As Kyoya dashed through the waterfall, he met up with Asta along with Nero. When they caught up with the boy, they saw Asta getting hit by water as Undine entered the area. When Kyoya looked ahead, he saw Undine standing in front of woman wearing glasses.

"This....is the queen of Heart Kingdom?"

"Loropechika, I told you to change out of your pajamas. We have guests here!"

While Undine was scolding Loropechika, Kyoya was wondering about one thing. Just what in the absolute hell was he witnessing. Soon he took a deep breath as he wants this investigation to be over with.

"So mind telling me why you forced us into a fight."

"I'm sorry for that. We forced you to fight in order to gauge what stage you all our in. Mages fight not with force of numbers, but with how powerful their magic is. There are cases where dozens attack and are no match for one mage. That's why, in wars between magical nations, power is measured in stages. In other words, a kingdom's power is determined by how many mages it has that is close to stage zero. And if you're dealing with a devil, no one lower than stage one will be able to keep up."

After hearing this, Kyoya and Nero nod their heads. Meanwhile, steam could be seen escaping from Asta's head. Seeing this, Kyoya punched the boy's head and Asta remembered why they were here.

"A devil.....that's right. We came here because we detected a huge curse signal that could be the work of a devil. Do you know anything about a devil's curses?"

"Oh yes. I'm cursed by a devil. If nothing is done about it, i'll die in a year."

"..................what?"

Kyoya said what Asta, Nero, and even Undine were thinking. They couldn't believe how easily that she just admitted that. However, Kyoya suddenly froze in place. The question he asked Echidna, Loropechika being cursed by a devil. Everything was starting to come together. With a slight hint of worry in his voice, he asked Loropechika and Undine one thing.

"....the name. Do you know the name of the devil who cursed you?"

"The devil who placed on curse on her is named Megicula. We fought you and determined your stages so we can defeat Megicu-"

Before Undine could finish that sentence, Nero, Loropechika, and herself felt an immense amount of killing intent. Not only that, Asta sensed some malicious ki as well. When everyone turned towards the direction where they felt this presence, they were staring at Kyoya. However, Asta noticed that Kyoya's eyes weren't their normal black color. They were glowing red as his grimoire was faintly glowing a black color.

"That damn woman....so she's cursed even more people. That damn devil!!!!!!!"

"The look in his eyes go beyond hatred...it's pure malice. Is he the same as me? Was he also cursed by Megicula?!"

Soon Kyoya took a deep breath and his eyes were their normal black color. However, he didn't really feel like himself for a moment. As Kyoya looked around, he saw everyone take one step away from him. As this happened, Undine creates a curtain made of rushing water.

"Loropechika, it's time you get changed and meet up with the rest of our guests. You're our kingdom's guardian deity, we can not lose you to a devil's curse."

As Loropechika was now in her royal attire, she took a step forward. When this happened, she suddenly fell onto the ground. Seeing this, Kyoya couldn't help but think to himself.

"Awkward, clumsy, and wields water magic. She's like a discount Juvia or something."

As Kyoya was thinking this to himself, he walked with Nero and Asta out of the room. When he stepped out the room, he saw the rest of the group walking into the facility along with Gaja. However, he felt like something extremely dumb was about to happen.

As Kyoya saw this situation happen, he looked towards Gaja. Seeing this, Gaja stared back at the ice mage. During this brief moment of silence, they could tell one thing about each other. They both had to deal with troublesome people.

"I'll pretend I didn't see that."

"Thank you."

Soon Loropechika explained the situation to Noelle, Finral, and Mimosa who were not present with Kyoya's group earlier. Soon she began to explain the situation in a little more depth.

"As I explained, with a battle against a devil, mages must be at least a Stage One to keep up. However, even a Stage Zero can not defeat a devil. Spirit Guardians can use powerful magic by borrowing power from natural mana, but they can't beat a devil. However your kingdom created magic types that aren't derived from nature."

While the group was listening to the explanation, Kyoya was thinking for a moment. He heard Undine call him a Stage One during their fight, but he was only using his normal magic. So then, what Stage would he be if he used his Devil Slayer Magic. Soon he decided to keep listening to the queen's explanation.

"As such they lose the protection of natural mana, but some can contain the necessary traits to defeat a devil. Such examples are Julius Novachrono's Time Magic, Yami Sukehiro's Dark Magic, Asta's Anti-Magic, and Nero's Sealing Magic. People like them are known as Arcane Stages. Though unfortunately it seems Julius' power has been used up at this point.

"Though I believed Kyoya would be an arcane stage, his magic was only at Stage One. Perhaps I was wr-"

Before Loropechika could finish her thought, everyone in the room heard a loud series of explosions. Hearing this, various screens of mana were now in front of Loropechika. As she looked, she saw two individuals have invaded the Heart Kingdom.

"Who.....no, what are they?"

"Your majesty, what is wrong?"

As Gaja dashed to her side, he saw two people on one of the screens. One of them had blonde hair as was holding one of the Heart Kingdom's citizen's by his head.

Seconds later, the intruder's hand grew brightly as he made the person's head he was holding explode. As the smoke cleared, every single trace of that person's head was gone in an instant. Meanwhile, a male with black hair simply smiled as he snapped his fingers and several vines with thorns were impaled through several bodies.

Seeing this, the magic knights looked in horror at what they saw. Loropechika couldn't believe what she saw too. However, as the room was filled with silence Kyoya spoke up.

"Where is the black haired one located?"

"He's in Polnfrume Forest. Wait, are you actually going to fight him? His mana feels just like a devi-"

"That's even more reason for me to go. After all, my true magic was made for killing devils."

As he said this, Kyoya dashed out of the palace and was searching for the mana of the man in Polnfrume Forest. While this happened, Gaja looked to Loropechika.

"We really didn't get to see their true strength because just like us, they were holding back. This may be an opportunity to see their real strength. Should things get out of hand, then I will step in."

"Thank you, Gaja. Asta, Noelle, Mimosa, Finral, and Nero. While Kyoya deals with the black haired man, you will deal with the explosion user. Please, help me protect my Kingdom!!!!!"

~Meanwhile~
A man could be seen standing on pitch black smoke as he was flying through the sky. When he looked ahead, he saw his destination. That destination was the Heart Kingdom. With a smile on his face, he said one thing.

"Well then, time for Uncle Reaper to join in."