“Hey, Talitta. I’ve been chosen as a ‘Star Reader’ and given a divine mission.”

The one who confided this to Talitta was Mariuri, a fellow member of the People of Shudrak.

The People of Shudrak are all born and raised in Badheim Forest, spending their lives in this secluded community. Thus, the bond among the villagers is akin to that of family, and Mariuri is no exception.

However, Mariuri held a special closeness to Talitta. The reason is that they were soul sisters, born on the same day in the same place, sharing the same first cries of life.

In Shudrak, it is believed that children born on the same day possess a connection of the soul.

This connection is thought to be stronger than even that of siblings, and they are regarded as halves of one another. This is an age-old custom in Shudrak, wherein soul sisters are bound by a profound bond. Kuna and Holly are also soul sisters, having been born on the same day.

Considering their fondness for one another, one can understand the existence of bonds that transcend blood ties.

With her beautiful Shudrak features, Mariuri had her black hair dyed pink at the tips, making her Talitta’s soul sister.

She was gentle and calm, which made her a perfect match for the shy, introverted Talitta.

Talitta often consulted her soul sister about matters concerning her real sister. As the future leader of their clan, Talitta found herself insecure and sought her guidance when she felt uncertain.

With Mariuri, any conflict or embarrassing anxiety could be confessed naturally.

So when Mariuri mentioned having a secret she wanted to confide in Talitta, the latter felt a joyous responsibility to respond to that trust.

And then, Mariuri said—

“That I have been chosen as a ‘Star Reader’ and have been given a critical divine mission.”

“Fulfilling a divine mission is an important role of a ‘Star Reader.’ It is truly an incredible honor, Talitta!”

“I…I don’t really understand… What does the heavens say to you, Mariuri?”

“It’s not the heavens, Talitta. The stars convey it. The stars provide the roles we’re to play. A very, very important role… Honestly, I wasn’t planning to tell anyone… But…”

“—”

“You are my soul sister.”

With that smile, Mariuri turned back, and Talitta found herself at a loss for words in response to her trust.

Only a profound secret shared by Mariuri, her soul sister. The thought of disclosing it to anyone else never crossed Talitta’s mind.

Moreover, such notions could be dismissed as mere whims, quickly fading away.

It didn’t need to be taken seriously; it was just a temporary distraction from Mariuri’s problems.

However, changes were subtly yet surely manifesting as abnormal.

On one particular day.

When Talitta and Mizelda returned from a hunt, they found Mariuri, who was watching over the village children, singing an unfamiliar song. —It was a strange occurrence.

In the village, the People of Shudrak are divided into two roles.

One group leaves the village to hunt for their livelihood. Talitta, Mizelda, and many others belong to this category.

The other group stays in the village, working as guardians to raise children and protect their homeland.

Mariuri was in the guardian role.

She was hopelessly unskilled at hunting, always missing her targets. However, she excelled at cooking, sewing, and telling stories and songs to children.

So, it wasn’t odd for Mariuri to sing.

Mariuri was known for her singing talent, and during feasts, she was constantly asked to perform.

Meanwhile, Talitta struggled with the guardian role, singing being one of her weak points. Truly, it was as if they were a single entity; neither could fulfill their roles adequately alone.

Yet, despite this—

“Mariuri’s song is something I don’t remember.”

“Oh, Elder Sister…”

“But it’s a lovely song. It feels nice.”

Mizelda, who paused at the same song, didn’t pay attention to the strangeness.

Neither did Kuna, Holly, or others. Even when they realized Mariuri was singing an unfamiliar song, they didn’t think about what that could mean.

Only Talitta feared and felt uneasy about the song’s origin.

Mariuri had spoken of a divine mission and that the stars conveyed her role.

What if she claimed she learned the song from the stars too?

“No, Talitta. That’s a misunderstanding. I’m not taught by the stars; I’m just singing songs I already know.”

“Songs you know?”

“Yes, songs I know… It’s not me; it’s other ‘Star Readers’ who…”

“—I don’t understand!”

What Mariuri said wasn’t the answer Talitta had feared.

But, in a sense, it was beyond the fear Talitta had.

The mention of other ‘Star Readers’ was evidence that Mariuri hadn’t forgotten the absurdity she spoke of earlier. The story was still ongoing. —No, it was getting worse.

Yet Mariuri, whose understanding of ‘Star Readers’ remained lost on Talitta, wore a sad expression.

It felt like she was betraying her trust, and Talitta writhed in incomprehensible pain.

—Even after that, Mariuri’s infatuation with ‘Star Readers’ continued.

Every day, she shared unknown knowledge, sang unknown songs, told unknown stories, and spent her days fulfilling some unknown divine mission.

That was a Mariuri Talitta didn’t recognize.

Until now, whenever Talitta had to make a decision in life, she had never failed to seek Mariuri’s opinion. Such was the same for Mariuri, even regarding the name of her daughter.

That being said, Mariuri’s focus now lay upon the heavens.

Gradually, her life became more and more entwined with the stars and bound by this divine mission rather than placing priority on anything else over Talitta or her daughter.

Someone, not of the stars, was whispering to her.

She’d once doubted and discreetly observed Mariuri’s surroundings. But as a guardian, she rarely left the village to gain outside knowledge.

It truly seemed that the stars were whispering all sorts of things into Mariuri’s ears.

“Are you the one misleading Mariuri?”

She looked up at the night sky, questioning the stars that became visible through the trees.

But the stars that spoke to Mariuri wouldn’t respond to Talitta, who was spiritually connected to her.

The unknown knowledge, the unheard songs, and the divinely mandated roles—those were all lost to her.

—“Return my soul sister!”

Drawing the bowstring tightly, Talitta aimed at the most brilliant star in the night sky.

As she released the strung arrow, a sharp arrow flew toward the night sky—with no destination, falling emptily.

The stars wouldn’t even acknowledge the will of rebellion emerging from Talitta.

The stars remained silent. Offering no divine mission.

So what exactly did transform Mariuri? She couldn’t comprehend it.

And she had no idea to whom she should share this lament.

All her unvoiced worries and sufferings had been confided in Mariuri. So to whom should she reveal her troubles borne from Mariuri?

Surely, her elder sister wouldn’t understand. Her sister was strong and composed.

She wouldn’t sulk or hesitate over anything. Moreover, the dread of confiding in her sister wasn’t solely tied to the risk of lacking empathy.

The way of the People of Shudrak contradicted whom Mariuri had become.

Would their future chief, Mizelda, acknowledge that? Or could Mariuri end up being driven out of the forest due to dangerous ideologies?

In the past, members of their clan had been exiled, never to return again.

She didn’t want to be unable to see Mariuri.

Even if the current Mariuri had changed from the soul sister who once connected with Talitta.

Thus, Talitta bottled up her worries deep within her heart.

And then—

“—What should I do, Talitta? I am a ‘Star Reader’.”

—And so, the events of that day began once again, reminiscent of the nightmares she saw every night.

△▼△▼△▼△

Feeling the shifts in the war’s outcome, everyone on the battlefield began responding in their own ways.

At this point, none could afford to fall behind while keeping their sensory awareness heightened.

The Great Calamity rampaged and a chaotic shadow swallowed the surroundings, carving and expanding the end.

However, those who had resolved to resist it stood unwavering. This was the invaluable reward granted to those who had crossed the initial wall.

To challenge the Great Calamity, specific criteria must be met.

That is, one must be a warrior. —This means someone with the power to fight. Simultaneously, it indicates someone with the heart to resist.

Without either strength or spirit, one could not stand as a warrior on the battlefield.

Conversely, if one could prove they possessed both, there was no wall barring them from confronting the Great Calamity.

“Ugh!”

Louis let out a soundless cry, gritting her teeth as she dodged the attacks of the shadow.

She had no ties whatsoever to the Chaos Frame, being entirely separated from the fate of this city. Whether the city crumbled or not was irrelevant.

The young girl, looking frail and weak, desperately clung to the Great Calamity for a reason beyond that.

If that reason provided the power and heart for Louis, then nobody had the right to stop her.

And this wasn’t just the case for Louis.

Medium, swinging her wild blade with a petite frame, Al, with his Azure Dragon Blade aimed at his own neck, Kafma, mobilizing the power of the “Insect” within him, and the citizens of Magic City, each possessed an equal resolution to confront the Great Calamity as Louis did.

Though their reasons varied, everyone had a reason for defying the Great Calamity intent on destroying the Magic City.

For those who crossed the first wall, the Great Calamity’s actions were straightforward and, despite its danger, not enough to leave them perplexed.

—The Great Calamity is not a living being. That is the most significant factor.

The Great Calamity had become a disaster of that nature, effectively a manifestation of annihilation.

Its shadows, which devour and obliterate all that they touch, and its amorphous body do not give confidence that their attacks had landed. —Yet, that was all.

“Can’t respond to our attacks or even change its actions. It hasn’t got a brain.”

Al dashed through the battlefield, using the rubble as stepping stones, giving commands while glaring at the Great Calamity.

Though the fear oozing from his core had no method of erasing, his false bravado and situational awareness allowed him to maintain some peace of mind, granting him space to think.

The actions of the Great Calamity were blatantly one-patterned.

It swatted away whatever approached and either consumed it or, if there was no interference, wriggled around to expand further devastation.

However, the defensive forces, including Al, prevented that further expansion of the Great Calamity.

By attacking, becoming targets for the surging shadows, and feeding it to stall its chewing time—the cycle continued.

Had the Great Calamity been a living being, it would have learned and adapted, drastically altering the situation.

Perhaps if emotions flared, changes to its patterns would have occurred, and thus the battlefield would have shifted. However, that didn’t happen, allowing this force to barely hold it back.

However—

“—All right, everyone, prepare to fall back!”

With a single step, the ground crushed, and a shockwave erupted, splitting the Great Calamity’s massive form in two.

Naturally, the Great Calamity writhed and quickly returned to its original single form, but the absolute authority exerted by the lady of this Magic City was capable of delivering visible damage.

Having executed this feat, Yorna Mishigure struck the ground with her high heel, fiercely preventing a wave of shadows crashing toward them as though peeling the earth from its surface.

“Yorna-chan!”

“Fall back! It pains me to admit it, but we must do as that man says.”

“That man? You mean Abel?”

Conversations flew amidst the maelstrom as Medium asked, and Yorna lowered her delicate chin. Her slanted eyes gazed at the handsome man with a demonic mask, standing in a place overlooking the battlefield.

Though he had no participation in the fight, the fact that he was still there, not fleeing, was testament to a certain tenacity.

Regardless, the perceptiveness delving through his mind transmuted into strategies conveyed to Yorna, who resolved to execute them.

Thus—

“—I will swallow this city whole, and I will make it explode from within. Other than that, there’s no way to stamp out that calamity’s chaos.”

“Can you do it?”

“If a single castle isn’t enough, then we must throw an entire city at it. If that’s not enough, then I must become Empress and hurl the entire nation at it.”

“That sort of thing—you mustn’t say that as a mere subject!”

Upon hearing Yorna’s plan, Kafma, flustered, raised his voice and then switched his expression immediately, nodding, “Understood.”

He realized that Yorna’s decision to sacrifice the city was a choice that would bring her painful cuts.

When Kafma responded with a terse “Understood,” Yorna slightly lowered her gaze, soon blossoming into a soft smile.

“It’s nothing. As long as I and those who love me are gathered, this shape of the city will be easily restored. —Peace shall be with me.”

No one raised objections to Yorna placing her hand on her chest and declaring such.

The truth was, they didn’t know how powerful Yorna’s trump card would be, but they understood very well that there was no other definitive move against the Great Calamity.

Thus—

“—Everyone, fight while falling back! Quickly!”

The command yelled by Medium signified the execution of the final strategy in the battle for the Magic City.

△▼△▼△▼△

—The night the recurring nightmare began was a cold night with a pale moon and frosty skin.

Mariuri had begun claiming herself a ‘Star Reader,’ showcasing unknown knowledge.

While her companions paid no mind to the sources of this knowledge, Talitta felt her anxiety grow day by day. Yet, she could not reveal her burdens to anyone.

Mariuri hadn’t told anyone apart from Talitta that she had become a ‘Star Reader.’ It wasn’t out of strategy but rather a simple matter of bonds.

There existed oaths and secrets exchanged only among soul sisters.

Kuna and Holly, who shared strong affiliations with Shudrak, must also have secrets among each other that they haven’t shared with other tribesfolk.

For Mariuri, that was the role of being a ‘Star Reader,’ one that she had imparted to Talitta, trusting her.

Therefore, Talitta’s burdens would remain unshared, gnawing at her heart for an eternity.

Yet, those days would abruptly come to a conclusion, so unexpectedly.

That was—

“—What do I do, Talitta? I am a ‘Star Reader.’”

With astonishment, those words uttered by Mariuri paralyzed Talitta in place.

That’s because Mariuri didn’t just spill a frail lament, but alongside that, there was the scarlet blood soaking her chest.

She was never exceptionally sturdy of body.

It wasn’t merely her inexperience that made her a Guardian instead of a Hunter; her frailty had influenced that choice as well.

As a child, she often succumbed to illness. Now that she had grown, the frequency likely diminished as everyone had been led into a false sense of security.

The illness insidiously devoured her from within, far worse than anyone could imagine.

With a face devoid of color, Mariuri continually coughed blood. It was apparent to all that her body was growing weaker by the day, and the flame of her life was nearing extinguishment.

Therefore—

“It all comes down to Mariuri’s will, Talitta.”

“Elder Sister, no…”

“Stay with Mariuri until the end. That is the duty of soul sisters.”

As she gave her drugged brew, Mizelda’s words weighed heavily on Talitta.

The duties of soul sisters felt as immense as a divine mission.

She was told to fulfill it without fail, as though it were a divine decree from the heavens.

Other Shudrak members, including Kuna and Holly—longtime friends who interacted frequently with Mariuri—exchanged their words with her and left a lasting remark for Talitta.

Everyone understood this was the last chance to talk to Mariuri.

And only Talitta, born on the same day as her but destined to die on a different one, would witness Mariuri’s final moments.

“Mama…”

Mariuri’s young daughter, still unaware of the circumstances, clasped her mother’s hand and gently rubbed her cheek against it.

Prompted by those around her, the innocent daughter said her farewell, convinced she would see her mother again tomorrow, just as her ailing mother hugged her child one last time.

“Good night.”

Bidding farewell to her child, together with other villagers who exchanged words in turn, Mariuri faced her impending death with dignity.

That inner resilience was truly the Mariuri Talitta believed in and loved.

However—

“What do I do, Talitta? I still haven’t fulfilled my divine mission…”

“Mariuri…”

“Having left that unfulfilled—what for… what am I living for?”

The moment Talitta was left with Mariuri, all tension snapped with a sound.

As blood drained from her face more than just in shock, Mariuri was not worried about impending ‘death’ or her child’s future but about the incomprehensible whispers of the stars.

What for, her eyes welled with tears, despairing.

In that gaze, Talitta found her own despair was deeper than Mariuri’s.

“Are you still saying such things…?!”

“Talitta…”

“The divine mission is nothing! It doesn’t exist! You are Mariuri of Shudrak! You are nothing but that! What else do you desire?!”

To live as one of Shudrak and to die as one of Shudrak.

That is what should be of utmost importance and priority.

What Mariuri, a member of Shudrak needed to—

“—is the meaning of her birth.”

“…Meaning?”

“That is what I wish for!”

At such a moment, Mariuri, identifying such value in her divine mission, pierced Talitta’s heart.

Born in Shudrak, living as Shudrak, and dying as Shudrak.

What more could she possibly wish for?

—She had a daughter. Talitta was there. Shudrak was there. Yet she yearned for meaning.

In that moment, Mariuri negated the blood that flowed within her veins as meaningless.

Betraying her blood, she proclaimed that the mere whispers of the stars were of far more worth.

That was an unforgivable betrayal to Talitta.

Therefore—

“—Please, just stop it.”

“—”

“I am your soul sister… for you to speak of the meaning of birth in front of me—”

Unable to bear hearing any more, Talitta expressed her will towards Mariuri with a cold blade.

The tip of the drawn dagger was gently pressed against Mariuri’s pale throat. The coolness and sharpness of the blade made Talitta hope Mariuri would regain her senses and retract her words.

Of course, this threat may not reach Mariuri, who stood before ‘death.’

Still, Talitta couldn’t think of anything else.

Thus was the biggest failure of her life.

“Ah, you are right, Talitta. —I had you.”

“What?”

With a bloodless face, Mariuri focused on Talitta.

The color in her eyes was unlike any Mariuri Talitta had ever known, causing her to stiffen.

That instant became critical. —For Mariuri.

“Mariuri?!”

Mariuri’s slender hand pressed against Talitta’s hand, pushing the blade downward.

Talitta instinctively tried to resist, but confusion for a moment blocking her, Mariuri’s strength yet uncharacteristically proved insurmountable.

The blade intended to oppose the thick skin of beasts.

Shapely, it tore through Mariuri’s flesh like water, blood seeping out. An unpleasant sound and sensation echoed, and they felt the dagger pierce Mariuri’s chest with fatal intent.

“Quickly…! Get a healer…!”

“It’s too late, Talitta! You have a role to play…!”

“Stop saying such foolishness! Not now, of all times…”

“Listen to me!”

“—”

A scream wrapped up in blood—no, it was literally a cry spewed with blood.

With the dagger embedded in her chest, Mariuri’s life was diminishing, but her arms wouldn’t release Talitta. Foam of blood bubbled at her lips as she gazed at Talitta.

Clinging to the last flickering light of life, she brutally clung to it while forcefully clawing at it,

“Beyond a thousand nights, I will… you will encounter a traveler…”

“—”

“That traveler is allied with the ‘Great Calamity’… therefore, you MUST kill them!”

“Mariuri…”

“Kill… them… or else it’ll—”

“Mariuri!? …Mariuri!!”

The painful voice spun out with blood drained away, stealing Talitta’s strength.

Before she knew it, Mariuri’s once-believable strength vanished. At that moment, she should’ve stood up and called for help. —No, that was futile; calling for assistance was too late.

Mariuri’s soul was already claimed by death, and at the brink of being taken away.

What delayed that inevitability even by a moment was nothing but Mariuri’s own obsessive thoughts.

“A traveler with black hair and eyes… you must kill him!”

“——”

“To stop the Great Calamity, Talitta… that is my role… I cannot fulfill it anymore… so please, Talitta… my soul sister…”

“You’re asking me to do that here…?!”

Talitta hated Mariuri’s last desperate plea, filled with sanguine blood as she used her remaining strength.

Up until now, Talitta had desperately hoped to keep Mariuri from parting, explaining their soul connection. Yet at this moment, Mariuri had gone and used that very connection against her.

It was too cowardly, and those words struck at Talitta’s heart.

Listening to Talitta’s tear-filled voice, Mariuri’s eyes flickered.

At that moment, strength momentarily faded from Mariuri’s body, her head dropping gently.

“—A, a ta.”

“Mariuri?”

“—”

“Mariuri!!”

At the end, a frail whisper escaped her lips, and that was the last breath.

Mariuri’s body slumped, still impaled with the dagger, as her heartbeat ceased. Talitta spent a few seconds in shock before she exploded out of the hut, seeking her sisters.

But—

“—”

As Talitta flung open the hut’s door, her feet halted.

There, sitting where she shouldn’t be, was a small shadow.

Perhaps it was concern for her ailing mother, or the child felt an ill omen despite her youth.

Regardless, that young child was showing her exceptional qualities that could make her a great hunter, predicated on the night she must never reveal such potential to the adults.

Covered in her mother’s blood, the weeping Talitta was gazed upon by Utakata.

△▼△▼△▼△

The shadow of the Great Calamity rampaged, and the violently quaking earth shattered the Magic City from within.

Yorna’s decision had reached the inhabitants of the Magic City, and each one abandoned the place they had called home.

It was a painful resolution. For them, this land had received them when they had nowhere else to go, a last refuge, offering them the freedom to not have to hide.

Could they not lament the loss of every single one of those things?

But—

“If there’s life, I’ll rescue it, so you can behold a new Magic City; we must hurry and not lose any time!”

The lady of the Magic City, the last fortress for the forsaken, proclaimed so, and the people ran, believing in their rebirth and reconstruction, fleeing their cherished homes behind.

Destruction consumed the Magic City as the Great Calamity expanded its scope.

As the shadow grew more substantial, the writhing figure of pitch-black mass doubled and quadrupled in size before their very eyes.

The increase in scale and shadows also meant an escalation in the threat level of the Great Calamity.

The range over which it swiped expanded in one swoop. Observing the devastation wrought upon the land and streets, Yorna was amazed by the remarkable contributions of Al, the hero who aimed to minimize human losses.

“Medium! Fall back! It’s too much for you now! It’s time to escape!”

“Ugh! How frustrating! But I’m so sorry!”

Having trusted Al’s judgment, Medium turned and darted away, hefting her wild blade.

The barrage of shadows shot out, pursued by thorny barricades that arose as walls, allowing the small yet brave girl to play the crucial part of a decoy to facilitate her escape.

“Thank you, antenna guy! But you should be getting out too…”

“None of that! I’m Kafma Ilurukusu! I will NOT just retreat!”

“Hey, I thought you seemed like a character who would say that, but you really mean it.”

“What?!”

“Nothing.”

Shrugging, Al swayed his head at Kafma’s thunderous outburst.

Honestly, without Kafma’s support, the battle against the Great Calamity would have been far more perilous. He was thankful for the help, yet the guy’s overbearing manner was wearing him down.

In any case—

“—Fox lady!”

“That’s an unsettling way to address me, but I’m aware of what you mean,” Yorna replied, nodding with her chin down.

Having escaped the city’s center to the outer garden, the withdrawal from the Great Calamity was coming to a head as the decision to abandon the Magic City was beginning to spread.

The retreat of the inhabitants was nearing completion. All that remained was to make the calamity that had swallowed the Magic City suffer the consequences of its actions. —Still, perhaps by some twist of fate, that need wouldn’t arise at all.

“That, I suppose, is a lingering thought.”

Suddenly, the Great Calamity reached its limits, crumbling from its fringes.

Thus none would witness a convenient miracle where it vanished or exposed a weakness granting free range to attack.

Through experience, they realized—this Great Calamity was an inexhaustible source of devastation.

If it wasn’t stopped, not just the Magic City but many, many others would be ensnared in suffering.

To prevent that, they must sacrifice the treasured Magic City.

“—”

Yorna closed her eyes, momentarily lost in hesitation and regret.

Yorna’s Soul Marriage Technique uniquely possessed a peculiar nature in among its history.

Typically, the total amount of soul one individual can hold does not differ much, even with considerable variance in individual capacity. However, Yorna held a soul size many thousands of times greater than that of others due to certain circumstances.

This hadn’t been desired power. If anything, she might have wished to relinquish it.

The results brought her where she was now, but she hadn’t anticipated the necessity of applying it. —No, one could say she had shied away from thinking about it.

Therefore, when a moment of crisis approached, she found herself vacillating.

That—

“—was seen through by that man.”

Yorna glanced back at the handsome man with the demonic mask, visible from afar.

Standing within the outskirts of the Magic City, which was doomed to destruction, he stood motionless with his arms crossed. His emotionless gaze possessed a certainty that sacrificing for the sake of stopping the Great Calamity was simply the expected reality.

Even so, the fact that he was not moving yet daring to watch the outcome might have been his way of showing consideration for Yorna’s decision.

“—That foolish man!”

In that instant, Al shouted a curse at the Great Calamity with unwavering intensity, reaching her eardrums.

When she saw Al, who had been biting back bitter criticism at the Great Calamity, she realized his understanding of the situation.

There, darting around the rubble while evading debris and the residuals of shadows, was a small figure—Louis.

With her golden hair bouncing, the girl wearing white attire dirty with dust energetically engaged the Great Calamity.

Louis had one objective—the black-haired boy who stood at the heart of that apocalypse.

“That child…”

Having discerned the impossibility of any plan to save him, Yorna reluctantly accepted the painful choice.

Perhaps that would cause her more anguish than even abandoning the city.

If the current strategy succeeded, the once-mellow Great Calamity would surely reclaim those it had engulfed. Among that, perhaps was included that boy with black hair.

Yet, she knew well that the possibility was smaller than a needle’s eye.

So she had also realized that Louis’s desperate resistance could end up in futility.

“—I must pull that girl back!”

“Get lost! That kid should be left alone! I mean, what about her…?!”

“What about that girl?!”

Al, glaring agitatedly at Al, hesitated from the intensity of Kafma’s ferocity.

Yorna wanted to save Louis. —If Louis’s desire couldn’t be fulfilled, she at least wanted to preserve her life.

That perhaps even had the stranglehold of dying together could signify happiness.

Yet Louis too might wish for that against the boy swept away by darkness.

“Damn it! Why do I have to worry about that girl?! I’ll curse you, brother!”

With vehement outcries, Al charged on with everyone.

Heading towards Louis, who deftly maneuvered against the amorphous nightmare, the agile girl dodged Al’s intended aim at the Great Calamity, yet—

“I can see it!”

“Uh?!”

Ducking beneath the coming rain of rubble and the lingering shadows, Al rounded up, snatching away Louis’s body without even pausing.

In the meantime, Louis struggled in Al’s arms, desperately reaching towards the Great Calamity. However, Al dealt a brutal blow with the hilt of his Azure Dragon Blade, and Louis fell limp.

Then, carrying the frail body of Louis, Al turned his back on the Great Calamity, running away.

“Tentacle!”

“Call me Kafma Ilurukusu!”

To Al’s desperation, Kafma dragged the shadowy thorns to create an escape path for fleeing Al. While the Great Calamity was pursuing them, its wrath tightly encapsulated Al.

However, the thorns were both barricades to prevent the Great Calamity from advancing and lanes for Al.

With the superb covering fire executed in that frantic defense, Al vaulted down the battlefield, and—

“—Yorna Mishigure! Execute it now!”

A rousing shout came from behind, pushing Yorna to thrust both her hands forward.

That gesture bore no intrinsic value. This was akin to swallowing a castle whole. Only it spoke of how much sacrifice she would incur to carry it through.

“I love my master!”

With those words, Yorna’s essence burst forth, consuming the greater portion of the Magic City that had been engulfed by the Great Calamity. The sheer force of it was comparable to hurling the city itself—

The detonating clash created a shockwave that unleashes a tremendous wind, blowing away the Magic City.

Everything that constituted the Magic City crumbled, shattered, and was blown away in the wind. In the center of devastation, the Great Calamity was also engulfed, beset by destruction.

That assault, exchanged for the city, obliterated the Great Calamity—

“—Is it not enough?”

In the midst of the unending storm and its colossal smoke, an eerily calm voice of a man resonated.

Recognizing that, even amid such calamity, that man was an embodiment of gravity made Yorna’s entire body go limp.

Her all-out strike had found the mark, yet it still wasn’t enough as she heard the whisper of darkness churning vague motion just beyond the haze.

They made contact. Still, the conclusion that this was insufficient gnawed painfully in her teeth.

“—Ah!”

Compelled to act, she silently inhaled her resolve while being consumed by disappointment before Yorna could realize it.

However, before that resolution had risen, Yorna’s voice spilled out.

The reason was simple. —Something outpaced her movements.

Yet, that wasn’t the lingering ember of the Great Calamity that had narrowly escaped.

It was—

“—Tanzer?”

Bursting forth from beneath the fallen inn was the petite figure of a deer-like girl.

△▼△▼△▼△

“Ah, Tana! I saw everything! It—looked like you were trying to stab yourself!”

That comment was pivotal for the young child, Utakata, the daughter of Mariuri.

There was Talitta’s dagger, buried in Mariuri’s body, and it was evident to all that it was Talitta who was the alleged murderer in this horrifying spectacle.

However, it was none other than Mariuri’s daughter who overturned that conviction, rejecting Talitta’s appellation of impurity.

—In the Shudrak custom, the killing of kin results in a tainted soul, and returning it to the earth along with ancestors is forbidden.

That was the ‘Shudrak impurity,’ the one thing they most abhorred.

However, Utakata’s testimony contradicted those allegations. Nevertheless—

“That stab’s position—that means if Talitta had been targeting her, she would have aimed for a more merciful blow. That was no doing of my sister!”

Just a glance at the angle of the wound, and Mizelda surmised that Mariuri had taken her life.

Some Shudrak with keen eyes recognized the same clues, while those less observant found understanding in Mizelda’s opinions.

Mizelda neither wished to protect her sister nor wanted to absolve Talitta.

Rather, the opposite was true. —Just as Mizelda absolutely wouldn’t overlook Talitta if she suffered shame; it reflected her being a quintessential member of Shudrak.

That robuster bloodline of Shudrak was the foundation for Mizelda’s decisions.

Talitta held no guilt, and the verdict was that Mariuri had taken her own life after seizing the dagger from Talitta.

Whether to escape the agony of illness or to surrender the final decision of her demise not to the illness itself but to her own hand—perhaps the latter was the Shudrak perspective.

Yet—

“I—”

Talitta couldn’t entertain thoughts of letting Mariuri perish.

To prevent herself from uttering those things she didn’t wish to hear, she had removed Mariuri’s dagger.

Had it not been for Talitta’s hasty judgment, Mariuri would not have succumbed as she did.

Above all—

“—Divine mission.”

On the brink of death, Mariuri had uttered the deliverance bestowed upon her.

Up until this point, while Mariuri had indeed mentioned that a divine mission had come upon her, she had never once spoken its contents aloud. Yet there, on her deathbed, she revealed it all to Talitta.

“—‘Great Calamity.’”

The divine mission to avert utter ruin, and the calamity personified as ‘Great Calamity,’ Mariuri articulated that her counteractions served as this divine role.

“—A traveler with black hair and eyes.”

The traveler to show up after a thousand nights—did such a person truly exist?

How could that traveler’s demise ever diminish what was thus named the ‘Great Calamity’?

Yet, until the final moment, Mariuri would maintain belief in the divine mission, confident that failure to fulfill it would render her life without significance.

“Without meaning…?”

It was inconceivable, and Talitta could emphatically declare otherwise.

How many times had she been saved by Mariuri’s nurturing words and kindness?

Having her by her side allowed Talitta to escape the sense of inadequacy from her elder sister. Without her support, Talitta would have never made it this far.

That too was Mariuri’s merit. No one could say it was meaningless.

Most of all, Mariuri had a child born from her womb, named Utakata.

“Not a single soul shall utter nonsense about it being meaningless!”

Clenching her teeth, Talitta gazed upward at the night sky.

The starlit sky remained unchanged, as if attempting to impart some lesson to Talitta.

Of course, there was no way the stars would speak. Mariuri had become ensnared by falsehoods.

Even so, if she sought refuge and solace in that deceit and made her vows—

“Stars can all shatter into oblivion…!”

With hatred directed towards the night sky, yet simultaneously, Talitta fervently hoped.

Let that traveler, said to come, manifest in this forest, as the stars had whispered into Mariuri’s ears.

Mariuri’s soul, dominated by despair and regret, wandered aimlessly, unable to reach her serene ancestors.

If she didn’t sever those ties of despair and lingering attachment, the soul sister could not be saved.

The details of those last moments were an unshared secret even Utakata, in her immaturity, could not comprehend.

Such secrets were exclusive to soul sisters, forbidden for even blood relatives to pry into.

“I’ll surely, with my arrow—”

I will slay the traveler and free Mariuri of her lingering attachment.

To that end, I shall wait and await the arrival of that traveler, and wait, and wait, and wait…

—And then, on that day, spotting the traveler I had long hoped for, Talitta drew her bow.

“—Rem!!”

Letting loose the arrow from my powerful bow, it missed the mark, and the black-haired traveler leaped to protect the girl at his side.

Fixating on the heart, Talitta gritted her teeth as her heart pounded hard.

The traveler appeared in the forest after a thousand nights had passed.

While struck by an icy shock, Talitta drew the bow, embracing her hunter’s instincts.

Calmly, calmly, the tip of the arrow aligned with the target.

Yet, her heart yelled with burning applause. It roared. It roared. It roared.

It was screaming.

△▼△▼△▼△

—The moment the deer-like girl emerged, the world fell mute.

In that brief moment, the tremendous shockwave centered around the Great Calamity literally shook everything about, poised to obliterate the city.

With the confidence that anything impacted by that magnitude could be reduced to powder, the entire world might cease to exist.

However, that certainty was erased as the Great Calamity endured the onslaught.

In the haze beyond, the imperceptibly alive presence of the Great Calamity barely held its ground.

Kneeling in disbelief, Talitta, now a bystander, sensed the tremors rolling through her body.

Louis, Medium, Al and the townsfolk, all engaged with desperate resistance as they watched.

Having once again been shackled by predetermined calls from the heavens, Talitta couldn’t move before the looming presence of the Great Calamity.

Everyone else fulfilled their roles, leaving Talitta behind as the Magic City’s ruling principals made their sacrifices.

And thus, Yorna Mishigure, as the ruler of the city, unleashed a fatal blow, sacrificing her beloved city at the very brink.

Yet when she saw it wasn’t sufficient, there was jumping forth from hiding the deer-girl.

“—”

Charging explosively, the girl in the kimono with burning red eyes zoomed past Talitta, rushing toward the Great Calamity.

Tanzer, who had introduced herself, aimed for the wasteland of smoke beyond, where the Great Calamity awaited.

For Talitta, it was unclear what she intended to do.

Yet—

“—Stop!”

With the growing shadows behind the girl, Yorna rushed to scream within the storm.

Still, realizing Yorna’s reaction caused Talitta to realize Tamza’s aim and determination without prior understanding.

Tanzer was aiming to confront the Great Calamity at the risk of her own life.

Yorna understood this, and out of love for the girl, tried to stop her.

However, preventing this child meant losing the invaluable chance to eliminate the Great Calamity at best.

Perhaps Yorna, one of the Nine Divine Generals, could conjure an alternate strategy against it.

—Could she truly?

“—”

Talitta cursed her optimistic assumption, quietly gasping for air.

Surveying her surroundings, she sought a leverage to alter the course of events. Yearning for someone, anyone to act upon this opportunity.

However, the debris and the swarming figures left in disarray lacked the strength to engage. —Only Talitta remained.

Remaining hesitating to participate in the desperate skirmish, she alone held the solitary choice.

And then—

“—Talitta.”

A faint call directed her gaze to a figure rising at the high point—Abel.

With blood streaming from behind his demon mask, he fixed his black eyes on Talitta, gesturing softly upwards with one finger.

Look to the sky, it was as if he whispered.

Abel pointed toward the heavens—toward the stars. —In other words, to the divine mission.

She was forced to choose. Talitta was demanded to make a decision.

“—”

The sight of Mariuri’s bloodied demise resurfaced, alongside her command to kill the black-haired traveler.

Doing it would avert final annihilation foretold by the Great Calamity, and perhaps it might liberate Mariuri’s soul too.

Thus—

“—”

Talitta silently but surely retrieved an arrow from her quiver, nocking it to the bow, taking aim.

The hunting techniques she had practiced thousands upon thousands of times changed Talitta from a fearful idle girl into a hunter.

As though told to choose the method to save the world, she would comply.

To the whispers of the stars, to the decrees of the heavens, Talitta’s answer was already determined.

In other words—

“—I have no desire to learn your divine mission!”

As the bowstring twanged, the released arrow cut through the air at an exhilarating speed.

And it struck true, piercing the leg of the tall woman who had just risen to her feet.

With a gasp of shock, she stumbled in place, tumbling forward.

With the alarmed voice carrying echoes of despair, the woman called out the name of the girl charging ahead towards the Great Calamity. Even in a world stripped of sound, Talitta grasped the context of the utterance.

Regardless, she had made her choice.

—By diverging from the divine mission placed upon her soul sister, she had allowed the girl to pursue her purpose with unwavering resolve.

“—Yorna!”

Just as the girl was about to leap into the seething cloud of smoke towards the Great Calamity, she called out the name with fondness.

In that moment, the petite body plunged into the chaos that awaited ahead, swallowed by the Great Calamity—

—and a second shockwave would echo, matching the incredible explosion of the Magic City.