Outside Hikari, Lance was flying around with a worried expression. He had a feeling that something was wrong and wanted to be inside Hikari to help Zack out during such times.
However, he wasn't able to enter the game the normal way and if he asked Zack to summon him, the latter would lose Chastiefol as a weapon.
'Ugh…' Lance looked at the gaming pod containing Zack's body with a worried expression as he decided to look at what the teenager was seeing.
He closed his eyes and focused on the bond between him and Zack. The connection then suddenly led to him appearing inside the throne room and seeing things from a third-person perspective.
'Are those two Mystlofiaco?!' Lance looked abashed when he saw Ezio and Akuma present in the throne room.
According to him, such kind of undead had long since vanished but seeing not one but two in the open shocked him.
Lance then saw Zack kill one of them swiftly before reviving Jonathan. The Phoenix knew about the talk Zack had with his future self so he wasn't too surprised by it.
'But did Mystlofiaco ever burst like that?' Lance had killed such undead back in the day yet he felt that something wasn't right.
He didn't remember the way the undead died but knew that bursting into nothing was not the right option.
'I need to warn Zack about this.' Lance thought as he heard Zack explaining everything to the group and Jonathan.
The Phoenix was long since used to plot twists so he decided to tinker around with the soul bound. He tried to see whether he could jump inside Hikari but all of his attempts were in vain.
"Why is this so broken…" Lance muttered before giving up as he stared forward. "I remember being able to appear beside Zack easily yet nothing happens now."
Lance then saw Zack and the group moving out of the throne room. He was about to exit as well but was stopped by the sound echoing around the continent.
"By the sovereign of darkness and by the power of chaos, the cult of darkness marks the southern continent as its territory. The Eizenburgh kingdom is the only place still under the light's control.
However, that changes now. The darkness will rise once again and all will welcome its embrace!"
'That voice…' Lance's eyes were suddenly wide open as he recognized who the voice belonged.
He immediately moved out of the third-person perspective mode and contacted Zack using their connection.
[ That was Ezio's voice! ]
[ I felt like someone was watching. Should have guessed it was you. ]
[ You don't feel surprised? ] Lance asked in a confused tone as he had thought that Zack would be left stunned by it.
He had seen the latter's reaction when killing Ezio and it was clear that he had believed that Ezio was dead.
[ Expressions and emotions can be faked. Also, it's too sus for undead to die without getting their skin rotten so there was that. ]
[ I see… ]
[ Lance, come here. ]
[ You think I don't want to? ] Lance asked back as Zack chuckled from the other end.
[ You forgot something, Lance. There is still that way to appear here… ]
***
Zack appeared at the front of the palace while finishing his talk with Lance at the same time.
He then glanced around to see if anything was wrong.
'Everything looks fine.' He then stared at the sky and as expected, the problem was right there.
Ezio was flying in the sky while wearing a golden black cloak. The symbol of a sun setting over the horizon was visible on the front of the cloak.
The only reason Zack was able to identify the symbol was due to the golden color. Only the golden dusk organization would have something like this as their dress.
"Oh for fucks sake! I am going to pass out one of these days." Zack cursed aloud as he grabbed Chastiefol and jumped straight towards the sky.
Despite what he had told Lance, he had zero percent idea that Ezio would have lived through.
The Phoenix had been fooled by Zack's acting since the latter didn't want to admit the truth.
'No time for such things. I have to defeat this guy once again.' Zack thought with a sigh as he changed Chastiefol's form to 'Daggers of Sky' and threw them in Ezio's direction.
The daggers pierced tore through the air at blinding speed but Ezio was not far behind. His form flickered a bit as all of the daggers passed right through him.
"You won't beat me this time." Ezio declared as he stared directly at Zack. He then joined the palms of his hands and muttered a few words.
Four black portals opened up behind him as battle cries rose from within the portal.'At the same time, Zack's teammates appeared down at the entrance of the palace.
Numerous undead of varying kinds, vampires, zombies, and sickly pale brain-dead undead mostly, stepped out of the portals and fell down on the ground.
They managed to land perfectly before charging towards the palace while shouting. Zack's eyes turned to stare at one of the portals as a whooshing sound was heard.
Moments later, a giant bone dragon made its appearance from the portal. The bone dragon roared once before charging straight towards Zack.
"Lance, Snowie, and Gajeel, I think I can trust all of you here?" Instead of escaping or fighting the bone dragon, Zack smiled and stood still in his place.
In front of him, a spark of blue flame, a drop of frozen water, and a spike of black iron appeared out of nowhere.
The objects were immediately followed by the three beasts who glared at the bone dragon and released their attacks on it.
The bone dragon didn't even have time to react as he felt iron tearing through his body followed by his insides freezing.
His body was then burned by Lance's flame and he vanished as soon as he had come.
However, they were hordes of undead and by hordes, Zack meant hundred and thousands of undead roaming through the entire city.
"I guess this is the trailer to the movie. A mini battle before the war." Zack muttered as he smiled and looked at his three beast companions. "Time to go all out!"
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