The icy breath that descended from the sky ravaged the earth.
It was a natural phenomenon called a downburst.
The calamitous downdraft, sometimes capable of blowing away areas spanning several kilometers, trampled everything in its path.
The scene was... one of absolute carnage.
The ground at the epicenter was deeply gouged out, the trees were mowed down, as if an enraged god had crushed the very earth beneath its feet.
The Imperial soldiers who should have been there lay scattered all around.
Some had parts of their bodies frozen solid, and there were even those whose limbs or heads had been torn off.
"It's chilling to think that a human caused this... no wait, I'm the one who did it."
Rest muttered.
The sight made him feel nauseous, but he didn't look away.
That was only natural. He was the one who had done this.
Because he was the one who had killed the Imperial soldiers, he would accept the outcome without averting his gaze.
"…………"
He activated his [Presence Detection] magic and surveyed the surroundings.
Signs of life were... almost entirely absent.
In other words, a few were still left.
"Don't move. In that state of yours, I'm faster."
He created a Dark Star that devours light and readied his stance.
A section of the utterly devastated ground bulged up, and the woman within it rose to her feet.
"...Kakh!"
Her red robe was torn to shreds.
An inverted pentagram had been on the back, but now it was shredded by the wind, sullied with dirt, and no longer retained its original form.
A mage of the inverted pentagram clad in a red robe... an assassin from *Takfeer Kahen*.
"You're still alive... Did you use water to defend your body?"
"..."
The Red Robe did not answer Rest's question.
She turned a vacant gaze toward Rest, glaring at him resentfully.
The Red Robe was half-dead... no, it was more accurate to say she was eighty percent dead.
Her body was covered in wounds, profusely bleeding, frozen and weakened... she looked as if being alive was a misfortune in itself.
Rest held up the Dark Star, ready to fire Amaterasu the moment she made a move.
(If she so much as moves a single drop of water, I'll shoot her in the head... It's fine. She can use water to disperse the light, but I'm much faster.)
"...Don't glare at me like that. You have no reason to hold a grudge against me."
"Yes, that's right... I don't particularly hold any grudge against you."
Surprisingly, this time she replied.
"I lost. It was a complete defeat..."
"You're quick to give up. Or are you waiting for a chance to turn the tables?"
"Not at all... I'm nothing more than an outcast now, after all. I won't go seeking salvation at this point."
The Red Robe moved her right hand.
Rest almost fired off his magic, but... the Red Robe, without attacking or defending, simply took a small cross from inside her robe.
"...I wasn't allowed into Heaven. I fell into a world like this, a purgatory where people fight each other. I thought I had kept the Lord's teachings... but it's already long over."
"You..."
"Please, say nothing. I have no intention of answering the questions of an enemy who killed my comrades..."
The Red Robe coughed up blood.
"...Ah, I've had enough... why did I end up in a world like this... I curse the god of this..."
"Hey..."
"...cu...rse..."
"............"
The Red Robe stopped moving.
The life that my [Presence Detection] had picked up vanished.
She was dead... or so it should have been.
"You are too naive, my Lord."
"!"
A voice came from a completely unexpected direction.
At the same time, a blade cut through the air and pierced the Red Robe's head.
"She might be concealing her life force with some sort of magic. Just to be safe, one cannot go too far in making sure she's dead."
"'Void Mage', is it..."
A figure clad in black appeared from somewhere.
Even though he had been using [Presence Detection] magic, he hadn't been able to sense him at all.
The 'Void Mage' crouched beside the Red Robe, grabbed the knife lodged in her head, and twisted it around, gouging her brain.
To ensure there was no chance of revival, he made sure to finish off the Red Robe.
"Sorry. I forgot you were all here…"
Rest apologized.
In the life-and-death battle, he hadn't had the leeway to consider the 'Void Mage'.
He had ended up using wide-area magic that might have killed the man as well.
"Please don't worry. We exist to die for our master."
The 'Void Mage' said flatly.
There was no hesitation in his voice, and he seemed to truly mean it.
"More importantly… thank you for your hard work. Thanks to you, we were able to defeat the imperial army's vanguard."
The 'Void Mage' looked around.
"With this much devastation, the enemy probably won't send a second wave. It also served as a deterrent."
"…Well, I guess. The outcome's fine."
Since he hadn't done it on purpose, he didn't deserve praise.
Rest narrowed his eyes sorrowfully at the corpse of the Red Robe, whose head had been gouged out.
(He was Japanese… after all.)
A Japanese, a fellow countryman.
From the little he'd spoken to him… he hadn't seemed like such a bad person.
He was definitely an enemy. He didn't think defeating him was wrong.
But… a sticky, unpleasant feeling clung to his heart and wouldn't go away.
"Is something the matter?"
...No, it's nothing.
Rest shook his head.
What the red robe was thinking when she sided with the Imperial army... that was something he could no longer know.
But... he felt he had come to understand something from this incident.
That there was no good or evil in war.
To her, even the Imperial army had their own justice in starting this war.
"But that doesn't mean I can hold back..."
Even Rest had things he must protect.
No matter what the other person carried on their shoulders, he would face them without hesitation.
(Even if that person was a fellow Japanese from the same hometown...!)
"........"
With a firm resolve, Rest left the place.
------------------------ May 27th The first volume of the manga adaptation is now on sale.
I express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone for your support!