Thick storm clouds covered the sky above the royal capital as torrential rain and thunder roared together.
Dust and flames churned into one mass, rolling endlessly across the land.
Faced with another natural disaster, the royal capital once again fell into chaos.
Even the exhausted mages outside the city walls, collapsed on the ground, raised their heads and stared into the sky with dull eyes full of fear.
'What's going on? The sun has only come out not long ago.'
'Why has the wind and rain started again?'
'Could it be those Calamities again?'
The mages widened their eyes, trying to see through the dense clouds and make out the enormous glowing figures beyond them.
But they found nothing.
This time, not even Viktor appeared in the sky.
'Could it really just be a natural disaster?'
'How could the royal capital be so unlucky as to run into another fresh one?'
Yet amid the raging natural disaster, they seemed to see a narrow crack tear open in the distant clouds.
Holy golden light shone through the gap and fell upon the earth.
A man with golden wings bathed in the holy light slowly rose into the sky.
Surrounded by elemental disasters, he appeared mysterious and exalted.
Every mage stared in disbelief.
Standing atop the city wall, Haim Horn looked at the ascending Hermes, his eyes suddenly widening.
He quickly lowered his voice and said to Rachel beside him, "Hurry, use your Natu to gather all the mages!"
Rachel also watched the sky with a grave expression. Hearing Haim Horn's words, he nodded.
"I've already done it."
Rachel had already sensed that something was wrong and had begun notifying all the mages.
Because just moments ago, one of his Natu had been "killed."
And it had been the one he paid the most attention to, because it had been beside Cocotte.
The Natu were linked to him, allowing them to clearly know everything happening inside the palace.
But the Natu had "died" inside the palace.
As a result, their connection with Cocotte and Viktor had been completely cut off.
Most importantly, just before the Natu disappeared, it delivered an extremely significant piece of news.
Viktor had vanished.
The moment that news spread, the Mage Council's plan was ruined.
The magic binding Hermes had been cast by Viktor himself and was under his personal control.
Only Viktor understood this god best, and only Viktor could suppress him.
But now, Viktor had disappeared without explanation.
As a result, the god had successfully broken free.
The two people atop the wall raised their heads and looked together at the skies over the royal capital, filled with storm clouds and natural disasters.
Thunder crashed, rain poured, wind and fire ran wild.
Even the dust rose to blanket the entire sky.
Only the place where Hermes stood in the holy light remained strangely calm, as though it had been blessed by a god beyond the heavens.
Looking at the holy light shining in the distance, Haim Horn couldn't help murmuring, "So this is... a god?"
Hermes was only the God of Commerce, yet his mere presence could stir the heavens and earth and bring about such natural disasters.
Such power was hard to believe.
It was difficult to imagine how much effort and sacrifice the Archmages had made in the age when many gods coexisted to establish the Mage Council, and finally drive the last god, the Goddess of Justice, out of the mortal world.
Haim Horn stood there frozen, his expression constantly changing.
Not only him, but even the mages outside the walls looked at Hermes with eyes full of reverence.
To ordinary people, gods were beings beyond reach.
But just as they gazed into the sky, a pale meteor suddenly tore through space and streaked across the golden light.
The clouds were gently ripped apart by the violent shockwave, leaving behind a long, straight crack.
At that instant, the golden light surrounding Hermes vanished.
His body fell back toward the earth.
The clouds high above closed together once more, and even the holy light gradually faded.
Every mage stared at the scene in stunned silence.
What exactly had that pale meteor been?
Only Haim Horn, standing atop the wall, remained rooted in place as he watched the silver streak cross the sky.
Only he had seen it clearly.
That meteor had merely been an ordinary iron spear.
It was that spear that had pierced the body of a god.
At that moment, something suddenly occurred to him.
He turned to Rachel and said, "There's no need to worry anymore. Get the other mages settled first."
His gaze turned toward the center of the distant palace as he spoke with relief.
"The Empire's Emperor has made his move."
———
As Hermes crashed heavily to the earth, the disasters ravaging the royal capital gradually subsided.
The thunder and rain slowly weakened, and the raging flames gradually died out.
The fierce winds lost their strength, while the thorny vines withered away.
Only the oppressive storm clouds still hung over the land.
Around the place where Hermes had fallen, countless residents kept their distance and surrounded him in layers.
Every pair of eyes was fixed on him, filled with curiosity.
But in Hermes' eyes, that curiosity felt like mockery.
Like countless blades stabbing into his body.
Yet Hermes didn't know how to face the gazes of these lowly humans.
Because...
He lowered his head and stared weakly at one of his torn wings.
His eyes, stripped of their golden light, trembled.
He... had been injured.
The sharp pain from the wound reached deep into his heart.
To Hermes, that feeling was unbelievably unfamiliar.
How long had it been?
How long had it been since he had felt pain?
As a god, Hermes had long forgotten what pain felt like over the endless years.
He couldn't even remember the last time he had been injured.
And precisely because of that, even the humiliation of being dragged down from the sky by Viktor did not cut as deeply as the pain of this wound.
Although he had fallen to the ground then, in everyone's eyes, he had still been a lofty god.
Because a god who stood above all humans could not be injured.
In people's minds, gods did not bleed.
People had long grown accustomed to the stories told in legends.
Gods and humans could never truly touch one another.
Yet even though the two could not touch, gods were still nobler than humans.
Because humans knew that gods possessed divine power.
They could use that power beyond humanity to punish mankind.
They could prevent farmers' crops from growing and let fierce winds tear away people's homes.
To a god, all it took was the movement of a single finger.
Under such circumstances, gods were naturally nobler than humans, and humans naturally worshipped them.
Gods were seen as immortal beings.
Even if humans wished to rebel, they were powerless.
But now, Hermes' wing had been pierced by a spear, tearing open a massive wound.
Blood burst from the injury, crimson droplets splashing across the plaza and leaving behind a long trail.
Everyone who saw Hermes' injuries realized one astonishing truth.
Gods could be wounded.
Gods could bleed.
Gods... could die.
At that moment, the lofty throne that belonged to Hermes as a god
completely collapsed in the hearts of the Empire's people.
In the end, Hermes could only stare helplessly at the blood spreading across the ground, his entire body trembling.
As though unwilling to accept reality, madness flickered in his eyes.
"But..."
"I... am a god..."
He staggered to his feet.
Though his body was covered in crimson blood, the golden light in his eyes still shone.
One of the golden wings behind him had completely lost its radiance and drooped limply, dragging a long trail of blood.
The other still blazed with dazzling golden light, spread high into the air.
Hermes raised his head.
His eyes, filled with silent golden sand, suddenly opened wide.
The golden grains flowed slowly within them, like the calm before a storm.
His sharp gaze crossed space, passed over the steps, and fixed directly on Aubrey, seated upon the throne before the imperial palace.
Seeing Hermes in such a miserable state, all the surrounding residents were seized with fear and retreated.
Even the increasingly frantic elves around Hermes hid themselves in corners, huddling tightly together in fear and anxiety.
In the oppressive silence, Cocotte covered one ear while the sound of explosions still echoed beside her.
She, too, looked at Hermes with trembling eyes.
Under everyone's gaze, Hermes' madness reached its peak.
A violent vortex churned within his golden sand-like eyes, and thick veins bulged across his neck.
He threw back his head, opened his mouth to reveal pale teeth, and let out a deafening roar toward the heavens.
"I AM A GOD!!!!"
The next second, a tremendous boom exploded across the sky.
It sounded as though countless giant beasts were roaring together.
Hearing the continuous thunderous noise, the people looked at one another in panic.
"What's happening?"
"Why has the plaza become even darker?"
A wave of confused and uneasy whispers spread through the crowd.
They lowered their heads, looking at the plaza as darkness swallowed it, an overwhelming sense of dread rising within them.
It was as if something had appeared in the sky, blocking out every last trace of light.
Darkness descended upon the entire royal capital.
When they finally saw the gigantic objects emerging in the sky, the residents' pupils instantly widened, and they unconsciously sucked in a cold breath.
Intense terror carved itself deep into their bones.
Floating high above them were countless steel behemoths.
Amid endless rippling distortions, the sky itself seemed to have been hollowed out into deep cavities flowing with magic.
Metal airships of every kind extended half of their massive hulls out of those spatial openings.
Their heavy propellers turned as they slowly emerged to the accompaniment of rumbling engines.
One steel beast after another, like black stars, streamed out from the cracks in the sky, blotting out the heavens.
The hulls of the airships were lined with steel heavy cannons glowing with magical light, every barrel aimed directly at the imperial palace shining with golden radiance.
It was as though, in the next instant, destructive power would erupt from those cannons and engulf the entire land.
Amid the echo of grinding machinery and roaring steam engines, the golden palace standing upon the earth appeared incomparably majestic.
Like a golden beast confronting a host of black stars, it stood in supreme majesty.