The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

“You do not seem to be in good spirits today, Sir Charlie,” Dragan said, suspicious of Charlie’s usual lack of energy throughout the discussions up to now.

Charlie raised one eyebrow and turned to Dragan with a bitter look on his face.

“You see, Sir Dragan, I am feeling quite pathetic right now.”

“That is very unlike you, sir.”

To those unfamiliar, Dragan’s words could come off as sarcastic — and as such, Asley was the only one among those present who thought so.

Everyone who had been one of the Duodecad — or even those familiar enough with them — was sure to know Charlie well.

And of course, that meant that they would know how uncommon of an occurrence this was.

“Oh yeah?” Catherine interrupted. “What’s making you, Charlie the Thousand Morphing Blade, feel pathetic?”

As his age would suggest, Charlie was an experienced fighter, and he had been the leader of the Duodecad for a long time.

“Everyone here was involved in the previous battle in one way or another, yes? The battle in which the fellow called Cleath attacked Eddo…”

Everyone fell silent.

Quite understandably, that was not a good memory to look back at.

But then again, those among the ranks of the Duodecad — the symbols of the War Demon Nation — had to reflect upon their actions, as their responsibilities did not care whether they liked it or not.

“The ones who did the real work were the countless combatants whose names we do not even know… They may have gotten to use the Limit Breakthrough before us, yes, but still, most of them — except perhaps Argent and those of the Silver General’s ranks; the representatives of T’oued, the Kugg Boars; and our friends of Team Silver — were unknown to us. Well, you probably get the point I’m trying to make now…”

Charlie trailed off. He looked up at the empty air and simply let his unspoken thoughts float across his face.

And the one to pick them up, perhaps only out of courtesy, was the Archmage who had known him for the longest time.

“So, Sir Charlie… you wanted to say that ‘we did not achieve anything’ — Is that right?”

Irene’s way of confronting the reality of the situation prompted Jacob to immediately lash at her.

“…You couldn’t have worded that any more kindly, Miss Irene?”

But then Charlie stopped him.

“No, no — she is right, Sir Jacob. And Miss Irene… thank you.”

Even Catherine, the one who best understood Jacob, agreed with what Charlie and Irene had just said.

“They’re not wrong. We are supposed to be symbols of strength, remember. Yet the ones who actually did the work were… them, whoever they were. No, actually, we all did the ‘work’ — it’s just that those people were, in fact, objectively more powerful than us. That’s what Sir Charlie was trying to say.”

“Oh my…”

The one who blurted out so was Russel.

Catherine, perhaps feeling a little creeped out by Russel’s smile as the latter closed his eyes, looked away and asked,

“W-what? You got something to say, Russel?”

“Nothing much, Miss Catherine — I just thought to myself how you have become a much kinder lady these days.”

“S-shut up!”

Jacob was quite taken aback by the way Catherine responded, while Amile and Dragan started chuckling. Catherine, seemingly quite sick and tired of this situation already, clenched her fists and stood up, but right that moment, Asley cracked a smile and spoke up,

“Now, don’t be so hasty — I know not a single one of us is here today to waste our time.”

“…What?”

Asley scratched his cheek before answering Catherine’s question,

“As I’ve been told, the Duodecad was originally conceived as a countermeasure against the resurrected Devil King. The people chosen to be one of the Six Archmages and Six Braves were supposed to be the strongest twelve of their time.”

“Yeah, and that’s not the case now.”

Catherine pointed out quite bluntly, but then Asley slowly and firmly shook his head, as if to remind everyone of what was actually important.

“…They have used the Limit Breakthrough to raise their levels, yes — but for most people who did so, it did not have an effect on how skillful they were. Some may possess exceptional talent, yes, but that only means they have yet to find a place to shine.”

“…What’re you trying to say?”

Catherine’s gaze turned cold.

But then what Asley said next changed the look in not only Catherine’s eyes, but also the rest of the meeting’s attendees.

“You all have talent. More than enough talent to become the strongest twelve in the War Demon Nation. And remember, strength is not tied only to numerical levels. To be powerful is to refine your craft to a degree such that you are recognized as the best.”

No one said anything — not because they did not believe in what Asley had said, but rather because they knew they had earned their place in the Duodecad. And as such, it was not so difficult for them to see the truth in Asley’s words.

After all, it was said by the one who had worked harder than anyone but had not been recognized, whose wealth of skills had been gained through an eternity of trial and error — because he had eternal life. 

The coldness in Catherine’s eyes faded away, leaving only her shaky pupils — and once she realized that, she shook her head as if to hide them away.

“S-so what…?”

“Listen, Catherine.”

“What, Jennifer?”

“My boy’s saying ‘this is the place for our talents to shine’ — Yeah, that’s it.”

Jennifer’s statement caused Asley to crack a dry smile, and Irene and Warren — and then Jennifer herself to start chuckling.

Barun smiled, but said nothing as he closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, the shine of enthusiasm in his pupils was brighter than anyone else’s. 

“So, Asley, that Transcendence thing Lucifer used — what is it? How did it feel when it was used against you? Explain it to us.”

“What?” Jacob interrupted. “Didn’t you already learn that from Miss Irene–“

“–No, Sir Jacob. We haven’t heard it yet — not from the one who fought the Devil King, defeated him once, and survived a second battle against him after he was resurrected.”

With Barun pointing that out, Jacob had no choice but to stay silent.

Indeed, Irene’s information about the Devil King’s abilities was just that — information. The words of Asley, who had actually fought the Devil King, were sure to have a different weight to them. After all, for someone about to go into battle, it would be foolish to abandon something that would sustain them — something they were meant to chew, swallow, and digest into their bodies. Jacob understood that, and so did everyone else present. They were all Duodecad — all talented human beings who had been considered the best in the War Demon Nation.

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“–So, to put it in simple terms, Transcendence is the technique by which the memories in Lucifer’s brain — the Spell Circles and Craft Circles — can be invoked without the voice commands they would usually require.”

“Truly a work of a Devil King, that one.”

As Asley’s explanation ended, Charlie begrudgingly offered some praise for Lucifer’s invention.

“Doesn’t that make it an extension of the Ultimate Limit?”

“You could say it is, Sir Barun. Lucifer did use the voice command ‘Transcendence’ while he was in the Ultimate Limit form. It is safe to assume that it is a magic spell or magecraft that gives the Ultimate Limit form additional effects.”

“Could we make sure the Devil King’s mouth stays shut, then? For example, sew his lips together?”

The one who made such a crazy suggestion, silencing everyone else, was — to their surprise — Egd.

Even Dragan could not help but facepalm.

Asley had a different reaction, however. He pointed at Egd and proceeded to say,

“That’s not a bad idea at all! Sewing his lips definitely won’t work, of course, but we could try some other ways to inhibit his ability to recognize his voice. It’s something worth considering.”

“Hmm?”

Even Egd himself was surprised to hear that.

Then, Irene pointed at Asley and asked,

“How about we use voice amplification magic to cancel out his voice?”

Amil raised her hand.

“I’ve tried that before during my Ultimate Limit training, but found that it could not be done.”

Charlie nodded.

“Yeah, I tried to do it by standing on a voice amplification Spell Circle and shouting real loud, but it didn’t work — Looks like canceling out a caster’s voice command is much more complicated than that.”

Jacob crossed his arms and said,

“What if we prevent it a step earlier? That is, preventing him from even invoking the Ultimate Limit?”

Russel shook his head.

“At the end of the day, that form’s invocation is not much more than the act of releasing one’s arcane energy. It will be difficult to prevent even with the use of countless Boundary magecraft.”

Warren pushed up his glasses and added to Russel’s statement,

“Which reminds me, Asley — you said when you defeated the Devil King in the past, you used 168 Sancta Boundaries to seal his use of arcane energy, yes?”

Jennifer briefly turned to Warren, then confirmed the latter’s statement,

“Yeah, I remember hearing that. So he’s gotta be on the lookout for that this time around, right?”

Dragan shook his head and offered his opinion,

“It is only natural for a combatant to avoid making a mistake twice… Perhaps we should consider something more fundamental?”

Tangalán raised an eyebrow.

“More fundamental? The Ultimate Limit is the release of arcane energy — what could be even more fundamental than that?”

The talent gathered here was far too great to hit a roadblock now. Some presented possibilities, while others shared their insights and experiences, and the discussions gradually went deeper and deeper.

Here was a place for their talents to shine. Yet, no matter how much they searched for a way to prevent the Ultimate Limit from being used, the answer remains elusive.

Then, the moment they almost stumbled upon a significant hurdle, Catherine said quietly.

“…The more fundamental thing. It’s arcane energy itself.”

“”…!?””

Indeed, everyone was quite familiar with that word.

The one they would be up against, however, was too powerful for them to even imagine what they could do with that information.

And as such, the one with the most arcane energy here saw no choice but to bring up his idea,

“Then, how about… we deplete Lucifer’s arcane energy…?”

And that idea was quite a reckless one.

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