Chapter 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.)