Three days after the battle on the Eastern Continent.
When Eldora opened her eyes, the blurry scene before her was that of a green forest. It was so hazy she could barely see a foot ahead, as if submerged underwater, but with each blink, the wavering focus gradually sharpened.
Her ears caught the murmur of voices nearby, but at the same time, a crushing dizziness slammed into her head.
“Ugh…”
Eldora grimaced, struggling to move her body. But only a dry groan escaped her lips; she felt no strength at all. Or rather, no sensation. She seemed to be shifting somehow, but was so disconnected she wasn’t even sure if she was moving herself. Eventually, she squeezed her eyes shut again.
How much time had passed?
The splitting dizziness finally eased, and some feeling returned to her limbs. In that moment, the questions she should have asked immediately flooded her mind.
Where was she?
Where were her comrades?
What had become of the war?
And most importantly, how had she survived?
None of it was clear. Slowly, she opened her eyes and, out of habit, reached for the ground. But Excalibur was nowhere to be found. Struggling, she lifted her upper body and looked around.
The forest surrounded her on all sides, but the air was thick and stifling. Worse, a foul stench, a mix of brine and rot, assaulted her nostrils.
Only then did Eldora realize she wasn’t alone. Under the dim sky, scattered throughout the woods, wounded users lay groaning one by one.
The first figure she saw was a man lying motionless, as if dead. What was striking was that his abdomen had been cleanly sliced open, flesh torn away in a chunk. Though the bleeding had stopped, likely treated, his organs were fully exposed.
Beside him, a woman silently wept, covering one eye with her hand. With her other hand, she waved aimlessly through the air, like a blind person searching for something.
Eldora stared blankly, a sudden lump rising in her throat.
But this grim scene was only the tip of the iceberg. The entire area nearby was much the same. The wounded users moaned in pain, while those still able to stand wore heavy, sorrowful expressions.
After a moment, Eldora’s gaze suddenly snapped to one side of the moonlit forest.
There, slumped like a broken man, sat a familiar giant she had known for years—Edward, the “Knight of Judgment.”
But one of his arms was missing. More precisely, his left shoulder had been cleanly severed.
“Ed…?”
Eldora’s voice caught in her throat. Was this a nightmare she wished to wake from? She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. Once more, shut tight, then open. But the reality remained unchanged.
Though she didn’t know the full story yet, the heavy, defeated atmosphere told her everything she needed to know about the war’s outcome.
They had lost.
The Southern Continent had been defeated.
At that thought, an indescribable despair and crushing guilt washed over Eldora.
Natalie, whose limbs had been savagely torn apart. The sudden onslaught of enemy knights mercilessly trampling her comrades. Memories she wished she could forget flickered faintly in her mind. If she had the strength, she would have cried out loud in anguish.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
A voice came from a short distance away. A broad-shouldered demon with horns sprouting from his head was approaching—Astaroth.
“I didn’t think you’d survive. Wow, maybe you really are favored by the god of death.”
Eldora didn’t understand his words, but as Astaroth drew closer, a sudden surge of uncontrollable anger welled up inside her. His casual swagger and mocking grin felt like a cruel taunt.
“So, how does it feel to be reborn…? Ugh! What are you doing?”
His relaxed tone suddenly turned harsh. Without warning, Eldora lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar.
“How dare you, you filthy worm…”
In an instant, Astaroth’s eyes flared with fierce flames.
“Why?!”
But Eldora tightened her grip and lifted him off the ground.
“Why?!”
She shouted again, tears welling in her eyes.
“Hah, geez…”
Astaroth exhaled, clearly exasperated.
“They had their own missions. Anyway, you should pull yourself together first.”
“What?”
“Don’t glare at me. You’re not the only ones who suffered. Do you even know what we went through trying to drag your nearly dead self away?”
“Nearly…? Dead…?”
At that moment—
“!”
Eldora echoed the words without realizing it, then suddenly gasped and hiccupped.
Thud!
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto her backside.
“Hey? Hey! What’s wrong?”
Astaroth called out, but Eldora didn’t respond. Instead, she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and began trembling uncontrollably. Her confused expression soon twisted into one of pure terror.
Because she had finally remembered.
The last moments on the battlefield.
And above all, the man from the Northern Continent who had toyed with her from start to finish.
Someone she had never faced before. Their strength was nearly equal, their swordsmanship evenly matched, but their speed far surpassed hers. Every time their blades clashed, Eldora felt Excalibur shrink back, a chilling sensation that still sent shivers down her spine.
Yes, she had been utterly broken. At first, she had lost control after Natalie’s death and charged recklessly, but after that, she never held the upper hand. She only reacted, swinging her sword to keep up, but was overwhelmed throughout the fight.
“El Doradooooooo!”
Not only that, but the ability she had poured her life into was shattered by a burning blade, and she was treated like a mere toy.
One piece of her equipment after another was forcibly stripped away, and she remembered sobbing, begging for forgiveness. That humiliation would never fade.
In the end, she fled without revenge. For Eldora, who had always triumphed since becoming a user, this was an unbearable wound.
And with the weight of responsibility and guilt pressing down on her, it was no wonder she was on the brink of madness. Though she appeared strong on the outside, inside she was still just a girl.
“Hic…! Hic…!”
The clearer the memories became, the more bloodshot her eyes grew, and the hiccups intensified. Her eyes widened to their limit, her mouth hung open, saliva dripping down. Curled up and shaking violently, she looked like a mental patient trapped in a ward.
As she recalled the horror of being stripped bare, mocked, stabbed in the back, and her insides exploding—
“Grrrrrrrrr!”
Eldora clawed at her hair with both hands, pulling as if to tear it out.
Then—
“Eldora?”
A gentle voice overlapped with hurried footsteps. Miraculously, Eldora’s near-explosive state suddenly halted, and her trembling subsided in an instant.
“Me-Mel… Melinus…?”
Eldora whispered hoarsely.
Moments later, an old man with a long white beard approached and sighed deeply.
“You’ve finally awakened. Truly, it’s a great relief.”
“Melinus… Melinus…”
Eldora reached out like a child searching for a parent. Melinus gently grasped her hand, soothing her. Quietly, dark tears began to stream down his weathered cheeks, though he seemed unaware.
“It’s because of me…”
“No, not at all. It’s never your fault, Eldora. If there’s any blame, it belongs to all of us.”
“But… I, I…”
“It’s alright. Eldora, don’t think about anything right now. Come, this way…”
Supporting the sobbing Eldora, Melinus began walking somewhere. Astaroth watched the pair retreating, unable to look away.
Of course, the great demon felt no sympathy. He was merely intrigued by the dark tears and the lifeless eyes he had seen earlier.
“Humans really are fascinating creatures.”
At that moment, a clear voice chimed in with a chuckle.
Startled, Astaroth turned to see Tanatos standing nearby, arms crossed.
“Well, yeah… She fell apart just from losing once. Pathetic, really.”
“Cut the fake politeness. …Anyway, you sure picked the wrong ally, huh? You should’ve just gone with him instead. What was his name again?”
“Kim Soo-hyun. If we could’ve, we would’ve teamed up with that guy too, you know? But the funny thing is, he seems intent on taking us out and dealing with the angels as well. Tch.”
“Kick!”
As Astaroth dropped the formalities and clicked his tongue, Thanatos burst out laughing. After a good while of chuckling, he stretched vigorously and continued speaking.
“So, what’s the plan now?”
“Huh?”
“‘Huh?’ isn’t the right response. Do you even realize how serious this situation is?”
“…”
“That prophecy about the Great Plan… whatever. I’ve only managed to find three out of the six pieces. Half of yours are already ruined. Not to mention the demon lords. And the southern continent? Well… you can see how that’s going.”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
Thanatos glanced sideways at the calm, straightforward tone. Astaroth stood there, arms hanging loosely, head bowed deeply.
“For someone like you, you seem surprisingly relaxed. Why not just be honest?”
“I said I don’t know. Lucifer was the only one who really understood the original plan. I never thought we’d get blindsided, but without him, there’s nothing we can do. We just have to wait.”
“Heh~. Oh! Last time you mentioned something about breaking through a path. Is that what you’re waiting for?”
“Ah… that’s one thing, but what I’m really waiting for is something else. Probably by now…”
Astaroth lifted his head slightly and glanced up at the sky.
“No, soon.”
He paused, then a slow smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Ssshhh!
A sudden chill wind swept through.
The ‘Demon of Wrath’s’ pupils slit horizontally, and his dark eyes gleamed with a fierce light.
In that moment, Astaroth continued.
“Satan is about to descend.”
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
I’m sorry.
First off, the illustration was completed early this morning.
But an unexpected problem came up.
The easiest place for readers to access it is through the announcements, but strangely, every time I upload it there, the image either breaks or becomes very blurry.
The illustrator tried changing the file multiple times and adjusting the size, but the original sharpness just won’t come through.
If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know in the comments. (__)
Ah, this illustration came out really beautiful… ㅜ.ㅠ