The news shocked the citizens as they wondered if something was wrong. After all, the Wizard King was in his prime and one of the most powerful wizards in existence. So, why the sudden resignation?
However, in his address, Edward gave some reasons that he wanted to live a peaceful life now that the world was safe. He also promised that no matter what, he would still be the kingdom's protector.
After that, he oversaw the competition for his successor. After the Elysium Invasion, the participants all received merits to raise their ranks. Asta and Yuno finally became Grand Knights and had the status to compete for the position.
Finally, a battle between Yuno, Asta, Fuegeleon, and Nozel took place for the position. In the end, Yuno was the final winner. In the final competition with Asta, he displayed the ability to revert mana into anti-magic, defeating his opponent.
However, right before his coronation, someone from the Spade Kingdom came to see him, and they convinced him to return as the ruler. So, Asta, as the runner-up of this fight, was the one crowned as Wizard King.
However, they promised to compete for the position of Arcane Emperor, thus not ending their rivalry.
During the peaceful transfer of power, Edward secretly released the news of the fusion to prepare the citizens beforehand. And as expected, many people were unhappy about suddenly changing their environment–especially the nobles who worried about their status.
Edward did not care about them. So, after helping Asta settle in, he disappeared in the eyes of the public to focus on his research, especially on Project World Stealing.
"There are two many things that could go wrong," he said to Morgana.
"With each calculation, I find more problems," she complained.
"Are you sure we have to use void energy?"
"If you want to preserve the fundamental rules of this universe, when we separate this timeline, Space-Time spells will not work. We have to use void energy."
The fundamental rules of this universe are the main reason he wanted to steal this world; it is the reason that every single individual born in this world has mana inside their body. So, he must preserve them at all costs.
"Too many things could go wrong if the void energy is not properly controlled," said Edward as he overviewed the spell he would use to detach this timeline from the entire Black Clover Universe.
"Our best option is to try with different timelines to gather data. Once we perfect the spell, we can proceed with our timeline."
"That's a good idea. But it will take too much time."
"We have nothing but time."
"Normally, that would be the case. But I'm worried about Vivy back home."
"It's true that anything could happen back home with the Death God Catastrophe. However, if there were a problem, Empress Olivier would have contacted you."
"She can be stubborn, so I'm worried she won't call for help unless the situation is truly dire. Furthermore, you know our Omniversal Communication Method is not ideal. Who knows what could go wrong."
Morgan frowned. They can only communicate through the Soul Dimension since her central server is back in the Empire. However, sending information across the void is still tricky, and complications could arise.
"Do you have another way?"
"Let's cheat," said Edward. "Old Man Merlin, I need your help."
The world seemed to pause for a brief moment before an older man with a long white beard appeared in the underground laboratory.
"It actually works," said Edward as he looked at the visitor.
"It's not as much of a big deal as you think," said Merlin.
"Oh, how so?"
"Names have power, and so this saying applies to powerful beings. You're now Tier 7, so you should get a True Name once you return home."
"True Name? Is it like what I think?"
"Yes. After you reach Tier 12, you can sense anyone who mentions your name from all the worlds you have traveled. Don't mention these for now. Why did you call me?"
Edward then explained his plan before handing him the data and Spell he created to steal the world. Merlin looked at it for a few seconds before modifying and adding other stuff.
Edward looked at the changes and lisps twitch. There were so many errors he made that he was speechless. Furthermore, there were so many things that even Morgana did not calculate.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Now that I'm here, I have a few things to say: You have missed a great opportunity."
"What do you mean?"
"You could have won that fight against Eve. Although it would have been challenging, you could have won. It was the perfect time to push yourself to the limit and sublimate your Willpower to the 8 Scale between life and death."
Edward frowned slightly after hearing this.
"I know your personality is cautious; you like stability and only take calculated risks, but you have to understand that in many situations, facing things head-on, even when the odds are stacked against you, is the only way."
Edward pondered for a few minutes. "You're right."
"As long as you understand. One last warning: do not rely too heavily on Void Energy. At Tier 12, it becomes relatively useless."
Merlin said his goodbye before disappearing.
"Did you feel he was different today?"
"Are you referring to his criticism of you?" asked Morgana.
"No, not that; he's always been like that. I felt like the current him seemed in a rush. And, I somehow could not get the thought into of y mind that he was slightly weaker than usual. I have no proof for this, but I have a feeling that I'm right?"
"Weaker? Could he be injured?"
Edward squinted his eyes. If even someone like Merlin were injured, then the situation of the war must have gotten serious. So, he needed to hurry.
"It seems we need to start going to more powerful worlds and challenge ourselves. Otherwise, we might be useless in the upcoming battle."
Edward felt that once he reached Tier 12, he would start getting in contact with this war. So, he needed to challenge himself and even place himself in danger, if needed, to prepare for the future.
"Alright, let's get to work."
Edward then focused on his research, creating a few clones to help him with other projects. The main ones were the Karma Empowerment Research, and finding the resources to repair the World Gate.
As for other research like Project Perfect Tier 11, he knew these were long-term and could not be achieved in a short time. Luckily, he had Eve's method of controlling more than a million variants of herself as a foundation to work on.
Time passed quickly, and five years went by. During this time, Edward found a way to store mana inside his Soul, so the journey to Tier 8 would be shortened.
His other research, like the Arcane Heart, was also successful, and he had already modified his heart to be similar to a devil, granting him incredible generative abilities. It's a shame that only Tier 5 Arcanists can condense an Arcane Heart, unless they condense a Devil Heart, which had no limit on Tiers.
However, he discovered that Devil Hearts would slowly corrupt the soul.
As for the modification Merlin did to the spell, he finally analyzed and understood them. As a result, his understanding of Void Energy was elevated, and he had no problem with the 3.0 Update of the Floating City.
His research on Karma Empowerment was the only failure in the past five years. With the angels, devils, and Eve, he figured out how these creatures could use Positive and Negative Karma as a boost.
However, he could not replicate the method unless he fundamentally changed his soul. He did come up with a surgery that could do such, but he was not happy since it was not easily replicable. Furthermore, he did not want to mess up his soul. So, he left for the future.
Finally, today was the day he left.
He first went to see the people he knew on the Western Continent before checking on his clone on the Eastern Continent. The latter's mission was a success as he was now the ruling monarch of a new dynasty.
Furthermore, the clone had now educated the eastern continent in many modern concepts that would make them easier to integrate into the Empire. Moreover, the clone also released rumors of the fusion to prepare the citizen.
Then, Edward floated above the sky, took out his staff, and cast a spell. Numerous runes appeared in the sky, making everybody on both continents watch in awe. Somehow, they knew the day had arrived.
After the runes manifested, a phantom grey cloud appeared above the sky, covering the sun. No one knew how dangerous that cloud was except for Edward.
He focused intensely on controlling the Void Energy to separate this timeline. Although he had practiced countless times before, he still took things seriously. He knew the slightest error would result in this entire parallel dimension being wiped out.
Luckily, things went smoothly, like the practice runs. He separated this timeline from the infinite numbers while preserving its fundamental laws. The Universe Will tried to stop him, but he used the complete Origin Scripture and his Willpower to stop it, then kept this timeline in a pocket dimension that manifests itself in the form of a crystal orb.
As he held the object in his hand, he could see an entire world inside. However, the people of Black Clover only felt the world tremble slightly, then the runes on the sky disappeared, and nothing else occurred.
The sky was still as blue as yesterday, the sun shone like it always does, and the clouds floated as if they were the freest things in existence. Many people even wondered if the process failed.
Edward smiled before contacting a few people and reassuring them. Then, he hopped on the now-fixed World Gate and headed to the Konosuba World.
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I cannot believe so many people did not like this arc--especially the School Infiltration Arc in the Eastern Continent. Many of the things I wrote on that arc can be considered great predictions based on the recent chapter of the Black Clover manga. And as more chapters come out, more predictions might come true.