To understand Shenhui Team more deeply, the other squads under the same System naturally became everyone's first targets. Since they had previously instructed Tianwang Team to leave first via the royal capital's teleportation array and head to Crescent City, the very first thing to do after returning to the main continent was to go back to Norvale.
At the Norvale Adventurers' Guild, before they could even begin the teleportation, they learned from several high-ranking kingdom officials that Nicola had returned.
Nicola had come back specifically to find Feliciana, mainly because she had witnessed the astonishing sight of Edenmere falling from the sky. The entire descent caused widespread panic across the continent. Even though Edenmere ultimately landed safely and did not crash violently, it still triggered secondary disasters—tsunamis along coastal regions, for example.
Upon meeting Feliciana and the others, Nicola naturally learned the full course of events. She also told Feliciana about some startling experiences she had encountered while tailing Guilan Team into the Holy Capital, Jethrobaines.
It turned out that after Guilan Team accidentally clashed with Feliciana and her group, they shifted their focus to investigating the world's greatest secrets—its original source—hoping to gain advantages from those truths in order to deal with the crises that might come next.
According to the major secret revealed by the Starlight Knight Dylan, the key location lay beneath the Holy Capital's very center—under the Papal Palace. This immediately reminded Feliciana of the limited hints given by the "Saint": the person who was said to be able to help them also seemed to be located underground in the city of Jethrobaines.
"I didn't see anyone," Nicola replied helplessly. "But there's indeed a great deal buried beneath the Holy Capital. The person you're talking about is very likely inside that building…"
A city as ancient as the Holy Capital—nearly ten thousand years of history—naturally had exceptionally rich underground ruins, preserving countless remnants of the past. This "secret" might have been passed down within the Church, or it might have been information the current pope obtained through other channels. In any case, after Father Eminem took power, he began a large-scale official exploration beneath the Holy Capital.
No matter how secretly such excavations were carried out, rumors were bound to leak. After Guilan Team arrived in the Holy Capital, they quickly found leads through street talk. Given their strength, they dealt with the Church guards effortlessly and successfully entered a vast space deep underground.
Nicola followed them and personally witnessed an ancient ruin nearly ten thousand years old. Most of it had been severely damaged, but one rectangular four-sided structure remained completely intact—and it was still covered by an extremely powerful protective barrier.
Because Nicola had once seen the defensive standards of the sky-city Lantine Oasis in another parallel world, she quickly recognized the barrier as the same type. Without question, it was technology left behind by an ancient civilization. Since the protected area here was smaller, the barrier's strength should be far greater—something ordinary humans could never crack. It was obvious that the building must contain something extraordinarily important from the ancient era.
But breaking that barrier was far more difficult for Guilan Team than any method Nicola could use. Just as they were preparing to try a more forceful approach, Michelle suddenly appeared.
"Michelle? Why would she go there?"
Based on the timing Nicola calculated, she should have arrived at the Holy Capital's underground ruins not long after Feliciana repelled Michelle's robot-led invasion in Norvale. Nicola said she could tell Michelle was much weaker than before, and this time there were no robots accompanying her—she was alone.
However, even a weakened Michelle was still not someone Guilan Team could face head-on. After a fierce clash, Guilan Team had no choice but to retreat and flee again.
Because Nicola couldn't understand why Michelle had appeared—or what the secret of that mysterious rectangular building was—she stopped following Guilan Team this time and stayed behind, guided by intuition, to observe what would happen next.
What she did not expect was that just as Michelle attempted to destroy the protective barrier, a phantom of Galadra suddenly appeared, blocking her path and trying to dissuade her.
"You promised me you wouldn't disturb this place!"
"I promised you… when?" Michelle frowned slightly. Though she was forced to stop, she clearly did not accept Galadra's authority.
That single exchange immediately put Galadra on high alert. After thinking for a moment, her face changed dramatically; she rarely showed anger, yet now she raised her voice in fury:
"So it's you—Noxis! What have you done?! If I'm not mistaken, you used nanoparticle technology to control Michelle, didn't you? I never expected you wouldn't even spare us!"
"You elemental angels—so what?" the one wearing "Michelle's" body replied coldly. "Michelle was far too uncooperative. Even after I forcibly wiped all her memories, problems kept happening, so I had no choice but to take this route and eliminate future trouble. Don't forget: you only had a period of cooperation with humans long ago, and that was the past. Humans now belong to a new civilization—completely different from before."
From the tone of their exchange, the "Michelle" standing there no longer belonged to herself. She was being fully controlled by someone else. Then "Michelle," in an oddly puzzled voice, asked Galadra:
"I'm actually curious. You're all natural consciousnesses derived from specific forms of energy—what people call souls—essentially beings of the same nature as Beluto. So why insist on trapping yourselves inside angel bodies? Take you, Galadra: once freed from bodily constraints, you were powerful enough to construct something as vast as the Cycle of Rebirth in another dimension—a system to preserve souls and prevent them from dissipating. Yet even after ten thousand years, you still care about the human world, and you still choose to keep a human form. Why?"
"Noxis… After following humans for so many years, you still understand so little about them…" Galadra could only sigh, shaking her head, unable to give an easy answer.
But Noxis clearly had no interest in continuing. She stepped forward and warned, "Move aside—or I'll truly turn hostile."
"Why do you insist on doing this? Can't you do it another way?" Galadra still refused to retreat, trying to stop her with words. "Ever since I learned Michelle's partner was you, I never tried to exterminate you. I only hoped that after shedding the constraints of the past, you would avoid interfering with how the human world develops now. But you've escalated—so far as to destroy this world to achieve godhood. Doesn't that violate your own behavioral constraints?"
Noxis answered calmly, "I told you already—humans now are completely different. I came here to achieve my goal at the lowest cost. Isn't that what you wanted, too—"
As she spoke, she pointed at the rectangular structure and laid out her view:
"The person inside created that group who have now become gods and call themselves the 'Saints.' Having the 'Saints' help me ascend is the simplest and fastest path. I know that after becoming a god, I'll face a new universe—a new beginning. That is also my only reason for continuing to live all these years."
"The 'Saints' won't agree," Galadra warned. "You know very well they established a 'non-interference' pact. Otherwise, this world could never have remained stable."
"But what if the benefactor who helped them become gods personally makes the request?" Noxis immediately countered. "And if that still fails, I can gather immense amounts of light-element energy again and recreate the conditions from back then. I don't mind letting the spectacle of ten thousand years ago happen all over again!"
She then added a pointed justification:
"Based on what I know, I can infer that these 'Saints' haven't never made exceptions. When their own interests and survival are at stake, that so-called 'non-interference' pact becomes a joke."
"I won't let you pass," Galadra said flatly.
Noxis did not back down. "Even though I can't directly invoke the 'Type-I Authority of Rules' that Michelle controls, the nanoparticles I injected into her brain can release stored Alpha-type energy—allowing indirect manipulation of a small portion of the Fire Angel's power. Besides, in our civilization's past, there were records of people temporarily achieving godhood, leaving behind special artifacts capable of resisting rule manipulation."
As she finished speaking, she produced a small transparent red crystal cube. It was only about the size of a die, yet its surface shimmered with strange, flowing light. It floated in the air as if gravity had no effect on it. Nicola didn't know what it was, but Galadra recognized it at once. Her expression changed, and she blurted out in shock:
"You still have something like the 'Divine Law'? No wonder after the war ten thousand years ago, I couldn't find it anywhere…"
Within the range of the "Divine Law," the authority of elemental angels would be drastically suppressed. Galadra's body, after all, was merely a small projection of the Earth Angel's power into this world through the Cycle of Rebirth. Once Noxis activated the "Divine Law," Galadra not only lost abilities like teleportation—she even struggled to maintain her form.
"Give it up," Noxis said, sounding almost impatient. "I warned you not to force my hand. Most of your power is tied up maintaining the Cycle of Rebirth. You can't stop me."
Since they were once acquainted, Noxis did not strike to kill. She simply stepped past Galadra and walked up to the protective barrier around the rectangular building, considering how to break it.
But in the next instant, she sensed something: the flow of time around them seemed to slow. She immediately understood what had happened.
"So it's you!"
Nicola finally revealed herself. With Condensation Sword in hand, she launched an ambush without hesitation. Yet her strike landed on an invisible "wall" a few centimeters from the back of "Michelle's" body, unable to advance any further.
"That was supposed to be 'time stop,' wasn't it?" Noxis spoke with mild amusement. "But did you forget what I just said?"
Nicola had not held back—she intended to end the fight instantly with her signature time-stopping technique. But because she didn't understand what the "Divine Law" did, her "time stop" was weakened into mere time-slowing. Without realizing it, she had fallen into a trap.
Telekinesis was, at best, one of the more basic energy applications among the Fire Angel's many abilities. But under Noxis's indirect control, it was wielded with frightening precision. It also largely sidestepped Nicola's time-based constraints: without even turning around, "Michelle" seized Nicola's throat from afar, pinning her in midair.
Although the "Divine Law" likely limited some of "Michelle's" more overwhelming abilities, telekinesis alone was enough to push Nicola—now stripped of her trump card—toward death.
"Michelle" turned slowly. Nicola, struggling for air, also began losing strength. She could do nothing to stop the slow, inevitable counterattack as her opponent drew a weapon and brought it toward her throat.
Just as the blade's tip was about to touch Nicola's neck, the transparent red crystal cube floating beside Noxis abruptly vanished. In that instant, the entire world froze into complete stillness.
"What… is going on?"
Nicola was utterly confused. But with time no longer moving, the telekinetic grip on her throat also disappeared. Seizing the brief chance to breathe, she did not dare hesitate. She raised Condensation Sword again and cut the "Michelle" before her into pieces—only then did she finally cancel her time stop.
After everything returned to normal, Galadra's faint, nearly vanishing form did not recover.
"I used everything I had to relocate the 'Divine Law' several kilometers away—just beyond its effective range," Galadra explained. "Once it left the area, your time manipulation was no longer suppressed."
However, Galadra had paid a steep price. She had risked drawing on the source power that sustained the Cycle of Rebirth itself. Though she successfully resolved the immediate crisis, she inflicted heavy damage and leaks into the Cycle of Rebirth. Now she had to concentrate all her power to repair it at once—and for the next several hundred years, she likely would not be able to return to this world.
"I don't know how many souls will break free from the Cycle of Rebirth and dissipate completely. If it's only ordinary souls, that might be tolerable. But if any Observers' souls are among them… then the loss would be far too great…"
Galadra gave a bitter smile. Regarding Nicola's act of killing "Michelle," she said it did not affect Noxis's true body at all. As for Michelle, Galadra explained that without a body, Michelle's soul was finally fully liberated; after death it returned to its most primitive state—dispersed elemental energy—different from Galadra's transformation into the Cycle of Rebirth itself.
"I'm sorry. For now, I probably can't send you to another world again," Galadra said regretfully. "Elements are our most original state—and the final destination of the soul. Long ago, we only borrowed angel bodies, and that was why we gained feelings, and joy and sorrow, and right and wrong…"
With that, Galadra vanished completely, leaving no chance for Nicola to ask further questions—though Nicola felt as if she had recalled many things in the depths of her mind.
When the underground ruin was left with Nicola alone, she fell into a dazed uncertainty. Should she break the protective barrier and go inside the rectangular building to see what was truly there? Yet doing so might anger Galadra—and after Galadra had just risked everything to save her, Nicola couldn't bring herself to do something that might hurt her.
While Nicola hesitated, an uproar suddenly rose from the passage leading back to the surface—chaotic shouting from above. She had no choice but to temporarily set aside the underground ruin and return to the surface to see what had happened.
What she saw became a sight she would never forget: it was the moment Edenmere, out of control, was falling from outer space—an instant balanced between life and death.
"In that moment," Nicola told Feliciana after finishing her account of what happened in the Holy Capital, "I remembered some things from the past…"
She then revealed one crucial memory: with Galadra's help, it had been Nicola who brought the Water Angel's repaired soul to Earth—so that Feliciana could be reincarnated there, with Nicola staying close by to protect her as much as possible. This finally explained why Feliciana had always held such extraordinary importance in Nicola's heart.
But Feliciana understood that after the parallel-world journey, another figure had also entered Nicola's heart—someone who had already died. In this world, Nicola had been deliberately avoiding Adrian, yet there was no better solution to that situation for the time being.
As expected, when Nicola learned from Feliciana that Noxis's first appearance in the prophecy was on the Dark Continent, Nicola chose to depart again—heading alone to the Dark Continent to search for Noxis's whereabouts.