Chapter 3: Past, Present, and Farewell to the Future
Past, Present, and Farewell to the Future
"Fuck me sideways—!!!"
Thud—!!!
The delinquent kicked off his blanket while spewing curses from his bed.
"Master—!!"
Bang—!!
The moment the delinquent woke up, May burst through his bedroom door.
"You need to get out—!! A Disaster is...!!"
Boom...!!
"............."
May and the delinquent.
Both instinctively realized one thing.
That a single wrong word now could reduce them to a handful of dust.
"Grrrrrrrr..."
Boom...!!! Boom...!!! Boom...!!!
The tremors reverberating through their apartment—no, the entire commercial district.
This was no natural disaster.
This was a calamity with a will of its own.
A 【Disaster】.
("Why... is a Disaster here...?")
The delinquent couldn't believe it.
Plutoid T-1 Sector, where they lived, was a remote area with an extremely low Disaster emergence rate.
The more densely populated an area, the higher the chance of an outbreak—but this was the least populated region in all of Plutoid.
Even if one did appear here, it would at most be the size of a beast or a small building.
But the tremors they felt now were beyond anything a mere building-sized Disaster could produce.
Which meant only one thing...
BOOM-----!!!!
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
An unimaginably colossal Disaster had appeared.
Boom... Boom...
The tremors gradually began to fade.
"Master..."
Whoosh.
May silently took the delinquent's hand and pulled him close.
"............"
___. ___
At first, everyone thought it was an earthquake.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEE...!!
The ground shook violently, windows rattling in their frames.
Honk! Honk! Honk!
Cars screeched to a halt on the roads, their horns blaring as people looked around with uneasy eyes.
But this was no earthquake.
Emerging between the city's buildings was the very incarnation of calamity—a 【Disaster】.
Boom...!! Boom...!!!
Its shadow-black body stretched hundreds of meters tall, its crimson eyes glaring down at the ant-like humans below.
CRRRRRREEEEEEEEEAK—!!!
With every step it took, the earth split apart as if screaming, and buildings cracked under the strain.
Naturally, the city was instantly swallowed by terror.
""KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!""
""WAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!""
People on their morning commutes shrieked as they fled through the streets, parents desperately dragging their children toward shelter.
BOOM—!!! CRASH—!!!
Cars tangled together in a massive traffic jam as they all tried to escape at once, collisions erupting everywhere.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEE...!!!
Every movement of the Disaster whipped up violent storms, and with every swing of its tail, skyscrapers crumbled like paper.
Dust and debris choked the sky as people ran in despair, their faces twisted as if witnessing the end of the world.
In mere minutes, the city's ordinary morning had transformed into a hellscape where a monstrous abomination roamed freely.
And the Disaster, utterly indifferent to the humans' terror and screams, slowly took another step forward.
Almost as if... it was searching for something.
Boom...!! Boom...!! Boom...!!!
"When the hell are the Magicians getting here?!"
"Let's just go already—!!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!"
One hour since the Disaster's emergence.
Countless citizens had crowded in front of the underground shelter in Stardust T-1 Sector, fleeing the Disaster.
"Apologies—!! We're at full capacity! Please proceed to another shelter—!!"
The shelter staff's announcement only stoked the crowd's fury.
"You should've told us earlier—!! Why make us wait—?!"
"Open up—!! There's still room—!!"
"My kids are here...!! At least let them in...!!"
"OPEN THE DOOR—!!!"
"You fucking idiots...!!!"
Wedged in the crowd, the delinquent sneered at their behavior.
"Lower your voices...!! If the Disaster hears—"
BOOM------!!!!
""!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""
Human negativity.
Human fear.
Sensing it, the Disaster turned its gaze toward them.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!"
"R-RUUUUUUUN—!!!"
Patter-patter-patter-patter—!!!
As the Disaster's attention locked onto the shelter, people stampeded back into the streets.
Thud! Thud!
"Ow—!!"
Tumble—!!
A little girl, knocked down in the chaos, lost her parents' grip and fell to the ground.
"LEEEEEEEEEAH—!!"
"MOOOOOOOOM—!!"
Trapped in the crowd, the girl's mother couldn't turn back.
She could only scream her daughter's name as the distance between them grew.
"Hey, May."
Patter-patter-patter-patter—!!!
Amid the sea of fleeing people, the delinquent stood still and called to his android.
"What is it?"
BOOM---!!!!
At the Disaster's size, a few steps would bring it right to them.
They had less than ten seconds left.
"I'm trash, right?"
"Obviously."
May answered without hesitation.
"If I left that brat here and ran, you'd understand, wouldn't you?"
"Yes. Of course."
"Good. Don't stop me."
Whoosh.
As the delinquent turned to flee—
"But I know you'd come back. Even a hopeless Master like you was once a 《Hero》, weren't you?"
"............"
Click.
The delinquent froze mid-step.
"I know you better than anyone."
"God... damn it..."
"I won't ask anything you'd hate. But tell me—if you watched that girl die right in front of you, would you really enjoy the pity party afterward?"
"Ugh. Fine..."
The delinquent scratched his head irritably before—
Whoosh.
—turning back toward the girl.
BOOM------!!!!!
"Hey, you ugly fuck—!! No jaywalking—!!!"
He flashed a cowardly, third-rate villain's grin and shouted.
"Grrrrrrrr..."
At the calamity trying to shatter his apathy.
"The light's red from here on out—!!"
___. ___
Disaster
A cataclysmic entity that appeared in the world roughly 1,000 years ago.
But among them, there existed beings of a higher order.
Catastrophe
A being of ruin capable of annihilating entire cities.
A 【Doom】 that could only be vanquished by the pinnacle of Magicians—an S-Rank Magician.
And now, one had descended upon this backwater town.
"Grrrrrrrr...!"
Crunch.
Where the calamity passed, everything crumbled.
As if reaping life itself.
Even inanimate objects were no exception.
Countless buildings, people, the city itself—slowly disintegrating.
Click.
"No idea why not a single Magician has shown up, but we don't have time to worry about that now."
Amid the shattered streets, May stood alone, gun raised.
"Let's just hope my worthless Master's plan works."
Meanwhile—
"Grrrrrrrr..."
"You goddamn piece of shit..."
Even dozens of buildings combined couldn't match this calamity's size.
Groooooooan...
The colossal Disaster's face, blotting out the sun and sky, loomed over the delinquent standing in the street.
"You... really are all the same."
The delinquent smirked.
CRACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK—!!!
The day his parents were slaughtered by a Disaster.
That was when he realized.
"Ah... Aah..."
That Disasters held an unnatural interest in him.
"Grrrrrr...?"
The Disaster stared at the delinquent's face and let out a low growl.
"Hurry the hell up..."
The delinquent silently willed May to finish her preparations.
"Grrrrrrrr..."
("Fucking hate to admit it... but I have to accept it...")
The Disaster wouldn't attack him.
Thanks to its overwhelming fixation on him, he had survived even as his parents were butchered.
"Uwaah..."
"Kid. Keep your mouth shut unless you wanna die."
Whoosh.
The delinquent shot a warning at the sobbing girl behind him.
Click. Click. Click.
"Synchronization complete. Disaster Buster. Fire."
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH—!!!
A massive beam of light erupted from May's gun, striking the Disaster's back.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
A weapon designed to slay calamities.
Magic Soldier Gear.
Its name—Disaster Buster.
An illegal weapon cobbled together from parts the delinquent stole from school equipment and cargo ships.
Its firepower was enough to obliterate an average Disaster in a single shot.
Groooooooan...!!!
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
But against a Catastrophe, it did nothing.
Only enraged it further.
"Perfect. Now hurry and get the girl to safet—"
BOOM------!!!!!
"...What?"
May's expression froze.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...!!!!
A calamity's wrath was exactly that—calamity.
The sky split. The earth shattered.
"Mas... ter..."
A cataclysm of unprecedented scale.
Like witnessing the world's end firsthand.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH—!!!
Under the Disaster's shockwave, everything with form began to break apart.
Living beings. Buildings. The earth itself.
As if existence itself was being erased into nothingness.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK—!!!"
Every plan crumbled instantly under the Disaster's roar.
In despair, the delinquent threw himself forward.
Thud—!!!
"KYAAAH—!!"
Right before the shockwave hit, he shoved the girl into a narrow crevice in the rubble.
CRUNCH—!!!!
And immediately after, the sound of something being crushed was drowned out by collapsing buildings.
CRACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK—!!!
___. ___
This was Plutoid's T-1 Sector.
No—what used to be T-1 Sector.
A wasteland where nothing of the original remained.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
On this ruined earth, only the great calamity still roared.
"................"
There had been a delinquent.
A selfish bastard who acted only for himself, never sparing a thought for others.
But he was gone now.
Torn apart by the shockwave, crushed beneath rubble—his death was certain.
So then... why...
"Why am I still alive?"
Click.
A black-armored knight stood atop the ruined earth and spoke.
Whoooooosh...
Clad in obsidian armor, with horn-like protrusions curving from his helmet and a faint crimson glow seeping through his visor, he looked like something born from this devastation.
An ominous entity, as if forged from ruin itself.
"Grrrrrrrr...!!"
The Catastrophe turned its massive head toward the still-standing figure.
"This... is my body...?"
Click.
The Black Knight stared at his gauntleted hand.
"My body was..."
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
As the Catastrophe roared, another wave of destruction rippled across the wasteland.
Creak.
He raised his arm.
Instinctively, reacting to the calamity's cry.
Pointing forward.
As if trying to grasp something.
And then—
FWOOOOOOOOOOSH—!!!
A shockwave erupted from empty air, obliterating everything before him.
BOOM—!!!
The rubble of buildings.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEE...!!!
The Catastrophe's sonic blast.
FWOOOOOOOOOOSH—!!!
And the Catastrophe's head.
Scatter-scatter-scatter...
As fragments of the Catastrophe's skull rained down, the Black Knight stood frozen.
"What the... hell..."
Creak. Creak.
SHATTER—!!!!
At that moment, a deafening explosion tore through the sky above him.
Scatter-scatter-scatter...
Shards of magic power drifted down from the heavens.
No longer the crimson sky that had enveloped the world—but a clear blue one.
"A... barrier...?"
The Black Knight understood.
The reason no Magicians had come—they couldn't break through that thing's barrier.
Whoooooosh...
Standing alone on the barren earth, the Black Knight spoke quietly.
"Are you alive... May...?"
A futile question.
Click.
She couldn't be.
Click. Click.
He couldn't accept it.
Click. Click. Click.
No way in hell he could accept this.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
That his ordinary life would end like this...
"Don't leave me alone..."