Chapter 125 - Terrible Calamity

# Dark Skies Over Seoul

It was an ordinary afternoon in the Republic of Korea.

Just like any other day, bright sunlight illuminated the city—an ordinary day.

Well.

To be precise, it had been an ordinary day.

At least until the moment after the leader of the Moonlight Cult delivered his message to the nation, when the sky suddenly darkened.

Dark skies.

Flying at maximum speed through the suddenly blackened heavens, Stardust shuddered with foreboding.

A supernatural phenomenon—the sky that had been bright just moments ago was now shrouded in darkness.

'...What on earth is happening?'

Currently, all communications in the Republic of Korea had been cut off, making it impossible to properly contact the Association.

Against the backdrop of the silent, pitch-black sky, she flew toward the mysterious, terrible sounds that kept echoing.

All she knew was that "something" had appeared in one part of Seoul that was now engulfed in darkness.

And after that something appeared, all contact from that part of the city had been lost.

Anyone could tell something serious was happening.

"......."

With that grave expression, Stardust, her blonde hair streaming behind her, flew through the pitch-black sky.

As she approached the scene,

she suddenly froze at the sight before her.

A city swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

Flying fast enough to see the city with her naked eyes, she could finally see "it" standing in the middle of downtown.

"...What is that thing?"

It was.

Truly the appearance of a calamity.

*

[SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH-]

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"

"S-save me!!!"

"Hic... what, what is this..."

A sound like metal being scraped.

In the darkened city, countless people were tangled together, struggling to escape as far as possible from the source of the sound.

And at the center.

Against the dark night sky that had suddenly replaced day, under the lone glow of the bright white moonlight.

Something purple, grotesque, and enormous stood in the middle of downtown.

[Grrrrrrrrrr...]

Something clearly not human by any measure.

Hideous pink veins bulging outward.

A massive body deeply stained purple.

A grotesquely twisted face and body.

Yet its eyes burned a vivid red.

"AAAAARGH! Guh, ack...."

And it.

Was raising its arm toward people.

Those in front of it were suspended in mid-air by an invisible force, choking and gasping.

At the same time.

"AAAACK.... AAAAAAACK."

Something unbelievable happened.

From the floating people, something white and semi-transparent began to emerge.

White somethings with expressions of agony.

These white things extracted from people were all absorbed into the purple "thing" standing at the center.

Simultaneously, the people floating in the air all lost their vitality and collapsed to the ground.

As if their souls had been extracted.

[SCREEEECH- KIEEEEEEEEEK!]

The howling purple giant.

In the middle of the city shrouded in darkness, even electricity cut off.

It was methodically destroying the city with its massive bulk, smashing countless buildings.

And around it.

Numerous people who had been caught while trying to escape were suspended in mid-air, suffering before having their souls stolen and dropping to the ground one by one.

Against the backdrop of the dark city, people screaming and fleeing. Smoke rising from all directions.

And at the center, a monstrous entity from another world, destroying the city while devouring people's souls.

And the people who had collapsed, cold and lifeless.

Like a scene of hell manifested on earth.

An ominously dark city filled only with screams.

In that place where only the creature's purple color and burning red eyes were visible.

WHOOOOOOSH-

Cutting through the dark night sky, a yellow light flew in from somewhere and struck the purple monstrous entity standing on the ground.

KWAAAANG-

The one who struck the monster—a hellish fiend that seemed unstoppable—was none other than the hero, Stardust.

[....KIEEEEEEEK-!]

As the monster staggered from the impact, the people suffering in mid-air momentarily fell to the ground.

Those whose souls hadn't been taken began screaming again and fleeing in all directions.

"H-HAAAAAAA!!"

"Hueeeng... fuck, save me!!!"

"A-ahhh..."

People fleeing.

And just as the purple monster turned its attention back to them.

"I'm your opponent, you monster bastard."

When the blonde woman with burning eyes struck it in the back again, it began to shift its attention.

[-KIEEEEEEK... KWAAAAAAAAAAK!!!]

"Kugh...."

Stardust grimaced at the chilling sound emitted by the monster.

She swung her fist at it again with all her might.

KWANG-

An enormous boom erupted.

As the shockwave from her punch enveloped the surroundings in hazy smoke.

[Giiiii... kieeee...]

The creature, having taken her punch head-on, remained standing in place as if it had received no damage at all, merely turning its face toward her.

And when Stardust involuntarily froze as her eyes met the creature's red ones.

Suddenly, Shadow Walker's voice came from behind.

"Stardust, dodge!"

As she threw herself aside.

A purple beam shot out from the creature's red eyes, grazing where she had been standing.

When she turned around, she saw:

"Huff... huff.... Shadow Walker?"

"Yeah. Sorry I'm late. Ha... shit. What the hell is happening, waking up to this?"

[Kirgeuuuuuu...]

Now clearly recognizing them as enemies, it focused on the two of them.

Looking at the creature staring at them, Shadow Walker quickly said:

"Stardust, I'll make this quick—my ability isn't working properly. Maybe because this night was artificially created, my output is weird. I heard only the Korean peninsula is dark while other countries are normal, so that might be affecting it."

[Grrrr... KIAAAAA!]

As he finished speaking, the creature charged at them.

As they hurriedly separated, Shadow Walker called out to Stardust one last time:

"For now, I'll support you while moving people to safety, so hang in there!"

With that final shout, Shadow Walker dissolved into the darkness and disappeared.

And now the creature fixed its gaze on Stardust.

[........Eckruuuu...]

As it raised one hand.

People from somewhere in the city were caught by an invisible force and dragged over, beginning to scream as their souls were extracted.

Witnessing this surreally horrific scene, Stardust clenched her fist again and charged at the massive purple entity.

For a moment when their eyes met, her head began to ring, but that was all. Unlike ordinary people, she wasn't lifted into the air screaming.

Gritting her teeth, she approached closer, and as the creature lunged at her again, she dodged it several times in mid-air while closing in. The creature also clenched its fist and began to engage Stardust.

KWANG.

KWAANG-

And so began the bloody battle.

In the darkness, yellow light and purple light intertwined as the fierce combat commenced.

And Stardust, facing off against the creature.

Gritted. Her teeth.

It was strong, too strong.

No matter how much she attacked, it seemed to take almost no damage, and the attacks it unleashed were almost lethal, perhaps due to the purple aura surrounding it.

This twisted, grotesque thing that resembled no living creature on Earth.

Even while battling her, it continued to lift nearby people with its supernatural power, extracting and absorbing something like their souls.

After exchanging blows with it several times, she intuitively realized.

...That she could never defeat this thing.

'...Why is this happening?'

Though she already sensed defeat.

Still, she charged at it.

...Even if she died here,

she would save even one more person before her final moment.

And so.

Stardust's life-or-death battle began.

***

Dark night sky.

While an intense battle raged in the city below.

Standing on a nearby rooftop, I looked down.

"...What a mess."

A city engulfed in darkness.

In the middle was the Soul Devourer, one of the Moonlight Cult's ultimate weapons, looking truly horrific in person. And Stardust with her yellow light, somehow fighting against it.

And simultaneously, a city crumbling.

Black smoke filling the neighborhood.

Countless collapsed bodies whose souls had been stolen.

Screams coming from all directions like surround sound.

Shadow Walker, seemingly doing something but not being much help.

People suspended in mid-air, being choked as their souls were being stolen.

Stardust clearly losing ground.

And the purple giant, proving it was indeed one of the powerful ultimate weapons not meant to be released yet, slaughtering everyone.

Looking at that horrific hellscape.

I quietly muttered.

"What?"

"...I thought it was a real disaster, but the situation isn't that bad?"

No, really, what's going on?

When I saw the darkened sky, I was truly terrified, but rushing here I find just a single Soul Devourer.

Compared to the dozens that appeared in the final battle of the original story, this is nothing.

It hasn't even evolved yet because it hasn't consumed enough souls. If we kill it in this state, all the collapsed people will come back to life. Essentially, if I kill this thing, there won't even be any casualties.

And everyone's getting thrashed because they're fighting it head-on, but this thing would die instantly if hit with a few silver bullets, its weakness, which I brought. Like all gimmick bosses.

So while it looks like the apocalypse, in reality, the situation would end if I just fired one silver bullet from the anti-materiel rifle I brought.

"...What?"

I got scared for nothing...?

Standing on the rooftop, I began aiming my anti-materiel rifle at the creature.

...This feels anticlimactic.

No, wait. Deep breath. Actually, this is good.

I should use this opportunity.

What if I time my shot just right, making it look like Stardust defeated it at a dramatic moment?

...Oh, not a bad idea?

***

And at that moment, while Egostic had already relaxed and was thinking about various things on the rooftop.

Stardust was.

[KIEEEEEEEEEK!!!]

'...I should have left a final message.'

Already having given up on everything, she was fighting with resigned eyes.