Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
Julius's secondary personality was originally named Lucius Zogratis.
He was the eldest sibling of the Zogratis family in the Spade Kingdom, possessing the most formidable talent for devil possession in his family's history. Born with two souls in one body, he wielded two distinct magic attributes: Soul Magic and Time Magic.
During a ritual to summon a devil from the Underworld, he directly contracted Astaroth, the Time Devil—one of the three pillars of the Underworld. Unlike other devil hosts, Lucius used his overwhelming Soul Magic to enslave the Time Devil, turning a supreme entity into his absolute subordinate.
With the power of the Time Devil, Lucius glimpsed countless threads of the future. He devised a grand plan to devour the other Supreme Devils, become the most powerful "Wizard Emperor" the world had ever seen, and eradicate humanity to replace them with a race of "new humans" created by his own hand.
However, in those infinite futures, he saw a few timelines where mages from the Clover Kingdom obstructed him. To mitigate this risk, he allowed the personality of "Julius" to manifest and sent him into the Clover Kingdom, subtly influencing and manipulating him from the shadows with Soul Magic.
Everything had proceeded perfectly until George—a mage who didn't exist in any of his premonitions—appeared. This human, whose mana was so pathetic Lucius felt he could kill him with a mere glance, had exposed the Word Soul Devil's plot and used strange methods to drastically empower the Black Bulls.
While surprised, Lucius wasn't overly concerned. He was currently the Wizard King of Clover and could seize control of the body at any moment. Besides, his plan required the Clover Kingdom to be strong enough to weather certain events. If George truly became a nuisance, Lucius figured he could kill the boy with a flick of his wrist. He decided to watch and wait.
He never expected George to detect the Time Devil and violently eject both Lucius and the devil from Julius's body. Forced into a corner, Lucius used his Soul Magic to temporarily nest within the Time Devil's physical form to sustain the fight.
"Boss Julius, are you alright?" Yami asked casually, walking over to the shell-shocked Wizard King. George's sudden move had caught everyone off guard; they were only now catching their breath.
"I'm fine... I just didn't realize I had such a side to me," Julius said, looking at Lucius with a complex gaze.
With Lucius separated from his body, the Soul Magic that had been suppressing Julius's memories dissolved. Instantly, Julius understood his true origin and the full scope of Lucius's design.
"That is the Time Devil—a devil far more powerful than the Word Soul Devil," Julius declared, his massive grimoire manifesting before him. "He cannot be allowed to escape today, or it will spell disaster for all of humanity!"
Julius led the human mages and elves in a unified charge against the Lucius-controlled Time Devil. He would not let Lucius's plan succeed. Both sought a world without class or discrimination, but Julius could never accept Lucius's method: total genocide of the human race to be replaced by obedient puppets.
"Attack!"
"Black Dragon brats, break your limits today! Follow me!" Yami roared, transforming into a Black Dragon and leading Asta and the others to the front lines.
Every member of the Black Dragons—save for George—now possessed strength at the Vice-Captain level or higher, with most reaching Captain-level power. With Yami and Lumiere both transcending the level of a Wizard King, they were undeniably the strongest squad in human history.
"Do your best, everyone!"
George was the only one who didn't lift a finger. He floated leisurely above the Shadow Palace, using an amplification spell to offer a bit of "supportive" cheering.
"Hmph. Do you think I'm a failure like that Word Soul worm?" Lucius snarled. He forced the Time Devil into its complete form, releasing a surge of energy so intense the Shadow Palace began to tremble. "Since you're all here, I'll just kill you ahead of schedule! Time Region: Chrono Stasis!"
With Lucius at the center, time within the entire Shadow Palace ground to a halt. Yami and the others were frozen mid-charge. Only three people remained mobile.
The first was Lucius. The second was Julius, who wielded a four-leaf Time grimoire. And the third was George.
"You really do know Time Magic!" Lucius's gaze narrowed as he saw George floating unaffected. He had suspected as much when George brushed off Julius's magic earlier.
"I know a tiny, tiny bit," George shrugged, making no move to help.
He didn't need to. Julius was already using his own mastery over time to counteract Lucius's field. Though Julius's mana couldn't match a Supreme Devil's, he was still the Wizard King. Under his interference, the "time stop" was reduced to a mere "slow motion" effect, allowing the others to move, albeit at half speed.
"Roar!"
Even at half speed, the dragon forms of Yami and Lumiere were terrifyingly fast. They reached Lucius and unleashed their roars. Lucius, however, remained calm; he had already "seen" this attack with his precognition and evaded it with ease.
The battle turned into a chaotic brawl. As it dragged on, the Black Dragon members became increasingly proficient with their Dragon Slayer Magic. Lucius, who had held the upper hand initially, began to find himself overwhelmed.
Damn it! What is this 'Dragon Force'? Why are these mages so powerful? And that Elven Leader and Julius... so annoying!
The unrelenting assault of the Black Dragons, combined with Licht and Julius's constant interference, was grinding Lucius down. He realized that conquering this many elites alone was impossible. If he didn't leave now, he would die. Finding a momentary opening, he broke through the encirclement.
He planned to flee to the Spade Kingdom, regroup with his siblings—who were also possessed by Supreme Devils—and return with the full might of the Spade military to wipe Clover off the map.
"Before I go, I'm taking you out!"
Instead of fleeing immediately, Lucius lunged straight for George. This wasn't just spite; he feared that if George turned every mage in Clover into a Dragon Slayer, not even the Dark Triad could win.
"Isn't this the classic case of rejecting the road to heaven and barging into hell instead?"
George shook his head at the murderous Lucius and activated the authority of Sequence 0: The Abyss. His eyes became a true void, a bottomless pit housing infinite demons, radiating an aura of absolute majesty that only a devil could truly feel.
Instantly, the Time Devil's body froze exactly one meter in front of George. No matter how Lucius commanded it, the devil's physical form refused to move. From its core to its soul, it began to tremble in primal terror.
"How... what are you?!" Lucius stared into George's abyss-like eyes, a cold, infinite fear drenching his soul. What kind of existence could suppress one of the Three Pillars of the Underworld with mere presence alone? Was there something higher than the Three Pillars? A Devil Emperor? A Creator?
While Lucius's mind was spiraling, a blade wreathed in dark, devouring energy split him and the Time Devil perfectly in half from top to bottom. Yami had arrived, reverting to human form just long enough to deliver the killing blow.
George reached out, snatching the souls of both Lucius and the Time Devil, and sifted through their memories.
"So, Yuno is actually the Prince of the Spade Kingdom. No wonder his talent is so high."
The Spade Kingdom, located north of Clover beyond a strong magic region, was known as the Land of Winter and the Land of Demons. It was historically the most powerful military force among the four nations, ruled by the peace-loving Grinberryall family—until fifteen years ago.
The Zogratis family had mastered devil-summoning rituals. While most could only contract mid-level devils, four geniuses had appeared in this generation. Lucius, the eldest, had enslaved Astaroth. The younger three—the Dark Triad—had contracted Lucifero (the strongest), Beelzebub (Spatial), and Megicula (who replaced Astaroth). Unlike Lucius, they were corrupted by their devils.
Fifteen years ago, they staged a coup, murdered the King and Queen, and seized the country. Only the newborn Prince Yuno had escaped, saved by the First Division Commander and left at the Hage orphanage in Clover.
The devils intended to use Spade to invade the other nations and open a permanent gate for all devils to enter the human world. Lucius had seen their eventual failure through his Time Magic and planned to sit back, let the humans defeat his siblings, and then absorb the fallen devils' power to complete his goals.
With the battle over and the Shadow Palace closing, Julius shared his restored memories. George added the necessary details.
"The Dark Triad..."
The captains looked grim. They had barely managed to take down the Time Devil with an army of elites. The Dark Triad possessed three such devils, along with a legion of high-level hosts. In a straight war, the Clover Kingdom wouldn't even have the numbers.
"Actually, we have the advantage," George analyzed with a smile.
"First, we have the intelligence. We know their identities and goals, but they don't know we're onto them. We can strike first, pick them off one by one, or ambush them before they're ready.
Second, we aren't alone. If we inform the Heart Kingdom, the Diamond Kingdom, the Underwater Temple, and the Witches' Forest, they will all help. If the Dark Triad succeeds, everyone dies.
Third, since Yuno is the legitimate heir to the Spade throne, we can use his identity to sway the Spade mages to remain neutral. In the end, we only have to fight the Dark Triad and their core subordinates."
The light returned to the mages' eyes. Put that way, the Dark Triad didn't seem quite so invincible.
"George is right," Julius nodded, immediately stepping into his role as a commander. "We rest and prepare. In one week, we invade the Spade Kingdom. We finish this before they even know the war has started!"
(End of Chapter)