Carisia, who had been waiting for Ortes to return with Kine, heard an unusual sound.
The sound of tearing came from the barrier blocking the entrance to the promotion examination hall.
“Surely, the strength of this barrier should have been enough to stop irrational hosts of Silver Parasite.”
Though Carisia herself hadn’t cast the barrier spell, assessing its complexity was simple. The kind of brute force attack these hosts could manage by spreading the parasite wouldn’t break through it.
“Is someone trying to disable the barrier?”
Carisia channeled mana into her gauntlet. She’d rather not cause a scene at the promotion examination hall and hoped to leave quietly.
“But…”
Her gaze shifted. At the end of her line of sight stood the Lampades Magic Tower. Given that most of its members were research mages, it seemed unlikely they could withstand a major assault capable of breaking the barrier.
“Ortes did say helping them would aid our goals, so I suppose I should protect them.”
Carisia’s ultimate goal was the destruction of the Ten Sages’ White Light. Sometimes referred to as the collapse of the White Light Tower, but ultimately, it was the Ten Sages that perpetuated the name ‘White Light.’
To erase White Light from the world, she would eventually need to destroy the Ten Sages.
Initially, the creation of the Artificial Tenth Rank was merely a cover project to mask the true aim of destroying White Light. Over time, however, it gained more significance in her plans.
Her frequent suggestion to Ortes—”Let’s use the Artificial Tenth Rank as a bomb to destroy White Light”—was half-joking.
In other words, it was also half-serious.
The Artificial Tenth Rank, infused with mana amassed over years by Caike exploiting Etna City’s resources, held the potential to become the world’s largest bomb. Carisia took note of this possibility.
No one knows the minimum power required to destroy the Ten Sages since no one has ever attempted it. Therefore, Carisia always kept the option of using the Artificial Tenth Rank’s失控 leading to mutual annihilation with White Light as one of her strategies.
Appointing Ortes, the person she trusted most, as the head of the ‘Divinity Investigation’ aimed at refining the Artificial Tenth Rank fit within this context.
If all her magical abilities proved insufficient to destroy the Ten Sages, the only option left would be detonating the Artificial Tenth Rank—a final move to turn the tide if all else failed.
Moreover, the Artificial Tenth Rank had uses beyond being a bomb.
The Tower Masters backed by the Ten Sages wielded near-divine powers within the magic field generated by the Ten Sages. In a fight against such a master wielding ancient grand magic amplified by infinite mana, Carisia wasn’t entirely confident in her own victory.
“With Ortes fighting alongside me, the odds significantly improve,” she thought, “but…”
The likelihood of either her or Ortes sustaining irreparable injuries was extremely high—no, it was almost certain.
That wasn’t the ending she desired.
Magic fields typically repel and cancel each other out. Thus, the Artificial Tenth Rank could serve as a tool to suppress the magic field of the Ten Sages, nullifying the authority of the Ten Towers’ masters.
What began as a cover operation had now become Hydra Corp’s core project, directly tied to their true purpose.
Losing talented individuals who could greatly contribute to completing the Artificial Tenth Rank due to Erosionist terrorism would be too costly.
“Everyone, please step back.”
A quiet voice, yet the wizards present instinctively obeyed.
Crackling sounds from the barrier grew clearer. Doubt and fear filled the eyes of those present. How could hosts of the Silver Parasite possibly breach the magical defenses?
Smarter minds began considering ominous possibilities.
While hosts couldn’t breach the barrier, what about Erosionist mages who identified themselves as part of Argyreion?
!
The flow of mana maintaining the barrier was completely destroyed. A thunderous roar, akin to shattering glass but far more intense, swept through the area. Several mages involved in casting the barrier collapsed, bleeding.
“There you are, future comrades!”
The voice differed from the typical terrorist proclamation, yet the speaker was undoubtedly a member of Argyreion.
Behind the mage stood numerous automatons, their exposed frames and artificial muscles visible beneath their skinless forms.
Each strand of muscle appeared to be made of the Silver Parasite. As these silver constructs stepped into the examination hall, the Argyreion mage spoke.
“Together, let us free ourselves from the wicked grasp of the Ten Towers and embrace the greater cause—”
The mage’s gaze locked onto Carisia. A long-forgotten terror resurfaced, awakened by some extradimensional baptism.
“You…”
Carisia snapped her fingers. Her metallic gauntlet emitted a sharp sound.
A hemispherical light barrier enveloped the entrance to the examination hall.
A survivor of the Golden Desert Operation and one of the two mages Argyreion dispatched for this mission, Iobate, stared at the great adversary descended from the past with rage.
“How is it you still exist!”
Carisia didn’t care for such exchanges. It was based on combat theory she learned from Ortes.
A dense magical array formed in the air at the tip of her pointed finger. Armed with tracking and targeting, the charged beam prepared to fire.
The entire process, from aiming to firing, was eerily silent. Detecting an attack in a battle between mages usually involves sensing the mana fluctuations preceding the spell.
But Carisia’s magic suppressed these fluctuations almost entirely.
It was a technique honed during her long game of cat-and-mouse with Blasphemia.
Iobate didn’t attempt to evade the attack. He had seen many comrades fall to this method. This was not a spell he could dodge with his skill alone.
Instead, he erected multiple layers of mana barriers. The tracking-enhanced beam refracted and penetrated through the gaps.
“Aaaaargh!”
The time taken to break through the barriers gave Iobate just enough time to summon a telekinetic command to an automaton.
Iobate hurled an automaton straight into the killing beam. Its metallic body melted instantly, pulverizing even the internal mana stones.
As the automaton disintegrated, so did the beam. Iobate quickly dove among the remaining automatons.
This brief moment, bought at the cost of sacrificing one automaton, allowed Iobate to assess his situation.
‘There are roughly twenty automatons trapped within this barrier with me. No connection to others outside. Can I take down this monster with them?’
Realistically, it was impossible. This creature, despite unexpected variables, had defeated all operatives deployed during the Golden Desert Operation. Perhaps with Commander Haltos, but alone, he stood no chance.
His best course of action was to escape and report this monster’s presence back to Argyreion.
Having made his decision, Iobate focused on finding a way to deactivate the barrier.
And that was where it ended.
Iobate’s brain cooked.
It was the effect of a curse Carisia had prepared.
Seeing something meant recognizing its existence. This principle allowed horrors like curses triggered by mere sight to exist.
By witnessing the curse, its essence embedded itself within the observer. Carisia had enhanced this mechanism with her unique mana properties to craft her curse.
More precisely, seeing was fundamentally related to light.
Wasn’t visible light what human eyes could perceive? Most minor magic spells categorized by type fell under the light attribute because they manipulated visible light.
Carisia’s curse worked on a simple principle: drastically amplifying the intensity of visible light entering the eyes of anyone who looked at her.
As a result, Iobate died without putting up any meaningful resistance.
“Difficult to face a Tower Master,” Carisia assessed herself. Currently, several conditions aligned, giving her superior mana control compared to her opponent, allowing her magic to succeed in penetrating his magic field and amplifying light output inside his brain.
Without breaking through the magic field, the curse would be meaningless. Even for high-ranking Erosionists who wouldn’t die from brain damage, it would likely be difficult to deal a fatal blow.
“Perhaps when Ortes returns, we can discuss specific improvements.”
With that, Carisia calmly dismantled the automatons now without their controller, preparing to greet Ortes.
—
Damn it!
“Blasphemia bastards! Where are the members of our sect you’ve kidnapped!”
How did the Sect of the Lost God end up here?
