Chapter 177: Ten Commandments Frontline (4)
The Nokmok front unfolded in a manner starkly different from Orthes' expectations.
Originally, this front was meant to be a drawn-out, almost peaceful kind of battle—if such a term could ever apply to war.
The attackers would slowly cultivate plants, while the defenders uprooted and overturned those same plants. If the goal was merely to delay, months could be spent just growing siege flora designed to disrupt the circulation system.
But everything changed with Argyrion's intervention.
Argyrion provided angelification drugs to Minte Tower, inheritors of Sprigo’s philosophy.
In unison, Minte's mages stabbed the vials of angelification drugs into their own chests. And then, they charged forward in a frenzy.
Chaos erupted across the frontlines.
This was not a sanctioned maneuver. The plan had always been to win a decisive victory in their patron's first war before engaging in actual combat.
What was this sudden madness?
Even those who suspected traitors planted by the Ten Towers were confused. If this were sabotage, surely the Minte Tower mages would have attacked in the opposite direction.
Betrayal without an enemy charge? What did it even mean?
The rest of the coalition tried to make sense of it. The consensus was simple: Minte Tower must have wanted to stand out. They sought to play a more active role in the battle to secure a favorable position when the spoils were divided.
The more cautious Towers laughed at Minte Tower's foolishness. In war—especially a war against the Ten Towers—the vanguard always suffered the greatest losses.
At the start of a succession war, when the Ten Commandments' control over magical energy was strongest, magic was difficult to use. Minte Tower, they assumed, had run ahead for greater rewards, only to doom themselves to annihilation.
Meanwhile, those who shared Minte’s ambition were gripped by anxiety.
What if Minte Tower gained access to Nokmok’s Ten Commandments before them?
What if Hydra Corporation decided to favor Minte Tower?
Still, even the ambitious were rational. Instead of overtaking Minte, they merely advanced faster, keeping just behind them.
This division fractured the coalition forces into three distinct groups:
At the forefront, Minte Tower, recklessly charging ahead.
Behind them, a few other Towers, hurrying to follow Minte’s lead.
The majority, who hung back at the rear, maintaining their cautious approach.
And this division was a fatal mistake.
Upon reaching Nokmok’s first barrier, Minte Tower’s mages began to shed their human forms.
This was Sprigo’s treefication magic, augmented by Argyrion’s Silver Blessing.
The angelified mages of Minte Tower, now transcending human limitations, realized they were no longer constrained by the rules of magical energy.
They could manipulate mana itself, bypassing the constraints of magic entirely. The Silver Thread’s power converted magical energy into mana and sought new fuel for its growth.
Nokmok Tower’s circulation system was resilient, far too robust to attack without preparation.
So the tree-mages of Minte chose their first sacrifices: the coalition mages pursuing them.
The sudden turn of events threw the coalition into disarray.
Unprepared for the betrayal, the coalition mages were ensnared by a flood of silver roots.
The moment even a single root pierced their bodies, it spread rapidly through their veins, invading capillaries and devouring their life force.
The mages became gaunt in an instant, their forms collapsing into thin, silver threads.
Those who remained at a distance couldn’t fully understand the horror they were witnessing. But one thing was clear—they needed to run.
And then they noticed it—the unmistakable glint of silver.
"Argyrion!"
How could they be here? Had they evaded the Ten Towers’ expeditionary forces and arrived undetected?
Impossible. The expeditionary forces had departed less than a day ago. They couldn’t even have reached Argyrion’s main camp yet.
As panic rippled through the coalition like a contagion, the heart of the silver forest revealed itself.
The intertwined branches of the silver trees formed a grotesque throne, upon which a man stood proudly.
He declared loudly, his voice booming across the battlefield:
“Hydra Corporation! In accordance with our pact, we have arrived!”
For a moment, all eyes turned to Halto, leader of Argyrion, as disbelief and confusion deepened. None of the coalition had time to check beneath their feet.
That’s when Nastion struck. From the shadows cast by the immobilized coalition forces, Nastion emerged.
In the moments it took for the coalition mages to regain their senses, they realized they couldn’t move. Their bodies felt pinned in place as if nailed down.
Argyrion’s officers acted swiftly, using spatial magic without hesitation. They opened pathways between the silver roots and the coalition forces. Through these gateways, silver tendrils surged, ensnaring dozens more mages.
The sudden influx of “fertilizer” accelerated the growth of Argyrion’s tree-mages.
Halto smiled with satisfaction.
Of course, the chaos was short-lived.
In the grand scheme, the coalition forces had lost less than 20% of their total numbers.
But growing the silver forest wasn’t Halto’s true goal.
The attack was a deliberate provocation—a scheme to frame Hydra Corporation.
Halto had long since concluded that Argyrion’s position as a target of the Ten Towers was entirely due to Orthes’ cunning manipulations.
If you couldn’t defeat Orthes’ schemes, then you joined them.
Thus, Halto had abandoned Argyrion’s main base and thrown his lot in with the Ten Commandments Revolution.
But mere cooperation wasn’t enough. If Halto wanted to turn the tables on Orthes, he needed another plan.
And so, Halto weaponized Orthes’ own tactics against him.
Standing amidst the silver forest, Halto declared what Orthes had once so masterfully spread across the magical world:
“Argyrion operates under the guidance of Hydra Corporation.”
It was a blatant fabrication, designed to sow suspicion among Orthes’ allies and entangle Hydra Corporation in the crossfire of the magical society’s wrath.
The retreating coalition mages would carry this claim in their hearts, their panic ensuring it would spread.
Could Orthes silence them all?
No.
Could he even silence Nokmok?
By declaring Argyrion’s allegiance to Hydra Corporation, Halto ensured that Nokmok would seek aid without hesitation.
And so, Hydra Corporation would join Argyrion as a public enemy of the magical society.
Confident in the success of the first step of his plan, Halto prepared to move again.
Argyrion existed to pave the way for their great cause: creating a gateway through which their master could descend.
The loss of their original base and the repurposing of the gateway as a trap for the Ten Towers’ expeditionary forces had been a setback, but not an insurmountable one.
The infinite power of the Ten Commandments would be enough to shatter the dimensional barrier. The final piece for their master’s arrival was within reach.
“Let’s go, silver apostles!”
“For truth and the cause!”
Argyrion surged forward, a tide of silver trees marching toward Nokmok.
***
Meanwhile, Kore, the Priestess of Pluton, assumed her role as the overseer of the Ten Commandments Revolution.
Unlike the far-seeing priests of Phoibos, Kore lacked a divine incantation for clairvoyance.
Instead, she possessed the ability to hear the voices of the dead. Amplified by Pluton’s grand temple, her power extended across the entirety of the Ten Commandments Frontline.
This massive amplification came at a cost.
The divine authority granted by the temple was meant to be distributed among all of Pluton’s priests within its walls, according to their rank.
But now, Kore bore the burden alone. The overuse of the temple’s power drained her life force with every passing moment.
However, the stakes were worth it.
A single revolution awaited them—one that could end all persecution.
Convinced by Demus’ passionate argument, both the moderates and the Pope’s faction of the Divine Cult had united for this campaign.
Kore had hesitated, fearing Orthes’ connection to the Ten Towers. She believed Orthes wasn’t just a Tower affiliate but one of its creators.
But Demus reassured her, claiming Orthes had a plan to dismantle the Ten Towers using the Ten Commandments against them.
Despite her doubts, Kore had decided to trust him.
And so, she braced herself for the divine pain of the temple’s power, waiting for the decisive moment after White Light’s fall.
But then—
Her ears were filled with the terrifying wails of the dying.
***
Atop the White Light Tower, Orthes emerged, having cut through all its defenses in a single stroke.
The space he entered no longer adhered to the laws of reality. Even its dimensions defied comprehension.
The endless night sky stretched infinitely above, though the world outside remained bright with daylight.
Orthes noticed shallow water pooling around his feet, so clear it reflected the stars above. It reminded him of Earth's salt flats, where the heavens seemed to descend and merge with the ground.
A river of starlight—a galactic halo—encircled the space, forming a radiant ring that resembled a solar eclipse.
And at the center of that ring stood a single figure.
Her hair was pure white, her golden eyes holding the very starlight she commanded as her halo.
She resembled Carisia in many ways, but unlike Carisia’s black suit, this woman wore a white dress that matched her hair.
This was White Light.