Chapter 514 – Stage of Dialogue (3)
"So then..."
Verden summarized Dahit's remarks he had just heard into a single paragraph.
"You mean, while observing the frozen Mage who lacked mana circuits, you began contemplating what the stability of hierarchy truly was, and that became the trigger that led you to doubt the naturalness of mana circuits themselves, is that correct?"
"Exactly."
"Delusional nonsense."
Verden dismissed the opinion without hesitation.
It was madness.
Even if it was said to be a personal view, to describe a Mage's hierarchical growth system as something akin to livestock rearing—such words would invite not just criticism but utter contempt in the magical world.
Dahit snorted.
"Indeed, it is worth being called insane. Even if I excuse myself by saying it is only a hypothesis, I cannot deny it went too far. Of course, that would be true if it had ended at mere speculation."
"It sounds as if you claim to have definite evidence."
"You're trying to wring too much out of a single question."
No matter how one looked at it, Dahit clearly believed in his own ideas without the slightest doubt. What on earth was the basis of that confidence?
Verden pushed the reply to the back of his mind, recalling the questions he had originally meant to ask, and spoke again.
The second question.
"I once read your research record that the body of the ancient Mage unusually accepted external mana with ease. What did you discover in relation to that?"
Dahit had once mentioned that the corpse of the ancients possessed value beyond merely lacking mana circuits.
This meant there were special elements that Verden and Isabella, who hadn't had proper time to examine it, had failed to notice.
Before meeting Dahit, Verden had opened the [Hourglass of Perpetuity] two more times, but unlike the first, he had gained no particular information.
Dahit spoke.
"As you know, mana is not a power derived from humans. It is an essential element that has existed from the very beginning, constituting this world regardless of mankind."
"..."
"Strictly speaking, the race that truly has the right to be called Mages by wielding pure, original mana, is none other than the Elves of the Great Forest. Those secluded denizens of nature, unlike humans, can use natural mana unfiltered."
Dahit rested his arms on the table.
"In that sense, Elven mana circuits are distinct from human mana circuits. At first glance they seem similar, but their core properties differ, so much that they can be said to be entirely separate. To describe the Elves' unique organ as a special mana circuit was merely a convenient label coined in the magical world."
At any rate.
"I formed a hypothesis regarding the magic of the ancient Mage."
For a Mage, a provisional assumption prior to verification is akin to destiny.
"That frozen ancient, lacking mana circuits, had an almost nonexistent resistance to mana, allowing him to accept external mana freely. Yet, since his body structure differed from Elves, he would have had no means to wield it. And yet, even before the first magic tower, magic already existed. Thus, I concluded there must have been some form of 'medium' in between."
A means to refine external mana into a form of magic.
"And I found it."
Tap.
Dahit pointed at his throat.
"The 'vocal cords'. Upon examining the ancient body, I discovered that this was the part most capable of receiving external mana. Furthermore, the skull and jawbone were slightly twisted in an abnormal way, suggesting the ancient Mage had spoken excessively in life."
In other words───
"Before hierarchical magic was created, instead of computation as we do now, they might have cast magic through the voice itself, in other words, 'incantation'."
"By voice...."
Verden did not immediately dismiss it as overblown imagination.
Magical chanting.
It was once a topic that had surfaced in the magical world.
'The Chanting Theory. If a Mage, like a Magus, bypassed parts of hierarchical law and directly used their voice to compute their unique magic, concentration would naturally increase, thereby enhancing power.'
It was said to have shown some effect, but of course, it was soon abandoned.
Because it was inefficient.
The conclusion was clear—that the time spent chanting could be better used performing another computation, which was undeniably advantageous.
Verden asked.
"But is it truly possible to manifest magic only by voice, without any computation at all?"
"People often say words hold power. Indeed, there exists a Transcendent who wields 'language' as his power. Though, he is not a Mage."
The being Dahit mentioned was surely the Oathkeeper.
Verden could somewhat agree, for he had once fought knights of the Oath-bound Knight Order, who manifested special powers through spoken vows in the volcanic zone.
"That is more convincing than likening the hierarchy system to a flock of sheep."
The third question followed.
"Yet, setting interest aside, how an ancient Mage wielded magic is a wholly different matter from whether mana circuits arose naturally. Enough evasions—tell me the true core you discovered in the Mage's corpse."
"My, my, you really can't restrain your curiosity. I could choose to refuse and watch the show, but I will extend my generosity this once."
Dahit leaned comfortably back against his chair.
"I carried out full-scale experiments, raising countless hypotheses and attempting to verify them. If you have read my records, you know I tried even the most trivial things. Most of it bore no fruit, but in the end, I uncovered the secret. What led me there was the expectation that ancient Mages who used incantations must each have handled entirely unique magic."
Modern Mages each harbor their own unique mana, yet until they pioneer Mado, they employ common hierarchical magic.
But ancient Mages, lacking any hierarchy, even when drawing on the same external mana, would manifest entirely different spells depending on individual traits—such was the hypothesis.
"Magical innateness. Do you understand?"
There were only a few things in the magical world that warranted the word "innate."
"You mean special traits or ancient bloodlines."
"Precisely. That abnormal mana and mana circuits. The former, special traits, appear only in individuals. The latter, ancient bloodlines, are passed down through lineage. I judged that the unique magic of ancient Mages must be related to these special traits or bloodlines, and so I secured modern Mages for comparison."
Dahit openly boasted of conducting human experiments himself.
The current Black Hour, known as the collective of death's Mages, would hardly bother to uphold magical ethics even the magic towers secretly violated.
"And after tearing apart the mana circuits of my test subjects, I stumbled upon an utterly shocking fact. 'The single line'. A lone strand running from the heart, through the entire body, up to the brain."
Mana circuits, if compared, resembled the vascular system of the body.
Normally, the number of vessels was beyond count, and the total length, if connected, could span continents.
So to isolate and identify a single mana strand, was akin to carefully examining every single vessel in the human body.
"It took me years to discover it. I dare say, no other Transcendent but me could have done it."
It had only been possible thanks to Dahit Wethroel's insight, which excelled at directly perceiving objects and phenomena.
Verden did not hide his disgust at the human experimentation.
"So, the mana circuit strand you worked so hard to uncover, that is the definitive proof supporting your outrageous claim?"
"In conclusion, yes. I tested its function, and it was deeply tied to hierarchy suppression responses."
Dahit tapped lightly at his temple.
The heart, the body, the head.
A mana circuit strand threading through all three.
"So then, what would happen if one were to remove it? Curious, I decided to excise this mana circuit from a 2nd-hierarchy Mage. And I did. Do you know what happened?"
Dahit whispered softly.
***
"The test subject died instantly."
"Surely, the mana circuit strand I destroyed was not directly tied to life. Even if you considered the entire mana circuit, the proportion it occupied was insignificant. By all expectations, survival should not have been in doubt. Yet without even a moment to react, they perished in an instant. Nor was any other test subject an exception."
It was, in every sense, an incomprehensible result.
There was something there.
With conviction, Dahit set himself to grasp the problem, and he managed to reach an answer of his own.
"The connection between that mana circuit strand and the Mage is not something visible to the eye. Whether cut away with blades or torn by my Mado, it is impossible to remove it while keeping the subject alive. Because the cause and effect between the two are linked 'conceptually'. Do you understand what this phenomenon implies?"
"..."
Verden sank into thought.
He tried to marshal his magical knowledge and understanding, but the clues were vague.
He shook his head.
"What is that concept you speak of?"
"It is literally the essence. That which beings like us naturally possess. The ultimate imagery that encompasses the particulars."
Fwoosh.
At the tip of Dahit's finger, a faint jet-black flame flickered to life.
"Like my 'Annihilation'."
What Dahit meant by concept was a higher notion with broader scope, and by "beings like us", he surely meant Transcendents.
"..."
Verden quietly recalled the powers that Transcendents proclaimed.
Bohemirn's tower master, Balrog Bessias, with his Omnipotence.
Dark Warton's tower master, Ryndel Nexleon, with his Death.
The sword of Arnark, Grand Duke Rivandale, with his Wave.
Outside-the-system, Ignacia's Illusion.
The Oathkeeper's Word.
The Ark's librarian, Sheorn Kernoden, with his Space.
And Verden's own 'Infinity' and 'Destruction'.
So it was that each Transcendent possessed a power symbolic of themselves, the product of their body and realization interlocking through Awakening.
The nature of these powers was especially revealed in transcendental techniques or super-tier spells. Proof that they had opened paths of their own.
'If that is what one calls a concept, then what Dahit is saying is....'
Verden's eyes widened.
"You're saying, the birth of mana circuits involved a Transcendent's intervention?"
"Well, perhaps they arose naturally, and we simply failed to interpret it. But the possibility that someone intervened artificially cannot be dismissed either."
Dahit laughed.
"Whichever it may be, isn't it fascinating? If someone did intervene, then for what purpose did they implant mana circuits into humans?"
And.
"Most likely that being would be a Transcendent on an entirely different plane. One whose realm even I cannot fully trespass with all my power."
In that instant, Verden froze.
...He could not trespass it 'fully'?
His mind sparked.
───What I found from that ancient Mage's corpse will overturn the magical world. By me, and me alone. Yes, the world that follows will stem from me. None will ever forget me.
Past and present words overlapped and meshed together in his mind.
"Dahit, what is it that you're trying to do?"
"I have answered four of your questions."
Then Dahit folded his fingers one by one, from thumb to ring finger.
"As for the last, I invoke my right of refusal."
His little finger folded, closing into a fist.
"This conversation ends here."
The air currents surged.
Reflexively, Verden gathered his full power. In the next moment, both their eyes blazed, and they unleashed vast mana at once.
Kwooooom!
In an eyeblink, the shockwave shattered the hut into pieces, and the surrounding forest was reduced to ruin. The aftermath of Transcendent power and mana colliding.
Amidst the wreckage, the two Transcendents faced each other at a distance.
"You are an unforeseen obstruction, but also an unexpected opportunity to me."
Dahit drew out the black gauntlets of the artificial artifact he had pre-transformed, [Calamity of Revelation], and donned them on both hands.
"But I have no need of you alive. And since I have a path yet to walk, it is efficient to end you here."
Drawn by the sudden upheaval, the executives of Black Hour arrived, gathering in the air.
From the very first members and highest executives, Carindin and Maybel, to the upper and lower executives, twelve Mages in total.
All the executives of Black Hour were present.
Whooom.
Verden summoned the staff [Interis], grasped it in one hand, and struck the ground.
"Efficiency has its limits."
Opposing Black Hour's full force, presences rushed in swiftly.
Thud.
Adrian and Isabella arrived first, then Osgar, Medrant, Cain, and Unia stopped behind them.
They were keeping their identities hidden from the outside world.
And then Melard appeared.
Alderneys himself pushed her wheelchair, while beside her, Grave dropped his half-smoked cigarette and crushed it underfoot.
Dahit's forces and Verden's forces stood in confrontation.
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