novelFall of a Country
| ← Ch.07 | Ch.09 → |
Night.
The full moon illuminated the dark sky. All over the country were celebrations held in the victory over the demons. At the same time, loud thudding sounds vibrated through the air as something approached the castle walls.
The first to notice it were the guards stationed at the castle wall. Unable to participate in the celebrations, they unsatisfactorily stood out in the cold night but were pleased that the fights against monsters would finally come to an end.
Who could find fault in them for not noticing the faint vibrations being sent through the earth? One of the guards eventually noticed the ripples spreading across the surface of the water in his cup and took up a pair of binoculars to confirm the situation.
And upon seeing what was approaching the country, he froze. 𝒇𝐫e𝑒𝒘ℯ𝑏noѵ𝐞𝑙 - 🅽🅽novel
It was a giant tortoise-like demon.
A body surpassing the height of the walls, a shell just like a large rock, tough looking legs and big eyes filled to the brim with murderous intent. There were several of such tortoises lined up in a row as they advanced towards the country.
...No, it was not only the giant tortoise that was shown in the guard's vision. At the feet of the tortoises were enough demons to fill the surface of the ground, all lined up marching towards the wall.
Unable to raise his voice, the guard who witnessed hell ran into the stand-by station and dragged his friends out, displaying a queue of demons through the binoculars. Like him, his friends also were not able to mutter a word, but one of them rushed out, desperately activating an alarm magic to inform others of a demon invasion.
The activated alarm fulfilled its mission and a sound rang throughout the country along with a warning siren letting the populace know of the invasion, but the citizens did not take action.
People all thought it must have been a drunken guard that accidentally activated the magic.
But the alarm continued to ring.
It should be about time for the other guards to step in and stop it.
But the irritating sound showed no signs of ending.
Uneasiness began to spread throughout the populace as they began to doubt it "Maybe there really is a demon attack?"
"Impossible. The demons should have all been annihilated during the attack at noon. It's still too soon for the demons from other lands to come!"
"Then why is the alarm still ringing! Something must have happened!"
There were those who continued the banquet in the city, those who became alert and returned home and those who rushed to the wall to check whether the demons really came. People all started taking various actions.
However, while the people were still in confusion, the walls were broken through.
Giant tortoises started to attack the wall, and several tortoises rammed the castle wall that was reinforced with magic. Facing such an assault, the castle walls that had prevented many monstrous attacks in the past had a huge hole opened in it as though it was made from paper.
The tortoises entered through the hole with great momentum and invaded the country, devastating several buildings. And from the hole that the tortoises opened poured out a huge amount of demons. People scrambled and ran as they saw the demons.
And shouted out.
"Please save us, O' Goddess!!"
"Hey you bastard! Are you referring to Satan when you say Goddess?! Blasphemous!!"
"Mercy! Mercy upon us! O' Goddess! I beg for your help!"
"It's the retaliation from Satan!! Shit! Who said the demons had been annihilated!! There's still so many here!!"
"I don't care whether it's Goddess or Satan!! Someone, please save me!!!"
People scattered about but the majority were crushed by buildings or killed by demons.
Some magic students and soldiers took position and desperately resisted but it was just like a drop of water in a desert.
One by one, they were killed off and the formation they created on the spot fell apart, allowing the demons to eventually reach the castle.
Inside the castle, the guards closed the gates and created a barricade. The royalty escaped to the inner palace and applied several layers of defensive magic from the inside. Outside the gates were surviving citizens fearfully pounding at the gates while yelling words such as "Let us in!!", but the elite castle guards refused to budge.
They braced themselves at the moment they heard the wails and screams of the people outside but regardless, the gates were forcibly opened by the momentum of the demons.
The scenery inside the castle then became no different to the one outside. The sturdily built armour of the elite guards held no meaning. Even for the powerful magicians, the minute they ran out of magic power, they would meet their ends. Beautiful corridors were decorated with blood and innards, while echoing screams and wails replaced the music of the orchestra. And finally, demons flooded to the room where the royalty had holed up into.
Inside the room where several elite magicians still desperately casting defensive magic.
There was no room in the whole world with this much defensive magic casted on it. However, even the defence magic was meaningless before the assault of the tortoises.
The tortoises stomped down on the entire castle along with the room.
That night, a gigantic and extravagant Magic State fell.
There were only a handful of survivors.
People's cries, suffering, anger, fear...
Various emotions flowed into my body from the drones.
I sat on my chair in my room as I felt these emotions.
...Rest assured.
You are all alive.
If there is an afterlife, you can all proudly declare "I lived my life to the fullest".
You all lived graciously until the last moment.
You all lived proudly as a living creature until the last moment.
You all lived your lives from the beginning to the end like a shining jewel.
I assure you all as one who has observed you all, never looking away for a second, from the moment you breathed your first breath in this world.
No one can deny this fact.
The young girl stood up from her chair and applauded the country now burning in flames. Corpses crushed under the feet of the demons on the main road overlapped each other, corpses burnt down right to the bone, corpses of the guards that became a lump with their armour...
Perceiving all of it within her, the young girl trembled with excitement and her cheeks moistened as she continued to clap her hands. This sight is one of the ends they desperately sought after and is also a crystallisation of a fragile yet beautiful act called life.
The applauding continued for a year and the girl continued to bless their proud and vivid lives.
The world's largest Magic State collapsed and the equilibrium of the world fell apart.
Countries all over the world thought that the world would be eventually destroyed if Satan was kept alive and restarted the subjugation. However, none of the countries in the world had enough troops remaining to dispatch a large fleet like they had previously.
The demons who destroyed the Magic State had begun their invasion on the other countries as well. As expected, because the demons had scattered all over the world none of the other countries were destroyed in a night but it made no difference for it still remained a threat.
Seeking a world without demons, people put everything on the line in order to kill Satan.
And so, it became that a group of special organised troops would be in charge of subjugating Satan. Although there were only a few people, all of them were well-known and talented people.
The world's strongest knight known as "Undefeated Champion" was a tough-looking knight who wielded a large magical sword. An old magician was a man of strength who has defeated tens of thousands of demons alone. A young girl with healing powers that were said to even be able to revive the dead. Female thieves who had repeatedly entered and plundered from the vandalised lands of the demons also joined the special forces to make use of their knowledge and experience. And a young man with a soul nobler than anyone who wished to free the humans from the hands of the demons and regain peace became the captain.
They were all people who each of their respective countries had valued as their last trump card.
But even regardless of that, each country brought them together and created the strongest special force of the new humanity.
| ← Ch. 07 | Ch. 09 → |