Arthur looked at the giant miasma in the distance that edged the border of the kingdom. They were flying over mountains of sands and dunes of unbelievable heights, heading toward the place where they'll sneak into the carriages carrying the weapons.
They have just come out from behind a mountain that obstructed their view, making them unable to see the miasma that threatened to turn the world into a wasteland.
As he looked at the other three, they seemed not to notice it at all. No, they were bound to see it. They simply didn't treat it as an anomaly.
"Gala," Arthur walked over to the relaxed witch and whispered. "What is that?" He pointed with his chin at the miasma. Gala was confused, glancing at him then at the miasma.
"What do you mean?" She asked with a frown. "How can you not know this?"
"I was a Verniz before Larza bought me." Arthur gave her a curt answer, hoping she wouldn't ask anything more. However, Gala gave him a suspicious look.
"It is the Calamity's Gate," Gala said as if Arthur should know what that was without her needing to explain. Seeing him silent, she knew that he knew no such thing. "It's the thin layer that is keeping us alive."
"What lies behind it?" Arthur frowned. He remembered that Jizo told him that awakeners from Earth should stop clearing dungeons because there were calamities.
"Calamities." Gala rolled her eyes. "Are you pulling my horn or something? How can you not about them?" She seemed to be genuinely confused that he didn't know them. Arthur couldn't say that he has been in this world for a little over a month.
"I always lived in Larza's mansion. No one spoke about them."
"That's the privilege of living in an herbalist's house. They are so laid back, not having to fight against the waves of monsters." Gala sighed. "Calamities are beings that descended thousands of years ago, bringing with them nothing but destruction. They are also the source of corruption for your race."
"What kind of beings are they?"
"No one lived to tell the tale." Gala looked at the Calamity's Gate. "The gate is there to prevent them from turning the world into a wasteland. When the gates break, the calamities shall emerge, and that will be the end of the world as we know it."
Arthur was silent as he remembered what Jizo told him about the calamities. Connecting the dots, Arthur realized that if the two merged, the gates would probably disappear. He looked at the miasma with a frown.
'These gates, they must have been created by Miko's ancestor, the one who split the world into two.' As his train of thoughts reached there, Arthur began to realize something terrifying.
'This world... is nothing but another defense line against the calamities. The guardian of space split the world into three layers. The Calamities, Alka, and then Earth.'
This fact was terrifying because not only did it mean this world shouldn't exist, but it meant that the guardian knew the Calamity's Gate would break. That's why Alka worked like the second line of defense, not as a different world.
He looked at the three of them with a complicated gaze, as none of them knew that the Guardians were sacrificing them from ancient times. Perhaps, the guardian didn't know there would be people here.
"There it is." Rinzo pointed in a direction far away. There was a small village on the side of the road. "The convoy will be resting there; we can use that chance to sneak into the weapons."
"Should we expect any problems?" Arthur asked, to which Rinzo shook his head. "Finally, something is easily done." Arthur sighed and relaxed.
"You'll jinx us." Gala stretched and spoke. "Princess, hurry a bit. The sun is hot, and my skin is getting oily."
"Shut up, leech." Dia spat in anger after being ordered. Arthur realized that witches were often considered to be leeching off the power of spirit and never hold any of their own. That's why the Demis looked down on them.
"Seika, are you going to let her talk to me like that?" Gala pouted and said playfully, but Arthur found her annoying.
"I'm not intervening." Arthur shrugged and looked at the village in the distance. Being in the middle of a wasteland, he wondered how they survived.
"Hehe." He heard Dia laugh victoriously. Gala gave a humph before turning away after Arthur embarrassed her. The ice platform started descending when they got close enough.
The four of them jumped as the ice platform disintegrated and melted. As the group's feet touched the sand, they felt the unbearable heat the sand stored within.
"It's so hot," Arthur muttered. Suddenly, a wave of cold air surrounded him, refreshing his body. He looked at Dia with surprise, but she didn't look back at him. He looked at the others, and they were sweating bullets.
He didn't say anything and simply enjoyed the preferable treatment. Gala's black spirit danced around to conceal them. They walked into the city without anyone spotting them, right beside the convoy loaded with weapons.
After finding a relatively larger carriage, the group sneaked in without anyone finding out about them. They sat shoulder to shoulder with Rinzo and Gala sitting away from Dia, Arthur being their shield.
After a while, the carriage began to move, taking them toward the battle. It seems that being the secret convoy for so long, the Raygok family's merchants grew lax with security.
As they sat alone in silence in the large but crowded carriage, each of the four brooded about different things. The trip felt longer than it was, and they started to hear the sounds of battle soon enough.
The convoy stopped once they got close to the battle. As the sounds died down, it resumed its movements. Then came the inspections.
Carrying torches to see in the night, the soldiers of the Alva kingdom inspected the carts one by one. Luckily, Gala's spirit hid all of them. They were allowed entry, and it was time to run.
"Let's go; we've already passed inspection," Gala said and jumped out of the carriage. The rest followed, and they began running on top of the sand to oversee the battlefield better.
"You're quick for a non-awakened human," Dia said as she looked at Arthur, who was keeping up with them. He simply smiled and didn't explain the source of his stats.
They reached a dune and stopped to see the two sides of the battle. The border separated the camps by a high-rise wall. The Freda kingdom tried to break through the barriers through every means without success.
"Should we attack the walls now?" Arthur asked Rinzo, who shook his head.
"The Knight of Honesty needs to coordinate with our attack to end the battle," Rinzo explained. "It's best that we inform him beforehand and launch our attack tomorrow."
"What is he going to do after he wins the battle?"
"Construct a military fort over here. It'll be the starting point of invading this kingdom." Rinzo said.
"This kingdom," Dia with bafflement. "You speak as if you didn't live your whole life here. Do you know how many Demis will die?"
"Under the rule of King Solomon, none. If you mean the war, then it's a necessary sacrifice." Rinzo answered without hesitation.
Rinzo's words ticked Arthur off for some reason. He didn't think that Solomon was an evil person, but he didn't like the idea of sacrificing a few to protect the majority. It was the same as Jizo's principle, making another similarity between the Guardian and Solomon.
"Inform with the Knight," Arthur said, not willing to dive deeper into the topic. Rinzo nodded and took out an artifact, beginning his communication immediately.
"The attack will happen tomorrow morning, at the first sign of daybreak," Rinzo reported to the artifact. "The Seika will be attacking the walls using the powers of the princess."
"Understood." Came a single reply, and Rinzo nodded at him. Arthur looked at the distance with an ominous feeling. He will be the fuse that ignites this war, resulting in countless deaths from soldiers and civilians alike.
Gala and Rinzo descended the dune, leaving Arthur and Dia gazing at the wall. For the first time since he used the Bestial Order on her, Dia spoke to him gently.
"Please, don't let me do it." She pleaded. "Not only would their blood be on my hands, but it will also be on yours too."
"I didn't start this war." Arthur refuted. "What would you have done with your power if I didn't use the Bestial Order?"
"I would have ended the war faster," Dia said resolutely. "The people of Alva would have followed me, and King Solomon is wiser than starting a losing war."
"At the expense of my death." Arthur laughed. "Yes, fewer people would have died that way. However, what about me? Where would I have been? Rotting below the ground! I'm not that heroic, nor am I sacrificing my life for anyone." Dia was silent at his words because even she didn't have the right to tell Arthur otherwise.
"You are sacrificing a bigger part of you by doing this," Dia said before walking away. "And a big part of me. These things will never heal, for neither of us."
Arthur knew that she was right, but he had the blood of many others on his hand. He didn't hesitate when he ended the war by killing those Iliosan soldiers, but this time was different. The victims are civilians and their families, not soldiers.