The Calamity God of War (2)
Ludmilla, trapped within the Chaos Realm, poured every ounce of her strength into shattering the passage in her desperate bid to return to the mortal world. She could break it. The gate had not fully sealed yet. Each time her fist, wreathed in the crimson flames of a red dragon, slammed down, a deafening roar erupted from the passage like a tortured scream.
The priests of the Calamity God who had been watching her trembled violently at the sheer ferocity of her assault.
The passage is collapsing!
“The passage is going to collapse!”
“She’s smashing through the boundary that divides space itself…! This is impossible!”
CRAAAAASH!!
Crack… craaaack—!!
With every punch, countless fractures spiderwebbed across the barrier. The infernos that slipped through the cracks rained down like a meteor shower, turning the ground below into a living hell.
“Kuaaaagh!”
“F-fire…!”
Strangely, the falling spheres of flame acted like guided missiles, zeroing in exclusively on the priests of the Calamity God who had opened the passage to the Chaos Realm. The priests, their entire bodies engulfed in flames, shrieked in agony as they burned alive in excruciating torment.
“Huff… huff…! So this… this is the power of one of the Seven Strongest of the Warring States!”
The elderly man who had been the first to suffer the red dragon’s flames struggled to his feet with the support of the knight-priests. Half his face had melted away. The body that had been swallowed by the blaze was now in tatters. His wounds were so severe that it would not have been strange for him to die on the spot. If they did not retreat immediately, every last one of them—including himself—would be consumed by the falling inferno.
Ariel! Why is there still no signal?! Don’t tell me… she failed!
He waited desperately for the signal. But the Apostle of Blood who had attacked the imperial palace remained ominously silent. Was there no choice but to give up? Staring at the slowly collapsing passage to the Chaos Realm, he let out a groan of despair.
Gwooooooooooooooo—!!!
The flames that had been devouring the half-destroyed barrier began to coalesce into a colossal shape. It was the head of a red dragon. The dragon formed of pure fire bared its razor-sharp fangs and unleashed a thunderous roar. One could feel the dragon’s fury, a vow that it would never forgive those who had invaded the empire.
“C-Commander!”
“Please give the order to retreat!”
The priests who had barely escaped annihilation begged their commander to withdraw. There was no chance of victory. Continuing like this would only lead to meaningless death. The sight of the fiercely burning red dragon had completely shattered their will to fight. Even the fanatics who would have gladly thrown away their lives for the Calamity God they worshipped were now terrified by Ludmilla’s overwhelming might.
“For now, we should retreat…”
The commander, who had sensed they were hopelessly outmatched, swallowed hard and began to speak—only for an unbelievable anomaly to occur.
The flames stopped.
The crimson dragonfire that had completely engulfed the barrier suddenly died down. The commander and the other priests of the Calamity God could not hide their shock at the bizarre turn of events. The inferno that had seemed on the verge of shattering the barrier had vanished without a trace.
The next strike would have shattered the barrier. She could have escaped.
Ludmilla had fueled her flames with the burning rage in her chest, intending to deliver the most horrific death imaginable to those who had set the imperial capital ablaze.
But then, without warning, an anomaly occurred.
A colossal divine presence pierced her instincts. Such a terrifying divinity… It suddenly began to explode outward.
The moment she detected the divinity flowing from beyond the veil of space, Ludmilla immediately halted her attack. The aura she sensed was more terrifying than any opponent she had ever faced. It was unbelievable. A power rivaling that of a true Calamity was spreading. The divinity, which had suddenly surged explosively, continued to expand without limit.
Ludmilla felt a fear that seemed to strangle her very breath. The thought that an overwhelming divinity—even she could not begin to gauge her chances against—might threaten the empire made her vision blur for a moment.
If that is the true mastermind behind the ones who worship the Calamity Gods…! I must stop it at once! From its presence alone, I can tell the space it occupies is connected to the imperial capital!
She could not simply stand by. If the entity endlessly expanding its divinity were to descend upon the Valtaria Empire, it would trigger an unprecedented catastrophe. Ludmilla clenched her fist with renewed urgency. She fixed her gaze on the space where the swelling divinity could be felt and prepared to destroy the barrier of the Chaos Realm. She had to stop it before that unspeakably powerful, unknown divinity could descend upon the Valtaria Empire.
Having made her decision, Ludmilla set aside her desire to return to the mortal world for the time being.
“……”
The first space she encountered. An incomprehensible, unknown domain.
Having shattered the boundary of the Chaos Realm, Ludmilla descended upon Fairy’s Haven, where a fierce battle had just taken place. The moment she entered the realm, she witnessed countless guns and cannons spread across the sky. Her eyes met those of the colossal divinity commanding the vast arsenal of firearms.
A Calamity clad in pitch-black armor. Simply facing it made both her hands tremble. An overwhelming aura that made victory or defeat impossible to predict radiated from the dark Calamity.
Yet despite how terrifying the being was, she somehow felt a strange sense of familiarity. The scent of gunpowder that wafted from it was more than familiar—it was intimate.
“Your Highness. No… Edanant.”
She spoke the name with a trembling heart. It might be a mistake. But the precious memories they had shared together were telling her it was the truth.
Afterward, Ludmilla stepped forward with an expression of certainty. She wanted to hear exactly what was going on.
“Don’t tell me… you were the War Maniac I’ve been searching for all this time?”
Gazing at the guns and cannons lined up in perfect, orderly ranks like an entire regiment armed with gunpowder weapons, Ludmilla recalled the sixth member of the Saint’s party—the War Maniac.
The War Maniac. The mysterious hero who had led the Third Racial War to victory. She had once read a record stating that every time the unidentified figure who accompanied the Saint’s party intervened on the battlefield, savage thunderclaps of gunfire would roar like lightning strikes.
Thinking of that figure, Ludmilla had finally reached the truth.
“……”
“Don’t try to dodge the question with silence, Edanant!”
When Ludmilla pressed him, Edanant exercised his right to remain silent. It was the reaction he usually showed whenever he found himself in a situation where answering carelessly would be dangerous.
Immediately, a sharp voice cut through the air.
“How did you know?”
“The imperial princess has her ways.”
She had recognized him by his scent. The memories they had built together had revealed him to her. Unable to give such an embarrassing answer, Ludmilla blushed and gave a vague reply.
“Since I’ve been caught red-handed like this, there’s no point in trying to deceive you. No clumsy excuse would ever fool Your Highness anyway.”
This was what people meant by a point of no return. Edanant let out a heavy sigh.
“As Your Highness said, I am indeed the War Maniac who was mistakenly identified as a member of the Saint’s party.”
“…I thought as much.”
“And as you can see, I am a demon who serves the Calamity God of War.”
“……”
Calamity God of War. Demon.
At Edanant’s successive revelations, Ludmilla’s brow twitched. She tried to hide her shock with her formidable self-control, but it was no use. The shocking truth that the man she had genuinely admired was a demon who worshipped a Calamity God struck her like a blade carving into her heart.
“War…”
The endless calamities that had threatened the world ever since the dawn of human history. Among the four great calamities, war was included.
Calamity God of War. Even thinking the words sent a chill down her spine.
Ludmilla eventually accepted that Edanant was a demon who served the Calamity God of War. The revealed truths were simply too shocking to ignore.
“Are you going to arrest me?”
“…If I said I would, would you obediently comply?”
At Edanant’s question, Ludmilla shot back with one of her own. Edanant was left speechless and could not answer.
“I will overlook it for now.”
“But…”
“I said I will overlook it! Are you daring to disrespectfully defy an imperial princess’s decision?!”
“……”
The more upright a person usually was, the more shameless they could become when they chose to be. That was exactly what Ludmilla was like right now. Faced with Edanant’s protest, she stubbornly played dumb and responded with a fierce tone. Her voice was so intensely agitated that Edanant finally closed his mouth.
“Let’s get out of here first. I will break the boundary.”
“…You can just send a telepathic message to the Luinong fairies and they will open it for you.”
Break the boundary that divides space? Good heavens. Had she really descended upon paradise using such a brutish method? The sight of Ludmilla casually raising her fist sent a shiver down his spine.
“Ah. Please wait a moment.”
Edanant suddenly stopped as if remembering something. He turned his head and stared at the blood-soaked vampire who lay collapsed like a corpse.
“This is an Apostle of the Calamity God who attempted to assassinate His Majesty. I subdued her before Your Highness arrived. Since there is much we need to hear about the details of the attack, it would be better to take her alive.”
“Hmm, do as you wish.”
In truth, Edanant had intended to kill the vampire before Ludmilla’s sudden appearance, but he had changed his mind. Keeping her alive seemed wiser. He wanted to learn about her sudden appearance, how she had obtained the Sage’s magic tool, and whether there was a mastermind behind this attack.
Edanant tucked away the magic tool Ariel had dropped and gave a bitter smile.
“Ah! And Edanant…”
“Yes?”
What was she going to say? She wasn’t suddenly going to turn hostile and unleash flames, was she? With a mixture of doubt and caution, he waited for Ludmilla to speak.
“Didn’t I tell you to call me by name when we are alone? I call you comfortably by name, yet you continue to address me so formally. Call me Ludmilla right now.”
“…I’ll do it later.”
“Now.”
“L-Ludmilla…”
“Good, good! From now on, when we are alone, I want you to call me by name.”
“……”
He called her name in an awkward tone. Ludmilla nodded with a satisfied expression.
She really is hard to understand. I have no idea what she’s thinking.
Edanant scratched the back of his head as he stared blankly at Ludmilla’s retreating figure.