Information Warfare (2)
‘“Deus Ex Machina,” huh... Does it mean the god of the machine?’
Apparently, through this battle in the electronic world, he had fulfilled some kind of condition.
Well, even if it had been thanks to a cheap trick, he had defeated and won against an enemy that powerful.
‘The fact that I won at all is nothing short of a miracle.’
He had played active roles in all sorts of ways and had been fairly confident in electronic warfare using hacking, but the Doctor he faced this time had been overwhelming enough to crush that confidence wholesale.
The way the man had broken through every form of resistance and rapidly encroached upon him still gave him chills even now.
“...Still, in the end, I’m the one who won.”
It was as if, while they were exchanging blows fair and square, he had secretly stabbed the other man with a knife—but a win was a win.
After repeatedly confirming that the signal on the other side had been completely cut off, Hesperon let out a short sigh.
He could not immediately confirm what had happened to the guy, but judging from the fact that the curse had activated properly, it was certain he would not be in good shape.
At the very least, it would be safe to assume he had been completely retired for the time being.
‘That’s a relief. That risky operation aside, the amount of power consumed in breaking through their thick defenses was considerable, too. As expected of a curse left behind by someone who once rose all the way to Demon King—the effect is certainly reliable.’
The sealing orb he had made this time must have helped quite a bit as well.
Once again sealing his arm, which throbbed from excessive use of power, he quickly restored the share he had lost during the battle with the Doctor and checked the new skill he had obtained.
If he were to summarize the ability of “Deus Ex Machina,” as he had roughly grasped it for now, in a single sentence, it would be this:
An overwhelming upper-level correction toward all elements derived from technological civilization.
Whether it was hacking or not—even something as simple as browsing the internet, all the way to piloting a space battleship—it did not matter.
Hesperon could instinctively feel it.
Even if he were to get into a fighter jet he had never seen before, he would immediately become an ace pilot.
And, quite naturally—
That new skill was also applied in full to “Machine Eye: Callicas,” commonly known as “Harvis,” which was connected to him as one.
Perhaps thanks to that, the process of handling the damage he had suffered and searching the sea of information that had been the battlefield to retrieve the spoils he wanted was completed far more quickly than he had expected.
Even if he fought the Doctor again, he probably would not be rendered so helplessly powerless like before.
Now that all the updates to patch his existing vulnerabilities had already been completed, he might finally be able to properly determine who was superior.
‘They’re giving me a skill like this just because I won one round of electronic warfare?’
Hesperon tilted his head slightly with a strange expression.
For an Awakened to acquire a new skill, karma worthy of it was essential.
The most representative method was building up that karma through repeated training.
Or there was the method of satisfying some very special condition and obtaining the possibility tied to it...
“...Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. It’s not a bad thing for me.”
He lightly shrugged.
Right now, another matter was more important than that.
“Ha! As expected. They’ve been very diligently active all this time.”
After checking the contents Harvis had neatly organized, Hesperon twisted up the corner of his mouth.
Of course, it did not contain every piece of information.
In this world where all kinds of supernatural abilities were rampant, there were countless ways to exchange information.
However, just as every method had its own advantages and disadvantages, in this modern society, the overwhelming convenience of connection through internet networks was one means that could never be left out.
Perhaps the Doctor’s confidence in the perfect security he had boasted all this time had played a part in that as well.
‘Whether a clue remains or not makes all the difference in the world. As long as there’s even the smallest lead, it’s simple enough to follow it up and grab them by the tail.’
He had been able to do it without much difficulty before, so how would it be now, when Harvis’s performance had risen by leaps and bounds?
As he quietly analyzed the information and committed it to memory—
The moment he reached one particular passage, Hesperon’s face twitched slightly.
“Ha, I really didn’t expect this.”
Hesperon slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again and let out a sigh.
Then, to the informants under his command who were even at this moment working hard to gather information, he sent a message all at once.
‘...It looks like verification is necessary.’
Unlike before, now that the direction of the investigation had been decided, it would not take very long.
Even so, one thing was certain.
‘If this is true...’
He would be able to blow away, in a single strike, the schemes those Beoncheonhoe bastards had been carrying out in secret within Pantheon all this time.
***
As if the noisy incident that had occurred only a short while ago were meaningless, the meeting between Pantheon’s leadership and Heinrich took place quietly.
“Welcome, brother. We are truly sorry about what happened before.”
“The Quiladia Order has been somewhat... problematic for a long time. We will apologize once more on behalf of Pantheon.”
Regardless of public attention, it was true that they had been rude first to a guest who had visited them, so Pantheon also did not wish for the attention to grow any further.
Still, since a commotion had indeed occurred, the mindset of the executive committee members who showed their faces at this meeting could not help but be somewhat different from before.
As if to prove that, no fewer than nine committee members had come here to meet Heinrich.
Considering that one seat on the Twelve-Member Committee was still vacant, that meant only two were absent.
When one considered just how busy the leadership of a worldwide religious alliance must be, it would not be an exaggeration to say that everyone had come except those who truly had unavoidable circumstances.
‘It seems I made quite the impression by causing trouble as soon as I arrived. I was told I’d probably meet three at most.’
Heinrich smiled gently as he met the eyes of each person looking at him, all dressed in various ceremonial robes.
“I caused nothing but unnecessary commotion, yet you welcome me like this. You have my thanks.”
As expected of those who represented religious organizations, every one of them contained powerful divine power.
If they were at that level here on Earth, then in their original worlds they must have held far higher positions than he had expected.
Considering that most Awakened who became high-ranking clergy chose to live as settlers and did not return to Earth, it would not be an exaggeration to call these people the pinnacle of Earth’s clergy.
The fact that they maintained that degree of divine power even after returning likewise proved their remarkable faith.
‘Well, even so, the most impressive one here is me, no matter what anyone says.’
That was an undeniable fact.
Just looking at those who were looking at him now, was there not surprise in every one of their gazes?
Of course, a considerable number of impure emotions such as jealousy and wariness were mixed in as well.
“Hoh, you truly are remarkable. Just how strong must your faith be...”
“As expected. They said you were a saint, and you certainly live up to the name.”
Their conversation began with praise for one another and flowed on naturally.
The purpose of trying to invite Heinrich in the first place had been to recruit him, who had proven unprecedented divine power from his very debut, into Pantheon.
After all, if they wished to maintain their dignity as Earth’s largest religious alliance, they absolutely needed to embrace someone of that caliber.
Of course, now that it had been revealed he was not an Earthling but an otherworlder, the situation was a little different.
Though the gods they served might differ, they were all people who walked the path of faith.
It was only natural that they would want to exchange even a single word with someone called a saint.
“Ah, by the way.”
However, that amicable atmosphere did not last very long.
When a man with an impressive thick mustache and sideburns, the chairman of the Twelve-Member Committee, slightly stiffened his expression and opened his mouth—
The rest of the committee members present also withdrew their smiles one by one and looked at Heinrich.
“Recently, there have been those within Pantheon showing suspicious movements.”
Eyes gazed at him with serious expressions.
At that, Heinrich could tell what they were trying to say.
‘Ah, dear. So they found out after all.’
In truth, it would have been stranger if they had not found out.
The priests of Auterica who had met him separately had, immediately afterward, shown their faces here and there and moved about busily—who would not be suspicious?
On top of that, as soon as he arrived at Pantheon, had he not beaten a holy warrior from another order into hospitalization?
“I do not know if you are aware, but we of Pantheon are extremely sensitive about intruding upon one another’s domains. Each order’s independence is inevitably strong, you see.”
“Since various religions are gathered under one roof, the rules themselves are not that strict. However, precisely because of that, we are extremely strict about acts that violate what ‘must be observed.’”
That was why the Quiladia Order, whose dignity had been badly damaged when one of their high-ranking holy warriors was beaten to his heart’s content and carried back, had lain low without saying a word.
They had even apologized first, despite the blow to their pride.
“Coincidentally, around the same time, we confirmed that an external force had been observing Pantheon.”
“And on quite a large scale, at that. Scrying upon this place, which is no different from holy ground, should be anything but easy. Almost as if someone on the inside helped them.”
No matter how poor the bonds among its members were, Pantheon was, in name and reality, the largest religious alliance on Earth.
It was not an organization that could be looked down on lightly.
There was a reason Beoncheonhoe had taken such a convoluted approach.
“When we investigated separately, it seemed an organization called ‘Masquerade’ had moved. It is still not a very well-known name, though.”
“Judging by the scale of this incident, it is not a small organization either. They moved simultaneously in Europe, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.”
A familiar name popped out of their mouths as they conversed among themselves.
Since there had been no reaction from them all this time, he had wondered whether they had failed to notice, but it seemed they had already realized it long ago and had merely refrained from showing it in order to conduct a more private investigation.
‘They figured out that much? I see. As expected, I was too greedy.’
Thinking about it now, it did feel as though he had pushed too hard just because suspicious circumstances had been detected.
However, even now, he did not regret that decision.
Because he had moved so quickly, he had been able to seize their traces properly before those Beoncheonhoe bastards could cut off their tails.
“In truth, it is possible that all of these events occurring at the same time was merely a coincidence. However, from our position, we cannot help but suspect the circumstances.”
“...This is a sensitive time, after all. There is the vacant seat on the committee, and also Pandemonium’s recent suspicious movements.”
Apparently, the reason as many as nine committee members had come here was not simply to hold a conversation with him.
The greater purpose was likely to question him about external intervention in Pantheon.
“Therefore, I will ask.”
No sooner had the sharp-eyed chairman opened his mouth again than everyone looked at Heinrich with heavy expressions.
“Saint of Auterica, Heinrich Saint Landgard. You are currently suspected of having joined hands with an external force and moved the priests under your command to cooperate in leaking Pantheon’s internal information. Do you admit to this?”
The conference room had suddenly turned into a hearing.
In an instant, a heavy air enveloped the surroundings.
A supernatural ability entirely separate from divine power.
‘A unique skill, then.’
He could instinctively feel what kind of ability it was.
The so-called “room of truth” was precisely the true nature of this space.
A special law had been overlaid upon it, making it impossible to utter lies and forcing one to speak only the truth.
‘Of course, if I put my mind to it, I could ignore it as much as I want...’
But if he did that, the caster would notice immediately.
At this moment, Heinrich was not merely a guest.
In the current situation, where he was under suspicion, that would clearly be a poor move.
As if wary of his abilities, the other side had also made thorough preparations throughout the entire conference room.
Here...
“I did not join hands with any external force.”
Avoiding the accusation while speaking only the truth was the best course.
‘Because it’s my organization, made purely by me.’
Masquerade as a whole belonged entirely to him alone.
There was no “joining hands” to speak of.
“Nor did I pass internal information to anyone else.”
Those who had carried out the investigation had merely followed his orders; the final destination of the information gathered had always been none other than himself.
That could hardly be called handing it over.
“However, it is true that I attempted to move those who follow me to investigate the inside of the Pantheon.”
Of course, he did not deny every charge.
This was something he could neither hide nor should hide.
Naturally, those “who follow him” included not only the priests of Outerica but the entirety of the Masquerade as well, but of course the committee members had no way of knowing that.
“…Why?”
Every judgment was truth.
The chairman, unable to hide his bewilderment at the situation unfolding somewhat differently from what he had expected, carefully opened his mouth.
Still, Heinrich had admitted to attempting to investigate the Pantheon privately, so if they dug into that point…
“I will get straight to the conclusion. I detected suspicious circumstances, immediately began an investigation thereafter, and ultimately confirmed that my concerns were true.”
“What are you referring to?”
“That there are traitors planted by Pandemonium among the upper echelons of this Pantheon.”
“What?!”
“Huh!”
Pandemonium.
A group formed by clergymen commonly called “followers of evil gods.” They were vile extremists with ideologies so radical that even the Pantheon, which tried to embrace nearly anyone of a reasonable level, could not bring itself to accept them.
And since it was an organization created in the first place to oppose the Pantheon, they had been adversaries clashing with it at every turn since the very stage of its founding.
‘Most of the cults belonging to that side are even less cooperative than the Pantheon, so I hear they often fight among themselves too.’
Whenever they gathered, friction arose almost without fail, making them effectively no different from scattered cells assembled under the same banner.
Still, it was an undeniable fact that their “heresy hunts” targeting the Pantheon’s clergy had caused tremendous casualties up to now.
“Those followers of evil gods?”
“Is that tru… hmm.”
How many comrades had fallen victim to them so far?
Since the prevailing suspicion was that Adeline Schneider, one of the seats of the Twelve-Member Committee that was now left vacant, had also been done in by them, the Pantheon could never simply let that name pass once it was brought up.
Moreover, was this conference hall not currently a space where only the truth was permitted, thanks to the chairman’s unique skill?
“And.”
But Heinrich did not stop there.
‘This is actually an opportunity.’
Fwoosh—
With a dazzling radiance, beautiful wings of light sprouted from behind his back.
A platinum aura blazed fiercely as if burning his entire body, and a halo floated behind his head, quietly displaying its presence.
“The involvement of another force behind them has been confirmed.”
At the transcendent presence that began to pour out along with those words, the bodies of the clergymen present froze where they stood.
The emotion welling up within their hearts was nothing but pure awe.
In the present situation, the fact that the god they served was different was no issue at all.
“Beoncheonhoe.”
It was the name of the “enemy of the world” he had warned them of earlier.
“They are the ones who founded Pandemonium—the true culprits behind the countless sacrifices that have occurred until now.”