Chapter 186: Argyrion (1)
Halto's expression contorted at the words of the ancient elders, those perpetrators of a terrible truth, those who insulted the true cause.
However, Halto soon wore a confident expression.
"Then you should be afraid. Hydra Corporation, who is on the same side as our Argyrion, has headed to White Light. They will be the overture to the end of the magical society."
Bluster to distract the hostility of the old elders. It was an extension of the preceding public opinion warfare.
"How amusing."
"You're so sure. Do you believe in White Light's victory? But what if the head of Hydra Corporation is White Light's bastard? Even White Light himself can't guarantee victory."
White Light's bastard. Argyrion was convinced that the president of Hydra Corporation was White Light's monster simply based on Nastion's report that he had 'white hair'.
This was not a logical deduction. It was an empirical derivation that the only being who could be by the side of the adversary Orthes was another adversary.
"That's exactly why I say it's amusing."
The elders' voices filled the space draped in silver shadows.
"If White Light's bastard is truly White Light's child, then he cannot abandon his desire for magic. The agreement between you was quite surprising, but even if Hydra Corporation obtains White Light, they will not offer it to the dead king."
Halto, feigning a blank expression, glared at the old elders. He had failed to make those unknown entities hostile to Carisia.
"To White Light's child, you are merely pawns to approach a more sublime magic. We will not interfere with who possesses the Ten Commandments as long as magic continues, but the dead king you serve is different."
The old elders seemed to have some understanding of the identity of the 'White Adversary' as well. Old grudges simmered within Halto.
How many casualties had there been because the Ten Towers hadn't told them the true identity of White Light's bastard, and because they hadn't grasped the capabilities of the trickster who was attached to his side?
"So. In the end, everything other than magic is meaningless to you."
"Isn't it obvious? All mages seek ascension, and therefore cultivate magic. What else should we give meaning to other than magic?"
"The truth. The ugly truth you've been hiding─! Under your deception, the magical society is rotting! It's time for the right cause to be re-established!"
Behind him, the executives of Argyrion gathered. There were two reasons why Halto had indulged the old elders' arguments.
The first was to find clues about their identities. The fact that they called White Light so easily and knew the identity of White Light's bastard made it possible to ascertain their identities to some extent.
The second was.
"Truth and─"
Halto's lead, followed by a thunderous response in a unified voice.
"Cause!"
It was a ploy to buy time for the Argyrion executives to gather. Clearly, the individual magical capabilities of Argyrion executives did not reach those of the Ten Towers' elders. If there was anyone capable of defeating an elder in a one-on-one, head-on magical confrontation, it would be Halto or Nastion.
But the story changed if the blessings of silver bestowed upon them were added. The power to convert magic into mana was a counter to magic.
Argyrion was located at the opposite end of the spectrum from mages. The more Argyrion gathered, the more the conversion efficiency increased exponentially. Halto instinctively knew that now was the time to wage a decisive battle for the fate of Argyrion.
"Let's go! It's time to put an end to the ugly history of deceiving everyone with lies!"
***
When Carisia and White Light finally met, White Light muttered something incomprehensible to himself.
'They're not moving. They must have other intentions.'
The 'they' White Light was talking about referred to the old ones, the ancient elders. A word that grasped that the ancient elders recognized Carisia as a 'just' challenger, that is, a challenger who conformed to the framework of the magical society in order to obtain White Light.
The 'other place' where the ancient elders had set their sights. It was the settlement with Argyrion, who only moved to destroy the magical society, and furthermore, magic.
In a sense, the ancient elders were closer to the Ten Commandments than even the Tower Lords.
Those who had long abandoned human bodies and existed only as parts to explore magic. Beings who would give up anything if they could absorb even one more piece of knowledge from the Ten Commandments, if they could get even one step closer to ascension.
They resided in the Ether Space constructed on the Ten Commandments network.
If Ether Space proved that a virtual world could sometimes become reality, the ancient elders proved that beings from reality could sometimes be incorporated into a virtual, non-physical world.
And when it was time to come into reality, they either reconstructed their bodies with magic or downloaded their consciousness into Enchantware substrates for descent.
Most of the ancient elders gathered here had fashioned bodies with the magic of the Ten Commandments. In fact, they had been connected to the Ten Commandments for so long that there was no meaningful distinction between their own magic and the magic of the Ten Commandments.
Bodies made of magic should theoretically be vulnerable to Argyrion's magic-mana conversion ability.
And the older the mage, the more they could personally demonstrate how meaningless words like 'theoretically' or 'realistically' were in front of magic.
Halto realized that the ancient elders' bodies did not conform to conventional magical laws, but followed their own providence.
It was similar to how the administrator of Ether Space could freely set the rules inside Ether Space. The elders had made their bodies a different dimension.
Beings who only followed the rules they had set, detached from this world.
Each of the ancient elders' bodies was made up of the formulas he had remembered and acquired. Everything from the condensation of magic to the use of formulas and the projection of will was completed from within the body. Unless one had overwhelming power like Carisia or White Light, it was impossible to respond to their magic with Magical Interference.
As soon as Halto understood that, he tried a different method. Magical Interference was the principle of preventing the completion of magic by stealing magic power before the magic was completed at the right time. It could not interfere with completed magic.
But the power of the Silver Thread could devour magic power even from completed magic. It could not nullify the magic itself, but if it extracted the magic power that would be the driving force of the magical phenomenon, it could greatly reduce its power.
But even stealing magic power from completed magic did not work as he wished.
The providence of the elders, the independence from the rules of the world, was applied to the magic chanted by the ancient elders. From the moment it left their own bodies and materialized as an independent phenomenon of magic, its effectiveness gradually decreased.
Even so, it was clear that the efficiency with which the power of the Silver Thread was working was very low. So, Halto stepped forward before any other Argyrion executive and threw himself into the storm of magic.
Among the Argyrion, Halto was the one who had cultivated the blessing to the most profound level. Dimensional gates that summon Silver Thread Bugs. Halto was able to open and close dimensional gates at will, even on a small scale.
Constantly summoning Silver Thread Bugs to erode Nokmok Tower's mana core and weaken the magic of the ancient elders. Halto was also the only member who could cope with overwhelmingly powerful magic that was impossible to handle.
If he opened a dimensional gate and transferred it to the other side of the extra-dimension, even the most powerful magic would be meaningless.
Halto clicked his tongue. Originally, this ability to open dimensional gates was a hidden card to deal with the Nokmok Tower Lord. If he could somehow push him into the gate, Argyrion could immediately win the succession war.
Even if the Nokmok Tower Lord fell into the dimensional gate, he would not readily accept the extra-dimension. He would forcibly use spatial magic to escape, but as a result, he would drift into a space far away from Nokmok Main Tower. In the meantime, Argyrion could get the Ten Commandments.
The trump card of certain victory was exposed too early. It would be nice if he could take even one of the ancient elders, but there was a high probability that their 'independence' could also cope with the forced transfer of the dimensional gate.
Halto felt a sense of déjà vu from the ancient elders' abilities.
All Argyrion members who followed truth and cause were basically granted the power of magic-mana conversion and the power of erosion, which would be a fatal move in the Ten Towers' succession war. It was a counter to the Ten Towers.
But conversely, the ancient elders had prepared a way to oppose mana conversion and respond to forced extra-dimensional transfer. A move as if they had anticipated the blessing of cause.
Counter against counter. Halto gritted his teeth. It was not strange that they had the ability to oppose Argyrion.
Hadn't they said it themselves? That they were those who denied the great cause. But the problem was that they collided with Argyrion at this time, in this place.
An ominous thought flashed through Halto's mind. Did Orthes know about them, the secret final guardians of the Ten Towers?
If so…!