While heading to the castle, Edward looked at the 10 Apostles of Sephiraph and said: "All you, follow me."
"You too," he said to Secre Swallowtail before flying to the castle. The elves hesitated before following him along with Secre.
Inside his office, Edward looked at them before focusing on Licht, whose eyes were unfocused. Although he fought with Zagred and Patolli, his soul was still slumbering.
So, he asked Secre to unseal his soul to awaken him completely. Edward gave the elves a few minutes to reminisce with their leader.
"Wizard King, I would first apologize for everything our kind has done," said Licht once he finished talking to his fellow brethren.
"I understand the situation, so I won't blame you."
"We appreciate your kindness. So, to what do we owe this invitation?"
"I want to make a deal with you, elves."
"Oh, can you be more specific?" asked Licht.
"I will revive your fallen members, and in return, I need your help to do something." Then, Edward explained what he needed them to do, which involved Elysium.
"This seems very dangerous," said Licht with a frown.
"I think this is a price worth paying to revive our dead comrades," said Patolli, and many agreed with him but did not voice their opinions as they awaited Licht's decision.
So, after pondering for a while, Licht asked: "How are you going to revive our fallen brethren?"
"Zagred's Reincarnation Magic preserved most of their souls so I can prevent them from moving on to the afterlife. As for their bodies, Sally will create an artificial body for you."
After hearing that name, Patolli became embarrassed; he sacrificed her along with the other human members of Eye of the Sun to activate the elves' reincarnation magic.
Now, he has to rely on her to revive his race. For a moment, he feared she would take out her hatred on them because of his actions.
"Don't worry about her," replied Edward. Regarding that little girl Sally, she is the perfect Arcanist: Curious about how everything in the world functions, cruel enough to conduct inhumane experiments when necessary, and extremely intelligent.
So, Edward secretly saved her to nurture her in that direction.
The only downside is she is somewhat unhinged, but Edward has ways to restrict her. As long as he does this and prevents her from contacting Asta to not be influenced by his main protagonist's charm to become less cruel like in the main timeline, she will be the perfect Arcanist.
"Licht, this is a great deal. We can finally be reunited," said Rhya.
"No, you will not," said Edward.
"What do you mean?"
"Licht's soul has been corrupted beyond repair after 500 years, so I can't save him."
The room became quiet for a moment as grievances overcame these elves.
"There is no need to be sad; I have long accepted my death," said Licht with a smile. He expected this outcome when he turned into a devil 500 years ago because of the loss of his wife, child and watching all his clansmen being massacred.
"I'm glad I got the chance to see all of you again and to clear the misunderstanding between humans and elves. The only regret is that I could not see Lemiel again."
Edward watched them calmly; he lied about being unable to save Licht. The elves are a very talented race and would be a great asset to the Empire. However, Licht is kind and benevolent and revered as a leader.
Such a person would make it more difficult to control the elves once they are brought back. Patolli, however, is another story. Although he is the temporary leader of the elves, the others do not have as much loyalty or reverence for him, so he is easier to control to indirectly manipulate the elves secretly.
Additionally, he has a lot of guilts for what he did to his fellow elves, a weakness that can be exploited. So, Licht cannot be saved or resurrected.
Edward waved his hand to manifest the ten magic stones before opening a portal.
"Follow Secre, and you can see Lemiel one last time."
The First Wizard King statue is on top of an enormous devil head near Hage Village, where Asta and Yuno grew up. Today, a portal opened near the figure, and eleven individuals walked from it.
Using the magic stones, Secre unsealed the First Wizard King and reunited with him after 500 years. However, unlike the main timeline, the magic stones did not crumble since Edward ensured this.
So, he summoned them back to his office to study them.
A few hours later, the group returned with sadness in their eyes. Licht and Lemiel have passed on into the afterlife.
Edward handed them a few crystals that contained the souls of their brethren while also asking them to give up the bodies of the people they occupied–even Patolli.
He knew the importance of the resonance of the body and the soul. So, if these elves needed to utilize all their potential, they needed their original body.
Then, he sent them all away. And as he watched them leave, he thought to himself:
'I need someone else to fill Licht's position on the Tree of Life Monument and accomplish the summoning ritual I need to reach Elysium. Licht has descendants, so one of them could be used.'
After that, he focused on the magic stones as he was on the verge of a discovery. So, he left a clone to oversee the entire situation before going to his secret laboratory.
A few days later, Edward looked at the magic stones with shining eyes.
"Negative Karma Empowerment."
The magic stones can amplify the magic power of their wielder because it is connected to the negative mana in the Underworld. So, after studying the stones, the negative mana acquired from Megicula and Zagred, he discovered the true essence of this boost; to be precise, the true essence of negative mana: Karma Empowerment.
Edward has read a few comics with characters with Karma Empowerment, but he never experienced it himself in his magical journey so far. Luckily, he acquired a Karma Divine Treasure from the Library on his last voyage and has been studying since.
With this basis, he recognized that negative mana was a form of Karma Empowerment that boosted mana. He then compared this discovery with the sample mana he acquired from Elysium, which could be considered positive mana.
And as expected, it is also a form of Karma Empowerment that focuses on Positive Karma, unlike the devils who use Negative Karma. With this discovery, Edward concluded that devils and angels were species that originated from one source.
He also understood why these two races were so much more powerful than the others. Their mana was literally always boosted on top of having a large Mana Pool.
So, he wanted that boost for him.
"Additionally, I can forge the Underworld and Elysium into a magical artifact that boosted the Floating City. If done correctly, the Karma Empowerment should be able to push the city into a Tier 10 Artifacts."
Edward became excited at this thought. He did not yet know how to deal with the devils in the underworld, so he originally planned just to enslave them as they would serve as excellent weapons–especially after becoming Arcanists.
Now, he will have even better use for them. He theorized that these devils had the natural ability to gather Negative Karma to fill the Underworld. If so, they would be even more valuable.
Then, Edward created another clone to continue studying Karmic Magic while he went to do something else. One of the best discoveries he made in this world is Gauche Adlai's mirror magic, which allowed him to make Mirror Clones that could have some of his powers and his mind.
Moreover, he did not have to worry about these clones rebelling and creating chaos. That spell is almost as good as the Shadow Clone Jutsu in terms of clone magic.
Edward had to create two magical artifacts to prepare for the invasion of Elysium. The process took two weeks; by then, one of his clones had already dealt with the invasion's aftermath.
His status in the Clover Kingdom's resident mind reached an unimaginable height.
In the laboratory, Edward suddenly felt something, and he muttered: "So, its' finally accomplished. Status."
He looked at his status from the Akashic Record. His age and Tier changed, but that was not his main focus. He focused on the new title he acquired: Wizard King.
This tile is one of the reasons he stayed in the Clover Kingdom for so long and dedicated a lot of time and effort to improve it.