Challenge: The Fool with the Surname Okayamine

Chapter 52 Heavenly Palace Arc: Prequel "The Nightmare of the Present World"

At 11:10 PM in Japan, a private plane sped through the night sky.

'zoom——'

Then, accompanied by a slight turbulence and the roar of the engines gradually subsided, the plane slowly landed on the runway and finally came to a stop.

Then, the hatch located on the side of the middle of the fuselage began to open slowly outward, emitting a slight mechanical friction sound.

Just then, Ming, with an expressionless face and an upright and elegant posture, extended his gloved right hand and carefully helped Princess Angelica out of the cabin.

"Princess Angelica, please," Ming said politely, before leading the girl to the bottom of the plane.

As soon as he was led out of the cabin, Ming consciously let go of her hand as a gentlemanly gesture of respect and walked towards the cabin.

"Mr. Klein, what's going on?" Angelica asked instinctively, seeing Ming suddenly let go of her hand and walk back up into the air.

“I’m going upstairs to get my luggage. Also, I’m not responsible for escorting you back after the international conference on space earthquakes, which is in 20 minutes, so I need to get my suitcase first,” Ming explained calmly as he turned around.

"Huh?!" Hearing Ming's answer, her expression turned slightly disappointed. "I see... I understand."

Ming quickly came down with his luggage. Seeing Princess Angelica's slightly forlorn expression, he felt nothing. To him, princesses were unimportant, and he held little respect for them; it was all just a task.

“Let’s go, we still have time to get to the meeting,” Ming said. Angelica hesitated for a moment before nodding, and the two walked out of the airport together.

Along the way, Angelica tried to break the silence by starting a conversation.

"Mr. Klein, why are you wearing an eye patch? Is it because you have a needle prick?" or "Mr. Klein, what country are you from? Although your name is British, your hair color suggests you're from the Middle East..."

Ming would occasionally answer these questions, but most of the time he would just walk in silence.

As they approached the building where the meeting was to be held, several local AST magicians stood ramrod straight. Seeing Angelica and Ming approach, one of them stepped forward. "Halt. An important meeting is being held here. Please identify yourselves."

Angelica immediately straightened her back, abandoning the liveliness and curiosity she had shown while talking to Ming. Her eyes became haughty and cold, and she reverted to her aloof and arrogant princess demeanor.

"I am representing the UK at the international conference on space earthquakes."

After a careful inspection, the AST magician guarding the door bowed respectfully and said, "Excuse me for disturbing you, please come in, both of you."

Upon entering the building, Ming remained indifferent, while Angelica discreetly surveyed her surroundings. Suddenly, a feeling arose that even an elf like herself would find unsettling.

A fleeting ripple emanated from the distant forest, instantly putting Ming on alert.

'Mio! '

Sensing the fluctuations in spiritual energy, Ming tensed up with vigilance, his hands clenching tightly. Just as Ming was on high alert, his other leg was grabbed.

"Huh?!" Ming, whose nerves were on edge, subconsciously turned his head, and for the first time, the black flames inside his clenched fist burned uncontrollably.

But when she turned around, she realized that the person who had grabbed her clothes was Princess Angelica, who had been silent the whole way in.

"Mr. Klein, are you feeling unwell?" Ming looked at the trembling Angelica with a puzzled expression and immediately asked her with concern.

Ming took a deep breath, suppressing the unease in his heart and the strange movement of the black flame in his hand, and said emotionlessly, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I'm fine, it's just... I was just thinking about some things that don't need to be taken seriously."

Angelica patted her chest gently, letting out a sigh of relief: "It's good that you're alright. Of course, if Mr. Black... uh, no! Mr. Klein has any health problems, just tell me!"

The girl smiled brightly at him, and in that instant, Ming's smile overlapped with that of a girl who had saved him from the shadows.

Ming wasn't entirely unaware of Angelica's different feelings towards him and others on the plane, and he knew exactly what those feelings were.

But... that's impossible. Throughout history, only one person has ever truly entered one's heart and pulled them out of the shadow of distrust. Even if... that person is no longer in this world...

As soon as I reached the entrance of the hall, the heavy doors slowly opened, revealing representatives from various countries sitting inside.

All eyes turned to them, and the air seemed to freeze.

Ming's expression remained indifferent as he walked towards an empty seat, seemingly oblivious to everyone else.

"Your Majesty, this is the seat for the British representative. Please take a seat here," Ming whispered a reminder.

After hearing this, Angelica gracefully lifted her skirt and followed Ming's steps, sitting down slightly.

After Angelica took her seat, while the high-ranking officials from various countries were still waiting for another important representative, a lewd voice suddenly rang out from outside, a voice that instinctively displeased Mingyi the Elf.

"I apologize, everyone, I'm late because of me." The newcomer was a middle-aged man with white hair and eyes as empty as Ming's, his expression extremely hypocritical. Behind him followed a blonde woman who also served as his secretary and bodyguard.

"Isaac Pelham Westcott, you've finally shown up." A senior leader stood up and said. Upon hearing this, Westcott quickly stepped forward and shook hands with the leader with a solemn expression.

He added, "A minor conflict occurred within the company, which caused my lateness. I hope you will all forgive me."

The Japanese leader stood up and responded, "It's alright. After all, you are the most knowledgeable in the field of DEM's research on spirits, and you are indispensable to this meeting."

Afterwards, all senior executives took their seats and began discussing matters related to the spirits.

A white high-ranking official stood up and said, "The number of elves that have appeared so far is extremely small. We only know that they can cause spacequakes and the [Flame Beast] that mysteriously disappeared after appearing in London, England five years ago."

Another high-ranking U.S. official said: "They're just some elves; a single nuclear bomb would be enough to take care of them." (This seems feasible to some extent.)

Upon hearing this, the Chinese representative stated: "American representative, to be precise, you launch the sprites wherever they are, but what if they land near you? This is currently just wishful thinking."

Upon hearing this, the delegates all fell silent.

Seeing this, Westcott simply stared silently, occasionally glancing at the distraught leaders, a hint of amusement in his eyes. This was a mockery of the ignorant.

As for Ming, after his blonde secretary, who was next to Westcott, came in, he kept a vigilant eye on the magicians guarding the representatives of various countries.

"Allen... Based on my understanding of the original work, this world's strongest magician is top-notch in all combat abilities except for physical prowess. I won't gain much advantage from fighting her, so I should avoid too much contact with them unless absolutely necessary, to prevent being exposed."

"...The rest, America...is a bespectacled nerd?" Ming glanced sideways at the bespectacled, well-mannered man behind him, thinking to himself, before looking up at the other countries.

“Japan, hmm… several years have passed, and this person has not yet resigned.” Ming looked surprised. Several years ago, this person fought against him when he was a newly transformed elf. It was truly unexpected that this person had not retired yet.

A moment later, a high-ranking official from a certain country asked Westcott, who was confident and smiling, "Mr. Isaac, what are your thoughts on DEM?"

When Westcott heard the topic turn to himself, he quickly smiled, stood up, opened his arms, and said slowly, "In my opinion, elves are undoubtedly the enemy of mankind."

"Although we do not know their origin or how they are generated, the disasters they cause are difficult to reverse, as evidenced by the Eurasian air disaster that occurred in China and Mongolia."

"Our primary goal now is surely to eradicate the spirits, the scourge of humanity. Without any reason, for the sake of protecting humanity, the spirits should be completely eliminated."

Westcott's speech was vivid and eloquent, yet it was tinged with a hypocrisy that was difficult for ordinary people to detect, and it was an arrogant declaration to the ordinary people below.

Looking at him made Ming feel nauseous, and he felt so disgusted that he wanted to kill him himself without any motive.

"Heh, how ridiculous! He was the one who initiated the elven spell, which triggered this whole series of events. And the root of it all lies with him. If that guy named Westcott disappears, then Sawa might..." Ming pondered silently, a surge of grief and indignation welling up in his heart.

Whether it was due to the lingering emotions of Mio within him, or some other reason, Ming felt an overwhelming disgust for this hypocritical man named Westcott.

As I listened, the repulsive sound came like a tidal wave. This disgust was not just a simple emotional fluctuation, but seemed to have taken deep root in my heart, constantly spreading and growing.

Angelica, who was standing nearby, seemed to sense something as well. She quickly turned her head and met his gaze. At that moment, she felt as if she could read the complex emotions contained in the inscription.

Immediately afterwards, Angelica frowned slightly, parted her lips, and asked in a tone that was both doubtful and concerned:

"Mr. Klein, are you really alright? Or perhaps..."

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well. Please allow me to take my leave first," Ming said instinctively, rubbing his temple.

Angelica nodded and said softly, "Then you should go back and rest." Ming turned and left silently.

Ming walked down to the bottom of the conference building and let out a soft breath. He then murmured to himself, "Sigh, today is really unpleasant." But suddenly, Ming seemed to sense another, enormous spiritual energy in the forest not far from the city.

"Where is that? Wait, isn't that Mio's spiritual energy fluctuation?" Ming looked in surprise towards the direction of the forest, sensing that there was spiritual energy gathering there that was slightly different from what he had felt before.

Upon seeing this situation, Ming immediately began to think.

"Ah, this spirit that manifests in this timeline, and that familiar spiritual power that I seem to have sensed before, different from Mio's—could it be... Tokisaki Kurumi?!"

'Wa ...

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing alarm blared throughout the area! The numerous high-ranking officials from various countries, who had been conducting important negotiations in a tense but orderly manner, were instantly thrown into a state of panic.

They all stopped what they were talking about and eagerly looked around to see what was going on.

To everyone's surprise, an unusually strong fluctuation of spiritual energy was observed in the dense forest not far from the spacious and bright conference room.

This fluctuation is like ripples spreading across a calm lake, rapidly expanding and intensifying.

The experienced group immediately realized that this was undoubtedly a harbinger of an impending, terrifying spacequake!

Seeing this, Allen, who was standing to the side, turned to Westcott with a solemn expression and asked, "Ike, should I personally go and deal with that elf who might cause a spacequake?" His tone revealed a hint of eagerness and no fear of the unknown danger.

However, Westcott appeared remarkably calm and composed. He shook his head slightly and said slowly, "If we were to deal with this elf so easily, do you think these guys would still harbor the same deep hatred and fear for elves as before? Probably not."

"So, let's hold back for now and let those who belong to the AST (Anti-Elf Force) worry about this."

After speaking, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly, as if he had a plan in mind. Seeing that Westcott had not instructed Allen to take any action, the representatives of the United States and China also decided to hold back for the time being.

The forest where spiritual energy is coming from~

The once tranquil and peaceful forest was suddenly enveloped by a mysterious and powerful force. In the clearing in the center of the forest, a sphere emitting an eerie purple light appeared without warning.

The sphere was initially only the size of a fist, but it expanded at an astonishing rate, as if it possessed inexhaustible energy.

As the sphere rapidly increased in size, the surrounding air began to distort and deform, emitting a chilling buzzing sound.

The sturdy trees growing near the sphere snapped and fell to the ground under the pressure of this terrifying force, leaving behind a scene of devastation.

In the blink of an eye, the entire center of the forest had become a huge crater, with countless tree debris scattered inside.

In this desolate, ruin-like pit, a girl dressed in a black and red Lolita dress slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused, as if she had not yet fully awakened from her slumber.

The girl looked around at the unfamiliar and dilapidated scene before her, her heart filled with confusion and fear. She tried hard to recall what had happened before, but her mind was blank, except for her name—"Tokisaki Kurumi"—and her identity as a spirit.