Holy Light from the Peak
"Anima."
"Yes, Cezar."
Returning straight to my office, I summoned Anima to discuss the code. Tigris, 1001, peak, holy light. A simple combination of words, yet each seemed to carry some suspicious meaning.
"What do you make of the code? Any guesses?"
"Tigris and peak are clear, at least."
"I thought as much. Tigris was the nearest border after leaving Tenebris—the old barrier line of Tenebris."
"Yes. It was the mountain and city guarding the edge of Tenebris. And the peak would naturally refer to the summit of Mount Tigris."
The real problems were 1001 and holy light.
"As for 1001, I wondered if it might be Tigris's coordinates, but upon investigation, they do not match. Tigris's coordinates are precisely 101.25."
"Della Objet said she only deciphered the code and does not know the exact meaning either..."
"This is merely my personal opinion, but something is certain to happen at Tigris."
"That much is obvious. The question is whether it will be Nobel Highness's doing, or some other variable."
Or perhaps both combined. It was only a guess, but if the 1st Legion Commander was colluding with the humans to plot something at Tigris...
"Shall we dispatch the 3rd Legion?"
"No. There is no need to waste troops on something uncertain. If we are wrong, we will only lose soldiers. Every trained soldier is precious to us right now."
"Understood."
Losing soldiers through poor judgment... No matter how strong I was, without a solid foundation supporting me, a coup could occur in an instant.
"This is frustrating. Sitting still and waiting does not suit my temperament."
"For now, I have requested the 2nd Legion Commander to gather information."
"Good work."
If it was Gula Quebello's ability, results would come quickly. That was the only thing I could believe in...
BOOOOOOM!!!!
"C-C-C-Cezar—! Something terrible has happened!"
What changed everything was the sudden, deafening explosion and Trivia's frantic cry as she came running in.
"Trivia? What is it?"
"Th-that...!"
"Calm down and speak."
"An attack! An attack! A huge hole suddenly opened in the plaza and many people were injured!"
"...What?"
Anima and I exchanged glances with wide eyes, then rushed outside without a word. Leaping through the window, the horrific scene was impossible to miss.
"This is..."
"......"
Five craters, as if multiple meteors had struck. Between them lay the torn remains of several bodies. Several other Legion Commanders who had heard the news had already arrived.
"2nd Legion Commander Gula Quebello greets Cezar."
"6th Legion Commander Gini Luxury greets Cezar."
"Skip the formalities. The situation is urgent."
Chaos reigned. Many fled in terror, while those who had lost family, friends, or lovers wailed in anguish, their screams piercing the ears.
"Anyone who knows what happened, report immediately."
"2nd Legion Commander Gula Quebello will report to Cezar. At 18:23, five beams of white light suddenly pierced through Tenebris's black dome and struck the plaza. The craters you see are their traces. Since we were completely unprepared, the soldiers guarding the plaza and several civilians suffered casualties. The source appears to be magical traces fired from outside Tenebris, specifically from the summit of Mount Tigris."
"Tigris, 1001, peak, holy light..."
"Pardon?"
"Never mind. Gula, Gini, and summon Fade and 7th Legion Commander Della Objet as well."
"We receive Cezar's command!"
Things had escalated faster than expected. This was going to be troublesome... no, complicated.
* * *
"Everyone is here."
In the conference room of the main castle, Gula, Fade, Gini, and Anima, whom I had summoned in advance, were waiting. Della Objet, whom I had seen earlier today, was nowhere to be seen at first—until I noticed her rolling around in a corner.
"Della Objet."
"I'm here..."
"Sit up properly. This is an emergency."
"This is such a pain..."
Depending on how we handled today's situation, the future would change.
"First, I shall state the main issue. This concerns the events of today. According to what I received from Della Objet, the 1st Legion Commander requested a decryption of a code. Tigris, 1001, peak, holy light. Della Objet, is that correct?"
"Yeah, that's right. He didn't say anything else."
"Good. I understood Tigris and peak, but not 1001 and holy light. Now, while 1001 still remains undeciphered, holy light makes sense. Of course, now that the terror attack has already occurred, such details hardly matter."
Whether it was 1001, 1002, or 1003 was irrelevant now. What mattered was that the bombardment had come from the summit of Mount Tigris. Identifying the culprit and uncovering their connection to the 1st Legion Commander was the priority.
"Cezar, may I speak?"
"Speak."
"With all due respect, now that the code has been discovered, it will be difficult to tie the 1st Legion Commander to it. He is not foolish enough to have failed to anticipate that Cezar would uncover this."
"I thought the same. However, we cannot simply leave the 1st Legion Commander as he is, can we?"
"Indeed. However, identifying the cause of the incident and calming the public sentiment should take precedence. A castle without a solid foundation will collapse. Rushing for results may lead to the worst possible outcome."
"I see. Very well. Then let us set the code aside for now. Gula Quebello, do you have any other information regarding the bombardment?"
"According to reports from my subordinates, there is information that the human side has recently been actively researching Tenebris's black dome."
"Then it is certain that this bombardment was a human attack."
"Yes. We do not know who is behind it, but the attack itself was carried out by humans."
"Hmm..."
It was described as holy white light. Then it must be holy-attribute magic. That would not be strange.
"Elin..."
"Cezar?"
"Do you have any information on Saint Elin?"
"We do, but there have been no significant updates."
"Tell me what you know."
"Since the death of the hero 'Eternal,' she has remained by Inferno's side as his closest aide. That is all we know. However, why the information on Elin...?"
"Holy light. I wondered how likely it is that Elin was involved."
Heroes—the abilities of the human side were divided into several attributes. Just as Inferno and I possessed the fire attribute, and Miriam possessed the water attribute. While there were quite ordinary attributes, there were also a few heterogeneous ones. One of them was the holy attribute. Those who believed in God and received a special attribute from Him. Though heterogeneous, they were never few in number. They were those who, despite not being born with supernatural powers, lived righteously and were granted miracles by God for their unwavering faith.
And the strongest among them was Elin, Eternal—the one who had driven me to death in the past, one of the greatest culprits.
"Cezar, if you order it, we can assassinate her immediately."
"No. Assassination is not an option."
"May I ask the reason?"
"They do not deserve an easy death. From now on, Ileana, Inferno, and Elin—these three will never be granted an easy death."
"...I obey Cezar's command."
After lightly answering Gini Luxury's chilling question, I began to think. What should I do? How should I resolve this?
"3rd Legion Commander Fade Allwhite has a suggestion for Cezar."
"Speak."
"My subordinates and I have already completed battle preparations. If Cezar commands it, we are ready to become Cezar's sword against the humans or the 1st Legion. If Cezar wills it, we are prepared to burn our lives. Please give the order at any time."
"......Anima."
"Yes, Cezar."
"Send Fade out and call Intri in."
"Yes, I will summon him immediately."
As expected, no matter how loyal Fade was, he did not belong in this kind of meeting.
"C-Cezar! Cezar!!"
"Be quiet and follow me."
Ignoring Fade's scream, I continued the meeting.
"There was a brief commotion. The problem is this. In my opinion, Elin was definitely involved in this attack. However, capturing her is by no means an easy task. No, it would be much faster to destroy humanity before capturing Elin. She is the highest priority protection target, after all. Yet without capturing and publicly revealing the mastermind behind this incident, it will not be easy to quell the public's anger. Furthermore, if we cannot stop her, we cannot be certain that such bombardments will not repeat. They have already confirmed its effectiveness."
"If that is your concern, there is one solution."
"Ah, it was Intri. When did you arrive?"
"I came running as soon as I heard the summons."
"Good. Speak."
"It is—"