Chapter 152: Hydra Corporation Assembly (2)
While Orthes was meeting the directors to prepare for the assembly, Carisia was making her own preparations.
Kaicle, the creator of the Artificial Commandments, likely had some idea of the broader scope of the plans Carisia and Orthes were devising.
Responding promptly to Carisia’s summons, Kaicle arrived without delay, aided by modifications he’d made to the Ether Space deployment system installed beneath the Etna Volcano. This allowed him to connect directly to Hydra Corporation’s internal systems.
“What can I do for you?” asked the imposing figure, his manner calm and composed. Having reached the culmination of his life’s research, he exuded the poise of someone who had achieved their greatest dream.
“You once said the Artificial Commandments were made in pursuit of a ‘clue to ascension,’ correct?”
“Yes.”
“You also posited that the Mage King, who ascended beyond this dimension, is essentially equivalent to the gods.”
“Yes.”
“Then, if we consider the Mage King a god, his domain would be ‘the God of Magic,’ wouldn’t it?”
Kaicle nodded. It was a profoundly heretical idea. The Ten Towers, which had persecuted the followers of the Old Gods as superstitious fools, would be appalled. Yet Kaicle was unwavering in his conclusions. He had already succeeded, to some degree, in using sacred energy to open pathways to the dimension of ascension and metaphysical infinite power.
This was akin to one of the two key traits of the Artificial Commandments: inexhaustible mana. Kaicle, being of an uncompromising nature, would sooner die as a heretic than compromise his beliefs.
“The Mage King… is a god,” he affirmed with conviction.
“That is, by the definition of a god as an entity capable of freely accessing the dimension of ascension beyond this world.”
Kaicle nodded again, but a question lingered. Until now, Carisia had seemed more focused on the practical applications of his heretical theories than on the theories themselves.
Carisia had given him unprecedented freedom to study the Artificial Commandments, despite the inherent dangers. If his work were leaked, it could spell the end of Etna City itself. Yet, Kaicle did not believe Carisia would kill him and seize the results for herself—not while Orthes, an even greater enigma, was in the picture.
After the Mage King’s advent, mana had become interwoven into every aspect of existence. Yet Orthes, who possessed neither mana nor magic, stood as an anomaly. He was the only known true null-mage.
***
“Director Kaicle,” Carisia’s voice broke through his thoughts.
“Yes.”
“I intend to destroy the Ten Towers.”
“…I expected as much.”
Allowing the heretical implications of the Artificial Commandments meant this was about more than mere ambition to become an eleventh tower. The Ten Towers’ ideology firmly rejected even the notion of Artificial Commandments. To them, the idea was both heretical and blasphemous.
From Kaicle’s perspective, the Tower’s mages were no different from priests worshipping gods. He responded calmly:
“In that case, I assume you’re affiliated with the Cult of the Old Gods.”
“Ho, I thought you were solely focused on your research.”
“I am. But I also worked in the Ten Towers, where political savvy is a necessity for survival.”
“Politics? Doesn’t the Ten Towers pride itself on being the purest bastion of magical research?”
“The purer one claims to be, the more corrupt they often are. Greasing wheels, currying favor with elders, and shielding your work from rivals—that’s the true nature of their purity.”
Kaicle recounted how relics he had supplied for the Artificial Commandments had come from various sources, including ones that couldn’t be explained by Hydra’s Divine Investigation Office or Lamphades’ enhanced radar.
Some were relics of the Twelve Old Gods, which Orthes himself had procured and presented as samples.
“I suspected as much. Relics of that magnitude must have been either excavated or received from their original owners. In either case, a connection to the Cult of the Old Gods seemed likely.”
“You’re correct. Some were excavated; others were acquired from their original owners, such as the Divine Cult. They are invaluable allies when opposing the Ten Towers.”
Using the Artificial Commandments and the Cult of the Old Gods to dismantle the Ten Towers was a plan terrifying enough to unnerve most mages into betraying it on the spot. But Kaicle was no ordinary mage.
“What role do the Artificial Commandments play in this plan? Nullifying the existing Commandments?”
“For now, that’s the primary expectation. But there are additional uses I’m still considering.”
Carisia didn’t bother explaining that these uses included the creation of magical bombs. For now, Orthes was the only one privy to that part of the plan.
Kaicle’s remaining organic eye gleamed with determination.
“I simply want to prove my methods for achieving ascension are correct. If you seize the Commandments, the path to ascension will be clearer.”
His voice trembled slightly as he concluded, “I’ve always wondered what would happen when all the Commandments are brought together.”
“You’re betting on Hydra Corporation?”
“I’ve already staked everything.”
Carisia nodded. If her plan succeeded, the Commandments would indeed be gathered in one place—only to be destroyed.
***
“Good. Director Kaicle, now that the Artificial Commandments are essentially complete, I have a new task for you.”
She handed Kaicle a document, not as a hologram or email through Ether Space but as physical paper—a sign that its contents were to leave no trace.
The document explored the differences between extra-dimensional entities and gods. While they were similar in nature, one critical distinction existed in this world: resistance from the world itself.
Extra-dimensional beings faced resistance from the world barrier or dimensional wall whenever they tried to interfere. This resistance, an inherent law of nature, was why dimensional cracks automatically healed. Gods, however, were exempt from this resistance.
Carisia’s hypothesis aimed to artificially replicate this resistance.
“I’m exploring a way to induce the world’s resistance not against extra-dimensional mana but against mana itself.”
“….”
She envisioned a spell to destroy magic—a way to restructure the world barrier’s rejection mechanisms to target mana universally.
“A fitting name would be…” she mused.
***
Kaicle burned the document to ashes with a flicker of mana. The spell Carisia proposed was horrifying even in concept. If realized, no mage could use magic within the Anti-Magic Field—not even Carisia herself.
But Carisia had Orthes.
A man existing outside the magical laws rewritten by the Mage King, a true null-mage, and perhaps the only one in the world.
“One question, if I may,” Kaicle asked cautiously.
Carisia nodded, granting permission.
“What exactly is Orthes?”
It was an enigma Kaicle could not resolve. Within Hydra Corporation, Orthes’s true position seemed akin to that of an ambassador mediating with the Divine Cult. But Kaicle knew no priest, no matter how devout, could exist without mana in this age.
Carisia’s lips curled into a thin smile as she replied with disarming certainty:
“I have no idea.”