Standing on the podium with Cain, I was facing over thirty pairs of eyes.
Each one belonged to someone at the center of their nation's academic world. Their gazes represented the eyes of the entire continent. And those gazes were filled with tension. Wolfgang, who had been so full of confidence just moments ago, now looked like his pupils were about to tremble out of control.
I tilted my head back and stared at the chandelier on the ceiling.
What I was about to say, no one on this land would welcome. Not Kreutz. Not the Empire. Not the citizens awaiting a new era. Not even those things pretending to be citizens.
But there’s no way dying inside a sweet dream is the right path. Everyone knows narcotics give pleasure, but no parent recommends them to their child.
Someone must reveal the truth. And someone must fight against that suppression.
That is the calling assigned to me, as a researcher.
"Humanity—since the very beginning, has held fear toward things that pretend to be human."
I opened in plain speech.
"It doesn't simply mean beasts in disguise. It's things far more intricate. For example: long-abandoned ruin dwellers, doppelgängers, birds that imitate human voices, a carnivorous flower with roots pretending to be a child stuck between trees, something entirely different pretending to be a mother."
"This discomfort began to be recognized in more refined and universal ways in the Middle Ages. Demons always took human form, and witches lived hidden among people. The Inquisition was a desperate frenzy to draw that line."
"Illusion magic," I looked toward Kreutz, "is a power that originated from the deceptions of those demons."
Their eyes twisted in hostility.
"How, then, did it end up spreading to humanity?"
I walked forward slowly. At the same time, a phantasmic construct appeared near me. It was the exact same type of illusion Wolfgang had used. "T-that's!" the bastard groaned, his face contorting with anguish.
"The sole objective of demons in this world is the extinction of humanity. But humans were tougher than expected, and killing them one by one was taking too long."
"Demons tried many ways to destroy a world where everyone was equal. The first of those methods—"
The phantasm shifted.
It turned into a farmer, wearing a hat and carrying a plow over one shoulder.
"Demons spread agriculture. In hunting and gathering, personal property was nearly impossible. But once possessions increased, so did inequality. And for the first time, humanity began to turn on itself. By imitating demons, this kind of lie became widespread."
'This land is mine.'
The illusion shouted at other illusions. 'Get off my land.'
"Drawing lines around unowned things and pretending to be their owner caused inequality to grow beyond control."
"Those with land and those without fought. The bourgeoisie and the laborers fought. The powerful and the citizens fought. Even students with good grades and bad grades fought. Everyone pointed to each other's superiority, obsessed with the idea of what was better and what was worse. Humanity developed a powerful sense of deprivation. Why should it be like this?"
"Why am I the one being forced into competition?"
"This was the scheme of the demons."
The illusion changed again.
Above the phantasm's head, now wearing a small headset shaped like a helmet, a dream unfolded.
At the end of all conflict and agony, the illusion found easy happiness.
No longer needing to clash with others, the phantasm only had to lie down with a headset and all desires were fulfilled. A family that loved him, a beautiful partner, abundant food, friends who praised him no matter what, thrilling adventures without any struggle.
Did the illusion become happy?
Yes.
Amazingly, the illusion became happy.
But, having no more need to compete, the illusion made no effort to go outside.
If he had just enough money, he wouldn't work.
Even when the time came to reproduce, he wouldn't.
Even if his parents visited, he wouldn't open the door.
Even when his health declined, he wouldn't care.
Everything existed inside the dream. Escape was enough.
"The spread of illusion magic to humanity has two implications. One: the demons hiding among us can now hide themselves more precisely. Two: humanity as a whole is entering a slow, painless euthanasia."
The hall filled with silence steeped in rage and hatred. The 【Script】 channel from Kreutz was bursting. I had just shattered their assertions head-on.
"This is the outline of how the End of Illusion will proceed... up to the derivation of the universal, irreversible, and permanent deconstruction formula for long-term supernatural perceptual forgery."
"...That concludes my portion."
In research, the process is: pose a problem, propose a methodology or solution, and resolve it as the result.
Since the problem statement was finished, it was now Cain’s turn.
"Senior."
"Ah, y-yes... Um, I’m Cain.... I’ll... explain up to the derivation of the deconstruction formula...."
Still dazed, Cain stepped forward and stood in front of the chalkboard.
Climbing up the pre-prepared footstool, he began writing various formulas and explaining the process of deriving the next one.
Tap, tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
White lines rapidly filled the board.
Until now, the researchers had been either crossing their arms or zoning out, but now their faces twisted.
Urgency gradually crept in.
【 Gutkeang: 'What the hell. Wait a second...' 】
【 Olbic Ermerdinger: 'He's explaining way too fast...' 】
【 Tallison Bentrogen: 'Hold on. How the hell is that formula transitioning like that?' 】
His hands were small and slow, but each line of logic leapt ahead and linked to the next.
Not very kind. Cain didn’t consider the listener’s position at all.
But the top scholars noticed. The logic flowed precisely.
"I-it’s no good. I need to take notes...."
"There’s no way I can follow this on intuition alone...."
Finally, some professors couldn’t take it anymore and reached out their hands. Notebooks opened, pen tips moved. They used 「Telekinesis」 to copy Cain’s formulas verbatim, annotating them and following the logic.
Only to understand.
Top-level researchers were desperately writing just to comprehend a single equation.
"Um, and... here, the structural p-problem in the base of illusion magic is revealed...."
"A-all illusions... even when the senses can't be trusted, still can't deceive the existence of consciousness...."
"Um... just being aware that you are thinking... that alone can become the trigger for breaking illusion...."
Cogito, ergo sum.
I think, therefore I am. No lie, no deception, no seduction has power within that proposition. Complex magical equations followed to reach that point.
The professors were falling deeper into shock, straining to understand what Cain was saying.
Only one person wasn’t taking notes, wasn’t concentrating.
His name:
【 Wolfgang Yussef†: 'Goddamn it...' 】
He just stared blankly.
I knew why.
Wolfgang Yussef, that Obel Prize winner, already understood this formula to some extent.
【 Wolfgang Yussef†: 'Goddamn it!!!' 】
He had reached a certain level in the extremity of illusion magic himself. He had probably felt it unconsciously:
How easily illusion magic could collapse under certain conditions.
But now, his lower jaw trembled like mad.
【 Wolfgang Yussef†: '.......' 】
When the presentation ended, no rebuttal came.
Even Kreutz didn’t refute it.
In fact, half the scholars couldn’t even grasp what had been said. Even at their level.
After nearly thirty minutes of presenting, Cain wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then he bowed deeply at a right angle.
“T-that’s all....”
That concluded the presentation at the Soltia Conference.
I briefly read the thoughts of several professors.
【 Olbic Ermerdinger: 'Unbelievable... This is an insane discovery. How did a kid like that come up with it...' 】
【 Roentgen: 'The cost is absurdly low. If this formula’s correct, you could break an illusion for just 1 Hika?' 】
【 Tallison Bentrogen: 'I can't believe it... Even multimillion-Hika illusions could be destroyed with a single formula... What happens if this goes public?' 】
As I took Cain by the hand and led him out, someone belatedly raised a hand.
"I object."
It was the illusionist from Hitahita—Gyulgyul.
"A-ah, yes..."
"I’m listening."
I stepped in front of Cain and answered. Cain has a tendency to tear up when attacked.
"I understand the necessity of the research, the limitations of previous studies, and the development of the formula."
Gyulgyul pushed up her glasses and asked:
"But I find it suspicious—why present this here?"
"Suspicious?"
"Aren’t you basically telling Kreutz to die?"
A hush fell.
Gyulgyul was always blunt and didn’t care for status, so it wasn’t surprising she’d say it.
I didn’t even need to look to imagine Kreutz’s expression.
"I just did what was necessary."
This wasn’t meant to console Kreutz. It wasn’t meant to defend myself either.
"You do know you'll be cast as the villain?"
Gyulgyul narrowed her eyes and asked. Right now, it was just confusion—but once verification was complete, this would cause an uproar.
"If I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t have come here."
I was confident.
***
As the Soltia Conference came to a close, the Kreutz faculty hurriedly rushed back to their homeland.
An emergency meeting was convened.
It was a meeting concerning the imminent crisis.
"First, let us verify. At this point, we do not yet know whether there may be any leaps in logic in this thesis."
Thus, no fewer than five emergency task forces were formed to begin analyzing Professor Cain’s thesis.
After nearly three months of verification and reverse calculation, they came to fully understand Cain’s paper.
"No good!"
There was no logical flaw.
"This can’t be! This is impossible!!"
Crash!!
Wolfgang overturned the table, and that wasn’t enough—he brought out a golf club and smashed the [Crystal Orb], the thesis, and everything else.
"How could this be real?! I won’t sit back and watch illusion magic be extinguished like this!!"
"Pr-Professor... please calm down...."
"Shut your damn mouth, you bastard!! You want me to kill you—!!"
The assistant professor ducked in terror as the golf club swung his way.
Wolfgang, along with the Kreutz professors, the businessmen, the statesmen—felt as though a fire had fallen on their heads.
Even the King himself raged at this situation, as the very foundations of the nation were now shaking.
‘An assassination squad targeting Cain and Dante is being assembled.’
The moment the paper's verification concluded, the Empire would no doubt jump up and try to summon Dante and Cain.
To kill them, Kreutz had drawn its sword.
But this could not be allowed to end there.
‘We must find a flaw!’
They could not simply sit back and let themselves sink. They had reached this point by pouring in nearly trillions of Hika over more than a decade. It was the future of the kingdom. It was everything to the royal family.
And so, Wolfgang ran to the royal palace of Kreutz. Then he borrowed the kingdom’s national treasure No.2, the [Revelation↑].
This was a treasure so secret, other nations hardly even knew of its existence—Kreutz’s highest national treasure.
An artifact that reveals a method to reach a fixed, predetermined conclusion, no matter what.
"Please... please, give me an answer..."
Wolfgang and the professors poured in their magic power and offered sacrifices to activate the [Revelation↑].
At last, a massive book the size of a person opened and floated into the air,
and a single line of text began to write itself.
「 Revelation: Dante Hiakapo had discovered the critical flaw in the thesis himself and also intended to document it, but omitted it due to lack of space. 」
A bolt of lightning struck his mind.
‘What?’
The thesis wasn’t perfect.
***
‘By now, Kreutz is probably trying to use the [Revelation↑] to find a gap.’
I chuckled inwardly.
‘Go on, try it.’
They probably wouldn’t find the gap easily.
But I was sure—once they traced that gap and found the flaw in the thesis, their despair ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ would be even greater.