Round 32: The Night of Conclusion (III)

“Count O’Sullivan is right. Our top priority is to find Singer immediately. Only by eliminating him can tonight’s mission be considered a true victory!” Darna also spoke up. “If we can’t get rid of Singer and the mages loyal to him, our efforts will be almost in vain. This is an order from His Majesty the Emperor—we must go all out!”
Eliminate Singer? A shiver suddenly ran through Kant from deep within—despite being surrounded by battle mages and the royal guards, this feeling of dread made him feel as if he were alone.
“Archmage Kant—” Seeing Kant suddenly stunned, with his hand stopping mid-stroke as he stroked his beard, Darna stepped forward, eager to urge him on.
A sudden tremor from deep beneath the ground made his feet slip, nearly causing him to lose his balance on the stairs.
What was going on? Darna drew his sword and looked around, only to see the same expressions of surprise and confusion on the others’ faces. Kant’s expression changed as well, and he looked up.
The Seven Sins Tower, known to be impregnable and a symbol of Agus’s eternity, was shaking. Though not violently, it was undeniably swaying slightly. Its height and scale created a sense of vertigo, and eventually, small fragments began to break off from the tower. When they hit the ground, they turned into stone slabs capable of crushing people to pulp. Amidst the dust, a sense of great unease and panic quickly enveloped the once-confident royal soldiers. A terrifying thought even crossed their minds: perhaps Singer’s counterattack was beyond their capacity to withstand.
Darna grew anxious. “Archmage Kant! What’s going on? Did Singer do this? We must take action immediately!”
Of course it was that old man. Who else could pull off such a thing? Kant raised his hand to calm everyone, but his mind was racing with plans.
Singer had never shown any interest in Agus, nor perhaps in the Council itself. This was actually the real reason Kant dared to confront Singer and seize control of the Council. Eliminating Singer would be ideal, but given the power disparity, it was almost an impossible task. So, another option was to possess a force that would make Singer wary, making him realize that Agus and the Council were no longer puppets he could manipulate at will. Now, under his leadership, they would have will and strength. For Singer to resist such a force, he would have to pay a heavy price—one severe enough to disrupt his plans and make them unprofitable—for which he would choose to back down… And Kant, having control over Agus and the Council, would then have enough strength to confront Singer. As an archmage far younger than Singer, time was Kant’s advantage. In a decade or several decades, he would not only possess the power to deal with Singer but Agus would no longer belong to the Council—it would belong to Kant.

“I have reason to believe that Singer is carrying out dangerous experiments in the underground lab of the Tower of Seven Sins. It’s not appropriate to stay here now,” Kant finally spoke, though his tone was somewhat strange. “I order that the troops withdraw from the Mage District for now and wait to see what happens.”
Darnar hurriedly objected, “How can that work? Singer is still inside the Tower of Seven Sins! We must launch an attack immediately! It’s an order from His Majesty the Emperor—”
“I know His Majesty’s orders,” Kant said coldly. It seemed that Darnar’s repeated use of the emperor to pressure him had annoyed Kant. “But the Tower of Seven Sins seems likely to collapse at any moment. Do you want my soldiers to go in and die? I don’t hold that much hatred toward Singer. I just think he’s become too obsessed with his research and is no longer fit to serve as the Supreme Council Leader. Wouldn’t it be better to deal with the aftermath once things calm down? Or—”
He glanced at O’Sullivan, who was watching coldly. “Singer isn’t like Quentin. Even if I intervened, I wouldn’t be confident of success. But if you’re confident enough, I certainly won’t steal your credit.”
Your soldiers? Darnar was stunned, too shocked and angry to speak.
Watching Kant’s cunning expression and Darnar’s angry face, O’Sullivan suddenly felt an indescribable rage surge within him—Was this what ruled over the O’Sullivan family? Kant valued the power of the Council and would certainly avoid any risky actions, as the dead cannot gain power. Darnar sought the power of the royal family; he would surely push for Singer’s elimination, perhaps even wishing all of Agus’s mages dead, as being suppressed meant they could never truly gain power…
What about the O’Sullivan family? What about his own father? Had anyone really cared?
The tense situation among the three was interrupted by a massive crack on the ground. Everyone staggered, including the neatly pruned decorative trees around the square. The tremors spread throughout the northern part of Vatan City. Strange, loud noises filled the sky, as huge pieces of debris fell from the Tower of Seven Sins like rain. Tables, chairs, beds, doors, windows, and bookshelves were all thrown down along with the rocks. Kant was stunned, as were everyone else—the Tower of Seven Sins had shed its stone shell, revealing its steel structure resembling veins and bones. It moved, rotated, gathered…
I underestimated Singer after all, Kant thought despairingly.
“Leave here immediately! The Tower of Seven Sins is about to collapse!” Kant’s trusted mage shouted as he rushed down the stairs. At least he knew to urge others to leave as well. As for Kant himself, he had disappeared behind a portal in a burst of white light.
Darnar, O’Sullivan, and their followers quickly evacuated from beneath the Tower of Seven Sins to the square. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for them to turn back and rush into the tower, as even with Kant present, they had no hope of stopping such a catastrophic change—especially since Kant had already fled.

The shaking of the Tower of Seven Sins seemed to have paused slightly, but everyone understood it was merely a brief calm before an even more devastating disaster. The Agus soldiers in the square forgot their formation, their vigilance, and even the urge to flee. They simply stood there, mouths agape, watching the once-proud giant structure stand silently amidst the dust and smoke.

Darnar appeared tense and angry, but mostly resigned. When he saw O’Sullivan calmly staring at him, he suddenly seemed to make up his mind and shouted loudly, “All units, immediately form up and gather in the square! Surround the Tower of Seven Sins!”

Whatever it took, they had to fight!

Moriel and Daguras fell downward like fish rushing down a waterfall. Moriel tried hard to find a safe path through the swirling sand, stones, and metal pipes, while Daguras was responsible for destroying those obstacles they couldn’t avoid. Eventually, they landed on a huge steel cocoon entangled with countless metal pipes.

“I think I twisted my ankle… What is this?” Daguras stood up, holding onto a pipe that was almost as thick as the ancient trees in the Sleeping Forest.

Moriel looked around. It was extremely quiet—not a single piece of soil or rock had fallen here; all of it had been blocked by some powerful magic. Only numerous pipes connected one after another to this giant cocoon, fixing it in the deep void. Though Moriel knew it couldn’t possibly be a void, it looked just that way.

Fortunately, they hadn’t been here during the most intense formation of the steel cocoon; otherwise, they would have been crushed to pulp.

A powerful blue arc of electricity suddenly shot out along the pipe Daguras was holding, startling her greatly. With speed far beyond what someone with a twisted ankle should possess, Daguras jumped back and checked if her hand was injured.

Another bolt followed. Lightning packed with immense power surged along the pipe, breaking free from the cocoon and disappearing into the darkness.

Moriel bent down and reached out to touch the steel cocoon.

The bursts of electricity grew more frequent, until the entire cocoon was discharging—just like the electrical storm clouds summoned by Yatu. Blue lightning danced across the cocoon, but it didn’t cause any harm to the two of them.

“Forty-seven is inside!” Moriel suddenly stood up.

“What?” Daguras was also shocked. “Singh locked him in here? What does he want to do?”

The blue light grew brighter. It broke free from the surface of the cocoon, deviated from the path of the pipes, and began to fill the entire space. Around Moriel and Daguras was a raging storm of lightning, everything woven from flowing electrical energy. Moriel suddenly understood.

“Singh has been using the core’s energy to create construct weapons!” she shouted at Daguras, who was barely visible amidst the lightning. “No wonder Agus’s construct weapon technology advanced so rapidly in just three or four years! Yatu used this same energy to activate the ‘Tower No. 8’!”

She began to gather her magic. “We need to find a way! It seems Singh is about to drain all the core energy! Forty-seven will also be drained by him! We must stop him—”

Morrill suddenly darted to the side, her prepared spell interrupted by her distracted movement.
“Dagulas! You attacked me from behind?”
Dagulas smiled sweetly at her, her flaming whip leaving eerie afterimages in the tide of lightning.
“You react pretty fast—don’t be so angry, dear. You’ve attacked me from behind too, haven’t you?”
Morrill drew out her snake-tongue dagger. “I thought we’d reached an agreement. What’s in it for you to let Singh destroy Forty-Seven? How will you explain this to your master in Hell?”
“Shut up! It’s all your fault!” Dagulas swung her whip violently, flames bursting out like fireworks. “You don’t understand my feelings, my pain! I thought you were someone I could trust!”
“Trust?” Morrill moved, searching for weaknesses in Dagulas. “You actually know that word… I’m surprised. Well, even if I didn’t expect your so-called love for Hell’s creatures to be nothing but delusion, it’s best for us not to fight each other now. Destroying Singh’s plan is what matters most, right? If he succeeds, you’ll never be able to complete your mission!”
“Hehe… Dear, you’re really good with words.” Dagulas returned to her normal state. “But as the saying goes… times change. Honestly, I kind of like your steel boyfriend… It would be satisfying to snatch him away from you, but sadly, his temper seems too fierce—he’s not a good husband. You know? Actually, that Flame Lord of Hell isn’t interested in him at all. What the Flame Lord wants is another kind of power within him—something called… Blood of Magic. Such a hard name to remember.”
“In that case, I think it might not be a bad idea to let Singh lock up your boyfriend and experiment on him. Without his aggressive edge, he might become much more docile!” Dagulas swung her whip again, forcing Morrill to dodge once more. “Don’t try to chant those strange spells! Even though you’ve done such horrible things to me, I really don’t want to kill you. Though I did think about it at first… Be honest, let’s end this trouble! Don’t be so stubborn!”
So it was that scroll causing all the trouble… That thing from the swamp actually had such significance?
“Can you guarantee that after Singh does this, Forty-Seven will still have the power the Flame Lord needs?” Morrill tried to persuade Dagulas. “If you miscalculate, I don’t think the Flame Lord is a forgiving boss.”
“There’s nothing I can do! What can you do now? Do you think you can stop Singh? Don’t be silly! Blame your boyfriend for recklessly throwing himself into this mess! We both had many choices! This is his own fault!”
The Sea of Lightning erupted with unprecedented intensity—Morrill and Dagulas took this opportunity to attack each other at the same time.
“Charging normally, everything’s going well.” The control room was also filled with blue light; the earlier floating magic symbols could no longer be seen, and the old mages almost merged with the blue glow.
“Speed it up—get rid of those troublemaking bugs,” Singh said coldly.

On the magical projection before him, the entire Mage District was in chaos. With the drastic changes in the Tower of Seven Sins, even the hills serving as its foundation began to show signs of collapse. Scorching steam rushed out of cracks in the ground with a howling sound, and the water in the ponds of the royal gardens adjacent to the Mage District was heated, causing the precious ornamental fish to leap out frantically. Birds in cages flapped their wings desperately, crying out in terror. Even on the elegant shaded paths between noble residences, rats were fleeing… These animals seemed to sense the impending disaster, the end of Vatan City. The soldiers, who had been orderly moments before, also scattered to take cover. Darna had no chance to argue with Kond. Under the protection of his personal guards, he shouted in vain, trying to reorganize his troops and turn the situation around, but everyone knew it was impossible—what could possibly withstand such overwhelming force? The large iron balls rolling down from the Tower of Seven Sins shattered Darna’s last illusions. These twenty-foot-diameter, cold and smooth steel balls fell one after another, rolling away as they collided with each other, changing direction. When they rolled over fully armed soldiers, they made a sound like a horse stepping on a frog, followed by the bursting of flesh. Then, their blood-stained shells split open, revealing many octopus-like limbs that crawled around like spiders, carrying the iron balls. The Agus soldiers targeted by these limbs were either mercilessly torn apart by the sharp claws and saws at their ends or drowned in flames, lightning, or acid spat out from the metal monsters’ mouths… There was no way to fight back. When the last guard was reduced to a pile of burning trash, indistinguishable from anything else, in an attempt to protect him, no one paid any more attention to Darna. If Kond and his mages could stay here, perhaps things might still be possible… Darna smiled bitterly, shook his head, and pushed this unrealistic fantasy out of his mind. How could Kond possibly help the royal family wholeheartedly? None of these damned mages cared about Agus at all. King Stanley was still too young and too impatient. Perhaps that little brat from the O’Sullivan family was the one who truly understood the situation. Confronting the Council without full preparation was like throwing eggs at stones… What good was having a Grand Mage on their side? What good was the Council’s internal divisions and hidden motives? Darna’s mind was filled with Singh’s old face, that all-seeing, disdainful gaze. His tolerance of the royal family’s schemes wasn’t because he didn’t know, but because he simply didn’t care—proof of which was the current situation. Yuri O’Sullivan was also gone. Had he given up too? It was better if he had. Over the years, the royal family had wronged his family too many times. But… I can’t give up. Who am I? I’m King Stanley’s uncle! The great Minister of Military Affairs, Darna! Since we’ve refused to live in the shadow of the Mage Council and our strength doesn’t allow us to choose victory, at least we can choose… to die with dignity.

Darnar stood firm. The small red eyes burning atop the iron ball golem turned to notice him. Darnar drew his side sword, kissed the family crest engraved on its blade, then assumed a fighting stance as the golem began to crawl toward him—ready to face his first and last battle since becoming the Minister of Military Affairs.

Singh paid no attention to Darnar, nor would he. What difference did the Minister of Military Affairs, even one who commanded the royal guards, make here and now?

He raised his hands high, as if praying to some unseen deity, while Kiskain and the other mages stopped moving and stood at attention—the blue light in the room was suddenly sucked into the console in front of Singh, leaving nothing behind.

Dust and smoke billowed into the sky, almost covering the entire tower complex. A tremendous force erupted from where Forty-Seven and the Divine Armory were imprisoned, propelling the Seven Sins Towers to rise above the ground. The seven giant towers were connected to each other, with interlocking steel beams and foundations emerging from the soil amid roaring steam as they rose higher and higher.