"Woooo-!"
Piercing wails kept ringing out above the battlefield. This was not because the wounded warriors lacked resolve; after all, they had been swallowed by the exploding storms of energy before they could even cry out.
These wails, like the cries of evil spirits, were the howls of scattered lunar fragments falling into the atmosphere.
Like a meteor shower, like a great river pouring into the sea, they kept surging and gathering as though alive, venting their fury.
"What on earth... happened on the moon?"
A petite Flügel gazed into the distance, murmuring to herself.
"..."
No one answered.
As companions who had hunted and lived together for thousands of years, the Flügel all had fairly similar personalities. Normally, someone would certainly have answered her or echoed her question.
But now, no one could spare her any attention.
Something more important had already drawn their attention.
The celestial body that had accompanied the Flügel for so long, earning a place in the records of countless races, both vanished and still surviving, had become history.
The upper half of the moon subsided into an inward vortex, ending at the white light that pierced the celestial body. Pierced straight through, it could finally no longer maintain even its last, faltering resistance. Spreading cracks completely severed the connections between its plates, extending relentlessly until they broke away entirely.
Ring after ring of shattered debris, mingled with meteorites, spilled outward with waves of crimson flame.
Amid the swirling light, the moon collapsed like an avalanche. Scattered meteorites shot downward like arrows, intent on crushing and destroying everything. The meteor shower that had forced both sides to cease fighting and retreat had been the handiwork of this disaster shooting into the heavens.
Yet compared with that heaven-shaking power, the disaster that had swallowed a tenth