Chapter 210 - Calamity
King Dragon Kingdom Records
Year 436 of the Armored Dragon Calendar
The king of the King Dragon Kingdom, Stavio von King Dragon, made an utterly foolish decision.
This foolish king ignored the token of Rudeus Greyrat and moved against the Kika Kingdom.
No, not moved against. He declared war outright.
Our foolish king Stavio von King Dragon proclaimed thus:
"Our nation is by no means one that can be swayed by a few words from a single mage!"
The populace's spirits soared. So did the soldiers'.
And so, the King Dragon Kingdom launched its war against the Kika Kingdom.
The Kika Kingdom was a poor country. Poor, but not weak. Its terrain and centuries of accumulated warfare had given it teeth.
It didn't matter. How could a nation like that compare to the King Dragon Kingdom's full weight?
Two months in, the Kika Kingdom began to buckle.
Four months in, it fell.
King Stavio von King Dragon announced his victory to the entire world:
"Rudeus Greyrat is nothing but a man with an empty reputation!"
The King Dragon Kingdom erupted.
Children, the elderly, women, men. Commoners, nobles, soldiers, paupers. Every single one of them celebrated.
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The revelry did not last long.
One week after the war ended, the King Dragon Kingdom met the most terrifying disaster in its history.
That day, no citizen of the King Dragon Kingdom would ever forget.
Everything felt wrong. The wind, the rain, the mountains, the sky, all of it, wrong in a way that couldn't be named.
The sky looked as though it had been torn open, bleeding black.
The mountains closed in around the kingdom like something alive, like walls built by a creature that had not yet decided whether to crush what was inside.
Wind and rain fell without pause, as if the world itself meant to drown them all.
And the cause of it all was Rudeus Greyrat.
He floated above the King Dragon Kingdom, the Arrogant Water Dragon King in his hand.
His eyes were cold.
Every citizen of the King Dragon Kingdom understood their mistake at once. They dropped to their knees beneath him. They repented. They kowtowed. They wept.
The mage above them looked like a god.
He did not care about their tears.
He raised his staff.
A Magic Circle formed.
It covered everything within sight. No, everything, period. No matter which direction you looked, there was only the Magic Circle, vast and edgeless, with no end anywhere. The sky was gone beneath it. The ground was gone beneath it.
Even commoners who had never touched a spell in their lives understood what they were looking at. This Magic Circle could shatter the earth. It could pierce the heavens.
Everyone fell into despair.
That was when the foolish king Stavio von King Dragon appeared.
Only his head appeared. The one carrying it was the First Prince of the King Dragon Kingdom, the man who would become his people's Savior.
He stood atop the royal palace, his father's severed head in his hand, and knelt.
He drove his own forehead into the ground and shouted, his posture as low as a human body could go:
"Lord Rudeus Greyrat! Will you forgive the King Dragon Kingdom for what it has done? My foolish father's decisions brought down your wrath — but that wrath should not fall on innocent people! Great Lord Rudeus Greyrat, my father is already dead by my hand. If your anger is still not spent, the lives of every member of the royal family are yours to take as you see fit!"
Rudeus Greyrat said nothing. He looked at the prince with cold, flat eyes.
The prince spoke again.
"Lord Rudeus Greyrat — may your mercy... surpass your wrath. The people are innocent. The royal family's lives, take them however you wish. I only beg you... spare the people..."
Something shifted in Rudeus Greyrat's expression. He seemed to recall something.
No one knew what it was.
The Magic Circle dissipated.
The prince's forehead hit the ground again.
"Thank you for your mercy! From this day forward, no creature within the King Dragon Kingdom will ever defy your will!"
Rudeus Greyrat nodded.
"The reconstruction of the Kika Kingdom falls to you. Every loss their nation suffered — you repay it twofold."
"Yes!"
That was all he said. Then he left.
From that day, the entire world knew the terror of Rudeus Greyrat. People everywhere spoke of his power. Some said his magic was more fearsome than the Demon God Laplace himself.
"In terms of magic alone, Lord Rudeus Greyrat would not lose to the Demon God Laplace."
Those words spread until there was nowhere they hadn't reached.
And so, following the death of Water God Reida and the disappearance of the Sword God, the rankings of the Seven Great Powers shifted once more.
The world gave him a new title.
[Fourth of the Seven Great Powers, Calamity, Magic King Rudeus Greyrat]
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[Technique God, Laplace]
[Dragon God, Orsted]
[Fighting God]
[Calamity, Magic King Rudeus Greyrat]
[Demon God, Laplace]
[Death God, Randolph]
[North God, Alexander Kalman Rybak]
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