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“Why have you summoned me here?”
Ray struck a pose, directing his insolence toward the existence beyond the shifting colors.
And in the next moment, he immediately regretted his actions.
What lay beyond was the transcendent essence of beings that could not be faced in reality.
Humans were incapable of normal communication with them.
The very concept of communication was entirely different from that of humans.
And these beings certainly weren’t the type to kindly adjust their interactions to human levels.
“Ah, wait, just a moment.”
Ray desperately waved his hand in an attempt to stall for time.
However, the existence beyond the colors paid no heed to Ray’s plea.
The color spreading across the space, now darkened, continued to expand and approached Ray.
Ray muttered curses under his breath as he watched his ankles being overtaken by the encroaching hues.
“…!”
His vision began to melt into chaos.
Simultaneously, every sensation he could perceive became distorted, swirling like heat waves.
Ray focused inward to steady his wavering mind, striving not to be swept away by the confusion.
Right now, Ray was no different from a sailor clinging to a small boat caught in a storm.
There was no time to think clearly; he simply had to endure until the storm subsided.
And after enduring, Ray swayed on his feet.
“Phew…”
The fact that he felt himself swaying meant his senses were stabilizing slightly.
Though it was difficult to regain his composure due to the lingering dizziness, Ray forced his eyes open.
The world spun around him, so he dry-heaved once to steady himself.
“Ugh…”
A glove, nearly torn apart, scraped against his face as he moved.
When Ray tried to move both arms, only one palm touched his face. Glancing down at his shoulder, he realized his left arm was missing again.
“One-armed?”
Judging by the throbbing sensation, it hadn’t been gone for too long.
Overcoming the pain, he lifted his head. The dizzying sensation persisted, but at least his eyes could focus properly.
“What is this…?”
The landscape before him was completely unfamiliar.
While he couldn’t tell where exactly he was, there was one fact he quickly grasped.
This place was a battlefield—likely the site of prolonged and intense combat.
“…”
Ray tilted his head upward.
The sky was red. Despite the sun overhead indicating it wasn’t sunset, the heavens and clouds were painted crimson.
The air was strangely unpleasant and hot.
It wasn’t quite comparable to the Demonic Realm, but this land was far from a blessed haven for humanity.
As Ray rummaged through his belongings, he found and pulled out a single potion.
“Aah, seriously…”
Even as his consciousness threatened to scatter, the pain was vividly clear.
Ray knew the sensations he was experiencing were false, yet it still felt awful.
With growing irritation, he gulped down the warm potion, which somewhat alleviated the pain.
“Where am I…”
Ray surveyed the countless corpses sprawled across the ground.
Each body showed varying degrees of decay, evidence of relentless battles.
Corpses that had decayed significantly were mostly charred, having lost their form and turned half to ash.
It seemed the battlefield was scorched periodically, likely to prevent epidemics or perhaps as a precaution against some malevolent schemes.
“Who fought whom here?”
As Ray gradually adjusted to the disorienting sensation, he examined several bodies.
Among the deceased’s attire, many unfamiliar emblems were engraved, though he frequently spotted ones related to the Empire.
He also came across bodies exuding the unsettling aura characteristic of Devil Worshippers.
After scanning the surroundings further, Ray noticed a man clad in armor bearing the Empire’s emblem wandering nearby.
The man discarded his broken sword and scavenged usable weapons from the surrounding corpses.
Approaching the man while dragging his heavy body, Ray asked,
“Hey, where are we?”
“…What?”
“Where is this place?”
“Where is this, where?”
“Exactly.”
“Are you stupid? Did losing your arm turn your brain stupid too?”
“My head feels a bit fuzzy, so it might not be in perfect condition.”
“Oy… Seeing how you barely react to insults, something’s definitely wrong. Pull yourself together. You said you wanted to die gloriously, didn’t you?”
“Ah… right?”
Ray scratched his head with his remaining arm and looked around again.
“This doesn’t seem to be the Demonic Realm.”
Even the depths of the Forbidden Forest he experienced in Alimo were much worse than this place.
At best, this area resembled the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.
However, one peculiar point stood out: the nearby air currents kept twisting, alternating between intensifying and weakening erosion.
It was as if an invisible colossal entity was endlessly engaged in a power struggle.
Meanwhile, the man frowned as he observed Ray muttering nonsensically.
“You’ve lost your marbles.”
“Ah… well, I’ll be fine soon.”
“If we lose here, it’s bad news. If the erosion spreads and contaminates the grain fields behind us… one out of every three people among those who remain will starve to death.”
“So that’s why this has become such a battleground.”
“Right. Just hold out until the next battle, and then die gloriously as you wished.”
“Is the frontline completely stagnant? Are we unable to advance and can only endure?”
“What do we gain by advancing? The environment just gets closer to the Demonic Realm, increasing our losses exponentially.”
“I see. There must not be a proper way to purify the already eroded land, huh?”
“We have to hold out until the higher-ups find a solution. But we’ll probably die before then.”
The man lightly patted Ray on the shoulder.
“They’re probably regrouping, so go meet the commander. Stop spouting nonsense and get your act together.”
“Ah… right. Thanks. By the way, where’s the commander?”
“He should be over there. Treat him nicely as usual.”
Ray walked in the direction the man pointed.
The sky remained red, and the stench of decay covered the area like fog, making breathing uncomfortable.
Despite accumulating considerable experience, Ray had never encountered a battlefield littered with so many corpses.
Walking through such a place was far from a pleasant experience.
However, knowing that all of this was an illusion, Ray’s heart wasn’t weighed down as heavily.
After walking across the hardened bloodstains that crunched underfoot like dirt, Ray eventually reached the edge of the battlefield and discovered someone standing alone.
It was a knight armed with a powerful artefact radiating immense energy.
As Ray deliberately made loud noises while approaching, the figure turned around.
Casually observing the person, Ray suddenly froze in his tracks.
The individual was a mature woman, exuding a chilling coldness like an ice blade.
Though her youthful features were nowhere to be seen, Ray couldn’t fail to recognize her.
Suppressing his confusion, Ray finally managed to speak.
“Johanna?”
“Don’t call me that…”
The woman moved her cracked lips roughly before shaking her head.
Turning her back again, she silently gazed at the desolate scenery of the fading battlefield.
The immature emotional currents Johanna used to display were nowhere to be found in this woman.
Hesitating about how to address the woman, Ray decided to quietly stay put.
As time passed ambiguously, Ray reaffirmed that this was an illusion and ultimately spoke first.
“Johanna… shouldn’t we go back…?”
“If we return, what will we do tomorrow?”
“Well, even so…”
“If we return, we’ll end up coming back here tomorrow.”
The woman glanced around and took a step toward Ray.
“The same desolate landscape day after day. Repeating the same scenes over and over again.”
“…”
“Day by day, swinging the sword, people dying, swinging the sword, people dying.”
“…”
“Even if you die, the next day you’ll swing the sword again, and when someone else dies, the next day you’ll swing the sword again.”
“…”
“No matter where you run from the battlefield, the red skies and barren lands will always await me.”
The woman pinched her cheek with a cold laugh.
“Really… really… Ray… you’ve cursed us horribly.”
“Johanna, what do you mean…!”
“Yesterday, today, tomorrow, suppressing meaningless sorrow and waking up. Raising the sword under the same scenery. Now, the thrill I once felt is foreign to me.”
The wounds carved into the heart may heal, leaving scars that occasionally stir painful emotions, but they are still capable of healing.
However, this bleak and endless battlefield…
It rotted the deep scars on the woman’s heart, hardening them permanently.
“You’re foolish.”
The woman turned and walked away.
Ray stood there blankly for a moment before belatedly following her.
Despite the red sky, the woman’s complexion remained cold, radiating a sense of frost.
“Life is nothing but pain for me. I didn’t want to live like this. It would have been better to freeze to death alone without holding your hand that day.”
A meaningless life.
Advancing into the realm of transcendence, sharpened by innate talent regardless of personal will, brought no joy.
Swinging the sword was merely a release of emotion, and the red sky and sticky blood constantly reminded her of the terrible reality.
Still, the woman couldn’t bring herself to end her own life.
It wasn’t because she feared death or anything like that.
Simply… because she couldn’t turn her back on the last wish Ray left behind, she stayed in the position Ray desired, acting out his wishes and reminiscing about the past.
This isn’t living.
She couldn’t remember whether she’d thought this way since the past or if the madness of surviving on the battlefield led her to believe so.
All she knew was…
“Ray, I resent you.”
I once believed he saved me.
I once believed he pulled me out of hell and gifted me happiness.
I relied on him infinitely and loved him deeply.
Growing up in an unconventional environment twisted my feelings of love for him, leading me astray, but…
Whether it was love for a parent, romantic love, admiration, or something else entirely…
There was no doubt that the woman loved him more than anyone else in the world.
But not anymore.
“Ray didn’t save me.”
Recalling the beautiful memories that had grown so faint, the woman twisted her lips grotesquely.
“Ray stole my peace and plunged me into hell.”
