The test subjects whose life signals had been cut off squeezed out the last of their strength, attempting to self-destruct.
The bombs implanted in them used special powder that even [Silence of Fire] couldn’t neutralize.
But Ludger only watched silently—then swung his swordstick with deliberate precision.
Shashashak.
In the blink of an eye, the blade sliced through the subjects’ elastic flesh as smoothly as cutting through water.
Their muscles, tougher than rubber and stronger than steel fiber, split apart like butchered meat.
The swordstick’s edge traced through skin and sinew, cutting directly through the wiring of the explosive device implanted beside their hearts.
Their final act of self-detonation failed.
Those with severed heads or pierced hearts convulsed for a few brief seconds before falling still.
Ludger turned his gaze toward one test subject whose head was still intact.
“You’re watching, aren’t you, Nicolai.”
He could see it clearly in the unnatural movement of the subject’s pupils—like camera lenses adjusting their focus.
“I know you’re watching me through these things. If you’re as predictable as I think, you can hear my voice as well.”
He raised his foot toward the test subject’s head.
“Wait for me. I’ll finish my business and then come find you.”
Crunch!
After crushing the creature’s skull, Ludger turned toward the War Mages.
A chill crawled down their spines—as if their bodies were submerged in ice water.
He had effortlessly wiped out Nicolai’s prized test subjects, nullified explosions with impossible magic, and carried himself like a figure carved from nightmares.
Everyone there shared the same thought.
—We can’t win.
Had they underestimated him because he was alone?
No.
They knew from the start he was a 6th-Circle mage, and they had prepared thoroughly.
They had done everything they could—yet it meant nothing.
Was that thing really human?
Or a reaper sent to punish their arrogance?
“Well then.”
The reaper spoke.
“Let’s finish this fight.”
To grant them the death they feared.
* * *
[Wait for me. I’ll finish my business and then come find you.]
Crunch.
With the sound of something being crushed, the screen went black.
Nicolai, resting his chin on his hand, watched in silence before irritably shutting off the artifact display.
“John Doe.”
How dare he—how dare he claim he’d come find him after taking care of other matters first?
Even in this situation, the fact that Nicolai wasn’t his top priority wounded his pride.
“Like a damn cockroach, still alive.”
Recent intelligence had made one thing clear—John Doe was far stronger than Nicolai had originally assumed.
As a mage, his minimum level was 6th-Circle.
Nicolai had wondered if the man had always been that powerful, but then realized—No wonder Zero Order favors him so highly.
That thought explained everything.
Nicolai had taken that into account when devising his plan.
No matter how strong the opponent, he would ensure victory.
This wasn’t a fight.
It was a hunt—cornering a wild beast and suffocating it slowly until it died.
And now, that beast had strayed from its territory and stepped right into his yard.
Unable to let such a chance slip away, Nicolai refined his plan to perfection.
That lunatic attacked the New Mage Tower, sure—but thanks to that, it’s even easier for me to control the mages connected to my network.
And yet this was the result.
John Doe is far stronger than I thought.
Verom had been defeated, and this latest operation had failed as well.
The first time, Ludger had allies—fine. But this time Nicolai had set the perfect stage for a one-on-one. And still he failed.
Which meant Ludger wasn’t just any 6th-Circle mage—he was one of the strongest among them.
Even within the same rank, the gap in power could be enormous. Ludger’s combat prowess bordered on monstrous.
“Haa... this wasn’t how things used to be. What happened to him after he went to Seorn?”
Nicolai knew that academy had been a storm of incidents—but instead of breaking, Ludger had grown stronger through it.
“But this time will be different. I still have plenty of cards left.”
He was confident.
When separated by distance, there wasn’t much he could do to control the situation. But here, on Isla Machina, things were different.
On this island, there was nowhere his gaze couldn’t reach.
Nicolai had already seized control of all its shadows.
The Black Mages still fought to protect their scraps of territory?
That was merely the surface truth.
In reality, Nicolai had already completed his consolidation of power.
The “war” against the Black Mages was merely the work of a fraction of his forces.
If he wanted to, he could wipe them out completely with overwhelming power.
But he didn’t—because he needed the data.
Every fight served as a test to collect data from his experimental subjects, to refine and perfect them.
Destroying the Black Mage schools, absorbing their resources and knowledge—that was simply a bonus.
He rose from his seat and walked toward one wall of the room.
A large transparent glass panel covered the entire side, reflecting his silhouette against the blackness beyond.
“Prepare it.”
At his murmur, the darkness beyond the glass lit up.
Red emergency lights flickered to life.
The crimson glow spilled down like blood, revealing rows upon rows of test subjects standing in formation.
Pale-skinned humans.
Under the red light, they looked like creatures freshly dragged out of a pool of blood.
Every one of them wore a red gas mask over their mouths.
As the red light swept over them, a glow of the same color began to swirl faintly in their dull eyes.
Satisfied, Nicolai turned toward the opposite wall.
It, too, was glass—and as he approached, a cool blue light illuminated the inside.
Cold as the northern sea, the light revealed another army of test subjects.
Blue units.
Unlike the reds, these wore visored helmets that covered their eyes, and from each shoulder jutted horn-like ampoules filled with blue liquid.
“Code Red. Code Blue.”
At his words, the subjects along both walls lifted their heads.
The Code Reds’ eyes gleamed blood-red.
The Code Blues’ eyes glowed icy-blue behind their visors.
“It’s your turn.”
Nicolai smiled confidently as he looked at his twin armies.
The Red and Blue units—creations refined through countless battles against the Black Mages.
Of course,
the experiments were still ongoing—there was room to evolve further.
“I’m curious to see it.”
He smirked as he returned to his desk.
It was stacked high with experiment reports compiled by his subordinates—hundreds, maybe thousands.
Yet his attention was fixed on only three documents.
The first:
“The Eye of God—what allowed me to dominate Isla Machina.”
A tool capable of hacking and controlling all surveillance systems, devices, and artifacts on the island.
The second:
“The Steel Heart—the core that drives Isla Machina’s massive power source.”
The island’s nucleus, its reactor, the engine that sustained its enormous energy output.
And the last:
“The supreme existence that will contain them all.”
The God of Machines.
Its completion was near.
* * *
After cleaning up the battlefield, Ludger swiftly withdrew.
The commotion from the fight had already drawn pursuers.
And it wasn’t just his own safety that mattered.
Even if he’d sent reinforcements to Cravat, the enemy’s strength was too formidable for them to hold out unscathed.
Determined to assist, Ludger moved quickly—
until he reached a narrow, deserted alley and was forced to stop.
A hole?
In the center of the alley was a perfectly round hole, as if carved out with a razor.
He stared for only a moment before leaping down.
Using flight magic, he landed softly—and found himself in a vast underground facility.
Pipes and cables ran along every wall of the corroded tunnel.
The area was abandoned, rusted, and reeking of battle.
Fist and foot marks scarred the walls; traces of curses burned into the floors.
And corpses.
New Mage Tower mages, hired mercenaries, and Nicolai’s lackeys.
Bodies lined the path ahead.
The deeper he went, the fiercer the signs of battle—and the more dangerous the foes.
Broken Automaton parts gave way to human corpses,
and finally to the slain War Mages of the Tower.
“You’re here?”
At the end of the tunnel, a man wearing a goat-horn mask greeted him.
Cravat.
His black robe was torn and scorched in several places, proof of a hard fight.
But no fatal wounds.
That could only mean one thing—someone had guarded his flank.
“It’s been a while.”
A beastman mage in an iron mask stepped forward.
The Iron Mask, Roteron, recognized Ludger and bowed his head.
Ludger dispelled Ater Nocturnus and returned the greeting.
“It has been a while, Sir Roteron.”
“It has indeed. When I first heard, I couldn’t believe it. To think such a thing was happening on Isla Machina.”
He let out a low chuckle.
“To tell me outright that you planned to raid the New Mage Tower to expose the corruption of the opposing faction—what would have happened if I’d told someone?”
“Then we wouldn’t be standing face to face like this. You didn’t tell anyone.”
“I had to be sure. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have listened—but Professor Ludger Cherish is a different story.”
Roteron held a genuine trust in Ludger.
To call it “some trust” would have been an understatement, even an insult.
They were comrades who had fought together in the capital—
and Ludger was the teacher of his half-sister, Iona.
To Roteron, Ludger was one of the few people he could truly trust.
But he was also a man of endless mystery.
Even now—
A Seorn professor launching a raid on Isla Machina’s New Mage Tower,
teaming up with Cravat, the master of the Ancient Curse Black Mage School.
A mage working alongside a black mage—enough to make the world point fingers in scorn.
Even Roteron needed to hear how this had come to be.
“So tell me—what exactly is going on here?”
“Are you aware of what’s been happening in Isla Machina recently?”
“Yes. Only vaguely.”
The conflict raging on the island’s first level—
the turf war between the Black Mages and the emerging new faction.
Rumor had it that the New Mage Tower’s dissenting faction was making enormous profits from the chaos.
Now, seeing it firsthand, those rumors were clearly true.
And darker truths hid beneath them.
“Then this will be easier to explain.”
Ludger gave him a concise summary.
The new faction—Nicolai and his army of test subjects—was moving to seize control of Isla Machina, backed by a major faction within the Tower.
“So it’s come to this.”
Roteron didn’t deny the shocking revelation.
He had already suspected something of the sort.
Even someone as politically detached as he couldn’t avoid hearing such whispers.
Ludger’s words were simply the final piece in a puzzle that was already nearly complete.
And yet, the difference between “almost complete” and “complete” was absolute.
“If half of the New Mage Tower joins forces with Isla Machina’s underworld, a new empire will rise—and no one will be able to stop it.”
“That’s why I came to you for help, Sir Roteron.”
“But can I ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) alone make a difference? We’re not weak, but their scale of power far exceeds ours.”
“True.”
Ludger nodded.
“It would be ideal if we could find at least one more ally.”
“...There might be a way. By chance, another Lexor-class mage is currently on this island.”
“Another Lexor?”
Roteron’s voice dropped, echoing faintly inside the mask.
“But summoning that person won’t be easy. They’re... not someone you can meet easily.”