"Hey, Talitta. I was chosen as the Star Reader, and I've been granted a destiny."
The one who confided this in Talitta was Mariuri, also of the Shudrak people.
All the Shudrak people are born and raised in the Badheim jungle, and live out their lives there.
As such, every member of the settlement is like family to one another, and Mariuri was no exception.
However, Mariuri held a special place in Talitta's heart. The reason was that she and Talitta had been born on the same day, in the same place—they were soul sisters.
—Among the Shudrak, it is believed that children born on the same day share a bond of the soul.
This bond is said to be stronger than that between blood sisters, and such pairs are treated as halves of a whole.
It is an ancient Shudrak custom: soul sisters are bound by the deepest of ties. Kuna and Holii, too, are soul sisters born on the same day.
Considering how close those two are, the existence of a bond that surpasses blood ties should be easy to understand.
Mariuri was a beautiful Shudrak woman with black hair tipped in peach—she was Talitta's soul sister.
Gentle and serene, she got along perfectly with the timid, shy Talitta.
Talitta frequently sought counsel from her soul sister about her real elder sister as well. She would confess her insecurities about whether she could support the sister who would one day become chief.
Any struggle, any ugly anxiety—around Mariuri, Talitta could open up naturally.
That was why, when Mariuri said she had a secret she wanted to share, Talitta was happy to be trusted, feeling she must honor that trust.
And so Mariuri spoke.
—That she had been chosen as the Star Reader, and given a destiny she must fulfill.
"Fulfilling a destiny is the Star Reader's important duty. It's a great honor too, Talitta."
"I don't really understand... What does Heaven say to you, Mariuri?"
"It's not Heaven, Talitta. The stars tell me. The stars give me my role. A very, very important role... I never intended to tell anyone, really. But..."
"————"
"You are my soul sister, after all."
Looking back at her with a gentle smile, Mariuri's trust left Talitta speechless.
Mariuri had confided in Talitta because she believed in her—her soul sister. The thought of sharing that with anyone else was simply inconceivable to Talitta.
Besides, it was just some sort of delusion—something that would surely fade as a momentary lapse in judgment.
It was nothing that needed to be taken seriously, just a passing fancy. That was what Talitta believed, and in doing so, she turned away from Mariuri's problem.
But the change was gradual, yet undeniably becoming abnormal.
One day, when Talitta and Mizelda returned from the hunt, they found Mariuri—charged with looking after the settlement's children—singing an unfamiliar song. —And that was what was so strange.
Among the Shudrak in the settlement, people are divided into two roles.
One is the hunter's role: leaving the settlement to hunt game for a living. Mizelda, Talitta, and many Shudrak belong to this side.
The other is the guardian's role: remaining in the settlement to raise children and protect the home.
Mariuri belonged to the guardian side.
Her hunting skills were terrible—she couldn't hit the mark to save her life. But she was excellent at cooking and sewing, and was gifted at singing songs and telling old tales to the children.
So Mariuri singing was not unusual in itself.
She was remarkably talented at singing, and at feasts, everyone would clamor for her to sing.
Talitta, on the other hand, was useless at most guardian duties and was tone-deaf when it came to singing. Truly, the two of them were halves of one person—without the other, neither could accomplish a complete job.
And yet— " —That's a song I don't recognize, Mariuri."
"Oh, big sister..."
"But it's a fine song. Pleasant to the ear."
Mizelda, who had stopped at the same song, didn't even register its abnormality.
The others—Kuna, Holii, and the rest—were the same. Everyone noticed Mariuri singing an unfamiliar song, but none of them thought about what it might mean.
Only Talitta feared the origin of that song and was anxious about it.
The same Mariuri who had said she was given a destiny, a role to play by the stars.
Could it be that the stars had taught her that song too— "That's not it, Talitta. That's a misunderstanding. I wasn't taught it by the stars—I'm just singing a song I already knew."
"A song you... already knew?"
"That's right, a song I already knew... It wasn't me—another Star Reader..."
" —I don't understand what you mean!"
It wasn't the answer Talitta had feared.
But in a way, it was an answer even worse than what she had feared.
The mention of another Star Reader was proof that Mariuri had not forgotten the tall tales she'd spun. Proof that the fairy tale was still ongoing. —No, proof that it was getting worse.
But when Talitta couldn't grasp the Star Reader talk, Mariuri looked at her with a lonely expression.
It felt like a betrayal of Mariuri's trust, and Talitta gasped under the agony of that incomprehension.
—After that, Mariuri's honeymoon with the Star Reader continued.
She would share unknown knowledge, sing unknown songs, tell unknown stories, and spend her days fulfilling some unknown destiny.
It was a Talitta who didn't know this Mariuri.
Always, Talitta had discussed everything with Mariuri. In life, there had never been a decision Talitta hadn't sought Mariuri's opinion on. The same was true for Mariuri—even her daughter's name had been decided that way.
And yet Mariuri's attention was always on the sky.
Like someone other than the Shudrak, other than Talitta, other than her own daughter—something had begun to take priority. Her life was gradually, gradually being trapped by the stars, bound by destiny.
Someone was putting ideas in her head. Someone who was not a star.
Suspecting this, Talitta had quietly searched around Mariuri's surroundings. But as a guardian who never left the settlement, Mariuri had no opportunity to gain outside knowledge.
It was as if the stars themselves were truly whispering all sorts of things into her ear.
"Are you the one misleading Mariuri?"
Talitta asked the night sky, addressing the stars visible through gaps in the trees.
The stars that spoke to Mariuri remained silent to Talitta, bound to her by the bond of the soul.
Unknown knowledge, unheard songs, unfulfilled destinies— " —Give me back my soul sister."
She drew the bowstring taut, Talitta took aim at a star that blazed brighter than all the rest in the night sky.
When she released the drawn string, a sharp arrow sang through the air toward the night sky—only to fall uselessly into the void, reaching nothing.
The stars would not even acknowledge Talitta's will to rebel.
The stars said nothing. They bestowed no destiny.
Then what, exactly, had changed Mariuri? She didn't know.
Who she should even share this grief with—she didn't know.
Whenever she had troubles or sorrows she couldn't voice, she'd gone to Mariuri. But if Mariuri was the cause of her troubles and sorrows, then who could she possibly turn to?
Surely her sister wouldn't understand. Her sister was strong and composed.
Worrying and agonizing over things was unthinkable for her. Besides, there was something terrifying about confiding in her sister beyond just the fear of not being understood.
What Mariuri was doing now contradicted the teachings and way of life of the Shudrak.
Would Mizelda, now chief, accept that? Or might she even exile Mariuri from the forest, deeming her thinking dangerous?
There had been those expelled from the tribe in the past, and they had never been allowed to return to the forest.
Talitta couldn't bear the thought of being separated from Mariuri.
Even if the current Mariuri had changed from the soul sister she'd once known.
So Talitta had locked all her anguish away deep inside her own chest.
And then— "What should I do, Talitta? I'm a Star Reader, but..."
—And so it truly began, the same as the nightmare she saw every night.
△▼△▼△▼△ Sensing the shift in the battle's momentum, everyone on the battlefield began to respond in their own way.
At this point, not a single person who had sharpened their nerves to a razor's edge was caught unprepared.
The Great Calamity raged. Shadows swirled madly, consuming and eroding everything around it, and the end expanded ever outward.
But those who had resolved to resist this catastrophe—not one of them flinched. It was the rare reward granted to those who had crossed the first barrier.
There are conditions for challenging the Great Calamity.
One must be a warrior. —That meant possessing the power to fight. At the same time, it also meant possessing the heart to resist.
If either power or heart was lacking, one could not stand on the battlefield as a warrior.
Conversely, if you could prove you possessed both, there were no further barriers to challenging the Great Calamity.
"Urgh—!"
Rui groaned wordlessly, clenching her teeth as she continued to dodge the shadow's assault.
She had absolutely nothing to do with the Chaos Frame. Whether this city lived or died was of no concern to her whatsoever. Whether it vanished or not would neither hurt nor help her.
The reason this frail-looking young girl was desperately clinging to the Great Calamity was for none of those reasons.
If that was what gave Rui her power and her heart, then no one had the right to stop her.
And this was not limited to Rui alone.
Medium, swinging a machete with her small frame. Al, who had pressed a Blue Dragon Blade against his own neck. Kafma, mobilizing every ounce of the insect's power within his body. The residents of the demonic capital, flames blazing in one eye—all of them, no less than Rui, carried the resolve to stand firm against the Great Calamity.
Each had different reasons, but all had their reasons for challenging the Great Calamity that sought to destroy the demonic capital.
For those who had crossed the first wall, the Great Calamity's behavior was simplistic—it was not on the level of being difficult to handle despite its danger.
—The Great Calamity was not a living creature. That was the key factor.
The Great Calamity was no longer that kind of disaster—it was the phenomenon of destruction itself.
A shadow that eroded everything it touched, an amorphous main body that squirmed and writhed—attacks landed but gave no certainty they'd made an impact. —And yet, that was all it was.
"It ain't even got a brain to react to our attacks or change up its approach!"
Bounding across the rubble-strewn battlefield while shouting orders to those around him, Al glared at the Great Calamity.
The fear seeping from his core was impossible to eliminate, but false bravado and situational awareness had bought him a margin of mental space. That margin gave Al room to think.
In plain terms, the Great Calamity's behavior was one-note.
It brushed aside anything that approached, or consumed it; if there was no interference, it would writhe and begin swallowing everything in sight to spread the destruction further.
But the defenders—including Al—would not allow it to expand any further.
They would hammer attacks into it, or become targets for the overflow of shadows to scatter its focus, or offer themselves as fodder to waste its time on chewing. Rinse and repeat.
If the Great Calamity were a living creature, it would have learned, adapted to their tactics, and shifted the course of battle.
Or it would have grown emotional and changed its behavioral patterns, which would likewise have thrown the battle into upheaval. But since that didn't happen, their forces could just barely hold it in place.
However— " —Everyone, prepare to pull back!"
A single step shattered the earth, and the shockwave that surged upward cleaved the Great Calamity's colossal mass in two.
Of course, the Great Calamity writhed and reconstituted itself into one piece almost immediately—but the fact that visible, meaningful damage could be dealt at all was thanks to this demonic capital's mistress and her absolute dominion.
Having accomplished this feat,
"Yorna!"
"Pull back! It vexes me, but you must do as that man says."
"That man—you mean Abel?"
Amid the howling storm, Medium asked and Yorna drew her narrow chin in acknowledgment. Her sharp eyes looked toward the elevated platform where the demon-masked handsome man stood surveying the battlefield.
He had no ability to join the fight, yet he neither fled nor hid—he remained there out of some stubborn pride, perhaps.
Either way, the perception he'd honed in that mind of his had formulated a plan, which he'd relayed to Yorna, who had accepted it and decided to carry it out.
Then— " —I shall let this entire city be swallowed whole, and detonate it from within. There is no other way to crush the seed of that calamity that commits such atrocities."
"Can you pull it off?"
"If you say one castle isn't enough, then I'll simply throw a whole city at it. Though if even that proves insufficient, I suppose I'd have to become Empress and throw an entire nation."
"As a loyal retainer, I must firmly protest such a notion!"
Kafma roared his objection upon hearing Yorna's strategy, his face flushing red at that final comment. But the earnest warrior of the insect-cage tribe quickly composed himself and nodded. "Understood."
That nod was born of understanding: Yorna's decision to sacrifice her city was a choice that came with the pain of cutting away a part of herself.
After hearing Kafma's brief reply, Yorna's eyes softened for just a moment before blooming into a radiant smile.
"There is nothing to fear. As long as I and those who love me are together, a city like this can take shape again with ease. —Tranquility resides with me."
Hand pressed to her chest, Yorna spoke these words, and no one raised an objection.
In truth, no one knew exactly how devastating Yorna's trump card would be, but it was equally clear that nothing else they had could serve as a decisive weapon against the Great Calamity.
Therefore— " —We fight while retreating! As fast as you can!"
Medium's command was the signal to execute the demonic capital's final stratagem.
△▼△▼△▼△ —The beginning of the nightmare she saw every night was on a bitterly cold night when the moon hung pale and frozen.
Mariuri, who had begun calling herself the Star Reader and sharing unknown knowledge.
The other Shudrak paid no heed to where that knowledge came from, but Talitta's fears grew with each passing day. Yet she could confide her anguish to no one.
Mariuri had told no one besides Talitta that she had become the Star Reader. It wasn't calculation—it was simply a matter of the soul bond.
There are oaths and secrets exchanged only between soul sisters.
Kuna and Holii, who felt a deep sense of belonging to the Shudrak, surely had secrets they kept even from their fellow tribesfolk.
For Mariuri, that secret was the role of Star Reader she had confessed to Talitta. And Talitta could never imagine leaking a secret that her soul sister had entrusted to her in confidence.
So Talitta's anguish remained unshared, gnawing at her chest for days on end.
But those days came to an abrupt, unexpected end.
It happened when— " —What should I do, Talitta? I'm a Star Reader, but..."
Talitta stared, stunned, frozen in place at the words Mariuri murmured.
For what spilled from her lips was not merely a feeble lament, but also the vivid, fresh blood that soaked her chest completely.
Mariuri had never been physically strong to begin with.
The reason she'd become a guardian rather than a hunter wasn't just her poor hunting skills—her frail constitution was a factor as well.
She'd been bedridden frequently as a child. Her condition had improved with age, and everyone had let their guard down, assuming she'd be fine now.
The disease had been slowly, irreversibly gnawing at her from within all along.
Mariuri, face drained of color, coughing up blood again and again. Her body wasted away day by day, and the light of life flickering in her eyes was plain for all to see.
So— "It's up to Mariuri's will to live now, Talitta."
"Sister, please..."
"Stay with Mariuri. Until the very end. That is the soul sister's duty."
These words from Mizelda, after administering medicinal broth, weighed heavily upon Talitta.
The soul sister's duty—it was almost like a destiny.
A destiny commanded by a sister who was like Heaven itself, one that must be fulfilled.
The other Shudrak, including those who had known them longest like Kuna and Holii, each exchanged words with Mariuri and then departed after saying something to Talitta.
Everyone understood that this was the last chance to speak with Mariuri.
And that only Talitta—the soul sister born on the same day but destined to die on a different one—could be there to witness Mariuri's final moments.
"Ma..."
Mariuri's young daughter, not yet understanding what was happening, clutched her mother's hand and nuzzled her cheek gently.
Encouraged by those around her, she bid farewell in a way she couldn't fully comprehend—mother and child completing their last parting. The innocent daughter who believed without doubt that she would see her mother again tomorrow, parting with the mother who lay on her deathbed.
"Goodnight."
Talitta waved goodbye to her own child, finished exchanging farewells with those who had come to offer words, and then faced her own death—Mariuri was composed.
That inner strength was unmistakably the Mariuri that Talitta had believed in and loved.
But— "What should I do, Talitta? I still haven't fulfilled my destiny..."
"Mariuri..."
"To leave it undone like this... what was any of it for?"
The moment they were alone, everything Talitta had been holding together snapped.
Her face went paler than pallid. What consumed Mariuri was not the imminent approach of death, not her daughter's future, but the meaningless whispers of the stars.
"For what purpose"—her eyes brimming with tears, Mariuri despaired.
That expression, those tears—it was Talitta who despaired first, before Mariuri could.
"You're still saying things like that...!"
"Talitta..."
"There is no such thing as destiny! It doesn't exist! You are Mariuri of the Shudrak—nothing more, nothing else! If that's not enough, then what could you possibly want?!"
To live as Shudrak, to die as Shudrak.
That was supposed to be the most important thing, the thing to prioritize above all else.
For Mariuri, who had been born Shudrak, what she needed to die as Shudrak— " —The meaning of having been born."
"...The meaning?"
"That's what I want."
Even now, Mariuri's words—finding value in destiny—pierced Talitta through.
Born as Shudrak, living as Shudrak, dying as Shudrak. If asked what more she could possibly want, she answered that she wanted the meaning of her birth.
She had a daughter. She had Talitta. She had the Shudrak. And yet she wanted meaning?
In that moment, Mariuri had cast aside the blood flowing through her veins as meaningless.
She had declared that the blood was a betrayal, and that only the empty whispers of the stars held value.
For Talitta, this was an unforgivable betrayal.
So— " —Please, stop."
"————"
"I am your soul sister... and in front of me, you speak of wanting the meaning of your birth?"
It was more than she could bear. With the cold edge of a blade, Talitta made her intentions known.
The drawn dagger's tip was gently pressed against Mariuri's pale throat. Talitta wished that the blade's cold sharpness would snap Mariuri back to her senses and make her retract those words.
Of course, facing death as she was, such a threat might not even register with Mariuri.
But Talitta could think of nothing else. This was the only way she knew.
But it was the greatest mistake of Talitta's life.
"That's right, Talitta. —I had you."
"Wha—?"
Face drained of all color, Mariuri focused on Talitta.
The look in her eyes was different from any Talitta had ever seen, and her body went rigid.
That split second proved fatal. —For Mariuri.
"Mariuri...!?"
Mariuri's thin hand clamped down on Talitta's and forced the blade downward.
Talitta tried to resist on instinct, but a moment of confusion and a strength that was nothing like the old Mariuri's stopped her cold.
This blade was designed to pierce the thick hide of beasts.
Its keen edge tore through Mariuri's body like water, and blood flowed. There was a sickening sound and sensation—the dagger's tip had sunk deep into Mariuri's chest.
"Right away...! Someone get help right away...!"
"No, Talitta! You have a role to play..."
"Don't say stupid things! This is no time for—"
"Listen!"
"——!"
It was a scream that tore blood from her throat—no, a scream accompanied, quite literally, by coughed-up blood.
With her chest impaled by the dagger, her life's light flickering with every passing moment, Mariuri's grip on Talitta refused to let go. Bubbles of blood at the corners of her mouth, her eyes fixed on Talitta.
Clinging to a life already slipping away, forcing her fingernails into it— "Beyond a thousand nights... I will... you will meet a traveler..."
"————"
"The traveler is an ally of the Great Calamity that destroys this land... so you have to... kill them..."
"Mariuri..."
"Don't... kill... them..."
"Mariuri? ...Mariuri!"
The words, wrung out through pain between coughs of blood, drained the strength from Talitta's arms.
Before she knew it, Mariuri's unbelievable grip had gone slack. She should have stood up right then, called for someone. —No, even calling for help would have been too late. Everything was too late.
Mariuri's soul had already been claimed by the death god's touch, seconds away from being dragged away.
What delayed even that by a single second was nothing but an obsession.
"A traveler... with black hair... and black eyes... kill them..."
"————"
"Stop... the Great Calamity, Talitta... that is my destiny... I can no longer fulfill it, so... please, Talitta... my... soul... sister..."
"You... you'd ask this of me, here and now..."
For the first time, Talitta hated Mariuri—hate for the woman who was bleeding, pouring her last strength into a plea.
Talitta had been desperately trying to stop her all along, using their soul bond as her reason. And Mariuri had ignored all of it, only to bring it up at the very end.
It was shameless. And it was a direct shot aimed at the heart of Talitta's heart.
Talitta's tearful voice—upon hearing it, Mariuri's eyes wavered faintly.
Then the strength drained from Mariuri's body, her head drooping gently— "—Ah, Tal—"
"Mariuri?"
"————"
"Mariuri!!"
A last, weak, hoarse breath escaped her, and that was the end.
Mariuri's body slumped, the dagger still embedded in her chest, her heartbeat silenced. Talitta stood dazed for a few seconds, then burst out of the hut and ran to call her sisters.
But— "—Ah—"
The moment she threw open the hut door and lunged outward, Talitta's feet froze.
There, sitting on the ground where no one should have been, was a small shadow.
Whether worried about her ailing mother or possessed of a child's terrible premonition—either way, the young girl had slipped past the adults' notice and, in the one night she absolutely should not have, displayed the qualities that would make her an outstanding hunter.
Mother Utakata sat watching Talitta, who was drenched in her mother's blood and weeping torrents of tears.
△▼△▼△▼△ The Great Calamity's shadows raged and churned, and earthquakes split the demonic capital from the inside out.
Yorna's decision rippled through the inhabitants of the demonic capital, and each of them began to abandon the place that had become their home.
For many, it was an agonizing choice. For them, this was the last refuge in a world that had accepted them where they had nowhere else to go—a place where they didn't have to hide.
How could they not grieve at the loss of all of it?
However— " —As long as you live, I shall save you. Hurry now, without delay, so that you may see the new demonic capital with your own eyes."
The mistress of the demonic capital—the last fortress of the forsaken—made this declaration, and the people believed in revival and reconstruction, turning their backs on the homes and hometowns they knew so well and running.
Destruction swallowed the demonic capital, shattered it, and the scale of the Great Calamity performing this annihilation continued to expand.
The sweeping shadows grew thicker, and the volume of writhing pitch-black swelled to double, then double again before their eyes.
The expansion of scale and increase in shadow volume meant a corresponding rise in the Great Calamity's danger.
The sweep of its reach widened dramatically. Watching the earth and cityscape being gouged away, Yorna marveled at the contributions of the person who had done the most to minimize casualties—Al.
"Medium! Pull back! That's enough! You can't outrun it anymore! This is the time!"
"Ugh! I'm frustrated! But—sorry!"
Trusting Al's judgment, Medium slung her machete over her shoulder and fled at full tilt.
The barrage of shadow that pursued her from behind was intercepted by thorns that erupted from the side as a wall, and the young girl who had served as a small but dangerous decoy managed to escape.
"Antenna guy, I owe you! But you should probably—"
"Should probably what? Are you about to tell me to withdraw? If so, then I,
"Actually, I thought you'd say that, but you said it for real."
"What!?"
"Nothing."
Shrugging, Al gave a lazy shake of his head in response to Kafma's outrage.
Honestly, without Kafma's support, the fight against the Great Calamity would have been far more perilous. He was grateful for the help, but the man's intensity was exhausting.
In any case— " —Fox girl!"
"What an unpleasant way to address me. But I understand."
At Al's call, Yorna drew her chin in acknowledgment.
The retreat from the Great Calamity was reaching its climax—moving from the city center through the outer gardens. Yorna's decision to abandon the demonic capital had been disseminated, and the evacuation of residents was largely complete.
All that remained was to give the Great Calamity, which had now swallowed the demonic capital, the punishment it deserved. —Though she supposed that if, by some twist of fate, that proved unnecessary, she wouldn't mind.
"I suppose that would be wishful thinking."
There would be no convenient miracle—the Great Calamity suddenly reaching its limit and crumbling away, or a weak point suddenly exposing itself to a finishing blow.
They had fought it and learned the truth. —The Great Calamity was an inexhaustible font of destruction.
If not stopped, it would not merely consume the demonic capital—it would engulf far, far more.
To prevent that, a precious city had to be sacrificed.
"————"
Yorna closed her eyes for just a moment, letting her thoughts drift to hesitation and regret.
Yorna's Soul Marriage Art was a unique specimen even within the history of the technique itself.
Normally, the total volume of soul a person possesses doesn't vary dramatically regardless of individual differences. However, Yorna, due to certain circumstances, possessed a soul thousands of times larger than others.
It was not a power she had wished for. If anything, she sometimes wished she could let it go.
The result of that power had brought her to her current position, but she had never expected—or rather, had avoided imagining—a moment when she would have to use it.
That was why, when the moment came, she needed time to decide.
And— "—To that man."
Realizing she had been seen, Yorna turned to look at the demon-masked figure in the distance.
Standing in the outer gardens of the doomed demonic capital, arms crossed, the man hadn't budged an inch. His emotionless gaze treated the sacrifice necessary to stop the Great Calamity as a foregone conclusion.
Even so, his refusal to leave the spot and his insistence on witnessing the outcome—perhaps that was his own way of honoring a debt to Yorna, who had been pushed to make her decision.
"—You damn fool!"
In that instant, a curse struck the eardrums of Yorna, who had just steeled herself to unleash everything against the Great Calamity.
Looking, the one screaming profanities at the Great Calamity was Al. Following the line of sight hidden beneath his mask, Yorna understood what he was cursing.
Surrounding the Great Calamity, kicking at rubble and darting about as a diversion—a small figure. It was Rui.
The golden-haired girl in white, her clothes stained with dust, her whole body drenched in sweat, shoulders heaving—she continued to charge at the Great Calamity.
Rui had a single goal: the black-haired boy who had been at the origin of the Great Calamity— "That child—"
Yorna had already concluded in anguish that there was no way to save him.
That realization may have cut as deeply as, or even more deeply than, the decision to sacrifice the city.
If this plan succeeded and the subdued Great Calamity released what it had consumed from within, the black-haired boy might be among those returned.
But even Yorna knew that possibility was smaller than a needle's eye.
And so she also knew that Rui's desperate resistance would end in futility.
"Someone has to pull that girl back!"
"Are you insane?! Leave the brat! Besides, she—"
"What about her!?"
"She—"
Bounding and leaping, Rui caught Kafma's eye. Al glared at Kafma, who had spoken up, and the sharp stare made Al stumble on his words—whatever he thought about Rui, it gave him pause.
Yorna wanted to save Rui. —Since Rui's wish could not be fulfilled, Yorna at least wanted to save her life.
Perhaps there were times when dying together was the happier fate.
Rui might wish for exactly that, with the boy swallowed by the darkness.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn it! Why do I gotta be stuck worrying about that kid? I'll never forgive you, brother!"
Al shouted with a raw fury that matched his voice, and took off running.
His destination: beneath Rui, who was darting every which way against the Great Calamity. Rui was so agile that the abyssal maelstrom couldn't pin her down—but— "I see you!"
"Huh—?!"
Ducking falling debris and dodging the shadow's aftershocks, Al circled around with uncanny precision, as if he knew exactly how Rui would move, and scooped the girl up in a side carry.
Even as a storm of shadows was unleashed at the two of them, Al dodged them by an impossibly narrow margin, escaping to the very edge of the Great Calamity's reach.
"Ugh! Urgh—! Ah—ugh!"
"—Stay down!"
"Ugh—!"
Even then, Rui struggled in Al's arms, desperately reaching her hands toward the Great Calamity. But Al brought the hilt of the Blue Dragon Blade down with a merciless blow, and Rui's head lolled.
Without stopping, Al scooped up Rui's small body, turned his back on the Great Calamity, and ran.
"Antenna!"
"Kafma Irulux!"
At the desperate call, Kafma's thorns unfurled a path of escape for Al. Al bolted onto the thorn-road as the Great Calamity chased, chased, and closed in.
But even as the thorns carved out a path for Al, they also formed walls to hold back the Great Calamity.
In this extraordinary display of simultaneous offense and defense, Al charged through the battlefield with Rui in his arms—and— "Do it, Yorna Mishigure!"
A final, resounding command rang out from behind him, and Yorna thrust both hands forward.
The gesture itself held no meaning—it was the same as when the castle had been swallowed. It was merely an act to show the world the full extent of the sacrifice Yorna was making.
"I do not love my master."
With those words, Yorna's soul detonated against the Great Calamity, which had consumed most of the demonic capital Chaos Frame. The sheer force was tantamount to hurling the entire city itself— The explosion of impact generated a shockwave like a hurricane, and a tremendous gale tore through the demonic capital.
Everything that comprised the city was battered, shattered, and blown to pieces by the shockwave. At its epicenter, the Great Calamity was consumed by destruction and torn apart.
And so, the blow exchanged for the city itself dispelled the Great Calamity— "—Not enough?"
Amid the unceasing storm and rising smoke, a calm male voice echoed.
Even in a situation where no one could look away, this was the voice of the man who had not looked down—and Yorna, her entire body going limp, held her breath.
Having endured the full brunt of that devastating blow, there was still, beyond the smoke, the squirming presence of darkness.
It had reached. But it wasn't enough—the grinding of clenched teeth told her that was how it ended.
"—Ah—"
Before the determination to push past her disappointment could rise to the surface, Yorna's voice escaped her lips.
The reason was simple. —Something had moved before she did.
But it was not the remnants of the Great Calamity she had failed to finish off.
It was— " —
Emerging from the blown-out basement of the inn, the small figure of a young deer-kin girl appeared.
△▼△▼△▼△ "Oooh, I saw it. Ma-ma-ta stabbed herself."
It was the testimony of the young girl who had witnessed everything—Mariuri's daughter, Utakata—that proved decisive.
Mariuri's body bore the mark of Talitta's dagger, and Talitta had made no effort to wipe away the blood. To anyone's eyes, this was the gruesome scene of Talitta having murdered Mariuri.
But the one to overturn that verdict was none other than Mariuri's own daughter, who denied that Talitta was stained.
—Killing one's own kind pollutes the soul, and one is not permitted to return to the same earth as the ancestral spirits.
This was the most taboo of Shudrak customs—the Shudrak's Defilement.
That suspicion was negated by Utakata's testimony. Though— "Look at the angle of the wound. And if Talitta had been the one to strike, she would have aimed somewhere less painful. This was not my sister's doing."
A single glance at the angle of entry and the position of the wound was all Mizelda needed to declare that Mariuri had taken her own life.
The other Shudrak—those with sharp eyes noticed the same thing, and those who didn't were convinced by Mizelda's assessment.
It was not that Mizelda, as chief, was shielding her own blood sister.
Quite the opposite. —Mizelda alone would never, under any circumstances, shield Talitta. It wasn't a lack of sisterly affection—Mizelda was Shudrak through and through.
That was why the depth of her Shudrak blood became the foundation of her judgment.
Talitta bore no fault; it was decided that Mariuri had taken the dagger from her and committed suicide.
Perhaps to escape the suffering of illness, or perhaps to entrust her final moments to her own hand rather than to disease. The Shudrak accepted it as the latter, and that became their view.
But— "I killed Mariuri..."
Talitta herself could not accept that verdict.
She had drawn the dagger to prevent Mariuri from saying words she didn't want to hear, to keep her from uttering further curses, to silence her lips.
Without Talitta's rash action, Mariuri would not have died that way.
And above all— "—Destiny."
At the threshold of death, Mariuri had made Talitta hear the destiny that had been laid upon her.
Until then, Mariuri had spoken of being given a destiny, but had never revealed its contents. On her deathbed, she revealed it to Talitta for the first time.
"—The Great Calamity."
Mariuri had spoken of the destiny to prevent annihilation, and of how that annihilation was the Great Calamity.
The countermeasure to prevent it—the execution of that countermeasure was Mariuri's destiny.
"—A traveler with black hair and black eyes."
A traveler who would appear beyond a thousand nights. Did such a person truly exist?
How could the death of a traveler possibly stave off what was called the Great Calamity?
But until the very end, Mariuri had believed in the destiny, in the role of the Star Reader.
The fact that she couldn't fulfill it made her feel that her entire life had been meaningless.
"Meaningless—"
Talitta could say with absolute clarity that it was not.
How many times had she been saved by Mariuri's words, by Mariuri's kindness?
With Mariuri by her side, Talitta had not been crushed by feelings of inferiority toward her strong elder sister. Without her support, Talitta would not be where she was today.
That too was Mariuri's doing. She would not let anyone call it meaningless.
And above all, Mariuri had a daughter—Utakata—whom she had borne from her own body.
"I won't let anyone call it all meaningless..."
Clenching her teeth, Talitta looked up at the night sky.
The star-filled sky remained unchanged, offering no lessons, no revelations.
Of course. Stars never spoke of anything. Mariuri had been enslaved by a lie.
And yet, if she had sought salvation from that lie and made her vows within it— "The stars can shatter and scatter for all I care!"
Hurling her hatred at the night sky, Talitta simultaneously made a wish.
Let this forest bring a traveler, just as the stars had whispered to Mariuri.
The soul of Mariuri, consumed by despair and attachment, could not find her way to the ancestral spirits and was wandering still.
Unless those despair and attachments were severed, her soul sister could not be saved.
The truth of those final moments—little Utakata, still too young, could not possibly know.
It was a secret shared only between soul sisters, a bond into which even blood family could not intrude.
"I'll use my arrow to—"
She would shoot the traveler dead, and sever Mariuri's attachments.
To that end, she waited for the traveler's arrival—waited, and waited, waited and waited and waited—and then— —On that day, at the sight of the long-awaited traveler, Talitta drew her bow.
"—
The powerful bow sang, its arrow missing its mark as the black-haired, black-eyed traveler threw himself in front of a girl to shield her.
Aiming for his heart, clenching her molars, Talitta's own heart hammered.
A traveler with black hair and black eyes, appearing in the forest after a thousand nights.
Struck by an impact that felt as if her heart were freezing, Talitta nocked an arrow and became a hunter.
Calmly, calmly, the arrow's tip locked onto its target.
But her soul was howling in a blaze of acclamation. Howling. Howling.
She was howling.
△▼△▼△▼△ —The instant the young deer-kin girl burst forth, all sound vanished from the world.
The preceding, colossal shockwave centered on the Great Calamity had, quite literally, shaken the world, and with the force to blast the city itself apart, it had detonated in an effort to crush the calamity.
Having been struck by that tremendous wind and impact—one could be certain that an impact thousands, tens of thousands of times greater would shatter any being into dust.
But even that certainty was obliterated— the Great Calamity endured the destruction.
From beyond the smoke, she sensed the Great Calamity's presence—battered, but far from extinguished—and Talitta, kneeling on one knee, was acutely aware of her own trembling.
She had watched as Rui, Medium, Al, and the people of the city fought with everything they had.
Unable to define her own existence, unable to even face the destiny that had been puppeteering her, remembering Mariuri's face stained with blood—Talitta could not move before the Great Calamity.
Leaving the useless Talitta behind, everyone played their part to the end.
Just as Yorna Mishigure, the city's mistress, had sacrificed the city she loved to unleash one final blow.
Just as that blow proved insufficient, and a young deer-kin girl burst from hiding to act.
"————"
The girl in a kimono, her right eye blazing with fire, was the emissary who had appeared at the inn.
Toward where Tanza was headed lay billowing smoke and, beyond it, the Great Calamity. What exactly she intended to do, Talitta couldn't say.
Only— "—Stop this now!!"
Yorna's shout at the girl's fleeing back—commanding her trembling legs to obey—unwittingly made Talitta understand Tanza's aim and resolve.
Tanza was risking her life, intending to challenge the Great Calamity through some unknown method.
Yorna recognized what she was about to do and was trying to stop her because she loved the girl.
But stopping the girl meant losing the once-in-a-millennium opportunity to finish off the Great Calamity, now immobilized by the blow that had sacrificed the city.
Perhaps, if Yorna—one of the Nine God Generals—put her mind to it, she could drive the Great Calamity into a corner and drive it away through some other means.
—But could she really?
"————"
Cursing herself for entertaining wishful thinking, Talitta quietly drew a breath.
She looked around, desperate for some means to change the situation, for some catalyst. She wished for someone else—anyone—to take action.
But amid the debris and the people tossed about in the storm, no one had the strength left to respond. —No one except Talitta.
The only one who had held back from joining the desperate fight, who had endured waiting for the storm to pass, now found herself the sole person with an option.
And then— " —Talitta."
At the faint call, she turned her gaze to see the man rising on the elevated platform.
Abel. Blood streaming from behind his demon mask, he fixed Talitta with his black eyes and, rather than speaking, gently raised one finger toward the sky.
He was not telling her to look up.
What Abel indicated was the heavens—or rather, the stars. That is to say: destiny.
Choose. The decision was forced upon Talitta.
"————"
Mariuri's blood-soaked deathbed and the destiny to kill the black-haired, black-eyed traveler flashed through her mind.
If she did this, the annihilation brought by the Great Calamity could be averted, and Mariuri's soul would be freed from its torment.
Therefore— "————"
Talitta drew an arrow from her quiver, nocked it to her bow, and took aim—silent and fluid.
The hunting technique she had repeated thousands, tens of thousands of times transformed Talitta—from a frightened, bewildered girl who couldn't fulfill her duty into a hunter.
If she was being imperiously told to choose the method that would save the world, then she would do exactly that.
From the very beginning, Talitta's answer to the stars' whispers and to Heaven's proposition had been decided.
That is to say— "—I don't want to know anything about destiny."
The bowstring sang, and the nocked arrow cut through the air with tremendous force.
And it struck true—piercing the leg of the tall woman who was just rising to run.
With a cry of shock, the woman stumbled and fell forward.
Alarm and surprise etched across her pale face, the woman reached out with desperate anguish, crying out.
It was a cry calling the name of the girl who was charging toward the Great Calamity—Talitta knew this even in the soundless world.
And yet, she chose.
—to let the girl who had risked her life, rushing forward to fulfill the destiny entrusted by a soul sister, achieve her heart's desire.
"—Lady Yorna."
The girl's lips lovingly whispered that name as she kicked off the ground, moments before plunging into the smoke.
Then her small body vanished beyond the dust clouds, swallowed by the awaiting Great Calamity— —And a second cataclysmic impact, rivaling the annihilation of the demonic capital, finally blew the Great Calamity away.