World Calamity

[Worveus City, Base outside of Uros Dungeon, Year 233 Age of Calamity]

It's finally time.

The Calamity had plagued the land from this cursed dungeon's depths since its first appearance. Monsters of unknown origins had been unleashed upon the world, wreaking havoc, and spreading despair and agony in their path. Countless civilizations fell under their relentless onslaught, crumbling into dust and fading into history. Yet, against all odds, the Empire of Vrid endured, standing as a lone bastion of hope in this bleak era.

My family, the Orus, survived through it all, and now it was my turn to wield their legacy and end the suffering that humanity had endured for far too long. I, Yiv Orus, swear on this very day, I will extinguish the Calamity.

The fear was palpable in the air, both seasoned warriors and fresh recruits were noticeably on edge. However, united under the Empire of Vrid, they had gathered here, drawn by the gravity of this last chance for humanity to end this. Among them stood my childhood friend Liv Maji, a young girl of the Maji family, renowned for their mastery of magical archery, but even for them her skills were unheard of, at the age of ten, she had already honed her skills to a level that surpassed even the most seasoned magic archers, making her the best magic archer in their history. Even without those impressive skills, her golden hair and her piercing green eyes made her a center of attention and curiosity in the army since both features are rare to find, but within her, you could see reflected in those very eyes an unwavering determination for the cause. 

Beside me stood my younger brother, Joshua Orus, a prodigy as well. His quiet confidence and demeanor, together with his deep blue eyes made a chilly aura with him, even tho he is the kindest person I know. He possessed an unmatched proficiency with the dual sword arts, different from my all-around style of one sword arts. 

Joshua beside me makes me filled with a sense of reassurance and fear, knowing that I can lose him.

"Young master ", a messenger wavering a paper comes running from the right side of the army with a panicked look on his face yelling this same phrase.

"Stop him" 

With my command warriors close to the messenger signal him to stop and calm down. I approach him, now seeing better his face I recognize him from the Levius Division, a scouting group entrusted with the task of guarding the Gate Seal.

"Give it to me" I demanded, pointing to the paper clutched tightly in his trembling hands. 

As I unfolded the paper, my eyes scanned the brief yet pivotal message it held:

[The Seal Is Opened]

The moment we had been preparing for had finally arrived. We could proceed with our mission to confront the Calamity head-on.

"Warriors, ready yourselves! " 

I called out, my voice carrying across the army. The soldiers straightened their postures, gripping their weapons. The weight of the impending battle settled upon their shoulders.

"Our division, the Chevaliers, will be the vanguard"

"It was decided by the King "

The look on their face was telling, I could feel their resolution waver.

"Do not falter ", I reassured them, "We prepared for this all this time, didn't we "

"Defend your pride as warriors, and show the world that humanity shall prevail against this darkness we call Calamity "

"Today, we shall prevail! "

With a surge of passion, I raised my sword high above my head.

"Glory to Vrid! " I shouted, my voice echoing across the army.

"HURRAH! ", The resounding roar of the warriors reverberated through the air, a unified declaration of their unwavering resolve. Their spirits were ignited all again.

Slowly the battalion started marching in syntony towards the gate, the path was a narrow rocky valley, before filled with monsters, now it was empty, days before we arrived they seemed to change to a defensive position, preparing for this battle as we did.

"What a leader you are, hehe ", Liv remarked with a mischievous look in her eyes. 

"You did well "

"....",  A warm blush crept up my cheeks. I quickened my pace, hoping to hide the embarrassment. Liv always had a way of teasing me, even in the most intense situations.

"Brother, you were amazing. I felt all sense of fear leave me  ", Joshua chimed in with his eyes shining with admiration.

"You've got a fan, heheh ", Liv never one to miss an opportunity interjected once more smugly as always.

I quickened my pace even further, with a blend of embarrassment and amusement filling my thoughts. She really knows me well.

She then turned serious, with her voice trembling a little. "You two need to stay safe " her voice tinged with worry. "Swear to me."

"We will, sis ", Joshua reassured her, patting her back.

"Of course ", I replied.

A soft smile graced Liv's face, "Well, you've got me as a backup, so you're as protected as you can be, hehehe ", she smugly said, attempting to lighten the mood once more.

As we finally arrived at the gate of the Calamity, the sun was coming down. Battalion after battalion, the army gathered, and together we entered the Uros Dungeon. Inside, a labyrinth of interconnected caves sprawled before us. Remnants of our past battles lingered, evidence of the pain we had been through, the cave itself was void of any life different from usual.

Having meticulously mapped the initial maze with trial and error, we followed the path that led us toward the next section of this dungeon, "The Noble Grounds", a space where Higher Monsters lived and dominated, this part of the dungeon was filled with various nests of various forms and sizes, and compared to the beginning section was much more spacious in size and filled with fissures and deep ravines. As we ventured further, it became apparent that even the Noble Grounds had been left deserted, they seemed to be gathering as an army, similar to what we did, preparing for this battle.

After traversing this hazardous area, we reached the final section known as "The Layer", the very heart of the Uros Dungeon, where lived the Calamity. For precaution, I ordered our scouts to venture forth and assess the situation before we advanced further. 

When the scouts finally returned, their expressions were grim. A massive army of a hundred thousand monsters stood In The Layer entrance, ready to defend the Calamity. Most of them were low-ranking creatures, and among them was the Calamity itself.

The plan for the battle was simple, I would command the vanguard and as the strongest warrior, I would have to face the Calamity head-on and keep it occupied while the rest of the army would defeat his army, and when the Calamity army would fell the army would give me support. 

I admit I'm scared but the situation asks for all of me, and for all of the people of Vrid. I will step in.

When night came, we launched our assault on The Layer catching the monsters by surprise, helping our vanguard vanquish most of their front line in minutes with minimal casualties, the mages and archers were aiding us immensely, making that feat happen. We kept up the pace until we arrived at the center of their army, where Higher monsters were positioned.

As time passed, the size of the enemy army diminished before our very eyes, but my sword kept slashing my path through, I trust that every soldier will prevail. After what felt like an eternity of battling through, I finally arrived at the Throne room.

As I look backward I couldn't see anyone, I was seemingly the sole survivor to have reached here, my brother as well, was nowhere to be seen. I refused to let doubt cloud my thoughts, I believe in him, and Liv will do everything in her power to keep him safe.

As I stood before the Calamity, with a calm voice. " Prepare yourself ", I uttered.

In response, the Calamity smiled. His form was monstrous, towering above me with giant proportions, sharing a vague semblance of a human figure but deviating in horrifying ways. Its skin, was non-existent, revealing a grotesque display of bare muscles and pulsating veins throughout his body, his eyes were all black devoiding of all light, and his mouth was wide and filled with jagged teeth reminiscent of savage beasts, stretched across its face. As he opens his mouth he utters.

" F̷͔̻͐̓̎͠ͅì̷̡̛͖̺̰͙n̴͕͈̂͒̿ả̶̱͕̮͈̱̎̕l̵̫̯͉̗̠̆͠l̷̥̘̺̼̣̿̐̿̽ỹ̷͕̲͑̾͛ ̷̮̒y̷̥̮͙̎o̷̬͈̔̍̑̆̅ų̶̨̮̒ ̸̯̿́͛Ā̵͖̭͉̬̰̌̒̄r̶̙̄̂̆͐r̵͈̗̭͛̍͒ͅi̵̡͕̝̗̗̔͐̄v̴̳̀͆̋̀͠ḛ̶̆̑̏̄̏d̵̡̫̮̓̃̓͘ "

Though I couldn't comprehend the words that escaped the Calamity's mouth, their meaning would change nothing about this.

As I prepared my footing and grasped my sword tightly, I dashed toward him, and every slash I made at him was nullified by his hard muscles, returning with punches that were not as fast as mine but the power of each one would evaporate everything in their path, I couldn't rest even for a second since if I stopped the close offense and jumped backward, he would cast bellow me Dark Magic that would curse your body to rot instantly, and even in close range he would cast it on his skin so that my sword would eventually fracture, but I came prepared. As a knight, I studied the ways of swords, so even if I can't cast high-range magic, I'm very sufficient at strengthening magic and defensive magic, and as a preparation before the battle I casted the best strengthening and defensive magic that I know of, to counter most of his magic.

We continued on this loop of me keeping slashing hoping it would finally cut through, and the calamity returning, casting all sorts of dark magic and throwing his punches around, and every time the strengthening and defensive magic on me would be over, I would cast it again. This continued for what felt like days upon days until the worst happened.

My sword shattered.

With that, I had to fight with my bare fists,  which was nearly impossible against an adversary like the Calamity. In those moments I felt that all was over, the absence of any reinforcements after all this time made me doubt what was I even fighting for. Were Liv and Joshua safe? Or had the worst come to pass? These thoughts ate my sanity in these final moments, and it seemed like the calamity noticed because his fists, casting, and movement were at a velocity that I can't keep up much longer.

As I struggled to evade this relentless onslaught, one of the Calamity's punches finally landed on me, propelling me through the air into one of the walls of the room, breaking my left arm, and fell to the ground. Lying there, I felt a sense of helplessness envelop me, and before me was the monster that destroyed everything for me and our people, laughing. 

I, filled with pain and agony, let those emotions win and my eyes were closing slowly until I heard a loud scream.

"A̵̛̭͒̎̿̿H̷̦̄́̊͘H̵̞̄͊̽̕͠H̵̛͚̤͒̃̈́̏Ḧ̴̖̭̱̥̯́̚"

As I opened my eyes, I saw the calamity screaming with pain, in his left shoulder was pierced a magic arrow, casted with a petrifying spell slowly making his left arm into rock. He desperately attempts to remove the arrow, and as I look around, a figure was standing at the entrance.

Seizing this chance given to me, I sprinted towards the Calamity, pouring every ounce of mana into casting my most potent strengthening magic, 𒆜Light Bringer𒆜, my personal spell bestowed upon me by the Light Goddess, Camila. With it, all the evil I touch is purified, and the bigger the spirit and trust I have, the better the spell becomes.

As I get closer the Calamity notices me, and using the arrow that was pierced, throws it at me. Instinctively I dashed with all my might and just barely escaped from it, but with him closing the distance between us, he starts again his rampage of punches and various Dark Magic. Undeterred, I kept dodging and with my bare hands tried to do some damage to him with my punches.

The archer that helped me, was getting closer as well, and as I look back, I noticed the archer was Liv, she seemed as tired and exhausted as me with her clothes tattered and with various injuries throughout her body, even so, I was happy to see her alive.

As Liv and I locked eyes, she makes a hand signal to do a coordinated attack, a final killing move. I would draw the attention of the Calamity, diverting his focus towards me, while she utilized space magic to teleport behind him, then she would cast her best attack magic called "1000 Wind Shards", where she would cast space magic to her arrow to multiply it thousands of times within itself, and using wind magic she would send them to the target all at once, obliterating it into many pieces

After the signal, I went closer using the space magic "Flash", which teleports me right in front of the Calamity and Liv does the same but behind him, and to our benefit the Calamity doesn't notice her, it seems like he is getting exhausted as well.

I pick up the pace attacking him with my bare fists, using my all to get his attention and evading his dark magic and fists, while Liv is finishing casting "1000 Wind Shards", however in a split second, the Calamity turns to face Liv, he finally noticed her, as he realizes what's happening he unleashes a devastating punch aimed directly at her.

"LIV! ", I shout desperately to try to warn her of what is coming.

Calmly, Liv stays concentrated casting the spell, with the fist getting closer rapidly, at the right moment she casts the spell. 

𒆜1000 Wind Shards! 𒆜

A torrent of a thousand shimmering arrows erupted from her bow, obliterating the Calamity's right arm. For the first time, the Calamity experienced the crippling fear of death. The invincible aura that had surrounded him shattered like the fragments of his broken arm.

This was my chance to end this. Using all of my mana mixed with all of my force left and desperation, I create a sword using space magic, and with that sword, I did what I am supposed to do, slash everything I can in my path.

Still in shock, the Calamity could feel his demise, and in an act of cowardice he started running in fear, after all these years he finally tasted death, and using "Flash" I got closer to him and slashed everything that I could slice of him, mindlessly slashing everything. I slashed and slashed and slashed and slashed until nothing was there to slash.

The Calamity had died.

As my magic sword disappears from me I felt my life force disappearing as well. As I fell down, Liv catches me, and with tears running through her eyes, I could see my end was getting closer.

As I feel my consciousness fading, I hear a female gentle voice that I didn't recognize.

◤𝕾𝖚𝖗𝖛𝖎𝖛𝖔𝖗𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝕯𝖔𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖉  𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 ◥

◤ 𝕴𝖒𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝕱𝖊𝖆𝖙 ◥

◤ 𝕷𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖆 𝖜𝖊𝖑𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝕰𝖗𝖆 ◥

◤ 𝕸𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖈𝖆𝖓, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖛𝖆𝖎𝖑 ◥

◤ 𝕿𝖍𝖊 8𝖙𝖍 𝕰𝖗𝖆 𝖎𝖘 𝖞𝖎𝖊𝖑𝖉 ◥

As my eyes opened, I found myself surrounded by a group of people whose attire and appearance seemed foreign to me, dressed in clothes that I never saw. The air felt dry against my skin and the sun was shunning bright high in the sky, but besides him was nothing, there was no moon in the sky. 

Where am I?