“Declaration of war? Are you sleep-talking right now?”
Jolt Tagion, attending the Elder Council meeting, initially thought he had misheard or that the other party had misspoken.
But after replaying the recent conversation and carefully examining Associate Professor Jun’s expression before him, he reached the conclusion that this was not the case.
The only remaining explanation was that Associate Professor Jun had lost his mind.
“The Lawkingdom? Now? Against us? What possible gain could they have from this? Hmm? You answer me.”
“I don’t know that either. My faction never taught me anything like telepathy,” Jun replied confidently.
Yet his appearance told a different story — as if he hadn’t drunk a drop of water in days, wandering through some wilderness.
The once-proud robe issued to him was filthy with blood and dirt.
One leg was roughly bandaged as if he had a broken bone.
His face looked exhausted, as though he hadn’t slept for days.
“Dear Elder Professors, do you remember who I am?”
“Sorry, we’re a bit busy to remember every single associate professor’s name,” came a gruff response.
“That’s understandable. But you should at least know where I was stationed until just now: the Border Surveillance Zone.”
He handed over a bloodstained, dust-covered letter.
The Elder Professors grimaced as they read it.
The message was brief.
The tolerance of the Sun God had reached its limit, and now they would judge you with fire.
What was troubling was the Lawking’s official seal stamped beneath.
…Why?
That question hovered in every Elder Professor’s mind.
Ever since the Tower was built atop the Labyrinth and monopolized its resources, the Lawkingdom had maintained consistently good relations.
In particular, the Lawkingdom’s advantage in receiving Labyrinth resources at bargain prices was astronomical compared to other nations.
Were they seriously willing to give that up now?
To wage a war they couldn’t win?
“Well, anyway… good work, Associate Professor Jun. You look exhausted, so go get some rest. I’ll make sure you can take a break freely for a while.”
“Thank you.”
Jun limped out of the meeting room carrying the declaration of war letter.
An awkward silence followed.
“This all happened because we failed to contain the Monster surge in time, didn’t it?” one Elder Professor cautiously suggested, eyeing the room.
This provoked an overly sensitive reaction from Elder Professor Jolt Tagion and his faction.
“You say that now? If that was truly the cause of war, it would have happened sooner or later regardless.”
“Elder Professor Jolt, I understand you took charge of the Monster Response Unit voluntarily and boasted you’d be different…”
“Then I should show confidence while working. Should I instead admit I can’t do it and appear weak? What nonsense are you trying to pull?”
Jolt Tagion wanted nothing more than to shout and storm out of the meeting.
The search for the escaped Experimental Subject K was proving difficult.
He desperately wanted to take charge and retrieve it himself.
But acting like that during the meeting would only give other factions grounds to pick fights, possibly weakening his standing within his own faction.
He was caught between a rock and a hard place.
“Now, now, don’t get too worked up. It’s not about blaming someone right now — it’s more important to understand why these religious fanatics suddenly started a war.”
As always, this Elder Council meeting dragged on without solutions.
Ever since the four Elders who explored the depths of the Labyrinth fell into deep sleep to recover, the Elder Council had been effectively vacant.
The Elder Assembly had become the Tower’s de facto leadership.
Calling this “political corruption” is somewhat inaccurate.
The Elder Professors weren’t after political power for its own sake; they simply wanted to remove rival factions who interfered with their magical research.
But in practice, the Tower’s leadership mirrored the corrupt heads of any nation — sowing discord, picking fights, shifting blame, and exchanging bribes to manipulate public opinion.
The Lawkingdom’s declaration of war was hardly a major concern for the Elder Council.
A few mages assigned to border duties might have died or been injured, but replacements were plentiful.
They had also underestimated the Lawkingdom’s military power compared to the Jewel Tower.
Thus, the topic was briefly addressed early on and quickly dropped.
The power struggles disguised as meetings dragged on endlessly.
Then someone urgently knocked on the door — the second time today.
The Elder Professors openly showed their displeasure as they allowed the visitor in.
Only Jolt Tagion welcomed it silently with both hands raised.
“Ah, Alkoth… Zion Alkoth requests to meet the Elder Professors immediately.”
This unexpected visitor was a far bigger bombshell than the Lawkingdom’s declaration of war.
***
Associate Professor Jun, guarding the corridor leading to the Labyrinth, suddenly sensed footsteps.
Without hiding them at all, Zion was returning from the Labyrinth.
Having interacted with Zion on his Labyrinth expeditions over the past few days, Jun approached him with a certain friendliness.
“Zion Alkoth, thank you for your hard work. May I have your report on the Labyrinth exploration—”
“Move aside!”
Startled by the fierce command, Jun instinctively pressed himself against the wall and stepped back.
Strictly speaking, this was a breach of duty.
The mage guarding the Labyrinth entrance had to monitor everyone entering and exiting, recording how far they explored each time.
But Jun lacked the courage to question Zion now.
He had participated in the defense force during the recent Monster surge — the very moment Zion had broken through.
And Zion’s eyes were the same as then, cold and merciless, slaughtering Monsters without hesitation.
“Sorry! Zion’s really angry right now. I’ll apologize for him,” a young boy appeared beside Zion, causing Jun to widen his eyes.
Jun wanted to stop him and verify his identity immediately but feared for his life if he did.
Ultimately, the two silently agreed to pretend they saw nothing as their gazes met.
[Zion, you’re too worked up right now.]
“Like I’m not allowed to be?!”
Seeing Zion shout in a rage, Frey merely shrugged.
Zion’s anger was understandable even to the Awakened.
It was one thing if his emotions overwhelmed him so much that he couldn’t hear those around him, but that wasn’t the case.
In fact, Zion was unusually restrained.
What K had told him in the Labyrinth about the experiments was, in one way, as expected — but in another, far worse than anyone could have imagined.
The experiments were led by Elder Professor Jolt Tagion and his faction.
According to K’s information, their goal was species-level evolution of humans.
They had experimented with various methods, and Monsters were among those means.
To Jolt and his faction, Monsters were clearly superior physical beings compared to humans.
They believed that if they could successfully transplant even parts of a Monster’s body into humans, it would mark an evolutionary leap.
The problem was, they abducted their human test subjects without consent.
If the experiments had succeeded, that might have been understandable, but all had failed.
Humans who received Monster tissue transplants invariably lost their sanity, regressing intellectually to near-wild animal levels.
[Such a stupid way to experiment. Awakened become Demons when overly addicted to MP. Forcibly implanting Monster bodies into ordinary people — how do they expect them to survive?!]
[Science develops through trial and error… but scientists who abandon ethics are no different from demons.]
Jolt’s faction did not stubbornly persist with the exact same method.
They varied transplant sites and carefully adjusted body ratios, trying many trials.
But as long as forcibly implanting Monster tissue into humans was the premise, failure was inevitable.
“That monster we met in Fargon was definitely…!”
A truth Zion wished he hadn’t known.
But now that he did, he couldn’t look away.
Including that Monster, which he had mercilessly killed without knowing, the Jewel Tower had to pay for these sins.
Moreover, human experimentation wasn’t limited to Jolt’s faction.
Monsters and humans alike were far too attractive and efficient as experimental subjects to mages compared to other flora and fauna.
During his captivity in the test tube, K had been conscious but utterly unable to communicate.
He knew countless secrets carelessly spilled by the mages standing before him.
Zion feared to tell him everything — scared of how furious he would become — and thus withheld part of it.
“Zion Alkoth is here to see the Elder Council. Immediately!”
At the top floor of the Tower, Zion teleported to the Elder Council chamber and flung open the elegant door without hesitation.
The hinges shattered, and one door leaf crashed noisily to the floor.
Beyond it, 33 Elder Professor-level mages displayed a mix of reactions: anxious, uncomfortable, intrigued, or amused.
Zion gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, struggling to suppress his emotions.
It was impossible.
Just looking at their faces, seeing the ugly nature hidden deep in their eyes, made him nauseous.
He pushed K, hidden behind him, forward and scanned the room.
“Someone here surely knows who this child is.”
Like on cue, they all wore expressions of ignorance.
Zion spat out each word slowly and deliberately.
“This child’s name is Experimental Subject K.”
“…!”
Jolt Tagion, seated in his chair, suddenly convulsed and toppled over.
Zion narrowed his eyes and glared at him.
“Seems someone here knows.”
“Experimental Subject… K? What’s that?” an Elder Professor asked, feigning ignorance.
On the surface, he seemed genuinely curious, but in reality, he belonged to a faction hostile to Jolt’s.
Though he didn’t know what it was, seeing Jolt’s reaction gave him a tool to keep him in check.
“Professor Jolt Tagion.”
In the Tower, casually calling a mage of Associate Professor rank or above simply “professor” was extremely rude.
Zion knew this and spoke deliberately.
Jolt flinched, lifting his head as if to resist but quickly averted his eyes after meeting Zion’s fierce gaze.
“Would you like to explain this yourself? Or shall I reveal everything I heard from K, piece by piece?”
“Th-That… I have no idea what you’re talking about, Zion Alkoth. Experimental Subject K?”
“…!”
For a moment, Zion almost lost control and shouted.
He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and barely restrained his emotions.
Frey honestly admired him.
[Well done, Zion. Showing your feelings here only gives those scum a chance to escape.]
‘Uncle, I’m really struggling right now.’
[I understand. If you can’t hold on, call any of us. We’ll solve it however you want.]
Zion forced himself to shake his head.
Frey had expected this answer.
“Zion Alkoth! Are you here?”
Suddenly, an unexpected visitor arrived.
An Associate Professor-level mage rushed to the meeting room and spotted Zion, letting out a relieved sigh.
Zion glared once at the Elder Professors before turning to him.
“What is it?”
“A guest for you, Zion Alkoth. They said you’d know them if I said ‘Soares’s subordinate.'”
At the unexpected name, Zion’s eyes widened.
Frey clapped his hands quietly.
[Wow, unbelievable. At this time?]
“…Please show me.”
Leaving the Elder Professors behind was painful, but he couldn’t ignore Soares’s efforts.
Zion descended back to the Tower’s first floor, K in tow.
Outside the Tower entrance, beyond the strict mage guards, a woman who looked worn from days of hardship was pacing.
Her hair was tangled and filthy with sweat and dust; dark circles under her eyes betrayed days without proper rest.
Zion approached, and she stared at him briefly before breaking into a smile.
“Are you Zion Alkoth?”
Zion nodded quietly.
She tried to approach him excitedly but was stopped by the mages and awkwardly stepped back.
Zion greeted her as he stepped outside.
“You said you were Soares’s subordinate?”
“Yes! I’m Olsora Daytol. It’s an honor to meet you, Zion Alkoth.”
Olsora saluted him crisply, like a soldier, and handed over a letter.
“This is a report written by Soares. She said it contains information ‘necessary for you, Zion Alkoth.'”
Zion took the letter.
It was a plain report, simply stating the facts he needed.
But the content was anything but plain.
[…Oh boy.]
[Wow, even I can’t help but feel a bit…]
[Haha, it’s the icing on the cake. Or rather, the final straw, I suppose?]
[Zion, are you alright? Getting too worked up isn’t good for your health! B-Breathe deeply! Take a deep breath!]
“…”
Zion expressionlessly tore the report into pieces.