Chapter 852: Takeover (20)

‘Purple and Black, I remember. But the silver one is new.’

The special agency Aegis consisted of human weapons created by embedding complete spellcraft into those with powerful physical abilities.

Most of them merely wielded their bestowed spellcraft like a weapon, but among them were individuals who displayed particularly immense power.

There was Purple, who controlled gravity and used spellcraft to drop meteors, and Black, who handled black magic and specialized in close-quarters combat.

Weren’t both of them possessed of such exceptional power and skill that they could hold their own against the members of Pandemonium?

“They’re coming.”

The first to move was the Purple visor, who had appeared right behind Black.

The moment he formed a simple hand seal and raised his hands to the sky.

KWWAAAAAAA!!!

With a sound like a violent storm raging, the entire power facility began to shake madly.

“Wh-what just happened?!”

“Who knows.”

Lennok replied as he turned to the monitor showing the outside of the power facility.

“It seems the City Council has no intention of rescuing you safely.”

KWAAAAAA!!!

A meteor the size of a house was falling at high speed just above the power facility.

Having confirmed it through the monitor, Hayward let out an indescribable, beast-like scream.

“W-uwaaaack!!”

[OOOOOOH!!!]

At the same time the meteor fell, a giant toad, having gathered all the power of the facility, surged up onto the building’s roof.

The moment the massive, dazzlingly bright lightning toad opened its gaping mouth and snatched the falling meteor.

BOOOOOM!!!

The toad’s head exploded, shattering itself along with the meteor.

KUGWAGWAGWA!!!

The meteor fragments, broken into thousands of pieces, rained down on the facility.

From the impact, a large part of the facility’s ceiling collapsed, and all around, electrical wires snapped and pipes shattered.

Crackle, crackle, CRACKLELELELELE!!!

“He threw it knowing it would be blocked. Was he that confident he could neutralize me with a single preemptive strike?”

Lennok laughed as he looked up at the half-destroyed power facility.

“Good judgment. He’s got guts, too, to have done it at just the right time.”

Although he had fortified the entire power facility, the underlying power was ultimately not Lennok’s mana, but the leaking electricity of this facility.

It was only natural that the durability and precision of the spellcraft constituting the fortification magic would be weaker than the original.

Aegis had seen through the fact that Lennok was using the facility’s electricity instead of his own mana, and by targeting its fragile durability, they had brought down the fortification spellcraft itself in one fell swoop.

The insight and knowledge to recognize the magic Lennok used and deduce its deployment method.

The judgment to find a way to break it and choose the right moment, and the powerful output to execute the operation.

And above all, the resolute will to not hesitate in making an enemy of Lennok.

Yes, only something of this caliber could be called the elite special agency backed by the Central Council.

This entire operation was likely the work of the Black visor standing at the forefront.

Lennok remembered that during the mid-term settlement of the Pandemonium affair, the sniping and intrusion using Evelyn had been carried out under his direction.

In particular, Black was a master who possessed martial prowess outstanding enough to have briefly exchanged blows with the great Maiya Lonsdale.

Of course, it was unlikely that an Aegis superhuman perfected through modification experiments was stronger than Maiya, but the fact that a fight with her was even possible was certainly noteworthy.

[Gurgle.]

[Gweeeck…]

With the facility’s fortification breached, the toad spirits and the army of machines that had been patrolling the area collapsed.

The toads that moved by feeding on electricity and the machine soldiers created by the resulting magnetic fields could no longer maintain their forms.

KUGWAGWAGWA!!

Amidst the rain of screws and steel beams and the helpless flashes of dying sparks.

The Black visor, who had been standing still for a long time after revealing himself, began to sprint at an incredible speed.

SWISH!!

His terrifying mobility was almost impossible to track through the monitor.

He accelerated, stomping on the facility’s hallway ceilings and walls as if they were a comfortable playground, and shattered any barrier that stood in his way.

It was obvious where the figure, clad in jet-black mana with his visor pulled down low, was headed.

Panic-stricken, Hayward cried out in agitation.

“Wh-what do we do?! What are we supposed to do?!”

“He looks like a strong fellow. Who is that?”

“H-He’s the captain of Aegis’s execution squad!!”

Hayward bellowed in response to Raphael’s naive question.

“A master of black magic, and an extremely cruel one at that…!! When he arrives, he’ll kill us all!!”

“Hmm.”

“What the hell do you mean, ‘hmm’?!”

Incensed by Raphael’s somewhat indifferent remark, Hayward couldn’t hold back and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him.

“We’ve all as good as been marked for execution, and you’re just going to stand there so calmly?!!”

“N-no…”

Flustered, Raphael replied without even thinking of removing Hayward’s hands.

“‘Master of black magic’ isn’t a title you can just bestow upon anyone, you know.”

“What?!!!”

Hayward roared, unable to contain his agitation.

But Lennok understood what Raphael meant.

If Raphael knew about the Nether King residing in Pandemonium, he couldn’t possibly be unaware that the title was reserved for one person alone.

However, it was also true that the black magic wielded by that Black visor was clad in an equally powerful aura.

‘This feeling… a sense of déjà vu…’

He could feel some sort of intellect in the darkness writhing beyond the monitor, but it was hard to be certain from here.

It was a subtle sense of wrongness, one that would be difficult to confirm without facing it directly and seeing it with his own eyes.

“Judging by the speed he’s traversing the facility, he’ll be here in three minutes.”

Having come to that conclusion, Lennok picked up the screen again.

“It seems he’ll be here soon, so let’s talk again when he arrives. I’m going to look at this a little longer.”

“Wait, does no one here understand the situation—!!”

Leaving Hayward’s words behind, Lennok immediately began to read the rest of the data related to the wizard cultivation project.

He had read up to the part listing the prerequisites for starting the project.

= Premise 1: Evan Vylun is an artificial human.

Below that were several other premises that surpassed the absurdity Lennok had felt.

= Premise 2: Evan Vylun’s origins are unclear because he is a CRISPR Baby.

= Premise 3: Evan Vylun awakened to spirit arts at a late age because he was designed to do so.

= Premise 4: Evan Vylun was able to publish innovative magical theories because he sees and feels things differently from humans.

= Premise 5: Evan Vylun was able to learn Universal Magic because he is not a human of this era.

“……”

= Conclusion: Evan Vylun’s genius is possible because he is an artificial human.

= This project assumes the above premises and conclusion to be true and hereby specifies the conditions to prove them as follows.

These phrases were enough to understand why this research institute was named the Vylun Research Institute just by reading the introduction of the report.

A very blatant and powerful obsession to define the existence of Evan Vylun and his genius.

“It’s an interesting thing to say, but…”

Lennok tilted his head.

“Are these premises and conclusion actually suitable for logic based on propositions?”

Davi answered indifferently.

[They don’t fit at all.]

“…Right?”

[They’ve mixed facts that should be in the conclusion into the premises. They’re just stringing words together to reach the conclusion they want.]

To the Cybernetic Spirit, the proposition was so crude that Davi, for once, continued to grumble.

[This is why organics are hopeless. They just twist their words unscrupulously, and they don’t even keep their promise to feed the leftover electricity to a good spirit…]

“……”

It seemed the report wasn’t the only thing that had displeased him.

Ignoring Davi’s complaints, Lennok immediately opened the other data files and gave a bitter smile.

Evan Vylun is an artificial human.

His genius is possible because he is a man-made human.

Based on that premise, a series of preparatory works to create an artificial human and replicate that genius was stored intact within the research institute’s deleted data.

“I see…”

The Vylun Research Institute wasn’t trying to study Evan Vylun to cultivate wizards who could learn Universal Magic.

The ones who established this institute intended to ‘create’ humans born with the talent to learn Universal Magic.

Once he understood the most important intention, looking through the other data didn’t take long.

‘There were no plans to kidnap or harm Evan Vylun. Did they think it was impossible from the start?’

The plan was initiated with the assumption of either securing Evan’s cooperation or obtaining his genetic information.

The report clearly stated that securing Evan’s person or killing him had become difficult the moment he became entangled with the Adamant Tower.

But even after grasping the situation, Lennok still frowned with a suspicious look.

‘Why… an artificial human, of all things?’

After a long period of self-contemplation and research, Lennok knew he was a pure human.

Separate from the fateful moment he chose and obtained his transcendent talent, there was no trace of genetic manipulation in this body.

Lennok knew this because he, too, had constantly suspected that he might be a created being.

But if the City Council, which knew nothing about Lennok, held the same suspicion, what was the reason?

Why did they choose Evan Vylun?

Why did they think he was an artificial human?

His series of research and achievements to date, the bizarre obsession with entropy published in his papers.

They were just fitting all conclusions under a single premise to construct the project. There was no basis whatsoever for why they thought of Evan Vylun that way.

Could they really be relying on such an uncertain, groundless conclusion while drawing up such a grand picture?

That was a line of thought that in no way matched the Central Council Lennok knew.

Even if it was the Senate and the Elder Council, filled with old schemers, they would never act on such flimsy grounds.

There’s something more.

There’s another secret, one Lennok doesn’t know, that made them so certain Evan was an artificial human.

Convinced of this, Lennok quickly scanned through the remaining data, and the moment he reached the final document.

Lennok was able to find the answer to the question that had arisen when he started reading the report.

= The entirety of the above research is based on the progress of the Black Consumer Project conducted in District 19.

“……”

The secret Lennok was searching for. A fragment of the hidden story he didn’t know. The basis for a conclusion he couldn’t understand.

It was nothing more than a passing remark, but Lennok was certain.

The reason the Central Council had concluded that Evan was an artificial human.

The reason they were proceeding with such a huge project and investing in it based on a groundless conclusion.

It was a conclusion made possible because they had already conducted research on the ‘genius’ of an artificial human during the Black Consumer Project.

“Ha…”

The Central Council knew. They hadn’t forgotten.

And those who still remembered that glory had gathered to try and replicate that failure once more.

Creak.

The moment Lennok’s hand, gripping the screen, tightened, mana rose in response to his will and shattered the conversion device.

KWANG!!

Which came first, the sound of the conversion device breaking or the roar of the control room door being shattered?

It was too late to ponder such things as the Black visor, clad in deep darkness, strode inside.

“H-huh…!!”

Hayward gasped, and even Raphael was momentarily overwhelmed by the oppressive, viscous black mana.

But the Black visor ignored the two as if he hadn’t even seen them and turned his gaze toward Lennok.

The visor tilted his head as he confirmed the broken screen in Lennok’s hand.

[You’ve seen it.]

A man’s voice, so dreary it was inorganic.

[I thought I arrived just in time, but was I late? No, I should say you were faster than expected.]

“……”

As Lennok remained silent, the Black visor spoke.

[What was in there is the core technology of the Superhuman Cultivation Project, created with the City Council’s full devotion. It’s the very source that allowed Aegis and other special agencies to establish themselves so quickly after the prohibition was lifted.]

“So?”

[It’s impossible to convert the technology’s value into monetary terms, and if one had to, it’s a power comparable to that of a small city-state. Do you understand what it means to have opened it without the Council’s approval?]

Click!!

The Black visor, now standing right in front of Lennok, looked down at the wizard and spoke.

[Even for a great archmage, this means things have escalated to a point that’s difficult to resolve without a deal that’s hard to swallow.]

“……”

[The Central Council has summoned you. You will be escorted under the authority of the special agency Aegis. Your cooperation is expected.]

“Cooperation…”

Lennok replied as he stood up from his seat.

Leaning on his staff, Lennok stared intently at the visor.

Coughing weakly, barely maintaining his balance, Lennok whispered.

“That’s not something I care to hear from those who treat the byproducts of a failed project as their own.”

[…]

Lennok put a cigarette to his lips, slowly inhaled, and asked.

“That technology you speak of. The plan that was proceeding in this research institute. Can you say that all of it truly belongs to the Council?”

[…]

“You said the City Council summoned me? Fine, I can oblige.”

Lennok spoke leisurely as he looked at his own reflection in the visor.

“But if I go to the Council now, it will be to drag out the councilors and interrogate them about this situation. Not for some trivial deal.”

At Lennok’s chilling words, Hayward’s lips trembled with difficulty.

It was likely because he realized that a war between Adamant Thunder and the Central Council could break out right here.

Raphael, too, held his breath, his eyes darting back and forth, focusing on watching the two men’s conversation.

But the Black visor neither flinched at Lennok’s words nor, conversely, became angry or agitated.

He merely holstered the terminal he was holding at his waist and slightly raised his gaze.

[The Superhuman Cultivation technology became the core foundation for organizing the special agencies, but the detailed concepts and adjustments assigned to each agency are all different.]

“……”

[Among them, the role of Aegis is to possess enough power to be able to fight against monsters and disasters that exceed normal specifications.]

KIIING!!

As he rapidly drew up his mana, the Black visor’s aura sank infinitely deep.

A heavy submersion, as if he were diving into the depths of the sea right where he stood.

At the same time, he could feel the output of the black mana enveloping the visor rapidly increasing.

[What I use is the power of arch-enemies who have threatened the city since long, long ago.]]

FWOOSH!!

Darkness centered on the Black visor billowed out like a fog, taking shape above his head.

[The power of a fallen black wizard who committed horrific massacres and destruction, back when a brilliant civilization still remained on the northern continent.]

The darkness took shape and solidified, transforming into a massive gate that seemed to reach the control room ceiling.

The gate slowly opened, and with a grating noise, something revealed itself from within.

CLANK!!

A black giant with a massive chain, as thick as a human torso, wrapped around its forearm.

A being that appeared with overwhelming presence, its menacing appearance like that of a demon.

Lennok, who had been coughing lightly while watching it, had his expression turn strange in an instant.

“…Hm?”

It was because the hideous form, which he should have been seeing for the first time, was somehow strangely familiar.

[…?]

Conversely, the demon giant also tilted its head with a peculiar expression, as if it recognized Lennok. Only then could he be sure.

A demon-like giant with chains coiled around both arms.

This being was definitely the summon that Myeong usually commanded as his signature technique.

Why was the being that Myeong always brought with him, commanding it like his own limbs whenever he appeared in Vulcan of his own will, listening to Aegis?

The moment Lennok quickly recognized this question and fell into thought.

[Let’s go.]

Chrrrrk!!

The Black visor, who had bound the demon giant’s chains to his own arms, lowered his stance completely.

[There may be no victory, but defeat is impossible. I hereby declare a Hell’s Bargain.]

“……”

At the Black visor’s ominous declaration, Lennok also immediately drew up his mana and prepared himself with a cautious expression.

Hell’s Bargain. A contract of invincibility?

If it was a power that Myeong once favored, it must be a high-level summon ranked among the highest echelons of black magic.

Since his opponent was also a top-tier physical combatant, a minimum of caution was necessary.

Just as Lennok was thinking this and quickly considering countermeasures for black magic in his head.

Crack.

The demon giant grabbed the chain tied to its arm with its own hand and tore it off.

“…?”

Before either of them could react to the sudden action, the demon giant left the Black visor’s back and began to move slowly.

Swoosh.

Without a word, the demon giant changed its position and stood, all too naturally, behind Lennok.

The giant, floating as if to proudly protect Lennok’s back with its arms crossed, beckoned at the Black visor with a flick of its hand.

“……”

[…]

At the sight of the demon giant casually switching sides the moment it appeared.

Even the onlookers, faced with this bizarre reversal of roles, couldn’t utter a word.