Chapter 191: The Pope's Masterstroke (2)
“Orthes──!!”
Halto's howl emanated from the depths of his soul. The rage and sorrow within his blood-boiling cry vibrated through the summit of Nokmok.
Nastion interpreted it as, "Ah, he's furious to have his enemy right in front of him," while the Tower Lord of Nokmok thought, "Orthes, what's that? Is it a magic incantation?"
Even Carisia and the Ancient Elders couldn't fathom the extent of Halto's emotion at this moment.
Only Orthes sensed that Halto's cry held a deeper, more complicated story. Argyrion was clearly a formidable adversary who threatened Hydra Corporation with bold disruptions. Halto, who spearheaded those disruptions, wouldn't lose his composure to this extent just because of his anger towards Orthes himself.
'Is it a trap?'
Deliberately showing a furious appearance to lure Orthes – a bait operation. It seemed like the most reasonable hypothesis at first glance.
But no. Orthes had never seen the situation surrounding him unfold in a rational manner.
'It seems related to that Reliquary-ridden mage who just appeared…'
Halto's gaze darted back and forth between Orthes and the mage holding the Reliquaries. Orthes felt a subtle satisfaction with his narrow eyes during times like these.
It's difficult to read narrow eyes. When those who normally keep their eyes wide open awkwardly shift their gaze before an ambush, narrow eyes can simply look wherever they want.
Because no one can tell where they're looking anyway.
Orthes decided to trust his intuition and analysis. He opened his mouth.
"Halto. How do you like the alliance I've forged?"
"Since when…! Just when did you start doing something like this!"
Damn it. This was an unexpected question. Orthes naturally questioned back to buy time.
"Haha. Since when?"
A word extracted from Halto's sentence. Adding a meaningful laugh to set the atmosphere. And the last choice to not reveal the truth that he doesn't know.
"Wouldn't it be better to hear it directly from that person?"
He shifts the target of the question.
Halto turned his head blankly toward the Commander. The days when he devoted himself to the cause before loyalty to the Ten Towers. The days he fought together to contribute to the order of the magic society came to mind.
To make the Commander, who dedicated his life to eradicating the priests of the old gods, a Divine lackey, and to display it before him.
The word "insult" was not enough. It was blasphemy. Even though Halto would no longer pledge allegiance to the Ten Towers, the cause of peace for the entire magical society was still in his heart even now as Argyrion.
That's why he has been steadily recruiting Blasphemia agents as Argyrion, isn't it? Not to lead a false peace as slaves of the Ten Towers, but to build true peace together under the cause.
But now, the Commander was not even a henchman of the Ten Towers.
An enemy of Blasphemia and an enemy of Argyrion. Wrapped in the ritual tools of the priests of the old gods, the root of chaos in the magical society, obsessed with superstition.
As far as Halto knew, the Commander of Blasphemia was the most suitable person to serve the cause. To desecrate that pure heart in such a way!
Halto opened a Dimensional Gate. Short-range teleportation to attack Orthes.
And this was the last fragment of collapse.
The space at the summit of Nokmok had already reached its limit.
The shadow passage that Nastion connected to summon Eidolons. The extra-dimensional encroachment that Halto and Argyrion unfolded. Eleusis, which Nokmok had opened as a reinforcement route for White Light.
And the teleportation made of Divine Power from the Divine Cult. With the spatial distortions overlapping, the very small Dimensional Gate that Halto activated in anger broke the final balance.
Space tore apart. Just as a vacuum craves air, the void of space also drew in everything around it to fill itself.
Extra-dimensional energy, magic power, and Divine Power intertwined to fill the gaps in space.
The moment the space shook, Carisia reached out and grabbed Orthes' hand. Orthes did the same.
As the vibrations that crushed and mixed space subsided, Carisia turned to look beside her.
"I didn't expect this…"
Orthes, with a familiar appearance, uttered unfamiliar words. Carisia turned her gaze away from Orthes and looked at the summit of Nokmok.
The newly forged summit of Nokmok was no longer the rooftop of a tower but a vast expanse that could be called a plaza.
Argyrion's Silverwood served as the outer walls, and the black flagstone of the Pluton Temple was laid on the floor. In the center of the plaza was a giant crystal radiating green magic light, Nokmok.
It was the form of an arena centered around The Ten Magical Commandments.
Those who had escaped the shock of the spatial vibration turned their eyes to each other and toward the Commandments.
One proposition flashed through everyone's minds.
'The one who connects to The Ten Magical Commandments first wins!'
The Tower Lord of Nokmok rushed out first. He realized that his access to the Commandments had been greatly weakened.
It was because of the process of space being reconstructed. As the magic power of the Commandments, extra-dimensional energy, and divinity mixed together, the Tower Lord's control over the Commandments, which he should have had entirely on his own, was weakened as it mixed with other attributes of supernatural power.
He had to reconnect to Nokmok and regain authority.
The Ancient Elders followed as if guarding the Tower Lord of Nokmok. The newly forged space was constructed with all the surrounding supernatural powers as materials.
Each of the Ancient Elders, who were high-density magic power and constituted a realm, were the best materials for repairing space. The providence of the world ruthlessly invaded their bodies.
In fact, the reason why the Tower Lord of Nokmok lost authority was also due to the influence of the independence constituting the bodies of the Ancient Elders spreading throughout the space. The individual powers of the Ancient Elders, which deviated from the existing magical system, melted into the space, infringing on the composition of the magical phenomenon of the connection between the Tower Lord and the Commandments.
The Elders were able to intuitively realize this fact. Even if they lost their entire bodies, it would not mean the Elders' eternal rest, but it would take a considerable amount of time to restore the lost formulas.
At least years.
Before the bodies that were still collapsing completely scattered. The best choice they could make for the magical society was the victory of Nokmok.
Blocking them from heading to The Ten Magical Commandments were Argyrion and Eidolons.
Halto realized that he could not open a Dimensional Gate. It was not that there was a problem with the authority he had been granted. It was just that since this space already contained an extra-dimension, even if he opened a Dimensional Gate, the limit would be a small-scale gate that was fragmented and impossible to use.
The same was true even if amplified through Eidolons' observation magic. Unless this bizarrely twisted space was resolved, the use of spatial magic within it seemed impossible.
If there was any consolation, it was that this penalty would be equally applied to everyone present here. Even the Holy Incantation of the superstition followers would be repelled.
The purification of magic power created by the order of the Ten Towers collided with the chaos of the extra-dimension. Supernatural powers that devoured each other began to dance.
The Commander intervened in the middle.
His movement was unseen. A method that could only be thought of as teleportation.
"How─"
One of Argyrion's agents, who was about to express a question, was beheaded in an instant. It was the result of the scythe he was holding.
With a bitter heart, Halto charged his magic. The moment he aimed at the Commander, the Commander disappeared from Halto's sight.
And what appeared was behind Halto. If it weren't for Nastion, who could use the shadows of all of Argyrion's members as sensory organs, Halto would have been ambushed as well.
When the scythe was blocked, the relic that surrounded the Commander began to transform. It was in the form of a trident. When the Commander slammed the spearhead into the ground, water began to gush forth from it.
Then, the trident changed shape once more. A combination of straight lines bent in various directions. It was a symbolic representation of lightning.
When the Commander threw the lightning-shaped relic, it turned into a flurry of lightning bolts and swept around. It was a divine punishment that indiscriminately burned both Argyrion and the Ten Towers.
Once again, the Commander disappeared. Nastion, who was carefully searching for the whorl of the relic, reported his inference to Halto.
"Don't be shaken! It's not that the enemy's… realm is superior to ours, or that they are closer to the cause and can use teleportation magic or Dimensional Gates! It's just an illusion through the secret art of invisibility!"
With a concise cry, Halto corrected the confusion of Argyrion. At least, he tried to correct it.
***
Carisia and I were not involved in that mess. Carisia was quickly hiding herself with optically camouflaged magic.
Originally, such camouflage would be easily detected in a battle between such powerful mages, but the three-way battle between the Ten Towers and Argyrion, plus that unknown being, is so confusing that no one has time to pay attention to us.
"Do you understand what it is?"
I shook my head.
"Ah. Your eyes still aren't─"
"My eyes have recovered."
The moment Halto witnessed someone’s first ‘movement’ of that overreacting person, the circuits that had been turned off began to be relit as if the world was being written in words again.
I had a similar experience at Kaicle's hideout. When Typhon's fragment met my eyes and was activated.
If I activated the fragment of Typhon at that time, this time, on the contrary, the 'movement' activated my eyes.
'The unknown divinity in my eyes reacted by contacting Typhon's last words. Then does the movement from just now also mean the manifestation of some divinity?'