A Coincidence

"The Giant Race clashed with demons, and the God of Honor was gravely wounded by the Archduke of Blood, who served the Demon Monarch..."

"The Alien City-State under the Ancestor of Phoenix in the Underworld came under attack by a large number of demons..."

"Elven soldiers were ambushed by the demon race..."

All of these events came from Truman's pen.

Several years had passed since he first wrote the opening of the story, and everything had begun to take shape.

As he went along, he became increasingly adept at combining his "Causality" ability with the Quill of Alzuhod. Arranging all kinds of coincidences in the course of fate had become effortless.

Most importantly, everything was entirely reasonable.

"Next, it's time for humanity to enter the scene." Truman began writing a story about demons and human city-states.

"Who should I pick?" Naturally, he would treat humanity differently. In the story, when human city-states came under attack, an Angel would step forward to protect them.

"Who should I choose?" Several of his colleagues appeared before Truman's eyes.

"Medici, Leodero, Oseacus... Oh, and there's also the inconspicuous Ouroboros!"

He got along fairly well with these colleagues, but that wouldn't stop him from setting them up when the occasion called for it.

"You're the one, Old Pigeon!" Truman suddenly remembered that most of the city-states protected by Leodero lay near the sea. That made it easy to work him into the story.

"The Archduke of Blood is pursued by the God of Dawn..."

A new story had begun.

Far away from the divine kingdom, Leodero was protecting the faithful in a city-state when he suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

"What's going on?" Thunderbolts suddenly flashed around Leodero, and a Lightning Storm engulfed him as he purified himself. "A curse?"

"No curse... Nothing seems wrong." Leodero frowned. These nearly supernatural premonitions made no sense at all.

"Forget it!" Leodero descended above a city-state, lightning crackling all around him.

The Sacrificial Square in the city was packed with people taking part in the ritual. They all knelt, not daring to look up beneath the overwhelming might of the thunder.

They had been waiting for a long time...

But the Wind Angel would never be late!

It was just that the faithful here were so devout that they had begun the ritual early, welcoming the Wind Angel's descent.

"Continue!" The Wind Angel's cold voice boomed across the sky like thunder. The faithful below shuddered and hurriedly got back to the worship of the Creator.

But the rituals in cities protected by the Wind Angel had their quirks. For instance, the Wind Angel received more introductions and praises during the ritual than all the other Angels combined, nearly placing him on a par with the Ancient Sun God...

This wasn't blasphemy or an insult; the faithful simply adored the Wind Angel too much.

"Excellent!" After listening to the prayer in his honor, Leodero nodded with satisfaction, then took off and flew away from the city.

At last, the faithful below breathed a sigh of relief and began the regular ritual.

The Wind Angel arrived at the seaside and gazed out over the vast ocean, filled with longing.

Beyonders of the Storm Pathway were meant to roam the seas and sing above the towering waves.

He longed to charge into the ocean and roam at will, but the seas now belonged to the Elves. If an Angel under the Creator's command barged in, it would amount to a provocation.

"Charge! Charge!" The Wind Angel's pent-up frustration spilled out.

Boom!

A natural disaster descended!

The entire sea within sight surged under the pull of some strange force. Towering waves rose, as though a tsunami were rushing toward the shore!

That was the terrifying scene conjured when a Sequence Two Angel used the song of a "Storm" Pathway Sequence 5 "Ocean Songster."

And... because the Wind Angel's voice was exceptionally penetrating, it made the song's power even more terrifying. It could rob people of their reason and send them into a frenzy.

"Roar! Damn it! Who's singing so terribly!?" A wave of blood suddenly surged up from the sea, swallowing half of it.

A grotesque demon burst out of the Sea of Blood with a roar and looked toward the Wind Angel, Leodero.

The demon's entire body was hidden in a blood mist, with only two enormous demonic horns and a pair of bat wings on its back exposed.

Countless bizarre runes intertwined across its body. Even a Demi-god could go mad and Corrupt, transforming into a Monster, from a single glance at a demon like this.

This was the demon who had wounded the God of Honor. Badheil had pursued it here, and it had been hiding while stabilizing its condition. But that roar had disrupted the process.

It was terribly unlucky—or perhaps a stroke of clever design...

Frenzied Spirituality leaked from the demon's blood-red eyes. The "song" had hurt it.

Leodero and the Sequence Two demon locked eyes, and time seemed to stop.

There were far too many coincidences here, and both Angels involved felt dazed by them. Yet upon closer thought, everything was almost too reasonable.

The Abyss lay beyond the three continents, and its inhabitants generally had to cross the ocean to come ashore. Naturally, the pursued Archduke of Blood would also choose a place with an escape route to stabilize his condition.

And Leodero's shout had come entirely from the heart.

Neither event would have caused any problems on its own, but now they had collided, producing a strange effect.

"Die!" The demon suddenly barked. The "Blatherer" curse took effect, descending with its voice.

"Charge!" Leodero used his "song" ability again. His powerful, penetrating voice carried the ability to disrupt the mind and suppress spirits.

The two voices collided, making the ocean churn violently and explode as their forces cancelled each other out.

Leodero controlled the endless seawater, turning it into a tsunami that crashed toward the demon.

But the demon merely raised a hand. The Sea of Blood beneath it surged and rolled, crashing head-on into the disaster-like tsunami!

In that moment, the ocean between them became two gigantic, writhing dragons locked in a savage struggle, shaking the earth itself.

Leodero raised a hand and hurled down a Lightning Storm and a tornado. The blazing lightning traveled through the seawater, amplifying the force of the natural disaster countless times and instantly overwhelming the Sea of Blood.

"Filth!" the demon said in a chilly voice. Foul, stinking blood appeared out of thin air and splashed over Leodero.

The filthy blood seemed alive, constantly burrowing into Leodero's body.

Leodero snorted. Thunder roared, vaporizing every drop of the filthy blood.

A scarlet flame ignited in the demon's eyes. Leodero was affected with almost no ability to resist, and the demon's voice suddenly rang in his mind.

"Corruption!"

Leodero's body stiffened and fell still, as though a Devil had entered him and was fighting to take control of his body!

His mental state began to slip toward Corruption and fury, and he lost control of his own abilities.

"Get out!" Leodero glared furiously. Blazing white lightning burst from his hair, and he seemed to transform into lightning, killing the Devil inside his body.

"Natural Disaster"!

He was a Sequence Two of the Storm Pathway. He was the natural disaster itself.