Chapter 187: Argyrion (2)
White Light expanded the Otherworld to its limit, integrating himself as part of that Otherworld. He contained all of creation within a single formula.
The ancient elders' direction was the opposite. They shrunk the Otherworld to its limit, equating the Otherworld with themselves. The will they put into magic was extreme reduction. They compressed and unfolded all the magic they had realized into a single body.
Expansion and contraction, but the gist is the same: becoming the master of providence independent of the basic world.
If one were to distinguish the superiority between formulas, White Light could be said to be one level higher in terms of scale, but the ancient elders' formulas were no less sophisticated than White Light's skills.
The combined attacks of the ancient elders, who frolicked in the deepest part of magic, were not something that even Argyrion could dare to approach. With even the fundamental compatibility of mana conversion weakened, Argyrion was in a state of utter crisis.
Argyrion themselves, who were fighting the ancient elders, knew this fact best. But Argyrion trusted Halto, their leader who had constantly opposed the great adversary.
Halto coldly assessed the situation. Now was the decisive battle. If they took even one of the Ten Commandments using any method, it would be their victory. Halto decided to use the last resort.
Eidolon.
***
Orthes had already paradoxically asked, 'Do you believe in Eidolon?' in front of White Light. At that time, the arguments Orthes had made were closer to lies to buy even one second of time from White Light.
That was how Orthes himself judged it.
But Orthes' lies touched on a truth he didn't even know. The betrayal of Eidolon.
The head of the Eidolon observers was called the Director of the Observatory.¹ He observed the Otherworld through the gaps in the stars, the dimensional walls, and foretold the future.
At the same time, he also had the role of tracking down the echoes of the Mage King. Those who bore the secret task of Eidolon were shared the first secret of the Ten Towers in their duties, and could only go to the front lines after undergoing thorough ideological education.
In other words, they had already been vaccinated against the most fatal means of making Argyrion participate in their 'cause'. This was the reason why the Ten Towers predicted that no traitors would appear within Eidolon.
However, the Mage King had already been slowly dismantling the group that had absolute authority to the point where traitors could not emerge. The weakening of the Divine Cult through mind-parasites.
The methodology of gradually dismantling the Cult, which was the most solid group before the advent of the Ten Towers, could also be applied as a ticking time bomb to dismantle the Ten Towers again.
Nastion knew that he was a being arranged for that purpose. Originally, he belonged to the category of servants who were under the Mage King's control, like Adoosiam.
The thought injected into the Ten Commandments at the Mage King's last moment was also a smokescreen for the creation of Nastion. At the moment the Mage King's body met its death, he outwardly engraved his thoughts on the Ten Commandments, and at the same time, he briefly wove together the remnants of his two servants, Naberius and Stibon, and re-created them as a new servant.
The thought inherent in the Ten Commandments outwardly appears to be aiming for resurrection by usurping the bodies of the Tower Lords. However, the true role of the thought was to protect the Ten Commandments.
To prevent the truth of the Mage King from being widely spread and to keep those who inherited the Ten Commandments silent. To make the infinite wisdom sleeping within the Ten Commandments even more alluring.
To ensure that the signpost calling for the Mage King from beyond the Otherworld is eternally inherited.
The true duty given to the thought was to fuel the dark greed of mages. The Tower Lords grow their greed for the Ten Commandments, boasting, 'I even overturned the Mage King's thoughts!'
The ancient elders and White Light realized this trap, but they did not care. They thought that if they reached the same level as the Mage King, ascension, such traps would be meaningless.
That arrogant indifference was a mistake. Even if they realized the trap of thought, they did not sense Nastion's clandestine activities.
Nastion was given the role of waiting for the time at the boundary between the Otherworld and the world. That's why Nastion's essence took the form of a shadow.
The shadowy body that rippled like mist obscured the celestial energy observed by Eidolon. Even if it could not cover all the domains of the Otherworld, it could distort the light of the places observed by some of Eidolon.
It was the darkness that seduced the Astronomical Observatory.
This was the reason why Nastion was essentially similar to the mind-parasites of Algoth City, but did not have any terminal bodies. He was not a being who lived by parasitizing the mind, but a being created to bewilder the mind.
Complete domination of others is inefficient. It is enough to occupy a corner of the mind and let out an appropriate amount of suspicion at the necessary moments. The more accurately they observed Nastion and tried to read the celestial energy perfectly, the more those who fell into truth and cause increased.
Showing the truth to the observers of Eidolon, and at the same time, whispering the cause. Showing the sins of the Ten Towers under undeniable reality.
Conversely, the utopia that would be reached when they added their hands to the Mage King's return. The future of this world where a paradise of a different world would descend.
The Dark Nebula, which had been the main object of observation for Eidolon for the past few centuries, was Nastion's first essence, a time bomb installed in the Ten Towers.
And as the Golden Desert Operation failed and Blasphemia's elite agents fell into the Otherworld, Nastion's second essence began to operate.
Just as the world is agitated when the magic of the Otherworld is injected into the world, when something is ejected from the inside of the world to the Otherworld, ripples occur in the Otherworld.
When the size of the ripple exceeds a certain level, Nastion collects them and recreates them as vanguards for the creator's advent.
That was the reason why the former Blasphemia agents, who would have drifted in the Otherworld and been ejected back into their original world, had all become Eroders and joined Argyrion.
In a world where Orthes had not met White No Name, White No Name would have killed most of Blasphemia's agents. Even if he had not killed them, if it had not been for Orthes' scheme, the Golden Desert Operation would not have ended with the unprecedented drift of a large number of people.
The Blasphemia agents thrown into the Otherworld by Orthes' scheme caused a great upheaval enough to awaken Nastion, and Nastion re-created them as the vanguard of cause.
Nastion's first role was to install a trap to destroy the inside of the Ten Towers. The second role was to foster vanguards to defend the creator's advent.
The reason why he did not simply stop at fostering vanguards and divided his essence and attached it in the form of a shadow was because of some errors that could not be erased from the vanguards.
The fear of the 'adversary' that they had not overcome even after receiving the blessing of cause. Nastion, who wanted to transform Argyrion into the most perfect soldiers, could not wash away the irrational obsession with the adversary.
He had dispatched an incarnate to serve as a counselor and correct their unique irrationality, but Nastion himself had changed his mind after experiencing the adversary directly.
He was a being to be feared.
Thanks to having a body and entering this world, Nastion also learned unexpected emotions such as fear, anxiety, and embarrassment - mostly because of Orthes - but there were not only side effects.
He could use his formless body to hide anywhere. How much had he contributed to public opinion manipulation by becoming the nameless crowd that spread rumors?
If he combined the ability to distort space he possessed as a member of the Otherworld and the characteristics of the shadow's body, he could connect the shadows between two specific targets.
The shadows Nastion designated were a pair of Halto and the Director of the Observatory. He could go from Halto's shadow to the Director of the Observatory's shadow, and from the Director of the Observatory's shadow to Halto's shadow. The information that the Tower Lord was not moving even though Taros of Silver Iron Magic Tower had died was also obtained from the Director of the Observatory.
The ability to hide in the shadows of others and have secret conversations was also a link between Argyrion and Eidolon.
The fact that the Director of the Observatory answered that the forces to be deployed to the Ten Towers expeditionary force were 'everything possible' was also a result of Nastion's intervention. A trap prepared to maximize the success rate of the Ten Commandments usurpation plan.
Originally, Eidolon, which should have assisted the Ten Towers' interdimensional navigation, subtly interfered with the expeditionary force's advance. Argyrion responded by turning the dimensional gate being manufactured at the main base into a trap.
The expeditionary force's entry into the Argyrion main base was slowed down, and even if they arrived, the time it would take for them to be swept away by the trap and return would be even longer.
"If we divert Eidolon's capabilities from interfering with the expeditionary force to securing the Ten Commandments at this point, the expeditionary force's return may be accelerated."
A sentence that deleted Nastion's hesitation was added.
"...If we spend more time dealing with those old elders, Orthes might appear at any moment."
After the clash with Orthes, Nastion completely trusted Halto's strategic insight.
Nastion seeped into Halto's shadow and headed towards the Director of the Observatory.