Eclipse Gate 4

July 7, the appointed day.

In the end, Aquarius's Gold Key still had not arrived before the deadline.

The last sliver of hope in Layla's heart sank completely. Now, she could only stake the Heartfilia Family's four-hundred-year destiny on that "Outside Advisor" who had appeared out of nowhere.

She gathered everyone and headed for the Eclipse Gate.

"I'll take you to the Eclipse Gate."

The door to Blanc's room swung open, but the man who entered was not Arcadios. It was the gloomy man with the afro.

Blanc was slightly surprised. The young knight stationed outside clearly knew the way. A household servant going out of his way to bypass the royal guards and guide him at a time like this seemed unnecessary, no matter how he looked at it.

But he said nothing, simply following Zoldeo at an unhurried pace toward the deepest reaches beneath the Royal Palace.

In the dim passage, only their footsteps echoed together. Walking a little ahead of him, Zoldeo suddenly turned his head slightly, and a venomous whisper reached Blanc's ears.

"Listen, masked man... if anything happens to Lady Layla..."

"I will kill you."

Blanc frowned, staring at him in disbelief. Was this guy out of his mind? Making trouble at a critical moment like this-had he really come all this way just to threaten me?

"Keep dreaming. You think a useless loser like you could do it?"

"You..."

Zoldeo's expression twisted with fury, his clenched knuckles cracking. But the pressure Blanc had subjected him to a few days earlier instantly resurfaced in his mind. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and swallow the humiliation.

Blanc's gaze shifted slightly. He had originally intended to leave him alone, since the man had yet to do anything evil.

Now it looks like this guy really will cause trouble down the line. I'll find a chance to put Jude on his guard.

There were twice as many people in the underground hall as there had been a few days earlier.

Members of the Cherry Blossom Order of Knights stood in a line along the walls, clad in heavy armor.

Minister Darton stood at the front, his face livid, clutching a stack of court documents whose purpose was unclear.

The short King Toma had shed his somewhat comical ceremonial robes and changed into a plain black cloak.

He stood silently behind the knights, feeling rather excited as someone about to witness the end of the royal family's four-hundred-year mission.

Everyone from the Heartfilia Family was present.

Jude's expression was more solemn than ever as he nervously gripped Layla's hand.

Granny Spette lowered her head and offered up the Cancer key with trembling hands.

Zoldeo knelt on one knee at the very front, his expression fervent and devout as he held his Capricorn key high in both hands.

Layla wore a long dress, her golden hair neatly tied back at the nape of her neck.

She released her husband's hand, took the keys offered by her servants, and slowly walked to the center of the chamber. She drew a deep breath to ease her nerves.

Blanc studied the enormous, ancient-looking gate before him.

The Eclipse Gate was essentially a super-sized gate to the Celestial Spirit World, created through black magic by the dark mage Zeref. It exploited the different flows of time in the Celestial Spirit World and the human world, using the former as a way station for traveling through space and time.

The reason the Eclipse Gate had to be opened on July 7, X777, was that a solar eclipse would occur that day. Opening the gate required the immense celestial power of the eclipse to break through the barrier of time.

The Celestial Spirit Mage's role was to force the gate open using the Zodiac keys.

That would activate the stellar power embodying the constellations within the twelve keys. The power of those twelve Gold Keys would undo the seal on the Eclipse Gate, drawing upon that immense celestial power to pierce a passage through space and time.

If any of the twelve keys were missing, there would not be enough constellation power to unseal the Eclipse Gate. It would frantically absorb the surrounding magic power to make up the difference. If that still proved insufficient, it would fail to open.

In the original story, Layla had used her own vast magic power to fill that gap. In the end, her magic power had been depleted, and she had died of magic deficiency disease.

But with Blanc taking her place, all he could say was: Let it drain me. If it can drain me dry, I lose.

Layla's gentle face was now filled with unshakable worry. She turned toward Blanc, fixing her beautiful eyes on him.

"Mr. Night, without Aquarius's Gold Key, we'll be missing a crucial part of the power needed to open the Eclipse Gate. How do you intend to help us open it?"

"Just open the gate. I'll handle the problem!"

A trace of doubt slipped uncontrollably onto Layla's gentle face.

"Mr. Night, this concerns the safety of everyone here. As the person overseeing this, I cannot place my trust in you unless you provide a convincing, concrete plan."

Blanc fell silent for two seconds.

His original plan had been to gloss over the details. Once the gate opened, the facts would speak for themselves.

But judging by Layla's expression, she would not let the matter rest without an explanation.

"It's simple."

Blanc's deep voice spread through the chamber in layers of magically amplified echoes.

"I'll supply the power of the missing key."

"How will you do that?!"

"When you open the gate, I'll give it as much as it wants to absorb," Blanc said calmly.

The air in the hall seemed to freeze.

Then Layla's normally composed expression cracked.

She looked as though she had heard a madman declare that he would plug a breached dam with his own body. Her face filled with utter, incredulous shock.

"...What did you say?"

"I said I'll supply the entire shortfall with my own magic power."

"You have no idea how terrifying an amount of magic power that would take!"

Layla took a large step forward in disbelief. Though she still tried to keep her voice gentle, her alarm and questioning spilled out.

"Mr. Night. As a Celestial Spirit Mage, I can resonate with the Zodiac Celestial Spirits when I open the gate. Through our contracts, the stellar power in the twelve keys attunes to me, reducing the loss to a minimum."

"Only a Celestial Spirit Mage can do that."

She paused.

"Even if a Celestial Spirit Mage supplies magic power at the lowest possible cost, keeping losses to an absolute minimum,"

"my magic power is still nowhere near enough to make up for a missing key. Even if I sacrifice my very life force, I cannot guarantee that the gate will open."

The lantern in Granny Spette's hand swayed violently, nearly slipping from her grasp. Jude's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"And that's only the expenditure after establishing resonance!"

Layla raised her eyes and stared straight into the unreadable eyes beneath his hood.

"But you aren't even a Celestial Spirit Mage! You can't resonate with the keys at all! The vast majority of every bit of magic power you supply will be lost before it can even fill that gap."

"If someone unfamiliar with Celestial Spirit Magic tries to forcefully make up the shortfall, the total amount of magic power required..."

She seemed to search for a way to explain it that everyone could understand.

"Even one of the Ten Wizard Saints standing here in person would be nowhere near enough!"

"Absurd! Utterly absurd!" Darton finally lost his restraint, crumpling the documents in his grip.

"Your Majesty, did you hear that?! Not even one of the Ten Wizard Saints would be enough! This man has been making fools of us from the very beginning-"

"The Ten Wizard Saints..."

King Toma muttered faintly, looking dazed.

"Aren't they the ten strongest wizards on the entire continent...?"

"Yes, Your Majesty! They stand at the pinnacle of the magical world! How dare this man of unknown origins-"

"Lord Darton!"

King Toma abruptly spoke, cutting Darton's roar short.

The short monarch's expression was deeply conflicted. Part of him trembled before this unknown power, while the other part shone with intense anticipation.

Blanc had often seen that same look in the eyes of children gathered around candy stalls on Magnolia's streets.

Unlike Darton, the king did not refuse to imagine it. Instead, he wondered just how powerful this man must be to remain so confident about something even the Ten Wizard Saints could not accomplish.

"Mr. Night." The king could not help shuffling half a step forward. "Though I know no magic, I have met many wizards. You... just who are you?"

Standing at the center of the storm, Blanc swept his gaze around from beneath his hood.

The wary eyes of the Cherry Blossom Order of Knights, Minister Darton's sharp gaze branding him a fraud, Jude's deathly stillness on the brink of despair, and Zoldeo kneeling on the ground, staring fixedly at him.

So that's how it was. No wonder Layla had to fill the gap herself in the original story.

As a top-tier Celestial Spirit Mage capable of opening three gates at once, Layla was fully on par with one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

After all, in the original story, Lucy could summon the Celestial Spirit King and briefly contend with the Underworld King once she could open three gates.

There were people capable of filling a gap that would cost even a Celestial Spirit Mage at the level of the Ten Wizard Saints her life, but none were people Layla and the others could find.

And the fact that even a key had been delayed showed how last-minute Layla's preparations really were. She probably had not had time to gather enough Magic Crystals either, leaving her no choice but to make up the difference herself.

Fine, then. If you insist on judging this by conventional standards.

"Lady Layla," Blanc said slowly, his voice utterly composed, "there's one thing you've miscalculated."

"I haven't miscalculated anything!"

"You've miscalculated me!"

As his words fell, Blanc slowly raised his right hand, palm upward, then abruptly clenched it into a fist.

He was not casting any tangible spell.

He simply unleashed the infinite magic he had kept tightly suppressed within his body ever since arriving in this world, letting it erupt.

Hummm.

A palpable pressure that made their souls tremble instantly engulfed the entire underground chamber!

In a single instant, the air throughout the chamber grew more than ten times heavier!

The dazzling light of the Magic Crystal lamps strangely contracted inward at that very same moment.

Clatter-!!

The refined steel plates of the Cherry Blossom knights' armor began shaking wildly beyond their control, clanging against one another in an unbroken wave.

The spears clenched tightly in their hands struck the stone floor, sounding an endless chorus of mournful knocks.

All color instantly drained from Darton's face at the front of the crowd. The invisible weight drove him back several steps, sending him crashing clumsily into the wall.

The crushing pressure settled over everyone present, leaving them unable to breathe, as though they had been plunged into the deepest reaches of the ocean. It was magic power stronger than anything they had ever felt.

Even the Eclipse Gate at the center, silent for four hundred years, began to let out low hums.

"The magic power of the Ten Wizard Saints."

Blanc lowered his hand unhurriedly. In an instant, the terrifying pressure that seemed capable of transforming heaven and earth receded like a tide, withdrawing completely as though nothing had happened.

His utterly unruffled voice rang out again.

"Doesn't amount to even half a percent of mine."