Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows- Chapter 253

**#253. Gathering (4)**

—

Ray’s emotionless eyes began to take on a flesh-toned hue.

“What the…!”

Jacob realized what was happening.

If his knowledge was correct, this was undoubtedly an enchantment spell.

An extremely rare and difficult form of magic, completed through the use of elusive and hard-to-handle elements—so advanced that it was rare to find even a single practitioner.

Even within the Dawn Society, where elites gathered, no one was fully capable of wielding such a spell.

*“This kid can use enchantment magic? So he wasn’t just a reinforcement-type mage?”*

Jacob was utterly flustered.

He tried to shut his eyes immediately, but the boy’s telekinesis kept his eyelids from closing.

He couldn’t avoid the gaze.

“Gggh…! Grrrgh…!”

Jacob gritted his teeth and resisted the enchantment spell.

**Thud!**

“Argh!”

But the brutal pain rendered all resistance futile.

Gradually, the light in Jacob’s eyes faded until he resembled an emotionless doll.

“What is your name?”

“Jacob… Jacob Anderson.”

“Your position?”

“A high-ranking officer of the great Azure Dawn Society… the one destined to dye the world in indigo.”

After a few questions, Ray confirmed Jacob was completely under the spell.

Without delay, he began his interrogation and obtained a trove of information.

“…Soon, all artificial suns will merge into one. Our Dawn Society will breathe a glorious indigo light into the newly risen sun.”

All the artificial suns gathered from each district would be melted and fused into one.

The Saintess would imbue it with eternal, undying light, and the plan of the Order was to float it in the sky using magical power.

But Jacob claimed that the Dawn Society would be the ones to breathe light into the sun.

*“That should be impossible.”*

Ray took out a piece of terranote.

He drew in one of the indigo mana clusters drifting around, remnants from a shattered circle.

───!

He infused the terranote with it.

The indigo mana flowed through it silently and simply leaked out again without causing any effect.

*“They said only a certain innate type of mana can breathe light into terranote.”*

A very specific type of mana, faint and internal, differing from person to person depending on temperament.

Ray doubted that indigo mana qualified.

Indigo was usually associated with inferiority or superiority complexes.

“How do you intend to infuse indigo light into the artificial sun?”

“Normally, it would be impossible. But we found a suitable sacrifice after long searching.”

“A sacrifice?”

“The Saintess transported from Sector 30.”

Pieta’s words suddenly flashed through Ray’s mind.

*‘They did a bunch of tests when I got here. Said I had a rare constitution. I naturally attract and fix mana even when doing nothing.’*

“…No way.”

“We plan to use the sacrifice to create a special core that draws mana. We’ll embed it inside the artificial sun. That way, the indigo mana will no longer escape but will be anchored inside. Then, through special means, it will scatter that light into the world.”

“And using the sacrifice means?”

Jacob tilted his head slightly, as if the question was obvious.

“It means extracting her life force. A noble sacrifice for the greater good.”

In short, they intended to sacrifice Pieta to create a mana-attracting device like a magnet.

And the completed sun would supply infinite mana—like sunlight—to those with hybrid circles.

*“…The Indigo Sun.”*

The emissary Krymer had once received an enormous supply of mana and a power boost from an indigo sphere floating in the air.

The Indigo Sun appeared to be a completed version of that same type of construct.

Only, on a scale hundreds of times greater.

*“Krymer called the indigo sphere a prototype. Then the Indigo Sun must be the final version.”*

Just then, Jacob laughed.

“Crowds like tidal waves will gather…! Before the eyes of all, the Indigo Sun will rise. Casting a light of despair on every face, soaring skyward… higher and higher…! Heh… Hehehe… Haha—”

**Slap!**

Jacob’s head whipped to the side from the slap.

“……”

He covered his reddened cheek with his hand, and when Ray raised his hand again, Jacob flinched and braced himself.

A brief silence followed.

Ray continued his questions.

“Why did you infiltrate the Order and corrupt the bishops and priests?”

“…To make the plan easier to execute. And to reform the Order by promoting the ideals of the Dawn Society.”

The goal was to spread new values to the world:

A strict hierarchical society based on power.

A world of kings and slaves.

Jacob’s gaze grew hazy.

“And… finally, our leader, Lord Indiago, will become the king of the new world.”

**Slap!**

“The leader of the Dawn Society…”

**Slap!**

“Indi—”

**Slap!**

After a few slaps, Jacob realized the boy reacted strongly to the mention of their leader.

He looked sheepish and corrected himself.

“…That one, who must not be named, will become king.”

“Is that the full extent of the Dawn Society’s plan?”

“No. Because…”

According to Jacob, the Dawn Society had two great missions.

One was to float the Indigo Sun in the sky.

The other was to resurrect the Great One.

*“The Great One.”*

A term Ray had seen in the letter given to Binjin and heard from Krymer’s mouth.

“Who exactly is that?”

“Do you know much about the old age of the world?”

Jacob slowly recounted tales of the ancient past.

Various races beyond humans.

The rainbow shattered into seven pieces and fallen to the earth.

The guardians who protected each shard.

The wars between factions.

The devastation of the world due to reckless magic and the corruption of mana.

*“…This level of detail…”*

Ray felt something was off.

Not even Binjin, who had dedicated his life to ancient history, or Curiosa, who’d explored dozens of ruins, had this depth of knowledge.

Ray himself had learned bits through personal exploration—Last Forest, Sky Island, and so on.

“How do you know all of this?”

“I didn’t know it. A prophet told us.”

“A prophet?”

“He came and taught us the forgotten history… and passed down a few technologies from the old era.”

At that moment, something clicked in Ray’s mind.

The Dawn Society’s indigo sphere.

The red sphere above the clouds.

Despite differing in color and size, the two constructs felt remarkably similar.

“Was this prophet wearing a mask?”

“Yes. He hid his face with a mask and sunglasses. He was also huge—an unforgettable figure.”

Ray realized his recent suspicion was correct.

*“The one who gave the Dawn Society the technology for the spheres… was the Doctor.”*

But since he passed on the tech and left, the Doctor probably wasn’t the true mastermind.

It may have been an experiment—just like giving Lady Lenia in Sector 47 a necklace that restricted emotional outbursts.

“…Thus, our goal is to resurrect the indigo guardian who once truly existed in the old age.”

The indigo guardian.

According to murals, the strongest of the seven.

So strong, in fact, that the others had to join forces to seal him.

“Why resurrect him?”

“Because his ideology aligns with our values. With his power, the Dawn Society can become the most powerful force—not just outside the Wall, but even within it.”

“Beyond the Wall?”

“……”

More flesh-toned color seeped into Ray’s eyes, and Jacob resisted.

“Ggrrrgh…!”

He clenched his teeth, blood vessels bursting in his eyes, but he refused to speak.

This was information his subconscious most desperately wanted to hide.

*“If I push any further, his mind may collapse.”*

Having identified the limit of what he could extract, Ray eased up on the enchantment spell.

Then returned to the main topic.

“You said you want to resurrect the indigo guardian. That means you know where he’s sealed?”

“Huff… huff… No, not yet. We’re still searching in the Wasteland. Even the new recruits who arrived today are scheduled to begin their official missions by exploring right after the gathering.”

Right after the gathering—an expedition.

Ray parted his lips.

“So you’re saying it won’t matter if none of you make it out of here today.”

Jacob’s pupils trembled.

*
*
*

Ray ascended the stairs to explore the building.

Before long, he discovered a room with a desk piled high with documents.

*“Jacob’s lab?”*

**Flap—flap—**

The documents were all about hybrid circles.

The theory, structure, procedure, side effects.

Strengths, traits, operation, maintenance.

An immense variety of topics, all written like a well-crafted thesis.

Then, something caught his eye:

*“However, even hybrid circles have a critical flaw, which is…”*

*A section about their weaknesses?*

Ray carefully scanned the relevant pages, then nodded and packed all the documents.

*“I should show these to Veronica.”*

Because Veronica liked studying.

It definitely wasn’t because he found reading technical things tedious.

After collecting everything he could, Ray burned the remaining contents of the room and descended the stairs.

Jacob and the Dawn Society’s mages were gone from the gathering hall. In their place was a heap of black ashes.

“……”

It was safer to kill than to leave them alive.

Enchantment magic, while powerful, lacked in stability and duration.

Besides, he had already extracted all the critical information.

For example—

**Rustle—**

Like this indigo stone, which they used as a communication tool.

Larger than the ring-mounted version he’d taken from Jacob.

*“…The Dawn Society operates more like a loose cell network.”*

Their cohesion was weaker than expected.

Around twenty executives operated under Indiago’s commands.

But since they each handled different domains, they had little regular contact.

*“Just like Murcred.”*

But there was a difference.

The Dawn Society’s executives could communicate via these indigo stones.

Ray recalled the words Jacob had spoken.

「Even at this very moment, the Dawn society is converging from all directions toward this place—Sector 28. All in preparation for the day when the great Dawn society will officially reveal itself to the world.」

「The moment the indigo sun rises into the sky, the Dawn society members hidden throughout the sector will simultaneously reveal themselves. They’ll confirm each other’s presence and, under the newly risen sun, join forces to seize control of the sector. Heh heh heh.」

Sector 28.

In particular, the Dawn society’s plan seemed to be to seize the headquarters of the Order and use it as the foundation for the kingdom they intended to establish.

*A kingdom… I never would have imagined that.*

The fact that the Dawn society’s executives were steadily gathering in Sector 28 was clearly not good news.

But it wasn’t all bad either.

Because the executives weren’t arriving together—they were coming separately.

In other words—

*It’s possible to defeat them one by one.*

*Bzzzt—*

Just then, the communication stone flickered.

Interpreted, it meant that one of the executives had arrived at a specific location in the eastern part of the sector.

*Coordinates: 32, 155.*

Ray gathered the indigo mana of the Dawn society still lingering in the meeting hall and compressed it into a sphere.

He separated a portion and infused it into a gem.