Magnitude Negative: Heaven

Translator: Barnabism and Bri

A prayer of a woman turned into a stake will flow a path of blood to the end ​ ​

1

The Blue Mountains… An area of vast, grassy plains with rolling hills that sat to the East of Midgard. The sky may have been covered with clouds, but the grass still retained its brilliant vibrant green. The vivid colours the soldiers held in their eyes were soon enough filled with the colour of worn and rugged armour.

Blue flags scattered across the plains, and a countless number of silver spearheads shone.

All different people had gathered from all parts of Midgard, and so the Union’s numbers had swelled to about three-hundred and fifty thousand. Thiswas humanity’s last act of revolt against the Empire. The rallying shouts of soldiers could be heard expanding across the plains.

With their shields refurbished, and their swords sharpened, they were prepared for the battle that was ready at any moment to begin.

The Empire’s army had concentrated itself on the east side of the hill. From where the Union soldiers had stood, it looked like a moving array of silver clouds—it didn’t seem like their numbers had decreased any less here.

Behind them, lay none other than the Imperial Capital itself.

Verdelet stood in front of a tent built on the hillside. Behind him stood Leonard. Both listened intently to the clamour of military boots coming and going; as the leader of the Union, the Hierarch Verdelet’s worries ran deep. The whereabouts of the Goddess were still unknown. On the other hand, there was fortune to be found in the midst of all the turmoil that rested in that there were still no signs that the seal had been broken. There were still yet to be any reports of the emergence of the Seeds of Resurrection that would descend upon the coming of the endtimes of the human world.

That, and since there was no one who could say they had experienced the end of the world for themselves, he couldn’t say for sure he thought that “The end of the world” was a concept that everyone there could process clearly in that moment. Perhaps…… If the Empire was aware of the nature of the “Mark of the Goddess”, even if for a little while longer, no harm would come to her. Whether such would be the case or not, though, they knew that it was nothing that could be left alone forever.

If the Empire was as strong as they had imagined them to be, however…… Then, it was only inevitable that the seal would be broken no matter what they did.

…There was no time to spend miring himself in such trouble. Verdelet hurried and busied himself in preparation for battle. The various princes and aristocrats who had arrived at the battlefield frequently came to greet him in the meanwhile. While the deployment itself was left in the hands of the respective generals, they still went in order to confirm that the armaments and proper numbers of soldiers were all in order. Among the various lords and aristocrats, even then there were many who couldn’t put aside their rivalries, causing all manner of troubles between both themselves and each other. Even more so, managing the distribution of food and weapons needed to support the swelled numbers of the army was nothing short of a headache. After all, it was a great united force where all nations, for the first time in history, gathered and mingled together in solidarity.

The numbers proved promising even with all and every type of citizen being thrown into the pot, equally as one.

Leonard muttered something to Verdelet as he arrived next to his side.

“...To think that the long generations of territorial disputes have been settled in only a short number of years. Of all the destruction and pain left by the Empire… This, perhaps, is the only good that has come of it.”

Verdelet adamantly shook his head. “Such disputes have not been banished for good, Leonard. For a moment’s time, they have merely been shelved. We are simply not so wise... How many troubles do you think have been brought before me on this day?”

“No matter what it may be… It is a dark conclusion that humans may only be brought together by fear…”

From the front of them, food was being supplied.

The soldiers lined up and chatted amongst one another—this very well may have been their last meal. With all each other’s thoughts resting within their hearts, they receive their bowls.

Laughter erupted among one particular circle of soldiers; Seere stood at the centre, and laughed alongside them. He made a big, circular motion with his arms and walked around with large, long strides, seeming to be explaining something. A smile engraved itself across Leonard’s face as well.

But, something heavy had weighed itself down on Verdelet’s mind just then.

…To think that such a child would be used as a tool for war.

Even so, the power of one who had been consigned into a pact was nothing short of invaluable for such a time as this. Seere’s power, the power of Leonard, who stood next to him, and the other one—that elf woman, Arioch. As of now, she was sleeping peacefully inside Verdelet’s tent. With his magic, her heart had been made calm again—she wouldn’t be wracked with such cravings for a while, now. It was also a thought that the use of such magic would serve detrimental to the power she gained in her pact. Yet, if she were to attack Seere… The consequences would be irreversible. There had always been such a particular sort of glint within her eyes as she looked at the child.

“Leonard, do you feel rage? Do you feel anger towards me that such a child will be sent out into the field of battle against the Empire?”

Leonard’s expression was sorrowful. His eyes were tightly shut and his lips had drawn themselves into a thin line. After a while, he let go.

“I, as well, am beyond any change…” The thought was shaken from his head. “I stand against sending young Seere to the battlefield. But… There is something else which he desires. What could I possibly have to say to him?”

'Yes yes! No matter what you say, you aren’t the gentle giant you play yourself as at all! The more blind they grow, the greedier you become, just dirty to the core! Isn’t that right, Leonard? Hahah!’ The rays of light flashed around wildly.

“Leonard… Even if we fear what will become, we must only hold this child and pray he survives. As shameful as it may be…”

“No man may ever truly forget their own fear of death. They merely close their eyes… They leave something left to cover them, for as long as it may be.”

Verdelet lifted his head towards the sky. Was there anyone who truly knew the nature of their own death? Normally, no one died immediately after understanding that they would. People lived carelessly in spite of themselves and all that was around them, and then they died. That was it. Most people just died of completely unavoidable causes, nothing more. There was no point in struggling.

‘Well isn’t that rich? You might as well confess it right now! Fornication and death for you smelly humans is a joke! A joke! What poor work, really. Just terrible! Ugly!! Go on, say some more, will you? ‘I want to live!! I don’t want to die. I want to protect these three, even if it costs me my life!’ Ahahahahaha! No one needs to worry themselves about such a simple-headed creature, or, wait wait! Maybe I should put it like this: Why don’t you go ahead and just try to kill yourself? Ahaha!’

Verdelet fell silent hearing the words of that repulsive little creature. His mind traced back to his pact-beast, petrified in a distant land. The cold, sculpted form of an ancient wyrm.

……What kind of judgement did it have about humans? What made it turn to stone?

Could it have been against the will of the Gods for they, the children of man, to resist against the Empire? Merely covering their eyes to their fear of death.

(Indeed, our human race has been deceived, and will be deceived, has been manipulated, and so it will be… That is how we are made. All those who have been consigned into a pact—I, too—clash to no end with such hearts left unambiguous to each other… Caim’s vengeance, Leonard’s desire, Arioch’s hunger, the self-contradiction of that boy, the emptiness within that slave-trader… Even Inuart’s love, all are far too naive. Perhaps it is this innocence that is the standard of the beasts who form these pacts with we humans.)

So were the thoughts of the former pact-partner. Had he lost his innocence being smeared by the blight of the Gods? Whether that in itself was a good or bad thing could never be judged.

“Whether good or evil, if taken too far, you will end as something which cannot clearly be defined in either nature… Will we?” Verdelet muttered in a low voice.

Once he had drawn himself out from his mire of thoughts, he had noticed a soldier in front of him.

A man in his mid-thirties. Though his face was small, his cheekbones were extremely high. With narrow eyes and a thick beard, he didn’t have an exactly childish face, but all the same, it somehow reminded the Hierarch of that of a baby’s. His limbs were long like a mantis… This man was one of the commanders of the patrol which guarded the camp.

“What is it?”

“There’s… A mysterious cart has been found on the outskirts of the battlefield, sir!” The commander stood still, his voice pronounced.

“A cart…? Could that cart be that of a civilian’s?”

Verdelet’s expression was clouded with confusion. Even if it had come to issue a report from those ends, it would be far too difficult to move at all.

The commander bowed his head and continued to speak loudly.

“It may be that it was the same slave-trader who had protected Lady Furiae!”

“Could it be…? That ‘Dream Eater’?”

“So I believe!” As he answered, the commander’s face grew pale.

“...Aadah?” Leonard muttered to himself.

Verdelet’s head turned in confusion as well.

……How strange. She had gotten the money for selling Seere—she certainly seemed to be in high spirits at finally being able to return home.

“It could be… No, Hierarch, I am certain! It must be her!”

“Then let us hurry,” Leonard said, “Seere!”

Seere raised his head hearing Leonard’s voice, a smile still on his face. The soldiers surrounding him all turned their dirtied faces at once. Verdelet spoke.

“It seems that your former master has returned. But… At such a time like this?”

Seere raised his brows and made a confused face, walking through the circle of soldiers.

“Aadah…?” He asked.

“So it would seem!” The commander loudly replied.

“But… Why…?”

Seere scraped the toe of his shoe against the ground. In Verdelet’s eyes, he thought that Seere looked to be somewhat resentful. Leonard gently tapped his hand against his shoulder.

“Perhaps we will come to know more, if we go.”And so, under the guidance of the commander, the three headed off towards the edge of the camp.

Before the decisive battle, the general mood among the soldiers was ridiculously bright. They gathered and flocked around the lavishly saddled white horses and carriages that the lords had rode in on and commented to each other on their designs. They passed around and drank from a water flask, though it likely held alcohol instead, and smiled.

As Leonard has put it, such trivial actions may have very well just have been their “Hiding their fear of death”. Still, whenever the hermit had noticed Verdelet’s gaze, his face always grew tense with gratitude all the same. Swords, spears, and all different weapons were raised to the sky—even if they were met with the setting of the sun halfway through their celebrations, they paid it no mind. It was only reasonable courtesy for all those who stood among them.

After a fair distance had passed from all the hustle and bustle, the soldiers became sparse. There stood a thicket, withered, and without a single leaf to be seen. The four-wheeled cart had stopped off to its side. It looked like any regular cart, though it was covered with a hood that prevented them from being able to see the inside. The coachman’s stand was empty.

The horse tack had been removed. Near the cart grazed the three horses that presumably belonged to it, five or six soldiers standing around them—all wore a dark expression. They peered, cautiously, into the cart, and immediately backed away.

……The commander. Those soldiers there. Something was wrong.

A bad feeling began to well up within Verdelet’s chest.

As Verdelet, Seere, Leonard, and the unit commander approached, the small group of soldiers who were hanging around the area finally began to show signs of relief.

“Over there…!”

The commander’s voice cracked slightly.

Stepping through the grass and avoiding the horses, Verdelet stopped before the backside of the cart.

He peeked inside the canopy.

And lost all will to speak.

…Was that a human being…?

The cargo bed was filled with bloated chunks of flesh; the skin coloured closer to snow than actual skin. The veins were made completely visible from underneath.

In the centre of the swelling he could see something like a navel, and there was also something that looked like a breast. Those were the only ways he could tell that this was… At one point a human being. The head, limbs, and everything was swallowed beneath the bloated torso; it wasn’t even clear whether there was anything there at all or not.

The tattered wreckage of clothing, torn from the bloating, laid miserably scattered across the cart. A gut-churning stench like vomit and excrement combined in assault against his senses. Leonard grimaced at the smell and listened.

“What has happened here…? Is this Aadah?”

The already wax-white colour of Verdelet’s face progressed one step further, unable to bring himself to give any platitudes of gratitude for his blindness. Seere, who had been hiding behind Verdelet’s back, whispered over to the lump of flesh.

“Aadah…?”

“...Oh. Se… ere…?”

Nearly everyone jumped in unison. Not a soul could have even fathomed the thought that someone could still be alive in such a state as that. The soldiers looked stunned, fallen back against the ground as if they had lost their very backs. It was only Leonard, unable to see the visage of Aadah, who stood dumbfounded without a single change in expression. The one who held the most courage of the group was Seere—the one she knew the most. Regaining his composure, Seere walked up to and jumped into the flesh-filled cart.

“That’s right, Aadah. It’s me, Seere. …What could have happened to you?”

“......It did it. That damned tapir… It devoured what shouldn’t have been eaten. I… Can’t do it, anymore. My head is so clouded……”

“Why did you come all this way? Why??”

“That night… The tapir had caught the scent of your twin sister. And then… I thought I would be able to get away. …I was lured.”

Verdelet cleared his throat, adjusting his voice, and slowly approached.

“Dream Eater, can you hear my voice? It is the Hierarch Verdelet. What is this? Is there anything I can do…?”

The body may have lifted itself up. The cart shook violently. Seere let out a startled cry and hurried to cling to the canopy. Verdelet staggered back, falling against the grass.

“Verdelet… I have no more business with you. This is it for me.”

“Aadah? What’s wrong…!?” Leonard called.

“What the hell… Even you… Came all this way for me…?” The flesh said.

“...It’s coming. A fortress, in the sky… There, there is the person that you’ve been searching for… Tch. What a bother even speaking’s become… Seere. You… Come here for… For a while.”

Seere gave Verdelet a nod, and entered the cart. Verdelet sat back against the grass and gazed behind himself without a word. He held no sympathy for Aadah—the actions of slave traders such as herself were actions punishable by the Gods. They say without hesitation that there were no Gods. Divine punishment had fallen.

…Regardless, to see someone he knew undergo such an inhuman transformation had left him deeply shocked. He had no strength left in him—he couldn’t get up. Seere poked his head out from the canopy.

“Seere! Are you alright?” Came Leonard's voice.

Seere gave his reassurances in a small hum and jumped out from the cart.

“What did Aadah have to say?”

“Don’t worry, Leonard! She just wanted to share something small. It was about my sister…” Seere fell silent after that.

“There must be someone to stay alone. Is there anyone willing to watch over this woman…?” Hearing Verdelet’s words, the soldiers' faces turned unanimously pale as they looked about each other.

In the end, it was decided they’d pull blades of grass and draw their lots for the task. It was the commander who had lost his test of luck.

“I… I am the commanding officer, after all! This is my duty…!” The man said before letting out a sorrowful cry. The other soldiers merely looked at each other and shook their heads.

The soldier wearing the deputy commander’s armband slapped it with force and gave a firm nod, the commotion causing Aadah’s cart to shake violently in response. “Gwaah-!” The soldiers jumped.

A voice barely leaked out from the cargo hold.

“That… Goddamned… Dragon has… Some nerve. It’s the beginning… An omen.”

Verdelet instinctively looked up at the sky as he felt a terrifying sensation wrack through his whole body. A roar passed over the sky, the sight of a red tail crossing under the clouds. Cheers erupted from the troops’ stronghold.

…Verdelet ran a hand over his chest in relief. They had made it just in time for the decisive battle. Following the ominous break in dealing with the slave trader, they were finally ready.

‘Are both you and your dragon’s injuries healed, Caim?’

He called out to the sky with his mind, though there came no reply. Verdelet stared up in amazement.

Once more, the cart began to shake violently. Aadah’s voice had already lost the ability for words, going low, and then high again, going off in syncopated tones. Before long, a cacophony of inhuman noise shook the surrounding air.

At that moment, the sky had grown clouded, and something had crossed Verdelet’s vision that not even he could believe.

A noise of amazement resounded among the soldiers.

In the distance, an object was floating in the sky. To have measured its size was an impossibility, yet, even from such a distance it was clear how gigantic such a structure was that it couldn’t even be comparable to other small castles.

“...What could it be…?” Verdelet said to Leonard, “I cannot truly believe my own eyes, but… A fortress is flying in the sky.”

Leonard turned his head toward the fortress.

“...No, that is no trick of the eyes. This feeling is certainly that of the Empire’s…” His throat clutched. “What…!? … I can feel it! The Goddess is imprisoned within that fortress!”

“...Is what you say… The truth? Is she truly imprisoned up there!?”

Verdelet was at a loss for words. Humans didn’t have the technology to fly—if she was trapped up there, what could they do to get her back?

…No, there was only one way: The dragon and its rider.

Seere clung to Leonard’s arm.

“That big fortress… It’s just like Aadah told me! That means my sister must be up there too! They must both be captured by the Empire. Don’t you feel it? Don’t you, Leonard?”

“...I cannot say.” Leonard’s face shifted unpleasantly. “But… I feel some great power, a great evil, a presence so great unlike anything before…”

‘Caim, hurry down here at once! It is urgent that we must discuss what actions to take from here, please!’ Verdelet called out once again to the sky. The dragon, which was circling below the fortress, let out a distant roar and slowly changed its trajectory. “We must turn back and hold our council meeting at once. We have to return the Goddess, at any cost!” Verdelet turned around and began walking with long strides. The soldiers followed after Leonard and Seere, leaving the lone commander left stranded by the side of the cart to let out a lonely wail. All thought of him and the former slave trader had been left completely forgotten.

“What shall we do about the battle?” Leonard took a deep breath.

“I do not yet know. All depends on the actions of the Empire… But if any harm were to come to the Goddess, then even our victory will be made meaningless. If the seal is allowed to be broken, then our world as we know it will come to its end!” The skin of Verdelet’s cheeks grew taut with worry at the thought. Trying to ward the thought away, he waved at the air with his nonexistent left hand.

“Trouble upon trouble… Gods damn that flying fortress!”

The soldiers stared up at the sky with their mouths agape, stunned at the bizarre object that had made its home in the heavens. Making their way through the numerous tents, Verdelet and the others soon arrived at the base camp, his cane held up to stop the generals that rushed their way.

The dragon swooped down with a loud roar. The soldiers stumbled under the gust of wind, holding a hand over their wildly swaying hair. Slowly, Caim leapt down from the dragon’s neck to the earth—though the white bandages worn wrapped around his abdomen were clear to the eye, he advanced forward undisturbed.

“Caim! It is a blessing indeed to see you are safe. Your injuries—”

Verdelet was grabbed roughly by the chin. The violent impulses he had accumulated in his period of rest were unable to be controlled.

“Caim, what are you doing!?” Leonard shouted and rushed over to the two, but the dragon’s voice intervened.

‘Verdelet… What is that fortress?’ Verdelet rubbed his chin once he was finally let free.

“I have only the same knowledge as you… But it was Leonard that had managed to find some understanding. There resides the Goddess.”

Caim’s eyes narrowed. A faint grin spread over his lips. Pushing himself away from Verdelet, Caim turned on his heel and returned to the dragon.

‘If what he says is true, then there is no time left to spare! We shall go. Prepare the army; if he is provoked anymore, then you shall be attacked at once.’

“Wait…!” A high-pitched voice rang out. From Leonard’s side, a small shadow came running out.

Seere ran towards Caim.

Leonard tried to stop him, but it was too late. Caim stopped dead in his tracks and tilted his head questioningly over his back as the young boy jumped onto his waist.

“Please! Me too, you have to take me with you!”

“Seere, you fool…!” Leonard cried. He began to approach Caim with an unusually timid expression.

“P…Please, listen to Leonard! Do you know what it means to approach a well of the Empire?” The shocked Verdelet stopped as he approached—his jaw still somewhat hurt.

“Leonard, you have to listen to me! Manah must be over there… I know she is!”

Caim pushed Seere away. Seere staggered two or three steps back and stopped.

“Caim… Please! I have to find my sister! You have to find yours too, don’t you, Caim…? See? We’re just the same!”

‘Child… Is your sister truly over there?’

Seere nodded. “I know she is, because… Because Aadah told me! She ate a dream that belonged to Manah. It was a dream of a castle, floating in the sky… She told me…!”

‘A peculiarity indeed. You say it was a dream…?’ The dragon took on a contemptuous tone. ‘And what truth would mere dreams prove to hold?’

Seere was in tears. Caim looked between him and the dragon with a confused expression.

Leonard gently placed his hand on Seere’s shoulder. “Seere… You mustn’t go.”

Desperately Seere shook his shoulder away, and Leonard pulled his hand away.

“Only this once… Please. I promise, I won’t get in your way. Aadah… She has a pact, that’s why she has that kind of power! She can tell the truth in people’s dreams! Even I know… Manah, she’s been calling for me, all this time!” Seere frantically waved around his arms and cried out incoherently to the adults surrounding him.

“The dragon, too. I have a message from Aadah!”

‘Ohoh?’ The dragon narrowed its yellow eyes. ‘And what would this message be?’ “Well… If you give me a ride…” Seere began.

‘No child makes deals with me!'

A tremendous amount of pressure spread around them, the humans surrounding the dragon stumbling back in the shock. Seere’s cheeks were stained with tears.

“...The Goddess… Isn’t going to be killed.”

Verdelet’s heart skipped a beat. His head turned downwards, his face furrowed with some emotion.

‘What do you mean?’ The dragon tilted its head.

“I… I don’t know. But… Aadah said so... Hic... ‘The Goddess can’t be killed’, she said. It will be something more difficult than that. Something with… Manah. I… I have to go! So, please, take me with you!”

The dragon couldn’t help but shake its head with amazement at the sway the crying child had over it in that moment.

‘...Very well, child. I do not know why, but it seems your roots run deep with this cause. Caim?’

Caim shrugged and straddled the dragon’s neck.

‘Do as you will. Well, then… Go, and prepare yourself for the expedition ahead.’

A smile slowly stretched across Seere’s face, and once again, it became full and bright.

“Th-Thank you!”

Seere scampered off to the nearby tent. Immediately he ran out, clutching his favourite shoes and dagger close to his chest.

“Seere… Please don’t go.”

Leonard’s voice was lined with despair.

Drawing trails of light around his head, the faerie gave a boisterous laugh.

‘Ahahahaha! Look who just got themselves dumped by the hypocritical brat! Whining won’t make it better, why don’t we just cry it out and get something strong to drink it away? Yes yes, now isn’t that better??’

Seere wrapped both hands around Leonard’s waist, who’s head hung sadly down.

“Don’t worry, Leonard! I will be back safely. So… You have to promise not to die either, okay?”

“I…” Leonard’s breathing was heavy. “I— I…”

Seere stepped away.

“If I go, I’ll be living by my own heart, isn’t that right? Leonard… Thank you.”

Seere smiled as he walked three steps back, still looking at Leonard. Spinning on his heel, he turned around and started running—as he saw him off, the usually broad back of Leonard seemed to look awfully small.

Verdelet frowned. Finally, he called out to the trio with his mind.

‘Lord Caim, we of the people of Midgard and the world beg of you… Please, return safe with the Goddess.’

‘Hmph. Verdelet… There seems to be something like pride hidden deep within your heart. Your words hold no bearing nor understanding to we. And now, I suppose it is our fate that we will never know…’

The dragon looked up to the floating fortress.

‘It is for the sake of revenge that we go. They are over there… The smell of rotted bodies grows and spreads. A dragon of waste and poison…’

With its fangs bared, the dragon roared powerfully up into the sky.

2

Furiae awoke to a sharp pain creeping up from her lower abdomen. At first, she could see nothing but a pure, white light. Rolling over, she found that she had been asleep on an iron bed. The mattress was stiff, making for a difficult rest. Furiae’s breath was short as she raised herself up from the bed. The pain of the seal shot through her entire body.

Inuart sat by her side, seated firmly in a nearby armchair without even the slightest movement. As Furiae inspected him further, she found that his red eyes weren’t even looking at her—rather, they seemed absentmindedly fixed on something in the air.

…That wasn’t Inuart.

It was like someone made up. A pretend Inuart.

After a while, Furiae’s eyes finally adjusted, and she could make out her surroundings more clearly. Surprise quickly took hold as she looked around. The room she was in was huge—unnecessarily wide. She could have only described it as a huge hall of stone. There were dozens of metres left between her and the nearest end.

Light poured in through stained glass with a similar feeling. The design was a more detailed portrait of the Empire’s military banner: A pair of twins, converged together and with one eye shared in the middle. But to Furiae, the way she saw it, they looked more similar to one person. It looked like that one person was on their way to separating into two. A pair of round things were hidden on the back of the glass portrait… She wondered, could they have been folded wings?

It was a room that did not smell of life at all. No plants. No animals. Not even a sound. It was a room where she could not feel any passion from its creator in the slightest.

An empty hall without a will. A space that was simply created.

Furiae had been placed in a single, solitary bed that was placed in the corner of the room.

Inuart was silent.

The wind roared from outside.

Right next to the bed was a strange, transparent pink pillar made of unknown material. It stretched tall towards the far-off ceiling. Furiae couldn’t imagine what sort of structure could have possibly supported such a large room.

“Inuart… Where are we?” Furiae asked.

Inuart gave no response.

With a small shake of her head, Furiae drew her attention onto her strange new outfit. A velvet, tight-fitting burgundy dress. Its skirt was similarly so, long and slim without so much as a single pleat or wrinkle. The gloves she wore were of the same material. As she placed a hand to the side of her head she had been laying on, she took notice of the two hair ornaments placed atop her messy hair. With the way she was dressed, Furiae looked as if she could go to a ball in a carriage.

But, she didn’t understand. Why?

(You don’t have to be the Goddess anymore.)

At that time, Inuart had said the same thing.

(You can become an ordinary woman again.)

Could this have been a sign?

…No. No matter how strongly Inuart may have held to his convictions, it was all useless. Once “The Mark” appeared on a woman, that was it. No man was allowed to touch Furiae. Furiae laid back down on the bed. Perhaps doing so would have wrinkled her dress, but she wasn’t really going to a ball anyways. She didn’t mind.

Instead, she tried to remember the last thing she saw—her brother, Caim, impaled by Inuart. That dying dragon alongside him. The Hierarch, his left arm severed and falling to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

…Now that she thought about it, that Hierarch was the person she had spent the most time with after becoming Goddess. Any woman who was left with the burden of serving as Goddess was forbidden to have contact with other humans, save for the maids who took care of her. But even those faces were quickly replaced, perhaps to cut off personal ties. The only consistent point of contact to the outside world had been narrowed down to Verdelet and Verdelet alone.

For Furiae, Verdelet was a person who, in a sense, embodied the absolute authority over the Goddess he had played himself as. An attitude based on tradition and habit. A life bound by rules. A lifeless style, peculiar to those who had recognised their place in the workings of the world. Furiae had constructed her very being as a Goddess using that man as a model. So to see Verdelet, so unceremoniously left to struggle as he was submerged in a pool of his own blood, Furiae could no longer trust even herself.

…It is only a matter of time before this mask will become lost. I hope that it will be.

That’s what she thought.

Her poor, poor brother Caim. A sword pierced through his stomach, and still he stood. Was he still alive? Did he die just like that? Furiae’s chest filled with emotion.

Everyone was so afraid of him. But I, only I know.

That man, in all his urge to kill, was still desperately seeking out the presence of others. He was desperately trying to find some connection with people.

Furiae attempted to talk to Inuart once again.

“Inuart… How could you have been so cruel?” She had already given up because it was half useless, but unexpectedly, she was met with an answer.

“It was for your sake, Furiae. You do not deserve to be left in the company of such monsters.” His tone was stiff.

“But…! Caim… He was my brother. He was your dearest friend. Why…?”

“Friend? Even if I do not feel his care? Are you really so blind to the truth?""

Inuart spoke without moving. His voice slightly rose.

Furiae felt somewhat relieved. His heart wasn’t completely gone. Not everything had been stolen.

“Whether he intends it or not, to be involved with that man will only bring violence—violence to you. That isn’t the power you need to protect you. That power only means to destroy you. But I can protect you… I live only for the sake of your protection.”

“You… What could have happened to you…!? Who are you?” Furiae’s expression clouded, her hands balling into fists. Inuart only smiled, his expression gentle.

“I have the strength to protect you, a miracle from the Priestess. Do you see, Furiae? I’ve become so strong, even Caim cannot stand his blade against me. Even the laughable bald priest that sought to detain you could not dare hold a light to my power.”

“That day in the forest… What happened to you…?” Asked Furiae.

Inuart’s eyes widened, his pupils turning into two pools of shining lava.

“......The voice of the Cult of the Watchers. They were the ones who showed me the way. And then, I knew. I knew of this cursed system, of this world structured around the need for a Goddess.”

“Structured…?”

“Structures are structures, no matter how they are placed. The structures of the world, the structures of society, the structure of pacts, of family, of the human body itself… The sole purpose, the sole purpose of all of them, is to lock you in and make you prisoner to their whims. They don’t mean to love you. They’re only trying to use you for the sake of their own system! I had no choice but to leave, Furiae. Without you, I am nothing. Come. Together, you and I can build ourselves a new paradise.”

Inuart moved away from his chair and approached the bed. “Look at this room. Its very essence is one that escapes the structures of all architecture! Drawbacks such as weight mean nothing to it. No pillars are needed for support! And if you leave from here, you will be even more surprised, Furiae. This very building… A monument against all natural order of the world. Let us break through our new, formless cages for a more worthy abode, and spread even further towards the skies. The world is vast, Furiae. It is infinite.”

Furiae closed her eyes. “You’re mad…”

What was he talking about? What was he so excited about? She didn’t feel like she understood. Truly, the room did seem to be supported by some power far transcendent to anything that had existed in the past, yet… Furiae did not have the passion to be moved by such things. She felt nothing but horror in such a lifeless room, more deserted and isolating than even the Castle of the Goddess. Even Inuart was.

The warmth of another human being… In the past, she would have been content with just that. But now, the Inuart that stood before her wasn’t the Inuart she knew.

“Fu…ri… Do I love you? The Watchers?”

Inuart held his hands over his head and staggered back. He recoiled back, bending over and leaning on the chair nearby. The words which dwelt inside him were about to become free. They were about to break through the structure keeping them prisoner within.

“Who… Are you?”

Inuart stared at Furiae’s face, muttering softly. The bright red colour in his eyes gently flickered.

A small figure stood a distance away from him, seemingly enjoying watching him from afar—a small, blonde haired child. Furiae recalled seeing them somewhere before… She tried to follow back behind a vague memory.

…After fleeing from the Castle of the Goddess, there, in the forest… I had met a band of people.

She was sure that the name of the boy who was trying to hide behind the big woman with the bag was…

“...Seere…?”

But, she soon realised otherwise. Upon closer inspection, Furiae quickly saw that this child was completely different from that boy. Her attention drew to the skirt, first. A girl. With her red, knee-length dress and neat tights, she seemed quite the playful girl, but the red eyes and ominous glare she wore upon her face were terribly deceiving.

‘The actions of evil are less hated than the actions of good. What fun, the humans!’ The voice, alternating between that of a young girl’s and that of a low-pitched man’s, echoed directly into Furiae’s head; not unlike the similar method used by the dragon. Similar… But different. Frightened, Furiae backed up on the bed. She had almost slipped and fallen off on the other side, but hurriedly caught herself.

The child drew closer. Again, the voice rang.

‘Is there no corruption that can be attained in this world? Is it pure nature for humans to laugh and rejoice at the imperfections of those around them? …But there’s something even worse within your heart.’The girl laughed in a man’s voice.

‘Humans act like fools when they do not know the Gods’ love! You know that, Goddess! Ugly, wretched Goddess. The dirt of your heart will surely please the souls who surround you.’

Furiae let out a small shriek. It was the feeling of being seen into her own heart.

‘What’s this…? “Why won’t my brother look at me?”’

The hair raised on the back of her neck.

“I can see into your heart. It is because I am loved, you know!” The girl said, this time in her own voice. She smiled, raising her hands towards the ceiling and jumped. “Stupid men, all of them! If they hurry to protect me, the fools. If they take me away, those stupid fools!”

“Stop, please… You lie…!”

“What happens to me doesn’t matter. What happens to this world doesn’t matter. This stupid, stupid world! Why me? Why am I the only one who sees it? I was a princess, I should have had everything. If it wasn’t for that Mark, that dirty room wouldn’t have come to imprison me! And finally, after all this time, I am pursued by a fool who does not know when to let go!”

“No, you’re wrong… I beg of you, go no further. Inuart…” Furiae turned her head to look at the man beside her. He’s laughing. Tears of hysteria rolled down his cheeks.

Furiae fell off the bed. Her head hit the ground. Her vision swam. Sadness filled her heart.

……Inuart was not “Freed” at all. He had grown no further from that structure he claimed to detest. He was broken.

In order for a human to become a lasting presence on the world, one must first prove to everyone that they were indeed a solid, stable being. Inuart had completely lost the capacity for any reason. In the past, he was the one who had valued it the most. But now that he was gone… She felt lonely, and terribly anxious. Furiae placed her hand on the area of the Mark. Perhaps the seal had been broken while she was still asleep. Were all the humans already dead? She didn’t think there was anything else in the world like humans anymore.

The melodious laughter of the young girl echoed throughout the hall. “This is the Priestess of the Cult of the Watchers, Furiae.” Inuart’s words spoke. They were emotionless. Unwavering.

The melodious laughter of the young girl echoed throughout the hall.

“This is the Priestess of the Cult of the Watchers, Furiae.” Inuart’s words spoke. They were emotionless. Unwavering.

The child laughed, innocently leaping and dancing about. Pink petals fluttered around, as if hidden within her sleeves.

…But, the child’s expression grew unsightly and contorted. A cruel, mocking smile soon rose upon her lips.

“......They’re coming. They’re coming our way.”

Anger flashed across Inuart’s face.

…No, not anger. The corners of his lips were turned slightly upwards. Was he… bGlad?

“Is it Caim?”

“Caim is still…?” Furiae’s words went unanswered. Ignoring Furiae, the two turned around and headed towards the exit to the corridor.

...Brother...

As if floating, Furiae followed after them to the connecting corridor outside the room.

But within a moment, she stopped dead in her tracks.

The sky. They were in the sky.

From the connecting corridor, she could see the entirety of the huge fortress. Before her very eyes, a cloudless, blue sphere of air stretched out for as far as she could see. A quiet sea of clouds, shining white, spread out in all directions from below. It was a fortress, floating in the sky.

Furiae let out an audible gasp. She staggered back. Her hands clung onto the railing beside her. As the two in front of her kept moving, she followed, leaning on the railing for support. Furiae’s feet dragged from under her as she struggled desperately to keep up with them.

After crossing the corridor, the three arrived at a place that looked like a circular stage, more confined than the hall from before. Inuart and the girl were both looking up towards the sky in the centre of the circular clearing. The skies above the sky.

It was a boundless expanse… Beyond the sea of clouds, the sky drew a splendid hemispherical gradient of dark to light blue. The wind that blew through the area was strong. The hair ornament flew off from Furiae’s head and rolled across the stone pavement with a noise. At the edge of the plaza, a cliff with no handrail, it fell from the stage to the distant sky below. The venomous sound of the young girl’s voice dyed Furiae’s paled, light thoughts a sinister black.

‘Can you do it?’

Inuart nodded.

“The Watchers cannot fly.”

Furiae lifted her head to the sound of flapping wings. From high above, a black creature swooped down and landed before them. The black mass writhed around with the sound of creaking bones and muscle, its wings flapping as it held its head low. With its two, sickle-like horns, and a lizard-like head the colour of a skull, Furiae recognised it immediately—that black dragon.

The dragon let out a terrifying roar. Hatred. Hatred. Hatred. Furiae covered her ears with both hands. Both Inuart and the girl stared on without expression. Walking up to the black dragon, Inuart placed his hand on his neck and mounted atop it. The black dragon roared once more, flapped its wings, and flew away.

The sea of clouds below the fortress, reflecting the sun’s rays, were a pure white. Through occasional gaps among them, Furiae could spot glimpses of the prairie below. The sight and feel of the light alone was enough to bathe Furiae’s heart in pure white. Eventually, the black dragon became nothing more than a single spot that gradually disappeared into its walls.

The child priestess squatted down at the edge of the stage, placed both her hands on the ground, and peered down into the sea of clouds below. A smile wore her face.

Furiae cautiously approached. There were people on the other side of those clouds… There was Verdelet, and then there was Caim—they were fighting down below on the Earth. From there on, Inuart and Caim would fight to the death.

“Do you… Does the Empire seek the death of all mankind…?”

“Be at peace, Goddess. There is only one gift that has been given equally to all those on Earth: It is the gift to stand through calamity brought on by the hands of others.”

3

The dragon cut head-on through the mass of air as it soared through the sky.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah⸻!!” Seere gripped onto his hair and screamed in both utter joy and terror. The sound was washed out by the wind and trailed off behind the dragon.

“This is amazing! Amazing, amazing, amazing!!” Shouted Seere, his eyes shining.

The dragon flew at a shocking speed for the young child; if he were to loosen his grip even slightly, he would fly off backwards in an instant.

Fortunately, the firmly fixed body of Caim from behind him served as a strong backrest for the small boy.

'Child. Do not forget when you said you would bring us no trouble.’

“I woooooooooooooon’t!!”

The green slopes of the earth flowed gently beneath them. With both his cheeks stretched back from the blowing wind, Seere continued to cry out as much as his small form would allow… At least, until the wind blew into his throat and made him choke.

Seere’s whole body trembled with the feeling of soaring through the air. He couldn’t understand it. But, it felt great anyway. When he spread open his hands, both flapped like wings. His stomach felt so empty that it was frightening, but he felt as if he had just gone weak in the face of the dragon’s might.

In their world where there existed only the sound of the wind, Seere let go of all other emotions and simply laughed. He laughed on, and on, and on.

‘......Well, Caim…! Is this the thrill of those who fly for the first time? From the beginning of our pact, your face wore your boredom well.’

For the first time in a long time, a smile appeared on Caim’s face. A stifled, almost wry smile. It was short-lived.

But as soon as the trio had shot up into the heavens, when the soldiers looked to be no smaller than a bunch of ants, it appeared.

…Jet-black wings, a skull-coloured head, flying derision—the black dragon.

With a high-pitched shriek of a roar, it stood between the Sky Fortress and Caim. Slowly it hit the air with its wings and stayed in place, Inuart’s hollow gaze piercing through the very depths of Caim’s soul.

“Caim—” Inuart tilted his head, thinking to himself.

Beneath Caim’s hands, the steel-like muscles hidden under the red dragon’s rough red skin burst forward.

'And again the writhing black gnat has made itself known. This time, I shall strike you down!’

The black dragon’s neck was lowered, glaring at them with upturned eyes. The maw of its mouth opened to show off its fang-lined teeth. Suddenly, it lunged forwards.

“Ahh!!!” Seere clamped his hands over his head, the black dragon grazing overhead.

‘Hold on tight, boy! If you fall, we won’t have the time to retrieve you.’

The dragon felt the previous bewilderment in Caim’s heart fill up with a newfound rage, black as pitch. The mighty lifeforce of the dragon resonated alongside it—the situation was growing rapidly unfavourable. It was the same dance as it had been with their last encounter; sprouting anew.

‘Caim!! Calm yourself at once! You must focus all your energy into putting an end to that dragon once and for all. Inuart’s soul has been tarnished with envy. It is that which drives him to attack, no more. Clear your mind! He had thought that your own existence was a threat to his happiness, and so he chose to resist that fate. I do not bare my fangs for mere envy! You must understand, Caim. The lives of humans are brimmed with desire.’

…Caim nodded.

A deliberately suppressed, quiet emotion flowed into the dragon.

Since that defeat, Caim couldn’t have given enough apologies towards the regret he felt at his frenzy that day. Twice he had put the dragon in danger, and in the end, was still defeated. If he hadn’t surrendered to that rage and instead cooperated with the dragon, Furiae may have been able to avoid being kidnapped. Still, the presence of Seere, trembling in his arms, gave Caim a sense of calm—after all, there was only an exceedingly small number of people who could go mad with a child held between their arms.

The black dragon circled around and shot towards them again—this time, it wasn’t just a threat. The red dragon’s wings spread wide, beginning to slowly circle around in order to take its opponent from the side. The circular orbit formed by the two dragons drew itself through the air.

On the ground below, each soldier began to charge in unison. Seere let out a cry out of both shock and awe. From the hills of green beneath them, two waves of silver—one donned with the blue flag of the Union, and one donned with the Empire’s red flag—rushed in from both sides. The two waves eventually collided into a silvery ocean that glistened in the sunlight.

Certainly, it would have been a beautiful spectacle if one were to just look at it from the sky. If there existed any Gods, then the world itself may have just been a painting of sand, drawing its ethereal patterns into itself.

The red dragon roared, the first to attack. Its body waved furiously through the wind as it increased its speed, attacking the black dragon from its left side. At the same, flames spewed from its mouth. The black dragon, hit directly from the side, shrieked with pain. A feeling of murderous hatred spread across the sky in an instant.

The red dragon, having shot further into the sky, turned back to see the cause of such a dramatic shift in energy. The black dragon roared as if it had heard the other’s movements, and spread its wings to the fullest extent. Convulsions of feeling shot all over the dragon’s body; a dark derision left frenzied with anger. A gust of wind began to blow.

“It… It’s so scary…!” Seere’s trembling grew—pact-partners tended to react especially harshly to such energetical shows. Caim placed his hand on the young boy’s arm and gave it a pat.

‘Caim… Have you sensed it? It would seem in your heart that there’s grown a small shift.’ The red dragon’s voice sounded a little teasing. ‘Even so, this is still war. I will settle this now! Caim!’ Caim gave a firm nod in response.

Riding on the gust of wind, the black dragon charged forward, five flames bursting from its jaws all at once.

“Ahh! It’s coming over here, look out!!” Seere lay down on the red dragon’s neck and clung on tight with both his arms and legs. The red dragon’s body swung left and right in order to dodge the oncoming flames. One, two, three, four…

…Five!

The black dragon’s jaw was close, its fangs gnashing and biting together. As the red dragon precariously dodged, the black dragon made a sharp turn and released five more flames. They were unavoidable; the three black flames shot mercilessly against the red dragon’s scales with an explosive reaction. Blood splattered out from the red dragon’s body as it arched back and let out an anguished cry. As Seere held his hands over his head, Caim’s body covered him firmly as to prevent him from falling off.

On the ground below, the armies of the Empire and the Union clashed head-on, a torrent of silver billowing across the grasslands.

“We are in the face of our survival! We must not falter now!” Leonard shouted.

Leonard smashed the head of the Empire soldier that had raised their sword with his iron whip. From afar, a single arrow shot his way—a light darted in front of him, standing between him and the arrow. Right before the green ball of light, the arrow froze and floated idly in the air.

‘An arrow that never falls? That must mean it’s hit the mark! Hey! Listen to your master, you can’t just sit and do nothing, can you?’

In an instant, the arrow disappeared from the air.

Leonard gave a nod towards the faerie and looked about his surroundings. On the field of battle, the extrasensory senses he had acquired since losing his eyesight had become especially sharp. Could it have been because it was an intersection between both life and death? He could see the war around him clearly… Though difficult to explain to others, it was akin to the feeling of seeing a world as if it were being read from a book.

The Union’s heavy-spear infantry units had their long spearheads lined up into a row, forming a towering wall of blades. The Empire’s soldiers' blades swung fruitlessly, well unable to approach the barrier and their fortress of spears.

“Now is our time! Attack!!” A voice yelled from the distance, and a rain of arrows were released from the arbalesters behind the spearmen. Some of the Imperial soldiers were struck in the face, while others were slowed by the arrows having pierced into the joints of their armour, such as their hands and feet.

The Earth trembled. Leonard listened intently as he watched the spectacle before him. The Union’s cavalry rode in with a cloud of dust. Parallel to the wall of spearmen, the Empire’s army, slowed by the arrows, was hit with a devastating attack from the side. Spears thrust one after another from horseback, and the Empire soldiers fell without even so much as a single groan.

Swords shot up into the air, helmets flew, and a cloud of blood erupted with such force that it wet even the sun. The Union’s calvary troops had wiped out the Empire soldiers; not stopping in their charge until they had reached clearly to the other side. A knight, separated from the cavalry, went to approach Leonard.

“Leonard, sir…! Thank you for your help. I see now… Could this be the power of the pact?” The goodness of his upbringing was reflected in his voice. Could this soldier have been something like the son of a noble family? Leonard silently nodded and turned to the side.

Please, take more care from here.”

“I’ve taken my pardon from my role in the cavalry...” There came the sound of the knight raising his sword.

“Advance! Secure the vanguard!” He yelled to the soldiers under his command.

The spear infantry advanced with a roar. Armour clashed and the hills shook. These were, at its core, tactics of the Union. The Empire went unfearful of death, went without disturbance, and simply continued attacking in vain.

A wall of spears nourished the soil, as did the arrows, and wielded in the hands of the calvary were sickles meant for harvest. The three-stage stance steadily wore down at the power of the Imperial soldiers by taking advantage of such daredevil tactics—not in the use of fighting spirit, not in the use of courage, but by the hands of overwhelming collaborative power.

More than a hundred groups of the sort were using these formations across the battlefield. An Imperial legion with no leader had no such formation—they were independent, and mighty warriors of their own stead. They did not respond to the Union’s changes in their formation at all, and instead, the final battle unfolded in the form of the Union’s collaborative efforts versus the Empire’s individual ones; no different than the sub-humans from that day.

When the three-stage form was close to being destroyed by the efforts of the Empire, it was the job of the pact-bearers to rush in and intercept it with their own overwhelming powers—such was the role given to Leonard. As he was about to hurry to the next field of battle, a particularly loud roar that sent chills down his spine resonated from the sky.

“Seere—”

Leonard looked up to the sky with a dark expression, where two dragons soared above—they were fighting. With a loud laugh the faerie darted towards the approaching horde of goblins nearby; an explosion sounded, and the goblins were blown away. Hands, feet, heads and torsos fell one after another onto the grass, forming a mountain of blood and mutilation.

And with a trail of blood flowing behind it, the pale, magical light flew.

‘Pack it up and go home, stupid Empire!’

On another part of the battlefield, Arioch was busy playing her own hand against the Empire. Her eyes were vacant, and a mysterious smile was worn on her lips. A unique, curved weapon chopped up the attacking Imperial soldiers one after another. A mass of water and flame revolved around her, striking down any approaching Empire soldier with their magic powers. On the gentle slopes of the hills, a number of Union soldiers ran desperately—their faces were pale. Chasing after them was a huge, blue-black shadow that rose from a distant mountain.

“They even brought it here—!”

“So big…!” Arioch spoke absent-mindedly.

It was the largest and strongest weapon of the Empire—a weapon of unfathomable scientific power.

The blueish-grey torso boasted well above 200 metres towered up to the heavens. With no arms, it carried instead a flat, square-shaped board that swayed at its sides, and walked autonomously on shortened legs. Near the top of its head was something like a hole filled with pink light—the very reason that so many soldiers past had called it “The One-Eyed Giant”. From time to time, such cyclops had occasionally been spotted across Midgard, demonstrating its power in such a way that it had destroyed even entire nations.

Just then, the pink light flicked and emitted a bundle of light near ten metres wide. The ray cut through the Earth, slicing clean through the fleeing soldiers.

“Damn! It’s starting to emit those rays, hurry to the trenches!”

Arioch began to approach with a look of wonder as the soldiers fled and screamed in terror.

“So big…!” She said again, this time with a faint smile.

Three of those cyclops had been brought into the Blue Mountains. With their giant bodies, they lumbered across the battlefield, crushing all of the Union’s formations in a moment with its’ “Blade of light”. As a means to combat such a giant, a number of long trenches had been dug into the plains in advance. Chasing in pursuit of the soldiers, the cyclops plunged one leg into the trenches—but when it lifted the other into the air to pull it out, the boards swung off to the side, causing it to fall on the hillside. The sound of its collapse roared throughout the plains, storms of dust rising up from the body.

“The monster has fallen!”

“Let’s take advantage while we still have our chance!”

The cyclops struggled on the ground. Soldiers busied themselves drilling holes into the blueish-grey form with an array of spears, a waterfall of blue bodily fluids gushing out in the assault—more than 5,000 had rushed to place their kill in the fallen cyclops. With all the courage of a colony of ants facing up against a child in their bed, they challenged a being tens of thousands of times their own size all at once.

A joyful expression shone in Arioch’s eyes. Among the soldiers, she had also stood alongside them. What she was headed for, of course, was the most interesting area… The one on its head. The one hole that shone with a translucent pink light.

A large number of soldiers had gathered round, and the sea of silver was dense, making it difficult for Arioch to approach. However, as she pushed on and on, the crowd naturally split and hurried out of the way—there wasn’t a soul that existed who didn’t know who this woman was.

The pink hole was around five or six metres in diameter and was, just as she had hoped, very beautiful. The colour changed in a strange sort of way that made it seem as if it were boiling. With a gleeful smile on her face, Arioch readied her blade, and made a mad dash towards the strange hole. Around fifty soldiers had crowded into the area, thrusting or throwing spears, but Arioch swam effortlessly through the crowd. With her feet kicking off from the dirt, the elf woman leapt far over their heads and thrust her blade into the shining pink surface of the cyclops. She was fascinated by its softness.

The soldiers looked on in amazement. Arioch’s body fell back against them as the blade was yanked out, cries of pain resounding as the soldiers fell back into one another like dominos. But it was Arioch who was the first to get up quicker than anyone else, throwing herself towards the hole again and beginning a frantic assault. _Three times. Four times. Five times⸺

...

Gradually, the pink hole began to glow.

The soldiers began to slowly retreat as they took notice, but Arioch went on in complete ignorance of their backing away and continued to slash at the now-glowing hole with shrieks of mad laughter. The soldiers that once swarmed around the pit began to flee in unison as the hole grew into a pure, white light. Suddenly, a flash of incandescent light burst forth. The bursting light incinerated the grass, carved out the ground, completely engulfed both the Union and Empire soldiers fighting far away, and disappeared within the blink of an eye. Soldiers stared dumbfounded at the sight of a lone woman standing atop the blackened ground around her.

Two lights of differing colours enveloped her body.

‘Do not act with such foolishness.’

‘Do not act with such recklessness.’

Even as the two spirits spoke, Arioch only tilted her head as she examined her slightly tinged clothes. Once the cyclops had finally stopped moving, many of the soldiers sat dumbfounded on the grass. Some were even in tears.

Boredly looking up at the sky, Arioch watched as the fierce battle unfolded between red and black.

“So pretty…”

The smaller-scaled skirmishes had been of a good fight, but the forces of the Sons of Man were soon beginning to become overwhelmed. Once the Empire’s soldiers had gotten into a fight, they showed no signs of fatigue—all they did was continue to swing their weapons. What was more, their numbers were inexhaustible.

The generals and men of the Union, on the other hand, were gradually growing possessed by their greatest enemy of fatigue and exhaustion. The Union’s forces were thrown only into further turmoil as the spearmen began to recognise their own neighbours among the charging Empire soldiers.

They had no remnants of the people they used to be.

But, at the same time, they couldn’t help but feel sad for them—such was the nature of their reunion.

The Empire’s soldiers marched on with no life, no expression, only ferocious murderous intent and eyes of red. Who were those people?

Most of the hard-working spearmen on the front lines had lived as farmers before joining the Union. The enemy soldiers that stood against them now were once comrades who they worked alongside with in the fields, living and suffering together. They had been their neighbours in every sense of the word. They knew their personalities, their backgrounds, their habits, those who they joined hands with or those who they clashed with. Not knowing for what reason, the Union fought on in tears.

(Who are we?)

…Weren’t they of the Union the humans who had been abandoned by the world?

…Weren’t they of the Empire the heroes who fought to innovate and advance in the world?

The Empire mercilessly swung their blades towards their tear-stained morale. The spears were cut down, and they charged onwards. Sparks flew as swords clashed, the sounds of both screams and roars jumbled together in complete cacophony.

The battle in the sky raged on.

“Are you alright!? Are you hurt? You aren’t hurt, are you?”

The red dragon doesn’t answer to Seere’s cries, his hair blowing in the wind. It didn’t have time to answer. The two dragons had clashed in the air more than fifty times. With each attack, flames soared and scattered into the air.

Both of the red dragon’s wings were torn.

One of the black dragon’s horns was broken.

Even so, they didn’t flinch, and the two dragons drew dizzying and elegant patterns of red and black swirls through the sky. The wind raged, as if excited by the rushing torrents of the two colours. The black dragon failed to catch the storm with its wings, and not a moment after losing its balance, the red dragon blew its crimson flames.

With knowledge that they were unavoidable, the black dragon spewed its own dark flames as they hit. Smoke and flame bathed both of their bodies, the two dragons blown away in the impact once more. The riders could barely hold on hard enough to not be blown off.

Both Caim and the red dragon were growing frustrated. If they didn’t rescue Furiae as soon as possible, the whole of the last stand against the Empire would be made fruitless.

The red dragon turned its head up towards the floating Sky Fortress.

‘Caim, I shall leave you there for now. Go, rescue the Goddess! I shall deal with the black dragon.’

Caim nodded. They could see the black dragon fiercely approaching.

The red dragon darted across it and spewed more flames. Somehow, the black dragon dodged them. Changing its direction towards the gap, the red dragon suddenly soared straight up.

“He’s getting away!” Inuart’s voice shouted from behind them.

‘I won’t fall prey to that black dragon’s claws.’

The red dragon stretched out its damaged wings and made way towards the Sky Fortress.

4

The dragon rose all the way to the fortress and hovered in the air. The entire vicinity of the Sky Fortress spread out as far as the eye could see.

It was far larger than they could have ever imagined.

On the bottom was an upside-down triangular pyramid base that stretched five kilometres from one end to another, and a chaotically arranged building that looked as if playing blocks had been stacked up on top of each other.

The materials used were both stone-like and metal-like—some dull, dark grey material.

The flow of wind brought the clouds to surround them, adding a clean white to the rugged scenery of the fortress. Faintly, they caught eye of flocks of small dragons flying about it.

‘Sub-dragons of the Empire!’

The high-pitched shrieks of the pursuing black dragon rang out from behind them.

‘Caim, where is the Goddess? Can you feel her?’

Caim closed his eyes, but felt nothing. His senses weren’t as sharp as Leonard’s, and his soul had been made “Dulled”.

“I know where she is!” Came Seere’s bright voice. “Over there.” He pointed to a corner of the fortress.

‘Such talent, for a child so young… Can you sense the Goddess’ presence?’

“Well… Not really. But, my sister is over there! I know that much for certain. I think… I think that the Goddess will be there with her, too!”

The dragon was lost for a moment.

It wasn't certain if Furiae was truly with this young sister of Seere’s. Yet at the same time, it couldn’t afford to search for each individual person in such a vast fortress…

‘There is no other way. Let us take your word, and hurry at once.’

The dragon soared on. The sub-dragons let out a resounding howl as they swarmed together like grey clouds in the sky before them.

‘They may be enemies, but they are of little concern. There is no time to deal with them now… I will go and break through!’

The sub-dragons faltered for a moment at the sheer force of the dragon’s sudden attack, but were quick to turn around and attack all at once. Seere hid his head in his hands with a cry as Caim swung his sword to fend them off, the dragon drawing a meandering trajectory through the sky while dodging the many claws and fangs of the sub-dragons that attacked one after another. With the dragon speeding out of the way of each attempted attack, the sub-dragons knew that mere speed was not enough—an array of fireballs were shot out instead of giving chase.

Still, the dragon was too fast. Shaking off the attacking fireballs, it gained even more speed in its flight towards the fortress. Seere clung desperately to its neck—the fortress was approaching!

‘There is no doubt, the Goddess draws near!’

“Yes! Right here!”

It flew in avoidance of the rectangular, building-like structures. There seemed to be almost no curves in this fortress, everything sculpted with sharp right angles as if they had been cut. They could see a number of cobblestone roads—the fortress was constructed with a labyrinth of corridors traversing scattered through the air.

‘Both of you, get down here!’

The dragon found a nice clearing to land on and lowered its altitude, Caim and Seere landing together on the cobblestone. Both were exhausted—Seere in particular was unsteady on his feet, stumbling against the wind.

‘I will distract the black dragon. Caim—you must go and find the Goddess.’

The dragon lifted its head and looked up towards the sky.

The black dragon loomed over them with its usual sneer, the sub-dragons behind it rushing like locusts to wheat. With a single roar, the red dragon soared towards the pack. After seeing it off from behind, Caim turned around and stared blankly at Seere. With a small nod and hoarse voice, he said, “I think they’re over there!” And pointed off into the fortress.

Though his walk was precarious, Seere swung his steps and chased after him. Before their eyes was the sight of the figures of Empire soldiers, near twenty men, running out from the rectangular buildings.

“The Empire's soldiers are up here. How could they have gotten all the way to the sky?” Seere asked breathlessly.

Caim grabbed Seere under his arm and ran, approaching the group of the Empire soldiers in a flash. One soldier unleashed a devastating strike, Caim catching it with his blade in one hand and slashing the hand off in an instant. Placing Seere back on the ground, he struck the soldier in the back. Seere nodded in understanding, hoisting his bag over his head, lowering himself, and running. Caim stabbed his sword into the neck of the Empire soldier whose hand had been dismembered, kicking the body and ripping away his sword. His body trembled with delight. Blood splashed across his dampened face.

Not far away, he spotted an Empire soldier aiming at Seere; the left arm raised and swung down with force—but a burst of flames quickly blew the soldier away, the power of the dragon now completely united with Caim. Now on guard, the soldiers formed a circle around the pair. Caim stared intensely at the enemy soldiers as they slowly drew near.

Seere let out a cry. Though he remained unmoving, Caim could see him from just the corner of his eye—Seere was in the corridor leading to the main stage, with no enemy soldiers in sight. On the other hand, it seemed that everyone had decided to attack him instead. Caim suppressed the tingling feeling in his heart from the excitement of battle and kept his gaze focused on the soldiers around him.

The tension broke, the Imperial soldiers suddenly striking out with silvery-white blades. Caim thrust his blade forward, spun around, and swung it down from the shoulder to the abdomen of the soldier behind him. Caim’s tremendous strength allowed for the blade to cut through the armour as if it were nothing but butter. Immediately after, he countered an approaching blade with the tip of his sword, spinning back around and plunging it into the soldier’s stomach before slashing it towards their legs. The Imperial soldier crumbled quietly to the ground.

Seeing the Empire soldier still stand up, he beheaded the staggering soldier and turned once again, reaffirming his grip on his sword. A smile spread over Caim’s lips.

What followed next was a massacre.

One single person, with power so great as to overwhelm a dozen. Caim swung his sword wildly, drove it through soldier after soldier, and slaughtered the enemy soldiers in an instant with such skill that it was as if he was cutting through fruit. Heads flew and scattered in all different directions, limbs fell to the ground like rain, and by the time he had even noticed it, the Empire soldiers were already struggling through a sea of their own blood.

Still, the sound of more Empire soldiers rushing in was quick to draw Caim’s attention. With his sword held tight in his hands, he immediately started running—to the corridor where Seere flailed and cried out. To where the sound of armour followed from behind.

In the middle of the corridor, Seere peered up at Caim with a worried look.

“Caim! Are you okay?”

Caim gave no answers, but instead turned around to the sight of another crowd of Empire soldiers. With a push to Seere’s back, he carefully took a slow few steps back himself. Seere clung desperately to the handrail nearby to keep from being blown off by the wind, Caim giving him a sideways glance. Near 100 metres away—if he fell there, Seere wouldn’t be able to stand back up. The crowd of Imperial soldiers drew near the corridor.

Caim’s left hand was raised high. With a sharp cut through the wind, it swung down; explosions sounded and debris scattered across the hall, smoke rising from the remains. With the black smoke scattered by the wind, the connecting corridor that separated the soldiers from Caim and Seere was well-destroyed and dismantled into pieces. The soldiers of the Empire, with most their compatriots lost to the explosion, could only stand there helplessly. And with only one, expressionless glance behind him, Caim turned around and began his slow walk behind Seere.

Before them stood a circular, stone stage.

“C… Caim…!” Furiae cried.

“Manah—!” Seere exclaimed.

Both words vanished in the storm without answer. A single man stood there alongside the two sisters.

Red hair blew in the wind. With a long spear held in his hand, he stood before Furiae and Manah. A storm of wind tore through the room; the two standing silently in the centre of the stage.

The sky expanded endlessly around them, forming a blue hemisphere without a single cloud in sight. The five people that stood in the circular, stage-like room looked like nothing but weakened dolls in comparison.

Furiae donned a long dress that looked something like a ball gown. The girl—Manah, as Seere had called her—wore a red, one-piece dress with a black cloak atop it; a blond girl bearing much similarity to Seere.

From the looks of it, however, Furiae seemed uninjured. However, she was horribly pale—her body must have reached its limit… And it was on that frail, paling body that rested the very seal protecting the order of the world.

Caim’s heart filled with both sympathy and love.

The girl, Manah, placed her hand on Furiae’s stomach and slowly retreated away from Caim.

“Caim. It is good to see you again. Welcome… To my castle.” Inuart ran a hand over his spear. “Hahah…! Do you remember? I had always sung at the request of you and your sister. Sing, sing, sing; sing for us, Inuart. Please sing for us, Inuart. And I had always done my best. For the both of you… That’s right, Caim. And now… I’ll sing for you again today, too.”

With a hoarse voice, Inuart began to make what sounded like noises from his throat. Atop the stone stage, the harrowing remains of a once-beautiful tenor warped and broke into a grotesque parody of a song. Inuart began to shake hysterically and laugh. But abruptly, the laughter stopped, red flashing in his eyes.

“Now, then… Let us tie things back up again. You’ll be sure to die this time, won’t you?” A stilted smile grew over Inuart’s face.

Caim’s face flushed red with rage. His sword was roughly yanked from its hilt, approaching Furiae and the others with quickened steps. Inuart raised his spear and threw it forward, and the handle crashed into Caim’s shoulder as he moved to avoid it. As Caim staggered with pain and glared upwards, Inuart drew his longsword and strided forward with growing rage.

Sparks flew through the air. In an instant, the swords clashed nearly fifteen times in the span of a moment. Caim swerved out of the way of Inuart’s large blow. White flashed with the brandish of his sword from below, aiming for his outstretched arm while he still had the chance. However, Inuart had managed to land a hit on Caim’s shoulder before he could go any further, and the two tangled and rolled across the stone stage. Caim’s sword flew from both hands and clattered loudly on the ground—Inuart had won the fight. Pinning a foot to his chest, Inuart picked up the fallen spear from nearby. His face wore a malicious grin.

His fingers briefly reaffirmed their grip on the spear. The point swung down. Furiae and Seere both screamed.

But Caim was just in time.

The tip of the spear shone brightly mere inches beside his slightly turned neck, the grazed skin cut and spurting with blood. Caim reached out his hand to grab hold of the spear from below, grasping it, and breaking it with all his might. Quickly grabbing hold of the top of the spear, Caim flung it at Inuart in a blind shot.

Inuart managed to avoid the oncoming strike, leaning and staggering back a few steps. The tip fell with a small clatter onto the edge of the stage. With his balance regained, Inuart picked up his sword once more and held it at the ready.

Caim picked up his own sword, rubbing his bleeding neck with one hand. A single, blood-covered palm stuck like glue to the hilt. Now grasping his sword with both hands, Caim stood before him and watched his movements carefully.

“What are you doing!? Stop giving me those eyes, Caim. Don’t you dare look at me with such contempt…!” Inuart roared. His red eyes shook as if trembling, Caim frowned at him. Strangely, Inuart’s forehead dripped with cold sweat.

“You… You always looked at me with those eyes.”

Caim finally closed the gap.

Inuart leaned his head back, looking up towards the sky, and took a deep breath. A strange voice burst from his throat as he suddenly charged forward and unleashed a blow to the other’s side. Caim had managed to stop it—the clashing swords slid up and down each other, and with a breath of exhilaration, Caim swung upwards in a great strike. Inuart’s sword flew from his hands, spinning through the air as it rose, and then began its fall back down.

In a subsequent blow he slashed sideways, and Inuart’s sword clattered off the edge of the stage and onto the distant earth below. Caim passed silently by Inuart, who sat crouched in a daze staring blankly at his own empty hands.

The point of Caim's sword raised straight ahead and flat as a board, pointed directly towards Manah. Seere’s younger sister, this Manah, had an aura of deception that made even the “Dulled soul” of Caim grow wary.

Seere hurried over till he was right lined up beside Caim, placing his hands on his knees and panting to catch his breath. His bag hung off from the side of his neck.

“W-Wait! Caim, stop, please! She’s my sister! Manah, can you hear me? It’s me, Seere! I’ve been searching for you all this time!”

Manah didn’t respond, merely staring at Caim with an indecipherable smile on her face. There came the sound of countless flapping wings in the sky. All five of them looked up.

There, a horde of sub-dragons shrieked and called in unison. In the midst of their whirlpool flew a figure of red.

‘Caim! Can you hear me? A presence of great power lies nearby. Stay on guard! Even the child cannot be underestimated.’

“No! You’re wrong! This girl is my sister, Manah! She’s my sister!” Seere cried.

“Foolish servants who do not know the grace of the gods,” Manah spoke in the deep voice of a man. “Why did you come? We won’t let you have this woman.” Manah spoke in a girl’s voice again. Seere backed away, yet kept himself firmly planted on the ground.

“Manah…”

Caim reaffirmed his grip on his sword and drew closer. “Caim…—!” Furiae started to speak.

‘“So, he came for me. Caim, my brother…! I’m so happy, but…”’ Caim stopped in his tracks, staring dumbfounded between Manah and Furiae.

The voice continued to flow directly into his head.

“I can read into your heart. It is because I am loved, you know!” Manah smiled, gently patting her hand on Furiae’s back. Furiae staggered back, looking at Caim with frightened eyes.

‘“I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared that you’ll know the truth within my heart, my brother. You’ll despise me. If you know…”’

“No…!” Furiae clung tight onto Manah. But with no more than a slight push, Furiae’s body fell to its side.

“If you want to know the truth, I always hoped you would know. I want to tear this body apart. Why must I sacrifice myself to protect such worthless humans? I wanted somebody to notice. Somebody, anybody! I renounce it! This is who I really am.”

“Please, no more…!” Furiae burst into tears. “I beg of you, please…”

‘“Brother, oh my brother! I want you to notice me. Please, look at me, only me! It’s unbearable, I want you I want you I want you!”’ The second half changed back to the deep voice of a man, sounding horribly grotesque.

“I’m sorry…!” Furiae covered her face in her hands.

Manah smiled. “So, you failed at playing Goddess…” Her hand rested itself on Furiae’s back.

Furiae stumbled back, her eyes locked on Caim.

Caim could only stand in frozen shock. He stared back at Furiae.

From nearby, Inuart began to stand and stagger towards them. Caim glanced between the two.

And in the midst of it all, Manah danced, the sound of her laughter ringing through the air.

Ahahahahaha! How horrible! Friend killing friend, and then, forbidden desire between sister and brother!’ Furiae let out a helpless cry. As if having some sort of fit, she ran to the edge of the stage.

The sounds of dragon fighting dragon could be heard from the sky. Roars, shrieks, the explosions of flames⸻

Caim couldn’t move.

‘Caim!! What are you doing!?’ Roared the dragon.

Caim stumbled towards Furiae, trying to approach her as if he had been shoved away. Furiae stood at the edge of the stage. Chestnut-coloured hair tossed violently about in the wind. And, for a moment, Furiae almost smiled. It was a smile usually like that of a spoiled child—the sort of smile he had always thought was most beautiful.

But, the smile grew strained. A strong wind blew. Caim’s eyes dropped to the ground for a moment. They looked back at Furiae. Furiae’s whole body was trembling.

“...Please. Don’t look at me… There…”

Her body vanished behind the stage.

Startled, Caim ran in a mad dash towards the edge of the cold, stone stage from where Furiae had disappeared. All he could see was the green earth below—and the faint figure of Furiae’s body plummeting towards it. Inuart rushed forward with both hands outstretched.

‘Caim!! Hurry!’

Having finally broken free from the grasp of the sub-dragons, the red dragon soared onto the stone stage, almost scraping its stomach against the stone. Caim dove off.

And in the next moment, both he and Inuart chased Furiae as one.

The black dragon, having retrieved Inuart from the air, swooped down and viciously attacked the red dragon. Its body twisted in evasion—fangs bared towards the black dragon’s neck, but by the time they had closed, they had merely cut through the air. Blackened claws dug into the red dragon’s abdomen and cruelly kicked it away, a single crimson wing expanding and striking the skull-like head of the black dragon.

Two masses, both of overwhelming life, clashed head-on and changed places. Two long streaks of flame trailed behind them, a spiral of red and black plummeting down the sky. Two roars intertwined, entangled in the sky.

In a mesh of red and black, the two dragons fell.

No one would know what the Goddess Furiae was thinking during her fall.

Was it of her grudge towards the world that had wrung her dry? Her love for Caim? Sympathy for her once betrothed? Perhaps she had shamed herself for having failed her duties as Goddess. Was she remembering her homeland? Were they sad memories? Frightening? Happy? Did her life “Flash before her eyes”, as some would say? Or did she merely pass out?

It was fortunate for the warring soldiers on the hills, the wind that took Furiae’s emaciated body and threw it towards deserted grasslands. It made a single, large bounce, rolled several times, and finally stopped on its stomach.

“Furiae⸺?”

For a moment, Inuart’s eyes changed from bright red, to a clear blue.

When he looked down, Furiae’s body had burst open and blossomed into a flower.

...

The rough scales of the black dragon shifted beneath the palm of his hands.

...

Shock. Shock was all he felt in that moment.

...

His hand hurriedly jerked away. Suddenly, his body had become free.

...

Inuart looked around. It seemed he was someplace above the sky.

...

What was he doing here? He didn’t know.

...

He hadn’t known he was ever in a place like this.

...

I need to sing.

...

He didn’t even know why he was falling.

...

Just that he was above the green earth.

...

Furiae had blossomed into a red flower.

...

I need to sing.

...

The soldiers stood with their mouths agape as they stared alternately between the falling man and woman.

...

I need to sing.

...

The woman fell to the ground.

...

Furiae lay face down on the ground, and shattered into a million pieces.

...

The man fell to the ground.

...

Did I kill you?

...Look at me, Furiae. Please, let me see your face. One last time.

The tune of a song, unable to be sung, rose within his throat.

...Furiae. I want to stay by your side. More than anything in this world, I lo⸺

The black dragon likely didn’t understand until its last moment the death that had suddenly fallen upon it. In the air the dragon writhed and roared, recoiling in a twisted dance that threw the last of its once-abundant life into scattered droplets of blood in all directions.

Caim and the red dragon stared on from above. In a gap between the heavens and the earth, beneath the black dragon in all its raging throes of death, spread out a green grassland below. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers swarmed there, rolling, snatching and slashing at each other’s throat in a long, tiresome battle. A glimpse of silver rushes to the distant horizon.

Held within the vortex of all the carnage, small, red dots left by slaughtered bodies were clearly visible. Not far off lay two more.

Caim could see it clearly then—that was the end of their lives.

‘...Their lives were bound. Inuart has died. And now, the black dragon as well…’

The black dragon let out its final roar. The sky shook and trembled.

Its wings folded, its tail dropped, and helplessly, it began to fall. A black, smoke-like substance poured from its body, and the gigantic form of the black dragon disappeared into the wind; even a life so grotesque as its own returned to the earth.

The faint trembling of the red dragon found itself transmitted to Caim’s own body. Even as enemies, did the dragon still think of the death of its kin?

‘...So this is how it ends… This was the true aim of the Empire all along. Of that girl. I understand now why they had chosen to act by such indirect means, Caim. Using Inuart, abducting the Goddess, forcing her to end her life by her own hands… It was your presence, Caim, that was the key. ‘The Goddess will not be killed.’ ……Why was the Goddess not killed immediately following her abduction? It is because if a Goddess were to die at the hands of another, the Mark would be immediately placed upon another woman. It is by such means that the chains of the Goddess are made endless. But, to end one’s own life… Or to perish by natural causes…

In such a case, it is unlikely that the Mark would move so easily onto another. That Verdelet wished to take back the seal precisely so that he could end Furiae’s life by his own hands. But now… The seals are broken. The guillotine of the end that you, the sons of man, call the Seeds of Resurrection will soon be sown across the Earth.’

An emotion too hollowed to be called as mere despair filled from the dragon’s heart.

‘......A world born from the ashes of mankind… In order to conquest such a world, races of all kinds will aim their sights towards the Seeds. As your pact-beast, it is my right to know: Do you intend to protect the members of your race, or aid in their destruction? Is it your plan to fight on…?’

Caim placed a shaking hand to the dragon’s neck, and a solitary emotion poured in—it was anger. A lonely, isolated rage that barred its hatred towards all humans, all creatures, all life and forms of the world.

The Lords that continued to idly squabble and fight amongst themselves for territory, otherwise protecting their frightened selves with the shoddy daggers hidden in the back of their cloaks. The merchants who were slaves to their own greed; the poor ones cursing their ill luck, the wealthy ones praising their own abilities, and both pretending to know it all—they were nothing more than simple slaves. Those scholars, those poets, those painters and sculptors… Those poor buffoons. Before they could even become aware of it, they had misunderstood their own self-flattery as the undeniable truth of the world.

His own best friend who had gone mad with envy, betrayed the human race, and thereafter attempted to take his own life. Who kidnapped his only sister in attempt to keep her for himself.

Even his own younger sister was left subject to his scorn, his sister who was torn from her brother’s side and left this world for the journey towards the pleasantries of simple euthanasia.

Burn it all, burn everything.

Caim burned with a childish anger.

…But for the dragon, this anger was nostalgic. It reminded it of the seething fury it felt from his soul when they had met at the Castle of the Goddess. Perhaps, even then, the advent of their meeting in that castle was planned so that they could live to this moment… But such things as fate were unimportant now—there was no place they could return to, no thoughts to return to.

‘To find such things as meaning in truth is beyond us now. It is the false truths that plague this world. Even if one real were to appear, it has no power over the lies that rule us now… There exists no one that can tell what is truth and what is lies. Do you understand, Caim…? This concept of ‘truth’ has no meaning to us now. The tides of the world begin to change; the sons of man destroyed in boiled cacophony… Within their minds float the twisted rafts crafted only for their own protection. The madness drives me to no end—!’

With Caim still on its back, the dragon’s body began to make a peculiar shift. Its wings became sharply pointed, its spine stood on end… The colour near the bottom of its chin turned dark-red and purple, and the head of the dragon shone with the colour of a pure white—an appearance just like that of the loathsome black dragon that had just perished. Caim’s eyes narrowed.

The dragon glanced down, examining its new form, flipped around, and with a roar spread its grotesque wings far into the sky where an impending horde of sub-dragons awaited.

5

The three-staged formation of Union soldiers had been completely overtaken. The Empire’s bloody, unsated attacks continued to where even Leonard, strengthened by his pact, was unable to help them. In the case of melees such as this, there wasn’t a single military force in the world that could come close to surpassing the Imperial Army.

The red banner raised by the Empire had completely overshadowed the battle field, leaving the Union devastated in its wake. Now, among all the previous group formations breaking down to every man for himself, one more had joined. The flickering light of the faerie became weaker in the midst of battle, gradually dulling as its power decreased. Even to Leonard, who continued wielding his iron whip in bringing down one Empire soldier after another, it seemed that the question of which side had claimed victory and which defeat had already been decided.

But a breath of surprise left Leonard at the sudden anomaly on the battlefield.

Was the Empire… Withdrawing?

Like an ebbing tide, the iron surge began to recede back across the hills. It was as if the will that had been animating the Empire’s conquest had suddenly become lost, the red eyes flickering from within their helmets. The red light burned gently across the hills like thousands of demonic wisps—as if they were bewildered. As if they were hesitant.

Now, it was the Union’s turn to attack.

All at once, the Union’s forces launched a fierce offensive against the soldiers that had lost their previous momentum, and at last, began to overpower the Empire’s army. Could such fortune be labelled as a miraculous victory?

Leonard, who was left behind with the bodies of the Union soldiers, the Empire soldiers, and the bodies of the sub-humans that had died in battle, listened silently to the sound of a toppled banner blowing in the wind, soon after hitting the ground.

The realisation had struck Leonard just then.

The Goddess’s presence had disappeared completely from this world.

The Union force’s rapid advance upon the Empire was no miracle, it was no victory, it was simply just a futile massacre. The Empire had finally broken all the seals. The Empire had won.

Leonard walked wordlessly across the battlefield, the pained groans of wounded soldiers meeting his ears. In the distance, he could hear the roar of the Union’s ruthless assault upon the Imperial army.

Humankind’s defeat was made imminent upon themselves in the form of a glorious victory.

“This is… The end of mankind. Has our judgement come to pass?”

Seere, who had been left behind on the now-silent stone stage, watched in a daze at Manah’s jubilant dance. His waist downwards held little strength to move. With his favourite pair of shoes he had taken now held close to his chest, Seere slowly ruminated, over and over again in his heart, the unexpected string of events that had led them here—twin threads of fate drawn so unimaginably cruel he could hardly believe it.

With her arms spread wide, Manah continued to spin, scattering the petals hidden on the inside of her sleeves. Giggles and laughter continued to ring throughout the room as the petals blew away in the wind.

“The Watchers laughed! The Watchers laugh!”

“You… You have to listen to me, Manah! You can’t do this anymore! Please, you have to stop… Why are you acting like this? Manah!”

It seemed as if he wasn’t even there to Manah… Or, perhaps, he was being completely ignored.

From the west, the sky was gradually being dyed in a red crimson like the setting sun. Manah’s dancing shadow stretched far and long across the stone stage.

“You have to listen to me…! Everyone will hate you if you do this!”

Manah had no reaction—Seere finally stood and inched closer to his dancing sister, but her hand, still outspread, crashed into his chest. The tremendous impact caused Seere’s whole body to be knocked back and crash into the ground. Five metres he was blown away and left rolling across the stone stage, his shoes flying from his neck and tumbling off far, far away.

When he lifted a hand to his chest, a horrible pain shot through it. Had a bone been broken? Still, Manah continued to dance without a care in the world.

‘Are you listening to me, child…?’

Seere’s head rose to the sound of the dragon’s voice. As he looked around, he saw that the large horde of sub-dragons had completely disappeared. In the sky was nothing but the setting sun.

“Where are you?”

‘Fighting beneath the Sky Fortress. Have you felt it? The Goddess has died.’

Seere grew stiff. A slow exhale of breath left him as he looked out at Manah.

“Yes, a… A little. What will happen to us now? What will happen if all the seals are broken…?”

‘What follows the seal is not my knowledge to say… It is written that what you humans call ‘The Seeds of Resurrection’ will be sown across the Earth. They are the aim of all species of this world. But no matter who may reach them, they will bring upon the end of the world of men.’

“Then… Then Caim should go there! Wouldn’t it be great if the humans got there first?”

‘Hmph. I doubt any such plot would bring you luck. The machinations are far too grand for any mere human to comprehend. It envelops and destroys them. And now, humankind has already become encaptured…’

“Then… Everyone is going to die?” Seere went silent.

A short lifespan of seven years. Seere thought back to all the people he had met—but even as he did, he couldn’t remember their faces. Only impressions. He couldn’t remember the face of his father or mother. Leonard, Aadah, Caim, Verdelet… He couldn’t remember any of them. There existed no real people, except for when he stood directly before them.

Manah danced innocently before him. Seere’s chest ached with pain. He knew this girl, Manah, who was beaten and kicked by her mother and cried alone at night. He couldn’t do anything, then. He remembered her weakened smiles.

Even at his young age, Seere could understand that his mother’s attitude towards Manah was the flip side of her affection towards him. But it was because of that that deep down in his heart, Seere had begun to grow a feeling of superiority over his younger twin as time passed. It was for that he never helped Manah, never said anything, and just like his father, turned a blind eye to her torment. But even through it all… Manah only ever wore her smile for him.

His journey was over.

‘Listen to me well, child: There is only one way that we may hope for change.’ The voice of the dragon echoed through Seere’s consciousness. ‘Take that child’s life. Perhaps she is the Chosen Child, she who lies at the centre of this madness. Stop her, and the machinations may change. It cannot be said what will become of the world, but it will mean the end of the Seeds of Resurrection.’

“N… No, I can’t—!” Seere cried out in shock. The pain in his chest grew.

“Manah is my sister! I’ve been searching for her all this time, not to kill her! To apologise for how horrible I’ve been. What is the ‘Chosen Child’? Why is Manah acting like this?”

‘I cannot know what lives you have lived before your coming… It is not to be expected that I should know. My knowledge of you human children runs thin. But I am aware of the existence of such mechanisms that drive the Seeds… If there exist such things as Gods, it is we dragons who live closest to their equals.’

“Th-Then please, you should just tell Manah to stop this! If she can stop, then…” Enduring the pain that shot through his chest, Seere stood up, and began to walk towards Manah. He reached for the dagger he had at his waist… And threw it aside.

‘Do you understand what you are doing!? If you do not carry through, the world will die! Do not follow in the same steps as Inuart!!’

Seere stood his ground, holding back the dragon’s roar that shook the whole of his small body.

“I won’t do it. Manah… This is Manah. I don’t care if I’ll die. Even if the power over her is strong, I… I can’t just leave her behind like that! I’m her brother! I don’t care about death!” Seere wiped away his tears as he drew closer to his sister. “It’s terrible, Manah… Do you see what bad creatures dragons can be? She’s telling me to kill you… But, you don’t have to worry. I won’t do it.”

Gently, he extended his hand. But Manah, still dancing, brutally knocked it away. Seere cried out in excruciating pain; his hand made numb and unable to move—and still spinning, Manah hit his chest once again. Seere was thrown back.

…When he looked up, he saw his pair of favourite shoes right in front of him. He remembered the faerie-story left inside. The Little Hero.

A streak of blood streamed from the corner of Seere’s mouth, dripping and soaking onto the stone stage. “Miss dragon… The power over Manah is too strong. I… I can’t save her. I don’t know what to do…”

‘There is no use in trying to justify yourself, child. You must take your destiny up upon your own shoulders. We know it is still too heavy for one so young… But what must be done must be done.’

“But… How-?”

‘Your Golem. If you use him, it will be a swift death. Your sister will not have to suffer.’

“But Golem didn’t come with us…! It will be impossible to use him. I can’t…!”

‘The dolls you call Golems are mere spirits possessing clay and stone. You possess the power to invoke them.’

“But, that’s…”

The fortress shook. Suddenly, the ground glowed in what seemed to be an almost white sort of colour. Before he knew it, a gust of wind had swirled up from below, blowing back Seere’s blond hair.

The ground continued to glow, though Seere didn’t hear a thing—it was a quiet sort of light. It was so quiet that⸻

Seere’s knees trembled with both shock and fear.

Tens of thousands of people had just died with each shine.

With the power of his pact, he knew—an unthinkable number of lives were dying helplessly across the grasslands. Gone, instantly.

‘Do not stand by so idly, child! The soldiers below are under attack. The Empire plans to destroy even their own among the Union soldiers all at once! Do you intend to take their lives!?’

Seere glanced back at Manah.

She was no longer dancing; instead, she simply stood and stared quietly up at the sky, a small silhouette in a sky dyed with red.

“...Golem,” Seere sat up, his head cast downwards. “Golem, I need your help. Please!” The stone stage shook violently. Seere lost his balance and fell over once again—but Manah didn’t move, just staring silently at the sky.

A crack shot through the stage, revealing the Golem’s gigantic arm. Grabbing the edge of the stone stage with both hands, the large mass of animated stone grew from the ground with a deafening roar—the Rock Giant. As it lumbered and awkwardly shook the dirt from its body, blackish powder crumbled and fell to the ground like snow. The emerald, ore-like eyes shone with light as they found and settled on Seere.

‘See... reee…’

“Golem… Please. You… You have to put a stop to Manah.” Was all Seere said.

After those words, Seere could only stare at Manah, unable to look away. The ground shook as Golem approached Manah. With each heavy step the golem took, its giant feet smashed, shattered, and burrowed deep into the stone below it. The way it looked down on the small girl as it approached was almost robotic, as if it were a puppet on strings.

Manah didn’t look upset. On the contrary, she just continued to stare up at the sky as if she hadn’t even noticed the giant behind her, her face hidden in the shadows… Seere suddenly began to feel as if he was really standing there all by himself.

Is this it? Have I been travelling all this time looking for myself?

Two wings of twins, raised by love and hate, and irrevocably separated apart into two. Now, they would truly be separated forever.

…Now, what I’ve done is irreversible. Seere covered both hands over his screaming mouth.

(Don’t do it, Golem!)

The golem raised its giant fist, and swung down.

The huge bulk of rock swallowed the small shadow, crushing the stone stage, and breaking through it. Seere watched as the stone crumbled and listened to it as it did. That was it. A few pieces of debris flying into the air, and that was all.

The golem raised its fist. Seere quickly turned his head away after spotting what looked like a jelly-like mass peel off its fist as it lifted from the ground below. What he had just done himself. It was natural he couldn’t look directly at its results.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Manah.”

Seere stared at his feet. His chest felt empty. His chest felt truly, truly empty, the wind penetrating and passing through as he stood. Manah had died. And he had disappeared with her. “Golem… Thank you.”

The fortress began to shake violently. Here and there, bits of stone began to break off and fall towards the distant earth. The Sky Fortress, maintained only by the delusions of the Chosen Child, had lost its supporting power and was now on its way to falling in on itself.

Seere held his hands around his knees and sat down where he stood.

Sadly, he was still living.

Sadly, he was still alive.

He could see Golem being swallowed up by the growing rubble of the crumbling fortress. Seere just stared at the ladybug-sized mole on his wrist.

The dragon’s body was already full of wounds as it fought against the countless number of sub-dragons that swarmed it. The red-purple dragon, having undergone its new transformation, continued to fight vigorously even after suffering such immense wounds. Caim and the dragon’s minds were more united than ever before, drunken of their dance of slaughter.

Chew, tear, burn. Even seeing the seemingly endless onslaught of sub-dragons, it was all that filled the dragon’s mind.

...It had been freed from all sense of rationality, but would this be the place it died?

What came to the dragon’s mind was no thought of the last ten thousand years, but instead, the time it had spent with this man. From the dragon’s point of view, it had only felt like less than a moment. Days gone by of nothing but war, and yet, it had felt a sense of fulfilment in its life that it had never felt before.

‘Caim. You have my gratitude… It is thanks to you that I was able to learn the power of a pact. These last days have been unprecedented for even my own eyes… But, what is man? The question is still unsolved. I do not know. That is my only regret.’

Caim’s fighting spirit still welled within his heart. Still, he had not yet admitted defeat, a passion that burned the grounds of the earth like lava flowed into the dragon’s heart. Having burnt out the ghosts of the past with its heat, Caim carried with him the pride of a soul moving forward to the future.

The dragon laughed loudly.

‘Will you fight on, Caim…? …Good. We will never know defeat again now, not until we meet the end of our lives.’

The dragon’s wings spread to charge towards the oncoming horde, but suddenly, it stopped. It’s head turned in confusion. The sub-dragons stopped as well. Both parties were hovering mid-air, as if the thread that pulled them along had suddenly snapped.

‘...Has the child done it…?’

Against the background of the maddening red sky, it could see the fortress beginning to crumble. The cone shaped bases collapsed, one after another.

‘Could it be that they are lost now that the will of the Gods is broken? The Chosen Child is killed, and the Seeds of Resurrection that had symbolised the days when humans lived under the whims of the Gods is lost here forever. What will it bring…? This world… The world after, where all laws we have existed under till now have disappeared…’

The dragon sensed the image from Caim’s mind. The blond-haired child. With those defiled hands, did he bring about the salvation of the world? Or had he just led it further into ruin?

‘The child!’

The dragon swerved past the motionless sub-dragons and flew swiftly towards the fortress.

In a dark, hooded cart, Aadah suddenly bent back as a perfectly round balloon. Unable to take anymore, the guarding commander let out a scream and pressed his back against the hood. A red streak began to run through the bulging stomach. Black liquid oozed out.

Aadah’s stomach burst open from the inside with a disgusting pop, something shiny and black sticking its head from the corpse. A chuckle left it at the sight of the soldier before it.

‘The Chosen Child has been killed. The race is finished. The circuits collapse.’

The Little Hero

(An orally told folk-story from the regions of Central Midgard)

Once upon a time, there lived a young hero. Of all the soldiers that served the King, he was the best. The hero was very brave, and he never gave up, no matter how hard things got. The young hero was also very beautiful.

This hero owned a pheasant. Every day, first thing in the morning, he woke up to the pheasant’s voice, and by the time he ate dinner, he was still full of energy. By the time everyone else had got up, the young hero’s work was already done. Because he was such a fine hero, everyone was always thinking about him.

One day, the King asked for the young hero.

He asked, “You are a very fine soldier, but is there still something you are afraid of?”

“I have nothing, truly nothing, nothing at all to be afraid of.” Said the young hero.

But the truth was, there was one thing and one thing only that the young hero feared: Time.

If time passed on, he would become weaker and less sharp. He would no longer be as beautiful. He was sure that there wasn’t a soul alive that could handle the passage of time. Sometimes, the hero had dreams that he was very old and grew very frightened.

One morning, the young hero woke up to the usual calming voice of the pheasant. But sitting on his bed was a demon, small and blacker than burning charcoal.

The demon whispered softly to the hero, “Cross beyond the three mountains, cross beyond the two oceans, and beyond the green fields, there will be a well in the Earth. If you drink from it, you will never grow old.” The hero was very happy to hear that.

The pheasant said, “Stop it, no more! Don’t listen to that hunk of charcoal.” But the young hero said, “I’m going to go there. Because if I don’t grow old, then I can always be useful to everyone.”

The pheasant said, “Stop it, no more! Don’t listen to that hunk of charcoal.”

But the young hero said, “I’m going to go there. Because if I don’t grow old, then I can always be useful to everyone.”

And so he placed the pheasant on his shoulder and decided to follow the demon’s advice. He climbed three mountains, crossed two oceans, jumped across the grasslands, and finally, found a well in the Earth.

There, there was a small spring from which the “Dew of Time” glistened in all the different colours of the rainbow.

The pheasant said, “Stop it, no more! Don’t drink from that strange well.”

But the young hero said, “I’m going to drink it. Because if I don't grow old, then everyone will always love me.”

And so he scooped up the Dew of Time with his hands and drank them. Immediately, the hero fell asleep. And there he laid, resting within the well of the Earth.

For many long, long years, the hero slept. Still, he remained young, strong, and beautiful all the way through.

One morning, the hero was woken up by something tickling his nose. When he lifted his hand to rub at his nose, he saw the bright blue feathers of the pheasant. As the years had passed, it had grown old and died beside the hero. The hero saw this, and was very surprised. He became very sad. So he took the pheasant’s feathers and stuck them to his hat, that way they could travel with each other forever.

The hero was met with more surprises once he stepped out from the well. The sky, the oceans, and even the mountains had all become black. He heard everyone’s pained voices from far away. While he had slept, the entire world had grown old and moved on.

Swaying in the wind, the pheasant’s feathers said, “Let us go. Yes, let us go. Everyone is waiting for you.”

The hero nodded. “Now is my time!”

So the hero walked back. He crossed over the grasslands, crossed the two oceans, and crossed the three mountains. As he walked, the Dew of Time inside the hero began to gradually fade away. Where the hero had been, the steps behind him began to glow with all the colours of the rainbow. Then the skies, the oceans, and the mountains all regained their original colour. The hero was growing older and older. But, still, he continued on.

By the time the hero finally reached his homeland, he was weak, wasn’t as sharp, was completely wrinkled, and had lost all his hair. He had no armour, no sword, and wore nothing but a hat with pheasant feathers. The hero had become a small, skinny, frail old man. The people were so astonished at the strange behaviour of the hero that no one dared approach him.

The King had long since grown old and died, and everyone who knew the hero was gone as well. Still, the hero was happy to be back in his homeland, and collapsed with a smile. The last drop of the Dew of Time had finally fallen to the ground.

From its place sprouted a large oak tree. The wind blew, and the pheasant-feathered hat blew, and the oak tree shook in the breeze. Acorns fell from its branches, and all who were hungry picked them up and ate them. When they devoured the acorns grown from the oak tree, they immediately grew full of energy.

As the years passed, the tree also grew old and eventually withered away, but by that time, the country had regained its former vitality.

And so, the world became filled with life once more. ​

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