Demiurge found himself once again in the waiting area once he was teleported away by his lord. He thought of the scroll gifted to him, it was an ornate item much larger than a typical scroll easily spanning over a 3 metres in length. On it was inscribed magic circles in alphabets that Demiurge could not even begin to understand. Demonic Seal was a custom 10th tier spell specifically designed to capture Jaldaboath. Ulbert sama had created this spell to specifically to contain Jaldaboath so that he can be transported for judgement by the 41. Being the first one to arrive, he decided to have a seat while waiting. As soon as he sat down, he saw a glass of wine being placed on table before him. Demiurge took a sip of the blood red liquid, as he savoured the delicious vintage within his mouth he examined the wine glass. On it he saw intricate designs seeming imbedded within the glass, as he tilted the glass back and forth he noticed that the change in lighting seemingly made the patterns move. Demiurge could not even begin to fathom how something could be carved within a piece of crystal without exposing the contents to the outside.
"It's always the little things that show…" Demiurge mutters to himself.
Demiurge took out the scroll gifted to him by Ulbert and opened it. He had a brief look when it was initially gifted to him but didn't get a chance to truly examine it. The scroll had ornate wooden handles on the ends allowing the scroll to be unrolled in segments. Due to the length it was difficult to unroll it fully so Demiurge could only view it in segments. As he gazed at the strange arrays and glyphs in a pattern that resembles a ladder on the parchment before him he found himself just as confused as when he first gazed upon it.
Ohhhhh that's an interesting script.
Demiurge looked behind him to see Pandora's Actor and Maeve looking at the scroll. Maeve calmly walked beside him at started examining the scroll.
"Hmm hard to see the whole thing like this... mind if I take a closer look?" Maeve asked
Demiurge's first instinct was to deny her as this was a sacred gift from his creator, however it was plain to him that this girl held considerable station among the supreme beings. Demiurge held her gaze for a second lost in his indecision, he looked back at the scroll in his hands...and found it was gone…
"Ohh quite interesting...did Ulbert sama make this?" Maeve said from behind him
Demiurge spun around as he leapt to his feet, indignation evident on his face. He saw Maeve had scroll full unfurled laid out before her on the table. To put it simply Demiurge was incensed, he stormed over to the table intent on snatching back his creator's gift.
"You don't understand this do you?" Maeve said nonchalantly never taking her eyes off the scroll
"You mean you do?" Demiurge asked surprised
"Well yes and no... I do understand it but I'm not sure what it will do exactly…" Maeve said with her hand on her chin gazing at the script with her brow crumpled in a frown
"Ulbert sama mentioned it was a seal for Jaldaboath...wait can you cast something like this?" Demiurge asked
"If you mean can I cast the scroll then yes anyone can, that's what the scroll is for." Maeve said with a roll of her eyes
"But I think you mean if I can cast it without the scroll. To that question the answer is yes and no, I can cast it if I know the optimal formation pattern but since I don't I will run out of mana before I complete the cast." Maeve said with a shrug
At this moment the trio sensed another guardian being teleported into the area. They turned to see Albedo tightly clutching a thick black book. Pandora's Actor and Demiurge both gave a slight bow towards the guardian overseer. Maeve however simply glanced at the book Albedo was holding and coldly turned back around to continue scrutinizing the scroll.
Albedo sensing the tension due to her outburst earlier tentatively walked closer to the trio and addressed the back of the herald.
"Herald sama I sincerely apologise for my earlier behaviour." Albedo said with a deep bow
"Also Demiurge I apologise for my behaviour both for earlier and these past years." Albedo said with a slight bow to Demiurge
"No no I was...at fault too. I would also like to apologise Albedo sama, Maeve sama for my outburst and...failure those many years ago." Demiurge replied with a bow
"I accept Demiurge and please just call me Albedo from now on." Albedo replied with a slight smile
"You have nothing to apologise for Demiurge." Maeve said cooly back still turned
Clearly evident that Maeve had not completely forgiven Albedo, Albedo simply mentally let out a sigh and approached the table. As she peered at the scroll on the table noticing the runes and glyphs laid out in a ladder pattern she asked.
"Is that a magi script?" Albedo said while trying to make sense of the scroll before her.
"Yes Albedo it's a gift from Ulbert Sama, he says this scroll will be able to seal Jaldaboath. Maeve sama here was just sharing with me about what she can understand from this scroll." Demiurge replied
"Yes it is a most interesting scroll...although I don't see how this array shape can accomplish its stated purpose." Maeve said still closely analyzing it
"Maeve sama earlier you said you can't cast this spell on your own. What do you mean by that?" Demiurge asked
"Well you see Demiurge I am sure Ulbert sama warned you to never attempt to cast a magi script?" Maeve asked
"Well yes he said…" Demiurge began
"That if you lose control of it, it will destroy you?" Maeve asked
"Yes…" Demiurge replied uncertainly
"Did he explain to you why?" Maeve asked
"Well he did but I don't really understand completely what he said...it was very...abstract..." Demiurge replied curiosity welling up within him
"Well I suppose it's to be expected, the supreme beings... are not like us... they exist in a state different from mortals. Often they struggle to convey information in ways that mortals can comprehend thus why tier magic exists. I suppose there's no harm in giving you two a bit of magi script 101 since you have already heard the supreme beings explain it once before. I'll just tell you how my mind organised the knowledge gifted to me" Maeve said with a shrug
"Ok first off the laws of energy as created by Tabula Smaragdina sama and implemented by Momonga sama in this reality." Maeve said
"Implemented by Momonga sama in this reality?" Albedo asked confused
"I'll explain more some other time." Maeve said dismissively
"Anyway the laws are quite simple actually, there are 3 components: cost, power and speed. I am sure you are familiar with twin or triplet maximize magic that tier users can cast?" Maeve said as she raised a finger after stating each component
Demiurge and Albedo both nodded in affirmation.
"Tell me if you cast 3 fireballs using triplet maximise magic and then cast fireball 3 times separately which set of 3 costs more mana?" Maeve asked
"The triplet maximise magic." Demiurge replied
"Exactly so casting triplet maximise magic saves you time. In other words speed is increased but cost also increased. Same is also true for a maximise and a non maximised spell, you sacrifice mana for power." Maeve explained as she checked the 3 component off her fingers.
"Now onto magi scripts, scripts by themselves add an additional component to this trio. That additional component is sustainability. Think of it as a bridge across an enormous span, you need to spend effort to keep the bridge intact until you complete the support structure for it. So essentially you need to spend mana to sustain the array to stop it from collapsing as you form the spell. The bigger the array the more the power and the more the time it takes to form the array. Hence once again more mana is needed. Now then let me ask you this have you ever noticed that weaker magic casters need longer to cast stronger spells? Also stronger spells in general require a longer cast time." Maeve said as she looked at the two
"Yes I am familiar with this tenth tier spell, Meteor Fall it requires a slight channel to cast." Demiurge replied
"Well the same is true for magi scripts the larger the array the more time it takes due to the constraints of our mana pools. As speeding up the formation is first harder to control and secondly more costly, if you run out of mana before its formed or lose control, the array will collapse in on itself releasing all the mana you were using to cast the spell in a rather impressive explosion." Maeve stated
Demiurge and Albedo gave each other sidelong glance, reminding themselves never to tamper with powers beyond their comprehension.
"So essentially when I say I cannot cast the spell Ulbert made it is simply because I don't know the most efficient order to form the array. I can cast and array of about 300 runes if I know the optimal path, if I don't then the limit is about 50. As you can tell, knowing the best way to cast a script makes a large difference in efficiency. This scroll has about 250 runes on it so its way above my ability to cast it without further guidance" Maeve said as she gestured to the scroll.
"Any questions?" Maeve asked
"If magi scripts are so difficult to use why use them instead of the tier system? Wouldn't tier magic be more efficient?" Demiurge asked
"Good question. The reason is simply flexibility and skill. Magi script allows for powers beyond tier magic. Have you ever heard of the 11th tier or super tier magic?" Maeve asked
"Yes I have heard the supreme ones mentioned it before, it apparently holds spells of immense power." Albedo replied
"Well this whole 11th tier thing is just farce that the supreme beings created to help mortals comprehend the spells. All spells beyond the 10th tier are magi scripts." Maeve revealed
"So you can cast super tier magic?" Demiurge asks
"Well again yes and no...erm ok how do I explain this…" Maeve said with her brow furrowed and arms crossed against her chest
"Did you two ever see any of the supreme beings ever cast a super tier spell? Like Fallen Down, Creation, Wish Upon a Star… anything like that?" Maeve asked
"No…" the two replied.
"Ok it looks something like this." Maeve said as a swirling arraying cycling circles appeared around her
"I thought you couldn't cast super tier magic?" Albedo asked puzzled
"I can't, it's just an illusion, just spinning circles and pretty lights" Maeve said
"Oh… I see" Albedo and Demiurge deadpanned
"Anyway you notice that this array is taking up a 3 dimensional space? In contrast to a usual spell where the arrays are 2 dimensional?" Maeve asked?
Demiurge and Albedo slightly nodded.
"Well the reason why most spells are cast on a flat plain is that it's easier to form. Arrays that take up a 3 dimensional space are by nature more unstable as you need to form the arrays at multiple different points. This means you need to sustain multiple arrays at once as you form the whole structure. In fact all mortals are constructed from magi scripts we have information coded in our…" Maeve paused and her eyes narrowed
Maeve stood up abruptly and walked closer to the scroll scrutinizing it, brows furrowed in concentration. She reached out and cast a spell and an illusion appeared showing a projection of the array. She turned the illusion so that the ladder formation was upright and with a flick of her wrist the array twisted forming a double helix shape.
Demiurge and Albedo looked quizzically at the array, nonplussed at the heralds sudden actions. It was then they saw her face broke out into a wide smile and her laughter peeled across the room. Although sounding like the bright laughter of a child they couldn't help but feel a chill as they heard the almost maniacal laughter.
HAHAHAHAHA!
INGENIOUS!
AS EXPECTED OF THE SUPREME ONES!
WHAT IS GIVEN CAN BE TAKEN AWAY!
Author's notes:
Sorry about the longer post time was trying to condense the lore of this world into as understandable a form as I can manage. All the information in this chapter will be very important later and will clearly set apart this universe from the original source material.
Hope this chapter wasn't a bit too dry, in the next chapter the overarching plan of the supreme beings...