Julian returns.

"I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU, JULIAN!"

"THIS TIME I FINALLY GET TO END YOU," Vetto roared as multiple magic circles formed around him, firing beams of corrupted mana.

An afterimage of a dark phoenix formed behind Julian, followed by his mana pressure being wrapped around his sword.

"Let's do it, Kirin."

"Yeah!"

"Spirit Dive: Partial Assimilation."

Scales grew on Julian's arms and legs, followed by the formation of dark purple armor.

The weapon changed from a sword to dagger, and with each swing, all of Vetto's beams were erased.

Julian stepped forward, and the next second, he was behind Vetto, holding one of Vetto's severed arms.

Vetto's eyes widened as he couldn't even react to Julian's speed.

Blood flowed as Julian's weapon turned into a spear, which he stabbed into Vetto's chest.

"Despair, was it? Let me see who is in despair now," Julian said as his punch shattered Vetto's jaw and threw him across the chamber.

Vetto growled as more hands started growing on his back, but the arm Julian severed never grew back.

Julian called back his weapon and changed its form to daggers to respond to Vetto's attacks.

Vetto's speed was something that could not be followed with the naked eye, but Julian effortlessly blocked every single attack.

With another slash, three arms of Vetto were severed, with no signs of them growing back.

Continuous use of forbidden magic and anger from getting played by Julian made Vetto lose his sanity.

The way Julian carried himself screamed that he wasn't even trying.

Vetto had seen Julian's fighting style and the big moves he could use, but now he wasn't using any of it.

Julian was just using different weapons and slash attacks to push Vetto back.

Moreover, his weapon now had the ability to absorb and utilize magic, like the Demon Dweller Sword.

Vetto jumped towards the roof and stuck on it like a spider, and began shooting corrosive mana attacks all over the chamber.

"Sealing magic: Spatial lock," Secre stepped in front of the Black Bulls as an invisible box was created in front of them, blocking every single attack.

"Secre! You are back," Finral said with joy.

"Sorry for being late. I will explain everything after we get back," Secre replied.

Boom!

Vetto crashed into the wall with all of his arms severed, but still, he showed no sign of giving up.

"I believe you know the difference in our power by now... so there is no need for me to waste any more time. Let's end this."

The entire chamber seemed to have lost its color as mana particles of light magic, dark magic, world tree magic, flame magic, and lightning magic wrapped around his weapon, which now changed to a sword.

"Mana zone: Ignition slash."

The world turned white for a moment as the only thing visible was the black slash from Julian's sword.

The space around Vetto broke as Licht and Rhya tried stopping Julian's attack, but it was useless.

An ignition slash passed through Rhya's arms and cut Vetto's body.

There was no explosion, no shockwave, just silence.

Be it Rhya's arms or Vetto's body, everything the attack touched got erased.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO VETTO!" Licht's third eye opened, but Rhya stopped him as he felt a line of blood on his neck.

"Don't do it, Patry," Rhya muttered.

The current Julian is not something they could handle.

The Julian they fought before and the Julian now were totally two different people.

The feeling he was getting from Julian was similar to the real Licht's power.

Be it his presence or power, everything made Julian an equal threat to the Wizard King.

Moreover, Julian had a blindfold blocking his Sharingan. If he removed that, he would be even stronger.

"You should be thankful to me for cleaning his soul of corruption," Julian replied.

"I will let you two leave this place alive, but the next time I see any of you again, remember that you will die."

Under the vision of the Black Bulls, a portal was created as Rhya dragged screaming Licht into it.

Asta and Noelle rushed towards Julian to give him a hug, but unlike the last time when Julian was pushed to the ground, they couldn't even move Julian by an inch.

"Thank God you are fine. We were getting worried about you," Noelle said.

"I don't think you all were in a situation to worry about me earlier," Julian replied.

"In this battle, I was able to finally coat my arms in anti-magic," Asta said.

"I, too, unlocked a new spell!" Noelle said.

"Let's test out your new powers after going back. We have more matters to worry about now," Julian replied.

The space above the chamber was sliced apart as Yami, Charlotte, the priest, and his wife jumped into the chamber.

The priest and his wife rushed towards their fainted son and grandchildren, while Yami and Charlotte were still on their guard.

The reason was Julian.

The moment they saw his face, they felt as if someone was holding a knife to their throats.

"Retract your presence, kiddo," Julian realized his mistake and retracted his presence, making him almost undetectable with mana sense.

"Captain Yami, Captain Charlotte... you can rest easy. We are safe now."

The first thing Yami noticed about Julian was his presence. It surpassed all the captains.

In his time, Yami had met two Wizard Kings—Julius Novachrono and Conrad Leo—and currently, Julian's presence was comparable to theirs.

"Your thinking is right. This is indeed an artifact. I will tell you about it later."

Next morning:

Julian and Secre followed the priest, walking through the road full of grateful citizens.

Although there were some casualties, if not for the Black Bulls and Julian, it could have been much worse.

Moreover, Julian and Secre made the barrier even stronger than before with their sealing magic.

Julian didn't eat for the entire duration he was with Atlante, as he didn't feel hungry there. But after coming back, he made sure to eat as much as he could to compensate for it.

The same went for Secre.

On the way, Julian checked his stats after completing all the training.

:::::Stats:::::::

Name: Julian Ragnvindr

Race: Unknown

Bloodline: Human, Elf, Dragonoid, Devil

Mana Heart: Solid silver

Magic: Dark Flame, Lightning, Dark, Light, World Tree, Curse, Wind, Water

Body Points: 700

Mana Points: 1500

Blessings: Lightning Spirit Kirin, Great Tree Spirit Leshy, Water Spirit Leviathan, Flame Spirit Dark Phoenix

Items: Aquila Favonia, Four-Leaf Grimoire

Skills: Ki (Master), Mana Pressure (Grand Master), Reinforcement Magic (Grand Master)

********

"Did you two meet Sir Atlante?" the priest asked.

"Yes... He was proud of all of you for maintaining this place for so long," Julian replied, making the priest very happy.

"Were you able to complete your training?"

"No, but I will return here later since I need to learn more from him," Julian replied.

The three of them entered the main Temple that Gordon did a good job protecting.

Inside the temple, they entered a room with a big stone statue of the Water Spirit Leviathan. Hundreds of multicolored stones were embedded into the statue, making it look beautiful.

"These are all the magic stones that we have collected over the years. You are free to take whichever you like," the priest said.

"How did you get these stones?" Julian asked.

"Most of them are formed naturally, while some are recovered from dungeons that open up in the middle of the ocean," the priest replied.

"Do you know what they do?"

"Yes, all of them have various abilities. Some of them can summon fire, water, and wind, while some of them can store and utilize sunlight. The ones there can help a person breathe underwater, while the ones there can detoxify poison. There are healing stones too, but we only save them for emergencies," the priest replied.

"Do these stones always remain here, or do you use them?" Julian asked.

"Some of them stay here, while most of them are used by our people. As you know, we are responsible for hosting the Moon Chase festival, we sometimes give magic stones as rewards to the winners," the priest replied.

Secre moved forward and plucked the stone from Leviathan's eyes.

"This is the stone we were looking for. Where did you get it from?" Secre asked.

"If I remember correctly, it was given to me by the Wizard King Conrad as a reward. Please feel free to take it."

The Black Bulls decided to stay a few days in the underwater city of Watatsumi as the people threw a celebration for them.

All of the injuries, along with the corrupted mana, were completely healed by Julian, but the mental trauma from the fight took some time to heal.

Julian and Secre explained most of the things about Atlante, the training space, while leaving out some details Julian didn't want to share.

With the Black Bulls completely recovered, the magic stone recovered, and one of the generals of the Eye of the Midnight Sun eliminated, alongside acquiring hostages, they were finally ready to return home.