The Tower of Mages was an occlusive organisation. They avoided outside contact as much as possible.
Due to those doubtful of what they were doing behind the curtains, they tended to be at the centre of all sorts of conspiracy theories. The only outside contact they had with the world happened once a quarter, in the superhuman conferences which were attended by both the Association and the nations of G12, where they revealed the records and achievements of the previous quarter.
Why were they such an occlusive organisation?
It was because they created spells that should not be known to the public.
Under whose sponsor?
Naturally, there was no other group apart from the Association that could be their sponsor.
Because of that, it was possible to consider the Association and the Tower of Mages to be somewhat in a hierarchical relationship.
“Alright. I shall personally give them a call.”
A great mage like Jeanie Inssirem had direct contact with the higher-ups of the Tower of Mages like the witch, Valentine. She, however, did not have a good look on her face after giving them a call.
– ………
The Tower of Mages did not pick up her call.
“Are they not picking up?”
“…”
She remained silent in response to Yu Jitae’s question. Her face soon turned extremely ominous because mages had an extremely strict hierarchy among themselves, even more so than an average military group.
Taking 5 seconds to pick up her call would be enough for them to receive a mouthful and yet they did not pick it up at all.
As the great mage was quietly burning in flames of fury, someone added oil to the flame.
“Aht…? Hello?”
The Tower of Mages picked up Jefferson’s call.
Jefferson, who had rang the reception desk of the Tower of Mages just to be sure, was startled as well and rolled his eyes to glance at Jeanie Inssirem. If a gaze could rip people to pieces, her face would have made her a serial killer already.
“Speaker.”
“Ahh, yes…”
Hearing the voice that was as cold as a sheet of ice, Jefferson quickly put it on speaker mode. In any case, the Tower of Mages had picked up the call so Jefferson calmly began to do what he had to do.
– Hello.
“Hello. I am a 4th Grade agent of the Association, Antonio Jefferson.”
– Hello sir. You are the chief aide of the Chairman, yes? It has been a while sir.
Jefferson politely shifted the topic to the Royal Guards of the Golden Cross, and said he urgently needed information about the 12th member.
– Ahh… Sorry but that won’t be possible.
“Sorry?”
– The Royal Guards of the Golden Cross are currently in charge of the security of the 72nd floor’s research. They have rotating shifts.
“Ahh, what I mean is, instead of a conversation with the 12th agent, I simply need some data about them.”
– That won’t be possible either. The Tower cannot give out personal information without the permission of the individual. That is the rule.
It was a ridiculous story.
That might be the rule, but that was by no means enough as a justification for rejecting the request of the Association.
“What kind of nonsense is that? Well, when’s the 72nd floor’s research going to end then?”
– It began last last month but… we have no idea when it will end.
“Are you taking me as a fool right now? Every research has an initial deadline does it not?”
– My apologies. That is restricted information and we cannot tell you that.
“Buddy. Listen up.”
Jefferson’s voice increasingly got louder.
“Are you joking me right now?”
– My apologies. We would love to help but the policies changed very recently and there’s nothing we can do.
After that, Jefferson asked more questions and approached from other directions but the opponent simply concealed information by repeating like a parrot that it was due to the recent policy change.
– Have a lovely day then…
“Oi. Oi! You son of a bitch!”
The call had already ended.
Jefferson furiously gasped for breath.
Things were going in a strange direction. All the transcendents and soldiers looking at him had the same look of doubt on their faces.
He asked Jeanie.
“Jeanie. Do you have any idea on what they are researching?”
“Things like that are generally not shared… because research is important.”
“Does any one of you have any ideas?”
“Hmm— A research in this current state in time…”
While they were having such conversations with each other, Yu Jitae gave a frown.
The 72nd floor was the top floor of the Tower of Mages where the elders including the Tower Lord would conduct personal research. Spells that were created there were at least of the S tier and the next long-term research at the 72nd floor should have begun after another 10 years, considering how that would be one of the big agents behind the Second Great War but…
The future of the 7th iteration changed. He was the one that changed it.
But from the factors that he had modified, was there any of them that could have made the 72nd floor move this early in time?
No.
Even if there was, it must have been an extremely miniscule factor that had close to zero chances of leading to such a result. Of course, although extremely unlikely, it could have happened due to a butterfly effect of some sort but…
“…”
It was bizarre. No matter how much he thought about it.
He tried to assemble the different puzzle pieces together. The Tower of Mages had a recent change in policies and the 72nd floor started creating the spell 15 years ahead of time. Because of that, Jeanie’s call was being ignored by the top floor, which happened to have the foreign superhuman called Myu who Yu Jitae assumed to be the same person as Q…
Those were the various puzzle pieces scattered all across but the last piece had a strong adhesive strength to it.
[Q is presumed to have a brainwashing ability]
Doubts consistently increased in magnitude.
*
The case accelerated rapidly.
“Let me give it another try.”
Enraged, Jeanie Inssirem immediately headed to the magic department of the Association and used the contact line of the Association to call the 72nd floor again.
– How is it.
In response to the Prophet’s question, Jeanie Inssirem revealed her fangs like an enraged lion. It had the same result despite trying to connect from the standpoint of a coworking organisation rather than an individual.
“It seems they cannot pick up right now.”
– Who said that?
“…The answering machine.”
At this point, she found it more bizarre than irritating. Connecting directly to the Tower of Mages like this happened for the first time in 12 years, and was ever since they had declared the end of the Great War.
It was that important of a connection line and yet…
As doubts stacked on top of another, a new message arrived from Zhuge Haiyan.
[Strategy Council Zhuge Haiyan: We have acquired a new video of the same clip. It was taken from a different angle and shows their face, so please have a look.]
The signalman hurriedly played the video.
There was a person wearing a hoodie.
She carried out the same massacre as the previous clip and opened the window. Then, she brought the transparent cube to her nose and inhaled it in. She breathed in so deeply that they could see her chest expanding from the inhale.
And when she turned her face after that…
Yu Jitae bit his dry lower lips.
The face disguised by the face mask was unrecognisable, but the eyes sparkling brightly in purple like amethyst was something that could not be concealed.
A thunder sparked through his mind.
That was undoubtedly [Myu].
“Kang Ahjin. Go and get permission from the Chairman.”
“Ah, yes sir…! What should I ask for?”
“To dispatch an official delegation to the Tower of Mages.”
The situation now felt a lot more serious than expected. Soon, Jefferson and Kang Ahjin dashed outside as the 5th Command Room simultaneously began to bustle with noise. They were now going to have a conference.
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae decided to not partake in the conference.
His mind was chaotic.
The leader of Quasar who erased all their traces for the past few months, who killed the grandson of Christoph and repeated terrorist attacks to quicken the anti-Association movements, Q.
That Q seemed to be Myu.
Why was the Vintage Clock still silent in a time like this?
The connection he had with Vintage Clock wasn’t cut off and yet even when he first met Myu, and even after all these things, it was silent and didn’t reply to any of his calls.
This was an extremely irresponsible attitude. A variable like this had only occurred in the 7th iteration because of its incompetence. Yu Jitae had to shoulder all the responsibilities and duties that followed it but didn’t have much information at hand.
Where.
How.
What.
Not a single one of them was certain. Even the operational methods of brainwashing and its limits weren’t fully revealed yet.
However, there was one thing he could be certain of.
All the way till the 6th iteration, he was placed before countless trials like this in every iteration and in every one of those situations, Yu Jitae discovered the solution. He was standing on top of all those seemingly impossible histories to reach this far above.
The Regressor created a hypothesis.
Now that the Association had officially formed a delegation, it was impossible for the Tower of Mages to reject it regardless of what was happening in the 72nd floor.
So if Q indeed was there.
And if there was something that had to be concealed there…
Very soon, there will definitely be an incident that will attempt to drive the attention away from them.
***
After exactly 1 hour.
The Association created a delegation party under the name of Prophet Season, and that was similarly publicised by the Tower of Mages.
But immediately after that,
Surprisingly, something occurred as Yu Jitae had predicted – but that something, was ridiculously more grandiose than he had expected.
“Uaakk–! It’s a Downfall—!!”
The signalman screamed out loud.
“What? A Downfall!?”
“What is this about…!”
“A, a, a Downfall…!”
[Downfall]
An ultrahigh speed explosive mass-destruction bomb made by splitting mana molecules with a strong enchanted will of [Destruction].
Easier put, it was the atomic bomb artifact created after the New Era.
In that room where everyone froze on the spot due to the unreal turn of events.
“Oi! Move you idiot–!”
One of the commanders shoved the signalman away and floated the MIMS (Mana Information Management System) on the display. Countless black wings devouring light were soaring into the skies, intertwining as they sped through the heavens.
Realising that each of those wings were billions of mana chunks, the commander’s expression turned pale.
“W, w, why would Mexico suddenly…”
The location of discharge was Mexico,
And its target was the Association.
It was a restricted weapon due to an international agreement and was the most overpowering weapon that a single nation could have access to. That very weapon was speeding towards the Association, leaving a trail of mana behind it.
Red lights flickered all across the control room and alarms rang without an end.
Beep–! Beep–! Beep–!
Danger level R5.
Bursted Grenade.
It was an alarm signalling the sudden hazard.
“This is absurd…!”
The Downfall drew a trail behind like a comet that interfered with the dimensional stabilities of every area it touched. The unstable dimensions began to create fissures and there was soon bound to be hundreds and thousands of fissures.
“Emergency, emergency!”
Despite the pressing situation, veteran soldiers who had experienced the war quickly carried their weapons and moved to their positions.
– All transcendents to control room.
In order to deviate the trajectory of the incoming Downfall, the Level 4 artifacts of the Association began to be ignited as transcendents and rankers picked up their weapons and shot out of their seats.
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae looked for Bom who was waiting at the office.
“Bom.”
She, who had been waiting for Yu Jitae’s conference to end, appeared startled by the sudden uproar.
“What is it? It suddenly feels stuffy and strange…”
“A Downfall is coming to us. You know what that is. It will come to the Association in less than 10 minutes.”
There was no guarantee that this place would be safe, and Yu Jitae won’t be here when that time comes.
He therefore had to send Bom away.
“So go and wait, at Unit 301.”
“…”
However, Bom seemed reluctant to go, evident from her hesitant hands and the anxious look on her face.
“Hurry up and go. Use your teleport.”
Yu Jitae was also in a rush and had no time to talk with Bom.
“Quick–”
Before long, magic circles and fragments of light appeared around Bom. With a face filled with regret, she bit her lips that only parted once she was almost entirely enveloped by light. “…Don’t get hurt,” she said with a worried voice despite knowing that he would never get hurt.
After sending her off, he opened the window. The Regressor gazed far into the distance.
Tower of Mages was also a floating island.
Located South-East from here, roughly 5,950 km away.
In the South Pacific in the eastern regions of Oceania, around 45 kilometres in the air at the tip of the stratosphere.
The altitude was a lot higher than Haytling and the protective devices of the area restricted the use of teleportation in nearby areas. He thus had to fly there.
“…”
The Regressor thought to himself.
Mexico possessed only 1 [Downfall] that naturally had countless layers of protection.
Downfall was the strongest and the most overpowering military artifact. The Mexican military that cannot even come close to the Association’s military was pushing the Association into panic in such a short amount of time, only because of the Downfall. Even though Q had the ridiculous ability of brainwashing, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to brainwash everyone that was related to the usage of Downfall.
That meant that Downfall would have been a difficult weapon to obtain even for Q.
The grave of Wings of Snow Light who had taught Yu Jitae how to manipulate mana traces was robbed by Q and that was already half a year ago.
Within that span of half a year, Q could have shot Downfall whenever so desired but didn’t, and yet was shooting that now. Why was that?
He imagined what would happen from now.
The Association would stop the Downfall, raid the expanding fissures, pacify the people and question the Mexican government for their actions. All that will create time for Q.
…And that ‘time’ was something Q was so desperately willing to buy, even if it was at the cost of a weapon that was difficult to obtain.
Things were becoming even more urgent.
Something was definitely happening at the 72nd floor.
– Excuse me! Prophet Season!
It was then.
Zhuge Haiyan’s voice came through the contact line as her face appeared on the hologram display of the watch.
“Speak.”
– Are you going to the Tower of Mages!?
As expected of the brain of the Association, she had calculated that much in this pressing situation and had contacted him.
– If you are going to fly there, wait a little bit! Let me send you T088!
“What is that.”
– It’s a recently crafted Level 3 artifact! A cutting-edge mobile suit! Damn it. It would still take 6 hours but will be a lot faster than flying with nothing…!
But Yu Jitae shook his hand at the screen.
“No need.”
– What?
“I don’t need it. 6 hours is too long.”
– W, wait…!
Soon, the screen turned off and so did the call.
Placing his foot on the windowsill, the man lowered his body. His legs built up an explosive amount of force as muscles tensed and revealed its cracks.
The ground shook and the building floor supporting his feet crumbled. Mana flickered into all sides like lightning from the oppressive friction as Yu Jitae kicked off the ground.
Kwannng—!
His body flew forward. Like a missile traversing through the air, the atmosphere and the sky, he jumped through dimensions in the blink of an eye. As the Association’s building looking like a mini version became the size of a palm and became the size of a fingernail—
He again thought to himself that 6 hours was too long.
2 hours…
He had to arrive within at least 2 hours.
[Ignite]
The situation had accelerated too much for it to merrily come to an end. He dropped all the complex thoughts muddling his mind.
[Chains of Hell]
The method no longer mattered.
[Release]