This was a thought for another time. For now, she needed to discuss other matters with Kin.

{Break}

Arriving to the throne room, Celestine was greeted by the sight of Kaguya and Claudia in the hall, with both Kuroinu vice leaders Kin and Hicks bowing to her arrival.

Ironically, all Princess Knights were established to be of equal status. No one was supposed to be greater than the other as each ruled a single Kingdom. It was through the identity as a Goddess Reborn that Celestine became the unofficial leader of the Shields aswell as Eostia. Claudia ranked second, followed by Kaguya. She objected to such treatment at first, but everyone kept insisting for her to stay as their leader in name.

Truly, equality of rank on paper was not a guarantee in practice. And despite her best effort, she failed at changing their mindset.

"Have you retrieved the artifact?" she asked the mage.

A few days ago, he came to her palace and requested an audience with her. Celestine obliged and came to listen to his words. He had apparently found a way to strip Olga of her magic and the demons that she had under her thrall. While this information sounded promising she couldn't help but have a few doubts raised in her mind. Trying to restrain mages on their level is no easy task and she could probably count the people on one hand that can pull it off if they were still alive. Yet, the Goddess decided to trust the long-time loyal mage of the court and gave Kin the resources and full authority for Kin to get his hands on this artifact in question.

"Yes, Celestine-sama." he said, smirking internally.

Bringing up his palm, the mage showed everyone in the room a small dark red-ruby.

"Hicks and I managed to trace this ancient artifact in an abandoned ruin of a long-forgotten civilization. The books described it as the 'Ultimate eraser' capable of breaking bonds of any magnitude to reality. Please, everyone, step away."

No one objected to Kin's words and formed a circle where he stood alone in the middle.

The man brought his staff to the attention of everyone. Two words came out of his mouth, "Blue Aegis!"

The wooden staff rose from the ground, shining with a bright flash—which expanded into a large dome that enveloped Kin alone. A simple spell, one that even a novice Spellcaster could perform. The 'Blue Aegis' was a shield composed mainly of the user's magical energy to create a transparent layer of protection from physical attacks and offensive spells. Its strength depended on the will of the caster. The more energy they had, the larger the barrier would extend. Kin, easily being one of the strongest mages in Eostia of his generation, could have his spell take a couple of hits from the strongest of an Orc general's attacks before breaking. The only downside to this spell was the length of time it required to be activated.

"Now, I beg for everyone's attention on Hicks over there."

He pointed at that man outside the barrier holding the red jewel.

"He will show you why exactly this item is so miraculous that even Olga, for all her power, will become powerless against us!" Giving the signal to his fellow vice leader, Hicks carefully brought the red jewel near the barrier. Upon first contact, nothing happened.

And nothing continued to happen for the next few seconds until some people began turning suspicious over the validity of Kin's words.

"Are we sure this is a real artifact or at least, that it is not broken?"

Claudia was the first one to speak.

"Not that I doubt your honesty, Mage Kin, but I do not see any astounding effects from this stone."

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