The day of the apocalypse had arrived.
The morning was unnaturally quiet. Thanks to the habits I’d picked up working as a wake-up caller, I woke at my usual early hour. But something about the dawn felt wrong. The atmosphere was stiff and tense and not a single beast or bird made a sound. It was as if some strange force had spread across the entire world, pressing down upon every living thing.
I quickly pulled on my boots and changed clothes before stepping out from the temple tower. After washing my face at the well, I checked each piece of equipment in order—short sword, armor, gauntlets, pouch, knee guards. Finally, I pulled the gold coin from my pocket.
Even within the dim morning light, the coin gleamed softly, and for a fleeting moment, it felt as though the engraved goddess was smiling at me. From the war horn hanging at my pouch, Heimdall’s voice called out.
『The morning of destiny has come.』
A cool breeze swept across the temple grounds. I lowered my chin and clenched the gold coin tightly in my hand.
“—Yeah!”
After finishing a light meal and warming up, I crossed the courtyard now crowded with even more tents and ran up toward the city wall. Slowly, the morning sun rose over the horizon. The armor of adventurers and knights lined across the gentle hills glittered brilliantly beneath the sunlight.
I narrowed my eyes.
“…So many people came.”
Those words slipped from my lips before I realized it.
Tens of thousands gathered around the royal capital. Thousands more standing here to defend our temple. An unimaginable number of people and gods had united to clash against the monster horde.
Goosebumps rose along the back of my neck. Because this scene looked exactly like the legends of the Age of Myth. Soon, a thousand years of history would finally receive its answer.
Had sealing the enemy away merely delayed defeat… or had it truly bought humanity a future?
The temple grounds had become bustling before I even noticed. Adventurers led by Mia-san and Felix-san moved swiftly into position, while dwarves like Safi hurried to their assigned places along the walls and moat. Lu had probably already evacuated beneath the great tower housing the Frost Orb. Mother, drawing upon her experience working at the clinic, would remain inside the cathedral serving as a field hospital. The earth itself seemed filled with fighting spirit.
Surely tens of thousands of eyes throughout the royal capital were fixed upon the rising sun, watching carefully for the slightest sign of change.
I focused my senses and waited for the moment to come.
The gold coin trembled faintly inside my pocket.
Then the goddess’s voice whispered softly.
『It’s coming .』
Because we had prepared ourselves for this, I answered without hesitation.
“Yeah.”
The sun had risen completely. A small part of its edge was missing. The dark, missing area expanded, as if being gnawed away by a giant mouth.
A murmur arose on the hillside.
The participants in the battle had been informed of the eclipse and its purpose: to weaken the gods. Yet, the unrest was so profound, surely because the sight of the sun being obscured seemed to foreshadow the end.
Heimdall called out.
『Rion. 』
The gods within the coin spoke one after another, their voices encouraging me.
『This time, I’ll fight until the very end』
Thor declared.
『Me too… until the end.』
Sigris seconded.
『Naturally, I shall too. This time, we will protect life.』
Uru added.
Loki spoke last.
『Fufufu… our preparations are flawless as well. A solar eclipse is, at its core, a perfectly natural phenomenon caused by the moon’s influence. There is no need to fear it… yet.』
Just as Loki had said. The sun dimmed, and the entire world was dyed in a burning crimson twilight. Soon, a dark shadow completely swallowed the sun. The last remaining rays shone with sudden brilliance, like the final flicker of a candle before it died.
And then—
The sun vanished from the sky. The world became wrapped in the color of dawn before sunrise. Silence blanketed the hills. Even the sound of someone coughing from hundreds of meters away echoed strangely loud through the stillness.
I glared upward.
In the place where the sun had once been, a pale ring of light remained suspended in the heavens. Like a hole torn open in the world itself.
—Creeeak.
Cracks spread across both sides of the glowing ring. The fractures widened rapidly, splitting farther and farther apart until it looked as though a colossal tear would rip straight from the zenith of the sky to the horizon itself.
My breathing grew ragged.
One after another, monsters descended upon the hills. The howls of wolves. The roaring of the writhing World Serpent. And the cries of countless monsters merged together, filling the air with sounds that resembled both jubilation and rage.
Everyone at ready below—on the walls, across the battlefield—must have been hearing the same thing. That was exactly why I had to blow it.
『—Let’s start. 』
At Heimdall’s voice, I took out the Gjallarhorn, the alarm horn.
| Skill『Alarm』 was used. 【Master of the Horn】 ⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Fully unlocks the power of the horn. |
I blew the Gjallarhorn, the alarm horn. The sound spread throughout the world.
| Skill『Alarm』was used. Executing 【Unseal】. |
A curtain of light danced in the dark sky. It was an aurora woven by the magic of the gods. The horn, resounding throughout the world, awakens the gods sleeping in each labyrinth. And I will borrow their power—their magic—to face this current crisis.
Countless points of light appeared above the horizon.
“…!”
The gods burst forth from the gold coin and the war horn.
Heimdall. Thor. Loki. Uru. Sigris. And Solana.
Beneath the shimmering aurora overhead, countless rainbows stretched across the distant sky. Every seven-colored bridge converged above me. Streams of multicolored magic poured into Solana. The gods who had awakened far away were lending their power to this battlefield.
“Let’s go.”
As the goddess swept her arm through the air, light spilled once more from the fading sun. It was as if the sun itself had regained a fragment of its strength. The darkened heavens brightened slightly, shifting into the deep colors of twilight.
The sky burned.
The earth burned.
And beneath that blazing world, we stood face-to-face with the invading monsters.
“Go!”
I raised the war horn high.
“We’ll drive back the monsters—drive back the apocalypse itself!”
Then I blew into the horn with every ounce of strength remaining in me.
Not only for the gods—
But to rally everyone fighting here.
We will win!
As though answering the cry of the horn, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the Royal Capital.
A colossal serpent advanced. A gigantic wolf charged across the hills. And behind the endless monster army, I could clearly see the figure of the primordial titan—Ymir.
Then the armies of humanity and the gods collided head-on with the monstrous tidal wave.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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