Charles put down Imari Komari without lingering, smiled as he accepted her thanks, then immediately threw himself into battle.
Asta swung the Demon-Slayer Sword and chopped off a regenerated dragon head, but in the blink of an eye another dragon head grew out.
Black wings flapped as Asta dodged a biting dragon head and complained, "What's with this guy? No matter how much I cut, it won't die!"
The Five-Headed Dragon's regeneration was indeed a magical effect, but its magic core was distributed across the five dragon heads.
So Asta cutting off just one head couldn't break the Five-Headed Dragon's regeneration magic at all. He would have to simultaneously sever all dragon heads to completely slay this monster.
But then again, even knowing the method, the current Asta was powerless.
The reason was simple - the Five-Headed Dragon's size was too massive.
The largest enemy Asta had faced so far was Lucifero, who had integrated numerous devils as vessels for possession.
The Lucifero at that time had not only devoured numerous devils but also fused an entire castle into his body.
But even that state of Lucifero was only equivalent to the size of one dragon head. The Five-Headed Dragon was a monster that destroyed entire towns just by moving.
Although Charles wasn't clear on the Five-Headed Dragon's specific abilities either, the abilities of these multi-headed monsters were all pretty similar.
So Charles shouted loudly, "Everyone help gather all the dragon heads together, and I'll deal with it all at once!"
Although Charles rarely fought alongside other Black Bulls members, it was as if wearing that cloak gave them a tacit understanding.
None of the Black Bulls doubted whether Charles could resolve the battle as he claimed, simply responding and throwing themselves into combat.
"Lightning Ultimate Magic - Lightning Instant Battle Demon!"
The fastest to act was Luck. After training in ultimate magic, he could now transform his body into magic power form like Mereoleona.
Becoming a bolt of lightning, Luck transformed into a thunder demon and came beneath a dragon head, flipping over and delivering an upward kick that sent the dragon head soaring.
Luck's strike wasn't powerful enough. Just as the dragon head was about to fall, a giant sheep appeared below and sent the dragon head even higher with a skyward cannon strike.
Charmy below stuffed the food in her hands into her mouth. After releasing such a strike, she had to quickly eat something to recover her magic power.
On the other side, a fireball exploded on a dragon head's eye. That dragon head turned toward Magna. Being provoked by such a magically weak ant, even a magical beast became enraged.
So it opened its mouth and breathed out a magic cannon.
But immediately two figures blocked in front of the light cannon. Zora spread his arms and blocked the magic cannon with his body.
Of course he wasn't trying to commit suicide. Dense symbols lit up all over his body as an extremely complex magic circle opened before him.
"Hey! Don't rush, I'll return this thing to you with interest right away!"
As his words fell, the magic cannon was completely absorbed into the magic circle, then fired back in a more condensed state.
Nero pressed both hands against Zora's back. Without her using sealing magic to seal the damage the massive magic power would cause to Zora himself, he couldn't have completed this technique.
The magic cannon with doubled power directly blasted the dragon head away, perfectly colliding with the dragon head Luck and Charmy had sent over.
The Five-Headed Dragon immediately went into a rage, but its tense body immediately went limp.
Through training, Gordon could now manipulate curse power more precisely. By modifying the curse on Henry's body, he could decide whose magic power to absorb.
Just now the two had instantly drained a large amount of the Five-Headed Dragon's magic power, causing it to reveal this opening.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the others also hurried into action.
Noelle entered Sea Dragon Valkyrie form and released a giant sea dragon's roar. A sea dragon nearly as large as the Five-Headed Dragon's heads rushed out, biting one dragon head and pushing it toward the other dragon heads' positions.
Stella also seized the opportunity, delivering a downward chop from above that sent the dragon head she was responsible for crashing down.
In terms of strength, Stella's small body wasn't inferior to the Five-Headed Dragon. This kick nearly exploded that dragon head entirely.
The last dragon head didn't require the Black Bulls to act - Mushō Gaku En, the strongest of the Seven Dragon Zen Warriors, transformed into a steel war god.
"As one of the Seven Dragon Zen Warriors serving the Land of the Sun's general, I can't lose face for Ryuya in front of outsiders! After all, I am... the strongest."
Mushō said this while swinging the katana in his hand, violently batting the charging dragon head into flight.
Just as the five dragon heads collided together, everyone launched attack magic again.
Gauche lifted his hair, revealing his crystal magic eye. Grey, enduring the embarrassment to look directly at that eye, suddenly gained numerous duplicates.
The moment those duplicates appeared, Finral used spatial magic to transfer them to all directions.
Through research, Grey had understood the essence of her magic - it was powerful magic that could change the nature of matter, with the true name "Transmutation Magic."
Those Greys extended their hands together, directly converting whatever magic hit the Five-Headed Dragon into hard crystal stone, binding the Five-Headed Dragon.
The red cat ran and jumped back to Vanessa's shoulder. Although she hadn't directly attacked just now, Vanessa had been using threads to guide fate toward victory's direction.
Otherwise, without anyone commanding, everyone wouldn't have so smoothly gathered all the dragon heads together.
"Charles!"
Hearing everyone's call, Charles, who had been accumulating power, opened his eyes that had become vertical pupils.
"Thanks everyone, leave the rest to me!"
Dragon King Martial Body and Dragon Flame Battle Garb Second Form both activated. Charles gritted his teeth and activated Nibelungen Ring.
Adding the skill [Dragon Slayer] that had been active since the battle began, this was Charles's true full firepower state.
"Dragon Slaying Secret Art - Crimson Explosive Flame Blade!"
Charles added no subtle variations to this strike, only pursuing maximum power. So everyone seemed to witness the collapse of the sun, their vision completely filled with flames.
Viewed from high altitude, a fan-shaped clearing with Charles as the apex extended over a hundred kilometers in diameter. Everything within had vanished as if erased, leaving only a crystallized surface.
This was because Charles released the attack at an upward angle, so the impact on the ground wasn't as severe. But the cloud layer in that sky had been completely incinerated into nothingness.
In the distance, Ryudo Ryuya shaded his eyes with his hand and sighed, "The demonic power clouds that had spread over the Goshu Islands due to the Five-Headed Dragon's slumber were directly burned away completely! I've always wanted everyone in the Land of the Sun to see clear skies too. I really must thank that young man."
Charles deactivated his combat form, feeling more than half his magic power depleted and couldn't help but click his tongue internally. This strike's power was indeed sufficient, but the consumption was truly astonishing.
Only because he had leveled up could he use it. Anyone else would have to burn their life force.
But then again, this feeling of occasionally releasing power to his heart's content was quite refreshing. He felt he somewhat understood a certain Crimson Demon young lady's feelings!
Quickly shaking his head to dispel this terrifying thought, Charles walked toward everyone coming to meet him.
However, after looking around, Charles asked puzzledly, "Where did Captain Yami go?"
Only then did everyone realize their captain seemed to have been absent from the recent battle. But given Yami's character, he shouldn't do something like fleeing from battle.
Asta raised his hand, "Um... I think I saw a girl who looked very similar to Captain Yami chasing him and running off! But Vice-Captain Nacht also chased after them, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?"
Charles sighed. It seemed Captain Yami's past was indeed complicated, with this kind of thing happening as soon as he arrived in the Land of the Sun.
"I know something about this matter!"
Just then, a gentle voice came over. A man wearing a kimono and eyepatch walked over, with several people of considerable magic power arranged on either side of him.
"Thank you all for extending aid in our hour of need and subjugating the evil magical beast that has plagued our country since ancient times. I am Ryudo Ryuya, general of the Land of the Sun, and I express my deepest gratitude here!"
Ryudo Ryuya said this while bowing along with the group behind him.
Charles waved his hand, "No need to be so polite. That magical beast had our target's power on it, so defeating it was also our objective.
But compared to that, we're more concerned about our captain's matter!"
Ryudo Ryuya straightened up and said, "Yami and I are childhood friends, so I know his situation well. But this isn't the place to talk. Please come with me, and I'll tell you everything."
The Black Bulls naturally had no objections and followed Ryudo Ryuya to their camp.
Calling it a camp, it was just some simple wooden sheds.
After Ryudo Ryuya brought everyone to a relatively clean clearing, he said, "Sorry, conditions are harsh and the hospitality is poor."
Charles and the others weren't people who cared about such things anyway. After sitting on the ground, they pressed him about Yami's past.
Ryudo Ryuya told everyone everything he knew, but Charles's expression became increasingly strange as he listened.
Charles had never believed Yami's claim that he was just an ordinary fisherman. What ordinary fisherman would have swordsmanship that was clearly from formal training like his? What ordinary fisherman would know ki, an ability used for combat?
Sure enough, according to Ryudo Ryuya, Yami came from a warrior clan that served the Ryudo family.
The Yami clan had always been active on battlefields and was a martial arts prestigious family with the title of Demon God Clan.
By this generation, as the Ryudo family began implementing peaceful policies, the Yami clan also declined, leading to conflicts with the main family.
The woman chasing Yami was called Yami Ichika. She and Yami were siblings, both children of the Yami clan leader, and both had awakened the Yami clan's strongest dark sorcery.
But one day, Yami personally slaughtered all clan members except his sister Ichika, including his father. From then on he left the Land of the Sun with his whereabouts unknown.
Charles had a sudden realization. So Captain Yami's real name should be Yami Itachi or Uchiha Sukehiro, right!
Captain Yami couldn't also be a hidden sister complex who just said "Hate me, my foolish sister" before being chased and attacked!
Just as Charles was having wild thoughts, Ryudo Ryuya revealed the truth.
The real situation was that the Yami clan leader, the father of the two, was a complete war maniac who pursued battle and honor and had long grown tired of the increasingly peaceful Land of the Sun.
He had even forced his children to drink the clan's secret medicine, Demon Soul Pills. These were terrifying pills that could greatly enhance demonic power and killing intent.
Yami Ichika couldn't withstand the medicine's power and had her reason eroded by killing intent, while her hidden dark sorcery power also erupted.
So it wasn't Yami who massacred the clan, but the berserk Yami Ichika, and she had no memory of that period due to losing her reason.
As the elder brother, Yami naturally bore all the sins.
Charles stroked his chin. How to put it about this plot? It was indeed melodramatic, but certainly classic.
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