Even people who feared no god would instinctively want to cling to prayer before such a horrifying torrent of muddy water. The church itself shook as if gripped by the hand of a giant. Vivid stained glass screamed as it shattered, while drifting debris turned into makeshift battering rams that hammered against the outer walls.

Yet even in such a desperate situation, Walm had been fortunate. Unlike the church that had been built with emergencies in mind, the houses of the mining town were almost all wooden structures. They had no means of resistance and were crushed together with their inhabitants by the raging mountain flood.

Not only the pillars but even the foundations had been torn up, leaving no trace that people had once walked there. Rubble mixed with mud, covering the entire area. After the deafening chaos that had brought destruction, silence now ruled the scene.

The bustle he would normally have found irritating was now something Walm desperately longed for, but it would never return. Human life had vanished, and the town was dead.

“…Ugh.”

He had believed himself to be fully accustomed to emergencies. Even so, the sight spread out below him left him speechless. If the enemy had been soldiers or monsters, the answer would have been simple to just kill them. But what had attacked the town was a natural disaster, a landslide. If someone had intentionally caused it, it could perhaps be classified as a form of mass attack. But even then, what could they have done to stop it?

He couldn’t allow himself to stand there stunned like the others. Digging his nails into the palm of his clenched fist, Walm forced himself to stay clear-headed.

“Justan, let’s decide what to do next.”

Walm steadied his trembling voice and grabbed the former imperial guard by the shoulder. Justan widened his eyes, as if struggling to understand the madness of such cold rationality in the face of this disaster.

“You… No, you’re right. We’ll abandon the church.”

It was only natural that their original plan had been overturned. The church, half-destroyed by the mudslide, could no longer be called sturdy. It had effectively lost all value as a fortress. If they stubbornly insisted on staying there, they would only invite further danger.

“The enemy ambush—no… not in this state.”

“Exactly. No need to worry about ambushes anymore. There’s no town left for them to hide in. But… we can’t take everyone with us.”

Justan’s voice was filled with conflict. Walm immediately understood what he meant. If it were just the soldiers and Ayane, they could still move, even if their speed would be slow. The real issue was what to do with the wounded who could not move on their own.

“Either way, we need to request reinforcements from the mountain castle.”

“…It hurts to do it, but we’ll ask for volunteers and leave some soldiers behind. If no one volunteers, I’ll stay.”

“What kind of commander abandons his post? It’s harsh, but someone else should stay.”

A man should stick to his craft. Walm had no desire to deal with battlefield promotions or inheriting the chain of command ever again. In the end, he was just a conscript who happened to be good at killing. Officers had a duty to act as professional soldiers.

“I’ll stay.”

The one who volunteered was a guard who had once served in the Highserk Empire’s army. His legs were covered in mud up to the knees, but he had no visible injuries, and determination filled his face. He was not volunteering out of despair.

“Thanks, Douglas. We’ll choose one more from the cavalry and— Hey? Are you even listening?”

Walm had been discussing their escape preparations face-to-face with Justan when he suddenly looked away. Justan’s voice scolding him for his distraction didn’t even register in his ears. He couldn’t help it, something had forced his attention elsewhere.

In what had once been the main street, a light flickered in the darkness. It was a Fireball.

A chill ran down his spine.

A perfectly circular fireball approached. From experience Walm knew that when a fireball came straight at you, it appeared as a perfect circle. He reached out toward Ayane, who was sweating as she worked to stop a miner’s bleeding.

“Get down!”

The difference in how people reacted to his shout decided their fate. The soldiers, trained through real combat, moved instantly thanks to their battlefield instincts. On the other hand, the miners who hadn’t been exposed to offensive magic only stood there in confusion. Burning the sight of them into his mind, Walm pulled Ayane and Maya tightly against his chest and threw himself over them. A moment later, the impact came.

Flames danced through the bell tower, crimson fire swallowing the miners whole. One of the cavalrymen who had avoided a direct hit had been standing in the wrong place. The blast hurled him and the bell into the air. His shriek rang out as he plummeted back toward the ground.

Walm’s skill was hardly suited for guarding others, but ironically, it was perfectly suited to shielding against fire-attribute magic.

Having served its purpose, Walm pushed the two trembling girls out of his arms.

“W-Walm…? What just—”

“Get down the stairs!”

He gave the order rapidly, leaving no room for argument. Then he drove his halberd into the outer wall and leapt from the bell tower. The new attackers who had crept close began their assault. Fragments of gray stone and pale pink plaster rained down from above. It was a side effect of the destruction they had already caused. Having easily pinpointed the source of the flames, Walm pulled his feet free from the mud and advanced over the rubble as if it were stepping stones.

“Focus. Keep your mind steady.”

He muttered repeatedly like a mantra. No matter how he tried, his mind wavered like that of a new recruit. “Calm down. Keep your breathing natural.” Walm struggled to restrain his emotions.

Even so, the eye that should have already healed throbbed as if rippling beneath the surface, and the demon mask seemed to laugh at him. There was no way he could forget. That magic had cost him his eyes and his squad.

No matter how much equipment someone changed, they couldn’t disguise their mana. Facing his sworn enemy, Walm roared.

“So you open the battle with a surprise attack, Crest!”

“Yeah… I figured you’d notice.”

Without even trying to hide it, the voice of a young girl, utterly out of place on a battlefield, rang out. It was Makoto Izaki, one of the Three Heroes of the Crest Kingdom.

Walm immediately fired a Fireball at her, but his target slid across the muddy ground and evaded it as if gliding. It was one of the reasons water-attribute users dominated on rivers and seas. Their unique movement technique called Tidewalk allowed them to move that way.

This troublesome otherworldly magic user possessed skill on par with the sea mages of the Archipelago Countries, along with enough firepower to crush small units. Wind Blades and Ice Spears flew out, obstructing Walm’s movement and preventing the imperial knight from closing the distance.

“Hey! Ayane is there!”

“Yeah, I know.”

Walm had hoped the mention would shake her resolve, like when otherworldly visitor stopped in Sarajevo, but that hope was instantly crushed. They should have been speaking the same language, yet nothing was getting through. A wave of dizziness washed over Walm. Something was fundamentally wrong.

“Why?! She’s one of the few from your homeland!”

“Well… because I want Ayane to die.”

The girl smiled shyly, but deep in her eyes was a murky darkness like mud stuck to the bottom of a shoe. Why would she wish for the death of her childhood friend? Before Walm could think of the answers to that question, a strike from the side came at him.

Walm knocked aside the spearhead with the axe blade of his halberd, then thrust back along a path that tangled their weapons together. The spear point slipped toward his chest, but he twisted his body and tore himself free.

He hadn’t grown so senile that a conversation could distract him in battle. Walm moved to sweep away the second attacker with Strong Strike, but muddy debris suddenly surged upward like a striking serpent.

Instantly enveloping himself in Demon Fire, Walm blast himself away with the force of the heated wind. The disguised soldier who had rushed him also withdrew, skimming across the muddy surface using Tidewalk.

“Stop that, would you? There aren’t many soldiers who can keep up with me in this mud!”

Walm instinctively realized something. He needed to kill her as quickly as possible.

The church would likely be scorched as well, but Maya, a water-attribute user, was there. They wouldn’t die. Just as Walm prepared to fully unleash Demon Fire, a familiar girl’s voice stopped him.

“W-why… Makoto!”

Even Walm could recognize the trace of her mana. The girls summoned from another world had spent a long time together. There was no way Ayane would fail to recognize Makoto’s mana.

Walm wanted to curse Justan for failing to stop her, but the man was busy fighting off the surrounding attackers.

“Why, you ask? Are you seriously asking that?”

Makoto stood motionless. Though she kept Walm within the corner of her vision, her face remained expressionless like a mask as she stared at the crumbling remains of the bell tower.

“…Sorry, but I don’t know why. I really don’t understand…”

Ayane’s weak voice trembled. Makoto’s calm expression twisted harshly.

“…To me, you were my best friend. And yet you help the enemies in a foreign land so we can’t go home?! Don’t give me that crap. We’ve vomited and killed our way through this war together, and you’re cozying up to those same enemies, talking about becoming some ‘bridge for peace,’ drunk on your own hypocrisy. Ah, Yuuto would probably be thrilled. Ayane has always been number one for Yuuto. Even when we spent sleepless nights after killing people, even when we tore enemy soldiers apart on the battlefield… all he talked about was someone who wasn’t even there! Damn it. Yuuto always treats me like I’m in the second place!”

Her emotions burst like a dam collapsing. The argument was absurd, so unreasonable it bordered on madness. And precisely because of that, Walm understood.

Faced with the grotesque reality of this world, her mind had been worn down on the battlefield. Kill people long enough in a world where human life was cheap, and this was the result. A distortion of humanity, bent out of shape like warped metal. Once it reached this point, the strain would remain forever a dark fracture in the heart.

Walm believed he had managed to keep his humanity by forcing himself to reconcile with reality. So what was the difference between himself and Makoto? The environment they had been placed in? Their aptitude for combat? The age difference between them? There was no time left to think. With madness in her eyes, the girl screamed.

“You’re in the way! It’s too late now! With three of us together, no matter what happens I’ll never be chosen. I learned that painfully well in this world. If someone’s in the way, it’s better to kill them… So hurry up and die with those traitors, Ayane!”

These were the words of farewell.

The attack magic being aimed at the church wasn’t just a threat. Regret was meaningless now, he should have killed her without hesitation before it came to this. Any reconciliation through words was no longer possible.

“So, this is goodbye.”

“Don’t get in my way, you self-righteous knight!”

Walm unleashed Demon Fire.

Makoto’s attack magic collided with the blue flames, clashing and bursting together. Shockwaves and raging fire rained down upon the ground. The muddy earth, scorched by the heated wind, began to dry and crack. Steam rose everywhere, the evaporating moisture sounding almost like a scream.

As the sun sank toward the horizon, the blue flames took its place and illuminated the ruined land.

Translator – Lyxxna