The delicately arranged magic bombs based on the principle of the magic circle were designed to achieve a more powerful explosion using the magic conduits as a line. The reason Orthes was aghast while looking at the magic conduits was that.
From the moment the magic bombs received the detonation signal, the magic conduits became part of the explosion magic. The entire infrastructure buried beneath the city was cleverly altered to serve as a single magic circle.
Orthes was horrified by that insane idea, but what could he do?
Hiding a trump card until the very last moment. Taking advantage of the opponent’s cards. Carisia had learned all of this from Orthes.
Orthes began to suspect that the original White No Name might be horrified by Carisia’s explosive instincts as well.
And then he closed his eyes. It wasn’t that he had given up on life. Although Carisia had created a stronger explosion, it didn’t necessarily lead to a ‘much larger’ explosion.
The tedious act of drawing the magic circle using magic conduits was to ensure that the explosive power wouldn’t be wasted and would concentrate at a single point. Orthes was able to move away from the place where the explosion was concentrated using all the power in his eyes and legs.
The focus of the explosive power was Amimone Tower. Orthes could deduce the whole structure from the parts of the magic circle he had read. The center of the magic bombs arranged in a hexagram shape was exactly Amimone Tower.
All the destruction that the magic bombs would cause would be concentrated on Amimone Tower. Orthes thought about whether any traces of the tower would remain at all—not even the pedestal, but just remnants of the tower. The moment he began his deep deliberation.
Flash!
It was brightness so intense that if a normal human’s optic nerve had perceived it, they would have gone blind instantly. Even with his eyes closed, his vision turned white.
The reason Orthes closed his eyes was similar to protecting them from blindness. His eyes wouldn’t be damaged just because the light was a bit strong, but the amount of information from the magic that Carisia had meticulously designed was such that it hit the brain, not the eyes.
Blocking the acquisition of information by closing his eyes was Orthes’s best option.
*
On the surface, the heat and light condensed in the tower reached underground. The material at the center where the tower stood evaporated in an instant. Substances broken down into units lacking physical properties turned into brilliant shards of light.
The biological entity was perplexed. It hadn’t even chanted a spell.
No, it was beyond the level of not chanting. Over there, magic was continuously gathering. The preparation stage wasn’t even finished yet.
“How──”
“Are you asking how I cast the magic?”
Carisia laughed fiercely. Her smile was filled with mockery and ridicule, along with the exhilaration of having completely defeated her opponent.
“You’re so foolish. I activated it three minutes ago.”
The firepower was such that it distorted space itself, forming a massive pillar of light. It was catastrophic that the disintegrated space reassembled in one place as they reached the conclusion of the fable.
The pillar of light, large enough to engulf Amimone Tower, was perfectly suited to evaporate the biological entity’s body and godly form created by reconstructing the tower’s space.
The light’s violence erased even the screams. Screech! The white light was so blinding it could blind a person.
Taking advantage of the moment when the white light blinded everyone, Carisia concealed her body again. There was no more need to care about the dead. She was going to search for Orthes.
*
“How’s your body feeling?”
“I feel dizzy.”
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was even whiter hair than the flash from earlier. I answered with a bitter smile.
“Boss, were you trying to kill me?”
“Oh, it’s fine. I’ve checked everything.”
“Checked?”
Carisia pulled out Phoibos’s gem from her bosom.
“If you were in danger, you would’ve shown me a vision. Even if you intended to blow me up, nothing would have shown up.”
“Haha, damn. You’re really something.”
It wasn’t that the magic was exquisitely designed so that its firepower didn’t reach underground. It was more like a logic of “I won’t die because the instant death detection device isn’t working.” Given my knowledge of that performance, it was hard to refute.
“That doesn’t always work, you know.”
I tried to recall the descriptions from the original work. Those who exceeded the power of a relic… In other words, divine beings couldn’t be fully predicted. In the original, the Mage King himself was a ‘divine being,’ so there were no issues, but.
“Come to think of it, Carisia had seen me confront a few elders, right?”
It seemed that it was fortunate that it was still plausible to foresee even the worst possible opponent, the Ten Tower Elders.
“Really? When we return, tell me more about it in detail. I need to take notes.”
Somehow, I felt like I heard the sound of the report getting longer. I took Carisia’s outstretched hand and stood up.
*
What had once been Amimone Tower…
Was completely gone.
Absolutely nothing was left. It wasn’t just the pedestal; even the Mage Tower Core had evaporated. The heart of the tower had disappeared.
But even if there were remnants, there were none. All that remained was a fragment of Amimone Tower.
It was as if the patient had died but only the organs left for donation remained. When Knemon became the Tower Master, he might gather the fragments and somehow rebuild the tower.
But with the Mage Tower Core evaporated, succeeding the qualifications of the Apex Towers would be impossible.
“Boss, by the way, how do you plan to deal with this explosion?”
“Let’s pin it on Argyrion, shall we?”
There had been an infiltration by Argyrion before the Tower Master determination, and with their underlings, they could prevent the Tower Master position from passing on. However, due to the suicide bombing by Argyrion’s spies, the Mage Tower Core had been destroyed…
This was an excuse that seemed adequately justifiable. It was better than the truth of Carisia blowing up Amimone Tower.
The moment that truth was revealed, it wouldn’t just be Panoptes causing problems. The Ten Tower Elders would come chasing after us wanting us dead.
“If we shift the blame to Argyrion, I wonder what will happen?”
Argyrion had already considerably crossed the line of the Ten Towers as it was. With the complete annihilation of the Apex Towers as a grave provocation, the Ten Towers would likely completely abandon notions of face or honor.
“A war will break out. Not long ago, the Argyrion executive you killed used space movement for the invasion. And this biological entity used space magic to connect my body with the extra-dimensional space. They would likely attempt to explore Argyrion’s stronghold based on these clues.”
“Twice. Theoretically, detecting spatial coordinates may be possible, but the manpower needed would be astronomical. Even taking into account support from the Ten Commandments, it would become a great project requiring the entire Ten Towers to mobilize…”
The moment the coordinates were verified, the Ten Towers would launch a reverse invasion into Argyrion’s stronghold. It was an encouraging situation where even the Tower Master’s personal expedition could be expected.
I traced back all the things Argyrion had done or was known for.
An all-out declaration of war in Elysion. Disturbing the magical society using the acquisition of the tower. Assassinating the Ten Tower Elders. And following the betrayal of the Apex Towers’ Tower Master, blowing up Amimone Tower with the mindset of “If I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it.”
They were more than enough to push the Ten Towers’ patience to its limit.
For some reason, it felt like half of it was my work, but honestly, wasn’t there at least one person from Argyrion at each scene?
If there hadn’t been angelic Argyrion agents at the Pluton Great Temple, I wouldn’t have been able to hold my ground against Talo.
Though the Amimone Tower Master didn’t collude with Argyrion, it was true that there were traitors from Amimone Tower.
And before Carisia completely evaporated Amimone Tower, the mental biological entity had already shattered everything.
…Wait. By any means, the last part isn’t my responsibility.
I looked at Carisia. Noticing my gaze, Carisia slyly raised the corners of her mouth.
“I think we’re nearing the end of the plan, don’t you?”
No. I hadn’t felt a sense of pride or joy. However, I couldn’t help but be a diligent office worker. Naturally, my mouth began to pour out flattery toward my superior.
“It’s progressing much faster than I expected. If luck is on our side and the Tower Master is absent, we could attempt the final phase of the plan much sooner.”
I estimated that there were about three years left until the Mage King’s return. I thought it would only be possible to topple the White Light once the war between the Ten Towers and the Mage King began.
But if the Ten Towers move as expected this time…
“…A turbulent era is approaching.”
“Yes. We need to discuss whether to launch the final plan using that turbulence or wait a bit longer.”
Carisia remembered my prediction about the Mage King’s return.
If, during the situation where the White Light Tower Master makes an expedition to Argyrion’s stronghold, they succeed in destroying the Ten Commandments’ White Light, the White Light Tower would surely walk on the path of ruin.
But could the Ten Towers, having lost one of the Ten Commandments, confront the Mage King?
It was a question that both Carisia and I had to answer in this turbulent era.
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