I'll Fight
A red crescent moon had risen over Gehenna Great Forest.
Everyone living in the great forest looked up at the sky.
The crimson moon seized every gaze that fell upon it, for no one had ever seen the moon turn red before, and the vast mana radiating from it carried a sense of foreboding that seemed to settle over everyone at once.
Beastmen.
"What on earth is this phenomenon? Anyone know?"
"Hey, you idiot! Is this really the time to sound so calm? Report it to Lord Hanseong right now!"
Elves.
"It doesn't seem like this is the time to be singing. This probably wasn't something Behemoth did, was it?"
"Nillia. Tell all the elves. Grip your staffs and prepare for disaster."
Dwarves.
"Lord Drower!"
"Yes. I know. Tell every dwarf outside to drop their picks and return to the city at once! Even if every dwarf comes back, do not close the hatch—stand by and wait! Other races may need to evacuate this way!"
Orcs.
"Chief Ogril, the red moon has risen!"
"I've got eyes, don't I? What about it?"
"Nothing, really."
Goblins.
"Chief Gobuji. So, uh, what do we do now?"
"Stop wasting time whining and tell the other goblins to pack. We're going to Deep Dark Forge. And yes, we're taking the orcs with us."
Lizardmen.
"For now, let's keep an eye on things. Everyone's probably confused, but if we figure out the cause and move quickly, we'll do less damage."
"Understood."
The leaders of the demi-humans sprang into action, each putting together their own response to the red moon.
The elves raised mana barriers around their village, while the beastmen summoned their warriors and prepared for calamity.
The orcs and goblins had no real attachment to their homes, nor any proper means to protect their people, so they decided to head together for the dwarves' Deep Dark Forge.
Once the dwarves saw the other goblins and orcs arriving, they sealed every route leading to the surface and waited. The lizardmen, hidden within the shadow-cloaked Outer City, used their observation equipment to assess the situation.
As Gehenna Great Forest descended into chaos beneath the red moon, one person was quickest to understand the cause.
"…"
That person was Satania.
She looked up at the sky with a grave expression.
"What kind of crazy bastard would dare wake the True Ancestor…?"
There was only one being in the world capable of turning the moon red.
The True Ancestor, Blood Tepes.
A Chosen sealed by the Emperor and humanity, the Blood Lord who controlled the vampire dragon Bloodgeist and led tens of thousands of ghouls.
In the past, he had slaughtered all his own kind and drunk their blood, becoming an evil man chosen by the world itself.
No—judging by the reputation the Empire had preserved for him all this time, he was more like an evil god.
"Could it be that the ancient monsters waking up were for the sake of the True Ancestor's resurrection…?"
This was no time to stand there in a daze.
She had to tell her precious friends immediately.
Satania kicked off the ground and ran.
An abandoned cathedral stood somewhere in the great forest.
People were gathered inside it, all of them wearing masks and staring at an old stone coffin.
A storm of blood raged ominously inside the coffin, which was ringed with thorny roses.
At the center of that bloodstorm was the upper half of a vampire's body.
Below it, the lower half was slowly taking shape, proof that the True Ancestor's body was being restored without issue.
"The ritual succeeded. Now we just wait."
"The presence is monstrous. It hasn't even fully awakened, and the moon has already turned red."
"Will something this powerful really move the way we want it to?"
There were seven people gathered in the cathedral.
Aside from the fact that they were all masked, they shared two things in common: one, they belonged to the terrorist organization Freedom; and two, they harbored deep resentment toward this world, which was ruled by the Empire.
Freedom had realized that a mana explosion had destroyed the Gehenna Great Forest management system.
They didn't know why it had happened, but for terrorists who wanted the Empire and the world itself to collapse, it was an opportunity too good to pass up.
They didn't waste it.
They acted at once.
They broke open the weakened seals, worn down by age and the mana explosion, and woke the ancient monsters sealed away by the ancestors of the demi-humans.
Freedom expected the ancient monsters and the demi-humans to clash and spill enough blood to soak this land.
After decades of research decoding the Emperor's sealing rites, they knew how to awaken a Chosen.
"Originally, we planned to wake the Dragon King, not the True Ancestor…."
"If that damned mysterious beast hadn't gotten in the way, we would have gathered more than enough blood and rank to awaken the Dragon King."
There were only two Chosens sealed within the great forest.
One was the Transcendent Dragon King, Tiamat, said to be the strongest of all the Chosens that had ever existed.
The other was the True Ancestor, Blood Tepes, whose body was currently being restored.
Blood Tepes was only ranked thirteenth among the supreme Chosens.
Of course, she was a cruel and beautiful transcendent being in her own right, but compared with the Dragon King's fame, she was a disappointing card for Freedom.
Even though a once-in-several-centuries chance had arrived, one that could shatter the Empire's surveillance network completely.
Even though the soul of twenty monsters and three thousand humans, which had once terrorized the great forest, had only been enough to awaken Blood Tepes.
"We withdraw."
"Is it really all right not to say anything to the True Ancestor?"
"Idiot. Do you really think the True Ancestor would listen to the likes of us? We'd be lucky if she didn't kill us. According to the leader, the True Ancestor is going to be consumed by rage at the Emperor and launch an invasion of the Empire anyway. Don't worry about it—just get out."
Even terrorists cherished their own lives.
They wanted the world to plunge into chaos, yes, but they were still human beings who wanted to see the sun rise tomorrow morning, so they turned toward the exit of the cathedral.
But the True Ancestor did not grant them the right to live.
The True Ancestor's right arm, still without fully formed skin, unleashed a storm of blood.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Aaaaaaah!!"
"Kyaaaaaah!!"
The terrorists didn't even have a chance to resist.
They were simply swept away by the bloodstorm surging over them in an instant and died where they stood.
For several minutes, silence hung over the cathedral.
Then a beautiful woman rose from the coffin.
"…"
She trampled the corpses that still bled with filthy blood and walked out into the open.
Outside, the red moon that symbolized her had risen into the sky.
With an expression of displeasure, she opened her mouth.
"How dare mortals wake me for the sake of their own goals…."
She was not pleased to have awakened from her seal.
What angered her was the fact that lowly mortals, beings who should have offered her their loyalty and faith, had tried to use this True Ancestor's body for their own purposes.
"There is no insult greater than this…."
Rage etched itself into her red eyes.
"How dare they compare me to some dragon king with no dignity and no beauty?"
She ground the mortals' blasphemy beneath her tongue, then clenched her fist.
Heaven and earth began to shake.
Now that their master had returned to the world, the ghouls sleeping beneath the great forest started climbing up from underground.
"I need to vent this anger immediately. If I do not, I may end up killing the ones I cherish."
By the time she appeared in the world, the number of ghouls had reached tens of thousands.
They outnumbered the demi-humans living in this land by an overwhelming margin.
The cathedral that had sealed the True Ancestor collapsed without leaving a trace.
And atop its ruins stood the True Ancestor's most treasured servant, the vampire dragon Bloodgeist, as fearsome as it had been in its prime.
"It seems there are beings in this land besides humans. Before I destroy the Empire ruled by the Emperor, let us kill them first."
They had awakened from their seal and begun their invasion of the great forest.
I watched the situation from Lucy's cottage.
The abnormal phenomenon of the moon turning red showed no sign of being resolved.
Lucy wore an anxious expression as she spoke.
"Friend, there is something I need to tell you. Is that all right?"
"Yeah."
Lucy had never sounded this serious before.
It felt like even I was getting tense.
Just as I was waiting for her to continue, Satania came running up in a panic and shouted,
"■■!! ■■■■!! Right now!! Run!!"
Satania was gasping for breath.
Then she grabbed Lucy by the shoulder and rattled off a machine-gun burst of words so fast that it was exhausting just to listen to her.
"First, calm do—"
"■■!! ■■!! ■■■■■!! Ahh!!"
I grabbed Satania, who was making things difficult for Lucy, and lifted her up with one hand.
Of course, I held her carefully so she wouldn't get hurt, but depending on who saw it, the scene might have looked pretty strange.
"Let's get Satania to calm down first."
"Grrr…."
Satania worked off her panic in my grip.
I asked Lucy,
"Lucy, what did Satania say?"
Lucy scratched her cheek.
"She said we need to flee the great forest right now."
"Why?"
"She said a terrifying person has awakened and is going to turn the great forest upside down, probably within today…."
"Who is it?"
Lucy mentioned the name Blood Tepes.
A vampire who had ruled as the sovereign of humanity in a time even older than the era when the ancient monsters and the ancestors of the demi-humans had been active, treating people like toys.
Lucy said seriously that the True Ancestor had a vicious, savage temper, and that the moment she woke up she would move to attack the demi-humans, causing damage beyond imagination.
"Is that really true?"
"My master just told me. And Satania said something similar a moment ago, too."
A terrifying monster recorded in history, no—in myth, had appeared on this land.
So that was why Satania had rushed in and told us to run.
I set Satania down on the floor.
Her golden, glittering eyes were trembling more than usual today.
"Run, now."
After that, silence fell.
We stood quietly beneath the crimson night sky.
Satania looked frantic, but Lucy and I needed time to think.
And then.
Lucy broke the silence.
She asked me,
"What would you like to do, friend?"
I answered.
Then, as the two of them reacted in two completely different ways, I quietly raised my thumb.