# The Meteor Shower
"A strategy to assassinate the retired hero who killed the Demon King by sexually seducing his daughter and taking her hostage... How remarkably cruel you are, Ivan...."
Enrique made a brief sign of the cross as she stared at the monster before her. Even in a world where holy power had disappeared, the skin of the (former) Elder Vampire burned black along the path of her sign before instantly regenerating.
"I never seduced her sexually."
"You don't seriously believe that, do you? You charmed her with the classic tall gentleman strategy."
"...And Isabelle accepted sufficient consequences and volunteered herself."
"You demanded her 'voluntary' cooperation to kill her own father, and even... according to your 'operation'... Isabelle would have to endure at least one strike alone from the hero who might have become a god...?"
"What are you trying to say, Enrique?"
"I just wanted to complain a little. I'm just a back-room elder now. Since our cute disciple sucked away all my blood, I'm semi-retired."
Enrique stretched her body fully, loosening her waist. The pitch-black silk dress she always wore even on the battlefield clung momentarily to her slender body.
But Ivan was a sensible person, so he didn't let his gaze linger on the body of someone who had lived more than two centuries longer than him.
After watching his reaction, Enrique grumbled a bit more before nodding.
"Fine, let's do it. Well... if we fail, we die; if we succeed, we save the world. I've done this many times before. I'm sure it'll work out this time too."
"Are you sure you don't need my help, Yon?"
Edelplat, who was drinking tea beside Enrique, tilted his head and spoke.
"Well... although I can't be certain yet. The foundation of the swordsmanship Max learned was built by me. Honestly, assuming Max launches a merciless offensive against his own daughter... I would have a higher chance of survival than that child."
"This war requires achieving two objectives simultaneously, Edel."
Ivan shook his head.
"Killing Maximillian is important, but it's meaningless if we don't completely eradicate the demon race. And even if we sweep away all the demons, it's also meaningless if Maximillian returns alive. Both must be accomplished simultaneously."
At this point, the 2nd Corps Harvester Battery, the most powerful weapon for battlefield control, was mostly neutralized. Even if they could salvage a few guns, it would be difficult for them to significantly impact the war situation.
The same was true for the four remaining Kalion airships. Whether it was the elf mages aboard the ships or the ships' firing systems themselves, they had been depleted to their limits in the last battle.
They couldn't wait to replenish all these supplies before starting the battle. The demons wouldn't stay idle. Demons were a species that required more human corpses than their own numbers for each meal.
How long could Maximillian's overwhelming authority keep them in check? It was difficult to calculate precisely, but it certainly wouldn't be a long time.
They needed to sweep away the demons all at once before they scattered throughout Krasilov. It would take considerable time and resources to pursue and eliminate them one by one after they dispersed, and Krasilov didn't have those resources left.
In this brief moment when foreign forces could be maintained, they needed to engage with maximum firepower. And fortunately...
'Maximillian wants that too.'
He deliberately didn't participate directly in the last battle and intentionally retreated.
And then, deliberately, after the defeat, he regathered his forces and visibly assembled them in one place, 'waiting.'
The implications were all too clear. Maximillian wanted defeat. As always... creating a 'crisis that could be overcome with difficulty, but still barely winnable.'
It was impossible to understand his intentions. And right now, Ivan and the Allied Kingdom command were proceeding according to Maximillian's intentions.
But they couldn't refuse. Like all the schemes Maximillian had prepared so far, he was forcing them to make a binary choice by placing an unbearable loss on one side of the scale.
Ivan nodded briefly and rose from his seat.
Now only the most difficult part remained. What he had been deliberately avoiding...
"I swore I would no longer throw you into mortal danger."
"Your Majesty."
"This is not because I doubt your competence or your abilities. Nor am I making an incorrect judgment as a ruler of a country due to my feelings of affection for you, Vanka."
Elizabeta continued firmly.
"It is not a virtue of a ruler to pray that the rise and fall of a nation be accomplished by the hands of just one person, Vanka. All tools have limitations in their use. The same applies to people. You have done more than your purpose, and how it will end... I... am afraid."
She grasped the bedsheet with one hand while holding Ivan's hand and said:
"Don't leave. Not anymore."
"Your Majesty."
"I should have said this long ago. In a better position, in a better environment... I neglected you with such excuses. Thinking I would ask you properly when my authority and environment were firmly established. That was, that was just an excuse. I... was afraid."
Afraid that you would reject me. Because you were wandering in memories and rejecting the present. Even if I revealed my feelings, I wouldn't approach until you approached first.
It was like befriending a stray cat, and it was more fun than that. Honestly, Elizabeta loved the relationship itself.
From the moment she knew she could possess everything about this man who devoted endless loyalty to her, but could never have his heart.
But no relationship lasts forever. Elizabeta wanted to go further and further, while this man was less eager. How long had that impatience and endurance lasted? And finally.
Finally, this man looks at her. In those eyes, in those cold eyes that always shone insensibly, she sees affection. She sees worry in the touch of his hand that caressed her, and emotions beyond that.
Now, she doesn't want to lose him. She doesn't want to see this man collapse bleeding anymore. Why must it be this man? In such a vast world, among so many people, why him specifically?
She hates it.
This man, and she herself, deserve better rewards. If there is justice in this world... in this world.
Lord, please.
Please don't let me see my love walk into danger and return battered and broken anymore.
Tears welled up in Elizabeta's eyes. Ivan sighed and stroked her cheek.
Thus, affection is a force that makes even the greatest ruler hesitate before judgment. And even the best-trained agent...
Overcoming this temptation was never easy.
Just as Maximillian had done, exceptional individuals were always forcing Ivan to make binary choices.
A comfortable life, a peaceful retirement, a child born of his bloodline, the bloodline of the respected former king, and now, a woman who concerned him more than all those things.
And on the opposite side of the scale.
Earth. Home. Missed family. Friends whose names and faces he could no longer remember. Civilized society. Smartphones and the internet. Delivery food that could be ordered comfortably anytime, anywhere.
And, even setting aside such worldly things.
Peace.
The peace that would come after the Demon King's death. Whatever form it took, an 'ending.' Whether tragic or comic, what would come to him... if he had to express it, yes.
Rest.
This tired body and soul, he who had been running forward burning and destroying everything of himself, might have been longing for rest. And the comfortable future offered by Elizabeta's embrace could never be the decisive resting place.
This is his story. Before the last page of the story is closed, there can't be an epilogue like "and they lived happily ever after."
Whatever the reason he fell into this world, whatever those gods high in the sky wished when they thrust his life into this hell. Fate would never allow him to slip into a comfortable side path.
In the end, for the future of both Elizabeta and the child in her womb, he had to move forward.
Ivan took a deep breath and rose.
"Don't... go. Please."
"Your Majesty."
Looking at Elizabeta's trembling eyes, he bowed his head and kissed her snow-white forehead.
"I will return."
"Can you promise? Can you swear it?"
"No. But I will do my best."
Ivan made a deep bow and left the tent. Behind him, Elizabeta's sobbing continued for a long time.
The sun had set. The dark night sky was visible.
The early autumn night sky of Krasilov, where the magic of the Seven Dragon Generals had disappeared, was clear and clean, fully displaying the stars without light pollution.
A meteor streaked upward across the night sky.
The meteor slid upward and stayed fixed at a point like a nail, becoming a star.
Asidis blankly stared at the sky, counting them.
In her culture, all stars are her ancestors. Ancestors fighting eternal wars in the glorious hall of the sky.
Only true warriors earn the right to ascend there.
Therefore, Asidis could count the approximate positions and numbers of stars in the night sky. That's the Waterwheel constellation, that's the Great Bow constellation...
And below them, she could see a star that was never visible before.
"I wasn't mistaken..."
Asidis whispered quietly. On the night the Seven Dragon Generals died, she had seen a meteor shooting up across the sky.
A meteor rising upward was such an unrealistic sight that she thought it was an illusion at first... but it wasn't.
War is imminent. No one pays attention to the night sky. Even the airships floating above wouldn't try to check the constellations.
Everyone is busy, everyone is determined. The many knights preparing for the expedition, the soldiers earnestly praying, and the workers excavating underground tunnels had no leisure to look at the sky.
But she was looking at the sky.
"Essie...? What's wrong?"
Her companions, who had gone to bed early in preparation for tomorrow's battle, seemed to have noticed her presence and followed her out. Turning to the familiar voice, she saw Isabelle looking at her.
Asidis looked at her face and bit her lip for a moment.
Of all people.
She couldn't complain about family worries to a friend who was setting out tomorrow to kill her own father.
She soon smiled and answered.
"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep."
"Are you worried? Don't be, you need to get at least a little rest."
"Yeah, I'll come in soon. You go rest first."
"Alright, but don't stay out too long."
Isabelle rubbed her eyes and went back into the tent. After staring at her back for a long time, Asidis looked back at the sky.
"Ah..."
Faintly and thinly, so small that an ordinary person would never notice.
Stars were shooting upward. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of stars.
It is said that warriors who die bravely on the battlefield reach the hall beyond that sky. In the lives of the Droan people, becoming a star was their greatest honor.
Those honorable warriors were shining as constellations in the sky above.
From a distant land, Asidis quietly closed her eyes.
"Ancestors, please protect us."
Like a true Droan, with determination rather than sadness.
Thinking that if she survived, it would be a battle that would make her a greater hero than any other,
And if she died, she could become a star shining brighter than anyone else.
Toward the path her father must have also taken with such feelings some 10 years ago.
And contrary to Asidis's thoughts, there was one more person looking at the night sky.
The person who should be paying attention to the night sky more than anyone else on the eve of the decisive battle.
"How is it?"
"It's ominous."
Elfihera answered blankly while staring at the sky. Hearing her words, Oswald scratched his head vigorously and lamented.
"Is it very serious?"
"No. It's also auspicious."
"I don't know much about astronomy. If you could explain it in a way that's easier to understand..."
"Good and bad omens are shining mixed together. Well, should I say the sky is ominous but the stars are auspicious...? Or."
Elfihera was examining the stars when she stopped her gaze at a point that was pitch black as if completely empty, and said:
"Should I say the morning star has fallen to earth?"
"Um... pardon?"
"The morning star has been a symbol of hope since ancient times. Since that star has fallen, well. The sky can only be ominous."
Many people used to call the hero that. The incarnation of the morning star.
The hope that shines alone in the dark night.
It's not wrong. The hero, in the true sense... that is, even in the realm of astronomy, symbolized the morning star.
But what if we think about it the other way around?
Since the morning star has descended to earth, hasn't the sky lost the morning star? If the morning star is a symbol of hope, does it mean that the distant heavens have lost hope?
Then... in this war.
If, truly, everything goes as planned. If we really kill the hero with our own hands.
Wouldn't it mean the sky gains the morning star, and the earth loses it?
Would it mean the heavens regain their lost hope, and the mortal beings on earth lose hope?
Until dawn, the most outstanding astronomer since Beolgrin simply stared at the sky endlessly, trying to understand its meaning.
However, in a world where gods had disappeared, the sky no longer whispered wisdom to her.
EP49. The Meteor Shower.