The Beginning of the End

The attack was sudden.

Somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean, a single nuclear missile was launched.

It passed through the atmosphere, aimed at somewhere on the Dragon Bone Continent, but vanished in mid-air before it could even detonate.

Then, a laser-like flame was fired toward the area where the missile had been launched from.

A steam explosion occurred, the sea surface warped, and a massive wave was generated.

The nuclear submarine that had launched the missile was pierced by the flames and sank.

"Well, anyway, something like that happened."

Ohma informed Ria as though bored. The one who had eliminated the missile was Terrew, and the one who counterattacked was Ohma.

"I see."

Both Ria and Guinevere only had that much of a reaction. They were currently rushing to plan out the migration to continents other than the Dragon Bone Continent.

The Demonlands had already been transporting supplies using giant airships, but since Serge had temporarily gathered the humans in Manesh, they still needed to move them.

"Maybe I should have teleported them directly to the other continents from the start."

Serge, who had collapsed onto a cushion from magic exhaustion, had just finished forcibly teleporting tens of thousands of Japanese people without any proper discussion. In other words, a kidnapping.

Since there was an archipelago near the Dragon Fang Continent, they had decided to gather the Japanese people there.

"Even so, there are too many people."

Chrys, who was helping out, was also throwing in the towel. Japan alone had over a hundred million people. Teleporting that many was impossible.

The floating continent had already moved to Earth and was taking in people who wished to immigrate inside it.

But even that was a drop in the bucket.

Three days had already passed since then, and Ars had made his second return to Earth. But that didn't mean the situation was progressing.

Led by the United States, all of Earth's military forces were aimed at the floating continent. Although they still hadn't resorted to nuclear weapons, attacks capable of leveling cities had been launched.

Even so, blocked by the floating continent's magic barrier, not a single bit of damage had been taken.

It was amid all this that Ars had gone to Earth.

The conference ended without producing any results.

It didn't take long for Earth to resort to using nuclear weapons.

These were nuclear warheads tens of times more powerful than those that had once destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But even those were blocked by the magic barrier.

Judging that it would create unnecessary delays for the immigration accommodation work, Shifaka attacked the nuclear-armed nations.

It was a magical attack. Three bases in the United States, Russia, and China were vaporized by him alone.

The entire Earth was in utter chaos. Despite that, there were still countries waging ethnic civil wars. Rather, now that the restraining influence of the major powers was gone, those conflicts were intensifying.

Prudent nations broke through the world's barrier with their own aircraft. Terrew had let them pass.

Even if it was only a few hundred people at a time, the number of immigrants gradually increased.

However, some aircraft landed on the Dragon Bone Continent.

And what emerged from them were not immigrants, but soldiers.

Ars had said that immigrants would basically be accepted on continents other than the Dragon Bone Continent. But that foolish nation had schemed to occupy land that already had some degree of development.

It was unfortunate for both sides.

The military attacked a beastkin village.

Beastkin may have high physical abilities, but they were still flesh and blood. There weren't many who could match Earth's modern equipment.

The invaders planted their occupation flag in the center of the village.

"It appears that an army from Earth attacked a beastkin village."

The one who brought this information to Manesh's court was Terrew.

"A beastkin village…?"

Ria's emotions instantly boiled over. She spread a map on the desk and had him show her the location. The map wasn't precise enough to show the fine details, though.

"That's near Maal's village."

She considered her means of transportation. Serge's teleportation was being used for immigrant transport. If she went any other way…

"Ohma, could you teleport me there?"

"Huh? Sure."

Fire Dragon Ohma had been hanging around Manesh's court, pleased by something or another. According to her, it was because her own bed was a bit too hot.

With a casual wave of her hand, Ohma and Ria were instantly teleported to the skies far from the court.

Ria was about to activate her Dragon Eyes, but Ohma was faster, pointing into the distance.

"It's over there."

Without any need to doubt her, Ria flew in that direction. Eventually, a faint trail of smoke that couldn't be mistaken for cooking fire became visible.

There was no room for doubt about that place.

It was Maal's village.

What Ria saw was beastkin lying on the ground and Earthlings casually moving them around.

Aah.

No. I can't bear this.

Ria drew Kotetsu and descended from above at once, cutting down enemies without mercy.

Sensing their presence, she reaped their lives one after another.

Not even the barrage of rifle fire could break Ria's barrier.

After eliminating all enemies, Ria headed to Maal's house.

Her heart was pounding violently. The bad feeling wouldn't go away.

No one was inside the house.

If it was Maal, she could have escaped with her family. That had to be it.

"Someone you knew lived here?"

Ohma called out from the entrance.

"Yeah, but there's no one here. It looks like they managed to escape somehow, but…"

"Four went that way, and one went toward the central square."

Following Ohma's words, Ria first headed toward the outskirts of the village.

The fence surrounding the village had gaps large enough for a cat beastkin to slip through. Ria jumped over the fence and searched through the underbrush while calling Maal's name.

"Ria…-san?"

A cat beastkin emerged from a hole at the base of a large tree.

She could tell by his fur. It was Maal's husband. At his feet were the three small cat beastkin born between them.

"Where's Maal?"

"She said she was going to help everyone and went to the center of the village…"

Hearing just that, Ria ran.

There shouldn't be anyone in the village anymore.

At least not anyone alive.

In the center of the village, there were countless corpses.

Corpses of cat beastkin and corpses of enemies Ria had cut down.

But there were also corpses of enemies she didn't remember killing herself.

Maal could have done it.

Sneaking up from blind spots and finishing off enemies. It would be nothing for Maal.

But there was no one alive.

"Maal, it's me! It's Ria! Where are you!?"

She had to be somewhere.

Where was she?

"This Maal person, what do they look like?"

Ohma, who had walked over nonchalantly, asked.

"A cat beastkin covered in black fur all over."

"And her level is reasonably high? Then…"

Ohma pointed. There was an enemy's corpse there. But something was slightly off.

Ria immediately understood. There was someone underneath it.

"Maal!"

Beneath the enemy's body was a cat beastkin covered entirely in black fur.

Her whole body was soaked in blood, and she had stopped breathing.

"Aah…"

She didn't make it in time.

"She's dead."

Ohma stated the hopeless fact in an emotionless voice.

"Ohma, can you resurrect…"

"Impossible. It's not just the Millennium, but during the Great Collapse, the cycle of souls is too violent. Even Valis couldn't do it."

"Carla…"

"Unlikely. If a Divine Dragon can't, there's no way a human could."

Ohma answered indifferently. Destroying Ria's hope.

"Aah…"

Ria embraced Maal's small body.

A faint warmth still remained. With a peaceful expression, Maal was sleeping.

"Aah… Uuuu… Aah…"

Tears flowed endlessly, washing the blood on Ria's cheeks away from Maal's face.

This was unforgivable.

Even if someone else might forgive it, Ria would not.

And so, Ria howled.

She snapped the foolish nation's flag that had been planted in the center of the village.

Her anger couldn't be controlled. The magic power within her body circulated at high speed and went berserk.

"GAAAAAAAH!"

A cry that didn't belong to a human. Ria's body expanded.

Becoming a black sphere, Ria transformed into a dragon.

Ria flew.

Far into the upper sky, breaking through the boundary with Earth.

Ria flew.

Her body, spanning several kilometers in length, flew through Earth's atmosphere.

And when she arrived at her destination, Ria exhaled her breath with all her might.

A breath of darkness that destroyed everything. All of Ria's power destroyed the land. Destroying the crust and beyond. With all her might. Until nothing remained.

Like a tsunami, the land swallowed its surroundings.

A massive mushroom cloud formed, and shockwaves traveled across the ground.

Hundreds of millions, or perhaps even more. Ria's breath annihilated not just humans but all life.

A phenomenon similar to tectonic shifts occurred, and that too claimed many more lives.

Ria destroyed the land in her rage, and she could not stop herself.

Ria, having lost all her strength and returned to human form, began falling due to gravity. But midway, someone caught her body.

"Really, what a reckless person."

Ars, having removed his golden mask, shouldered Ria.

"With the magic this disrupted, I suppose teleportation is impossible."

Using flight magic to travel to the Dragon Bone Continent, Ars was about to head to Manesh. But he stopped and turned toward the presence that had called out to him.

"Yo."

"Ohma."

Fire Dragon Ohma had brought Maal's remains along with the four remaining cat beastkin.

"What on earth happened?"

"Seems her friend got killed by Earth's soldiers, and she snapped."

Dragons don't grieve death. They view it as merely the turning of the soul's wheel.

But it wasn't as though they didn't understand the feeling of sadness, or the feeling of anger.

"So that's the cause of this."

Ars gazed at Earth's land. His expression clearly showed signs of disturbance.

Let alone that foolish nation, Ria's anger had half-destroyed the surrounding countries as well.

Japan was among them.

"Japan has sunk…"

Ria's attack had probably killed several hundred million people. Even if it wasn't her intention.

Even for Ars, this was an unplanned and unpleasant development. But he immediately began thinking about how to use this.

"Ohma, can I leave her to you?"

"That's fine, but what are you going to do?"

"Something's come up on Earth."

Entrusting the unconscious Ria to Ohma, Ars headed for Earth once more.

His destination was the White House.

Even now, it could still barely be called the center of Earth.

 

*

 

"Hello, President. How are you feeling?"

Despite it being the middle of the night, the President was in his office. He directed a sharp gaze at the person in the golden mask, though he was visibly exhausted.

"What happened!?"

The aftermath of Ria's attack had rendered most of Earth's communication devices unusable. Even so, what he had managed to confirm was that they had been hit by some incomprehensibly powerful attack.

Ars sat down on the sofa and explained concisely.

"This time, neither I nor the Divine Dragons did anything. It was done by Archduchess Ryuke Riana."

Not a nation, not an organization, but an individual's anger.

That had half-destroyed the massive Eurasian continent.

"A foolish nation attacked and slaughtered the inhabitants of a beastkin village, trying to occupy developed land rather than settling new territory. Normally, she would have stopped at killing just the soldiers who did the occupying."

Ars shrugged. His casual manner seemed like cruel irony to the President.

"Unfortunately, the archduchess's friend lived in that village. Enraged at her friend's death, the archduchess destroyed the nation that had sent those soldiers. Along with the surrounding nations."

"You're saying an individual's anger… destroyed nations…?"

"President, as I said before, you shouldn't oppose us. Instead, you should focus all your efforts on immigration."

Ars continued in a tone that seemed genuinely sympathetic.

"There's no Hollywood-style comeback possible. This is just how things are. It's not your responsibility."

"Oh… God…"

To the President's inadvertent words, Ars replied with sarcasm.

"Considering what Earth's gods have done for humanity, I wouldn't think you'd want to rely on them."

Leaving those words behind, Ars departed from the White House.