Chapter 1226: Fighting the Calamity: Last Resort

"I’m waiting," King Zachary said hoarsely. "Waiting for the end. There is... one final measure. The ancient people left behind a mechanism here. A device capable of cleansing the entire Land of Fire Light."

"Cleanse?" Saya repeated, her eyes narrowing.

He nodded.

"It would eradicate the calamity," he said. "But it would also erase all life within this land. That was the final safeguard the ancients entrusted to us."

Silence fell heavily upon the sphere.

Saya frowned deeply.

Such a solution was unacceptable.

If that mechanism was activated, Souta would not be spared. He would be erased along with everything else.

And that was something she would never allow.

An uneasy sensation had plagued him the entire time as though something unseen was watching him with pure, unfiltered malice. It was the feeling of a predator’s gaze, fixed upon its prey, patient and hungry.

Kieeeekh!!

A piercing screech tore through the air, echoing across the ruins like a death knell.

Saya along with King Zachary and his daughter, snapped their heads toward the source. Saya’s brows furrowed, while the father and daughter drained of color.

The dark apparitions were attacking again.

They allowed no time to breathe, no chance to recover.

And this wave was different.

Saya could sense it immediately, among the swarm were entities radiating power comparable to Hero-rank experts. Not just one or two, but many. Far too many.

Cold killing intent flickered in her eyes.

"No matter what happens," she said icily, "do not use the last resort."

Before either of them could respond, she stepped out of the barrier.

That was the future she refused to witness.

The cleansing of the Land of Fire Light would not merely erase the dark apparitions as it would annihilate every living being. The ancient people had feared these creatures so deeply that they had been willing to sacrifice an entire world to stop them.

She clenched her teeth.

"I won’t leave this unresolved..."

Bang!!

The dark apparitions surged into her vision. Hundreds of thousands of them, blotting out the ruined city like a living tide of despair. Their mere presence was enough to crush the will of ordinary beings.

Kieeeekh!!

Kriiiiish!!

Their shrill screeches tore at the mind, a maddening chorus meant to shatter sanity.

Saya sneered. Power erupted from her body as immense energy surged in the air, weaving themselves into a massive magic circle.

[Scorching Sea of Land]!!

A catastrophic torrent of flames burst forth, flooding the entire passage and surging toward the advancing swarm like a raging inferno.

Yet the dark apparitions did not falter. They advanced without fear, without hesitation as if destruction itself held no meaning to them.

Boom!!

...

Battle World Online.

Within the game, the name Blood was known by every player.

It had become a symbol of absolute strength, an existence spoken of with awe and fear alike. Countless players idolized him, while just as many tried to uncover his true identity. Yet no matter how deep they dug, they found nothing.

It was as if Blood did not exist in the real world at all.

Souta emerged from the virtual capsule, its surface sliding open with a soft hiss. He stretched his stiff limbs, letting out a slow breath, then turned his gaze toward the window.

An old man sat there, his back facing Souta, silently watching the world outside.

"Grandpa," Souta said, breaking the silence. "I’ve maintained my ranking. No one discovered my identity."

The old man did not turn around. His voice was calm, steady.

"That’s good, Souta. You’ve grown stronger again." After a brief pause, he added, "Strong enough to protect yourself."

Souta frowned. "Why did you want me to play this game?" he asked.

It was a question he had held back for far too long.

Stronger... by playing a game?

Yet, as much as he resisted the idea, he couldn’t deny the changes. His reflexes were sharper. His judgment in battle was faster, more precise. Even his awareness of his surroundings had improved dramatically.

"Hahaha..." The old man chuckled softly before finally turning around. His eyes, aged yet piercing, met Souta’s.

"There’s something I must tell you about the Ieshi Clan," he said. "Although I am the patriarch now, I will step down soon."

"The days ahead won’t be kind to them," the old man continued. "If you ever encounter them in the future, don’t be too harsh. They are the ones who will bear the consequences of our actions."

Consequences of our actions?

Souta raised an eyebrow, confusion flickering across his face.

As if reading his thoughts, the old man continued, his voice low and deliberate.

"The consequences of what we will do in the future. You will come to understand them and there will be a price to it."

He paused, his gaze sharpening.

"Souta... never forget who you are. You will fail many times. That is inevitable. But do not lose yourself."

His voice deepened. "Gather everything you have learned. Remember it. If you overcome your trials, you will become unstoppable. But if you fail, then it ends there."

Souta remained silent, his confusion deepening. In the end, he could only nod.

He had always been curious about the rest of his grandfather’s family, yet he had never met any of them, not even once.

The old man turned back toward the window and let out a faint, almost wistful laugh.

"There are others preparing as well," he said. "But you are the one I chose. Gods and mortals, children and elders, the capable and the helpless, everyone will face what is coming."

He added quietly, "Including me."

At last, the reason surfaced.

"That is why I made you play the game," the old man said. "It was never just entertainment. It was preparation for the tribulations ahead."

Souta did not ask any more questions.

He left the room and headed for the bathroom, the weight of his grandfather’s words pressing heavily on his mind.

His grandfather had always been an enigma. Souta understood very little about him, only that he was the patriarch of an immense clan and possessed wealth so vast that it seemed there was nothing in the world he could not buy.

A year had passed.

Souta lay within the virtual capsule, its interior lights dim, his body perfectly still as his grandfather’s voice echoed in his mind.

"I will begin it soon," the old man said calmly. "The Tainted Ones will appear."

Souta’s fingers twitched faintly.

"Do not forget my words. The Tainted will bring catastrophic destruction to everything it touches. Avoid it if you must but if you are able, erase every trace of it. Do not allow it to spread."

The voice paused, heavier now.

"Your encounter with it will be inevitable. No... not just yours." A quiet certainty followed. "Everyone will face it. It exists to destroy everything."

Souta slowly closed his eyes, the weight of those words pressing down on his consciousness.

Then came the final warning.

"Earth is too fragile," his grandfather continued. "Once I begin, it will suffer. It will be forced to endure countless changes, trials it was never meant to face."

Silence followed.

And somewhere beyond that silence, something had already begun to stir.

...

Land of Fire Light.

The Land of Fire Light was drowning in calamity.

Across the horizon, millions of dark apparitions surged like a living tide, their silhouettes writhing with malice. They existed for one purpose alone and that was to destroy this land. There was no intelligence to reason with, no emotion to appeal to. Only endless, hollow hunger.

Their arrival poisoned the world.

A viscous black liquid crawled across the earth, swallowing streets, fields, and forests alike. It clung to stone and flesh, seeping into every crack as if alive. From the sky fell a black rain, cold and corrosive, hissing upon impact and eating away at anything it touched. The air itself reeked of rot, ash, and despair, thick enough to choke the lungs.

The Everlasting Kingdom had reached the brink of extinction.

Ear-splitting screeches tore through the sky, burrowing into the mind and rattling the soul. Dark clouds blocked out the sun, plunging the land into an eternal dusk as torrents of black liquid poured endlessly from above. Cities crumbled under the onslaught, their walls dissolving like wax. Villages were drowned and burned, their screams swallowed by the ceaseless shrill cries of the dark apparitions. Within mere hours, ninety nine percent of the kingdom’s population was erased.

Men, women, and children were dragged beneath the sticky black liquid, their bodies convulsing as the corruption consumed them. Bones twisted, flesh melted, and from the remains rose new dark apparitions, empty echoes of what they once were. Death was not an end, but a grotesque transformation.

Humans, demis, and monsters fought side by side in desperate defiance. Steel clashed, spells detonated, and roars of rage filled the battlefield. Blood soaked the ground only to be swallowed by the encroaching blackness. No race was spared. No sanctuary endured.

Battles erupted across every corner of the land, yet hope was a fragile illusion. Against an enemy that multiplied with every fallen life, survival was nothing more than a fleeting miracle.

Deep beneath the royal palace, far from the screams above, the underground chambers trembled with distant shockwaves. Flickering lights cast long, distorted shadows across the stone walls. The King stood in silence, his hand trembling as he stared at the ancient device he held, its surface pulsing faintly with ominous light.

The weight of an entire kingdom rested upon his shoulders.

"Father..." his daughter whispered, her voice quivering in the suffocating darkness as she looked up at him.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.