「A magnitude 7.2 earthquake has struck the capital region. It is currently estimated that at least one hundred thousand casualties have occurred.」
「A tower has risen from the National Assembly building. Is this an aftershock of the earthquake?」
「A national disaster has been declared across the entire territory of the Republic of Korea.」
「An unidentified message has appeared. What does this mean?」
The world had suddenly turned into a ridiculous farce.
No matter whether you went online, turned on the TV, or even checked the comments section of XTube, everyone was discussing the Disaster Order.
The Rifts, which had appeared worldwide, and the unidentified messages still floating in front of us, read clearly:
[Welcome to the world of the Disaster Order.]
[Survive and dominate the calamities unleashed by the Disaster Order.]
[Become a ruler of calamity.]
[Y / N]
I pulled back the curtains of the window.
In the distance, there stood an impossibly tall, black tower, its peak obscured by the clouds. This mysterious tower had risen from the ceiling of the National Assembly building in Yoiudo, and helicopters from various broadcasting agencies were circling it.
[Storm Mirien of the North Sea dreams of ascension. A tower rises.]
The message was unmistakably clear.
“Mirien. That’s… a game character.”
Storm Mirien of the North Sea. After countless fusions, she was the second five-star character I had acquired. Her backstory was somewhat fuzzy, but I vaguely remembered her as a wizard who had massacred tens of thousands to reach the heavens.
The other four-star characters also had backstories full of calamity and infamy.
These catastrophic game characters had now manifested in reality and caused unimaginable destruction.
The implication was clear—it had something to do with the event that occurred early yesterday morning.
[A calamity is being unleashed. Their power is overwhelming and may destroy another world. This decision cannot be undone!]
“…Could it really be because I fired them that they crossed over to our world?”
Though the hypothesis sounded absurd, the reality before me was speaking.
The Disaster Order had become real, and the catalyst was apparently my decision to dismiss them all yesterday. Freed from their constraints, these calamities had arrived to destroy another world—my world.
“…Is it my fault?”
No, it wasn’t.
I didn’t feel any guilt. Even if the system messages had been real, how could I have known?
Ding!
[Become a ruler of calamity.]
[Y / N]
This notification had been hovering in front of me for over half a day, and it appeared to have been sent to everyone in the world.
=
– Hey, isn’t this an awakening thing?
n What’s an awakening? You nerds got me lost.
n You know, that thing in web novels where you ascend and level up as a hunter. That’s what this status window is.
– Did anyone hit accept?
n I did. Some kind of game-like screen appeared.
– Oh, shit! Does this mean I can become an S-class hunter? Everything’s screwed now, lol.
=
On internet communities, similar opinions were forming. Some users were excited—after all, a surreal plot straight out of fiction was now unfolding before their eyes. However, most were seized with anxiety. Unknown terrors had invaded Earth, and countless deaths had been reported worldwide. The possibility of becoming one of those victims was daunting.
“…The Disaster Order.”
I repeated the name of the game.
Wait, a game?
Suddenly, something flickered in my mind. I hurriedly opened the store app and searched for the Disaster Order.
But…
“It’s gone.”
There was nothing. The search results showed zero hits. Even attempts to find mentions of it in online communities yielded no results.
If the game had truly become real, had it been erased from the world? Then why did I still remember that it was a game?
“Driving me crazy…”
My head spun, but more troubling was the notification window hovering in front of my eyes, urging me to make a choice.
[Become a ruler of calamity.]
[Y / N]
If I accepted, I would undoubtedly become a player.
The game’s story was simple: a player, referred to as a “ruler,” would summon calamities from the Rifts, expand their stronghold, and acquire new calamities. The system prompt to “become a ruler of calamity” must refer to that.
“…Guess I have to.”
Whatever it was, there was only one option.
To gain the power to dominate calamity.
On the TV, some were already speculating about the creation of Awakened One Associations, new laws, and guilds. But none of them understood how terrifying these calamities from the Disaster Order truly were.
As if in response, the notification window updated:
[In the world of the Disaster Order, calamities are invading.]
[Survive and conquer the calamities as a ruler.]
[This is your story.]
[Would you like to become a ruler of calamity?]
[Y / N]
“Right. I need to survive.”
Who wouldn’t? Personally, I had no intention of dying—or becoming a victim of calamity.
To avoid that, I had to become a ruler, just like my character in the game, commanding countless calamities.
With a trembling hand, I pressed the accept button, and a new prompt appeared:
[Please set your nickname.]
[…]
“…Great…”
This was exactly like the game, to the point where I wondered if it wasn’t some massive hidden-camera show.
Since the reality was now the game Disaster Order, it made sense to use the nickname I had used in the game.
[Actor]
I typed in the familiar two letters.
[Welcome, Ruler Actor. You are now a ruler in the world of the Disaster Order.]
[Time until the next Rift eruption: 161 hours]
Rift eruptions. I was familiar with this from the game.
Every few days, Rifts would release calamities, which players would subdue and use as synthesis materials to create higher-level calamities.
161 hours until the next eruption.
“Roughly one week.”
Whatever the case, I needed to take action.
If all this truly mirrored the game, I needed to strengthen my player character and develop the ability to collect lower-level calamities.
Time was short.
Fiddling with the system window, I suddenly felt an eerie sensation.
Simultaneously, a notification window popped up frantically.
Ding!
[5★ Storm Mirien of the North Sea is watching you.]
[5★ The Queen Who Swallowed the Stars Asteria is watching you.]
[5★ Mother of Omens Karne is watching you.]
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene is watching you.]
[293 more notifications.]
[Achievement unlocked: Loved by Calamity]
[Reward: 1,000Exp]
“Uh?”
I didn’t understand… at first.
Then it dawned on me.
My current nickname was the same as the one I had used in the game: “Actor.”
Memories of their last moments in the game before being dismissed came rushing back—to the faint, lingering expressions on their faces.
If the calamities in this world retained their memories from the game…
And if they recognized my nickname as their former master…
“…I’m screwed.”
No response came.
—
*
There was once a girl who was revered as a saint.
She yearned for the words of God and devoted herself to faith, spreading God’s power to alleviate the suffering of all.
The girl loved the world, and in return, the world loved her.
But in the year she reached adulthood, her faith was shattered.
“Burn her! It’s a witch!”
The girl who had been closest to God was betrayed by the very humans she had sought to protect.
Doused in boiling oil, hung on the altar of an evil deity, she underwent unspeakable torment before screaming denial of God and transforming into a pyromaniac demon.
She had no intention of meekly accepting death. Instead, brimming with resentment, she unleashed it upon the world.
“A demon of the evil deity! The Blackened Saint!”
Those were the last words she heard before dying, and they became her defining epithet.
In a single day, the Blackened Saint brought down a kingdom. After seven nights, she set an entire continent ablaze. Where she passed, only ash remained. No life survived.
Her fire was impartial.
Neither the pious nor the impious could escape her flames. Not even she herself escaped—her body was scorched black, her skin disintegrated from burns, and blisters covered her in monstrous deformities before she finally ceased her punishment of the world.
“…”
On the final week of her rampage, the saint abandoned the world just as God had abandoned all. Having turned the entire world into an inferno, she saw no more place for herself.
…Until the supernatural vortex appeared above her.
[Entering the Rift.]
In that moment, the Blackened Saint found a new home.
It was a place of refuge, a sanctuary for the ostracized.
Wearied and indifferent to everything, Saint Selene finally encountered the ruler of the Rift.
“Are you the master of this domain?”
The ruler evoked no emotion, but Selene understood this to be an existence of a higher dimension, akin to the gods she had once served.
“Kill me if you will. I am a natural adversary. An insidious human being. My grotesque burns make me unsuitable for defilement.”
Selene had resigned herself.
Nowhere could a woman burned by flames be welcomed. No salvation awaited a demon who had slaughtered believers using divine powers.
But the ruler was different.
[The Rift ruler ‘Actor’ gifts a 4☆ Elixir to 5★ The Blackened Saint Selene.]
[The Rift ruler gifts a 5☆ Infernal Edge Sword to 5★ The Blackened Saint Selene.]
[The Rift ruler ‘Actor’ assigns 5★ The Blackened Saint Selene to the 「Frost Prison of Torment」 expedition.]
[Notification: The 「Frost Prison of Torment」 is an ideal match for the attributes of 5★ The Blackened Saint Selene.]
“This is…”
The ruler, though emotionless, provided Selene with a new home in a warm manner.
She was given healing potions to restore her burns.
A light yet sturdy greatsword was gifted to her scarred hands.
The ruler instructed her to set other worlds ablaze for the dominion.
And this was what Selene excelled at.
A new object of faith took root in her heart. Unlike the silent gods, this faith bore sweet rewards through cause and effect.
“To the ruler, I pledge eternal loyalty.”
The new home of the Blackened Saint Selene.
It was Paradise.
