章節 347: 7 Scale
Edward did not waste time to start placing enchantments in the Throne Room of the Underworld. Then, he left for the sixth layer, where the Shikigamis had already captured all the angelic devils. Then, he used Lucius's Soul Magic to control them before placing more enchantments in all six layers.
Finally, Edward left the Underworld. The first thing he did was try to enter Elysium again. With the Diamond Origin Grimoire, his grimoire was completed, and he now had more control of the Universe Will.
Unfortunately, he felt an even more powerful resistance preventing his entrance.
'Something is wrong. Why does it feel like God's control of the Universe Will is greater than mine?'
A lot of thoughts flashed across his mind.
'Could it be…' An idea suddenly popped into his mind based on his previous study of the Universe Will.
'If what I'm thinking is true, the final battle against him will not be so simple–especially without my Floating City.'
After making some preliminary plans, he opened a portal to his laboratory in the Clover Kingdom. He first instructed young Sally to create a new body for Julius's soul before meeting Clone Number 8, which was in charge of fixing the World Gate.
"How are things going?"
"Good, but slow," replied Number 8.
"How long before things are fixed?"
"3 to 5 years."
"That means the Gate won't be helpful in this upcoming battle."
"Do you even need it?"
"I have some new information which suggests that this God might be much of a greater threat than anticipated."
Number 8 frowned, "I could quickly fix some of the Tier 7 Canons."
"Do so. What about the other tasks I gave you?"
"Come with me."
Number 9 led him to a room with a few people cryogenically frozen in large glass tubes. Edward walked to the first one, wiped out the frozen fog, seeing a very familiar yet strange face: it was Asta, except with a scar over his right eye.
Edward walked to the other tubes, and they all contained Astas.
"What's their stories?" he asked.
"Asta 1 is after the result of a failed Spade Kingdom Rescue Arc. All the people who participated died at the hands of the devil. Ultimately, his madness allowed him to gather more power to kill all the Dark Triad."
In the original timeline, the Dark Triad captured Yami and Vengeance to open the Gate to the Underworld. Then, a team composed of magic knights from the Clover and Heart Kingdom went to rescue them.
"Asta 2 is one that had to watch Sister Lily and all the people in Hage's people killed.
"Asta 3 forged enmity with Yuno, and they had a legendary battle where he was forced to kill his best friend and rival. The trauma destroyed his life.
"Asta 4 is an interesting one. Sister Lily actually accepted his offer of marrying him. Unfortunately, she later died in his arm as he could not protect her.
"Asta 5 is my favorite. He accepted Noelle's confessions, and they became a couple. However, Mimosa was corrupted by a devil and lured her to kill Noelle in front of Asta."
Number 8 introduced the lives of all the Asta, and the overall thing they had in common was how miserable the latter was.
"Excellent," commented Edward. "These Asta's variants should have high Willpower. So, let's begin the experiment."
Morris' Modification Magic allows him to alter the structure of physical and magical objects. When boosted by the devil's power, he can affect intangible concepts like Dreams and knowledge. So, Edward planned to use it to absorb the Willpower of these Astas from parallel dimensions.
Nevertheless, he needed to test whether taking such a shortcut would have lasting effects. So, he created clones of himself to experiment on them. After using the Modification Magic to transfer Asta's Willpower to the clone, Edward searched the clone's souls, bloodline, mana, spirit, mind, memories, consciousness, and many other things to see if there was nothing wrong.
Afterward, he developed the magic to be permanent so something like Anti-Magic would not reverse what he did. Finally, he applied the magic to himself.
"Is this the limit of my soul? A Willpower of seven."
Edward shook his head as he was so close to the eighth scale he needed to use Conceptual Magic in his universe. Then, a small flame appeared in Edward's hand.
"My control of mana has reached such a subtle level unimaginable. Moreover, I feel like how I see the world is different."
Edward looked in the distance and could see the dimension where the Underworld and Elysium were located. He could see with his eyes the mana in the surrounding; they looked like blue birds.
He could see everything inside his body, including his magic core, soul, bloodline, organs, and even the nanobots. Usually, he would require a spell or machines to detect these things, but he could now see them easily.
Edward even discovered he could see the atoms that make up his body.
"It seems that my Cosmic Awareness Talent has evolved."
He concentrated before returning his vision to normal.
"I have discovered something expected," said Number 8.
"Did something goes wrong?"
"Not necessarily. Based on the recent data, it seems that your soul is not the only reason you cannot improve your Willpower."
"What did you find?"
"It seems that the modification no longer works for Asta. So, in the future, you would have to find other people with high Willpower to absorb."
"No problem. There are many people with high Willpower, like Steve Rogers or Thanos. Anyway, what happened to the Astas?"
"Their souls are injured, and they have lost the ability to control Anti-Magic. For the rest of their lives, they can only be normal people," replied Number 8.
"Is this the side-effect of the permanent extractions?"
"It appears so."
Edward sighed. He initially did want to use this method. His first plan was to copy Asta and modify the clone's soul to be the same as the original. Then, he would place the clone under a powerful illusion, making him experience many things to increase his Willpower before the extraction.
Regrettably, this plan failed before even starting. The clone did not have Asta's naturally high Willpower–even after the soul modification. And even after placing the latter through many cruel experiences in the illusion, his Willpower's growth was abysmal.
So, Number 8 had to proceed to plan B of taking Astas from parallel Universes.
"Heal their soul injuries. Additionally, fix the problems in their timeline, revive the people they care about, and ensure they can live happy and normal life.
"Furthermore, we need a better way to train Willpower.
Edward knew some of his wives–Hermione, Luna, Olivier, and maybe Fleur–would not accept doing such a thing to increase their Willpower. However, they are okay with human experiments–only one that involves clones.
When it comes to doing stuff like this that harms an innocent person for their benefit–even one from other parallel dimensions–they will draw the line.
Afterward, Edward went to check on the other clones and their project. He looked at some data from Number 7, who was responsible for [Project World Stealing].
"Your plan is a little too risky. We'll discuss safety measures after the invasion. Number 2, what about you?"
"My research on Forbidden Spell is complete. I have created a way to sacrifice lifespans to cast a spell at least one Tier above our level."
"Excellent."
"The trouble I am having is with studying the Karma Empowerment."
"What's the issue?"
"I've managed to discover the power of Karma," said Number before casting a spell. Then, above all the clones appeared two numbers: one in black and one in gold. The golden number was much higher than the black number, but the black one was still large.
"As you can see, we all have the same positive and negative karma since we are one. That's not important. The point is, despite discovering the power of Karma, I have no way to harness that power yet."
"What did you find from the devils?"
"They have a unique soul that allows them to use Negative Karma Empowerment. So, this power cannot be used unless we modify our soul to be similar to that of a devil."
Edward shook his head. He has no qualms about modifying his body, but he rarely touches his Soul.
"Well, take your time. I've brought Lucius' body, and he seems capable of using both positive and negative Karma."
"A perfect combination of angel and devil?" asked Number 2.
"Yes."
"In that case, he should be helpful."
Edward handed him the body before tasking Number 6–in charge of the training and teaching of Sally–to turn Satan's remains into an undead. Finally, he went to see the magic knights and captains: the Elysium Invasion was only a few days away.
章節 348: Elysium Invasion (I)
Edward slowly walked to the Royal Knights, which was the name he gave the magic knight group headed to Elysium. He was too lazy to develop a better name, so he used the one in the sacred timeline. Even the magical clothes they were wearing were the same as the manga.
Upon arriving at his destination, he looked at the eager knights and captains.
"Are you guys ready?"
"Yes, Sir."
"That's good. Group 3, how is your Arcane Heart?"
"Everything is functioning well," said Acier.
"Alright. Do you remember the plan?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Very, well. I have done everything possible to keep all of you alive. If everything else does work and you really end up dying, remember to use any means necessary to preserve something of your existence. With time magic, I should be able to revive you."
"Thank you, Wizard King."
"In that case, let's go."
Edward led them to a gate at the base of a massive tree. Then, he watched as they entered one by one. The ground transmuted into a chair that he sat on. Then, a projection appeared in front of him.
Two people immediately acted as soon as the group teleported to their respective later. Secre Swallowtail took out a magical orb containing an enormous amount of mana that Edward stored. Finally, she used her magic to place a seal on Elysium's fourth layer.
Subsequently, Dorothy Unsworth used her Dream Magic to connect to the others in the higher layers. As long as she wishes, she can summon someone into her dream for communication.
The first person she summoned was Nacht, who had infiltrated this place a month prior.
"You don't look too good," commented Dorothy after seeing his pale complexion.
"This will happen if you have an entire dimension searching for you."
"What matters is that you're alive. Did you get some information?"
"I did, but only up to the second layer," replied Nacht, who told her the information he got so far. Then, Dorothy used a magic item to communicate with the others. She did not summon them in her dream because they should be intercepting the enemy right about now.
Her Dream Communication is in case the magic items fail to work and reach the others in the other layers.
The moment the elves landed at their destination, they began to organize the Tree of Life Monument to summon Edward. Of course, the angels in the first layer immediately noticed the invaders.
So, an army of angels rushed toward the group of magic knights. The leader of the Group 1 was Langris, the Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn Squad.
"Are those the angel armies? They are so weak?" He raised his hand, prepared to fight.
"Don't forget the Wizard King instructed us not to kill them if possible," said Finral, his big brother and a member of the Black Bulls.
"I know," said Langris as his Grimoire floated in front of him.
Spatial Magic: Space Prison.
An enormous cube enveloped the majority of the angels, imprisoning them. Only a few capable individuals flew out of the way.
"Evaded? Not bad."
The leader of this army was a beautiful angel dressed in armor, holding a sword" her name was Elicia.
'Why do these humans have such a vast mana pool? How can we defend against such an attack.'
She squinted her eyes at the cocky Langris.
"Soldiers, used Tactic 15," commanded Elicia. Then, a golden light emanated from all the angels, including her.
'Worship the one and only God. Only this way can you have salvation. Mortal, he gracious to be in the presence of a noble creature such as us, angels….'
These words echoed in the mind of all the magic knights, including the elves.
"So, this is your tactic?" said Langris. "Using [Worship Poison]? You should do better than this."
In their training, they were trained to resist the temptation from even a Seraphim Lord, let alone these low-level angels.
"My talents were truly wasted in this group," complained Langris, who prepared to end this fight. Then, something unexpected occurred.
"Soldier, used Tactic 11," commanded Elicia. Then, all the elves turned onto golden lights before fusing into one enormous angel more than 15 meters tall; even the ones previously captured by Langris broke free from the space prison to transform into this creature.
"This was not part of the information we received," said Finral.
"But that makes things even more interesting," said Langris.
Spatial Magic: Archangel Shootdown
Numerous orbs floated before him before hitting the giant angel. Wherever the orbs hit, a part of the creature's body would be erased since they could erase anything they touched. However, the angels' body parts would regrow a few seconds later.
"Lets' see your limit," said Langris as he created more and more orbs. Eventually, the giant angel could not regenerate as fast as he could destroy. And when its body was 80% destroyed, it scattered before all the angels returned to their normal selves, passing out on the ground.
"Well, that was easy," said Langris.
Outside, Edward calmly watched this. He closed his eyes to see if he could enter Elysium before the ceremony, but it was still to no avail. So, he focused on the second layer.
The Magic Captains mostly watched as Jack The Ripper went on a rampage. The Archangels in the second layer mainly were Tier 4, but all the Captains reached Tier 5. So, it was normal to be a one-sided slaughter.
Suddenly, an enormous golden magic circle appeared in the sky, forcing everyone to stop and pay attention.
"Our Grimoire stopped working," said Charlotte, the Captain of Blue Rose. Nevertheless, she had a calm demeanor around her.
"Luckily, the Wizard King anticipated this outcome and forced us to learn the Arcane Rune Magic," said Kaiser, the Captain of Purple Orca.
Meanwhile, Jack placed his Grimoire away before tiny runes appeared on his arms. Then, the previously dispersed blades on his forearms reappeared. Subsequently, he continued his mindless slaughter.
To be exact, he did not kill anyone since Edward instructed him to only if necessary. But in the current situation, it is not needed. This group has run countless simulations and fought countless angels for the past year (10 years in time dilation). So, it was normal for the victory to be so easy.
'Things are going well; maybe a little too well, but that's fine,' through Edward as he focused on the third layer where the Seraphim Lords were located.
After arriving in this layer, Yuno alone easily defeated all the Seraphims, which were equivalent to Highest-Ranking Devils.
(AN: This is not a far fetch feat since he did something similar for devils in the latest chapter of the manga. Sorry for the spoiler.)
After that, the Seraphim Lords showed up. However, to everyone's surprise, four of them showed up instead of the two the information mentioned.
(AN: I have received many complaints and criticism about this arc to the point that it was no longer fun writing. And I do not like when writing becomes a chore. As such, I decided to speed up the end of this arc and even shorten the time for the Konosuba Arc.
(I've also decided to plan the next arc better so that it is both enjoyable to the readers and enjoyable to write. Expect some changes in the story's tone since I finally decided to try to give Edward some depth while also genuinely challenging him.)
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