-1453- The power of humanity's natural enemy

——〈Vebel〉.

As the headquarters of the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉, this floating city is located in an airspace farthest from the threat of the Armored Beetles among the many floating cities scattered across the world, making it a critical stronghold for humanity.

Here, not only is there the headquarters of the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉, but also the most supreme existence of humanity — the Pope.

In the past, when the Armored Beetles appeared in this world and posed a threat to humanity, humans began to unite and seek survival together. The descendants of the family that first led everyone to unite became known as the Pope.

In other words, the Pope is the full representative in charge of the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉, holding a position above the city councils of each floating city and even above the council of the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉, acting as the plenipotentiary agent of humanity.

Given this, this floating city is known as the Pope's Floating City. The reason for this name is to make this floating city, like the Pope, a symbol of humanity. Here resides the highest representative of humanity, and at the same time, the owner of this floating city is also the Pope, making him the only person in the world who can solely own a floating city. Residents are formally granted the privilege to live here by the Pope's permission.

At this very moment, in a mansion in 〈Vebel〉, inside an office, a man was sitting at his desk.

He had short golden hair and blue, crystal-like eyes that shone brightly. His eyebrows were sharply angled upwards, and he wore a black suit, exuding the air of a gentleman yet also emanating the aura of a powerful figure.

He was Zeth Wiegert, the chairman of the council of the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉, a young man who had successfully squeezed through the narrow gate of the council and even ascended to the position of chairman, earning brilliant achievements in the war against the Armored Beetles — a Sky Wizard.

Although he was a Sky Wizard, his abilities in the political realm were not to be underestimated. He had resolved numerous potential disputes between the floating cities behind the scenes and was a figure trusted by both the public and many members of the council.

If the Pope is the plenipotentiary agent of humanity, with an identity and status that places him above the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉 and makes him an unparalleled figure, then Zeth, this man, is the next most powerful person, an outstanding politician whose skills are among the highest in the council.

At this moment, this man was reading a report.

A consistently intrigued expression played on his face.

In this situation, the office door was knocked upon at a certain moment.

"Apologies, Onii-sama, I'm late."

Accompanied by a sweet voice, a young girl walked in from outside the door.

She wore a white dress, her skin was fair and translucent, her appearance as cute as a doll, with long golden hair similar to Zeth's, though her golden hair was waist-length, cascading down like waves, appearing exceptionally beautiful and alluring.

"You're here, Elis."

Zeth raised his eyes and looked at the adorable girl at the door, showing a refreshing smile.

Seeing this smile, the girl named Elis seemed very happy, even blissfully and gently approaching him.

"It's rare to receive a summons from Onii-sama; it seems you're in quite a good mood."

Elis, with an impeccable and dignified smile, greeted Zeth.

"Indeed, I'm in a rather good mood right now," Zeth said as he handed the report in his hand to Elis. "Take a look at this. This is the report submitted by the council this morning. Today's meeting was unusually lively because of this report."

Upon hearing this, Elis took the report from Zeth's hand with some curiosity and quickly skimmed through it.

A moment later, the smile on Elis's face suddenly froze, then vanished.

Zeth, as if he hadn't noticed this, spoke cheerfully.

"That man has finally stepped onto the battlefield once again, annihilating an unknown new breed of Armored Beetle with a single strike, and it was a large Variant mother-type too, using an incredibly powerful technique of unknown origin. After more than a year, he's surprised me once again."

Watching Zeth speak so joyfully, Elis secretly hid her inner discomfort, or rather, her intense jealousy.

There was nothing she could do; ever since that man appeared, her brother had always favored him, even looking at him differently. Zeth had tried to meet with that man numerous times and had even gone to see him in person, only to be refused a meeting.

Clearly, Zeth was the chairman of the council of the 〈Alliance of Floating Cities〉, the most powerful man in humanity after the Pope, and yet he was turned away after personally visiting that man. If word of this got out, it would undoubtedly be a blemish on Zeth's reputation.

From that moment on, Elis began to detest that man.

However, Zeth's interest in that man only grew stronger, frequently mentioning his name, causing Elis's dislike to gradually turn into jealousy and eventually into deep-seated resentment.

Now, upon learning that the reason her brother had summoned her was because that man had once again stepped onto the battlefield, Elis's heart was already clouded with dark, negative emotions.

However, Elis didn't show it, still smiling as she spoke.

"Indeed, that man is quite special among humans, but he still can't compare to you, Onii-sama."

With these words, Elis expressed her inner resistance to that man.

However, Elis did not realize that Zeth's interest in Rozen was far higher than she imagined.

"You can't be too sure about that, Elis," Zeth said with a subtle smile, his eyes glimmering with an enigmatic light. "That man's strength and intelligence are beyond ordinary people's; he's entirely at a level that shouldn't exist in this world. Let's not even talk about his many achievements or the magic technology he's developed during this time. Just the High-Grade Mana discovered through his hands — you've analyzed and studied it yourself, and the conclusion you came to already astonished us, didn't it?"

As he spoke, Zeth raised one hand.

In that hand, two forces began to burn.

One was human power — mana.

The other was non-human power — jutsuryoku.

Zeth not only possessed mana but also the power of humanity's natural enemy, which only the Armored Beetles could use — jutsuryoku.

Under Zeth's control, mana and jutsuryoku began to rotate and eventually fused together, forming a dark, terrifying force.

Although the force wasn't large, it caused the atmosphere to tremble.

"You mentioned before that High-Grade Mana is a power comparable to our 〈Collapse Force〉, right?" Zeth said, his eyes shining.

"That man can master such power by himself, and he's the only one who can make the mana reactor that produces High-Grade Mana. Even though we analyzed that mana reactor, we were still at a loss and couldn't recreate it. Let alone refining High-Grade Mana, even after countless attempts, I could only produce Compressed Mana at best, completely unable to refine High-Grade Mana."

Hearing this, Elis had nothing to say.

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