"Got you!"
On the road to the capital, Charles kept studying the spoils taken from the Holy Knights.
The most common among them were tools called Incantation Gems—handy items formed by sealing secret arts into jade-like stones.
The technique of perfectly encapsulating magic or secret arts was worth a close look. But more than the Incantation Gems, what Charles wanted to study was Gowther, the Sin of Lust.
Because Gowther's true body was a puppet created by Gowther of Selflessness, once of the Demon Clan's Ten Commandments.
As a mighty magician whom even the Demon King feared and had no choice but to confine, Gowther of Selflessness's power needed no elaboration.
And the Gowther of the Seven Deadly Sins was his proudest work; he even entrusted his own magic to this puppet that had given birth to a soul.
Gowther himself, however, lacked the relevant cognition. As a result, he often behaved with zero common sense and spoke with no regard for the occasion.
That didn't dampen Charles's curiosity. In any world, the technology to give a soul to dead matter was absolutely top-tier.
Still, since Gowther already had a will of his own, Charles didn't have the heart to take him apart.
He did gain something in other areas, though.
Earlier, when Del spoke about Hendrickson experimenting on Holy Knights, Elizabeth's Goddess power flickered for an instant—perhaps because her emotions were shaken.
In that moment, Charles caught a trace of the curse on her.
Elizabeth's Goddess power had awakened in childhood, causing the peculiar pattern in one of her eyes.
But the curse on her only began to take effect after she met Meliodas.
The curse would slowly restore her past memories, and once they returned in full, death would inevitably follow.
It was in the surge of Elizabeth's power that Charles sensed something amiss and discovered the mark of the curse.
As expected of a high-order power that touched on fate, his analysis didn't go smoothly. Even so, having a lead was already a great start.
Just as Charles was racking his brain on how to push further, Mama Hawk carried the Boar Hat to the outskirts of the capital of Liones.
Per the plan, if Dawn Roar had already rescued the king, they were to bring him here.
Not seeing anyone now likely meant the operation had failed.
But the capital was the Holy Knights' stronghold; failing to get him out was normal. The next steps would naturally fall to the Seven Deadly Sins.
Outside the city walls, Diane swung her war hammer and slammed it into the ground. Her magic, \[Creation], combined with the giant clan's dominion over earth, triggered a violent quake.
Hill-sized stone pillars crashed against the wall, making it shudder; several unsteady Holy Knights toppled over the battlements.
"Holy Knights, I'm here to fight you!" Diane shouted.
King wore a wry look. Though their mission was to draw the Holy Knights' attention and create an opening for the infiltrators,
Diane's stated reason was… well, it made you want to laugh and cry.
Unimpressive as her pretext was, that last strike had worked wonders; King could feel a massive surge of magic converging on their position.
With Diane's team going smoothly, the others slipped into the capital as planned.
Meliodas, Ban, and Gowther headed straight for Hendrickson's magic research facility.
They were the second layer of decoys, tasked with luring out the rest of the Holy Knights within the city.
Charles and Stella, meanwhile, were to protect Elizabeth, rendezvous with Dawn Roar inside the city, and rescue the king.
Following the prearranged marks, the three of them, plus Hawk, successfully linked up with Slader.
In a narrow alley, Slader appeared before Charles. "The royal family has indeed been imprisoned, but in the cells we only found Princess Margaret.
Fortunately, with Del's daughter's help, we tracked down His Majesty's location. The problem is, he's confined by a secret art we can't break—we couldn't get him out."
"Are Father and Sister Margaret all right?" Elizabeth asked.
"Rest assured," Slader said. "Though confined, both are safe. His Majesty's body does seem a bit weak."
Stella patted the worried Elizabeth on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get your father out right now!"
"That's right! And you've got me, Hawk, captain of the Order of Scraps Disposal!" Hawk added.
Just then, a distant boom sounded, and black smoke billowed skyward in a cloud of dust.
Watching the plume rise, Charles said, "Looks like the boss kicked things off. We need to move—let's go now!"
Slader nodded. "Good. My squad is already in position over there. I'll take you."
He took point and led them to a small fortress.
A shadow flashed, and the female knight from Dawn Roar appeared ahead of them.
"You're finally here. We were about to grow mold waiting!"
"How's His Majesty?" Slader asked.
"He's been inside the whole time. Strangely, it seems the Holy Knights didn't station any guards here," she replied.
Talking as they moved, they entered the fortress. Indeed, there were no guards, and they soon saw the secret art Slader had mentioned that bound the king.
That, too, made sense. Most Holy Knights were loyal to the king—how could they be ordered to watch over his prison?
And with this secret art in place, no one was taking the king anywhere.
Netherworld secret art, "Perfect Cube"—unless the caster himself undid it or you knew the special method, there was no way to break it.
Charles eyed the transparent cube that lit up at a touch, his interest piqued.
"Father, are you in there?" Elizabeth pressed her palms to the surface, calling out.
From behind a curtain within the cube came an elderly voice. "Elizabeth? Is that you? Are you well?"
"Elizabeth, step back. Let me take a look at this thing," Charles said, stepping forward.
With his palm on the transparent surface, Charles had already grasped the principles of Perfect Cube.
It was constructed from multiple layered spatial shears; any external attack would be returned by the folded space, making brute force ineffective against the technique.
But Charles had always believed no technique was flawless, and the universal weakness of all techniques was durability.
Put simply, if your strike exceeded its tolerance, there was no technique you couldn't break. When people say a barrier can't be brute-forced, they usually just don't have enough force.
The brute-force solution was crude, but simple and effective. Charles didn't have time to study its weaknesses anyway—this would do nicely.
Crimson flames bloomed along his arm. Ignia's fire was the flame that destroyed all—even space.
At the spot where the blue, translucent barrier met Charles's palm, it reddened; though it was space, it behaved like metal.
Unlike metal, which only melts a hole, space burned through collapses outright as its structure fails.
To everyone's astonishment—everyone but Stella—Charles withdrew his hand. "All set!"
(End of Chapter)
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