『So it is… Accept my power… Let this world… hear the prelude to annihilation!』
Aurelia’s battered walls of consciousness began to crumble under the frenzied prying of the Disaster Source.
It felt like a weary traveler, caught in a raging storm, seeing a seemingly warm cave ahead. Even knowing it might lead into an abyss, she couldn’t help but want to step inside, to seek a moment’s respite and peace.
Ominous energy swirled tightly around her body. Centered on the bush where she curled up, the soil beneath her feet rapidly lost its moisture, splitting in great cracks and turning an ashen gray.
The vitality of the earth seemed forcibly tainted. The grass and trees around her withered and blackened at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming fragile sculptures that shattered at a touch.
The deep night sky was forcibly stained a boundless dark red.
Blood-hued clouds, steeped in corruption, gathered and spun at unnatural speed, forming a storm that blanketed everything for a hundred miles around. Even far from the storm’s edge, the transformation in heaven and earth was visible to all.
Within Shadowlight City, and even in more distant cities, countless people woke from their dreams, hearts pounding as they stared at the strange, dark red sky.
Ordinary citizens were stricken with fear, weaker adventurers and stationed knights wore grave expressions. A few high-level beings with sharp senses suddenly sprang to their feet, horror flashing in their eyes as they gazed in that direction.
The aura coming from there made them recall what was only recorded in ancient forbidden tomes, as well as a legend sealed away a millennium ago.
At the Sword of Saint Radiance’s headquarters, inside a room still echoing with the aftermath of a silent storm, Laurence pressed tightly against his chest, trying to smother the rending remorse and emptiness with the sting in his palm.
Just then, the familiar presence that stabbed his soul abruptly pierced his awareness—its strength and scope a thousandfold what he’d felt before in Aurelia’s room.
“What is…?!” He snapped his head up, his golden pupils shrinking to pinpoints, staring at the blood-red sky outside the window.
“Captain! Outside!!” Vera and the other team members rushed to the window, faces pale as paper.
Though none of them knew exactly what it was, the suffocating sense of doom gripped every heart in the room.
The spectacle was terrifying, but in terms of scale and control, Laurence felt it fell far short of the utter despair that had destroyed the world in his previous life. Instead, it was chaotic—as if something was struggling within.
***
At the heart of the forest at the same moment, Aurelia’s body was engulfed by an overwhelming surge of Disaster energy, her consciousness sinking deeper and deeper into a boundless tide of darkness…
A thought became ever clearer, ever more seductive—irresistible, until she surrendered.
The memories, feelings, and convictions belonging to “Aurelia” grew fainter and fainter, like a sandcastle washed away by flood, rapidly dissolving.
But what the Disaster Source never expected was that it had made a grave miscalculation.
It had mistaken this vessel as “Aurelia” alone, never realizing that the soul hidden beneath her exterior hailed from another world.
A stretch of memory from that other world—ordinary, mundane—even blurred in the face of such overwhelming assault.
This fundamentally different soul, together with the tenacious dragon vein deep within the vessel, became an unexpected variable in its plans.
Perhaps it was the image of a weary but fiercely focused face reflected on a computer screen late at night.
Perhaps it was the comforting warmth of a convenience store rice ball on a wintry morning.
Perhaps it was a familiar tune leaking from a stranger’s headphones during a packed morning commute.
To the Disaster Source, Aurelia’s sudden, unconscious resistance—and the influence of things it could not even begin to comprehend—was utterly baffling.
Yet in that moment of hesitation, another power seized the chance to resist.
The dragon vein in her body, suppressed for so long, suddenly awakened and viciously struck back, tearing a rift through the force that sought to possess her.
『Tch… This reptile bloodline is this troublesome?!』 Rage and surprise flashed across the Disaster Source’s consciousness.
It had never expected this vessel’s dragon vein to be so stubborn, much less that the essence of an otherworldly soul could offer such unexpected resistance to its invasion.
This attempt at possession had turned, inexplicably, into a chaotic three-way struggle of consciousness—far beyond its original calculations.
If it continued to force a fusion, it was highly likely the vessel would be completely destroyed. Worse still, it might awaken the dragon blood from the ancient era—something it absolutely did not wish to confront.
Even if such an opportunity never arose again, to press on would doom its plan to failure. Thus, it made its decision at once.
Without a trace of hesitation, the Disaster Source’s cold and malicious consciousness withdrew like a receding tide.
It abandoned the attempt, forcibly retracting all its power used for possession and corruption, retreating deep into Aurelia’s mind to avoid mutual destruction with the dragon vein.
The dense Disaster energy that had triggered the celestial phenomenon instantly collapsed like a bursting bubble, losing all support as its core withdrew.
Perhaps her strength was exhausted by the struggle, or perhaps she sensed the outer threat was gone for now.
Before falling completely dormant, the dragon vein, acting on a primal instinct to protect, split off a faint sliver of power to barely stabilize her most fatal wounds. The deeper damage, however, was beyond its ability for now.
Having done what it could, the already dim light of the dragon vein faded entirely, withdrawing into the depths of her blood and organs—falling into a deep sleep.
Yet, before sinking away, it left a trace of its presence clinging to her right hand.
Within just over ten seconds, the terrifying spectacle that had shaken Shadowlight City and its surroundings completely vanished.
Only a few strands of faint, nearly invisible red cloud remained at the edge of the sky, swiftly scattered by the night wind, as if the apocalyptic vision had been nothing but a fleeting nightmare.
At the heart of the forest, the suffocating, ominous aura faded like the tide.
The withered grass and trees remained dead and gray, and the cracked earth had not regained its vitality. But at least the relentless, corrupting malice had ceased.
Aurelia lay quietly in the center of this ashen landscape, breathing hard, her face streaked with tears and deathly pale.
All seemed to return to stillness.
***
As the phenomenon ended, the Sword of Saint Radiance’s headquarters was filled with people still stunned from having just expelled Aurelia.
Yet inside Laurence, a storm raged.
[Damn it… damn it! What have I done!?]
A mixture of regret at his misjudgment, wariness of the unknown, and a growing, suffocating sense of guilt seized Laurence’s heart.
[I actually thought expelling her would stabilize things for now… thought just isolating her would buy us time to observe and respond, just like in my past life…]
His hand pressed harder against his chest, nails digging into his palm, drawing beads of blood.
[But I didn’t realize it was a ticking time bomb! It couldn’t even wait to fully hibernate before trying to awaken!]
Outside, the night sky was rapidly returning to normal, as though the dark red storm that had covered a hundred miles was just an illusion.
But Laurence knew it was no illusion.
That was a failed attempt at descent, a dangerous rehearsal—far more unsettling than the true form appearing outright.
Because it meant the power of Disaster was active, seeking a breakthrough.
Remorse filled Laurence’s mind in an instant.
But before regret could completely overtake him, the shards of memory that had haunted his sleepless days since his awakening flooded back.
Scenes from his previous life exploded uncontrollably before his eyes, far more blinding than the blood-red sky outside.
The continent was cleansed again and again by Corrupted God’s Artifacts—no distinction between races, only purest evil.
He saw Barus torn to pieces by invisible forces, Iris’s body devoured alive by Corrupted God’s Artifacts, Vera’s form pierced by a jagged black dragon claw—everything he cherished reduced to snarling monsters.
When the Vice-Captain looked back at him, her eyes held no fear of impending death, only regret and disappointment… that she had not hardened her heart enough against the figure at the center of the apocalypse.
Countless civilians, howling, became Corrupted God’s Artifacts—tearing into each other. Everything became seeds of destruction, taking root and growing.
And at the center of the hellscape built from the corpses and ruins of all he valued, stood a figure shrouded in blood and dread.
That once gentle voice now echoed across the battlefield, laced with the wails of countless souls—cutting straight through his soul.
“What a tedious struggle, Lord Laurence~ Oh no, I should call you Hero, shouldn’t I? All of this, you crafted with your own, two, hands, didn’t you?”
Laurence abruptly shut his eyes, a violent spasm clenching his gut, nearly making him retch. The stench of blood and disaster seemed to fill his nostrils again.
Every image turned into a razor, slicing at his nerves over and over, both past and present.
Aurelia knelt on the ground, clutching his coat, sobbing that she was not Disaster.
In her crimson eyes were terror, bewilderment, and a faint, almost invisible trace of trust and plea for her Captain.
She seemed to still be herself—still that demon who excelled at deception, trying to drag the world into the abyss!
And yet, at the most crucial moment, he’d chosen expulsion instead of execution. He’d had a chance—a chance to kill her with a single blow!
[I… I actually made such a fatal mistake! Not only did I underestimate Disaster’s activity, I also misjudged its state!]
Fragments of previous-life memories overlapped madly with the scene before him.
The blood-red sky, shattered earth, wailing masses, that crazed figure laughing amidst the ruins with scarlet vertical pupils…
And this time, the one who set it all off wasn’t someone else—it was Laurence himself. His own last, idiotic mercy had led to this, his repeated hesitations had roused Disaster too soon.
The gentle supply girl? The beloved of his past life?
No… He could not keep making mistakes. Otherwise, the ending of his past life would surely be repeated by his own indecision and foolishness!
“Captain…” Vera’s voice, still quivering with lingering fear, interrupted his self-flagellation. “Just now, that was…?”
Laurence turned abruptly. The moment Vera was run through by Aurelia overlapped with the present Vera before his eyes.
Other members looked at him with panic and expectation. They’d all felt that soul-chilling presence and seen the strange phenomena. They needed a pillar, an explanation.
Laurence drew a deep breath, forcing down the tremble in his hands from anger and fear he could hardly admit.
He slowly turned to his team, voice low, but with a decisiveness that brooked no argument: “You all saw the anomaly just now.”
“That was no natural phenomenon, nor the magic of some individual. That was… the sign of something extremely ominous, extremely dangerous being triggered—perhaps even beginning to awaken.”
He did not speak the name “Disaster Source,” but the weight of his words was enough to drain the color from every face.
Everyone couldn’t help but think of Aurelia, but no one spoke her name, only shuddering at the thought of such an unstable super-bomb hidden in their ranks.
“Vera, Vice-Captain,” he turned to Vera, his words crisp and clear, “take a squad and strengthen our headquarters’ security—especially toward the northern forest. No one is to approach.”
“Then, on behalf of the Sword of Saint Radiance, contact the Church and the Mage Guild immediately. Ask them to detect the Disaster energy level in the area. I want definite answers, and I want its location.”
“Yes, Captain!” Vera responded at once, but her eyes still held doubt. “Captain, about Lia…?” She couldn’t help asking—Aurelia had just left the headquarters, and in that direction…
A flash of severity crossed Laurence’s eyes. He spoke in a hard voice: “Vera, Vice-Captain, your job is to report to the Church for information. Everything else can wait.”
“Yes!” Vera flinched at his glare, bit her lip, and turned away, quickly calling several others to leave with her.
“The rest of you,” Laurence swept his gaze across his team, “maintain maximum alert. All requests and missions are suspended. No one is to leave headquarters without my order!”
“Yes!” the members replied in unison. Though anxiety remained, their Captain’s composure and clear instructions gave them an anchor, and they set about their duties.
Yet Laurence caught snatches of muttered dissent.
“No wonder the Captain’s been so tense lately…”
“Wasn’t Aurelia the one Captain brought back? So that whole probation month was pointless?”
“Our squad actually had a Corrupted God’s Artifact… Good thing Captain found out in time! But how did he figure it out?”
As the whispers faded and the room emptied, Laurence slammed the door, shutting out every voice.
Silence descended again, broken only by his heavy breathing and the aftershocks of that soul-piercing anomaly outside.
[I must awaken my bloodline as soon as possible, and answer to everyone. But before that… I need intel. I need to know its exact location and state. I need to know what it’ll do next. I can’t repeat my previous recklessness…]
[The Church and the Guild… I hope they can trace the anomaly. The outbreak was short, but the disturbance was huge—there must be traces.]
His hesitation during the expulsion had now led to disaster.
Now that Disaster had begun to awaken, it must not be allowed a chance to grow or adapt. Before its power fully returns, it had to be destroyed, utterly!
He slashed his sword through the air, voice now devoid of any lingering affection for that black-haired, red-eyed figure—only burning rage and killing intent remained.
“Next time we meet, it won’t be with a mere combat technique… Aureli—no, Disaster! I will strike off your head with a single blow! I’ll never give you another chance to explain, or to beguile anyone’s heart again!”
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