The Fall of Cartel

It seemed he was forcing everything through simply to prove his loyalty.

Yet the scale of it all defied imagination.

Guardian Knight Pamel, numerous Wyvern Knights and Golem Masters, dozens of colossal siege engines… and that's only what I've seen with my own eyes.

Forces capable of reducing several cities to rubble without breaking a sweat. Even a major metropolis would be shattered within days.

But the Empire had not waged war against outsiders in a very long time. The only recent movements of any note…

The Abyss Labyrinth—and the Dersiian family mobilizing to subjugate the Four Calamities.

Hudson stroked his chin. Through Player Talk, he constantly monitored the movements of every Player. Thanks to that, he had learned almost immediately that the Dersiian family had challenged the Four Calamities and failed.

If this isn't civil war, then it has to be preparation for hunting the Four Calamities.

The Lord of Darkan suddenly hunting the Four Calamities? Were they trying to succeed where the Dersiian family had failed—or was there some other reason entirely? Moreover, everything was unfolding far too urgently.

It's too quiet.

Quiet to an unnatural degree.

Hudson rose from his seat.

Then—

"Well then. All preparations are complete. You will come with us as well."

…The Lord of Darkan. He appeared alongside Guardian Knight Pamel.

Hudson bit his lip inwardly and spoke.

"Lord of Darkan. I believe we made it clear that we would wait here for Him."

"No matter how long you wait, He will not come here."

"……Then?"

"Follow us, and you will meet Him. Come. Go and report the might of Darkan that you have witnessed to Him—I would be most grateful!"

When Hudson had first met the Lord of Darkan, the man had seemed refined and composed. But now his eyes were filled with madness. Had he gone insane after the purification?

"Where exactly are we going?"

"To hunt the Four Calamities, of course!"

"The Four Calamities? Why?"

"The Four Calamities are the culprits who brought the Old Empire to ruin! Completing the glory of the Old Empire with our own hands once more—that is the great cause every true subject of this Empire must uphold!"

Had he truly gone mad?

That isn't simple madness.

He hadn't suddenly lost his mind. He had gone mad from fear. Having watched the Death God Religion freely purge countless nobles of the Empire, this was a desperate struggle to reaffirm his own loyalty.

The Empire controls its nobles through the terror of the Death God Religion.

Hudson swallowed hard. Damn it. He never dreamed the Lord of Darkan would pull something like this. But he had no authority to refuse. That man intended to drag them along by force if necessary.

……For now, he had no choice but to play along quietly.

Ziiing!

Ziiiiing!

Through the warps, soldiers poured out in an endless stream—every one of them clad in Imperial equipment.

"W-Wyvern Knights!"

"Aren't those Golem Masters?"

"Is the Empire serious about hunting the Four Calamities?"

People murmured as they watched. This was the mercenary city of Cartel—the last remaining of the five neutral cities. But Gracia, standing at its center, was looking at only one person.

"……The Pure White Knight?"

That was unmistakably Serengeti, the Pure White Knight. Wilhelm's closest confidant—said to have died at the end of the Great Expedition.

How is she still alive?

Gracia was inwardly puzzled. There was no way he was mistaken. She was definitely Serengeti, the Pure White Knight. Though her skill had been insufficient to truly rank among Wilhelm's innermost circle, she had received his absolute trust—there was no way he wouldn't recognize her.

After suffering so many betrayals, Wilhelm had kept only those he could truly trust by his side. Their numbers were so few that they had once been called the Seven Knights of the Round Table. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But all of them were said to have perished in the Great Expedition.

Why is the Pure White Knight with the Empire?

What was strangest of all was why Serengeti was working alongside the Empire. An impossible combination standing together. Why?

And that level of force… Far more serious than when the Dersiian family had brought a few Transcendents from the Empire. They had truly gathered to kill the Four Calamities.

"Wh-what? Why are they pushing us?"

"Are those bastards trying to use us as meat shields?"

"Isn't combat between humans forbidden in the neutral cities?"

The problem was that those Imperial dogs were shoving the neutral city's soldiers and Players toward the warp where the Calamity would emerge—as if intending to use them as shields the moment it appeared.

Originally, combat between humans was forbidden in the neutral cities. A rule agreed upon by every city. Even the Empire had to abide by it. However, there was no law that said you could not push people.

"Lord Gracia. Shouldn't you say something?"

"Those bastards' intentions are way too obvious, aren't they?"

As people protested around him, Gracia shook his head.

"Leave it. Proceed as is."

He would kill it before the Empire did. He had made every preparation for that purpose. He still didn't understand why the Pure White Knight was on that side—

……The Four Calamities are my prey.

Crack!

Craaaaack!

At that moment, a massive foot began to emerge from the warp that had swollen crimson.

Player Talk ignited once more.

The Empire—Darkan Territory's entry into the fray! The Empire as a whole remained shrouded in secrecy, but among its territories, Darkan was one of the few whose name was known. A prestigious sword family counted among the continent's finest. Knights produced there were famous for standing a cut above every other knight on the continent.

Everyone felt secure. With that much force assembled, losing would have been the strange outcome. No matter how powerful a Calamity was, it was still only a single creature.

And so several hours passed.

Then, before every Player's eyes, a single line of text appeared.

Every warp ruptured.

And the city sank into the Abyss.

"Hey. Snap out of it."

Crack!

Someone slapped him across the face with everything they had. Gracia's eyes opened.

……Beautiful.

Before Gracia stood an angel. A pure white angel—Serengeti. Looking at her, Gracia thought for the first time in his life that something was beautiful. The woman who had just slapped him was also a first.

"Gracia. Do you intend to be swallowed by the Abyss like this? You call yourself a Hero—is that all you amount to?"

"Beautiful."

"……?"

"If there are angels like you, Heaven might not be so bad."

"You've committed so many sins that Hell is a certainty the moment you die. Stop spouting nonsense and get a grip."

"Then why is there an angel in Hell?"

"……!!!"

When Gracia reached out a hand, Hudson recoiled in horror. Goosebumps rose across his entire body. The man had clearly lost his mind while sinking into the Abyss.

This place might actually be Hell.

Hudson surveyed their surroundings and swallowed a groan.

"Die!"

"Just die already!"

"Keeheeheeheehee!"

Baal had focused solely on dragging the city down into the Abyss. And once Cartel sank, those who had lost their minds began attacking one another. Former comrades stabbed each other in the back. People who had looked perfectly fine moments ago suddenly thrust their blades forward.

A hell of utter chaos. It seemed to be a property of this Abyss itself.

Everyone who was fighting in the previous cities is sunk in this Abyss as well. And the Imperial dogs don't care whether the rest of us live or die.

The Lord of Darkan was fixated entirely on eliminating Baal. Hudson had forced himself to track down Gracia—who at least still looked coherent—only for the man to completely lose it as well.

No hope of outside aid. No means of escape either.

That cocoon. That's Baal. It's becoming the One Who Is the Abyss Itself.

Hudson turned his head toward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the heart of the Abyss. There, an impossibly massive black cocoon rested. After conquering Cartel, Baal had entered that cocoon of its own accord.

So simply destroying the cocoon should be enough—or so one might think.

—Kyaaaaaaah!

Black wings. A monster resembling a demon was flying straight at him. Those who died here—especially those who had Transcended—all became demons. They charged in even stronger than before, leaving no answer at all. As if immune, ordinary attacks barely scratched them. Even those magnificent Wyvern Knights could barely handle a single demon—that said everything.

Damn it!

Naturally, for Hudson—who wasn't even a Transcendent—a demon's attack meant certain death. Nausea rose unbidden, but there was nothing he could do.

Craaaaack!

Then it happened.

Before Hudson, the Abyss itself tore open, and someone appeared.

"Ah……!"

Hudson cried out in shock at the sight of him.

At the same instant—

CRUNCH!

He swung the Skull Crusher and shattered the demon's skull in a single blow.

Wilhelm and the Empire

The Golden Mask gazed at the murals carved into a secluded corner of the Imperial Palace. Countless murals—each one a fragment of the Empire's long history. Among them, one: a grotesque depiction of the Four Calamities assaulting the Old Empire.

Calamity Baal.

The most striking among them. A goat's head, a beast's body and wings—Baal. And Baal was a monster of many names. The Most Hideous Existence. The One Who Draws In. The Blood-Drinking Beast, and more. It possessed more epithets than any other of the Four Calamities for a simple reason: Baal itself was a creature that defied all comprehension. It commanded curses, life, and ritual—and it evolved without end.

"Do you know where the Four Calamities originated?"

"Ah, ah……"

When the Golden Mask asked, the rabbit-masked maid attending at his side went rigid. She tried not to show the fear flooding her expression, but she could not hide it. Eleven beings ruled the Empire in place of the Emperor, who lay in deep slumber. And among them, the most terrifying was the one who wore the Golden Mask.

"I-I apologize."

"It is only natural that you do not know. There is no need to apologize. The Four Calamities are pets created by Ruin. And the Old Empire… sought to use those monsters as its own weapons."

"I-I was taught that the Four Calamities attacked the Old Empire."

"Half true. Half false."

This was a hidden secret history—a story erased out of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shame.

Four monsters of overwhelming power. The Old Empire had been confident it could control all four.

"The four most powerful houses of the Old Empire. Each succeeded in controlling and dominating one of the Four Calamities. That is the decisive reason the Old Empire fell."

"You said they succeeded in controlling them……"

"You fear me, and yet you still cannot restrain your curiosity. What a personality you have."

"I-I apologize!"

The Golden Mask chuckled softly.

"No. That is precisely why I keep you at my side. In any case—once they possessed weapons of such overwhelming power, greed took root. All four houses wanted to become Emperor."

"So civil war broke out?"

"Indeed. A war waged with the Four Calamities. Perhaps that was Ruin's intention from the very beginning. Human greed knows no end."

The Golden Mask clicked his tongue quietly. The Old Empire had been strong enough to dominate the entire continent—and yet it fell. Civil war using the Four Calamities, among many other reasons.

"E-even so, I was taught that the descendants of the Old Empire eventually sealed the Four Calamities."

"That, too, is a story reshaped to suit the Empire's palate."

The Golden Mask shrugged. That the Four Calamities had been sealed was true—but those who sealed them were not the descendants of the Old Empire. It was merely one of many tales rewritten to resurrect the Empire's glory.

"Then who……?"

"The Heavenly Realm."

"Where the Goddess resides?"

"No. The Heavenly Realm is where the Celestials dwell. It is also called the Immortal Realm. The immortals of that place are known as Celestials, I am told."

Hearing a word she had never encountered, the attendant tilted her head. She had already become completely absorbed in the conversation.

"They must be extraordinary beings if they could seal the Four Calamities. Then shouldn't they have stopped Ruin together as well?"

"They are not on the Goddess's side. Nor are they on Ruin's. Something like a neutral force standing between Ruin and the Goddess, one might say. And there cannot be many of them."

Besides—if they had been that powerful, why had they merely sealed the Four Calamities?

What was certain was that the current Emperor of the Empire had also come from the Heavenly Realm. The first Emperor had brought eleven eggs from that place. They were called the Orthodox.

Only the Emperor truly understood the Heavenly Realm.

But the Emperor had been lost in deep slumber for an unfathomably long time.