision, "This speed really is amazing. But I can't even feel the wind - thought I'd suffer a bit."
Charles took Yami's words as praise, directing Chongming toward the direction Yami indicated at full speed.
Going to sea in this world was quite dangerous because the ocean was a strong magic region even vaster than the Spade Kingdom's borders.
Not only were conditions harsh, but sea monsters posed enormous threats. Even the Clover Kingdom's most advanced magic ships couldn't guarantee safe ocean crossing.
So exactly how had young Yami crossed the ocean before even obtaining his grimoire?
Of course, flying was different. At full speed, Chongming quickly crossed the vast ocean, with the Land of the Sun ahead.
The first sight that met their eyes was that stretch of polluted seawater.
For some reason, the seas within a certain range of the Land of the Sun were completely different - the seawater appeared ink-black, and Charles could feel the turbid magic power surging within.
The sky was the same, covered with patches of dark clouds. That too wasn't a natural phenomenon, but polluted magic power.
Honestly, the Land of the Sun wasn't as wonderful as everyone had imagined before departure. Perhaps because it was Captain Yami's hometown, everyone had good first impressions, but seeing this scene, they couldn't help but feel disappointed.
But Yami took a deep breath and said, "Long time no see, Land of the Sun!"
Indeed, even Yami would have feelings of being timid about approaching home.
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