Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 851: Leon’s Despair [1]

Returning to the room, the others were already doing a lot better.

“J-Julien.”

To some extent.

They could all speak now, but their voices were all hoarse. With the help of the wall, Leon helped himself up.

His voice was especially hoarse.

“H… how are things?”

Honestly, I couldn’t take him seriously. I knew that the situation was serious and all of that, but his voice was really deep.

“…Fine.”

“What do… you mean, fine?”

Aoife asked, similarly massaging her throat as her brows furrowed tightly.

“Evelyn is doing fine. She just needs some time. She went through a lot.”

At least, to me, Evelyn appeared to be doing fine. She was trying her best to be fine. I did try my best to help her calm down in secret, removing a lot of the sadness that lingered inside her chest, but I didn’t do too much.

If I wanted to, I could’ve easily removed all of the sadness in her body. Although it wouldn’t be easy, I could do it.

But I didn’t.

Because emotions were fundamental. They were the things that drove someone to grow. Like memories, they existed to make one understand and feel.

If no one ever felt, they’d never grow.

“T-that’s good. I… wanted to thank her.”

“You can do that later, Aoife. She’s…”

I stopped mid-sentence, feeling the weird stare I was receiving from Aoife and the others. Eventually, my head turned in Leon’s direction.

Oh.

“You sounded the same.”

“…..”

“Couldn’t tell you apart.”

“…..”

“Stop giving me that look. Do your best to recover. We’ll be leaving soon. According to Evelyn, the cold might return soon.”

Although the curse had been the thing mainly responsible for the extreme weather, it was also true that Goddess Clora herself was helping the city deal with some of the cold. This place was naturally cold, and being the Mirror Dimension, extreme weather was common.

’We might not turn into statues again, but we’re not in the state where we can simply ignore the cold.’

Everyone was tired, and our mana reserves were low.

In our current conditions, staying here for much longer wasn’t going to do us any good.

“…W-where will we be going?”

“That’s…” I looked at Aoife and answered, “We’re going to go to the one who is responsible for all of this.”

The ’God Hunter’.

I thought about it on the way back to the building, and in the end, it was for the best if we looked for Delilah first. If what I heard from Evelyn was true, then it was very likely that Delilah’s mind was currently being consumed by the darkness that lingered inside of her.

The longer things dragged on, the more dangerous things would become.

I had to reach her before this crossed a line that could not be undone.

“Why… are you looking at her?”

I looked at Aoife again.

She looked at me weirdly and then looked to her right, where Leon was.

“…I… was the one who spoke.”

Oh.

“I know.”

“So then…”

“I just didn’t want to look at you.”

“…S-suddenly, I’m starting to miss the old Julien.”

So he said.

Regardless, what was important at the moment was for everyone to rest. Everyone’s conditions were still poor, and in our current state, if something did happen, we wouldn’t be able to do a single thing.

Moving towards the nearby sofa, I slumped down and covered my face.

Thinking about the time that I spent here with Evelyn and the ’others’, I closed my eyes and let myself drift into sleep.

’I think I’m starting to hate the cold.’

*

I managed to get some good sleep. Although I didn’t know how long I ended up sleeping, it was at least for several hours, as I felt a lot more energized. When I opened my eyes, there was nobody else in the room.

Turns out, they had all left the room.

I was able to spot them easily once I got out of the room.

They all stood together, staring into the distance. As a soft breeze blew and my hair scattered in front of my face, I lined up with them, eventually catching sight of Evelyn’s figure as she quietly stood before the thousands of different statues.

She wasn’t polishing them like before, nor was she doing anything to them.

Evelyn just stood in front of them.

In absolute silence.

“…..”

The silence dragged on for several seconds until Evelyn brought the bottom part of her palm to her face and wiped whatever was stuck in her eyes.

Eventually, she turned to face our direction.

“…Are you guys ready?”

Her voice was a little hoarse, but nobody said a thing.

“I’m feeling better. I think we can go.”

“Yeah, I’m also doing better.”

“Mhm.”

Everyone calmly nodded while staring at her, until eventually all eyes turned on me.

I didn’t answer immediately and stared at the statues in the distance. In all honesty, my feelings for the statues weren’t that deep, besides a few of them. But it was those few that made my heart grow heavy.

What was supposed to be a simple city turned into something that had almost killed all of us.

If not for Evelyn, I couldn’t have imagined how we’d have been able to get out of this situation.

’I’m still far from adequate.’

But it wasn’t like I didn’t know this.

There was still much for me to do as I eventually turned to look at Evelyn.

“Let’s go. I can feel the cold picking up.”

Evelyn nodded before turning away, shifting her attention elsewhere as she walked ahead. Having already explained the situation to the others, they didn’t say anything and followed her in silence.

Nobody was in the mood to speak.

For…

All of us had essentially almost died.

Walking away with the others, I slowed for just a second and looked back.

Rows upon rows of statues stood where the facility had once loomed, their figures frozen in place as they faced our direction. Their icy surfaces reflected the harsh white sunlight, gleaming under my view.

They all seemed to be staring towards a certain direction, and when I looked back, my eyes fell on Evelyn’s back.

Not once did she look back as she walked away.

Her gaze seemed firm.

As though her goal was set.

For some reason, it felt as though all of the statues were staring at her. I knew that it was impossible and that it was probably my imagination, but under the bright light of the sun, Evelyn’s figure appeared especially bright.

The entire world had turned to ice.

The people. The buildings. The city itself.

Nobody had survived.

Yet even as the people froze, the structures glazed over, and the city collapsed under the weight of frost, one final ember endured, flickering faintly amid the fading cold, waiting for the impossible moment it could ignite once more.

Even if the world shattered before her eyes, she stood tall.

For she…

…was mad enough to believe she could still keep her promise.

Such was the woman who stood before me.

The last ember of Eisylra, the city of Ice.

***

Step. Step—

The quiet echo of her steps sounded in the silence as her figure drifted silently amidst the cracked earth.

Her figure moved like a drifting shadow, as though the world itself barely registered her presence. There was something distant about the way she walked, as if she did not fully belong to the ground beneath her feet.

But above all, her terrifyingly beautiful features meant nothing beneath the expression she wore.

There was no warmth in her face.

No flicker of emotion to soften it.

The cold indifference in her gaze overshadowed everything else, turning that beauty into something distant and unsettling.

Her dark eyes remained fixed ahead, as though the world before her was little more than a passing detail.

“…..”

She came to a quiet stop at the edge of the cliff.

The wind rose gently, tugging at the fabric of her clothes and brushing strands of hair across her face. She did not react to it. Her posture remained steady as she looked out over the vast city below.

She could feel the presence of numerous people as her dark eyes flickered.

Her hand eventually raised, and a black pool formed beneath her as dark hands began to crawl out, grasping onto her feet as she continued to stare at the city. Even from where she was, she could feel the heat of the place.

It felt rather annoying.

But most importantly, her eyes remained fixed on the numerous people that existed within the city.

Her hand continued to hover over the city.

With just one simple move, she could wipe it out.

She had the power to do that.

And above all—

This was the only way she’d guarantee her survival as blood began to seep out from the corner of her pale face.

“…..”

The woman’s hand remained fixed on the city, trembling slightly as she clenched her teeth, voices whispering inside her mind. The hand beneath her continued to crawl up, reaching her waist.

’What are you waiting for? You’re doing them a favor. By killing them and absorbing them, you’re helping them get rid of this shitty life they have. You’ll be saving them.’

’…You must’ve felt it, right? You are still not quite strong enough to defeat the Gods. You need to absorb more.’

’At this rate, you’ll die from the injuries that you sustained from your recent fight.’

’You have to do this. For what they did to you.’

’Everyone is guilty. The gods. The people. Everyone.’

The woman’s hand continued to shake. This time, it shook even more fiercely as blood continued to seep out from the corner of her lips, her face turning even paler. The more the voice whispered in her mind, the more it seemed to take away at her consciousness.

Even now, she could hardly recall what had happened before coming here.

Her memories were like a blur, and the more time passed, the more she seemed to be forgetting.

The only thing she knew was that she needed to kill them.

The Seven Gods.

Yes, they had to die.

In particular, one name stood out.

Oracleus.

He…

He seemed especially important.

Yes, she had to kill him.

’Stop hesitating. You need to kill them all! You need to kill—’

The voice came to an abrupt halt as the woman’s face froze up. The pool underneath her also shrank immediately as the hands crawled back down and faded.

Turning to face a certain direction, the woman’s brows furrowed tightly as she muttered, “The connection is gone? How is this possible?”

The shock merely lasted a few seconds as her face eventually turned cold.

Without a second thought, her body began to fade as she disappeared from the spot.

Who?

Who dared to touch what belonged to her?