A long table inside a dark room.

Men dressed in white robes sat according to rank.

“Kyrie and Erica have already arrived. The hot-tempered Andromeda of House Astreos, the insane twins of Flammerios, and the foolish Saint Sirius of the Myriad Star Church will soon arrive as well.”

A scholar seated near the head of the table recited at length.

“Severic of the incompetent house of ice, Narji of the isolated house of currents, and Tyren of the lazy house of earth will likely be several days late. It seems their steps are slow because they are busy repairing their pitiful dignity by the roadside.”

Another scholar, turning documents beneath the cold glow of magic-tool lamps, sneered coldly.

“Brothers. Is it not laughable how they swarm together in such numbers to oppose our enlightenment? Look at those fools, ignorant even of the truth of this world, believing the heavens will answer merely because they cry out the names of constellations. They are like parrots who speak without understanding the meaning of their own words.”

The man at the head seat spoke arrogantly.

“They are certainly lower than idiots, but even so, their military strength cannot be ignored. It is the sin of a scholar to fail to measure an opponent’s exact strength. Hypotheses require numbers, battlefields require samples, and conclusions require reproducibility.”

The scholar seated at the corner spread his fingers and recited clearly.

Had Kyrie heard their conversation, he would have thought they resembled the Dawn Council in an entirely different sense.

They too stood upon the front lines of the truths they believed in, sharpening theories that explained their reality while waging struggles for hegemony.

“The battle will be handled by our bachelors, our masters, and our doctoral candidates. Papers are originally written by them, while we merely place our honorable names upon them. They write data in blood, and we print truth in ink.”

The man at the head seat raised his glass.

Nod. Nod. Nod.

The scholars raised their glasses after him.

“Let the bachelors advance as the vanguard and collect variables. Leave no contact, observation, or record undone. Let the masters create disorder from the rear. Twist the flow, shake the morale of armies, close the roads of advance. Let the doctoral candidates complete the proof. At the decisive moment, bind the hypothesis into truth and sign it with blood.”

As the man at the head seat continued speaking, one man raised his hand.

“And who will pay the tuition? Once one includes experimental costs, hazard pay, midnight meals, and even the bribes necessary for fair evaluation, the burden is hardly light.”

Faint laughter flowed from various places.

“The supervising professor will pay.”

The man at the head seat answered calmly.

“Doctor, are you not that supervising professor?”

Suppressed laughter leaked from beside him.

“That is why I propose this. The tuition shall be withheld directly from the great houses. Hazard pay shall be compensated with bonus points, and late-night meals shall be replaced with academic credits. Naturally, I myself will serve as the examiner.”

“Have you obtained approval from the dissertation review committee? If you proceed without a seal and the process is annulled, the students will all be forced to retake the course.”

The man beside him asked with an unnecessarily serious face.

“We are the Hall of Purity. We shall stamp the seal with our own hands. And if it is annulled, then this world itself shall retake the course.”

The supervising professor pushed forward his logic without the slightest wavering.

A brief silence drifted through the room.

“Kh.”

“Hah.”

“Ha, hahaha!”

The man beside him finally burst into laughter.

“If someone saw us, they would think every one of us had gone mad.”

“It cannot be helped. This world itself is mad.”

Bizarre laughter erupted throughout the room.

As the day of the Elector Princes Council rapidly approached.

Kyrie sent every piece of information he had obtained from Blue Hydrangea by letter.

Even with messenger dragons and coded writing, it’s still unsettling to put this into letters… but it can’t be helped. I really need to obtain communication authority soon.

Since Erica, the Viceroy of Rikenta, had been present for the entire discussion, there was no need to inform her separately.

Thus, the letters only needed to travel to two places.

To Andromeda, the Grand Prince Regent of House Astreos.

And to Vicher and Vichera, the twin guardians of Flammerios.

Little brother. So you were suffering through so much in places where this older sister could not protect you!

Andromeda received the letter when she had already reached the outskirts of Astreos territory.

The Hall of Purity, hm. The Nubesta counterintelligence corps mentioned them several times. Said those bastards created mutant demonic beasts. Mm. And we used those mutant demonic beasts to create the elixir of sacred radiance. If handled badly, we could be branded accomplices.

She was a romantic idealist, but she did not view the world as benevolent.

It is too late to hide the elixir of sacred radiance. Better to prove that it is harmless. It must appear as spoils of war, not corruption.

Andromeda had verified it many times since her days as a minor house head.

The elixir of sacred radiance itself truly had no side effects upon humans.

Little brother. Drink plenty of it, become much stronger, and slaughter many demonic beasts. You’ll have to overwhelm the Church with achievements so they cannot utter a single complaint. Understood?

The representatives of the other great houses needed to believe that as well.

It appears Duke Kyrie has been cornered into a checkmate. If this goes poorly, even we siblings may be dragged into it.

We must assist him so he can conduct public-opinion operations locally. We should push supplies into his hands for at least a month or two.

The twin guardians of Flammerios arrived at the same conclusion.

Andromeda and the twins even pushed toward Kyrie the elixir of sacred radiance that they themselves had originally intended to consume.

“Joi. What is all this?”

As a result—

“Why, it is the elixir of sacred radiance, of course.”

Kyrie trembled before the enormous pile of elixirs stacked high.

“Why is there so much this month? Wasn’t it normally difficult even to distribute one or two bottles among the Blue Knights?”

Since the material was essence of the mutant demonic beast, even if it was more common than traditional great-house elixirs, an elixir was still an elixir.

It was not an item that could be produced in quantities large enough to pile up.

“Her Highness Andromeda and Their Highnesses of Flammerios pushed it all toward my lord. At this level, not only the Blue Knights, but even retainers and attendants should be able to taste some.”

Joi reported with a bright smile.

Even retainers and attendants?

Kyrie could not smile.

I’m screwed. They’re trying to distance themselves from the elixir of sacred radiance from this point onward. If, by some chance, this thing gets branded as a heretical evil potion, they intend to pretend they had nothing to do with it.

He unfolded high-speed thought.

Since I’m the one handling disposal on-site, they probably pushed the supply onto me by reducing the raw materials they accepted. But I can’t abandon this. If I want a voice at the Elector Princes Council, I need an agenda that I myself can lead.

The conclusion was brutal.

To my sister and those twins, the elixir of sacred radiance is merely one among many ways to grow stronger. But for me, this is the one and only measure that can become a major issue at the Elector Princes Council. Somehow, I have to keep this alive.

He could not blame them.

Objectively speaking, they were correct.

It was only subjectively that everything had become a disaster.

“As you say. There truly is enough to distribute generously. Then let it be distributed in abundance.”

Cold sweat streamed down Kyrie’s spine, yet he forced himself to issue the order with solemn dignity.

I’ll just have everyone gorge themselves on it until it disappears. And while I’m at it, I may as well train sword aura reinforcement—no, lightning reinforcement—to my heart’s content.

“Take as much as you like.”

Kyrie distributed the elixir of sacred radiance, which until now had only been rationed one or two bottles at a time to the Blue Knights, even to attendants and retainers.

One of the most representative beneficiaries was Paisen of the New Moon, a knight aspiring to become a Blue Knight.

At my level, self-generating training is impossible. But it’s not as though I can drag around electric-art training equipment from the great cities of Astreos either.

Blue electrical sparks burst from the crown of his silver hair, traveled down his spine, and spread throughout his body.

The electric arts “Bodily Enhancement” and “Neural Acceleration” manifested.

This elixir only increases mana. If someone who wasn’t a Blue Knight drank Astreos elixirs like Thundercloud or White Thunder, their nerves would burn to death. But this is different. It safely increases mana alone, allowing it to be converted into lightning aura.

Wooooong!

Paisen even unfolded “Bio-radar,” completing the “Astreos combat posture.”

He had reached this point before.

From here onward, however, was entirely new territory.

Wooooong. Wooooong. Wooooong.

Feeling the target behind him caught by the “Bio-radar,” he raised his hand.

Pajijijijik!

Electric current gathered from his shoulder like small waves and flowed downward.

It drooped through the elbow, and by the time it reached his wrist, it had already become a small but unmistakable wave.

The exhilaration of advancing into the unknown.

More. More. Just a little more.

Chiiiiiiik!

His flesh burned from the electricity, smoke rising from it.

But Paisen did not disperse the current.

“A knight does not acknowledge impossibility!”

Reciting the proverb of knights, he turned his body and thrust forward the hand gathering electricity.

“And a Blue Knight lives forever like lightning!”

At last his fingernails burst, blood spraying outward.

At the same time, the close-combat electric-art foundational combat authority “Blue Hand” manifested.

Pajik!

Paisen’s hand, wrapped in blue electric current, struck the wooden training dummy directly.

Jjeok!

The wooden dummy blackened and flew backward before collapsing upon the ground.

“Huff… huff!”

Paisen collapsed onto the spot, laughing as tears of blood streamed from his eyes.

Even while reduced to a wreck, he laughed.

Similar scenes unfolded throughout the encampment of Kyrie’s army.

Paisen alone had been granted the grace of authority, but he was not the only one capable of reaching near its threshold.

Joi herself was the same.

That night.

The training ground was silent, the sand beneath the lanterns faintly glittering.

Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaeng!

Paisen and Joi practiced the New Moon Sword Art.

Crescent moons overlapped in empty air, trembling like a full moon reflected upon water.

Chaeaeeng!

Joi finished the final slash and steadied her breathing.

“Huaaah.”

Her body felt light thanks to drinking the elixir of sacred radiance again after so long.

“Regimental Commander. The sword has become lighter.”

Paisen smiled.

“You as well, Knight. Your sword-lines seem smoother.”

The two lowered their stances again.

Moonlight settled upon the blades, then became the blades themselves as they swung.

Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaeng!

“Congratulations on manifesting electric arts.”

Joi spoke first.

“Thank you. Though I did not say it seeking congratulations.”

Paisen lowered his voice while averting his gaze.

“His Highness Kyrie’s ‘lightning reinforcement.’ You know of it, I presume?”

“You mean lightning reinforcement? Yes. I even received the glorious proposal.”

At the same time as the words left them, both lowered their voices.

Sword aura reinforcement was a technique learned from the Dawn Council.

It was not something to speak carelessly about in a city where an Inquisitor resided.

“Today, I too drank the elixir of sacred radiance. My mana—my lightning aura—definitely increased.”

“Heheh, I’m too foolish to understand what you mean.”

Contrary to her words, Joi narrowed her eyes.

“And as His Highness Kyrie said, sword aura reinforcement is not an authority, but a technique. If properly learned, anyone can master it.”

“Is what I’m thinking correct?”

Without answering, she raised her sword and drew a thin line through the darkness.

A strand of light followed after it and trembled.

“It should be possible to master sword aura reinforcement rapidly through the elixir of sacred radiance.”

Paisen nodded.

If that is true.

Joi felt as though she had touched one of the world’s secrets with the tip of her sword.

Fwoosh!

The tips of her feet pressed into the sand.

The breathing of the two rose and fell in the same rhythm.

“If it is true, many things will change.”

Joi murmured.

“Yes.”

“We should report this to my lord, should we not? As quickly as possible, if possible.”

“Yes.”

Moonlight descended upon the swords of the two.

Not all of Joi and Paisen’s hypothesis was immediately proven.

But parts of it were.

“They say drinking the elixir of sacred radiance prevents madness or bodily collapse even after being struck by mental waves!”

“Is that truly possible?”

During the previous battle against the King Among Flowers, many attendants and retainers had participated and experienced the King Among Flowers’ mental waves firsthand.

Among them were still many suffering from nightmares, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, fever, and partial necrosis of the body.

An elixir capable of freeing them from those nightmares.

“Your Highness. Knight Xian reports. All twenty-five injured retainers and eighty-eight attendants under his command have fully recovered.”

“We are now able to conserve holy water to a tremendous extent.”

“There were limits to squeezing priests dry for treatment, but natural recovery has increased tremendously. This is all thanks to Your Highness’s wisdom.”

Praise toward Kyrie echoed high into the heavens.

What exactly is happening here?

The fact that the elixir of sacred radiance truly possessed such effects only confused Kyrie further.

The elixir of sacred radiance had effects like this? I didn’t know that. No… now that I think about it, since it increases mana, some sort of effect was inevitable. It may resemble how we Blue Knights are comparatively resistant to mental waves.

As the days drew closer and closer to the Elector Princes Council—

The superhuman soldiers of Kyrie’s army grew stronger with every passing day.

To the point that they seemed capable of overcoming whatever awaited them next.

Chapter 209

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