I was scrutinizing the suspects, and they weren’t under illusion magic—everything was clean inside. But once I noticed, I could see that Senior Whatshisname’s body had been taken over.
In other words, after I countered using his toolkit against him, a body seizure must have taken place. I put him back under hypnosis and made him stick the syringe into his neck.
So that means...
"Yes. Even inside this syringe, I am able to maintain self-awareness in liquid form. Though not in human shape, my magic efficiency has drastically decreased... but I can still cast spells in this state."
"You're a twisted bastard."
A chill went down my spine.
The viscous liquid sloshing around inside the syringe was like a human trapped in a melted body. And he was silently enduring this situation.
Self-replication is one thing, but to carry out self-inflicted torture for efficiency or whatever reason... this guy is beyond insane. He’s genuinely unhinged.
He smiled nonchalantly.
“What? I’m just a little more accustomed to pain than others. I’d say you’re the crazier one... daring to host a god within your own body. Had it failed, you would have suffered a pain worse than hell."
"Seems you know quite a bit?"
“Yes. And I acted on that knowledge. I worked tirelessly to shatter your shell and free the god inside. Had it not been for the restraints from Yurensto's experiments, I would have finished long ago.”
I see. So he knew that the god was sealed in my mind and aimed to kill me for it.
Back when I first entered the Purple Tower, I was almost powerless in combat. I barely had any combat strength, and while I had the “Promise” within, it was entirely focused on suppressing the Dark God at 100%, making it impossible to unleash it recklessly.
But because Yuna never left my side, he couldn’t kill me. She was always protecting me.
Now that the Purple Tower’s snake has been exposed, there are additional charges he’ll face.
“...Was the human trafficking in my hometown, Sanjebi Village, also your doing?”
“Black magicians require a substantial amount of live sacrifices. When ‘Corpse Flower’ took over the academy, and ‘Virgin’ and ‘Noose’ took on the empire, I led the sacrificial procurement unit.”
“So you’re also responsible for the hypnotic statues that spread through Crownhall. You even used Scarface’s magic to frame him, didn’t you?”
"I thought I could kill Lorei then. I planned to have an enraged Yurensto experiment turn her into an empty shell, and I’d use her body for my purposes. Didn’t quite work out, though.”
I now understood that the dark shadows cast over everything so far were mostly his doing. What’s left is understanding why .
The Succubus Queen seemed to want to escape from something, while the Red Flavor Duke sought power and authority.
And this guy...
“I’m reminiscing... about the past.”
“......”
“When the god was free, the world was filled with joy. Since he delighted in human suffering... as his servant, I could enjoy my pastimes in his name. Isn’t it beautiful? The eternal happiness the heavens promise.”
"So, in the name of god, you want to go around torturing others for your own pleasure? Enough of this grandiose talk. You’ve said plenty. Time for you to die.”
Wrrring──
I channeled my magic. I’d verified everything I needed to. His devotion to “It,” his desire to take over my mind...
I won’t reopen the Dark God’s toolkit. I’ve just signaled Aisha. She’ll hold the entry shut.
If I press forward with Successive Ascension, there’s no chance I’ll lose.
“Can you kill me? I am not a singular entity. There are countless more of me outside this tower.”
“I’ll sever your head, put it through the analyzer, and build an algorithm to find identical data. Then I’ll make a ‘Lamb Tracker’ and do a nationwide sweep.”
In truth, I have other options.
There’s the elf forest community, for instance. If I harness their method of linking souls, I could produce a contagious data bomb that targets only ‘Lambs.’
Without his illusion magic, he would be an extremely tricky opponent. But in this world, there’s no magician more difficult to fight than me. I can say that with confidence.
“Yes, if it’s you... you could do it. You’re a monster brought into the world.”
“Finished preparing your last words? You might want to compose a line or two with those friends inside the syringe. Hurry, you don’t have much time.”
"Well, which side is actually running out of time─"
"‘Phantasmal Harpoon’."
The second he started mouthing something meaningful, I cast a spell without a second thought. People who say lines like that always pull something strange.
“──Hasty, aren’t you. ‘Ectoplasm’.”
Crash—! Splash!
The syringe shattered, and the liquid—Lamb—spilled out and spread. He was using his own body as a shield. Its durability was tougher than I expected.
No big deal. I pressed on.
Each step, flick of my fingers, and swish of my clothing turned into spells. I converted all my movements into incantations and cast them.
The cuckoo bird that disrupts focus, the blue swamp that causes depression, and the light bullet that erases memories upon impact. Like a tamer directing animals, I unleashed illusions from every direction.
Tududuk, gagagak, squeak, squeak, grrkkk.
"Not even giving me a chance to counterattack...?"
I intended to crush him to death.
I hijacked his spells and reversed them into attacks. Before his magic could take shape, I snatched control and fired them back as my own. He seemed to realize there was no escape.
With blood trickling from his eyes, he abandoned his defense. The illusion spells hit him in every way imaginable.
“Ah, that hurts. It’s electrifying, hmm...”
And instead of using this time to strike back, he ran his mouth. It was anything but a final statement. That realization sent a chill down my spine.
“I’m going to die, yes. Even if I don’t, I’ll be captured. You’ll probably find something in the data remnants I leave behind and find a way... But I wonder. Will you have the time?”
“......”
“All my data has a self-destruct protocol embedded in it. In a week, it’ll all be erased. Of course, you’d find a way within a week. But I suspect... you’ll soon have a very urgent matter on your hands.”
"Shut up and die, bastard!"
Could I make him shut up? No. Even while taking all my spells head-on, he protected that mouth of his, forcing his words out against all odds.
I mustn’t waver. I cannot let his words shake me.
“Everything unstable is vulnerable to attacks from within. You know that well. The reason the Dream World of the ‘Virgin Who Drinks Bliss’ shattered so easily was due to an attack from within.”
Yes.
From the inside, outwards.
Even Rodeus fell to a session using the broken heart planted within him.
The same with the Succubus Queen. Yuna embedded a “Minus” directly into the door lodged in the mind of the Third Prince Sredo, which made her attack effective.
“When the Purple Tower was righteous in the god’s eyes, twelve boys and girls gathered for the great cause. Through a fortified mental door, they linked their minds and shared in each other’s suffering.”
This was the human experiment that Yuna suffered through.
The mental door. I know what that is.
I asked the session NPCs who gained self-awareness to explore Yuna’s mental world. In the regular report I received last time, they confirmed the discovery of “doors” there.
Evidence that her mind had once been connected to something.
...But the NPCs only found ten doors.
“The Yurensto experiment thought all eleven others had died. But what if one had survived? And what if the door connected to her mind... is still intact?”
“I’m warning you. Don’t. Whatever it is.”
“I’ve prepared a way to send the Yurensto experiment into overdrive for a long time, and I’ve been saving it. I wanted to use it at a more decisive moment... but if anything unusual happens to the ‘Lamb’ staying in the tower, I’ll activate it immediately.”
"I said don't-!!"
An old trap. A bomb planted before I even met her.
He beamed.
“The outside me already did it. I’ve poured all the agony generated in the twisted society that sells family members, the horrors from the ‘village’ I oversee... deep inside. To the very core.”
“......”
It felt like something snapped inside me.
I was numb.
“Hah, hahaha! What a look! Yes, that expression suits you well. I wanted to see that look... Are you angry? Planning to torture me? Go ahead, I’ll gladly endure it!”
... ...
She’s a delicate person.
If I’m late for an appointment because I’m buried in research, she frets, wondering if I’ve grown tired of her, instead of lashing out at me.
To think that Yuna, of all people, would be forced to recall those memories and suffer an onslaught of torment in her mind. It’s easy to imagine her pain.
I... I once implanted a Broken Heart within my own mind. It’s not something I would ever wish upon someone I care about.
But it’s happened.
I must go to Yuna’s side immediately. I need to understand what has happened and comfort her. Thinking about anything else can come later.
“Or... you could bow your head to me. If you plead earnestly enough, I might just contact the ‘Lamb’ responsible for the switch and ask them to halt the plan. What do you say? Quite tempting, isn’t it?”
Even so, I can’t just let this bastard go.
“‘Promise.’”
“...?”
“Grant me a moment.”
I asked for a brief moment to release all the power holding “It” in check. Just this once, let me use my full 100%.
I heard a boy’s sigh, but the ‘Promise’ within me didn’t try to stop me. In fact, together with Aisha, they urged me to go ahead, saying they would hold “It” back as tightly as possible.
Thunk.
With a slight sound, a surge of omnipotence filled me. It felt like I could break the world into tiny particles and read every one of their movements.
But that exhilaration didn’t lift my spirits. No matter how much power I had, what good was it if I couldn’t save even one loved one?
All that filled me now was anger and hatred. I wanted to make this bastard regret everything. I wanted to hunt him down and eradicate the entire “Lamb” species.
This was the prelude to that.
I crafted a black arrow and launched it.
... ...
That was enough. I returned my computation power to the ‘Promise.’
===============================================================
The ‘Lamb that Devours Pain’ had seen that the god was indeed alive. Truly, the god he served resided in some mad magician’s mind.
When the atmosphere around the mad magician changed, the Lamb could clearly see the writhing, scaled form of a lizard stirring within him.
And then, he was hit by the black arrow.
Only after being struck did he realize he had been hit by something...
He didn’t know what the effect was, but he was sure it would kill him. Yet, it was fine. After seeing the mad magician’s anguished expression, he thought this much would be enough.
The other “Lambs” would do the rest. They would resurrect the god and enjoy their lives under his wings.
The Lamb welcomed his death with relief...
... ...
Ten years passed.
It was as if he had been left alone in a frozen world, conscious but unable to move.
He sensed something was wrong. Was that arrow designed to stretch his sense of time to an unbearable degree? It must have some limits. It was fine; he was accustomed to waiting.
A simple feeling of boredom wouldn’t be enough to torment the “Lamb.” That would be too easy.
... ...
Around the 120-year mark, the “Lamb” realized that this spell was more complex than it seemed. The long passage of time might risk triggering transcendence.
Just before his knowledge and pain reached their limit, the spell was structured to split off a tiny fragment of consciousness, transfer the information, and erase it.
The “Lamb” understood that he would have to remain in this nailed-down timeline, unable to go mad, unable to transcend, and unable to escape through insight.
... ...
After 3,000 years passed, the “Lamb” found himself wondering when this life would finally end.
He tried earnestly to die. Thinking there might be a way to break the spell, he wracked his brain to find a way out of this situation, or even a method to transfer his suffering to another version of himself.
He regretted it.
There are limits to pain in the real world. If you’re tortured and die, that’s the end. He had always thought pain was trivial.
The “Lamb’s” spirit was so inherently resilient that being stabbed or crucified didn’t even leave a scratch. No matter how he died, he thought he’d always leave with a mocking smile.
But illusion magic knows no bounds in causing pain.
He regretted it deeply.
Desperately, he regretted it.
He begged someone, a god—or even a goddess, if it came to that—to release him. He cursed his past self or cried out to other versions of himself. It was a terrible mistake to mess with the mad magician.
He should never have made an enemy of him...
... ...
The realization that this “slowed perception of time” was actually a repeating dream within a dream, spiraling inward in an infinite fractal, would only come much later.
===============================================================
Snap.
With a small sound, Senior Whatshisname collapsed backward. With the “Lamb” in his head dead, he would be able to return to his own life once he regained consciousness.
The young detective asked cautiously.
“...Is ‘Goat’ dead?”
“Yes. The entity you saw today has died of old age. But the whole group remains. I’ll deal with them later. Right now, there’s an urgent matter I must attend to.”
I picked up the syringe ampule rolling on the ground, sealed it, and handed it to Scarface Senior for safekeeping. I also entrusted him with the young detective.
Senior nodded readily.
“Yes, uh... understood, junior. I’ll keep watch.”
“Thanks.”
Gripping my throbbing head, I set off on my way. My destination was the academy, where Yuna was. No matter the cost in money, magic, or resources, I’d get there as quickly as possible.
Using a teleportation magic circle, hypnotizing horses to accelerate my pace, I pushed myself to the academy’s vicinity.
And from afar...
The towering spire, almost touching the heavens, wavered like a mirage.
===============================================================
Academy, Mad Magician’s Laboratory
Yuri Ranster felt a disturbing presence and sat up in bed. Cold sweat instantly formed on her back, and chains of “Primordial Bind” clasped around her arms.
Instinctively, she used transformation, taking on a combat-ready stance.
Her highly developed instincts continuously warned her mind: This place was dangerous. Nearby, a catastrophic natural disaster was on the verge of erupting. Something was here.
Was it an enemy attack?
No, it was something... bigger. It was a sensation similar to when the goddess in the holy city prepared for divine punishment. Resistance was not an option. She needed to escape.
But... even if she had to flee, she couldn’t leave without the Purple Tower Lord. She made her way to the simulation room. Yuna had been preparing a surprise for the Mad Magician’s return.
It was a session she had created after asking for advice from Yuri and Selvia, as a way to say “Thank you” and show her gratitude to him.
After all, the Mad Magician had wanted to play as a player too.
However, the closer she got to the simulation room, the heavier the pressure grew. Her fingertips trembled, and her back was already soaked with cold sweat.
Creak.
She opened the door.
“... ...”
Yuna Yurensto was sitting on the floor, her head hanging low.
And behind her, a cross-shaped rift emitted a blinding white light. Yuri knew what it was. It was the phenomenon that occurred when Yuna used her sublimation ability.
Inside the rift, unsettling and grotesque illusions pulsed, as if ready to burst out.
That was it. That was the source of the intense pressure.
On the floor, bloodstains and broken fingernails lay scattered. It was as if she had clawed at the ground in an attempt to endure something.
Yuri ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Ranster swallowed dryly and asked.
“...Yuna? Was there an intruder inside?”
“......”
Yuna lifted her head.
Tears streamed down her face.
“I tried to hold on.”
“Yuna?”
“But I don’t think it worked. Back when I was alone in prison... it felt like I could hold on longer. Maybe... I was too dependent on him. Maybe I should’ve been stronger...”
Her face contorted with pain. But in her eyes, what flickered was not pain but guilt. The energy around her surged violently.
Rampage. The thought flashed in Yuri Ranster’s mind.
“Yuna, I’ll save you soon. Mima will arrive shortly. So please—”
Whoosh.
With the last remnants of control, Yuna used her power to protect Yuri Ranster. A large bubble encased Yuri, lifting her up and sending her floating away in the opposite direction.
Thump. Thump. She struck the bubble’s outer wall, but it showed no signs of bursting. Yuna left a final message to the distant Yuri.
“I’m sorry.”
Kiiiiiiing—!!
Immediately afterward, the unstable sublimation (昇華) exploded, engulfing the entire simulation room.
===============================================================
[Empire National Defense Agency: Report on Dangerous Individuals]
Name: Tower of Illusion / Yuna Yurensto Violetiris
Grade: Undetermined (Estimated Level 0, potential national disaster if not addressed early)
Active Period: End of Year 453, Lion’s Calendar – Present
(Written by Yuri Ranster, former Defense Agent, and primary witness)