Chapter 181:『White Light』
How ridiculous.
As long as the Eidolons' Observation Chamber was functioning properly, the Mage King could never return to this world.
Even Argyrion, who surely operated under the Mage King's shadow, had established their base outside the dimension. They knew full well that returning to the Ten Towers' observation range would render all their schemes meaningless.
“Do you really think the Eidolons are functioning properly?”
Carisia could guess White Light's thoughts. The two shared certain similarities in essence. It was easy to predict the kind of reasoning White Light would follow in this situation.
The same thought process that she herself might have had before meeting Orthes.
“The Eidolons are an organization unrestrained by internal power struggles, solely devoted to observing extra-dimensional phenomena. They’ve held a position within Panoptes free of interference or oversight for centuries. But such isolation also means no one oversees them. No checks, no balances.”
Argos, constantly exposed to public scrutiny, and Blasphemia, embroiled in perpetual internal conflict, had both seen defectors emerge within their ranks. So how could the Eidolons, free from all scrutiny, possibly remain immune to corruption?
The fleeting question caused a subtle ripple in White Light’s mind—a disturbance that Orthes, ever perceptive, immediately detected. He raised his sword again.
A relentless flurry of strikes came from the left. White Light’s left arm was beyond recovery. To regenerate it, she would have to recreate her entire body from scratch.
White Light gathered mana at the tip of the staff clenched in her remaining right hand.
The light enveloping the staff grew larger, taking on the form of a sword. A weightless blade of pure light, the most destructive of its kind, imbued with the essence of annihilation. It swept forward, aiming to obliterate everything in its path.
Carisia was the one to intercept. A concentrated mass of plasma wrapped around her gauntlet met the wave of light, resulting in a violent explosion.
The brightness of the clash made it nearly impossible to keep one’s eyes open. But the three combatants present were beyond such ordinary limitations of vision.
Orthes’s blade aimed for White Light’s head. Meanwhile, Carisia, darting low, targeted White Light’s thigh with her plasma-imbued gauntlet.
White Light raised her right foot and stomped it down. A circular barrier of light expanded outward from her, creating a shockwave that crushed everything in its vicinity. Both Orthes and Carisia were forced to retreat.
For a brief moment, a lull settled. White Light, her gaze sharp and low, murmured softly.
“Meaningless bravado. There is no way to contact the Eidolons from the outside.”
It was a declaration—one that carried the force of certainty. Even if it wasn’t entirely true, her words imposed that truth in this moment. The best way to avoid being ensnared by a verbal trap was to either ignore it entirely or dismiss it outright.
White Light did not retrieve the blade of light she had conjured. Instead, the extremities of her body began to burn white-hot.
She had activated magic akin to Carisia’s photonization, a spell that transformed the caster’s body into light to achieve overwhelming speed. The difference between them was clear.
BOOM!
A flash of light illuminated the night sky. Even Carisia, who could glimpse the future through Phoibos’ Crystal, reacted a moment too late. White Light’s blade of light, moving at impossible speed, was aimed directly at Carisia’s heart.
Speed.
Overwhelming speed in its purest form. White Light’s sudden assault outpaced even Carisia’s photonization. Carisia could almost hear White Light’s unspoken proclamation:
“Every spell you can cast, I can cast as well.”
While Carisia might be unable to wield White Light’s magic, White Light would never be incapable of wielding Carisia’s.
And yet, the blade didn’t pierce Carisia’s chest. Orthes had intervened, twisting the spell’s structure once again.
A mage’s domain, which occupies space itself as their territory, provides overwhelming advantages—control over mana, amplified power, and more. However, this was Orthes they were up against.
If magic was intertwined with space, then by interfering with space, one could also interfere with the outcomes of magic. Orthes’s rewritten formula unraveled the blade of light at its core.
As a result, White Light’s attack devolved into a mere physical strike. Though Carisia was sent flying, her ribs shattering under the force, it was far from lethal.
Her heart and lungs, punctured by fragments of her broken bones, could still regenerate given enough time.
But White Light had no intention of giving her that time. She had realized Orthes’s ability to disrupt magic through any means necessary. The solution was simple.
Outpace his interference.
Speed was strength. The faster, the stronger.
The shattered solar eclipse reassembled at White Light’s command. Fragments of the ring gathered behind her, forming radiant wings of light.
Each fragment of those wings scattered in all directions. Every shard was a deadly weapon in its own right, and from their tips, beams of light radiated outward, powerful enough to evaporate any barrier they touched.
Orthes knew it was time for a decisive move. Carisia had made her “preparations.” Years of fighting together meant Orthes knew exactly how to use her preparations to their fullest potential.
And so...
“Doesn’t something feel strange to you?”
For the first time, Orthes addressed White Light directly.
***
White Light tried to ignore Orthes’s words. He was a harbinger of chaos, an agent of unpredictability whose very presence increased uncertainty. Engaging him in conversation would be meaningless.
But Orthes’s tongue was sharper than his blade.
“The Ten Towers Expeditionary Fleet should have been in regular communication with the Eidolons, receiving updates on the situation. And yet, isn’t it odd? Not a single signal from their side has come through.”
It was the simple truth. After the Ten Towers’ fleet set sail, all communications had abruptly ceased. Of course, the expedition was headed for the extra-dimension, where communication often fluctuated due to dimensional storms.
“Do you really believe their claim that communication issues are due to extra-dimensional disasters? Even with the lighthouse formula you constructed using the power of the Commandments, not a single voice signal has come through. Does that seem normal to you?”
Of course, it wasn’t normal. Lamphades’ extra-dimensional interference jamming was in full effect.
But that was information White Light didn’t know. Orthes continued chipping away at her composure as he deflected her relentless magic.
“You said there’s no way to contact the Eidolons from the outside. Ha!”
He let out a derisive laugh, filling it with mockery. At the same time, he interfered with White Light’s domain once more, evoking the image of the first mage to ever control such overwhelming magic.
“There’s no need to contact them. The Eidolons are observing the extra-dimension, aren’t they?”
Orthes raised his empty left hand toward the sky.
“Surely, you know better than anyone who’s waiting beyond that dimensional wall.”
There was no need to infiltrate the Eidolons. They had approached the extra-dimension in search of the Mage King’s will. It was the perfect environment for uncovering ancient truths and dedicating themselves to a greater cause.
It was circumstantial evidence, nothing more. But it was a rational suspicion. White Light’s brow twitched.
“Are you claiming to be the Mage King?”
“Who knows? What do you want me to be?”
Orthes lowered his sword. A gesture of nonchalance.
He raised his left hand, adopting a posture reminiscent of a practiced orator. A stance that instinctively drew attention and compelled belief.
“Does our relationship—Carisia and me—mirror yours and the Mage King’s? Then who am I to you, White Light? Do you truly believe the Mage King you ‘killed’ 2,074 years ago is gone forever?”
“He’s dead. The only remnant of his soul was the lingering thought engraved in the Commandments.”
“Then why were you so terrified of Argyrion’s master? Who did you think was behind them?”
Orthes smiled, closing his eyes. It was both a brief moment to readjust his vision and a calculated dramatic pause.
For maximum effect, he opened his left eye first, leaving the other still closed.
“Look.”
He opened his eyes.
"Can't you see it? The proof of complete ascension that you sought but could never reach?"
A blue light—an unearthly, vividly azure glow—momentarily overwhelmed the starlight meticulously etched by White Light. The brilliance emanating from the stars in the sky and earth was crushed under the weight of a single strand of light shining from a human’s eyes.
White Light was the most advanced and profound being in this space. And because of that, she was able to verify the ‘truth’ Orthes presented. The moment Orthes opened his eyes, she saw the essence of his ‘gaze.’ The vision of an azure morning star spreading, eroding the celestial sphere filled with countless shining stars.
That was true divinity.
Doubt rippled through White Light’s once-unshakable composure. What now appeared before her was what she had once revered above all else in the world, what she had buried with her own hands—resurrected in front of her.
It was at the very moment she tried to reject it.
The communication channel reserved exclusively for the owners of the Commandments—the Tower Lords—activated. A hidden function, designed thousands of years ago to prepare for the eradication of the Mage King, now roared to life.
The Tower Lord of Nokmok screamed into the line, their voice sharp and frantic.
“Argyrion! Argyrion is here! They invoke Hydra Corporation’s pact of inheritance and declare succession warfare against us—!”