After enjoying a lavish dinner—and telling Rebecca's younger siblings a brand-new fairy tale to lull them to sleep—Yuuki discussed the tavern's reopening date with Rebecca, as well as inviting Asta and Yuno. Then he returned to his room.
Click.
Yuuki pushed open the window and looked into the distance. Though it was already deep into the night, many places still burned with firelight.
More than that, he could sense quite a few mages with decent levels of mana patrolling various areas.
An invasion of the royal capital, a Magic Knight Captain gravely wounded and on the brink of death—events of this magnitude meant many people would not be sleeping tonight. Regardless of whether they were officially on duty, the various Magic Knight squads would likely be rushing back to the capital to prevent further chaos or unrest.
"At this point, Yami probably wants to get in touch with me as soon as possible."
Yuuki gazed into the distance, murmuring calmly to himself.
Now that the prophecy of 'the Burning Lion will fall' had come true, even if Yami were slow on the uptake, he would inevitably connect the dots.
The identity of that mysterious prophet—and today's shadowy force that invaded the capital—were almost certainly linked.
"The Eye of the Midnight Sun suffered heavy casualties because of Yami's sudden appearance. It even forced Licht to show himself ahead of schedule."
"If the plan had merely been pushed forward, it could still be explained as Licht being cautious and preparing contingencies. But now…"
Yuuki's expression grew contemplative.
"…Licht must be wondering whether a traitor has appeared within the organization."
Truthfully, Licht revealing himself early did not matter much. From the moment they launched the invasion of the royal capital, it was already clear that Licht and his allies were prepared to step into the open before the Clover Kingdom's nobles and royals.
Being prepared to appear was one thing. Having a traitor within the Eye of the Midnight Sun was another entirely.
Yuuki was not worried about being exposed.
He had only learned of the capital invasion plan at the very last moment—and even then, the information he received had been extremely limited. Even if Licht learned from Yami about the mysterious prophecy, it would not implicate Yuuki in the slightest.
On the contrary, it would make him even less suspicious—after all, Yuuki had been completely unaware that Fuegoleon was the true target.
Moreover, Yuuki had Mariella impersonate him to rescue numerous civilians. That alone was enough to eliminate any lingering suspicion directed at him.
Yuuki closed the window, then retrieved a mask from his subspace and put it on. After that, he took out a communication magic box.
As he channeled mana into it, an image appeared on its surface—
A woman with messy hair, dressed in a nightgown. Clearly not asleep, she looked oddly energetic instead.
"Huh? What's this?"
"What a fascinating communication spell."
"Leader, even if I've joined your organization, calling a lady this late at night is hardly gentlemanly, you know."
Dominante's curious—and slightly dissatisfied—voice came through the device.
"Is the magic tool I asked you to make finished?" Yuuki asked bluntly, wasting no words.
"Ah? Oh—yeah, it's done."
Domina froze for a second, clearly caught off guard, before remembering. She let out an awkward chuckle.
From the subtle change in her expression, Yuuki immediately guessed the truth.
The magic tool that concealed mana had likely been finished long ago—she had simply forgotten to inform him. If he hadn't asked, Domina probably wouldn't have remembered at all.
Yuuki closed the communication magic box. With a thought, a spatial gate opened before him, and he stepped inside, vanishing from the room.
When he reappeared—
Yuuki was already cloaked in black, standing before Domina, having arrived via spatial magic using a preset location.
He glanced around.
Domina was currently inside a rather spacious chamber within a castle. Various items and instruments were scattered everywhere, creating a sense of clutter.
The sight immediately reminded Yuuki of the first time he had entered Sally's laboratory.
"Leader, appearing out of nowhere like that is really scary…"
Domina instinctively took a step back, then put on an exaggerated expression of fright.
"Where is it?" Yuuki asked flatly.
"Uh… let me think. I remember putting it right around here."
Domina rubbed her temples, pushing her disheveled blond hair back behind her ears, a thoughtful look crossing her face.
The next moment, she turned and rummaged through a nearby table. Soon, she picked up a gray-black necklace and walked over with visible satisfaction.
"This is the magic tool I made that conceals the wearer's mana. I named it 'False Disguise.' What do you think of the name?"
She handed the necklace to Yuuki, clearly proud of herself.
"How does it compare to the bracelet I'm currently wearing?" Yuuki asked, examining the gray necklace. It was delicately crafted, and its muted color made it inconspicuous. Overall, he was quite satisfied with its appearance.
Domina's eyes widened as she snapped back indignantly,
"Don't compare my work to that inferior junk you bought off the black market!"
Hearing that, Yuuki nodded. He put the necklace away, then glanced around again, wordlessly questioning the state of the room.
"With the leader's funding, of course I had to do some proper research."
"Oh, right! The magic-script text on that scroll you gave me earlier—I've already deciphered all of it."
"And the communication spell you just used—there were extremely fine magic inscriptions along the edges of the projection. That means you're using a magic tool, right? Can I borrow it to study?"
Dominas eyes sparkled with excitement as she looked eagerly at Yuuki.
Faced with her rapid-fire comments and enthusiasm, Yuuki felt a twinge of surprise.
Dominante had actually noticed that his communication spell relied on a magic tool.
It seemed her research into runic scripts and magic-language formulas ran very deep.
Which made sense—after all, she came from the Witches' Forest. That place likely preserved countless records of ancient magic scripts.
That thought flashed through Yuuki's mind.
The Witches' Forest was shrouded in mystery and had existed for an extremely long time. It probably contained knowledge that none of the kingdoms possessed.
Yuuki did not answer Domina's questions. As a spatial gate opened once more, he vanished from the room.
"Huh? Why did he leave all of a sudden? Always so mysterious…"
Domina sighed regretfully.
"I really wanted to study that communication magic tool…"
Using spatial magic, Yuuki teleported to an empty mountain valley.
After eliminating several wild beasts and confirming there was no one nearby, he found a clean spot and sat down cross-legged at ease.
Whoosh.
Yuuki took out Fuegoleon's grimoire from his subspace.
Gazing at the crimson grimoire in his palm, Yuuki felt a rare surge of excitement—even after performing complete replications so many times.
Once this grimoire was fully replicated, he would truly step into a new domain, possessing mana reserves on the level of a Magic Knight Captain.
This would finally make up for his greatest weakness.
Yuuki did not lack spells.
What he lacked was the sheer mana necessary to wield them freely.
"Complete Replication."
He placed the crimson grimoire atop his own and spoke softly.
Silvery mana wrapped around the red grimoire. As if melting, it was rapidly absorbed into Yuuki's own grimoire.
Under Yuuki's gaze—his eyes now glowing silver—a crimson mana core swiftly formed within his soul.
Boom!
Yuuki's body shook violently.
A torrential pillar of fire-aspected mana erupted skyward from him, a blazing crimson column that pierced the heavens!
Scorching heat spread outward with Yuuki at its center. The surrounding temperature skyrocketed at a visible rate.
The terrifying pressure and aura produced by that immense mana surged outward as well.
In that instant, every beast, insect, and bird within the valley was crushed alive by the pressure—bursting apart like blooming flowers of blood that appeared across the valley!
Bathed in this state, the entire valley was dyed a blazing red by Yuuki's mana.
Yuuki felt as though his body was brimming with inexhaustible strength. Each breath he exhaled carried searing heat.
From the outside, it was as if he himself had been set ablaze.
The stench of blood from the crushed creatures never had time to spread—before it could, it was instantly vaporized by the overwhelming heat.
(End of Chapter)
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