The Eclipse Gate 5

-Master Makarov, sorry. I ended up putting you down too.

Blanc silently bowed to his guild master in his mind. Once this was over, he would definitely return to the guild and buy him two months' worth of booze as an apology.

Not a single person in the hall could speak.

Arcadios already had his hand on his sword hilt-not because he intended to draw it, but because it was the only way he could feel even slightly safe.

He had spent four days watching this man without knowing a thing, convinced all along that everything about him was suspicious, ready to arrest him the instant he did anything to threaten the palace.

Looking back, he had practically been dancing on death's doorstep, tirelessly hopping back and forth. Cold sweat slowly soaked his back.

"...Impossible." Darton slumped limply against the wall, his expression dazed.

"This is impossible. How could a wizard this terrifying be unheard of throughout Ishgar...?"

Glancing at the minister, whose eyes were nearly popping out of his head, Blanc discreetly rolled his eyes beneath his hood.

There's plenty you people don't know. Fine, I can understand not knowing about the black dragon, since he's always overseas looking for dragons and rarely shows himself.

But Zeref wanders all over Ishgar every day, and don't you all think he's dead too?

The king stared at Blanc in astonishment, excitement shining in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but had no idea what to say.

"Your Majesty." Layla suddenly spoke, her clear, lovely voice breaking the almost suffocating stillness.

Recovering from her brief shock, she lowered her head slightly, a distant, reminiscent look crossing her face.

"I once... had the privilege of speaking with the Celestial Spirit King."

"It was a long time ago, but I still remember it vividly. He was the greatest, most sacred being I have ever encountered in my life."

Layla slowly raised her head and gazed intently at Blanc.

"But just now, for that brief instant, I felt the same thing I did back then."

Deep within her eyes, shock, admiration, and reverence intertwined.

Dong-

A deep bell toll abruptly rang down from overhead, its mighty echoes reverberating underground and shattering the silence.

A second toll followed, then a third.

Hurried footsteps sounded at the entrance. A messenger rushed down, shouting anxiously:

"Y-Your Majesty! An urgent report from the observation tower-the eclipse has begun!"

A stir immediately swept through the hall.

King Toma's face grew solemn again. He slowly straightened his back, the dignity of a sovereign awakening within him once more, and turned to Layla.

"Lady Layla."

"Your Majesty." Layla bowed her head respectfully.

"Mr. Night's strength is beyond question!" King Toma declared gravely.

"The time has come! The mission the royal family has upheld for four hundred years will end at this very moment! I stand here today to witness it! Please open the gate!"

Layla closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. When she opened them again, all her uncertainty and worry had faded.

There was no turning back now. The eclipse would wait for no one. The mission passed down through the Heartfilia Family for four hundred years had to end today.

"Mr. Night."

"Hmm?"

"I am entrusting both my family's fate and my own life to you," Layla said. "I'll be counting on you from here on."

"Don't worry." Blanc nodded, then shot a slightly teasing glance at the afro-haired man behind her. "Otherwise, that fiercely protective servant behind you will kill me on the spot."

Zoldeo shuddered and abruptly raised his head, veins bulging on his forehead as he furiously glared at the man slandering him.

"You-?!"

"Zoldeo." Layla cut him off. She knew perfectly well that her servant was always overly protective and prone to extremes, but with so much at stake, she could only set the matter aside and discipline him later.

Then her expression turned solemn, and she said firmly, "The key."

"...Yes." Clenching his teeth, Zoldeo held up the Capricorn Key in his hands, and Layla took it.

At the very center of the Eclipse Gate was an exquisite relief of the sun.

Round keyholes representing the twelve zodiac signs formed a circle around the sun. Beyond them, twelve heavy locking bolts were neatly arranged in a ring.

Layla walked up to the gate. Eleven golden keys floated from her palm, circled around her once, then flew toward their respective keyholes.

Click. Click. Click.

Eleven brilliant beams of starlight burst forth. The one remaining recess stayed dark, conspicuous among them.

Layla pressed her palms together and chanted loudly:

"Answer me-"

Her clear, lovely voice echoed through the vast hall.

"Celestial Spirits of the twelve zodiac signs!"

"In the name of Heartfilia, I command you to open-Eclipse!"

Boom!!

Dazzling starlight immediately shone from the Eclipse Gate, and the outer locking bolts slid out one after another.

But without the light of the final key, not all the bolts withdrew. The gate remained tightly shut.

The eleven beams of light battered it relentlessly. The gate opened a sliver, then immediately snapped shut again, always just short of the strength it needed.

Then Blanc heard a violent roar, like a pump running dry and beginning to suck in air at full power.

Hiss-!!

In an instant, all the magic in the Magic Crystal lamps illuminating the underground hall was sucked dry. Every lamp went out at once, their magic streaming toward the gate in threads of light.

In the darkness, only eleven flickering beams of starlight illuminated their surroundings.

"Ah-"

The knights lined up on either side collapsed to their knees one after another.

Even the meager magic within their bodies was forcibly dragged out by that savage suction, becoming visible, glowing streams that poured madly toward the greedy, massive gate.

"Your Majesty!" Arcadios's eyes widened in horror as he stepped in front of the king. His armor clattered in the raging wind.

"W-what is happening-?"

The documents in Darton's hands were snatched away by the violent currents and pinned against the wall, fluttering wildly.

Layla, standing at the center of the storm, suffered the strongest pull. Her rapidly draining magic left her face deathly pale in an instant.

Blanc's eyelid twitched.

Here it comes.

With one key missing, the Eclipse Gate had begun instinctively devouring every bit of energy it could reach, but that was still nowhere near enough.

Layla's blond hair, tied behind her neck, was pulled taut by the invisible gale. Her lips had lost all color, yet she remained standing firmly before the gate.

This should be the part in the original story where Layla steps forward and uses her own life force to make up the difference until the gate opens, then develops a terminal illness from exhausting her magic.

"Layla-!" Jude tried desperately to rush forward, only to be violently thrown back by the oncoming current of energy.

"Lady Layla!!" Zoldeo's eyes bulged in anguish, the roar tearing out of his throat barely sounding human.

Blanc sighed softly and finally took a step forward.

Then he reached out with his right hand and fearlessly pressed it against that frenzied suction.

Rumble-!!!

This could no longer be called a "release." It was a dam bursting.

A torrent of pure white magic erupted from Blanc's palm.

The instant it surged out of his body, the energy became tangible through sheer density.

The solidified magic slammed into the Eclipse Gate like crashing waves, whipping up gale after gale.

The surrounding knights were swept off their feet like straw and sent tumbling, while King Toma's black cloak billowed straight into the air.

Had they not been in a forbidden palace chamber buried hundreds of meters underground, the outpouring of this magical tide would have transformed the skies for a hundred miles around!

Unable to withstand the terrifying pressure of that magic, the hall's floor began cracking inch by inch!

Dense, web-like fissures spread from beneath Blanc's feet all the way to the Eclipse Gate.

Sensing this vast energy, the Eclipse Gate instantly abandoned everyone else. All its suction became a gaping abyss, greedily tearing at Blanc alone, seeking to drain this arrogant mortal completely, inside and out.

Instead, it discovered that what it faced was a boundless ocean.

No-even an ocean had shores and a seabed.

But the man before it-had no limit at all.

The pure white torrent of magic continued swelling violently. Eventually, Blanc had to turn sideways and clamp his left hand tightly around his right wrist.

For the first time, he felt a strange discomfort: an intense pressure caused by an "outlet" that was far too small.

Magic rushed out of his body so quickly that his entire arm felt as though it were burning, and even the web between his right thumb and forefinger began seeping blood.

Under the onslaught of the magical torrent, the magnificent underground hall began teetering on the brink of collapse.

Flagstones shattered, walls crumbled, and huge sections of the vaulted ceiling caved in.

Yet the falling chunks of stone and debris froze eerily in midair-

They were held fast by that magical field, so dense it was almost viscous, trembling violently in midair along with the energy, unable to reach the ground.

The knights scrambled backward on their hands and knees in terror.

Some found themselves completely unable to move, pinned to the cracked flagstones as though a mountain had crushed them to the ground.

Some heard nothing but a roaring in their ears.

Others opened their mouths wide for breath, only to find themselves as though stranded at high altitude, the air too thin to breathe.

"Don't look up! Everyone, get down!!" Arcadios bellowed at the top of his lungs.

But he did not lie down himself. As commander of the Cherry Blossom Knights, he knelt on one knee before the king, bracing one hand against the floor and holding his shield up firmly with the other.

Staring at the figure before him, who seemed like a god or a demon, his mind went blank. All that remained was endless, belated dread and disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding... I've been keeping a monster of this caliber under surveillance all these days?!"

Darton slid down the wall into a sitting position. His lips moved for a long time, but not a single word came out.

He had spent his entire life scheming and planning for "the kingdom's safety." Only now did he understand that some beings were so far beyond the norm that human means could never measure them.

Layla froze. The terrifying suction that had been desperately tearing at her life force was forcibly severed the instant that man acted. Her blond hair settled obediently behind her neck, and color slowly returned to her pale face.

But the vast eruption of magic that followed plunged her into an even deeper shock.

The man who had kept his face hidden throughout, whom she had secretly suspected and guarded against these past few days, shattered every last trace of her wariness and speculation with his indisputable power.

With nothing but the magic he unleashed alone, he had completely overwhelmed and filled the Eclipse Gate, which bridged four hundred years of time.

This man's magic was unfathomable.

The greatest being Layla had ever encountered in her life was the Celestial Spirit King.

Yet the thought that surfaced in her mind at that moment felt improper even to her:

So there is an even greater being in this world.

King Toma hid behind Arcadios, desperately craning his head upward. His beard was blown into utter disarray, yet his eyes shone astonishingly bright. He had even forgotten fear entirely.

"Ooooh-! S-so this is a wizard!!"

"Your Majesty, please step back! It's too dangerous here!"

"I will not!" The short king clung tightly to his knight commander's shoulder guard, his face flushed with excitement as he shrieked, "Seeing this is the whole reason I've held so many banquets all my life!"