Chapter 170: The Siege of the White Light Magic Tower (1)
After much deliberation, Lampades decided to accept Orthes’ proposal. He couldn’t ignore the warning Kynemon had once shared with him—a seemingly delusional prophecy: if Orthes were to seize control of the Commandments, that would be the moment the world ends.
According to Kynemon’s prediction, Orthes would use the succession war to take control of all the Commandments, then form a global-scale magic array using the Ten Towers and their boundless mana to obliterate the world.¹
The first half of Kynemon’s prophecy—successive succession wars and the theft of the Commandments—was already becoming a reality.
And now that the first half had proven true, there was no guarantee that the second half wouldn’t follow suit.
…Still, Lampades believed Orthes when he said he needed to fight against “something that would come after the Ten Towers.”
However, even if Orthes and Carisia defeated that unknown entity, Lampades couldn’t be certain they wouldn’t then turn the Commandments’ power to destroy the world.
Thus, Lampades decided to join their plan instead. After all, the cornerstone of the large-scale magic array formed through the Ten Towers would undoubtedly be the Commandments.
If Lampades could gain control of the Yellow Thunder Commandment, he could sabotage the magic array assigned to it. Even if Orthes pressed the proverbial doomsday button, the intricately calculated magic array would collapse, preventing the explosion from reaching its peak and diminishing its destructive power.
In this way, the magical civilization Lampades’ tower members relied on would partially survive. This was Lampades’ strategy to prepare for the future he feared.
Orthes was delighted by Lampades’ decision to cooperate and promptly reported the news to Carisia. Upon hearing it, Carisia collapsed into her chair, as if her strength had finally left her.
She had now done everything possible to set the plan in motion.
“We still have the succession war ahead,” Orthes murmured softly beside her. Carisia nodded. As soon as the Ten Towers officially deployed their forces, they would declare the succession war—and bring down the White Light Magic Tower.
Carisia tried to sit up straight, but her body wouldn’t respond. Now that the long-awaited moment was so close, the mix of tension and exhilaration was throwing her off balance.
Carisia closed her eyes briefly and removed her gauntlet. Clank. The metallic sound echoed faintly. She extended the hand hidden within the black gauntlet toward Orthes.
“Will you hold it?”
Without a word, Orthes shrugged lightly and clasped Carisia’s right hand with both of his. Feeling the warmth, Carisia wiggled her fingers, seeking more of it. As her left hand moved to cover Orthes’ hands, he finally spoke.
“Well. Looks like this long, long contract between you and me is finally coming to an end.”
“…It does, doesn’t it? We started all this just because White Light didn’t sit right with us,” Carisia replied.
Using Orthes’ finger, she traced words onto the back of his hand, asking in a teasing tone if he planned to quit after this fight with White Light.
Orthes shook his head.
“After that, I suppose I’ll have to beg you to let me stick around a little longer. We still have the Mage King to deal with, after all.”
Carisia chuckled faintly.
***
News spread across the magical society: the Ten Towers’ expeditionary force had breached the dimensional barrier. There was widespread hope that this time, the persistent scourge known as Argyrion would finally be eradicated.
But beneath the surface, a quieter, more secretive expectation rippled like waves.
The prophecy of a battle to end the era of the Ten Towers, a fight to usher in a new age, began to take hold.
Those who had even a glimpse of the truth beneath the surface turned their eyes toward Etna City.
For there resided the monster, born to bring down the giants of the Ten Towers.
***
13 minutes and 25 seconds after the Ten Towers officially deployed their forces, Hydra Corporation’s cross-referenced observations confirmed the news of the expeditionary force.
Hydra Corporation immediately declared a succession war.
Their target: the White Light Magic Tower.
The oldest—and strongest—of the Ten Towers.
***
Due to the physical distance between Etna City and the White Light Magic Tower, even the fastest calculations suggested that the succession war would take at least ten days to conclude.
This wasn’t counting the time it would take for White Light to intercept Hydra Corporation’s forces and utterly crush them, which would likely be so swift that it wasn’t worth estimating.
The ten-day period referred instead to the time it would take Hydra Corporation’s forces to reach White Light on foot. The magical infrastructure of society—such as magi-powered trains—was all owned by the Ten Towers, meaning Hydra Corporation naturally couldn’t use it.
Most of magical society assumed this battle would end in a tedious stalemate. They were more preoccupied with figuring out who, and for what reason, had instigated an attack on the Ten Towers using some remote tower.
At that moment, Carisia made a shocking declaration:
“The White Light succession war will conclude within one hour.”
***
One hour.
That was the time White Light would need to dismantle its lighthouse spells and focus the full power of the Commandments on its defense.
If Hydra Corporation failed to bring down White Light within this hour, they would face the tower’s full strength, and the plan would unravel entirely.
For this reason, Carisia issued additional instructions:
“If the succession war is not concluded within one hour, we will trigger the artificial Commandments to overload. To ensure this plan runs smoothly, all directors are to hold their ground in Etna City.”
It was a declaration to forcibly take the Ten Towers’ seat of power by killing White Light’s tower master, no matter what it took. At least, that’s how the directors understood it.
The only person who knew that “overload” actually meant “detonate” was Orthes.
Even Kaicle misunderstood the term, assuming it referred to cutting off White Light’s mana supply via the artificial Commandments. Only Orthes knew the truth: Carisia had created the artificial Commandments with the sole purpose of destroying White Light itself.
“If this fails as well, the entire plan will be scrapped. The successive succession wars and the theft of the Commandments will be deemed a complete failure. From that point on, ensure your own survival.”
Her brief declaration left most of the directors bewildered. There were no detailed strategies on how to deploy their forces or how to repel expected attacks.
Cretone raised his hand.
“Boss… How exactly are we supposed to attack the Ten Towers…?”
“The mission has been issued, has it not? Hold your positions in Etna City.”
Divius scratched his helmeted head. As a former member of Blasphemia, he found this strategy incomprehensible.
“Are the two of you planning to attack alone? That’s suicide. The mana around the Ten Towers is completely dominated by the Commandments—it’s nearly impossible to even use magic. And isn’t it common sense, even in ancient warfare, that a siege requires three times the defenders’ numbers? Against the Ten Towers, even ten times wouldn’t be enough.”
As expected. Carisia exchanged a glance with Orthes.
Some individuals who had been privy to fragments of Carisia’s blueprint for attacking White Light quietly left the room to prepare for their roles.
Bertrand.
Kaicle.
Arabella.
“We won’t be conducting a siege,” Carisia announced, continuing as though the directors’ confusion didn’t concern her.
“The siege is White Light’s responsibility.”
It was then that the directors finally realized what had been bothering them.
Orthes, who was always at Carisia’s side, was no longer there.
***
“Miss Kine, is this the right channel?”
“Yes. Just give me a moment….”
Orthes and Kine were now in Elysion, the holy sanctuary of magic.
Elysion was the midpoint where all mana from the Commandments converged, its attributes canceling each other out and transforming into pure mana.
Orthes was here to sabotage that sacred site.
Ordinarily, only individuals subjected to the highest levels of mental screening by Argos’ dimension could serve as guards in Elysion.
However, Argos’ influence had waned, and the faction that rose to replace it was led by Orthes’ allies.
Thus, it had been absurdly easy for Orthes to infiltrate Elysion under an official identity.
“Well then, shall we begin our ‘City Mana Corporation duties’!”
Orthes manipulated the control panel for the mana conduits. Ten main mana conduits connected to Elysion’s core power source.
One of those conduits, the one connected to White Light, was shut off.
As the flow of mana to Elysion was blocked, the mana density around White Light began to rise slowly.
At the same time, Orthes sent an email to a randomized address.
Niobe.
The former agents of Blasphemia, who were meant to serve the Ten Towers, had begun moving against them.
The rebellion didn’t start with grand fanfare. Once, Auditor-General Salmosia had been summoned to Elysion by the Ten Towers due to Argyrion’s presence there.² He had entered the Ether Space while retaining his physical form.
Outside the Ten Towers’ domain, achieving the Eleusis phenomenon required incredibly complex conditions.
But within their territory, the overwhelming mana of the Commandments made it simple to create an arbitrary virtual space where one could enter with their physical body.
Niobe merely activated the device that concentrated mana to form such an Ether Space.
Of course, the Ether Space would form within White Light’s territory.