In a sense, there was a reason why Archmage Kament Tower had always been seen as a tower master who navigated smoothly between the two major factions, yet was not truly valued by either, his position especially vague.
For example, those capable Mages who had lived long enough still vaguely remembered that the other two had Eighth-Circle Mage students.
However, the obvious yet subtly suppressed hostility between the two sides made Rute and Nicholson's choice to conceal their own fighting strength far less noticeable.
Moreover, Kament Tower himself knew those people existed. They simply did not like exposing themselves; they had not completely hidden away.
The reason Kament Tower had not sensed anything amiss was that he himself had no Eighth-Circle Mage students... From that alone, it was clear that although he was one of the tower masters, he had definitely come later.
He had probably inherited his teacher's or relative's position. Otherwise, in a Mage Tower, an Archmage without any reserve strength could not rise to power so easily.
No one was interested in following a leader who might die halfway through... especially when Mages generally lived quite long lives.
Once someone had risen to power, of course, it no longer mattered. They were already there, with power in their hands. But before reaching that position, who would not want the path they chose to be a little smoother?
If they had wanted to struggle on their own, they would not have sought a patron in the first place.
Hill could also discern something of Kament Tower's identity from some of his seemingly profound but actually rather drifting actions: he was a Mage whose soul had been blackened by Devils, not one whose soul had been replaced by a Devil.
Devils had always been cautious. When facing an Eighth-Circle