Chapter 140

Countless thoughts swirled in Demos’s mind.

Who was Carisia? No, what was she?

Demos recalled the despair of those bygone days. To recount the reason he had come before the Ten Sages required delving further into the past.

Back when he was the captain of the War God Enyalius Sect’s combat priests, there was a time he had ambitiously plotted the assassination of a Tower Master. This happened after the sect’s secluded sanctuary was discovered and the previous Sect Leader was killed.

Remarkably, one of the Ten Towers’ Tower Masters had personally taken to the field. The reason such an enormous figure, far surpassing even Blasphemia, had intervened directly still eluded him.

Perhaps it was merely out of caution for the old strength of the Theistic Order.

When Demos returned, the Enyalius Sect’s hideout had already been reduced to ruins.

Even back then, though he was younger and brash, lacking experience but undeniably strong, Demos was formidable.

He gathered testimonies from survivors.

The Sect Leader had fought against the Tower Master. What mattered was that a battle had indeed transpired. While the Sect Leader sacrificed their life to buy time, the Enyalius Sect managed to escape.

The Sect Leader had consumed their own life force to deliver a fatal wound to the Tower Master. That injury prevented the Ten Towers’ forces from immediately pursuing the fleeing sect members.

As far as Demos knew, a wounded lion was dangerous.

But a healed lion was even more so—especially if it harbored grudges against those who had injured it.

Thus, Demos devised an assassination plan targeting the Tower Master. At the time, he believed it was the only way to ensure the survival of the Enyalius Sect.

And then he witnessed the power of the Ten Sages.

“…They were closer to magic than human.”

It seemed less like the Tower Master was commanding the Ten Sages and more like the Ten Sages were controlling the Tower Master. Ancient grand magics, thought lost to history, erupted from the Tower Master’s shattered limbs.

His body stiffened. The density of the overwhelming magical power defied description—it crushed everything within its range into dust.

The Tower Master shone with a golden light, appearing more like a compressed brilliance than a human. With every step, the space around them evaporated into light.

Ultimately, the Tower Master seemed to float, suspended in midair, due to the circular void formed around their physical form. This transparent gap was saturated with magic.

Facing this spectacle, Demos felt despair. Witnessing the infinite use of immeasurable magical power in the form of a golden mind overwhelmed him.

The divine force residing in his flesh cursed it, proclaiming it a distortion that twisted the very fabric of existence.

Demos survived only thanks to the ancient elders of the tower—reclusive sages older even than the Tower Master, who had persisted through the changing of towers while preserving the wisdom of the Ten Sages.

They confronted the Tower Master. Demos still remembered fragments of their murmured words.

“To attempt connection with the Ten Sages using an imperfect body… how foolish…”

“Have you fallen prey to the obsession of the Dead King?”

“Where is the intruder?”

Demos closed his eyes.

The sensation emanating from Carisia resembled the one he felt upon witnessing the radiant Tower Master.

But how could a human resemble either a Tower Master or the Ten Sages?

He abandoned trying to deduce Carisia’s true nature—it lay beyond his comprehension.

Instead, he pondered Ortes’s intentions.

If his senses hadn’t failed him, Carisia undoubtedly had some connection to the Ten Sages, at least the Ten Towers—a being that could be called an archenemy of the Theistic Order.

Was Ortes an enemy of the Theistic Order?

A sudden question arose deep within his heart. But Demos was rational. If Ortes had truly sought to destroy the Theistic Order, countless opportunities would have presented themselves.

The fact that the Theistic Order had reclaimed the Pluto Temple contradicted the notion that Ortes was their adversary. Then why…

“Why did he take in such a monstrous entity?”

Assuming Ortes’s ultimate goal didn’t conflict with the interests of the Theistic Order, and considering Carisia’s ties to the Ten Towers…

At that moment, Cnemon crossed Demos’s mind. He eventually became the master of a Proper Tower, wielding significant influence in the magical community.

What if rumors of “another successor to the Ten Sages” emerged under the name of the Proper Tower?

Such news would send shockwaves through the magical community, waves strong enough to compel even the heavyweights of the Ten Towers to rise.

Demos reviewed the “Proper Tower gift procedure” as explained by Ortes. Ortes initiated it and concluded it. That was all.

If someone could gift a Proper Tower at will, what about the Ten Towers?

“Is Ortes planning to use the Ten Towers to dismantle themselves?”

This was truly a terrifying strategy—not because the mighty Ten Towers could be deceived, but because someone as powerful as Carisia followed Ortes.

Ortes effectively wielded both divine and magical forces.

Demos imagined the fruition of Ortes’s plans.

Though countless conflicts between challengers and the Ten Towers existed, no war had ever occurred between the Ten Towers themselves.

Could the magical community endure such chaos, a great war encompassing everything?

“For the gods, he would incite such a war!”

Demos lamented inwardly.

That man should have worshipped our deity, not Phobos.

Perhaps he should revisit the introduction to the art of war by Enyalius sometime soon.

***

Lately, Demos has been acting strangely friendly.

We were always on relatively amicable terms despite a rough start, but now it seems he senses some kind of kinship in me.

While excessive goodwill might be concerning, beneficial food for the body isn’t, so I accepted the various books Demos offered without complaint.

Truthfully, I had too much free time on my hands since the multi-account chaos and mental parasite disappeared from Algus City. I’d already achieved my quota of impersonating Blasphemia agents by exposing Argeyirion collaborators and leveraging their information leaks.

Carisia was similarly idle. Though we uprooted the collaborators, Argeyirion’s main base remained hidden. Indirect tracking via benefactors and mental parasite trails yielded nothing but repetitive responses from the priests: “Target not found. Please check your connection or verify the path.”

So, we mostly passed the time cheering for Cnemon or watching Kine’s growing prowess in spellcasting demonstrations.

I had already suggested to my superior, “Isn’t it time we just hand things over to Cnemon and go home?” But my silver-haired boss merely shook their head.

The cautious approach was to withdraw only after Cnemon’s ascension to Tower Master was confirmed following the final trials. As a salaried employee, I couldn’t afford to upset the Chairman.

After several tests, Cnemon confidently showcased his abilities and was selected as the final candidate.

Finally, today, the last trial commenced.

Each remaining candidate, along with one trusted guard mage from their tower, formed a two-person team. Each participant received some sort of token.

All participants were sealed inside a boundary where it was declared, “The candidate from the team holding the most tokens when the boundary dissipates becomes the new Tower Master.”

This test, framed as measuring the personal skill of the Tower Master and their leadership over subordinate mages, essentially boiled down to selecting the best fighter or the one with the widest network.

Sure, they called them “guard mages,” but candidates could easily hire mercenaries or bring backlisted mages from their original towers as reinforcements, courtesy of their sponsors.

Initially, I considered leaving my position as Secretary-General of Hydra Corp to join Cnemon’s tower, but was refused. Carisia argued, “You need to stay outside,” while Cnemon insisted, “Trust my skills.” In the end, Kine was chosen as his partner.

“What’s troubling you so much?”

After seeing Cnemon and Kine off, I turned to Carisia.

“Am I that obvious?”

“Your expression hasn’t changed much, but your tone has subtly hardened.”

Not really. I was just recalling her peculiar psychology whenever she wanted me nearby.

“I haven’t seen anything in Phobos’s crystal.”

Of course not. If Carisia had seen something definitive, she would have told me by now.

“The state of the city’s flowing magical energy feels impure. It’s not something that can be handled within the testing grounds.”

“Isn’t it just leftover effects from the extra-dimensional fire containment operation? The entire land was contaminated, so some of it must have seeped into the city’s magical conduits. The Magic Core should handle purification automatically, right?”

Carisia shook her head. She turned away from the entrance to the testing grounds and stared toward the Amimone Magic Tower in the center of Algus City.

“…That Magic Core is the most ominous.”

“…”