Chapter 146 - Cataclysm (1)

When the pure white, blazing light faded, all that remained was a dull stone that could no longer even be called a jewel.

CRACK.

Even that soon began to crack before shattering completely.

The old man stared at his staff, which stubbornly gripped a piece of the shattered jewel.

Then, he suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood.

The old man clutched his chest. Leaning against his staff, he gasped for breath.

"Master!"

The Mages watching him screamed and rushed over.

The old man raised his hand and waved them away.

"Huu."

After standing alone for a long time, leaning on his staff and heaving his shoulders as he breathed, the old man suddenly let out a sigh.

"It's a pity. It truly is a pity."

Whether it was a pity that one of the few divine artifacts from the 「Mythic Age」 in the Magic Tower was now useless, or a pity that he had failed to achieve his goal despite mobilizing a divine artifact, the old man's lamentation remained vague.

The Mages dared not guess his meaning and merely looked at the pale-faced old man with anxious expressions.

As they watched the old man, they belatedly realized something.

The old man's gaze was not directed at the broken divine artifact, nor was it directed toward the sea of trees where their target was.

The old man was looking somewhere much further away.

Somewhere to the west. The direction of the empire's territory ruled by the Imperial House of Bourgogne.

"Now that the knights will rush to report what they have seen to the Emperor, it is only a matter of time before his existence is revealed."

Those words sounded incredibly strange to the Mages.

The old man had participated in the war under the Emperor's orders. His mission was to eliminate a certain knight of Dotrin.

Wasn't that why he had manifested his magic at the very last moment, even at the cost of destroying a divine artifact?

And yet, the old man was actually worried about the Emperor hearing the news of the battlefield.

A few of the Mages turned pale.

"C-Could it be that you forced the manifestation of that magic at the end because..."

One of them started to voice his speculation but then covered his mouth in shock at his own thought.

The old man neither scolded that Mage nor answered his doubt.

"Let us return."

"If we return like this after receiving the Emperor's orders, we might face retaliation later."

When one of the Mages voiced his concern, the old man replied calmly.

"We failed because our strength fell short, even though we tried hard enough to destroy a precious divine artifact. If you report it as such, the Emperor will not press the matter further."

The old man actually looked somewhat relieved.

However, only fear surfaced on the faces of the Mages.

A pure terror toward someone else, distinctly different from their reverence for the old man.

Seeing the emotion on his disciples' faces, the old man added a word like a sigh.

"If you are truly that worried, report in advance that we destroyed Dotrin's outpost and inflicted heavy casualties, so that the Emperor cannot use this as an excuse."

At the old man's words, the Mages dared not argue further and simply replied that they would obey.

Just as the old man was about to leave a corner of the sea of trees, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

His face hardening like stone, he remained motionless as if nailed to the spot.

He was not the only one.

The Wyvern Riders, who had arrived late to the battlefield and were slaughtering the knights and Mages of the Imperial Army, halted mid-air.

KUUUUUH.

The fierce, fearless wyverns let out low, stifled groans.

The Wyvern Riders looked up at the sky with pale faces.

It was just past dawn, and the dark clouds had already scattered to leave an incredibly clear sky, yet darkness was encroaching upon the entire world.

"O-Over there!"

One of the Wyvern Riders pointed at the sun.

A black stain was gradually devouring the sun.

As the stain grew, the world grew darker.

It was different from a solar eclipse.

It was far more sudden, something truly ominous.

Eventually, the black stain completely swallowed the sun.

Night fell upon the entire world.

* * *

The knights, who had been anxiously waiting for the First Prince to return with the Wyvern Riders, completely froze at the sudden anomaly.

The sun had been shining brightly just a moment ago, but a darkness where they couldn't see an inch ahead had suddenly descended.

"Aah..."

The mute elf let out a groan like a terrified beast.

THUD.

The maid, who had been eagerly praying solely for her master's return, clutched her chest and fainted.

Blue light erupted from the eyes of the men who had accepted the souls of the ancient knights.

"Finally."

"The time."

"Has arrived."

As they spouted incomprehensible words, the young lord of the Eli family shuddered in disgust.

"What the hell. I'm already on edge. Why are you guys acting like this too?"

An unknown fear filled his gaze as he spoke.

* * *

"Light the braziers! All Rangers and knights, arm yourselves completely and man the walls!"

At Winter Castle, swallowed by darkness, the lord of Winter Castle shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Recall all the Rangers out on patrol!"

At his command, the Rangers pulled out signal flares and fired them into the sky.

BWOOOOOOOM.

The sound of horn bugles rang out endlessly.

The lord of Winter Castle looked beyond the walls.

Lights appeared here and there across the snowfield adjacent to the mountain range. It seemed the Rangers on patrol had lit their torches.

With an unprecedentedly anxious face, he watched the lights steadily approaching the castle.

KAAAAAAK!

GRRRRRR.

GWOOOOOAAR!

All kinds of monsters were roaring behind the lights. It was a sight that made it seem as if the entire mountain was howling fiercely.

"What on earth..."

The face of the lord of Winter Castle hardened at this ominous sign, an event unprecedented even in the centuries-long history of Winter Castle.

"Damn it. There's never a moment of peace."

A Ranger platoon leader, who had been complaining endlessly, looked up at the sky.

The sky, missing what should have been there, completely black without the sun, moon, or stars, was horrifyingly terrifying.

"What's going to happen no— Ack! You scared me!"

The Ranger platoon leader muttered a complaint in a suppressed voice before jumping in surprise.

"Geez, showing up without a sound. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Beside him, the Master of the newly formed Magic Tower was staring at the sky.

"Those who left will return, and through them, ancient glory and Tribulation shall be recreated."

It was a bizarre voice that sounded as if it were flowing from deep within a cave.

"What? His Highness is returning?"

The Ranger, having failed to hear the latter part clearly, beamed and asked.

But the Mage did not answer.

He merely watched the night that had descended upon the world.

"Huh?"

"It's bright again!"

The night that had arrived so suddenly vanished just as abruptly.

"I was terrified thinking something else was going to happen."

The Rangers, who had been trembling with anxiety, let out sighs of relief.

"Just in case, search the castle interior and confirm there are no anomalies. For the time being, suspend long-distance patrols and keep a constant, close watch only on the mountain range exit!"

The lord of Winter Castle issued orders in preparation for any possible incidents.

"The Dwarves are here!"

In the midst of this, the Dwarves appeared.

The Dwarves, who had been endlessly delaying the installation of the iron cannons while claiming to be overwhelmed by both the relocation work and the construction of the Magic Tower, were suddenly motivated by who knows what. They brought the iron cannons themselves, struggled on the walls for a good while, and then returned.

Throughout their entire operation, they did not say a single word.

They merely looked toward the mountain range from time to time with anxious expressions.

The sudden, bizarre phenomenon had ended, but the mountain range was still howling.

* * *

A dry laughter echoed through the empty Great Hall.

"What a coincidence. Such a coincidence."

Sitting on the throne atop the high platform, the Emperor was laughing.

"To think he was actually the descendant of House Bayern whose whereabouts were unknown."

Whatever he found so amusing, the Emperor laughed continuously.

After laughing for quite some time, he suddenly opened his mouth, speaking in a dry voice.

"As the path to the sky opens, those with wings shall return. As the earth surges, beasts that walk on two legs and run on four shall come again."

It sounded like a prophecy, or perhaps a verse from a poem.

The Emperor repeated the prophecy, or rather, the poem, several times.

In a terribly dry voice.

At that moment, his surroundings trembled uneasily.

However, the knights and attendants outside the Great Hall seemed to have felt nothing, merely feeling relieved that the bizarre phenomenon had ended without any major incident.

* * *

The darkness lifted. The sky regained its clarity as if nothing had ever happened.

But my heart was still pounding wildly.

Something had happened.

I didn't know what it was, but it was clear that it was nothing auspicious.

["On the day when the myth of Heaven's opening and the myth of Creation return simultaneously, it is by no means a coincidence that such a phenomenon has occurred."]

Agnes said so as well.

She said that today's strange phenomenon was undeniably a precursor to something.

However, she was also completely in the dark about what that 'something' was.

I forced myself to shake off the anxiety.

If today's event was a sign of something to come, its true nature would reveal itself soon enough.

Clinging to a matter that wouldn't yield answers no matter how much I pondered was not a very wise thing to do.

Furthermore, Agnes mentioned that she didn't have much time left to converse with me.

She explained that her sudden ability to speak was only possible because her original body had greedily devoured the lightning and surged with energy; she had already exhausted most of her strength bearing the burden of the [Poem of Creation] that I was meant to handle.

"Why are you in there?"

I asked what I was most curious about.

["Even I do not know. But if I had to guess, I suspect it is because of the curse of this shitty Demonic sword."]

I was left stunned by those words.

Because if what she said was true, many other entities besides her could also be trapped inside my original body.

And she confirmed my suspicion.

That there were indeed many entities inside the original body.

She added that most of those numerous entities had lost their living egos, becoming existences that existed yet did not exist.

Like wraiths.

"Then can you tell who else is intact besides you?"

["We are aware of one another, but since we have never conversed, we have merely confirmed each other's status."]

Just as I was about to ask another question, she spoke.

["Time is up."]

Her voice had grown faint.

["Had it been another time, we could have spoken much longer."]

She sighed.

But only for a moment, as she quickly poured out her words.

["Sacrificing your lifespan was a truly fucking stupid thing to do. Achieve it yourself so that something like this never happens again."]

["Keep in mind that those shitty twin swords are nothing but a petty trick that can never surpass a proper sword."]

That was nothing more than nagging, hardly fitting for a farewell.

"I'll see you again, right?"

["You're acting like a child."]

She chuckled softly.

Her faint laughter was now so quiet that I couldn't hear it unless I focused my mind.

["My old partner. Poor Gruhorn."]

She called out to me.

Her voice was filled with a sorrow and pity that I couldn't understand.

["Strive and strive again. Reach the highest of heights. If you do, you shall reclaim the glory that you have long forgotten."]

Her voice became infinitely faint.

["Be happy."]

Saying she had always wanted to tell me that, she spoke gently.

["I will always be watching over you."]

That was the end.

"Anne? Anne!"

No matter how many times I called out, there was no reply.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

And I engraved my conversation with her into my mind, so that I would not forget her voice.

As I quietly chewed over our conversation, I frowned.

'...you shall reclaim the glory that you have long forgotten.'

Her tone was somewhat strange for it to merely mean I should regain my status as a lost sword.

I felt a sense of incongruity.

After pondering over and over, I realized the source of that incongruity.

She didn't say I had 'lost' it. She said I had 'forgotten' it.

I couldn't quite wrap my head around that.

"Ugh."

Suddenly, a splitting headache struck me.

I gritted my teeth. But an unswallowed groan slipped through my clenched teeth.

"Just hold on a little longer! Mages are on standby at the camp!"

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard the Wyvern Rider's urgent voice.

I tried to tell him I was fine, but my vision spun.

My consciousness was fading.

I could no longer even feel the wyvern's rhythmic movements.

A sensation of floating, as if I were drifting above the clouds.

"You can't fall asleep!"

"Stay awake..."

The Wyvern Rider's voice was now cutting in and out.

"We're almost... Stay... Please..."

"Dam... mit..."

Even that faded away, and I could no longer hear anything.