Future Natsu looked at the palace gates before him, his expression terribly grave.
Seeing that look on his face, Future Lucy patted his shoulder and comforted him.
"Don't worry. This time, Ankh and everyone else are with us."
"Yeah…"
Future Natsu silently clenched his fists, his voice low as he said, "That powerless feeling… I never want to experience it again!"
Ankh quietly looked at Future Natsu, whose mood had sunk into a heavy gloom.
His eyes were complicated, but he said nothing.
Yukino looked at the heavily guarded palace entrance and quickly said, "The Grand Magic Games are being held in the city right now. This is the perfect chance to sneak in!"
Ankh nodded.
Then he lightly snapped his fingers, completing his God Soul Take Over in an instant.
"Seal of Time."
Ankh murmured softly, and the flow of time around them froze.
Using Gravity Magic, he swept up everyone who had been frozen in place, then passed through the guards openly and boldly like a gust of wind, entering the palace without the slightest effort.
From everyone else's perspective, in the blink of an eye, they had somehow been moved to another location.
"That magic really is convenient," Mirajane could not help sighing.
Ankh then had Ultear lead the way, and the group ran toward the prison where Team Ram was being held.
Ankh ran at the front, continuously sensing deeper into the palace. But soon, he discovered something puzzling.
"The palace interior… is actually less guarded?"
Lucy was confused.
This infiltration felt a little too smooth.
Natsu grabbed Arcadios, whom they had brought along as a captive, and asked curiously, "Hey, old man, are your palace guards always this lousy?"
"What nonsense!"
Arcadios was a loyal and dutiful soldier, and he immediately bristled at those words.
"The palace interior should have guards posted every few steps! How could it possibly—"
Halfway through, he seemed to realize that the current situation inside the palace was clearly not what he had described, so Arcadios guiltily shut his mouth.
"Perhaps His Majesty had some urgent matter and temporarily transferred all the guards…"
No one paid attention to Arcadios's quiet mutter.
After all, the king, the princess, and the ministers were all inside the palace right now.
How could they possibly transfer so much of the defensive force away?
Ankh silently thought this over.
Then his steps suddenly stopped, and he frowned toward the front.
"Someone's here."
Everyone quickly halted.
Sure enough, at the fork in the path ahead, groups of soldiers suddenly appeared!
At the same time, behind them, large numbers of soldiers began appearing out of nowhere as well.
"Where did they come from?"
Lucy jumped in fright and quickly pulled out her keys, preparing for battle.
Future Natsu observed them for a moment, then said urgently, "They're being controlled too! It's that masked guy!"
Ankh shifted his gaze to the soldiers, who had somehow avoided his senses and appeared from thin air.
He found that their faces were indeed like Future Natsu's had been earlier: hollow-eyed, blank, and moving in a chaotic, disordered manner.
"Break through! Try not to hurt anyone!"
Ankh was the first to charge forward. Mirajane took over Satan Soul, while Wendy quickly cast support enchantments on the two of them.
With two powerful mages opening the path, the zombie-like crowd of soldiers was immediately blown apart, many of them sent flying from the impact.
The others handled the flanks.
Although these soldiers did not fear pain and had strong combat instincts, this kind of cannon fodder still could not stop a team whose average combat power was at S-Class level from advancing.
Ultear threw out her crystal orb, and hundreds of crystal orbs from countless timelines struck the surrounding soldiers one after another, knocking them unconscious with heavy impacts.
Then she looked toward a nearby fork in the path and shouted, "This way!"
Ankh punched out, blasting a group of soldiers into the air like an anthill being blown apart, then led the charge in that direction.
But as they ran, Ankh suddenly felt something was wrong.
"Where's the path?!"
Ultear looked at the dead end before them with an ugly expression and gritted her teeth.
"Damn it. That thing changed the route again!"
"Then we'll use the old method!"
Without another word, Ankh inhaled deeply and released a Death God's Bellow at the wall in front of them, forcefully carving open a new path.
Everyone rushed out through the breach.
But after only a few steps, they hurriedly slammed on the brakes again.
"Isn't this the front entrance?!"
Future Natsu angrily pointed at the ceiling and howled, "If you've got the guts, come out and fight us one-on-one! What's the point of making us run around a maze?!"
Natsu was equally furious, jumping in place and cursing at the enemy who was hiding somewhere unknown.
Mirajane fired a blast of destructive light at the pursuing soldiers behind them and asked.
"What do we do now?"
"Every field has its specialist. Since divine power for killing and healing can't break this trap, we'll switch methods."
Ankh took a deep breath.
Another form of divine power within his divine body began to surge, outlining a completely different sacred presence.
"What is this?"
Yukino was startled by the sudden pressure radiating from Ankh.
This Take Over Magic… seemed different from the one he had used to instantly defeat Jura during the Grand Magic Games.
A gray-silver gleam flashed through Ankh's blood-red eyes, and mysterious gray-silver divine light began radiating from his body.
"God Soul, Take Over!"
"God of Illusion and Reality, Velti!"
An indescribable figure of light slowly merged into Ankh's body, and his appearance began to change.
Compared with Chronos's Take Over, Velti's Take Over was much simpler, but it was still exquisitely designed.
Ankh wore silver-patterned light armor on both sides of his body.
One side was pitch-black, the other pure white, with gray shading between them.
A special Magic Circle resembling taiji appeared on his chest, and skirt-like panels hung at both sides of his waist.
Compared to Chronos's Take Over, this form looked far cleaner and less ornate.
"Wow~"
Mirajane stared at Ankh with sparkling eyes and exclaimed, "So cool!"
Lucy looked at Ankh with a little envy.
This whole family of his could transform, whether through Requip or Take Over.
It would be nice if she could have a battle outfit too!
Ankh adjusted to the new power in his body.
Then he smiled confidently and reached toward the palace gate in front of them.
A strange, unreadable light flowed from his hand and merged into the door.
Immediately afterward, Ankh pushed the door open without hesitation.
Lucy had just been about to remind him that this was the door leading outside, but when she saw the scene beyond it, she froze.
The door that should have led outside had suddenly become the entrance to an unfamiliar palace hall?!
Inside the hall, for some reason, there was a pile of amusement facilities: a roller coaster, a haunted house, and even a seesaw and swings.
And in the most eye-catching part of the hall, the masked "Hisui" was laughing happily while playing on a seesaw with her old father.
A group of soldiers stood nearby, serving juice and desserts.
The difference was that the soldiers and the king were clearly not being controlled.
King Toma's hands were trembling as he wore a desperately flattering smile.
The moment the old king saw Ankh and the others, tears almost spilled from his eyes.
When "Hisui" saw Ankh, she froze for a moment.
Then she immediately raised both hands in delight and shouted.
"You're here, Ankhseram!"