Chapter 582 - Updraft (3)
The mana elevator of the Lepraegium magic tower stood still with its doors open. Its gaping mouth was pointed toward Balrog.
Had he been discovered?
He couldn't be sure, but this sudden activation could hardly be a coincidence.
"..."
He tried to look for a detour, but the design of this bizarre magic tower was far too strange. There weren't even any stairs where there ought to have been.
And of course, trying to infiltrate from the outside of the tower was out of the question. There was no reason to deliberately walk straight into the opponent's line of sight.
Step, step.
Having made his decision, Balrog soon boarded the mana elevator. He pressed the button that ascended to the middle-upper floors.
The power source of the tower.
The very origin point from which the waves of mana had just flowed out became his destination.
From the start, his purpose in coming here was information gathering.
If his infiltration had been discovered, then it was all the more reason to go deeper in.
That Balrog could make such a bold choice was only because he was inhabiting another's body as a proxy.
'Even if I die here, it won't harm me in the slightest.'
No matter what worst-case scenario arose, he had his contingencies prepared. That was the minimal foundation upon which Balrog acted.
Whoong.
The mana elevator stopped.
He stepped out.
The corridor, like the first floor, was empty and silent.
'No matter how strange the Lepraegium magic tower is, it can't have completely abandoned the basic structure of a tower.'
Comparing it to the interiors of other magic towers, he followed the lingering traces of mana.
It was only after dozens of minutes that he pinpointed the entrance leading into the power room.
With a magic circle of Telekinesis, he forced the door open. Without making the slightest noise. The entrance, not even locked, was easily breached.
There wasn't even a control room in sight.
The deeper he went, the stronger the stench of suspicion became.
After passing through four doors in total... he finally entered the chamber that housed the very heart of magic, the source that had enabled the magical world to develop rapidly and brought about the commercialization of magic, the driving force of modern towers.
'The heart of mana, set atop nine steps.'
Here too, the structure was entirely different from the Bohemirn magic tower. But the peculiar blue radiance was the same.
For a moment, he was captivated by the pure mana he had not beheld in so long, but now was not the time to be enthralled by sensation.
There was a guest.
Before Balrog───atop the highest step of the staircase, gazing endlessly at the power source, stood a figure in a white robe.
'He' spoke.
"Footsteps from outside were supposed to reach this place only in the far future. Whether on the same day or another, never had anyone come at such an early time as now."
The one who had arrived first turned his back.
Because of the mana's glow casting shadows, his face could not be seen.
"Many things should have been otherwise."
Balrog knew exactly whose voice it was.
"The war between the Bohemirn magic tower and the Black Hour should never have broken out, and the anomaly of the Dark Moon should have manifested in a different form than it has now. The prohibitions meant to protect should not yet have been undone, and mages should not yet have surpassed their ranks. Those things were meant to happen only later."
The voice, as if whispering inside his very being, flowed through the silence, soaking the stillness.
"Every time, a new person would appear, every time, a different event would occur, every time, the timing would shift, every time, causality would change. Even so, this has changed far too much... isn't it truly ironic? 'Fate' should, by narrowing its margins of error, fix upon a single outcome. Yet here, at the very end, the greatest error has emerged."
He took one step forward.
"Should I rejoice that 'your' vision has unexpectedly gone awry, or should I be wary of the entirely unknown future we have glimpsed? I do not know. Of course, I do not even have the right to make that judgment."
Their gazes met.
"Regrettably, you too seem to lack the right to make your own conclusion. Tower Master of the Bohemirn magic tower, Balrog Bessias."
The current pinnacle of the magical world───the transcendent of the 8th Rank, the Tower Master of the Lepraegium magic tower, declared.
***
A special robe, pure white as its base, its borders and designs adorned with a reflective gray that gleamed with light.
White hair, a short white beard, the impression of an old man neat yet tinged with a certain ruin, with green light dwelling in his eyes.
A voice that shook both body and mind.
An aura of transcendence that could not be clearly discerned.
There was no mistake.
It was the Tower Master of the Lepraegium magic tower himself.
'Even though I thoroughly suppressed my mana and repressed my presence to be no different from an inanimate object, he saw through me instantly.'
Was it some magical ability, or innate insight?
There wasn't even the slightest ripple of agitation.
At any rate.
Since he was already exposed, there was no point in clinging to deception.
"To think you would go so far as to separate three-dimensional space itself, just to conceal the existence of the tower's domain from the world's eyes."
Balrog released his concealment, revealing his true dignity.
"As befits the tower famed as the most mysterious in the magical world, the Lepraegium magic tower seems to hold secrets far more sinister than imagined, Tower Master of Lepraegium."
For a power that, among the ten towers, should have been the greatest, there was a hollowness that permeated its halls. Everything about it was difficult to accept.
The words of the Lepraegium Tower Master, sounding like nonsense, were no exception.
"...And that the war between the Bohemirn magic tower and the Black Hour should never have broken out, what do you mean by that?"
Balrog glared sharply as he asked, but no answer came. It was less deliberate dismissal than a response of simple indifference.
The Lepraegium Tower Master opened his mouth, at once as if speaking to himself, and yet as if conversing.
"Do you believe this world to be infinite?"
"...What?"
"There is nothing infinite in the world. Therefore, all things are finite. Whatever it may be, it is natural that it ultimately concludes in an end. Even the cycles of nature, which seem as though they might last forever, are the same. One day, we shall meet our end."
Words without meaning. The vocabulary could be understood, yet the intent of the Lepraegium Tower Master was entirely incomprehensible.
It was an unwanted answer, but Balrog had no choice but to remain silent. The incomprehensible presence pressed hard upon his mind.
"Khup...."
"...That is what 'you' judged, believed, and never yielded. At the end of that torment, 'you' resolved to set all things, including time and space, into circulation. In the name of the 'Wheel of Fate'. To escape the inevitable end that must come, you conceived of a single circle to replace the notion of a straight line."
The more meaningless the words became, the more filthy it felt, as if he were being lured into something. Balrog, standing where he was, resisted with all his might.
Thud!
In the fierce tug-of-war, the proxy body, reinforced and protected by magic circles, could not withstand it, and one of its eyes burst.
"But a world of eternity with a fixed beginning and end is a closed world, a prison, nothing more than a kind of puppet play repeating itself. Thus, those who yearned for a better tomorrow, for the freedom they deserved, resisted and defied."
"Th-that mouth...!"
"In the end, those who chose resistance, despite their struggle, were defeated. Most paid a horrific price, and not a few finally came to accept their fate."
"Th-that mouth...!!"
"However, conversely, 'you' too did not claim complete victory, and that is the present. Soon, once again, a confrontation dividing choices will occur, and the beings of the world will be split in two. Those who accept fate, and those who reject it. Balrog Bessias, if it were you, which side would you stand on?"
Tuduk.
Balrog, steadying his hazy will, tore apart the oppression. The backlash, with nowhere to go, burst out of his mouth.
"Shut that mouth!!"
Balrog activated the mana circuits throughout his entire body. Even though this was merely a proxy, an overwhelming presence surged, forcibly demanding recognition.
He spread his right hand.
Seven magic circles rose and flared brightly. Linked together by chains of lightning, they resonated as one.
The proxy was disposable anyway, no matter what kind of death it suffered.
The consciousness they shared would awaken intact in the true body.
'Fate, you, resistance, whatever it all means, continuing this conversation any longer is dangerous...!'
A mental interference through voice.
Balrog had uncovered one of the magical abilities of the Lepraegium Tower Master. That it could influence even a transcendent was beyond his calculations.
Now that it had come to this, at least he would see just how lofty the realm of the 8th Rank truly was.
Pazijijijik!
The orb of magic, condensed by Balrog's sorcery, hurtled diagonally upward.
At the moment the tail of lightning traced its straight trajectory—
Tsu-tsu-tsut.
The magic circles warped, gradually unraveling, and vanished before they even touched their target.
The mana composing the spell had been extinguished.
Balrog's head turned to the side.
Standing there was someone he had seen not long ago at the conference of magical transcendents.
"...The Agent."
The agent who carried out the will of the Lepraegium Tower Master, Meia.
"Please do not cause any further commotion, Tower Master of Bohemirn. At least not here."
"As if it were your decision."
Even facing two transcendents, Balrog sneered and deployed his magic circles.
Lights of diverse elemental attributes flickered as though about to turn the vicinity into a wasteland.
"Even if you used the ancient bloodline of Projection to delegate consciousness and power, a body that has not undergone awakening cannot withstand transcendence."
At the Lepraegium Tower Master's remark, Balrog's eyes widened.
"How do you know about Projection...."
"Ranks do not exist without reason."
From the robe's sleeve, the right hand extended, pointing at Balrog Bessias.
"It is time you returned."
It was a command as the master of the tower, and not in the form of hierarchy, but an 'incantation of magic'.
Space twisted.
A colossal repulsive force assaulted him, as though the entire world were pushing his body out.
Immediately, Balrog manifested a barrier that blocked external force and wrapped it around his body, but this was not physical force.
"───?!"
Some sort of concept shattered his magic circles like glass, and the instant it touched, his vision, his consciousness, grew distant.
As if falling from a cliff, and the objects on the cliff above were receding.
'That is....'
In that fleeting instant, Balrog Bessias beheld it.
The 'unknown existence' harbored within the power source behind the Lepraegium Tower Master.
Puuuuk!
The body of the prisoner of Kernadel collapsed, and Balrog's consciousness was expelled.
Silence descended.
The moment the uninvited, yet foretold, guest disappeared, the Lepraegium magic tower regained its original tranquility.
Meia spoke.
"You have spoken much. It will be sealed memory anyway."
"Whether sealed or not, no matter what conversation is had, nothing changes."
Either way, the result is the same. There was no reason for their opinions to clash.
"In any case, for the Tower Master of Bohemirn to come here so early and set foot within... far too much has changed. Above all, the fact that one of the ten power sources that must be maintained has been lost... and that, since last year, the diviners have been unable to read the branches of fate derived from 'you'."
"To glimpse the future of an existence by any means, that act is possible only for those who, without knowing it, perceive the illusory time that has passed yet not flowed. But since they have gone blind... it can be interpreted that the fate set by 'you' has gone awry and halted."
"What could be the cause?"
The possible causes for such a phenomenon were countless. Every element that composed the world had undergone changes.
However.
Among the newly emerging figures, there was one presence that drew the most attention.
A young magus, known by many titles───King of the Underworld, Honorary Baron of the Kingdom of Estiria, Holy One of the Eastern Continent, possessing both 'ashen hair' and 'blue eyes', named 'Asher'.
That man was, not only from Meia's perspective but also from the standpoint of the Lepraegium magic tower, an utterly unfamiliar existence.
But, nothing more than that.
"No one can know what variable has produced this current flow. Even if we wished to know, we must not act. That is not the role given to the Lepraegium magic tower."
The Lepraegium Tower Master turned his head, gazing over his shoulder. Reflected in his transparent green eyes was the power source of the tower.
"Our mission is waiting."
Among those who had resisted and been defeated, the World Tree had been forced into a role of observation, the great demons had fled, and the Giants had yielded.
The mighty beings who had survived in the end chose the same paths as the great demons and Giants.
Yet, it was not over.
The moment the final 'Resister' awakens from the long recovery, the beacon of counterattack will blaze, and the long-laid arrangements will come to fruition.
Only that one can destroy the fate set by 'you'.
The time is, in the truest sense, not far off.
***
He was flung beyond the wall separating one three-dimensional space from another.
From updraft to downdraft.
The moment the shared projection of consciousness ended, gravity was felt.
"Khrrgh...!"
Having returned to his true body, Balrog staggered, clutching his throbbing head.