Chapter 51: Cataclysm and Resolve
Roxy's breath caught in her throat.
Zodac's body lay crumpled against the torn earth, unmoving, half-shrouded by drifting dust and embers. For a heartbeat—no, for an eternity—her mind refused to accept what her eyes were telling her. The world narrowed until there was nothing but that single, terrible image burned into her vision.
His stillness was wrong.
So wrong.
Her heart slammed violently against her chest, each beat sending a sharp, aching pain through her ribs, as if her body itself was screaming at her to move, to do something. But she couldn't. Her legs felt rooted to the ground, her fingers numb around the shaft of her staff.
The monster lumbered forward.
Each step it took crushed broken stone beneath its massive feet, the sound echoing like a death knell through the ruined clearing. Its body was scorched and cracked from the barrage of spells it had endured—patches of charred flesh smoked faintly, steam curling off its hide—but it still lived. Its glowing eyes were fixed not on her, but on Zodac.
That was what shattered her paralysis.
"No…" she whispered, her voice barely more than breath.
Tears welled up and spilled freely down her cheeks, hot and unstoppable. She didn't bother wiping them away at first. Her vision blurred, the world trembling as if it, too, were afraid. Her hands shook violently, but not from fear alone.
Something darker stirred beneath her panic.
Rage.
A deep, burning fury she had never allowed herself to feel before.
She had always been the support mage. The one who stood behind others. The healer. The backup. The one who trusted stronger people to stand between her and the worst of the world.
And now… the one person who had believed she could stand at the front—
—lay broken because of it.
Her tears slowed.
Her trembling steadied.
Roxy raised a shaking hand and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. Her expression hardened, lips pressing into a thin, furious line. The pain was still there, raw and unbearable, but she forced it down, buried it beneath something sharper.
Resolve.
"If this is how it ends…" she murmured, her voice low, cracking, "…then I'll end it with everything I have."
She planted her staff into the ground with a heavy thud.
The air changed instantly.
The wind, which had been restless all night, suddenly grew violent. It screamed through the clearing in savage gusts, tearing loose dirt and ash from the ground, whipping Roxy's hair into a wild storm around her face. Her cloak snapped violently behind her, straining as if it might tear free.
The monster slowed, sensing the shift.
Roxy lifted her staff high into the air, both hands gripping it tightly. Her knuckles were white. Her arms burned. Her lungs felt like they were on fire as she drew in breath after breath, pulling mana from deep within herself—and from whatever remnants of Zodac's boost still lingered within her veins.
The sky responded.
Clouds that hadn't existed moments before churned into being overhead, thick and roiling, blotting out the moon and stars. Darkness swallowed the clearing as if the night itself had deepened. Thunder rolled low and distant at first, like the growl of some ancient god awakening from slumber.
"Laws of the land…" Roxy began, her voice trembling but loud enough to carry through the storm.
Blue-black mana spiraled up her staff, crackling violently, laced with streaks of violet and white. The ground beneath her feet began to vibrate, small stones rattling and lifting slightly into the air.
"I summon darkness to reign," she continued, her voice gaining strength with each word. "Let those who have wronged be judged. Let my enemy be erased—"
The wind howled louder, drowning out even the monster's furious roar.
"—by the storm that shattered Olympus itself!"
Her eyes blazed as she screamed the final word.
"**CATACLYSM!!!**"
The sky split open.
A pillar of dark-blue lightning, wider than a tower, tore down from the heavens with a deafening crack that felt as though the world itself had fractured. The bolt struck the earth with apocalyptic force, exploding outward in a blinding flash of light and sound.
*BOOOOOOM—!*
The shockwave hit Roxy like a physical wall, lifting her off her feet and hurling her backward. She slammed hard into the ground, the breath ripped from her lungs in a painful gasp. The earth beneath her buckled and cracked, fissures spiderwebbing outward from the point of impact.
Trees disintegrated instantly—reduced to ash and splinters in the blink of an eye. The ground caved inward, forming a massive crater whose edges glowed white-hot, molten rock seeping through fractured stone. The air screamed, charged so heavily with mana and lightning that every hair on Roxy's body stood on end.
Lightning didn't strike once.
It rained.
Bolt after bolt cascaded down in rapid succession, hammering the clearing mercilessly. Each strike sent columns of fire and debris skyward, obliterating anything caught within its reach. The monster was swallowed entirely by the storm—its roar cut off mid-scream as the thunder drowned out all sound.
Roxy lay sprawled on the ground, barely conscious, her body shaking violently. Her staff slipped from her fingers and clattered uselessly beside her.
She had nothing left.
Her mana was gone—drained so completely that her limbs felt like lead, her vision darkening at the edges. Every breath burned. Her heart pounded erratically in her chest.
The storm finally began to fade.
The thunder rolled away into the distance, the lightning thinning until the sky fell eerily silent once more. Smoke and dust filled the air so thickly that the world became a gray blur.
Roxy forced herself to sit up, coughing harshly as ash coated her lungs.
She squinted through the haze.
At the center of the devastation lay the crater—vast, deep, and utterly destroyed. Nothing could have survived at its heart. No living thing.
A broken shape lay near the edge.
The monster.
It was motionless.
Charred black, its massive body cracked and broken, smoke rising from deep fissures in its hide. One horn was shattered, the other barely clinging to its skull. Its glowing eyes were dark.
Roxy let out a trembling breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
A weak smile curved her lips.
"…Nothing survives Cataclysm," she whispered hoarsely.
Her gaze lifted toward the sky, tears spilling freely once more—this time not from fear, but grief.
"Zodac…" she murmured. "It's over. I… I did it."
Her voice broke.
"I avenged you."
She bowed her head, shoulders shaking as exhaustion finally overwhelmed her.
Then—
Movement.
Her heart froze.
Roxy's head snapped up so fast it sent a spike of pain through her neck.
The monster twitched.
A cracked, burned arm dragged against the ground. Its massive chest heaved. Slowly—agonizingly—it began to push itself upright.
Roxy's blood ran cold.
"No…" she whispered, horror creeping into her voice. "No, no—this isn't possible…"
Her eyes widened as realization struck her like a blade.
The crater.
The epicenter.
The monster wasn't at it.
Her spell—her ultimate spell—had missed by just enough.
"I missed…" she breathed.
Panic surged back with crushing force.
She grabbed her staff, forcing herself to raise it despite the screaming protest of her muscles.
"High—" she tried to chant.
Too late.
The monster roared weakly and tore a chunk of rock from the ground, hurling it with the last of its strength. The projectile struck Roxy's head with a sickening crack, sending her sprawling backward.
Pain exploded behind her eyes.
She collapsed onto her back, blood running warm down her temple. Her staff slipped from her grasp.
The world spun.
Her strength was gone.
Her mana was empty.
Her hope… shattered.
Roxy closed her eyes.
"I'm done," she whispered softly.
Above her, the monster leapt.
Its massive shadow blotted out the faint moonlight as it descended, fist raised, ready to end it.
Then—
Footsteps.
Fast. Heavy. Desperate.
Roxy's eyes fluttered open just as a figure slammed into view, standing between her and death.
Zodac.
Bloodied. Bruised. Barely standing.
But alive.
Before she could even speak—
"**Air Strike Shield.**"
A massive wooden shield materialized in the air above them, reinforced with thick, glowing vines that pulsed with emerald light. The monster's fist crashed into it with earth-shaking force.
*BOOOOM!*
The impact unleashed a shockwave that hurled the monster backward, slamming it violently into the ground.
Roxy stared up at Zodac, tears streaming freely once more.
"Zodac…" she breathed, voice shaking with disbelief.
He swayed, clearly struggling to remain conscious.
"I thought you were...." Zodac cuts in,
"I don't have time to be dead," he muttered grimly.
The monster began to rise again.
Zodac stepped forward, Kogestu materializing in his hand, his stance steady despite the blood dripping from his chin.
"Rest now," he said softly to Roxy.
Then his gaze locked onto the beast.
"Time to end this."