Chapter 623: The Disappearance of Black Tower Master Lune
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 623: The Disappearance of Black Tower Master Lune
In the Floating Castle, magic is a part of daily life, and the Tower Masters are figures close to its chosen people. For this reason, visitors who happen upon this place often forget a simple truth.
In the world below, magic is not so common, and the beings known as Tower Masters are not to be trifled with.
Black Tower Master Lune was a mage with a small frame and a face that lacked confidence. Draped in a thick robe with a conical hat pulled down low, she resembled a witch more than a mage, but the magic she wielded was entirely different.
Black spheres materialized in the air. Light, heat, wind—the small, dark orbs, which devoured all forms of energy, spun around the Black Tower Master as if to protect her. A moment later, one of the spheres flashed and shot out a crimson heat ray.
“Tch!”
Sensing the threat, Shei angled Jizan to block it. The ray struck the sword’s dark blade and scattered. The sparks that flew backward were proof of the ray’s tangible power.
The Black Tower Master muttered toward Shei.
“…Stop this pointless resistance… It’s a bother for both of us.”
“If you hadn’t come looking for me, I wouldn’t have had to resist in the first place!”
Sigh. Fighting again. Can’t she just have a quiet life after breaking out of prison like me?
I was watching from a distance, blaming Shei for her lack of finesse, when the Black Tower Master spoke again.
“The black mage who escaped my prison… I was told he came with you… Of course I have to hold you accountable.”
Uh oh. Is Shei in trouble because I escaped?
Well, who told her to go and enjoy her freedom without me? This is her punishment for abandoning a comrade. She should take it like a champ.
Dodging the heat rays, Shei shot back fiercely.
“You’re the ones who imprisoned Hughes! I didn’t help him, you’re the ones who let him get away, so why are you blaming me?! I was just about to go looking for him myself because I don’t know where he is either!”
At Shei’s cry, the Black Tower Master paused her attack, lost in thought.
“Oh… Is, is that so?”
During the brief lull in the assault, the voice of the Green Tower Master flowed from a resonance crystal hanging near the Black Tower Master’s shoulder.
[Is that so? A black mage who arrived with her escaped from prison. It’s only natural to suspect she helped him. Just arrest her already.]
“B-but… If she resists with all her might like this, it’ll be hard to capture her alive…”
[I’m on my way to help. With the two of us, restraining her should be easy.]
“Huh? What’s gotten into you…?”
[What do you mean?]
“You, the headstrong and obstinate one, are offering to help me…? Are you terminally ill, or is that black mage just that dangerous…?”
[The latter. I’ll explain when I get there, just capture her for now!]
By that point, Shei was already flying away. The Black Tower Master, staring blankly at her retreating figure, raised her brush-shaped staff and, leaping across space, drew a black dot in front of Shei.
Unique Magic, Vanishing Point.
Unlike the White Tower, which deals with light, the Black Tower deals with color. Color is a property of matter that absorbs and emits light. The White and Black Towers both originated from the single branch of ‘light’ but evolved in different directions.
The Black Tower was a school of thought that studied the space where light resides, rather than light itself. It was, in name and in reality, a form of White Magic, merely saddled with a negative image for having chosen the color black. The mages of the Black Tower were so conscious of this perception that an agenda to change their symbolic color was raised at every weekly meeting, only to be shot down each time by the opposition of traditionalists.
And the strongest traditionalist in the Black Tower had just placed a vanishing point before Shei.
“Ugh…!”
A vanishing point is a virtual point used to express perspective. As one approaches the vanishing point, the amplitude of the image must decrease.
The Black Tower Master’s Unique Magic was no different.
Everything slowed. Sound, speed, energy—all converged on the single point the Black Tower Master had drawn.
It wasn’t that they disappeared; they were trapped, forever unable to reach the vanishing point. The point, which swallowed even light, looked like a black monster devouring everything.
Shei abruptly twisted her direction mid-flight. But the vanishing point began to consume even Chun-aeng’s spatial magic, and she staggered and fell in a spiral, like a butterfly that had lost a wing.
The Black Tower Master walked leisurely along Shei’s trajectory, muttering to herself.
“…How did a black mage break through my gravity barrier? I made it by applying the principles of the vanishing point. I’d like to ask him when I meet him.”
“Then…! Go ask Hughes yourself!”
Spinning as she fell, Shei channeled the rotation into Chun-aeng. In a single moment, she unleashed the swirling wind within the sword, thrusting it toward the Black Tower Master.
Skyblade Art, Draconic Ascension.
A single tempest shot toward the Black Tower Master. The closer it got, the sharper it became, until the Draconic Ascension looked like a piercing spear. Then, at a certain point, the storm, having become impossibly thin, was finally…
Trapped in the vanishing point.
Seeing the storm disappear into the point before her, the Black Tower Master spoke without a hint of surprise.
“A sword-shaped Rene's Pocket…? A unique form. But your wind won’t work… It’s a form of vibration. It will only become prey for my vanishing point…”
And the storm, now absorbed by the vanishing point, became the Black Tower Master’s power and bared its fangs at Shei. Seeing Shei’s dismayed expression, the Black Tower Master mentioned Jizan.
“That heavy sword, on the other hand…”
Jizan could destroy the vanishing point. Its overwhelming mass would prevent its form from being nullified.
But after a moment’s calculation, Shei simply fled.
‘Jizan could break that Unique Magic, but…! Don’t be fooled! It’s a trap! A mage would never openly reveal their weakness!’
The mage’s true power had yet to be unleashed. The synergy between White Magic and a Unique Magic was what made a mage a mage. As Shei realized this and fled, the Black Tower Master, who had been waiting with her trap, sighed in disappointment.
“You have good instincts… So energetic. Seeing that makes me a little envious…”
Her refusal to give up and flee despite the overwhelming difference in power was almost tiresome. Still, the difference in power was far too great.
“That’s… a dead end.”
“Kyaa!”
A headwind wrapped around the fleeing Shei. She tried to counter with Chun-aeng, but the one-way wind tolerated no opposing flow. Shei dropped to the ground like a fly.
When she came to her senses and stood up, the Green Tower Master was there, aiming her umbrella. Having suppressed Shei with her One-Way Street, she spoke in a raspy voice.
“I was so focused on you that I overlooked him. That black mage. What is his identity?”
She wouldn’t care if I told her he’s the King of Humans. True to her rebellious nature, Shei gritted her teeth and retorted.
“Why are you asking? You’re the one who judged him a black mage and locked him up, aren’t you?”
“…That is.”
I was curious, too. Why were they suddenly searching for me so desperately? Seizing the opportunity Shei had created, I read the Green Tower Master’s thoughts.
‘…If I wasn’t mistaken. When I first encountered him. I felt as if my Unique Magic was being analyzed. Just like… that time I faced the Mage King…’
Well, yeah, I have mind-reading. Since I can read your Spiritual World, it would feel like you were being analyzed. What’s the big deal?
‘Analyzed…? No. That doesn’t feel right either. There was definitely something wrong with my One-Way Street back then. A blind spot in my Unique Magic. If I can’t figure it out, I can’t proceed with my other research…’
The Green Tower Master collected her thoughts and spoke.
“I sensed an unknown power from that black mage. My analysis concludes that he will become a great threat to the Floating Castle if his nature is not clearly identified.”
“And your conclusion is to capture Hughes and hunt him down with dozens of people? If Hughes becomes a threat to you, it’ll be because of your own aggressive actions!”
“That may be so. However, if we eliminate him, we will at least no longer have to feel threatened.”
Shei’s eyes widened.
“You’re going to kill Hughes?!”
“If necessary.”
“Are you insane? You think I’ll just stand by and watch?!”
“You are no exception. Know your place.”
The Green Tower Master raised a cube imbued with lightning and storms.
The cube, a prison of wind formed by six one-way faces, held compressed air that couldn’t escape, generating lightning and flames as it waited for release.
If that cube were unleashed at this close range, Shei wouldn’t escape unscathed. As Shei gritted her teeth, the Green Tower Master looked down on her dispassionately.
“You are ambiguously strong. It would be easy to kill you, but difficult to capture you alive. Therefore, I cannot guarantee your safety if you continue to resist.”
“You do whatever you want…!”
“Whatever I want? That is the right of the chosen. And so.”
The Black Tower Master, her vanishing point floating beside her, had also drawn near.
One-Way Street in front, Vanishing Point behind. There was nowhere to run, no way to escape. To resist further would be to risk her life, and it would, in all likelihood, end in her death.
‘Dying is fine! But I can’t end this timeline here, not without even getting a proper message to Hughes…!’
“Drop your weapon before I count to three. One, two…”
Just as the Green Tower Master began to count, folding her fingers.
“Everyone.”
The Blue Tower Master stood between the Green Tower Master and Shei.
Slipping into the space crushed by two absolute Spiritual Worlds—the Vanishing Point and the One-Way Street—the Blue Tower Master finished her calculations, her eyes placid and calm. White vapor bloomed from her lips.
“Stop.”
The world froze.
In an instant, the wind ceased, and the atmosphere calmly froze over, blooming into ice flowers. The air that carried vibrations vanished, and all noise died. A great silence brought everything to a halt. The wind, the noise, and this battle.
“Haaa…”
Within that silence, the Blue Tower Master was crouched down, curled up like a butterfly. A thin layer of frost covered her clothes and skin. The frost particles scattering over her shoulders made her look just like a butterfly.
Unique Magic, Determinism.
A Unique Magic of absolute zero that could freeze even the air itself.
This glittering dust, formed not from water vapor but from frozen air, was a substance that could not be born on the surface world. Clumps of air that should only exist in the far reaches of space now swirled around her like a halo.
A power that should not exist. What kind of shock would befall the world the moment this Unique Magic was dispelled?
Ignorance is bliss, they say. Conversely, knowledge is fear. The Green and Black Tower Masters, who knew the Blue Tower Master’s power better than anyone, shouted in unison.
“You crazy bitch!”
“…Are you out of your mind…?”
Unique Magic, One-Way Street. Triple Layer.
A Unique Magic domain that forced a single direction of flow. The Green Tower Master wrapped herself in three overlapping layers of her One-Way Street. Mana flowed through the gaps she created, forming a magic circle.
Unique Magic, Vanishing Point. Three-Point Perspective.
A solid form created by three vanishing points emerged. A single drop of water fell, tracing a star shape with the three points as its vertices. The Black Tower Master, too, drew upon her power to confront the other’s ability.
Mages are strong. And dangerous. The power known as a Unique Magic, which overwrites the rules of the world, could easily break the world if mishandled.
And when different rules collide, their power amplifies uncontrollably. No matter how great the Floating Castle was, no matter how much powerful magic filled it, it could not withstand the full power of three Tower Masters.
It was a touch-and-go situation where the Floating Castle could collapse the moment a single person broke the balance.
“O, young and brilliant talents of the Mage Federation! I see you are passionately exchanging ideas day and night!”
Then, a light moved.
From Babylon, the center of the Floating Castle, the city’s core that pierced the round structure from top to bottom, a dazzling light shot forth. After blinking away the glare, I saw ‘him’ standing next to the Black Tower Master with an arm slung around her shoulder.
A man who, even in a situation that needed to be stopped, shouted with a joyous smile, as if delighted by the fight itself.
“Yes! To interact, to fight, to debate with one another is the first step of progress. Inquire! Clash! Strive further! That is what will become the new step toward progress!”
The being known as the Mage King.