Ch.178White Light

Carisia stepped forward without hesitation. It wasn’t a sprint. That would have been inefficient.

Inefficient for killing.

The instant death magic she had developed while facing Arguirion in Elysion. After entering the White Light Tower, Carisia unleashed that magic to its fullest potential.

Even belonging to the Ten Towers doesn’t mean one knows every magic in the world. Moreover, Carisia’s magic was her own creation—an unknown, unique spell.

The only ones who knew about her instant death magic were the Arguirion members who had died from it and Ortes.

Therefore, Carisia could deliver fatal surprise attacks to every mage who saw her. The activation condition for her magic was “when someone recognizes Carisia.” That’s why she didn’t run.

The mages who rushed to defeat Carisia marveled at her immense magical power, were shocked that she could wield such power within the influence of the Ten Artifacts, and died the moment they saw her.

A magic that directly burned the optic nerve and the brain beyond it. Dozens of mages who couldn’t react in time instantly became corpses.

Their response was swift. She clearly hadn’t used such magic outside. The difference between inside and outside the Ten Towers was, for Carisia, the presence of allies.

They formed a hypothesis: that magic undoubtedly attacks everyone equally without distinguishing between friend and foe. The mages took a step back. Instead, swarms of drones rushed in to investigate Carisia’s unnamed magic.

From mechanical beasts modeled after four-legged creatures to self-destructing drones with such minimalist designs they were merely simplified cylinders. White Light’s unmanned forces surged toward Carisia.

Carisia immediately withdrew her magic, but it was too late. The visual circuits of several drones that had captured her in their field of view were destroyed. The White Light side would have figured out the principle of her magic.

They would now try to locate her position not through visible light detection but through indirect methods like sound wave measurement.

It was time to change strategies.

In a manner befitting “White Light.”

Carisia opened her palm. Swirling magical power dominated the surrounding space. The White Light mages tensed, but what Carisia was about to use was a very simple, basic magic.

“Telekinesis.”

The fragments of shattered drones were enveloped by Carisia’s magical power. It was difficult to guess what she intended to do. A physical throwing attack? Such an irritatingly primitive attack couldn’t break through White Light’s defenses.

Though the mages told themselves this, they couldn’t hide their tension.

Since Carisia’s intrusion, they had been unable to launch a proper counterattack. More precisely, a magical exchange of offense and defense.

They could still control pre-completed magical items like drones or activate the tower’s defensive magic. However, the moment they tried to directly cast a spell to attack Carisia, it would disperse before completion.

It was magical interference. The miraculous ability to disperse dozens of spells aimed at her, all at precisely the right moment.

It was an astonishing capability. Although all the White Light elders were at the outer barrier to check attacks from other Ten Towers, even ordinary tower members possessed skills that could overwhelm mages outside the Ten Towers.

Yet she was erasing the combined attacks of dozens of such mages with a simple gesture.

The only effective attacks were those from unmanned forces like drones or pre-completed magic stored in artifacts. However, they couldn’t use artifacts immediately.

Those were items to be used at the moment when they could surely hit the enemy.

In White Light’s ether space, virtual brains communicated across hyperspace. Though cut off from the outside, they couldn’t seek advice from the elders outside the main tower, but under the chief disciple’s command, their coordinated analysis succeeded in finding an attack that would work against Carisia.

A physical throwing attack like what Carisia was preparing with telekinesis. Though clearly primitive, it was the only attack method available in the current situation.

Advanced magic was neutralized by magical interference the moment it was prepared. An almost miraculous ability that exploited the brief moment between incantation and completion.

Conversely, if they gave her no opportunity to use magical interference, they could attack Carisia. Telekinetic throwing was extremely simple, but for that reason, it was magic that could be completed faster than anything else.

Having made their decision, the mages also began using telekinesis to gather debris around them. The time elapsed since Carisia cast her telekinesis until now was just a few seconds.

However, Carisia did not attack them with telekinesis.

Flash. Something glinted. With a soft “uh,” a mage at the front collapsed. There was a clear hole in the middle of his forehead.

Another flash. Another mage was killed.

It was a very familiar attack method. This was how enemies looked when hit by the light beam attacks that were White Light Tower’s specialty.

But the problem was the angle. Analysis of footage captured by drones showed that the light was fired not from the front where Carisia was facing them, but from behind.

Was another enemy approaching? An internal traitor? The mages activated their surveillance devices linked to the ether space to the maximum.

And the truth was revealed.

The light Carisia fired was reflected off countless metal fragments, flickering for less than a millisecond. Carisia had used telekinesis to control thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of metal fragments, processing them into reflectors and changing their positions in real-time.

Thus, she had created a light-speed killing magic that could overcome the inherent limitation that light travels in straight lines, allowing her to adjust the trajectory instantly to pierce vital points no matter where defensive magic was deployed.

Carisia looked up toward the summit. Without the elders, continued resistance from mere disciples was meaningless.

Nevertheless, the fact that the tower master had not yet appeared—was it provocation? Or was she preparing something to destroy the barrier that had isolated the main tower from the outside?

“Well. I’ll find out when I get up there.”

The people-killing light began to dance brilliantly.

***

And so Carisia personally broke the fighting spirit of the mages who blocked her path to White Light’s summit, one by one. She sensed mages pursuing her from behind, but she had no time to worry about them.

She would leave the rear to Ortes and the Hydra Company he had prepared. The enemy she needed to face was at the summit.

She stepped toward the peak—

And faced “her.”

***

Carisia knew the identity of the White Light Tower Master. It was White Light in the most literal sense.

Older than the Ten Artifacts of White Light, one of the Mage King’s ten disciples. One who was taught the light attribute and given the name White Light.

The first betrayer.

She had never lost in the succession battles and never surrendered her position to others. She had achieved immortality.

The betrayed Mage King had inscribed his thoughts into the Ten Artifacts as a final trap to control the tower masters’ bodies.

White Light’s immortality was inspired by that very magic. The capacity of the Ten Artifacts was immense. Unlike other magical circuits, they could upload a human soul itself.

The Mage King had shown the path she needed to explore through his magic of inscribing thoughts. White Light would engrave her soul into her artifact, achieving immortality.

At the same time, she had not given up on ascension. Immortality was merely a process on the way to ascension.

By elevating her soul to the realm of immortality, White Light had become equal to the Mage King on a spiritual level. The next step was the physical body.

She needed that blessed body of the Mage King. A heaven-gifted body where not only all attributes of magical power but even mana itself would submit.

When both spirit and flesh reached the supreme state, White Light could finally reach the realm of ascension.

The fragment of the past injected into Carisia was convinced of this.

***

White Light and Carisia stood motionless like mirror images of each other. In their eyes, they saw endless reflections of one another.

A moment of silence that felt like eternity. Carisia was the first to break the stillness.

“Do you remember me?”

Slowly, White Light opened her mouth.

“They’re not moving. They must have other intentions.”

Carisia’s eyebrow twitched. White Light had not answered her. It was a soliloquy. A conversation exists between “I” and “you.”

White Light ignored Carisia’s very existence with her calm monologue.

The original Carisia would have unleashed her suppressed anger at this point. But not now.

The stakes in this battle were not just her life. Ortes remained. She sneered at White Light.

“You’re too old to hear properly. I’ll send you to rest soon.”

Light gathered in the air above Carisia’s shoulder. It was a concentration of light for beam emission. White Light’s method, White Light’s magic implemented with White Light’s wisdom.

Seeing this, White Light spoke.

“I thought you wouldn’t die to someone like Blasphemia. Indeed, you didn’t.”

A mechanical, inhuman faint smile formed on her lips.

“My daughter.”

It was an irritating word. There was no one in this world who could call Carisia their “daughter.” It was clearly deliberate provocation.

“I’ve come to destroy you, White Light.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Of course.”

“Then do it,” the White Light Tower Master added, “of course.” Her tone was remarkably similar to the “of course” Carisia had just uttered.

“If you can.”

Carisia whispered to her angry inner self.

This is just the preliminary battle.

The real fight begins when Ortes arrives.