The heart of the royal capital lay in ruins.
Yuuki stepped out from the other space and onto shattered stone. His gaze swept first across the members of the Black Bulls. Seeing that nothing had gone wrong during his brief absence, he gave a small nod to Sally and Fana.
Then his figure flickered.
In the next instant, he stood once more beneath the towering, inverted tree.
High above him, the ten Magic Knight captains hung suspended from the roots of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.
Snap.
With a light flick of his fingers, the slender roots blocking their mouths withdrew.
"Yuuki! Do you have any idea what you've just done to this kingdom?!" Fuegoleon's crimson hair hung downward, swaying in the air like a lion's mane as he roared. "That broadcast will be seen by spies from the Diamond Kingdom and the Spade Kingdom! If unrest breaks out, the borders could fall!"
Even now, bound and humiliated, he thought first of the kingdom.
Yuuki regarded him calmly.
Among the captains, Fuegoleon alone truly embodied the word knight.
"I understand the consequences better than anyone," Yuuki replied evenly. "There's no need for concern, Fuegoleon."
The anger on Fuegoleon's face faltered.
Yes—their defeat had been broadcast to the entire nation.
But so had Yuuki's overwhelming power.
To foreign kingdoms, that was not weakness.
It was deterrence.
The Heart Kingdom remained neutral.
The Diamond Kingdom was in no position to meddle, not with Mars and Fanzell quietly steering reform from within.
And the Spade Kingdom?
If they had truly intended invasion, they would have done so long ago.
With the current strength of the Magic Knight captains, they could not withstand even one of the Dark Triad. Zenon alone had crushed Diamond. Clover was stronger—but not enough to change that outcome.
And as long as Julius Novachrono stood as Wizard King, the Spade Kingdom had no reason to move.
Yuuki had calculated all of it.
"Looks like you've already achieved what you wanted, kid," Yami called from above, irritation thick in his voice. "So, what now? Gonna kill us? Or keep us hanging here like decorations?"
Yuuki smiled faintly.
He raised his hand toward the suspended captains.
With the exception of Gueldre, William, and Fuegoleon, the remaining captains' grimoires tore free and flew into his grasp.
A veil of smoke bloomed around him.
Within it, he swiftly replicated their grimoires one by one.
When the smoke cleared, he tossed the newly created books back beneath their owners.
Nozel and the others merely sneered.
They had expected as much.
Seven captains' grimoires replicated in one stroke.
Yuuki felt it—the surge within him.
If before his mana had equaled the sum of the captains, now it had doubled that total.
He clenched his fist slowly, adjusting to the increased power.
Raw mana alone no longer excited him.
What mattered were the domains he now possessed.
World Tree.
Permeation.
Fate.
Soul.
Key.
Space.
Light.
Dark.
Dream.
Painting.
Ten underworld-class magics.
He lifted his eyes toward them.
"The name of this strange tree you see," he said lightly, "is the Kabbalah Tree of Life."
"In the myths of my homeland, there is a paradise called Eden. Within it stand two great trees—the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."
"Humanity, created by God, ate from the Tree of Knowledge. For that sin, they were expelled from paradise and stripped of divine power."
Yami forced dark magic through his body, but the moment it manifested, the roots devoured it.
"Get to the damn point!"
Yuuki sighed softly.
"In that myth, the Tree of Knowledge represents the fall—from godhood to humanity."
"The Tree of Life," he continued, voice steady, "is the reverse path. The ascent—from human to God."
Silence.
Understanding dawned across every captain's face.
"You're trying to become a god?" Gueldre blurted, twisting in disbelief.
"Madman," Charlotte said coldly.
Even Yami stopped struggling.
Their expressions varied—shock, scorn, disbelief—but all thought the same thing.
Impossible.
Yuuki did not argue.
"Captains," he said calmly, "lend me your strength."
The moment the words left his lips—
BOOM!
A colossal surge of silver mana erupted from his body, forming a pillar of light that pierced the heavens.
The moon itself seemed to dim before it.
"Game Magic—Transmutation Cube!"
The ground answered.
RUMBLE—
A violent tremor rippled outward, spreading across the entire capital.
In the blink of an eye, the outer districts of the royal capital fractured into enormous geometric blocks.
Stone, streets, and foundations separated cleanly, lifted by invisible force.
BOOM! BOOM!
Under Yuuki's control, the massive cubes shifted, rotated, and reassembled like pieces of an immense puzzle.
Hidden deep beneath the capital, the ritual materials he had buried long ago were drawn back into position.
The formation began to take shape.
The ceremony—
was about to begin.
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