THE ENTIRE GROUP ENDED UP DECIDING to head towards the Arcane Fountain Castle.

Daisuke provided Brunnhilde with more mana, enabling her to make Geri and Freki larger that would be able to easily transport all of them.

“Wait. What about this guy?” asked Lanette.

Mirana used her magic to encase the poor Eduardo in an ice shell.

“Geez. Is that really necessary?” asked Raijin.

Mirana mounted at Geri. “Feel free to babysit him.”

* * * * *

As they reached the grassy plain of the castle, they all witnessed signs of battle everywhere. Mages and even griffins were all lying on the ground, wrapped with lavender plants. Destroyed puppets have scattered all over the place as well. And as they get closer to the castle, they saw that the castle’s main entrance was forcefully opened.

“That is not good,” Marcactas commented.

As they entered, more unconscious mages were lying on the floor. The inside of the castle was filled with lavender as well, but the fragrance was not as strong as the one inside the Grande Tent. Nonetheless, the group tried not to inhale as much lavender fragrance as they can.

“Where’s the king?” asked Riku.

“He’s not here,” Mirana replied. “He and the Magic Assembly should be at the Aeternas Kingdom now. They are not coming back until tomorrow”.

“Mirana, which way to the vault?” asked Daisuke.

Mirana guided the group to the castle’s magic vault. Everywhere they went, mages were on the floor, destroyed puppets were everywhere, and lavender plants grew almost anywhere --- floor, walls, ceilings, support columns.

As they got nearer to the vault, the hallway got colder and colder until they reached a certain area --- the castle's lower chamber --- where everything was covered in ice.

Inside the castle’s lower chamber just outside the vault, Lanaya and Magenta were fighting while the Guardian Mages were preoccupied with larger puppets that were almost the size of an average adult human.

Woolf, the Guardian Mage of the Southeast Shrine, was using his transformation magic to turn into a wolf to fight several four-armed puppets. With his strong bite and agile reflexes, he was capable of shredding the puppets into tiny pieces while dodging their attacks.

Tolstoy, the Guardian Mage of the Southwest Shrine, was a master of earth magic. He summoned earthen golems to fight two puppets. The golems were slow but strong enough to smash the puppets.

Lewis, the Guardian Mage of the Northeast Shrine, was using her lightning magic to deal with sword-wielding puppets. The puppets didn’t feel any pain, however, so Lewis was trying to electrocute the puppets until they combust into flames.

Cromwell, the Guardian Mage of the Northern Shrine, was using his ink magic to materialize the drawings he made to fight gun-wielding puppets. The puppets he was fighting shoots from the distance and kept running away, so he drew several felines that could hunt down the puppets.

Alicia has distanced herself from the fight, hiding somewhere, while controlling the puppets and Magenta, who was already wounded and whose right arm was frostbitten.

“Lanaya! Don’t hurt her!” shouted the concerned Mirana. “She’s just being controlled using puppet magic!”

“You’re not supposed to be here!!” Lanaya shouted back while dodging lavender plants that were trying to wrap around her. Lanaya then used her magic to create ice spikes from the ground that destroyed the lavender plants and went towards Magenta but was easily dodged.

“We’ve got to find Alicia! She should be near somewhere hiding.” Raijin suggested.

The six elves heightened their senses. They tried to locate Alicia who should be exerting a lot of mana. As soon as they located her, the six elves charged into a wall and used their plant powers, and magic, to destroy it.

All the puppets and Magenta fell to the ground like their strings were cut down.

From the rubble, another large puppet came out. The wooden stomach of the puppet opened where Alicia came out.

“It’s over Alicia,” said Jack. “You’re outnumbered.”

“Your puppet magic doesn’t mean anything if we could simply beat you first,” said Lanaya.

The Guardian Mages destroyed the immobilized puppets while the Seekers went to Magenta to see if she was okay.

“I have waited for too long for this moment. I am not simply going to surrender.”

The large puppet opened its mouth, revealing the Sapphire fragment. Alicia then used summoning magic to summon a container filled with dozens of fairies and glaizerocks from Fairy Dust bakery that attached to the back of the large puppet.

Using her puppet magic, Alicia controlled the large puppet and used the container which is imbued with runes that absorbs mana from the fairies.

“Try to freeze this, ice mage!”

From the Sapphire fragment, torrential water erupts towards Lanaya.

Lanaya's fairy wings manifested. She raised her right arm forward and released a laser-like beam of ice towards the water.

The collision of the ice beam and water resulted in a raging blizzard that almost filled the lower chamber with snow.

Alicia once again used the fairies to use the fragment. This time, Alicia aimed the wall behind them with great pressure of water. Before Lanaya could freeze the water, it already hits the wall behind them, destroying it in the process, and revealing the entrance to the magic vault.

Lanaya tried to use another magic, but Magenta was controlled again by Alicia using puppet magic. Magenta used her power and entangled everyone with lavender plants and released a strong aroma.

The aroma was too strong that everyone got weakened almost instantly.

Alicia walked towards the vault. Mirana tried to freeze the plants, but she couldn’t muster to speak a magic spell. Even Lanaya was subdued by Magenta’s power.

“Don’t…” Lewis tried to speak. “You’ll kill us…all!”

Alicia didn’t listen. She continued to walk towards the vault. She could already see the four remaining fragments. A few more steps and she’s inside the vault. And as soon her right foot stepped inside, an ominous shadow quickly formed inside the vault.

The castle's lower chamber’s exit got blocked by a translucent barrier, and the walls, floor, and ceiling got imbued with high-grade protective magic.

Using puppet magic means a constant expenditure of mana, which triggered the vault's defense mechanism that summoned a shadow lurker, also known as a Diabolia.

* * * * *

The shapeless Diabolia slowly took the form of a smoky, shadowy, six-legged sauropod-like creature. The creature screeched that sent Alicia and her large puppet flying backward and hitting a wall. The impact made her faint, releasing Magenta from her control and the lavender plants that are wrapped around to everyone.

They all fell to the knee-deep snow.

“Wha---What is that?!” asked Raijin.

“Damn it! That’s a Diabolia, the vault’s guardian. They are a shadow creature that’s immune to any form of attack.”

“W-What do we do now?” asked Riku.

Jack and Daisuke charged the Diabolia. Jack tried to smash the Diabolia’s head with jackfruit while Daisuke tried to punch its head with his wooden arm, but both their attack just went through.

“Aren't you two listening?!” asked Brunnhilde.

The Diabolia shrieked and released a black flame towards the group. Everyone managed to dodge the fire blast, which melted the snow on the floor, flooding the place.

“We’re stuck in here. The ceiling is too high and thick. The walls are reinforced with magical barriers,” said Mirana. “There’s no escaping that monster...”

“We still got to try something,” said Lanaya.

She and Mirana used their ice magic and tried to freeze the Diabolia, but their combined attack only passed through the body of the monster.

“We’re gonna die!!” Raijin shrieked in terror.

Jack came out through the Diabolia while inside his jackfruit mana barrier. Daisuke came out as well who seemed to try to punch the Diabolia. He immediately turned around and used his power to grow a giant cherry blossom tree directly under the monster. But the Diabolia simply walked, passing through the tree like a ghost. The Diabolia was truly intangible.

The Diabolia breathed black flame again, and the group could not do anything but dodge it. The flame was so hot that it easily evaporated the water, filling the chamber with steam.

Daisuke stubbornly tried to attack again, but the Diabolia greeted him with a burst of black flame.

“DAISUKE!!!” Riku screamed in horror.

“DAISUKE!!!” the others shouted.

* * * * *

Suddenly, Daisuke was in an ethereal form. He could see everyone, terrified…and a bit in slow motion. The sound was inaudible and his view was hazy and somewhat psychedelic.

He saw the Diabolia and it looked different, almost tangible.

Unlike earlier when it was smoky and shadowy, the Diabolia now looks more corporeal and detailed. Instead of the smoky, shadowy image, it has pearl-white scales, protruding green gem-like spikes all over its body, six blood-red ruby-like eyes, and a large mouth with three rows of sharp teeth.

He looked behind and saw his body, all charred and lifeless.

“Am I dead?”

Not yet. Replied a mysterious voice, or voices.

“Who's that?”

Oh, shut up! I am in great pain because of you and I don’t want to die yet, so let me do the fighting, you weakling.

Daisuke got nauseated. Everything became bright that he closed his eyes, and when he opened his eyes again, the group was already outside the castle and it was snowing.