City ​​of Witches 899

Chapter 899 – #196_Cataclysm(2)

#893

1.
The Gehenna Grand Assembly was reconvened less than a day after its dissolution.
The witches of Gehenna had shown little interest in the march of the Homunculus Legion.

However, this matter was not something that could be easily overlooked.

While Gehenna had its own self-sufficient system for basic necessities, it relied heavily on the mortal realm for luxury goods.
Moreover, many witches had businesses in the mortal realm.

If the public enemies turned the mortal realm into a complete mess, the damage and inconvenience would be directly transferred to them.

But more than anything, the reason that made the witches lift their heavy behinds was that the ‘Gate’ of Border Town had been closed.

Since Gehenna was founded under the leadership of Duke Keter, the Gate had never been closed.

Recently, maintenance work had become more frequent, and there were restrictions on entry and exit, but that was under the jurisdiction of the immigration office, so it was completely different from this situation.

Due to the unprecedented situation, the conference hall of the Tree of Sephirot was more crowded than ever.

All the nobles residing within Gehenna had gathered, and witches from various other schools were also seated without exception.

“Those crazy bitches are finally crossing the line.”
“I guess that means they looked down on us.”
“Then was the Homunculus Legion a diversionary tactic? The timing is too coincidental to be a coincidence.”
“Are they planning to start a war?”
“Ha…. My business is in Boston, I hope there won’t be any problems?”
“The goods that were supposed to be delivered today are gone….”
“Is Duke Keter really dead?”

Among the many faces, not a single witch wore a smile.

The sound of unpleasant conversations echoed through the conference hall.

There was an unwritten rule in witch society.
Mystery should remain a mystery.

The rule that Duke Keter had created while walking the path of bloody purges was still being followed even after her passing.
It had been over 500 years since Gehenna was created, and most witches agreed with Keter’s methods.

But Hexennacht had broken it arbitrarily.

Most of the witches of Gehenna had little interest in the mortal realm, but their hatred and contempt for the public enemies were clear.
They were not considerate enough to overlook the fact that the city built by the public enemies was acting arbitrarily.

“Duke Erelim is entering.”

Duke Erelim, who was in charge of the conference in the gloomy hall, entered with her followers.

Sitting down, she slowly opened her mouth with an expression that showed no sign of agitation.

“I apologize for not being on time. My attendance was delayed because I was receiving and reviewing information about the ‘Gate’ from the immigration office.”
“Was closing the Gate also the work of Hexennacht?”
“When will it be possible to restore it?”
“I received the last report that Homunculi were observed by humans in the mortal realm. Is that true?”
“Why did you attack the US Navy fleet?”

Erelim, who had been listening silently to the flood of questions, opened her mouth.

“I will answer one by one. The suspension of the Gate is not directly related to Hexennacht.”

“Does that mean there is an indirect influence?”

“When Keter first created Gehenna as a pocket dimension through the ‘Gate,’ it was created on the premise of the ‘mystery’ of the witch. But now, the mystery of the witch has been broken. Far more humans than expected have become aware of the existence of witches.”

Magic is a discipline that delves into the settings of the world and uses symbols.
But because of this Hexennacht attack, the existence of witches, which had been separated from humans, was revealed to the world.

The premise that ‘magic is something that exists in mystery’ had changed, so the Gate was not working properly.

“We have started the restoration work as soon as possible. Since it is an unprecedented improvement project, it is expected to take about one to two months.
Also, according to intelligence from an informant we planted in Hexennacht before the Gate was completely closed, it seems that Hexennacht’s Gate has also been closed. It is highly likely that they did not anticipate this situation either.”

Count Geminai, who was carefully examining the report that Duke Erelim had distributed, asked.

“Why did they do this? Seriously…. Are they trying to conquer the world or something?”
“The dissatisfaction that was suppressed by Keter could not withstand the pressure. It was a set procedure. The power of the witch was more than enough to become the ruler of this world long ago.”

Once the general situation report was over, the topic of discussion quickly moved on to the next issue.

In summary, what should be done now that the Homunculi are directly attacking humans?
And was it okay to leave Hexennacht as it was?

Count Yesod was the first to step forward.

“What we can do is protect humans and minimize damage. We should cooperate with the emergency headquarters in the mortal realm as soon as we can contact them, and until then, we should consider effective countermeasures.”
“There is a high risk that Hexennacht will try to achieve another goal by taking advantage of our rash response. We must approach this carefully first.”

Many opinions were exchanged, but there were two main branches.

“It’s enough as it is now. There’s no need for us witches to do anything for humans. If the situation gets worse, it’s not too late to deal with it then.”

As can be easily expected from the appearance of Gehenna, about half of the witches expressed conservative opinions.

“Isn’t it our indifference to the mortal realm that created the current situation? Even if there is no major impact now, if we overlook Hexennacht’s recklessness, they will provoke us even more. It seems that appropriate restraint is needed right now.”
“We must issue a statement warning Hexennacht not to act up again, and express our intention to wage war if they cross the line further.”
“Now that the rules created by Keter have been explicitly violated, we need to lead the new rules. If they are wicked public enemies, they will destroy the order more than we can imagine.”

The other side was the witches who argued that Gehenna should actively step in and rewrite the world’s system itself.

There were quite a few opinions that they would no longer stand idly by.

“I have heard your opinions well.”

As Duke Erelim spoke, the commotion subsided.

Now that Duke Keter was gone, the person with the greatest influence in Gehenna was, without a doubt, Duke Erelim.

Unlike the Emerald Tablet or other academic societies where a free-spirited atmosphere was respected, the hierarchy of the Truth and True Name Academic Conference was quite clear.

The will of its leader, Duke Erelim, could be seen as representing the opinions of the majority of witches belonging to the society.

“First, let’s start with a very old story. The Witch of Creation used her legacy to create the Homunculi. The early Homunculi gained their power by devouring witches, but later they began to cause major and minor disasters in the mortal realm.

And as soon as the existence of witches was announced to the mortal realm, the Homunculi appeared before humans. Do you know what this means?”

After a moment of silence, Erelim continued.

“This is an intentional arrangement. The Witch of Creation predicted that the existence of humans would one day become a threat to witches. If we were to find the beginning of that, it would surely be the moment when humans remove the veil of ‘mystery’.”
“That’s! That’s an absurd speculation!”

The witches understood Duke Erelim’s intentions.
And there was an immediate backlash.

So, the sage of Gehenna was saying that the Witch of Creation had intentionally implanted a defect in the Homunculi to check and exclude humans.

But what is a witch?

A pilgrim who walks the path of magic, breaking free from the shackles of humanity.
A transcendent being who performs miracles just by moving their lips.

The fact that the Witch of Creation, who stood at the pinnacle, was afraid of humans was nothing more than a ridiculous delusion that could not even be used as a joke.

“I, too, am afraid of humans.”

But even in the face of the backlash and sneers, Duke Erelim’s expression did not change.

“I am afraid of the foolishness and cruelty of humans, their ambition and nature to conquer everything they see.”
“The fleet that those humans consider the best in the world was helpless against a 22nd-level witch. Are you still clinging to that idea even after seeing that?”

“1,100 years. That is how long I have been watching humans. Until just a few hundred years ago, humans were nothing more than uncivilized beings. The technology they believed in as science was nothing more than primitive products based on some mathematical knowledge and observation results. But what about now?”
“…….”

“They are now communicating in real time from the other side of the continent. Their vehicles, which were only used to tame wild horses, are now running across the land faster than horses, crossing the sea, crossing the sky, and finally reaching space.
The strongest weapons they possess are already comparable to the magic of a great witch, and even at this moment, the gap between science and magic is narrowing. Highly developed science is no different from magic.”
“Even so….”

“Should we pity humans just because their abilities do not reach those of witches right now?

The number of humans killed by public enemies and Homunculi?
I dare say that it will not even reach 1% of the number of humans killed by humans.

If you look back at history that is not even 200 years old, humans treated and executed millions of other humans like animals just because they had different skin colors.

Then, was the end righteous?

The countries that engaged in fratricide and exploitation under the ideology of imperialism were exonerated from moral responsibility thanks to the Nazis who gave them the cross of imperialism, and they were reborn as the real powers of the mortal realm.

Are these hypocrites the weak who should be pitied?
The moment humans who have conquered other humans, conquered countries, and conquered nature surpass witches, where will the arrow of their cruelty be directed? Even then, will our main enemy in Gehenna be Hexennacht?”
“Are you saying that Hexennacht and the Homunculi may be a necessary evil to suppress human forces?”

After taking a breath, Duke Erelim, who opened her mouth again, calmly stated her conclusion.

“I am not saying that we should oppress humans. I also think that we should not condone Hexennacht’s recklessness.
However, there is no need to wage an all-out war to maintain the current system. My conclusion is that we should take a passive approach in the areas where Gehenna currently has influence, and we should exercise our influence and take a more active advantage in our relationship with humans than we do now.”