Charles released his fingers as Shis's corpse fell among shattered ice.
When Shis had used all his strength to cast a large-scale ice spike magic, believing it would leave Charles nowhere to escape.
The result was that Charles indeed didn't flee. When the ice spikes shattered against his skin, the outcome was already decided.
Indeed, after being transformed into a Holy Knight, Shis had even gained Grand Magic Knight-level strength, but Charles had become much stronger than when he first fought Shis.
So the current Shis couldn't even cause Charles the slightest trouble like last time before being defeated.
No longer looking at Shis with his life-doubting expression still frozen on his face, Charles stepped forward and continued advancing.
What met his eyes was a battlefield that had been divided up. The Seven Dragon Zen Warriors had scattered to snipe those ordinary monsters, while several Holy Knights were being held back by Black Bulls members.
Among them, the two battles most worthy of Charles's attention had opponents who were surprisingly similar.
One was Noelle's battle. Her opponent was someone who looked ninety percent like her, except she used steel magic, but displayed the same Valkyrie form as Noelle.
If Charles wasn't mistaken, that should be the former captain and founder of the Silver Eagles squad, the mother of current captain Nozel and Noelle.
The one called the Steel Valkyrie of the battlefield, whom even Mereoleona respected - Acier Silva.
When Vanica of the Dark Triad had previously attacked the Heart Kingdom, Noelle and others had defeated the manifested Megicula together, also liberating Acier's soul that had been curse-killed by it.
Unexpectedly, her soul had been used by Lucius again, resurrected as a Holy Knight.
But Noelle was strong enough now that even fighting her own mother didn't shake her.
It was probably because Noelle, who had once seen her mother's soul, could feel that the "mother" before her had already had her soul twisted, so there was no psychological burden.
The other side was even more bizarre - two identical-looking people were fighting. If you didn't know better, you'd think there were two Black Bulls vice-captains.
Except one was a Holy Knight using light magic completely opposite to Nacht's.
Charles also recognized that person - the one who caused Nacht's regret to this day, his twin brother Morgen.
Unlike Nacht who had acted recklessly back then, Morgen had early chosen to join the Magic Knights. Yami had actually been influenced by him, and with Julius's invitation, became a Magic Knight.
According to Nacht's assessment, Morgen was the type of good person who was consistent throughout, doing good deeds from the beginning.
Back then, Nacht had accepted the Faust family's heritage of devil contracts. When he failed the final challenge to subdue a high-level devil, the entire Faust family was wiped out.
It was Morgen who sacrificed himself to interrupt the devil subjugation ritual that saved Nacht's life.
Nacht had been unable to let go of this for all these years. He believed a good person like Morgen shouldn't have died to let an evil person like himself live.
But looking at how Nacht and Morgen were fighting now, it seemed Asta's powerful infectious influence was still at work, having already made the vice-captain pull himself together.
To prevent his "always virtuous" brother from doing wrong, Vice-Captain Nacht was already fighting desperately.
Charles could sense these two Holy Knights were the strongest, probably because Acier and Morgen had been of higher quality in life.
As for the other Holy Knights, though their strength was also considerable, they were being held back by the Seven Dragon Zen Warriors and Black Bulls together.
Charles found his target. After swatting away several monsters, he came to Ryudo Ryuya's side.
Charles said to Ryudo Ryuya, who looked completely at ease, "Looking at you, you've already seen all this, so what's your countermeasure?"
Ryudo Ryuya showed a smile, "Of course. Lucius wants to attack our stronghold, but how is this not making his own nest empty?
Now only that person called Morris is left beside Lucius. Leave the battle here to us and your companions - you and Asta go directly to defeat Lucius!"
Charles couldn't help but hesitate. Although it seemed like Lucius thought sending out Holy Knights could eliminate forces that wouldn't submit to him, it had instead caused emptiness around himself.
But Charles understood Lucius - he was definitely not a reckless fool who only looked ahead without considering behind. In terms of deep scheming, he was absolutely top-tier in this world.
So this opening was very likely deliberately exposed by him, actually a trap.
Charles looked at Ryudo Ryuya questioningly, but saw the unchanging smile on his face.
Right, even if it was a trap, it wouldn't escape Ryudo Ryuya's Divine Eye. Even so, Ryudo Ryuya had still made such arrangements.
Excluding the possibility that Ryudo Ryuya was deliberately framing Charles and Asta, since that would bring him no benefit whatsoever.
Then Charles wanted to hear Ryudo Ryuya's reasoning.
Ryudo Ryuya also sensed Charles's thoughts and said, "That's right, Lucius has indeed prepared for people attacking him. But there's no such thing as a so-called trap.
Lucius has absolute confidence in his current self. No matter who stands before him, he believes he can defeat them in battle.
But I also believe in you and Asta equally. You who bear this world's future will absolutely not lose to him."
Charles understood too. Now both sides no longer needed any plans or schemes - they were only competing with true strength.
Lucius sending out Holy Knights actually had no plan either, probably just wanting to clear some obstacles for his final plan.
After all, the level was different now. If everyone required him to personally act, wouldn't his dignity as the new world's creator be lost!
And for Charles and the others, defeating Lucius was not only something that had to be done, but also the only way to resolve everything.
After all, these Holy Knights were all dead resurrected by Lucius. Even if they were eliminated, who knew if Lucius could resurrect them once more.
So it wasn't really confidence in Asta and Charles as Ryudo Ryuya said, but also because there was no other solution to think of.
But Charles had no complaints. He hadn't planned to avoid any battles from the beginning anyway.
Taking the map Ryudo Ryuya handed over, Charles immediately took action without another word, picking up Asta who was still fighting, spreading his fire dragon wings and flying toward the location of Lucius's base marked on the map.
Actually, Lucius's location didn't need Ryudo Ryuya to mark too clearly. Rather, Lucius had no intention of hiding himself at all. After flying out some distance following the map's guidance, Charles sensed that special magic power.
Lucius's current power came from integrating the power of Lucifero and the Dark Triad.
But the magic power aura Charles sensed was perfectly unified, without the slightest chaotic feeling.
You must know that absorbing others' power wasn't so easy to accomplish. No matter how compatible, different powers couldn't truly fuse together.
So for those who absorbed other powers, although they quickly became stronger, they planted fatal hidden dangers.
Not only might their control over power have problems, but the power conflicts existing within their bodies could easily be exploited by opponents, causing them to revert or even suffer severe damage.
Charles remembered quite a few villain bosses in his memory who were reversed by protagonists because of this.
But Lucius was different. His aura was as pure as a baby's, with no flaws to be found.
Charles's fighting spirit began to boil. It looked like Lucius had truly been reborn compared to when he was in the Spade Kingdom - he should be a good opponent.
The previous Five-Headed Dragon couldn't even be considered an opponent. It seemed only Lucius could let him test out his power after leveling up.
But before fighting Lucius, there was still one troublesome guy to handle.
Morris had likewise become a Holy Knight, and the horns on his head were particularly large. His long robe fluttered, not looking like a warrior entering battle.
Charles released Asta, who had already entered battle mode and also grown black wings, and looked at Morris, "We didn't get to talk last time in the Spade Kingdom, but you look much better now than then!"
Morris's connection with Charles and Asta had been formed very early.
Back then, Morris had dominated the Diamond Kingdom as a magic scholar, but he completely treated the Diamond Kingdom as an ATM to provide research funding, never thinking about governing the country well.
To collect magic stones, Asta and others had gone to the Witch Forest and encountered Fana, who was possessed by elves at the time, as well as Mars from the Diamond Kingdom.
After the battle, Mars cooperated with the Black Bulls, disguising the hypnotic potion obtained from the Witch Queen as a longevity potion to present to the Diamond Kingdom's king, thus gaining control of the country.
Morris was naturally expelled, and when Charles first left this world, he specifically found and eliminated him.
But the knowledge he possessed was what Lucius needed, so Lucius risked exposure to work with the Dark Triad and resurrect him.
In the last expedition, Morris had assisted Lucius in launching the Tree of Qliphoth advent ritual and blocked Nacht who wanted to rescue people.
Morris was born blind, but heaven compensated him with the most excellent mind and... devil possession talent even surpassing the Dark Triad.
Compared to the brainless Dante, even Lucifero favored Morris more, granting him stronger power. Not only did it cure his eyes, it even let him suppress Nacht at full power for a time, until Asta joined the battle to defeat him.
In the end, when Lucifero himself appeared, no one paid attention to Morris's fate. Unexpectedly, Lucius had brought him to the Land of the Sun too and transformed him into a Holy Knight.
For some reason, Charles felt Morris's aura was considerably stronger than the previous Morgen and Acier.
So did Morris have some special talent for pleasing superiors? In the Diamond Kingdom, he could make the king completely entrust the country to him, and later both Lucifero and Lucius favored him more.
But then again, as Charles said, his appearance was indeed much more pleasant now.
After all, when he was possessed by Lucifero, his appearance had been quite horrifying - growing such a large mouth on his forehead was quite unique.
Morris looked at the two "culprits" who had caused his life's constant upheavals, but appeared quite calm.
"You who don't understand Lord Lucius are pathetically foolish to actually dare come before him.
But you end here. I will solve you here in place of that lord!"
Saying this, numerous snake-like arms emerged from Morris's back, all grabbing toward Charles.
"Just praised you and you've become san-dropping again!"
Charles didn't spare his words, but also sensed the terrible power on those "tentacles." So what power had Lucius given him? Those tentacles seemed capable of annihilating all defenses, whether magical or physical.
But Charles wasn't panicked at all, because Asta was beside him.
All the reaching tentacles broke uniformly as Asta brandished the Demon-Slayer Sword and shouted loudly, "Why are you interfering with us again!"
Even if Morris's abilities had evolved again, anti-magic was just that unreasonable.