As a magical superpower, the Clover Kingdom's royal capital was protected around the clock by a powerful magic barrier. Maintained in shifts by elite royal magic users, the barrier was impervious to mana analysis or forceful breach.
In short, an assault on the capital was nearly impossible.
And yet now, the sounds of chaos had already reached the royal district.
While most of the elites deliberated on how to secure the Noble Realm, Asta had already taken off running—no hesitation whatsoever when it came to protecting civilians.
Charles grabbed Asta's collar, smashed through a window, and spread his flaming wings, lifting them both into the sky.
"Idiot, what are you gonna do, sprint there on foot? I'll carry you—let's go end this at the source!"
Indeed, Charles had already sensed it—within the chaos, there was only one signature of magical energy. In other words, the entire riot was being caused by a single magic user.
This was the moment Charles remembered clearly from the original story: the royal capital uprising, the first large-scale conflict that exposed the villainous White Night Eye to the protagonists.
Relying on his magic detection, Charles swiftly located the perpetrator—Rades Spirito.
Down on the city streets, the man cackled maniacally while commanding a horde of undead to destroy everything in their path.
Dressed in tattered robes, red bandages wrapped around his face and left arm, a White Night Eye insignia over his left eye—Rades wore the perfect villain getup, his twisted grin completing the image.
Once a member of the Magic Knights, Rades had joined the Purple Orcas after placing first in the entrance exam. But his magic—Corpse Marionette Magic, the ability to control the dead—was deemed forbidden, and he was cast out.
From that moment on, he bore hatred toward the Knights and the entire kingdom—his reason for joining the White Night Eye, who now gave him the chance for revenge.
Charles hurled Asta downward. Mid-air, Asta twirled his anti-magic sword like a tornado, knocking back waves of undead.
Charles descended as well, landing in a burst of flame that incinerated nearby zombies into ash.
"That guy's the source of all this! Take him out, and we stop everything!" Charles called out.
"Got it!" Asta tightened his grip on his blade and charged at Rades.
"Ohhh? The Magic Knights finally show up!" Rades cackled with a more grotesque expression. "Tch! Just my luck—it's the bottom-feeding Black Bulls! You're not the guests I wanted!"
He stretched out his hands, and from pools of black sludge oozed more corpses—fast-moving, vicious undead thralls.
Corpse Marionette Magic, fueled by Rades' near-royal-level mana, let him inject corpses with magic and manipulate them freely. The sheer numbers and lack of fear or pain made him a one-man undead apocalypse to most knights.
But not to Charles and Asta.
"Flame Dragon's Radiant Blaze!"
Charles unleashed a wave of fire that turned hordes of zombies to ash on contact. Asta, meanwhile, cleaved through the rest with his anti-magic blade. Once severed from Rades' magic, the corpses were just corpses again.
"Don't get cocky!!" Rades roared.
Two larger mounds of black goo surged forward, and from them emerged new undead—clearly stronger and packed with more mana.
One launched a glowing purple orb that hit Asta, leaving a gash on his face that bled uncontrollably and even widened slowly.
"Be careful! That's a cursed attack!" Charles shouted, sidestepping a blast of muddy water from the other corpse.
"Tch. Mud magic to counter flames? Not a bad idea," Charles growled. "But you've got the worst luck in the world—I'm in a terrible mood right now."
"Flame Dragon's Iron Fist!"
His blazing fist evaporated the moisture in the zombie's body, then struck its chest. The undead swelled up, glowing red from within.
"Turn to ash!"
With a blast, the zombie exploded mid-air, its remains consumed in fire.
Meanwhile, Asta pulled out his second sword—the Demon-Dweller Sword—lighter and faster than his main blade. It sliced through the cursed orbs mid-flight, neutralizing them.
Then he dashed forward, twin blades spinning like a tornado, tearing into the zombie.
"Come on then! You fight me yourself!" he roared at Rades.
But Rades had lost it completely. "Fight myself? You're joking! Controlling corpses is my fighting style!"
He summoned two new elite undead: No.2 Alfred and No.1 Carl.
Alfred, a limbless torso, floated mid-air and fired lightning bolts from his core. Carl stood guard in front of Rades, projecting a magical barrier to protect him.
Lightning rained down like a storm. Charles and Asta narrowly evaded the deadly blasts, their backs bumping together as they regrouped.
They exchanged a glance and nodded, then charged forward.
Dodging the increasingly dense lightning, Charles slowed slightly, letting Asta take point. Asta sliced through a path, cutting the thunderbolts apart.
The ground cracked as Charles burst into the sky, flames wrapping his body.
"Flame Dragon's Hooked Claw!"
With a blazing kick, Charles sent Alfred flying, then used the fire recoil to shoot backward—right toward Asta.
The two crossed paths mid-air. Grabbing Asta's hand, Charles spun once and hurled him like a comet toward Rades.
The legendary magic barrier that once required Fuegoleon's tactics to crack stood no chance—Asta's anti-magic sword sliced through it like butter, cutting Carl in half in the process.
And Rades?
He was a support mage at best—without his corpses, he had no combat power. Even though Asta only used the flat of his blade, the sheer brute force knocked Rades out cold.
As soon as he lost consciousness, the corpse puppets disintegrated and fell motionless.
But Charles and Asta remained on guard. A new voice rang out—
"To think you'd lose to two brats… What a useless fool. Still, thanks to you, everyone's reached their marked positions."
"Good work, Magic Knights. Now kindly get out of the way, irrelevant as you are."
"Spatial Magic: Cloak of Shadows."
Charles felt it clearly—a vast wave of magic swept across the capital. Someone had just activated a wide-area spell.
The enemy's key objective—scattering the Magic Knights—had been achieved.
Now came the real plan…
Charles turned toward the approaching figure—Fuegoleon Vermillion, the Crimson Lion King and the true target of White Night Eye's capital raid.
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