Chapter 391: Calamity’s End ’What the hell...’ Aria thought as her boots skidded across the ravaged courtyard. A deep gash along her side burned cold... then hot and then finally, it turned numb. Each breath she dragged into her lungs felt like inhaling knives. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt pain like this... real pain, the kind of pain that reminded you that you were still horribly alive. Three minutes. In just three minutes she had been overwhelmed. First came the snowflakes... tiny, delicate things that hadn’t been enough to slice through her skin at first, they had just been a distraction. Then came the slashes that were heavy enough to slash a normal woman in half... She wasn’t holding back at all. This woman wasn’t dangerous... A word that would more fitting was a calamity. Veyra stepped back, exhaling cold breath from her nose "He survived," she whispered. "Azel is alive." Aria raised a brow, clutching the Reaper blade as her blood dripped onto the snow. "How?" she rasped. "Boss tore out his heart. I crippled him so he couldn’t heal. How could he possibly...?" "Just know that he is," Veyra said, her crystalline eyes sharpening as she lifted her bone sword once more. "And I hate you for trying to kill the man I vowed to stay with until death. I hate you for nearly making me a widow, before I even got to have a child with him." Her body tensed with fury. "For those reasons alone... I’ll kill you." Aria gave a breathless, bloody laugh. Despite her injuries, she fished out a lighter and a half-crushed cigar. Her fingers shook as she lit it, but she managed to get a drag out of it. Smoke curled from her lips. "You know... everyone here has their reasons." She glanced toward the sky, where Mallicite’s monstrous silhouette collided with two Grand Mages in explosions of mana bright enough to stain the clouds. "Except Mallicite. She fights because she likes it." Her gaze drifted toward Hex’s shattered skull lying in the snow, its eye sockets hollow. "Hex wanted death more than anything. Guess he finally got his wish." Then to the sky where she assumed where Vera was. "Vera... she just wanted a new body. A new chance. A way to impress the man she loved." Aria exhaled smoke, shaking her head. "Tragic, when you think about it." Her eyes lifted toward Nari’s ritual circle. "Nari wants her mother back... even if it destroys the world." And then her gaze fell to the ground. "And me?" she whispered. "I’m a deadbeat parent who abandoned her child." Aria continued, voice cracking as more blood slid down her cheek. "I didn’t want to abandon him. He’s the one thing I ever loved. The only thing I got right. But I was cursed by the heavens... cursed with this body that wants to ruin everything I touch. I had urges I couldn’t control... urges to cripple him, hurt him, violate him. I was terrified of myself." Tears slid down her face, mixing with ash-stained snow. "So I left him somewhere safe and somewhere far away from me." She dragged in a breath, sobbing once. "But now he thinks I didn’t want him. That I threw him away. And all I’ve ever wanted... all I’ve ever prayed for... was to see him again. Just once." Veyra closed her eyes. When she opened them, her irises had transformed into crystalline rings. A divine presence seeped into the air. Kyone, the Goddess of Winter, spoke through Veyra’s body. "Child of Hell," she declared. Aria trembled violently. She was no longer facing a girl. She was facing a deity. A roaring fire comet crashed against the Academy’s emblem overhead, illuminating Veyra’s divine form. "You have not been destined for happiness," Kyone continued. "Your curse cannot be reversed. Even in death, your soul will be dragged to hell for eternity." Aria felt something in her chest splinter. "W-why...?" she whispered. "What did I do?" Kyone’s cold gaze didn’t waver. "Who is your child’s father?" Aria hesitated. "It was... just a man I met one night. A one-night stan—" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚 "That was the Devil," Kyone cut in. "You became his concubine for a single night. Because of that union, you are cursed. As is your son. Your fate was sealed by your own choice." Aria stared at the snow numbly. Her lip trembled. Her hands shook. For the first time, she understood why her life had collapsed the way it had. ’Because of him... because of one night... I ruined everything.’ She bit her lip hard, trying to draw blood, but even that failed. Veyra’s body blurred. Aria had only a fraction of a second to realize it before she felt her torso splitting apart. She had been cut in half, horizontally clean, the sensation was both numb and agonizing. She looked at the sky with the Reaper blade still in her hand. ’Heavens... if you’re listening,’ she prayed, barely conscious. ’Since that night, my life has been nothing but disaster. I lost my home, my job, my dignity... my child... everything. Please... just once... lend me your mana.’ The heavens did not answer. They never answered mortals. Veyra stood above her with sorrow in her eyes. "I will take care of your child," Veyra whispered. "I’ll make sure he never becomes what you are." Aria smiled weakly as her cigar slipped from her lips into the snow. She felt her soul being pulled downward... into darkness. ’Seeing the heavens but falling into hell... what a cruel fate...’ And then... The Reaper blade followed her soul downward and a warm, gentle power enveloped her. ’...Th... thank you... heavens...’ She cried. For the first time in her life, she felt real mana. The same heavens she thought had cursed her... had blessed her, if only for a moment and looking at it again, the Heavens looked beautiful. ... Nari slammed into the ground several meters away, her entire body charred black except for her untouched hair. Flare landed nearby with Lorraine clutched in her arms, shielding the girl from the falling embers. Nari staggered upright while shaking. "So I was wrong... all along," she rasped. "It wasn’t him. It was you." Her ruined eyes locked onto Flare. "You have so much mana it leaks into the sky... you can bring my mother back." Flare’s flames flickered dangerously in her palm as she prepared to fire again, but the girls surrounded Nari in unspoken coordination. Nari’s cracked lips trembled. "Everyone is dead," she whispered, her voice breaking into an ugly sob. "My followers... the civilians... my generals... I sacrificed everything. I lost everything. And you’re still trying to stop me?! Why? Why can’t you let me be happ—?!" A hand burst clean through her back. Her heart was torn out on the other side. Azel stood behind her, drenched in blood. He held her heart in his fist with fury in his eyes. "Stop monologuing about how you ’can never be happy,’" Azel whispered. "You ruined my first play now..." Nari’s mouth opened soundlessly. "You traumatized Lorraine." His voice cracked. "You killed people I tried to protect. People who trusted me. People I didn’t want to lose." Tears streamed down his cheeks as he stared at her. "And now you call yourself the hero?" He squeezed her heart. "At the end of the day, the one drenched in blood... the demon... is you. You want to bring your mother back? Fine. But countless people lose their mothers. Their sisters. Their brothers. Their sons. Their daughters. And you feel nothing for their pain?" Nari’s lips quivered. "It’s... a worthy... sacrific—" SHING. Her head separated from her neck. She saw Azel’s crying face as the world flipped upside-down. ’If things were different... maybe we could have been together,’ she thought bitterly. ’Maybe he could have been mine. Maybe I could have been his.’ Tears dripped from her severed face. ’What if I was wrong...? What if... reviving my mother wasn’t worth all this...? Because of me... I lost the people I loved... I destroyed Lorraine... and I tried to kill Azel...’ Her final emotion was regret. ’I hate myself...’ And then she died. ... [Congratulations. The First Major Calamity has ended.] [Performance is being analyzed...] [You have gained the love of a goddess.] [You have saved several Heroines and caused them to grow.] [Your Performance is SSS.] [Ding!] [You have received a Special Reward.] [Congratulations for reaching new heights of Divinity. Becoming a Diviner isn’t easy... even though you cheated your way through.] [Ding!] [You have received a Special Note from the System.] [Congratulations for preventing Heroines, Sub-Heroines, and Main Heroines from dying, as well as keeping your women alive.] [You have received: Baby Clothes.] [That’s for your upcoming child.] [You have completed your First Calamity. Congratulations Azel Winters... I look forward to see you more.] ... [Author’s Note] I’m finally done with the first volume of this novel, it took quite a while since this was like my second try at writing a novel and I’m glad I have a lot of readers willing to take time out of their day to read Azel’s story. It was a messy one but everyone, just like Azel... me and you are growing, the next volume will be quite amazing, at least that’s what I think. Thank you once more for reading to this point🖤