For the fairies of Salisbury, today was undoubtedly their day of disaster.
At first, many fairies were watching the chaos with a sense of amusement, thinking that what was happening in front of them wasn’t something to be feared, but rather an exciting and rare celebration in their otherwise mundane lives.
Because of that, many fairies were thrilled, some even delighted by the spectacle, while others, eager for more chaos, wished for it to get even more intense, even more thrilling.
Wouldn’t that be even more wonderful?
However, as time passed and the situation escalated, the fairies who had been excited about the spectacle started to panic and wished they could sprout wings and fly out of here—fly out of the city.
How could they have imagined that a mere battle between a few individuals could become so intense?
During the battle between these few, Salisbury was struck by countless earthquakes and endured untold destruction.
At times, meteors fell, crashing into parts of the city.
At other times, crimson storms swept through, erasing chunks of the city.
Occasionally, explosions and shockwaves reverberated across the entire city.
Sometimes, the city walls collapsed, leaving Salisbury with a gaping hole.
Buildings were damaged beyond recognition, while the streets were cracked, with countless fissures marring the ground.
Needless to say, this was no different from a true natural disaster, one that could ravage an entire city.
As a result, many fairies who had been watching the chaos, or those who thrived on the destruction, were caught off guard, unable to take shelter in time. They didn’t know how many had been affected—some were severely injured, others lost their precious lives.
Now, Salisbury was a hell on earth, a place filled with cries of agony, a torture chamber.
Even the surviving fairies were worried and feared that the building they were hiding in might collapse at any moment, or that the entire city would be destroyed, leaving them caught in the wreckage.
It wasn’t until this point that these fairies began to feel true fear.
"Why is this happening?"
"Why do I have to face this?"
"I’ve already paid enough taxes to Her Majesty, just barely surviving, why do I have to deal with something like this?"
"Is this a Calamity?"
"Lady Aurora! Please, save us!"
Salisbury had turned into a hell of endless screams, a sight too unbearable to witness.
Of course, how many of these fairies had originally been excited about the situation?
Only they knew.
"Lady Aurora, please hurry and take shelter. Don’t stay in such a dangerous place."
A fairy with butterfly wings advised, speaking to the head of the Wind Clan in the lord’s room of the Cathedral of the Ash Tree as she kept glancing at the ceiling, clearly worried that the building might collapse any second.
"I’m fine, Coral."
Aurora replied calmly, standing by the window, looking in the direction where the city wall had fallen.
After a moment of silence, she continued in a gentle voice, asking the fairy.
"Has everyone taken shelter?"
"...Only the fairies who listened to the guards’ orders and left with them, as well as the humans who unconditionally obeyed our instructions, were able to take shelter..." Coral replied, looking down. "Most of the other fairies are unwilling to be scattered or leave, so it’s too late to get them to shelter now."
"Is that so?" Aurora lowered her gaze, her tone heavy with sorrow. "If I had been firmer, maybe they would have listened and taken shelter."
"It’s not Lady Aurora’s fault!" Coral quickly interjected. "Those lowly fairies are the ones who refused to listen to your instructions! They deserve this!"
"Thank you for saying that, Coral, you’re so kind." Aurora turned to smile at Coral. "But no matter what, let’s do our best. Let the guards try their hardest to get the citizens to safety. Every life saved is worth it."
"And what about you?" Coral continued urging. "Please, you should also take shelter. It’s too dangerous to stay here. There’s no guarantee you won’t be affected by those monsters."
"Oh, you can’t say that." Aurora gently scolded. "We still have companions over there, and that child is with them. She won’t let anything happen to me. I believe in her. Alright, go now. If necessary, I will leave here immediately."
At Aurora’s insistence, Coral reluctantly left, knowing she had no choice but to obey.
Of course, Coral wouldn’t abandon Aurora.
Once the instructions were given, she would return immediately, and if necessary, she would protect her lady with her life, acting as a shield in this natural disaster.
After Coral left, she didn’t notice that Aurora’s smile slowly faded from her face.
"Child of Prophecy...?"
Aurora gazed outside again, murmuring in a dreamy tone.
"If you really can defeat the Queen, then I..."
As Aurora spoke, the rest of her words were too soft to be heard clearly by anyone.
Nevertheless, she did stay here, not leaving until the very end.
===
Meanwhile, in a corner of Salisbury, Artoria poked her head out from a secluded alley and looked in the direction where the city wall had collapsed, her face filled with an uncontrollable sense of worry.
"He... He’s okay, right...?"
Muttering words she didn’t even believe herself, Artoria tightened her grip on the Staff of Selection and began to struggle internally.
She really wanted to go help Riezel.
Even though she was still a bit underpowered and couldn’t directly face off against Woodwose or a Fairy Knight, if it was just about using magecraft to support Riezel, she could still manage that.
In fact, the most impressive magecraft Artoria had learned was a support spell known as Reinforcement, which allowed her to boost her allies’ power, making them stronger. As for the rest, they were mostly minor tricks, like lockpicking, door-breaking, and setting bombs—nothing serious that could be used in high-level combat.
For this reason, Artoria really wanted to help Riezel, but she worried that she would be a burden instead, which kept her from taking action.
However, the more she hesitated, the more anxious she felt, especially after seeing that white meteor crash into the city wall, followed by a black dog wrapped in flames rushing through the city in that direction—Artoria felt even more urgent.
And this anxiety reached its peak when she heard a hysterical roar.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!"
As this roar resounded, Artoria saw a fairy resembling a werewolf shatter the air and surge toward the collapsed city wall, his body crackling with violent magical energy.
’What do I do? What do I do?’
Artoria paced back and forth, frantic.
In the end, she gritted her teeth and, without further hesitation, ran down the alley toward the direction of the fallen city wall.
===
*BOOM!*
Explosive sounds echoed continuously as if they would never stop, reverberating through the atmosphere of Salisbury.
Beneath the collapsed city walls, on the edge of the ruined city, the battle between a human and three fairies still raged on.
At first, it was just one human and one fairy that had emerged from the wreckage, but it didn’t take long before a fairy surrounded by flames, leading a pack of Black Dogs, along with a werewolf-looking fairy roaring fiercely, charged into the battlefield and attacked the human.
As a result, the situation had already changed—it was no longer a one-on-one battle, nor a one-on-two, but rather a one-on-three.
"Maximize Magic - Nuclear Blast!"
Riezel charged into the three fairies’ encirclement, and the moment they closed in on him, he decisively cast his offensive magic with an enormous range.
*BOOOOM!*
An incredible explosion instantly erupted with a flash of light, sending rocks flying, blowing apart the ruins, and hurling the oncoming fairies through the air.
*Cough!*
Gawain coughed up blood again, her armor already torn and in tatters.
"Ugh..."
Lancelot, covered in blood and barely able to stand, maintained her position only by flying before shooting up into the air just before the explosion, narrowly avoiding the full impact.
"Such a trivial magecraft!"
Woodwose, though sent flying by the explosion, was unscathed and the fastest of the three to get back up before charging toward Riezel again, his face twisted in fury.
"Get lost!"
Riezel, his eyes blazing crimson, had entered a semi-berserk state.
He no longer wasted words on his opponents and decisively swung his sword, flames erupting to consume Woodwose, sending him and the ground around him flying for several meters.
*BANG!*
At that moment, Lancelot suddenly accelerated from the side like a beam of light, striking Riezel and sending him flying as well.
"Ugh!"
Under this onslaught, even Riezel couldn’t help but groan from deep within his throat, but this only intensified the crimson hue in his eyes.
"Maximize Magic - Meteor Fall!"
Riezel cast a new magic spell—a 10th Tier Magic.
Its effect was already clear from its name—it summoned something from the far reaches of space to fall and strike the enemy.
Soon, whether it was Lancelot, Gawain, or Woodwose, who were on the battlefield’s ruins, or the other fairies in Salisbury, they all saw something break through the clouds and fall from the sky.
It was a meteor.
At least several hundred meters in diameter, with overwhelming mass, capable of crushing everything in its path, a meteor descended from space.
As it streaked through the atmosphere, glowing with fire and howling as it fell, all the fairies in Salisbury, including Artoria, who was running toward the scene, and even Aurora, who was in the Cathedral of the Ash Tree’s lord room, froze and were struck with expressions of terror.
Naturally, this also included the three powerful fairies beneath the meteor, targeted by the impossible weight of its fall.
"Is this even magecraft?!"
Gawain couldn’t help but shout out in surprise.
"Damn Child of Prophecy!"
Woodwose was also shocked, but after that shock came fury, which made him dart toward Riezel, unleashing a barrage of claw strikes like a violent storm.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
Riezel raised Hermit to block, the sharp claws crashing against the black sword, sparks flying from the impact.
"Flame Dance!"
After blocking the claws aimed at his head, Riezel ignored the rest of Woodwose’s attacks and let them tear at his cheek, shoulder, arm, thigh, and side, blood splattering from every wound as he swung his sword in a fierce, cleaving motion.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Two powerful slashes sent flames roaring out and slammed Woodwose, who was seething with anger, deep into the ground, but soon, chains shot out, wrapping around Riezel’s body and hurling him back toward the city wall.
*BOOM!*
Riezel crashed into it, shattering the stone, and was buried under the rubble.
"Lancelot!"
Gawain swung her chains and shouted toward Lancelot while pointing at the sky.
"I’ll leave that one to you!"
As she shouted, Gawain ignited with flames and rushed toward the broken city wall.
"You’re asking too much..."
Lancelot gave a bitter smile, but her body had already taken to the air, soaring toward the meteor falling from the sky.
"Any human would indeed find this move difficult to face."
"But as a dragon, it’s a different story."
"I am the strongest!"
Lancelot, looking like a white meteor, accelerated again and again, bursting with power before she collided with the falling meteor, creating shockwaves and blasts of wind.
*BOOOOM!*
In the sky, a deafening explosion erupted, sending dust and debris flying from the ground.
"HAAAAAAHHHHHH—!"
Lancelot roared with all her might, pushing her speed and power to the limit before she finally broke through the outer shell of the meteor.
*BOOOOM!*
In no time, the white meteor shattered the falling one, cutting through its rocky layers and finally emerging from the top, making the entire meteor explode and scatter into countless smaller fragments that rained down toward the earth.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Salisbury was bombarded by numerous small meteors, each explosion ringing out.
Some buildings were hit, collapsing in flames.
Some streets were struck, causing the ground to sink beneath them.
Others headed toward the cathedral, smashing its walls, floors, corridors, and more.
Amid this, the howls of fairies in agony could be heard from those who hadn’t taken refuge, their voices rising in the chaos of Salisbury, which was slowly igniting, turning into a fiery hell.
"?!!!"
Upon seeing this scene, Lancelot, who had been gasping heavily in the sky, was able to maintain her composure at first, but when she saw the cathedral also get struck by the meteor, her expression completely changed.
"Aurora!"
In the next second, Lancelot ignored the battlefield entirely and flew straight toward the cathedral without hesitation.
*DING!*
Beneath the crumbling walls, Riezel’s and Gawain’s weapons, both burning with fierce flames, collided—the explosion from their clashes sent a cloud of debris and rubble flying, turning the surrounding area into a sea of fire.
"HAAAAAAAAHHHH—!!!"
Gawain continued to hold her sword with both hands, roaring angrily. Her veins bulged as her strength increased, the flames intensifying as she tried to crush the powerful enemy before her.
"Arcs Ray!"
Riezel, wielding a sword in one hand, blocked Gawain’s assault, and with the other, he reached toward her and cast a chantless Arcs Ray.
*BOOM!*
In an instant, the light arrow from Arcs Ray exploded on Gawain’s body, causing blood to splatter everywhere.
"Ugh!"
Gawain was covered in blood, even bleeding from her forehead, yet she glared at Riezel, staring at this powerful foe, her eyes burning with fighting intent and unwilling to retreat even an inch.
"Arcs Ray!"
"Arcs Ray!"
"Arcs Ray!"
Riezel relentlessly unleashed one magic after another, blasting the towering Fairy Knight in front of him.
"Ugh! GAAAAHHH—!!!"
Letting out a low groan, Gawain knelt on one knee.
She felt as though bombs were detonating directly on her body over and over again as the terrible impact rushed at her, burning her flesh until she couldn’t hold on anymore.
*BOOM!*
Riezel immediately clenched his open hand into a fist and struck Gawain’s abdomen with a powerful blow—the force from his punch sent the troublesome Fairy Knight flying through the gust of wind created by the strike.
"Haah... Haah... Haah..."
Finally, Riezel knelt on one knee, breathing heavily as blood dripped from his body, staining the ground.
Needless to say, his injuries were far worse than before.
Fighting alone against three powerful fairies, each one capable of matching his full strength in a one-on-one fight—if it hadn’t been for his incredible willpower, countless tricks, and an arsenal of magic to counter every move—he might have already lost.
"Silent Magic—"
Riezel attempted to cast healing magic to treat his wounds, but before he could, someone interrupted him.
*BOOM!*
A sudden, powerful sweeping strike easily sent the weakened Riezel flying.
"Child of Prophecy!"
Woodwose broke through the ground where Riezel had been lying, one hand emerging first before pushing up the rest of his body. He looked like a demon crawling out of hell, grotesque and terrifying beyond measure.
"Just give up! You already lost!"
At this point, Woodwose was also showing signs of fatigue, and his roar toward Riezel was no longer as ferocious as before, now carrying a hint of bluster instead.
"Huuu... Haaa..."
Lying in a deep hole, Riezel showed no intention of responding and simply focused on adjusting his breathing, inhaling large amounts of air to refine into strength, gradually restoring his energy.
"What’s wrong? Can’t you do it anymore?"
Shakily getting up from the deep hole, Riezel stared at Woodwose, grinning.
"In that case, surrender, kneel, and repent, so you can save your life."
Riezel mimicked Woodwose’s earlier words, making Woodwose’s lungs burn with fury.
"YOU! ARE! LOOKING! TO! DIE!"
Woodwose growled before he charged out.
Under the influence of his rage, this Returned A-Rei once again sparked his fighting intent.
Seeing this, Riezel wiped the grin off his face, tightened his grip on his sword, and stepped forward as well.
A fierce death battle was about to erupt once more, until—
"Enough."
A voice suddenly rang out, echoing across the entire sky of Salisbury.