I got into school for nothing - Chapter 370
I got into school for nothing (370)
Interlude. God's Seat
A name, from the moment it is bestowed, is a prison that binds existence.
At the very least, the Tower Lord, in naming his vassals, firmly embedded such an intention.
"You are Ketiuses, Ketiuses."
"Understood, Master."
The name of one of the experimental weapons created to confront the True Dragons – that was Ketiuses.
The Tower Lord edited or appended the concepts of pre-existing things, creating various entirely new possibilities, and among them, the particularly strong ones received names as the Tower Lord's vassals.
It became a Codeword more potent than anything in the world, seizing and choking the souls of the newborn vassals. Through this unilateral master-servant relationship, the vassals were forced to dedicate everything they gained to the Tower Lord.
"Just trust and leave it to me, Master."
The Tower Lord, utilizing a God's Fragment he fortunately acquired, sought to gather all concepts from all dimensions to himself.
His talent for interpreting every element that comprised the world and assimilating them to suit himself shone brilliantly within the system of language and characters.
That is to say, any being capable of using language and characters was inherently at a disadvantage against the Tower Lord.
'This shackle.'
The newborn Ketiuses desperately thought, 'I want to cast it off.'
However, the Tower Lord was overwhelmingly powerful, and the True Dragons, their immediate adversaries, were also enemies not to be underestimated.
Somehow, Ketiuses, who had been increasing her control over mana, subduing the True Dragons, and gradually taking away their magical power to slowly perfect her own Authority—realized that there were quite a few other vassals who shared her thoughts.
They dared not exchange opinions, as uttering them aloud would instantly be detected by the Tower Lord, yet they all knew they shared a common thought.
'Then I must hurry.'
She was certain that whether the rebellion succeeded or failed, the Tower Lord would eventually return, and his wrath would be directed at his vassals.
How could she avoid that?
How could she escape the Tower Lord's Authority?
It was a name.
She had to cast off the name that had bound her since the moment of her birth.
While the other foolish vassals failed to notice this fact, she acted swiftly.
'My own power isn't enough. I must share in the Master's Authority.'
Seducing her master was not difficult.
The Tower Lord was a born ruler, and of course, knowing the dangers of his own abilities, he was cautious about procreating――.
Yet to Ketiuses, a vassal bound by a name he himself had bestowed, and one who had served him with utmost devotion since birth, he harbored what could be called a certain affection.
Therefore, when she sought his love, the Tower Lord embraced her without an ounce of suspicion.
Ketiuses then vanished.
As Ketiuses, a being who had affixed her own name and could exert absolute influence only within it.
Not long after, the Tower Lord was betrayed, and even as he died, he was filled with rage and cursed all his vassals.
Gathering his last vestiges of power, he imprisoned all the True Dragons who had dared to entice his vassals and bring about his death, within the Tower. Abandoning the impossible dream of uniting all dimensions into one, he instead resolved to grind down all those dimensions to transform his own birthplace into a single, perfect dimension.
This was perfectly natural to him, for only by doing so could he exact revenge on the True Dragons, who had employed the detestable trickery of 'Dimension Walls,' and simultaneously take vengeance upon the accursed vassals who now occupied those separated dimensions one by one.
It was not a grand unification for all to gather and become a complete whole.
Rather, it was an integration solely as 'material' to create one perfect entity.
The God's Fragment that fell into his hands rose above Union as the Tower of Babel, embodying the meaning of 'Gate of the Gods'.
What 'God' in that context implied need not be explicitly stated.
Union was a small dimension, detached from Earth, and created as a so-called 'production factory' to perfect Earth.
Its very name was like a painful symbol, revealing the foolish dream the Tower Lord once harbored.
'When all is annihilated and only one remains, only those born entirely of my bloodline in that world shall become the masters of a perfect world.'
After countless ages, when all beings filling the universe no longer understood the meaning of the Tower of Babel.
When the tendrils of destruction stretching from the Tower of Babel tightly coiled around all dimensions, making it impossible for anyone to separate them.
At the very moment when one who strongly inherited his blood reached Union and stood atop the Tower.
Only then would the Tower devour everything, creating a new and perfect world.
Everyone would know that there was a man who surpassed gods—that he had transcended divine feats to create an even more perfect world.
And Ketiuses, carrying the Tower Lord's child, came to know this truth.
Though she was branded a traitor alongside others and lost her qualifications, the Tower Lord's blood, half-flowing within the child she carried, resonated faintly.
She gave birth to a child, and felt that this child's Authority evolved in a different direction from her own.
Having raised the child by dedicating everything she had left, she informed him of all that past and exhorted him.
To resist the Tower Lord's Authority and obtain a new name.
The child succeeded in doing so.
It was the moment the 1st generation Ortima was born.
Concurrently, it was the moment a being who sought to become the god of a perfect world was born.
* * *
"How foolish and pitiful you are, Rusein."
Before his son, who had come to persuade him, the man murmured quietly.
Like his son, he was arrogant and distinguished; wrinkles were almost nowhere to be found, making his age hard to discern, and his slicked-back hair gave him a neat and elegant impression.
As the head of the Ortima family, and as the master of the Ketiuses dimension.
He, who always had to be the strongest force representing Ortima, was a giant capable of single-handedly upholding the family's name.
His name was Lumen (lūmen).
If Ban Yuwon had heard this, he would have been dumbfounded to learn that someone else knew the Tower's secret before him.
For 'lumen' was the Latin word for 'light.'
"Father, you have wronged me. It is time for you to make amends."
"Rusein, Rusein... Your name was not given for that purpose."
Rusein felt his father's suffocating presence but silently endured, holding his ground.
The family head, sensing his son's aura, which was incomparably stronger than before, clicked his tongue.
"Could it be that you've crawled under the new Tower Lord? You, the son of an absolute being, who is destined to become a ruler someday?"
"I have only temporarily allied myself. To achieve my objectives."
"She's just a mere girl. Haven't I told you, such things can always be acquired?"
"It must be her, and no one else."
"Even though you yourself cannot see or feel it?"
At Lumen's reproof, his son fell silent, speechless.
He clicked his tongue impatiently and continued.
"Just watch. For your sake, I will liberate that girl. Of course, I'll remove those ridiculous restrictions first."
"Liberation...? Father, how could you—no. Wait a moment."
Soon, Rusein raised his head.
As if he'd sensed something in this meaningless conversation, his eyes were wavering.
"Father... surely you weren't waiting for this very moment?"
"You've grown enough to notice that, at least. Should I call that fortunate?"
"Father...! Ketiuses will be ruined! It could be annihilated!"
"My foolish, lacking son, it's the opposite. Our dimension can now finally become perfect. Because we will be able to cast off the name Ketiuses, a name given by a hateful former master."
"How?"
"Don't you know? Just recently, there were those who tried to swap two dimensions."
Rusein Ortima's pupils trembled uncontrollably.
He, too, knew well what his father was discussing.
Where was the Fairy Queen of Fairytale now, he wondered?
"The Amore family knelt before me. They know there is no place for them by the new Tower Lord, so they are forced to rely on me. They will take care of Fairytale."
"No, it's impossible...! Father, that's impossible! They've already failed!"
"Be prudent and cautious when choosing your words, my son. An Ortima never speaks of the impossible."
He frowned and personally explained to his obtuse son.
The excessively preposterous plan concocted by the Prominence family.
Could Crimson Spear, who was virtually the linchpin in executing it, truly have interfered with Fairytale solely by their own power?
"It was Exodus. I manipulated and supported them."
"Exodus is merely a dirty pirate group; how could you become so deeply involved with them?"
"No matter how dirty, if they are useful, one must use them. I am their master. Did you truly not know?"
"If that's... then..."
"Of course, it remains. It absolutely remains, though it took some effort to deceive that young, brilliant Tower Lord."
Rusein knew that ever since Ban Yuwon began attending the meetings he hosted, Ban Yuwon had persistently pursued Exodus yet achieved little concrete progress.
But what if all of that had actually been according to his father Lumen's intentions...?
What if he had been waiting for the moment Ban Yuwon finally gave up and entered the Tower?
"I have acquired sufficient experimental data. That fledgling even demonstrated his ability to wield Changeling at the last minute, proving it. Do you think I couldn't achieve what he did? By using the Tower, I can extract only the power of the fairies, without needing some measly magic circle, and achieve the desired outcome. Not only swapping Ketiuses and Earth—but even swapping that fledgling's position with my own."
Now that the connection between all other dimensions and the Tower of Babel had been severed.
Now that only Union, Earth, and Ketiuses remained connected.
If Ketiuses were to attempt a 'swap' using the barrier Ban Yuwon created to isolate the Tower of Babel.
If it succeeded.
"Father, but, however, if that happens..."
"If that happens?"
He looked at his hesitant, stammering son with a slightly annoyed expression, urging him to continue.
He bit his lip hard, then raised his head to glare at his father and spoke.
"This time, all dimensions... except Ketiuses... might be annihilated."
"Ketiuses's new name will be Earth. Yes, everything except Earth will have to disappear."
Lumen Ortima let out a scoffing laugh and nodded in agreement.
"After all, everyone but us is a low-born commoner. There would be no problem if they disappeared, would there?"
"Among the commoners."
Rusein wore a regretful expression.
"There might be treasures hidden, Father. Haven't advancements always occurred that way, even within our own Ketiuses?"
"It is the work of erasing the useless and perfectly transforming a single dimension. Rejoice, Rusein. This is a grand undertaking to create more useful resources even among the commoners, just as you desire."
"But, then, if you do that—"
Rusein squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them.
"I will be forced to deny my own love."
"There is no such thing as love, my son. There is only domination and submission."
The man, who sought to dominate all dimensions beyond mere control over mana, declared thus.
The man's son nodded as if he understood and rose from his seat.
"Then this time, I must deny you, Father."
"Tsk, I've wasted my time needlessly."
Lumen manifested his Authority against his son without hesitation.
Rusein struggled with the thought that he absolutely had to protect Dokgo Yeon's homeland, and his Authority, amplified to a surprising degree with Ban Yuwon's help, succeeded in significantly reducing Lumen's Authority, vigor, and stamina.
However, he could not ultimately defeat the man who was willing to kill his own son to walk the path he desired.
"Don't worry, my son."
Lumen, having torn off and admired the handsome face of his son, which so resembled his own, from the neck, whispered to him with a faint smile.
"Once I become a god, I will reincarnate you into a more perfect form. And I'll even revive that woman so she can serve you."
* * *
The grand fleet led by the Amore family launched a surprise attack on Fairytale.
The Fairy Queen, who had planned to visit her handsome son-in-law as soon as the situation was resolved, grew solemn as she watched the invaders bypass the tightly sealed dimension wall, tear through the barrier protecting the dimension, and launch their surprise attack.
"My son-in-law made that barrier, and they just crossed the line..."
"—Obey. If you do not wish to lose even your precious daughter's life, you had best prostrate yourself and offer your body for this grand undertaking."
The flagship carrying the Amore family head audaciously cast its shadow all the way onto the ground.
The S-1 Dimension: though perhaps inferior to Ortima in Authority, its martial power was in no way inferior, making it one of the strongest groups in the universe.
Hundreds, thousands of psychics had gathered, creating waves of power that layered around the enormous ship. If it simply charged forward like this, more than half of Fairytale would be obliterated.
"Ha."
And in the next moment, all of it.
With a single sword strike unleashed by one man, it all returned to nothingness.
"—What?! You bastards, what are you—! Changeling? Is this Changeling too?!"
"I really should have made that Ban Yuwon guy sit down and become the next sect master."
The only other secretly hidden dimension, alongside Earth, the dimension where the Tower Lord was born.
"His eye for grasping the flow of battle is truly astonishing..."
The protector of Murim, master of the Saengsashingyo.
But all who knew him called him the Cheonma (Heavenly Demon).
"Then I'll leave it to you, in-law."
"Hah, it's the first time in Dokgo Hyeok's life I've heard such a title. Very well, let's do this."
The man, who was privately Ban Yuwon's second father and the biological father of the woman he loved, drew his sword and pointed it at the sky.
"—Impossible, no one told us there was an enemy like this—"
"—Ortima, they deceived us! They deceived us!"
"Hup—!"
With merely that, an intangible surge of force emerged, seizing control of the Amore fleet that filled the sky.
In the next moment.
The sky was severed.
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