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The desolate street was traversed by the military. The heavy snow fell over the night in Orventzku, contrasting white and black in two distinct hues.

The sudden appearance of strangers startled the town’s residents.

These weren’t the kind of people you’d commonly see in the now bustling Orventzku, still reeling from the lockdown’s aftermath.

Saint Veronica placed her hands on her hips, surveying the murmuring townsfolk.

“Hmm….”

There were more of them than she had anticipated.

Near the collapse site, not a single ant could be found due to the military personally escorting civilians. But here, it was different.

“It seems the residents here didn’t evacuate. Or rather, they weren’t able to?”

“Yes, Saint. They say there isn’t a city with the capacity to take them in.”

Though the city boasted a population of 330,000, that was merely a statistic from the past.

After five years of conflict, numerous refugees had flooded into Orventzku, and its population had long since increased to about 410,000.

Currently, most cities in the north were severely overcrowded.

“Well, some cities have fallen during the war.”

Transferring residents to other cities was unfeasible, and setting up temporary refugee camps outside posed climate issues.

In shelters, people were freezing to death overnight; how could they just throw residents onto the wide-open plains?

Ultimately, as they found themselves stuck in this predicament, a battle had to take place in the city that still had residents remaining.

An armored knight appeared before Veronica, who was commanding the forces of the Inquisition.

The saint asked the knight, “Any unusual findings during the search?”

“No, Saint. None have been discovered so far.”

“What about communication?”

The knight shook his head. It seemed communication was still down.

Suddenly, Veronica recalled her siblings who had set off in another direction. Both her siblings and the Hero were not the type to fall easily, yet the worry refused to dissipate.

Still, it was somewhat reassuring that they were moving with trusted companions.

Veronica issued a new command.

“Search thoroughly. A demon of that caliber surely couldn’t have gone far.”

At that moment, a priest dashed over, panting. He was one of the Inquisition Officers on rear guard duty.

“What’s happening?”

“Up, up in the sky…!”

Veronica turned her head.

What caught her eye over her shoulder was the dark blue night sky of Orventzku.

A fierce blaze erupted skyward, enough to faintly illuminate the entire city, amidst a procession of stars that seemed about to pour down upon them.

It was the signal they had been waiting for.

—

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

Tearing apart the sacred text from which pure white divinity flowed, Lucia ripped at the pages as they fluttered uncontrollably around.

A dazzling light was accompanied by a sudden gust of wind.

Her brilliant blonde hair danced in the breeze, reflecting the torn pages of the holy book as they too followed suit.

– (Swoosh!)

The ripped sheets soared like paper boats carried down a flowing river, sticking everywhere they landed.

Every crevice was piled high with wet bricks encased in snow, pooled blood from refugee casualties stained the shattered asphalt. The dark telephone poles stood silent against the backdrop of a demon’s fiery remains.

One page, two pages, three… hundreds of sheets surged as they threatened to cover the world.

The wave of paper crashing like a tsunami on the shoreline rapidly swept against walls, floors, and even the demon’s body.

Pages dense with verses transcribed by God’s disciples spread like a net, clinging to the demon’s form. Despite the flames enveloping it, the paper remained entirely unburned as it slapped against the monster. It was a bizarre sight.

Like objects being packaged with newspaper, the sheets clung to the demon, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian mummies.

The only difference was that mummies didn’t move once they were dead, whereas this creature was very much alive and thrashing about.

– (Grrrrrrr…)

A low growl echoed around them. Aside from the part of its mouth that the sheets didn’t cover, the beast was laid low, buried under the paper.

The demon couldn’t utter human language nor screech in agony; it merely buried its head in the muck, struggling to escape like the wolf from Norse mythology, desperately trying to break free from its bindings.

The syllables it emitted seemed impossible for any human to reproduce.

The suppressed demon howled in beastly tones.

I aimed my rifle at the demon and asked Lucia, “…Is it sealed?”

“Not exactly,” she said, shaking her head with a deadpan expression. It was a rare sight.

“It’s merely tied temporarily. It’s vulnerable to outside attacks, and once my divinity wanes, it will awaken—”

With a snap, Lucia closed the sacred text loudly, adding, “By then, reinforcements will surely arrive.”

Reinforcements, eh?

“Well, that’s heartwarming to hear.”

They say overwhelming force is a strategy rich in human history. Even in the prehistoric era, images of humans hunting mammoths using stones and spears are found in the Dong-a Tree diary of Goguryeo.

But that’s that, and this is this.

The demon was subdued yet still breathing. They couldn’t afford to just wait idly until reinforcements arrived.

I raised my rifle and took aim. Target practice in this street would be a waste of time, so I promptly pulled the trigger.

– (Bang! Bang! Bang!)

Three shots rang out as bullets embedded themselves in its body. The demon, bound by paper and pressed against the ground, jerked violently.

However,

– (Grrrrrrr…)

The demon did not die.

It continued to make beastly sounds, alive and writhing.

Pushing up my helmet that had slipped down, I glanced at Lucia. The cool night air brushed against my forehead, causing beads of sweat to form, while the chilling breeze swept past.

“…Damn. It doesn’t even die from blessed bullets.”

“It’s not a creature you can just take down easily. Even as a minion, a demon is still a demon.”

Lucia stared down at the demon with an oddly calm demeanor. For reasons unknown, she seemed somewhat accustomed to these kinds of situations.

She slightly raised her rifle and pulled the trigger. Moments later, I learned something new—the fact that even blessed bullets wouldn’t kill the demon.

I muttered a curse under my breath.

“…Damn it.”

“Saint Veronica will be here soon, so let’s wait. I will keep an eye on this one. Please, attend to others.”

“Understood, Lucia.”

Lucia, who had subdued the demon, didn’t take her eyes off it. In the meantime, Francesca and Camila assessed the condition of the people found at the scene.

The spot the demon had hunched over was a vacant lot between a shopping arcade, resembling a back alley of Harlem from a typical American movie.

This dirty space, often used as a trash heap or smoking area, was now serving as shelter for stranded refugees.

“Is anyone alive?”

“…No. They’re all dead.”

Francesca removed her hand from the throat of a fallen refugee. Their ragged clothes, layered thickly as if from homelessness, bore marks of merciless attacks, torn and stained with dried blood.

It seemed these were the owners of the items they had seen on their way here. There were four corpses, all adults of varying ages. A frown creased Francesca’s brow.

“It looks like they had no connections in the city and couldn’t meet the conditions to enter a refuge. They must have banded together to survive.”

As she withdrew the sling from her neck, she murmured quietly.

“Why on earth did they attack? If they’d broken their seal, wouldn’t it have been better just to escape instead of lingering around?”

“I have no idea about that, either.”

I cast a sideways glance at the subdued demon. Lucia was pouring holy water from the tips of her fingers onto it.

As the droplets touched its body, the demon writhed, struggling like a beast caught in a net. A horrific scream that seemed a blend of male and female voices echoed between the buildings, shaking the complex.

From the demon’s screech, reminiscent of a soul fallen into hell, I felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

“…….”

Overcome with this strange sense of familiarity, I decided to step away briefly to check the surroundings.

—

After about five minutes of patrolling nearby buildings and the area, I found nothing unusual.

There were no sudden eruptions of Muspel like last time, nor were there any handlers jumping out to threaten us, akin to necromancers.

Having confirmed the area was safe, I summarized the current situation.

The demon was subdued.

Everyone was safe, and I had no injuries myself. There were no casualties, not even injuries.

However, there had been civilian casualties during the suppression. The count was four. They had fallen to the demon before we arrived. There were no survivors.

Given that civilians had died due to the demon rather than from us, there shouldn’t be any controversy in future evaluations. The Abas news outlets wouldn’t air stories like “Defense Attaché stationed in the Kien Empire unintentionally kills multiple civilians during military operations…”

So I could comfortably await Veronica’s arrival. Once I melted that holy bullet into its head, it would take an express train to hell.

I organized my thoughts and returned to the open area without veering off the side path to inform my group of the situation.

“The area is safe. I took a look around and there’s no one passing by, and no one peeking from the outside.”

Judging that it wouldn’t be an issue to rest a little until Saint Veronica arrived, I uncapped a bottle of water I had pulled from the bag I had tossed aside during the battle.

“Lucia, Francesca. Let’s share it little by little.”

“Thank you.”

“Thanks, Colonel.”

“Take a drink and rest until support arrives.”

Francesca leaned against the stair railing while resting with the bottle of water she received. Meanwhile, Lucia only took a sip, her eyes never leaving the demon.

“Go and rest, Lucia. I’ll keep my eyes on the demon.”

“No, I should… keep watch…”

“Enough already. You should rest with Francesca. When Saint Veronica arrives, you two will need to catch the demon together. Save your strength until then.”

“….”

Lucia stared at me as if wanting to say something, before firmly closing her quivering lips and nodding her head.

“By the way, where’s Camila?”

“She went into that building where the door opened earlier. She said she would send a signal so the others wouldn’t get lost.”

“You two stay here and keep the demon in check. I’ll find her and bring her back quickly.”

Finding Camila was easier than I thought. She was at the very top of the building with the most floors.

As I climbed the stairs, where the cracked paint and uneven concrete were visible, I found Camila standing outside the wide-open door.

The dense Milky Way flowed above me as Camila silently gazed at the city shrouded in darkness.

After scanning the rooftop briefly and confirming there were no dangers, I approached her. Orventzku was still eerily quiet.

“Are you okay?”

I spoke to Camila.

“I heard you went to send a signal, so I was worried you went alone. Did you get any replies from the other side?”

There was no answer.

As the gentle wind blew her hair, Camila continued to look away from me at the city.

“Did any soldiers or inquisitors pass by? Veronica went the other way, so it might take her some time to arrive.”

“….”

“…Camila?”

Just as I adjusted the length of my sling over my neck, a strange déjà vu washed over me. My hand, which had been adjusting the sling, gradually slowed down.

Tracking the footsteps, we arrived at the open area and engaged the demon. I fired the first shot, taking initiative against the demon, and Camila, Francesca, and Lucia joined in to launch their attacks.

The demon roared and thrashed about. It dodged the attacks left and right, trying to seize an opening to lunge at me with its jaws.

I couldn’t check the clock, but it felt like we’d been fighting for about ten minutes.

During that time, we fought fiercely against the demon. We shot guns, swung swords, threw punches, and unleashed flames.

Yeah, we fought vigorously.

Very vigorously, and loudly.

What I was curious about was exactly that part.

The noise.

How could it be that, having fought so loudly, the city remained silent?

“….”

I raised my head to survey my surroundings. The sealed Orventzku was eerily silent.

Looking back, there were many oddities.

No matter how sealed the city was, it housed around 330,000 people. Combined with the influx of refugees after the conflict, it was expected that over 400,000 resided within.

To prepare for emergencies, the Military Government Headquarters had evacuated all civilians from areas near the collapse site, where the forces of the barrier and evil were located, to minimize civilian casualties in the event of a confrontation. However, evacuating the entire city was impractical, so civilians living farther from the collapse site were not evacuated.

In other words, the place where we were fighting the demon was a zone where civilian evacuations hadn’t taken place.

In the distant houses, it was implied that someone had managed to survive today and was preparing for tomorrow.

Yet the residents showed no interest in the outside situation.

Even if the military had put out a loudspeaker announcement telling people not to come outside, there was still fighting going on. Gunfire echoed throughout the sealed city, but the residents didn’t even peek out their windows.

That wasn’t the only strangeness.

While we were fighting the demon, we made a significant amount of noise. Gunshots, explosions, and the demon’s roars, among other sounds. If nothing else, explosions and gunfire would undoubtedly attract the attention of the military searching other areas.

Everyone must have known what was happening in Orventzku, so someone engaging in battle with a demon would have at least caught their attention. If no one else, the Magicians from the Magic Tower would have come running, seeing as they could fly through the sky.

Yet, since the engagement began, not a single person had come looking for us, even as the battle ended.

Neither the Empire nor the Cult, not even the Magic Tower. Not even Veronica, who had promised to signal us in case of an emergency.

No one came looking for us.

As if we didn’t exist.

Once that thought crossed my mind, goosebumps broke out on my arms that I had rolled up.

“…We need to get out of here. Let’s go down.”

“…….”

“Camila, I’m serious. I’m not joking.”

“…….”

Camila didn’t respond.

The cursed gray city cloaked in darkness, the radio, Veronica, and Camila. None of them answered me.

As my heightened sense began to fade, the situation around me came into focus. What once seemed like an ordinary city now felt like a grotesque dungeon.

Even with a helmet on, I could feel the hairs on my head stand on end. We needed to get out of here right away. In that moment when my mind fixated on that thought, I grabbed Camila’s shoulder and turned her towards me.

“…Camila!”

As she spun around abruptly, she reached out and grasped my throat.

Torn clothes in various places, ragged hair, and two dark eyes inches from mine.

Between her slightly parted lips flowed the disgusting scent of rotting corpses.

Her face leaned in close, and she grinned widely, babbling in Kien.

“I told you, if you want to live, run away.”

My throat tightened. I couldn’t breathe.

The blood pooled in my head, unable to reach my brain, and consciousness began to fade slowly. A ringing filled my ears.

Fleeting vision and a world splitting into three directions. The specter of time passing by.

As my vision blurred and my consciousness descended, I recalled the survival training I’d had before joining the company. It felt like I was sinking deep into the ocean once again. Dark, cold seawater enveloped my body.

The scent of the funeral home pierced my nose with clarity. A familiar wailing was drawing closer behind me.

A mocking laughter cut through the ringing.

And a feeble voice.

I tried to escape, but I couldn’t get away.

*

“Wake the fuck up! You’ll all die like this!”

Suddenly, a distinctly different English voice from my American friends rang out. It was the foul curse that started with “Wake the fuck up.”

My mind snapped back into focus. My eyes opened, and the air I had been holding burst forth, filling my lungs with the cold air.

I gasped as if swept away by a rapid current. I quickly choked on it and began coughing violently.

In front of me lay a monster with its skull crushed in. With a sickening sound, its jaw was ripped off as it slammed its head against the wall. I saw Lucia wielding silver knuckles, blood dripping from them.

Beside her was Camila. She was crouched behind a trash can acting as cover while firing her rifle at the monsters.

-Tada-da-da-da! Tada-da-da-da!

Amidst the chaos, I recognized the firearm Camila held. It was the one I had brought.

While flailing my limp arms through the air, trying to lift my unresponsive body, someone forced me back down.

Before me stood a beautiful woman who looked like she had lived a sheltered life. It was Francesca who pushed me down.

She held a bandage in her hand.

“…Francesca?”

“Don’t move. Colonel, you’ve hurt your head. You’ve probably had a concussion if you’ve been unconscious for a while.”

Gunfire. Combat. Monsters. Unconsciousness. Fainting.

A flood of information washed over me.

I barely forced my mouth, which hadn’t opened properly, to ask what in the world was happening.

The reply was quite simple.

Camila, dropping a magazine on the floor, shouted urgently.

“Can’t you see? We’re screwed!”

A truly kind explanation.

 

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