Shaa—

Black rain fell.

The black rain, which no player had ever seen even once, did nothing but plant a sense of revulsion.

However.

Those who knew that the falling black rain signaled the resurrection of a great archdemon despaired.

...No.

Pope Karsel.

Having already expended a considerable amount of strength, he stared helplessly at the rain that brought despair to the Ares Church and frenzy to the Calamity Church.

I have no strength left to endure this. Gremory’s resurrection? That isn’t even the real problem. The problem is those seething, vicious monsters right now.

Those trampling the Ares Church believers underfoot and displaying their power.

And those bearing the name legion commander.

The tide of battle would tilt sharply. Karsel thought so, and Aria prayed atop the wall.

Mother, please grant us strength....

Aria knew.

They needed powerful people. In this war, where most stood by and watched.

In something that, to players, was ultimately no more than a single episode.

But there was a clear reason why the powerful outsiders were not entering the war.

They did not want to become enemies of the Calamity Church.

And so the falling rain grew heavier, and on one side of the battlefield the holy knights, priests, and believers of the Ares Church fighting desperately looked up at the sky stained with despair.

Just like that.

–The Ares Church held out for a long time, but now the black rain has begun to fall, awakened legion commanders are appearing, the existing legion commanders are still active, and Gremory’s Mercy has been added on top of it all.

–It looks like the Ares Church may fall. I’ve visited the Ares Church sanctuary a few times myself, so I can’t say this feels good.

Even the commentators announced the implication of a “new episode” that would soon begin.

And in the middle of that—

“For Lord Gremory!!”

The voice of the woman holding a bow rang out across the world.

That voice aimed itself toward the people of Hyun’s Forge, who had come running to help what little remained of the Ares Church.

And the sight of it left Karsel, Aria, and the whole world bitter.

Yet that arrow—

THUNK—!

Lit up the battlefield.

While everyone questioned what that single arrow meant,

a few more arrows followed,

and—

KRAAAAAK—!

The power of the bow, as though it could split heaven and earth, briefly cast hope upon the embattled Ares Church.

An unknown heretic.

-Who is she? Who is she, really?

-Why in the world did she betray the Calamity Church!?

They did not know.

This was their first time seeing the Bow of Ruin, and to begin with, many of the Calamity Church members had entered the battlefield wearing demon masks.

The arrows of a single being were shaking the Calamity Church.

But it was a light that would not last.

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

The huge multicolored area bombardment magic climbing as if it would pierce the sky seemed to say this to those who had briefly dared to hope.

How dare you hope at all.

At that moment.

There was only a single mage in the sky.

Those spells, stretched out like hundreds of missiles flying straight toward marked coordinates—

“Magic Reflection.”

Were stopped in front of the translucent wall of a single mage.

-F-four hundred spells are being reflected!?

-It’s not just reflection. The four hundred spells are circling around that unidentified mage.

Two hundred spells floated directly in front of him.

The other two hundred spells had been accumulated into that mage’s staff.

And he sent those two hundred spells back at Rao and the priests.

-Incredible! Normally, Magic Reflection only returns twenty to forty percent of the damage!

-But that Magic Reflection seems to be on a completely different level. Sixty percent? Sixty-five percent?

Rao’s black Great Shield covered a radius of eight meters.

Behind it, layer upon layer of shields cast by the Calamity Church priests reinforced him.

But the two hundred spells were half the force Rao had believed could wipe out the capital of a kingdom.

And that force—

KRAAAAAK—!

-No, it’s one hundred percent!

Crushed apart like sheets of paper, the shields shattered. Then they turned Rao to ash and burned through the five hundred priests behind him in a single breath.

-T-the Calamity Church has lost what could be called its core high-ranking mages.

-The Calamity Church’s power has been severely weakened. One of the legion commanders, Rao, has also died. That makes two already. Two legion commanders have been destroyed.

-The problem is that there are still many legion commanders left.

-And do not forget that the number of Calamity Church members still overwhelmingly surpasses that of the Ares Church.

And then—

-Who is he?

-Who in the world is that!?

-Could it be that an unofficial ranker mage has entered the war to help the Ares Church?

As all sorts of people raised questions, the voice from the sky delivered another shock.

“All hail the Calamity Church.”

-......!?

-......!?

“......!?”

“......!?”

The words of the one standing in the sky under the gaze of all mankind shocked the entire world.

Then his staff swung once.

SHWEEEEEEEEEK—!

The first thirty or so spells went toward Irma, the 7th Legion Commander, who had been brainwashing the priests of the Ares Church with all kinds of illusions.

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

-S-seventh Legion Commander Irma is hit directly by more than thirty spells. She threw up a barrier in an instant to protect herself, but her HP has plunged to under thirty percent!

Then more than forty spells covered Ereon, known as the Legion Commander of Resistance.

Ereon possessed the trait that prevented the troops under his command from being weakened by holy power.

So when that greatest nuisance collided with the magic and was turned into a rag—

-All the buff skills Legion Commander Ereon had placed on his allies have vanished!

-That mage exploited the limitation that many buffers can no longer exert their power if they suffer grievous injuries while in the middle of providing buffs!

And the remaining hundred or so spells.

Toward Gediya, the Legion Commander of Tamers.

The being who had been leading thousands of demonic beasts, and beyond that, the largest number of Calamity Church members.

Toward those who had been endlessly summoning demonic beasts to bite, tear, and kill the believers of the Ares Church—

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKBOOOM—!

The heaviest downpour came pouring down.

Amid the black rain falling in thick sheets,

what descended was the apocalypse.

And that apocalypse was falling not upon the Ares Church,

but upon the Calamity Church.

Dense clouds of dust billowed up.

Amid that rising dust, the demonic beasts and Calamity Church believers who had somehow survived a hundred spells tried to conceal ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) themselves so they could live.

But the unidentified mage, pointing at them with a finger as though mocking them, said—

“Wind.”

SKAAAAAAASH—!

He did not grant them even a rat hole to hide in.

As he watched the seeds of evil writhing amid the scorched devastation revealed when the dust cleared,

the one who had cried, All hail the Calamity Church,

sought to reach the ultimate summit of magic.

One spell he had awakened by reaching 6th Class.

And on top of that, the brief realm granted through 7th Class Absorption.

As though, for a fleeting moment, he had become a legendary great mage.

“Fire Storm.”

-......!?

-......!?

“......!?”

“......!?”

That man, having manifested a power that only a very few mages on the continent could wield, mocked the shocked world once more.

“Double.”

KOOOOOOH—!

Left and right.

Two blazing tornadoes dragged in the Calamity Church members, crushed them within, burned them, and annihilated them.

At the level of a great mage, with those two dancing pillars reaching up to meet the sky,

he made all his mana rampage and explode.

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKBOOOM—!

Several at a time, every second.

Randomly cast low-tier spells blasted apart Calamity Church members who had been about to cut down holy knights,

BOOOOOM—!

Erased the vermin trying to crawl into the Ares Church sanctuary,

KRAAAAAK—!

And beyond that, they rained down a magical rampage more beautiful and more powerful than the black rain itself upon the demonic beasts trying to bite knights on the ground, the priests attempting to cast magic at him, and every being seeking to kill him.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM—!

Amid that endless shower of magical bombardment, it almost sounded like the click of a gun that had run out of bullets.

Click-clack—

A trigger that would no longer pull.

[You have used all your MP.]

The man, feeling that, had fulfilled his duty.

[You have executed 4,813 believers of the Calamity Church.]

Everyone present knew one truth.

The black rain was growing weaker.

Shaa—

Contrary to the sight of the rain dying away, this foretold the end of the Ares Church.

-“Clear skies and the devil arrive together.” It’s from an old grimoire.

For today at least, the people of the Ares Church wished the black rain would never stop.

But it was fleeting.

In contrast to the mage’s brilliant power that had felt like a momentary hope, that same mage—

had exhausted all of his mana.

And the weakening of the black rain meant the tale of the demon’s resurrection was racing toward its conclusion.

So much so that the struggle of the mage who had cried All hail the Calamity Church felt futile.

Their bodies broken,

their bones shattered somewhere,

and looking as though they no longer even had the strength to move—

those legion commanders began to advance, leading the swarming Calamity Church members like a tide of cockroaches, in order to greet a single existence.

Before long, the dark clouds gave way to the sky.

Through that opened path, at last, a thread of light began to pour down.

Beneath that despair wrapped in beauty,

the bodies of the holy knights, priests, and believers of the Ares Church went limp with helplessness.

[Gremory will soon resurrect.]

The thin ray of hope born from the heretics was being shattered to pieces.

A legion commander named Fuoruo trembled in ecstasy, holding the Dagger of the Evil God.

“Mother is awakening!”

The wounded legion commanders and Calamity Church members were gathering before him, preparing to be embraced in Mother’s warmth at last.

And then—

“...For the Calamity Church.”

“......”

“......”

Something changed.

The legion commanders who had been gathering around Fuoruo.

Those who had been left half-dead by the mage’s assault.

SKRRRCH—!

Had their heads sent flying by a single heretic.

The one who struck off their heads.

Not hope, but greed—that suited Kali’s name better.

The one who had been waiting for them all to gather in one place.

The one who had watched Rund and Mio’s exploits and finally bared his last fangs.

His first strike—

THUUUUUNK—!

[You have executed Legion Commander Irma.]

His second strike—

[You have executed Legion Commander Agas.]

His third strike—

[You have executed Legion Commander Fergus.]

“......!”

“......!”

-......!

-......!

Blew apart the heads of legion commanders.

And beyond that—

RUMMMMMBLE—!

There were those charging toward the gathering Calamity Church members.

I won’t let the chance Hyunsoo gave us go to waste!

The bombardment Rund had launched.

Kali, the strongest blade Hyunsoo had created.

And several dozen members of Hyun’s Forge.

Shaa—

Under the sky where the light had begun to pour in brighter and brighter,

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

Hyun’s Forge swept through those already exhausted enemies.

RUMMMMMBLE—!

The sky opened completely.

Through that opened sky, all the black rain vanished, and just as it had been written in the records of history—

a woman rose upward from Legion Commander Fuoruo’s dagger.

The ender of mankind.

The mother of the demon legions.

The great archdemon Gremory began to rise.

But then...

“No. Mother, if you awaken right now—!”

THUNK—!

“KUH-HUUURK!”

An arrow flying into Fuoruo’s glabella blasted him away just as he tried to stop it in a hurry.

At last, the full light of the sun fell upon her.

Shaa—

Gremory, now fully revealed, released an elegant breath just as she had before.

“Haaah—”

[The great archdemon Gremory resurrects.]

The sight of the demon awakening with sunlight after the rain had cleared stood in stark contrast to the horrific power she possessed.

But as Gremory basked in that sunlight,

she began to panic.

Whenever the mother who had slept for so long awakened, her children would normally cast everything aside and come running to throw themselves into her embrace.

And yet—

“Fuoruo... Egas? Rao, Vera... where are you?”

Her twenty-two children.

And beyond that, the ones who were the source of her power, fitting for the epithet Legion Commander Gremory.

The great archdemons had called those her right arm, left arm, left leg, and right leg.

That was why Kabel had said he would cut off her left arm.

And now, all her arms and legs had been severed.

“......”

The trembling in Gremory’s eyes was projected to the whole world.

At that moment, gooseflesh rose all over her body as one figure came to mind.

“Don’t tell me, Master Blacksmith Hyun, you...!?”

That truth paralyzed the media of the whole world.

Her words had proven it.

The one who had sealed Gremory in the past—

had been Master Blacksmith Hyun.

And now.

The sunlight that ought to have fallen upon the demon

was pouring down upon Hyun.