WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 669: A Tower Without a Ceiling and Intermingling Humans - 5

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All it took was defying combat foresight once, and a hole had been bored between his eyebrows. What a shame.

Still, I hadn't taken his life. I carefully pulled out the skewer that had only barely pierced his brow. The Holy Paladin sat there trembling until I removed it.

Anyone would. No one could summon courage with an iron skewer stuck between their eyebrows. I patted the frightened Holy Paladin and said,

"To honor your rebellion in defying the revelation, I won't take your life."

When I gave him a light shove, he collapsed onto the floor, overcome with fear.

He had survived, but it was enough to impress one belief upon him: combat foresight was not omnipotent.

Now then. How much longer were you going to watch? If you didn't come out, I was really going to move on to the next floor.

Crackle.

The voice I had been waiting for rang beside my ear.

[Yes. I understand what you were trying to show. You meant that you aren't the only one who treats order as an enemy. You wanted to show that anyone can break order for their own sake, didn't you?]

It was a voice that chattered like a young girl while somehow sounding detached from everything. Hearing it directly beside my ear gave me a feeling I couldn't quite put into words. From somewhere impossibly far away, Ruel, the Light Holy Maiden, murmured in my direction.

[Your claim is simple and clear. "Everyone must confront the world while holding their own intentions!" Even if their opponent is order itself. That's why you designed this tragedy. So that the Holy Paladins would fight against you, and the mages would finish calculating their gains and losses before attacking you.]

Violence would have broken out either way. When they first reached the seventh floor, Kuram and Poison Centipede ambushed the Holy Paladin Order. When the Holy Paladins reached the ninth floor, they planned to ambush them to eliminate them. Those experienced with ambushes were better at them, so Kuram noticed the signs and struck first.

It was a predetermined course. The Cyan Tower Master was wary of them, and Hilde intended to get rid of them here. The other mages were pretending to go along with it while trying to climb the Dragon Gate before anyone else.

I had only drawn out the crowd's opinions a little more. The mages and the Holy Paladin Order both had their own goals, so I couldn't just ignore them.

[If you could design a situation like this, then you could have done the opposite, couldn't you? You could have stopped them! You had the strength and ability to do so. Without facing ruin, you could have ensured that everyone reached a peaceful conclusion!]

Yes.

I could have.

I could have called Hilde and ordered her not to interfere, persuaded the Cyan Tower Master through our past connection, and used my influence to fix the outcome. Even inside the Tower of Babel, I could have established a firm order.

[But that wasn't what you wanted, was it? Because you believe resistance itself is human nature.]

But that wasn't my duty, nor was it what I wanted.

Anyone should be able to stand against the rules. Even if that rule was me.

[I understand. But I don't want to understand. Your argument ultimately comes down to the logic of strength. If everyone confronts one another with their own intentions, the whole world will be filled with conflict and war. I hate it. It's too simple! Humans can't be such simple creatures!]

It didn't matter if she denied it. It existed right in front of us. Denying what existed was no more than mental masturbation.

[And setting all that aside. If what you say is true!]

Then come down too. Come and show your will.

[Forcing peace with my own strength is also something I'm allowed to do!]

Order was also a barbaric result, steeped in the logic of strength!

Countless butterflies fluttered through the air. Cardinal Elton bit his lip and made the sign of the cross. The Cyan Tower Master threw off their robe. Hilde stabbed Kuram in the back.

The temperature on the ninth floor plummeted. Air and moisture froze, preserving the world in ice. Blood flowing from Kuram's back carried a sharp medicinal scent. At the same time, the fluttering butterflies all dropped to the ground.

The moment Poison Centipede saw Kuram bleeding, she rushed over like a beast. Cardinal Elton, overwhelmed with helplessness, made the sign of the cross and called for someone.

"...Let there be light."

Light burst from the artificial sun.

The world vanished. A light so brilliant it erased every sight that had come before it. While a white curtain wrapped around the world, I couldn't see what was happening at all.

A short while after my vision returned,

"Urk!"

An enormous pressure crushed everyone.

Gravity? The atmosphere? No, something invisible was pressing down on us. Unlike gravity or air pressure, it only poured down from above. It felt as though I stood beneath a crashing waterfall.

Yet I couldn't see a thing.

I curled up and struggled to raise my head. Even when I looked up, there was nothing there. Only light pouring from the artificial sun filled my sight.

Nothing? This force crushing me was real! There had to be something there.

As I panted, I suddenly moved my arm. The arm concealed in my shadow was still light. But the instant it left the shadow, I nearly fell to the ground.

It wasn't that my body had become heavy. This was...

...Light?

[Lux Vis Mea. Light is power.]

After that delicate voice spoke, an enormous shadow fell over the grassland.

A girl with a halo behind her head was slowly walking down upon the light itself. A calm, saintly smile rested on her lips, but endless curiosity shone in her glittering eyes. She looked like an angel seeing the human world for the first time. Anyone who didn't know better would have mistaken her for one and committed idolatry.

One of the five Tower Masters of the floating castle. A mage who had awakened her innate arcane, and a genius who had climbed the Dragon Gate alone.

At the same time, the Holy Maiden closest to truth among all the Holy Maidens of the Sanctum.

The White Tower Master, Ruel, the Light Holy Maiden.

"Always bow your heads humbly. Light illuminates the path before you, but if you dare face it, you will be blinded."

She was right. My eyes felt as though they would burst just from looking at her. It felt like someone was blasting my eyes with a powerful jet of water.

I narrowed my eyes and forced myself to stare at Ruel. Walking through empty air, she wore flowing white robes. Because she stood with the light behind her, it felt as though I could see the outline of her entire body, yet I couldn't bring myself to meet her gaze. How dare a sinner trifle with an angel? I will blind your eyes. It felt as though I could hear such a voice.

The others were no different. Even Hilde, one of the most skilled qi practitioners here, could barely face Ruel after gathering qi in her eyes.

Hilde's holy sword trembled. Once a member of the Holy Sword Corps herself, Hilde recognized Ruel at once.

"Holy Maiden...?"

"White-Faced One. You once threw the world into chaos, but you repented and were saved by the light, so you cannot be called evil. You are still within Yuel's foresight, so I will set you aside for now."

Ruel lightly snapped her fingers. Hilde, who had been about to ambush Kuram, was flung far away by an unprecedented force. Even through empty air, Hilde's body accelerated further and further. Before she could react, Hilde had been pushed all the way to the tower's edge.

Kuram, who had been stabbed by Hilde, quickly tried to regain his stance. Then, in an instant, crushing pressure bore down on his entire body and slammed him into the ground. Realizing the source of this power, Kuram raised his head.

"A Holy Maiden? What's a Holy Maiden doing in a mage's tower?"

"But Kuram. You have broken several taboos and committed sin by seizing and controlling others' will with drugs. You are a great sinner. It's remarkable that you have remained alive this long."

It was an ominous declaration. Kuram immediately drew up his poison qi. Poison qi flowed through his body in place of qi. Potent poison was medicine and strength to him. It was more than ten times the lethal dose for an ordinary person, but for Kuram, it was no more than a mild stimulant.

"I'm curious. Setting aside why a Holy Maiden is here... do you make the same sounds as an ordinary human when you die?"

Kuram activated his body. His heart beat more than twice as fast as before, and his muscles swelled as they filled with blood. Enduring the pressure of the pouring light, Kuram rose to his feet. Before him floated the Holy Maiden's arrogant, beautiful face.

"Is even your special, sacred blood the same as any other human's?"

Kuram grabbed a spear and altered the structure of his body. His joints stretched as if he had several more, and his long arm shifted like a whip. Putting all his strength into it, Kuram flexed every muscle at once and hurled the spear.

Thrown with terrifying force, the spear flew like a ray of light, as though it would shoot down the angel descending from the sky.

Ruel saw the incoming spear, smiled brightly, and raised a finger to point at Kuram.

"Yap!"

A spear of light pierced him.

Light exploded. There was no time to react. In less than the blink of an eye, the light extending from Ruel's fingertip pierced the spear, erupted with force, and bored a finger-sized hole through Kuram's chest.

Sizzle.

Blood burned from the blackened hole. By the time Kuram realized it, the spear of light had already passed through his heart. His heart beat half a moment later, spraying blood through the hole. Dark blood ran from the corner of Kuram's mouth.

"Cough."

Reaction? That was impossible. It was light. By the time you saw it, it was already too late.

Innate arcane, Lux Vis Mea, Light Is My Power.

An innate arcane that gave physical force to light.

Light compressed to an extreme within the Holy Maiden's innate arcane was sharper and more powerful than any spear. Kuram may have enhanced himself with drugs, but before the White Tower Master with the artificial sun behind her, he was no more than a firefly beneath the sun. Kuram tried to cover the hole in his body with trembling hands, but even that proved difficult.

Kuram groaned as his body refused to move as he wished.

"...My blood has changed. Light?"

"Yes! Light has the property of purification. Though rather than purification, it's closer to altering substances with high activity, like poison. Unless medicine needs to be dried, you're never supposed to expose it to direct sunlight, right?"

To Kuram, who used poison qi as strength, light was a natural enemy. The bodily activation created by drugs rapidly weakened. His body had already reacted to the light and been purified.

Kuram dropped to his knees. The light Ruel had brought pierced his pale skin and was already altering his entire body. Poison qi buried throughout his body was purified in an instant. Even the poison he had hidden deep inside...

"Kuraaaam!"

Poison Centipede ran over as her companion faced death. Deflecting the pouring light with her broad blade, Poison Centipede hurriedly examined Kuram's wound.

"...I never thought I'd die like this. Cough. Maybe this is a death that suits me."

The wound was bad enough, but the light digging into the hole in his body was fatal too. Medicine poisonous enough to make his head spin was losing its potency in real time. Poison Centipede dipped a finger in Kuram's blood and tasted it, then cried out with a tearful expression.

"If you die, what happens to my happiness? Who will make my happiness?"

Even while her companion was dying, all Poison Centipede could think about was drugs. Kuram laughed in disbelief. He wasn't particularly disappointed. Poison Centipede had always been that broken, and Kuram had approached her because of it.

As long as he provided drugs, Poison Centipede became an excellent test subject, guard, and toy. Without her, Kuram would not have endured the boredom of Tantalus. Poison Centipede would have panted after anyone who gave her drugs.

They needed each other, but theirs was a warped and twisted relationship.

And now it was over.

"...You're right. I won't be able to make any more."

"You promised! You said you'd make drugs for me! Until one of us died!"

"That's right. I promised, so..."

Kuram dug into his own body with his fingers. Blood streaming from his wounds, he tore through his own flesh and pulled out a pouch slick with blood from deep within his heart.

A pouch filled with an ominous purple liquid. It was Kuram's poison gland, the source that had remade him into a poison man. Because he possessed this poison gland, Kuram could create drugs and poisons from his own body.

"It's stronger than every drug you've ever taken combined. If you consume it, you'll die from shock. Even if your constitution keeps you alive, your body will become unable to find satisfaction in any other drug. Until you die, you'll only seek this drug, one you'll never find again..."

"Huh?"

"...That was too much explanation. Simply put, it's the greatest happiness. Something that will never come again in your life."

After saying that, Kuram placed the poison gland in Poison Centipede's mouth. Poison Centipede chewed Kuram's poison gland with an ecstatic expression. The taut skin burst, and the essence of poison inside flowed out. Before the narcotic poison could pass down Poison Centipede's throat, it seeped into her body.

Poison Centipede's eyes widened. Even she seemed to have trouble enduring it, and her body shook violently. Around her convulsing body, as though she might die at any moment, hundreds of millions of butterflies beat their wings like dragons. The butterflies went beyond eroding reality. They began to destroy it.

Ruel watched the illusion invading reality and murmured,

"A principle. A law a qi practitioner forced upon the world by twisting it through brute strength."

Poison Centipede's principle was Hallucinatory Somnambulism. She made the hallucinations she saw while intoxicated become real. Poison Centipede leapt into the air while stepping on butterflies that should have existed only in hallucinations. It looked as though she were dancing, rejoicing, and screaming all at once.

Riding and stepping on butterflies, she ascended against the sky. She was so fast and agile that even light seemed unable to catch her. Ruel fired several beams of light, but they all missed. She let out a soft sigh.

"It is neither as fair nor as rational as innate arcane, but that very ability to bring its irrationality into the world is threatening."

As Ruel grumbled, Poison Centipede's shadow appeared faintly behind her. Was it teleportation? Or had the figure rushing toward Ruel been a hallucination? There was no way to know what had happened. The only truth was that Poison Centipede was there.

Her broad blade wavered hazily. It swung at the speed of a ray of light and struck Ruel. Without spilling a drop of blood, the blade cleanly cut through Ruel's neck. Ruel's head spun as it fell, her lips still holding a calm smile.

Flash.

Then Ruel's mirage vanished.

"Heh, huh?"

It had been an illusion created with light. Having lost her target, Poison Centipede looked around the empty air. Even Hallucinatory Somnambulism did not show her the way. It only made the fluttering butterflies fly about in confusion.

Poison Centipede's principle overlaid hallucinations onto reality. It had nothing to do with seeing through illusions. If anything, she was easily deceived by them. What she had seen was Ruel's mirage, and because of Ruel's innate arcane, it even possessed substance. In her drug-clouded state of mind, she could not have noticed.

...Well, that was all an excuse. Even if it had not been a mirage, Poison Centipede's blade would not have reached Ruel. At least, that was what I had read just now.

For a moment, Ruel had moved through a stopped world.

...Huh?

What was that? The thought I had just read?

Ruel's thoughts suddenly flooded into me like a tide. Around nine seconds, nine seconds that did not exist for me, had existed for her. I could read her thoughts as she observed Poison Centipede's attack, created the mirage, and lightly stepped aside!

But I had never experienced that time!

Time stop? She could move through stopped time?

What kind of principle was that? No, that wasn't the point.

With power like that, why was she wasting time here?!

"The stronger a person's power is, the more wary they must be of it. If powerful strength is wielded without restraint... this world will fall into chaos. Order will lose all meaning. Everyone's world will collapse."

Ruel walked lightly through the air and elegantly brought both hands together. Terrifying light flashed between her palms. Countless prisms glittered around her body. The prisms, which bent the direction of light, aimed at Poison Centipede.

"Our strength exists only for judgment. Light shall judge you."

Then there was light again.

It was too bright to watch. The explosive pressure of light shoved me and everything here away. I covered my eyes, curled up, and waited for the disaster to pass.

The fluttering butterflies all sank at once. Their final flight complete, they trembled their wings pitifully and staggered down to the ground, vanishing one by one.

Hundreds of millions, tens of thousands, thousands, hundreds. The butterflies steadily diminished in number. The butterflies that had existed within Poison Centipede's hallucination rapidly disappeared as though they had never existed at all.

When the final butterfly died and the light faded, no trace of Poison Centipede's form remained.

"May today continue like yesterday."

Only Ruel's brief memorial remembered the end of the two evildoers.

Footnotes:

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