"…!"
Everyone was still reeling from the shock.
They stared in astonishment at the staircase that had descended from the
sky and the giant teddy bear frozen like a star in midair. It felt like a level
far beyond their reach.
A skill imbued with a certain kind of beauty.
Soon, all eyes turned to the Auditor of the Imperial Tower.
Despite the thousands of eyes focused on him, the Auditor remained
unfazed, calmly chewing on the Sun Grass in his mouth.
The Imperial Tower is attending the exchange meeting?
Is that the Auditor of the Imperial Tower?
An Auditor at such a level?
What in the world is happening?
The magicians had many questions swirling in their heads, but…
"Magicians, confirm the crimes of the Black Tower."
With that single command from the Auditor, many of their questions were
temporarily suppressed. Yes, the important thing was the crimes of the
Black Tower.
At the same time, Anes used telekinesis.
Swish! Swish!
Scrolls prepared in large quantities were scattered across the meeting hall,
near the audience and representatives, allowing nearby magicians to
naturally encounter their contents.
"What?"
"Huh…?!"
Then, everyone gasped in shock.
"This is insane…!"
Even one of the crimes was severe, but there were countless others of a
similar magnitude.
"Black Tower Master!"
The first to shout was the Red Tower Master, whose eyes, wide with
passion, were highly distinctive.
"How could you engage in forbidden corpse research within the empire?
How could you forsake the principles of the tower?"
Teddy Divine, however, maintained a cold, expressionless face. She replied
with a dismissive sound.
"The Red Tower is always the same~ My ears hurt."
"Hasn't the Black Tower always complained about being oppressed by the
Imperial Tower? Yet, behind the scenes, you were engaging in forbidden
practices! How dare you?!"
"Forbidden?"
Teddy Divine scoffed.
"The Red Tower Master's words are quite misleading. What is the Black
Tower's job? To research black magic as deeply as possible. So why is it a
problem to meddle with corpses?"
"You…!"
The Red Tower Master turned red, ready to explode.
"You deployed bandits to create those corpses and killed innocent people!
You might as well try to cover the sky with your palm! I thought the Black
Tower was also a tower with grand ideals, upholding justice!"
"We really like the word 'justice' too~"
Teddy Divine smiled leisurely.
"We'll uphold that so-called justice all we want once the Black Tower rises
to the top. If we're advancing toward that goal, isn't that also a great cause?
Right?"
"Can you make the same excuse to those who died innocently and became
experimental subjects for the Black Tower?"
"Of course! Those ordinary lives were used for the Black Tower~ They
should consider it an honor for their families."
"You're completely mad! You'll surely face divine retribution!"
Teddy shrugged.
"I thought you'd praise the Black Tower for working so hard~ But the
reaction is a bit strange. Do the other towers lack the ambition to rise to the
top?"
"We have no greed to become stronger by stacking up innocent lives. We
just burn ourselves out!"
The Red Tower Master ground his teeth loudly.
"The Black Tower is no longer a group of magicians! You're a den of vile
demons and criminals!"
"Ah~ My ears are really hurting since earlier…"
Teddy dug at her ear.
"Other towers get praised for whatever they do~ They focus on magical
research and get compliments and support… But us? We're guilty just for
breathing?"
Teddy let out a sarcastic laugh.
"We're discriminated against just because we have demons among us, and
we're suspected just for researching magic? Do you know how harsh our
time has been?"
"That's nonsense! Don't you understand the concept of karma? You keep
doing these things, so you're constantly being suspected and discriminated
against! Today, you will be punished!"
"Who will be punished is…"
Teddy's eyes slowly turned black.
"…up to me to decide. You insolent old fool."
Thump. Thump.
Suddenly, the sound of a heartbeat echoed loudly in the space.
Thump. Thump.
The vibration was strong enough to shake the ground and walls, a sound
that no magician's body could produce. Soon, the magicians' eyes widened
as they realized what it was.
"Black Tower Master…! Finally revealing your true nature…!"
"That's right~ This entire Black Tower is a giant corpse?"
Teddy giggled.
"Why? Did you think we wouldn't be prepared at all?"
The small laugh soon turned into wild laughter.
"We completed the corpse explosion research long ago and filled the walls
with countless bodies. If we blow them all up, just how many corpses will
there be!"
The Red Tower Master felt a chill down his spine.
Malice.
What Teddy harbored now was pure malice.
"…Black Tower Master, why are you doing this?"
"You're asking something obvious~ Is there a better material than magician
corpses? We need to kill as many as possible here today! The more, the
better for the Black Tower!"
The representatives of the other towers fell silent.
They were not afraid of battle. They were confident in their abilities and
willing to embrace any necessary fight.
But…
The Red Tower Master's gaze turned to the audience.
The seats were packed with magicians.
These were people who had gathered to witness the advancement of the
magical world in real time, and now they were effectively being held
hostage. That was the real problem.
'If the entire tower explodes, the scale of the damage… '
Impossible to measure. No matter how one looked at it, it would be
catastrophic.
The Red Tower Master spoke through gritted teeth.
"Black Tower Master, you have defiled this sacred exchange meeting."
"No. I couldn't be more committed to the exchange meeting."
"What?"
"The exchange meeting is designed to weed out weak magic and preserve
only the strong. So, to put it simply…"
Teddy grinned with her blackened eyes.
"A purification of the magical world? That's what this is!"
The tower masters were at a loss for words.
'How could one harbor such intense malice…?'
Each of the towers had spent the last ten years diligently.
But what the Black Tower had prepared was not progress, but revenge.
They sought to turn all the towers into corpses and absorb them all. That
was their only ambition and greed.
"So, here's the thing~"
It was then that Teddy raised one finger.
"I have a proposal for the tower masters. You have a chance to save the
magicians in the audience!"
A chance to save the magicians in the audience?
The representatives' eyes narrowed.
"While the Black Tower punishes the arrogant Imperial Tower, don't
interfere and just watch. That's all."
"…!"
"Watch closely as the Black Tower crushes the Imperial Tower. You'll end
up licking our feet, begging to join us!"
"…"
A shocking statement, a shocking proposal.
In simple terms, Teddy intended to use this exchange meeting to take the
position the Imperial Tower had long held, the position from which they
looked down on the other towers.
The other towers fell into thought.
The Black Tower's wrongdoing was clear, but with a thousand magicians
held hostage, everyone was lost in thought, watching for any sign, when
suddenly…
"That's nonsense!"
A young elder of the Blue Tower stepped forward.
A woman with neatly braided white hair draped over her shoulders, the ice
magician Seina.
"It's clear that if we start giving in to demands one by one, it will never end.
We can't just stand by and watch."
Teddy mocked her stance.
"Wow~ An elder of the Blue Tower, I see. There are a lot of Blue Tower
magicians in the audience. With that decision, there won't be many
magicians making it out alive today, will there?"
"…Do not fear death."
Seina responded quietly.
"This is the will of the Lord Snow Ghost. At least today, no Blue Tower
magician will be ashamed of their death."
"Hmm~ So, the Blue Tower is the only one siding with the Imperial
Tower?"
Seina bit her lower lip.
'I never imagined she'd make such a proposal.'
It was an incredibly petty tactic, but the problem was that it was also
extremely threatening. If Seina were to judge calmly, she should act like the
other tower masters.
Even the Red Tower Master, who was so outraged earlier, was now silent.
No matter what the situation, his magicians were the most precious to him.
'If the Black Tower gains the upper hand today, it won't be good in the end.
The Imperial Tower has worked hard just to gather evidence. If the Blue
Tower can support them and help them win… '
Seina was lost in thought, quickly connecting her ideas.
"Have you finished your last words, Black Tower Master?"
A voice as sharp as an icicle pierced through the air.
A voice full of coldness.
All eyes that had been on the Black Tower Master now turned.
Jaekiel.
The Auditor of the Imperial Tower had finally responded.
Anes, the secretary beside him, suddenly recalled what Jaekiel had
mentioned as they headed here.
─Don't act immediately.
─All the towers must understand the justification.
─First, we need to create an atmosphere of support for the Imperial Tower.
And.
Now, that's exactly what had happened.
All the tower representatives were now looking only at the Imperial Tower.
Half of them were curious about what stance the Imperial Tower would
take, and the other half were hoping for a resolution… Anes could read the
emotions written on their faces.
Finally, the time had come for the Auditor to step in.
Had he acted immediately, it would have surely turned into chaos, with
magicians who didn't fully understand the situation getting mixed up in the
turmoil.
But Jaekiel was extremely skillful.
'…Did the Auditor know all of this in advance?'
Anes once again felt that Jaekiel was extraordinary.
Meanwhile, Teddy grinned.
"Auditor of the Imperial Tower, you seem quite confident?"
Jaekiel didn't particularly respond to that.
He simply focused on the cold energy he had channeled through his foot
into the ground while he stood there. He had just finished freezing all the
corpses hidden within the walls.
It had been a struggle to discreetly freeze only the insides of the corpses.
In other words, this tower would never explode.
He had finally finished preparing for the purge.
"The exchange meeting, a place where weak magic is weeded out, you
said."
"…?"
"You're right."
Around the man, ice spears began to rise.
"Today."
Finally, Jaekiel took a step forward.
"The Black Tower will be weeded out of the empire's magical world."