Heaven's wrath

"Hold the fort while I'm gone~."

"B-be safe out there, p-papa…!"

Gerard, the black-haired guild master of the Chainlink adventurers guild, looked back at his daughter, Catherine, and nodded. He left after she nodded back, raising one hand and waving to him, wishing him the best.

At level 60, Gerard was one of the pillars of the Chainlink port city and an individual known for his feats during his active adventuring days. That's why, despite him or any member of his family not holding any official aristocratic title, his daughter was admitted to the Jade Academy with a scholarship for gifted students.

It was a huge chance for Catherine, and the girl was fully aware of it.

Up until three years prior, she was so excited about it, eagerly and proactively training and leveling up daily to prove that her admittance wasn't just the Emperor playing favorites with the guild masters of the Emeraldios Empire.

But everything changed after one fateful day…

All of her energy was gone, replaced by fear.

"Haaa…"

Gerard sighed, putting his arm up to protect his eyes from the heavy rain.

"John! If you are making fun of me…!"

"No! Why would I do that? Your father asked me to find you and get you back home!"

"...?"

A loud conversation between two youngsters in one of the alleys Gerard passed on his way to the dock got his attention.

"HEY! If you two aren't going to help with securing the city, get the hell out of the streets!"

"AH! Y-yes, sir!"

"W-we're going!"

He roared, causing the pair to flinch and hurriedly back away while bowing their heads.

"Hmph."

Gerard scoffed, moving ahead.

It was bad for his nerves, but he was already getting angry before checking on his subordinates.

Not all, of course - he could see many of the local adventurers move around through the downpour, securing every piece of debris they couldn't remove.

As Gerard walked, he was taking notice of every person that he saw on his way…

"...those lazy bums…!"

And, of course, he noticed that the pair he expected to ditch the quest was indeed nowhere to be seen.

"..."

After making his way to the destroyed dock, Gerard took a moment to gaze upon the mastless shipwreck that had plowed its way deep into the land

Despite the damages, one could tell it was Diamondium's vessel - which in times of peace wasn't that uncommon.

Still, the thing with this one was that it wasn't a ship that left the harbor right before the freak storm happened.

According to a few witnesses, it also wasn't a ship that was docking or about to dock while the storm began - going by their word, it might have been one of the incoming ships… but then, why was it the only one who made it?

That was the question that should and could have been asked of the passengers and crew of the destroyed ship, but none of the survivors who received help from the Chainlink citizens have regained their consciousness yet.

...to the knowledge of the investigating adventurers, that is...

Truly a pickle.

"Haaaaaa…"

Gerard allowed a particularly long sigh to escape his mouth as he stepped to the side to once again witness the destruction that the wreck left in its path to get to its current location.

The energy needed for something like that... the vessel's speed must have been ridiculous...

And with no trace of masts and sails, one could only wonder how it even accelerated to that degree.

"Hmm? HEY!"

Gerard shook his head and accidentally caught a glimpse of a figure he recognized, and his head snapped back to it as he shouted.

"..."

"Blake! Don't stand there in the open! At least have some shame and find a hiding spot when you ditch work!"

Gerard approached the man and began to scold him, but he didn't even budge. He just stood there, getting drenched in the cascading rain, his face raised to the dark sky.

"Blake? What the hell is wrong with you?"

With a complete lack of reaction from the usually lively and cheeky man, Gerard furrowed his brows and walked closer to have a better look at him.

"Hey! Blake! You got hit by a petrification spell or what? Do you hear me?"

Gerard slapped Blake in the back, getting worried over the suspicious behavior.

"...b-boss…"

"So you do hear me!"

The hit worked to some degree - it caused Blake to step forward and speak up… although for some reason, even when referring to Gerard, he never looked away from the sky.

"Oh, for the love of… Blake! Are you sick? Do you need me to get you to a healer?"

Seeing his subordinate return to the almost catatonic state, Gerard gasped and put his hand on Blake's shoulder, giving him a good shake.

"B-boss… what in all fucks is that…?"

That action had the biggest reaction, with the suspiciously behaving adventurer raising his hand and pointing at the sky.

"What is what? It's the storm clouds obviou…"

Gerard scoffed, shaking his head before looking in the direction pointed by Blake…

"?!?!"

"KGRUIIIIIII-GHIIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIIII!"

....and then the guild master's jaw dropped as the deafening rain and howling wind were pierced by a chirp-like roar, shutting him up right then and there.

High up in the sky, slithering its way through the rainclouds as if they were a bog, a gigantic mountain-sized hawk-headed serpent was opening its beak and announcing its presence to the world.

With gray scales covering its body, it was letting out sparks of electricity. Its silhouette and detailed patterns on each scale were perfectly visible despite the weather conditions because of the sheer size of the horror.

Two sets of black feathery wings didn't flap even once, but somehow, the humongous creature could still keep itself afloat with just the slithery motions of its horribly long body.

"..."

Gerard suddenly realized the reason behind Blake's actions.

What could anyone do while faced with something so overwhelming?

Such monstrosity wasn't in any legends that Gerard ever heard about.

No bard that came to the Chainlink city has ever sung a song about such terror.

No drunkard in any of the local taverns and inns cursed its name, blaming his misfortune on it.

The guardian of the Amber Sea that was supposedly living in its depths has been subdued time and time again - there were legends, countless songs about it, and the local drunkards blaming their misfortune on it always swore their revenge by the end of the night before colapsing under the table.

But this…?

Gerard instinctively could tell why there were no legends, no songs, and no drunkards cursing the descending monstrosity.

It was simple.

Not a single soul who laid their eyes upon it has lived to tell the tale.

Death.

A winged personification of death was slithering its way upon the Chainlink port city from the heavens to wipe it from the face of the continent.

"KGRUUIIIII-GIIII-HIIII-GHIIII!"

As if mocking the hopeless despair of the black-haired man down on the ground, the humongous beast let out another chirp-like roar and began its descent toward the settlement of man.

"C-CATHERINE! THEO!"

Seeing his end right in front of him, Gerard's last sane thought was about his daughter and his wife.

While howling their names, the strongest person within the city walls turned his back to the danger and threw himself into a mad dash back towards the guild and his home right across it.

And then…

"..."

Gerard's eyes registered something flying into the sky right from outside the walls.

A smudge of red light turning orange, then yellow, and finally becoming pure white fading into blue...

The opposite of a shooting star…

The birth of an ascending star…!

*BUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

"!!!"

The very next second, a devastating shockwave pushed back the wind and rain, shattering every single window and every single piece of glass and ceramic in the entire city, rupturing the eardrums of the Chainlink citizens, and crushing against Gerard, sending him flying right back to where he began to run from.

"...!"

Mid-flight, Gerard's eyes reflected the newborn ascending stat flying at the serpent...

Flying into the serpent's open beak…

Ripping the serpent's beak, head, wings, and entire body into shreds and setting it all aflame in the pulverizing blaze of glory…!

…only to carry on its ascend without ever slowing down - piercing through the dark clouds and clearing the sky all the way to the edges of the horizon - continuing its journey and climbing even higher…!

As if leaving the mortal plane behind and entering into the heavenly firmament to take its rightful place!

*WHAM*

"!!!"

Then, the fraction of a second containing that fleeting moment passed, and Gerard slammed into the Diamondium's shipwreck, carried by the shockwave - immediately losing consciousness upon the impact.