[Vol. 7] Chapter 300: The City of Illusion
Even though she said those words, Lucine Constantius didn’t look very happy. She pouted and crossed her arms, her serious tone sounding strangely awkward when matched with her small, childlike body, making her seem more like a grumpy child than a noble.
“Even if we already know his identity and reasons, there's no doubt that what Timos Young did caused a lot of harm... I’ll keep hunting him down. If I get the chance, I won’t show any mercy.”
“Eh…”
Violet gave the little princess a strange look, then quickly laughed and shook her head.
“Do what you want. Honestly, making peace with him so suddenly is pretty suspicious anyway. No matter what, it’s probably safer for the Immortal Magician to keep playing the villain role.”
The loli princess rolled her eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying my pursuit has no effect?”
“Aww, don’t take it that way. There’s a saying: ‘It’s easy to avoid an open attack, but hard to guard against a hidden one.’ You two have been enemies for hundreds of years. Honestly, having you as his opponent is better than... cough…”
Seeing that the headmaster was starting to frown more and more, Violet wisely stopped talking and ended the awkward topic. After all, they didn’t come here just to chat.
A few days ago, the chaos caused by the Austre Empire working together with the followers of the God of Subversion brought serious damage to Sainz, right after the World Academy Joint Exchange Conference ended.
Although the academy had made some preparations, like removing some of the Austre Empire’s hidden attackers in advance and quickly launching the Origin Storm response system when trouble started, they had done everything they could. But destruction and killing are always easier than healing and saving, and this time was no different.
In that incident, thousands of people in the seven school districts of Sainz were either killed or hurt. The series of explosions during the closing ceremony caused especially heavy damage, injuring or killing many competitors and representatives from around the world. The impact was terrible.
What made things worse was that the Seven Towers, which protect the academy city and together maintain the [Eternal Day] Barrier, were badly damaged by the attack from Blasphemy. Although a certain priestess helped fix the [Tower of Nature] a little and took the chance to promote the faith of a certain Goddess of Life, the other towers weren’t so lucky.
With the protective Seven Towers not working, the academy’s proud [Eternal Day] Barrier stopped functioning. This was like a country suddenly pulling all its soldiers from the border and leaving the gates wide open, extremely dangerous.
According to the original plan, the [Tower of Origin], which is the strongest and first-built of the seven, should have been able to take the hit and lead the repairs. But then the sudden appearance of the [Wheel of Fate] made everything worse. It destroyed the core Origin Storm system that powered the shield, which also caused the [Tower of Origin] itself to be half-disabled…
With no other choice, Lucine had to find the one who basically planned the whole event, Violet, to help clean up the mess.
Looking around at the completely empty room, Violet spread her hands.
“So you want me to help fix the towers? How exactly am I supposed to do that? I should say this first, I know nothing about construction. Even the strongest holy magic can’t fix a building unless it’s alive.”
Seeing Violet immediately giving her a look as if she were saying, "Let's be frank." Lucine went quiet for a moment, then rolled her eyes at her, speechless.
“Just watch.”
After saying that, the princess turned around and began working inside what was said to be the most important and secret place of the [Tower of Origin]. A completely white room that only the current headmaster and a few carefully chosen top officials were allowed to enter.
And what did “working” mean here? She simply snapped her fingers.
"Bzzzz~"
No one knew exactly how it worked, but the next moment, in the space that had been completely empty except for the walls and floor, and a thin metal pillar slowly rose from the ground. On top of the pillar was a large blue crystal ball, fully embedded in it. At first glance, it actually looked like a tiny model of one of the Seven Towers...
Lucine didn’t seem surprised at all. She calmly placed her palm on the surface of the crystal ball. As her hand touched it, light patterns rippled out like water waves. In the next moment, light and images began to appear beneath their feet. Layer after layer, almost filling up more than two-thirds of the entire white room.
"Whoa, high-tech stuff, huh~"
Raising her eyebrows, the priestess leaned in closer to look. She studied the glowing shapes and outlines and soon realized what they really were.
“…Buildings? Wait, isn’t this the academy city, Sainz?”
That’s right. Looking closely, many of the light shapes looked very familiar. They were almost exact miniatures of famous landmarks around the academy city, just shrunk down a lot. Violet remembered them clearly because she had toured all the different districts when she first arrived.
And judging by the position, the metal pillar with the crystal ball they were touching now was exactly the [Tower of Origin], the one they were currently standing inside.
Unlike a certain someone who always talked in riddles, when the black-haired girl showed curiosity, Lucine simply kept her hand on top of the crystal ball and nodded slightly.
“Yes, this is a full 3D map of Sainz, and also the hidden secret behind the Seven Towers and the [Eternal Day] Barrier.”
“Remember that time when the tower launched the Origin Storm? Actually, that’s how Sainz is truly meant to be. A giant dream-like floating city, with the [Tower of Origin] at the center. A perfect paradise.”
“If the tower’s controller wishes, they can instantly create anything for the city. New buildings rising from the ground, strange objects appearing out of nowhere, even new life forms like the ones you saw in the [Fantasy Sky Courtyard]. After all, when this was first designed, we modeled it after the divine kingdoms of the gods.”
Even calm and composed Lucine couldn’t hide a bit of pride when she said this. But she soon shook her head with a helpless sigh.
“But sadly, reality is harsh. Mortals can never reach the realm of true gods. Everything comes with a cost. Miracles don’t happen for free.”
“Sainz doesn’t have nearly enough energy to keep this dream state running for long. So, after much thought, we decided to limit it to just inside this tower, and only use it in small tests and experiments. Only in times of great crisis, like the recent attack from the [Five Reversed Gods], can we fully release the tower’s real power.”
“That’s what people on the outside call the Origin Storm.”