While Orthes was preparing for the assembly by meeting the directors, Carisia was also making her own arrangements.
Kaicle, the creator of the Artificial Ten Commandments, likely had a rough idea of the plans being prepared by Carisia and Orthes.
Responding to the boss’s summons, Kaicle arrived shortly after. Thanks to some modifications he made to the Ether Space deployment device installed at the bottom of Mount Etna, it could now connect to the interior of Hydra Corporation’s building.
“What is it that you needed me for?”
The burly man with glasses asked calmly. With his life’s work nearing completion, he carried an air of someone who had no further hopes, a person who had achieved his dreams.
“You mentioned that you are creating the Artificial Ten Commandments to find the ‘Clues of Ascension.'”
“Yes.”
“You also had an insight that the Mage King who ascended beyond the extra-dimensional realm is essentially the same as the gods.”
“Yes.”
“Then, if we assume the Mage King is a god, his persona would be that of the ‘God of Magic.'”
Kaicle nodded. This was an extremely heretical theory. The Ten Towers, which were disparaged as followers of superstition, led to the extinction of the worshipers of ancient gods. Acknowledging that their object of worship and the Mage King were essentially no different could be taken as a direct affront.
However, Kaicle had no intention of bending his conclusions. He had achieved a degree of success in using divine power to open a pathway to the dimension of ascension, a realm of infinite power and metaphysics.
It was a phenomenon similar to one of the two attributes of the Ten Commandments, “Infinite Magic Power.” Even if he was branded a heretic and risked death, he could not lie about his beliefs.
With firm conviction, he replied.
“The Mage King… he is a god.”
“When defining a god as a being that can freely access the realm of ascension beyond the extra-dimensional.”
Kaicle nodded. At the same time, a question arose in his mind. Until now, Carisia had focused more on the results produced by his heretical theories rather than the theories themselves.
He had been able to research the Artificial Ten Commandments with utmost freedom. Of course, with the Ten Towers now shaken at this point, the risk factor of being a believer in heretical theories loomed large. If Kaicle’s research were leaked externally, it would endanger the very existence of Etna City.
However, he didn’t think Carisia would eliminate him and take possession of the Artificial Ten Commandments that were the outcomes of his research. That was because there was a greater risk present in Orthes.
Since the appearance of the Mage King, everything in this world had begun to possess a bit of magic power. This was the result of the Mage King’s divinity rewriting the natural order of the world.
Yet, the being known as Orthes, who had close to zero magic power and certainly did not exist—
“Kaicle, outside director.”
“Yes.”
Carisia’s voice shattered his contemplation. She slowly declared.
“I will dismantle the Ten Towers.”
“…I somewhat expected that.”
The fact that she had been tacitly allowing the heretical conclusion implied by the Artificial Ten Commandments couldn’t be explained merely with ambition to become the 11th Tower.
If the Ten Towers were faithful adherents of the regime they established, the very notion of Artificial Ten Commandments would be seen as blasphemous, or more straightforwardly, as sacrilege.
The stance of the Ten Towers was that the Mage King was distinctly different from superstitious beings. However, from Kaicle’s perspective, who had abandoned the position of being one of the Ten Towers, the viewpoint of mages who worshiped the Mage King was no different qualitatively from that of priests who worshiped gods.
“Then, it seems you have some connection with the old gods’ cult.”
“Oh? I thought you solely dedicated yourself to research.”
Kaicle nodded.
“Yes, I’ve been focused on research. But I have experience from my time with the Ten Towers, right? To fully dedicate oneself to research, a certain degree of political acumen is necessary.”
“Politics? Didn’t the Ten Towers proclaim themselves to be the purest researchers of magic?”
“The ones shouting about purity tend to be the dirtiest. They coat things here and there to prevent others from stealing their research results, or they curry favor with some elder for sponsorship. It’s quite simple when viewed from the perspective accustomed to such politics.”
Kaicle talked about the relics supplied for developing the Artificial Ten Commandments. There were some relics that couldn’t even be explained by the divine investigation task by the directors or by the improved radar of Lampades.
The relic of the Twelve Gods that Orthes had brought personally to show as a sample.
“If such a powerful relic has already been revealed to the world, there must be some record left behind, so I assumed it was either excavated directly or received from the original owner. Either way, there’s bound to be a connection with the cult.”
“Exactly as you guessed. Some were excavated directly, and there are relics acquired from the Divine Cult… ones transferred from them. They are useful allies under the major premise of opposing the Ten Towers.”
A plan to topple the regime of the Ten Towers using the old gods’ cult and the Artificial Ten Commandments. Most mages would be terrified just hearing about such a dreadful plan but—
“Then, what role does the Artificial Ten Commandments play in that plan? Is it to offset the Ten Commandments?”
Kaicle was anything but an ordinary mage.
“The expected role for now is about that much. There are still pending methods of use.”
Carisia refrained from explaining that one of those methods was a magic power bomb. For now, knowing that plan was sufficient for someone like Orthes.
“I am satisfied that my methodology for approaching ascension is not incorrect. If you defeat the Ten Towers and obtain the Ten Commandments, the path to ascension will be more distinctly revealed.”
Kaicle’s remaining biological eye gleamed with determination.
“I’ve always wanted to see what happens when all Ten Commandments gather together.”
“So, you’re planning to place bets with Hydra Corporation.”
“Haven’t I already wagered everything?”
Carisia nodded. If the plan went according to their design, the Ten Commandments were set to gather in one place. It was just that everything was expected to explode at that very spot.
“Very well, Kaicle, outside director. Now that the Artificial Ten Commandments are effectively complete, I would like to assign you a new task.”
A piece of paper was handed from Carisia to Kaicle. The fact that this document was not transmitted using Ether Space such as holograms or emails implied that it had to be thoroughly shredded without leaving a trace.
Carisia’s proposal discussed the differences between beings from the extra-dimensional realm and gods. Even if we assume that extra-dimensional beings and gods are qualitatively the same, there is one notable difference within this world.
And that was the resistance of the world. Whenever extra-dimensional beings attempted interference, they had to face the resistance of what is called the world barrier or dimensional wall.
Even if a multitude of cracks appears from the extra-dimensional, the reason they auto-repair is that the world itself rejects them. Gods, however, were exempt from that resistance.
“In terms of the power granted by gods, the operating mechanism of extra-dimensional magic and divine power must fundamentally be the same. However, while it requires complex procedures to bring extra-dimensional magic into our world, divine power does not.”
“I haven’t thought about it from this perspective, but it’s an interesting subject. The difference between those ascended beings who are resisted by the world and those who are not.”
Kaicle slowly read through Carisia’s hypothesis. It was a subject about artificially instigating the world’s resistance against ascended beings.
In other words, it was a topic very close to the magic of forming an artificial world barrier. If such magic were to be completed, dealing with threats from the extra-dimensional would become considerably easier.
However, the target of Carisia’s proposal was not the extra-dimensional beings.
“I want to find a means to invoke the world’s resistance not to extra-dimensional magic but to ‘magic’ itself.”
“…”
Carisia was contemplating a magic that negates magic. The logic of the world barrier excluding extra-dimensional beings had to be restructured to apply to magic power.
“The name would be, let’s see…”
Anti-Magic Field.
Reading through Carisia’s proposal, Kaicle raised his magic to neatly incinerate the paper. It was a terrifying magic just to imagine.
If Carisia’s concept could be fully realized, no mage would be able to cast magic within the Anti-Magic Field.
This would also apply to Carisia herself, but…
She had Orthes.
The perhaps, only perfect non-magic user existing in the outer fringe of the providence enveloped by the Mage King.
“…There’s one thing I would like to ask.”
Carisia nodded. With a clear permit, Kaicle carefully selected his words.
“What exactly is Head of the Divine Investigation Office Orthes?”
It was a question that simply could not be resolved. Within Hydra Corporation, it wasn’t difficult to guess his true position. He was likely acting as a plenipotentiary envoy coordinating the partnership between Hydra Corporation and the Divine Cult, possibly representing the cult itself.
However, as far as Kaicle knew, no matter how much of a priest he was, in this age, it was impossible to have no magic power.
Unbeknownst to Kaicle, Kine, who wielded both magic and holy power, was living proof that validated Kaicle’s theory. 2074 years after the Mage King’s ascension, magic power had seeped into everything in the world.
A thin smile crept onto Carisia’s lips. With a certainty that seemed to allow no disagreement, Carisia cheerfully said.
“I don’t know either.”
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