Prologue
“For Valhalla!”
A war cry echoed.
“Glory to great Asgard—!”
Hundreds of thousands of armored warriors raised their weapons.
That was not all. Beside them,
—Kiaaaaack!
Undead who had crawled out of hell were walking—.
『Kwoooooooh—!』
Giants advanced.
Within the twilight of the setting sun, there was one who gazed upon such an army of his own.
Pitch-black armor.
A fur-trimmed cape billowed as he gripped a golden spear.
The being wearing a helmet made of a goat’s skull flashed with red light from his eyes.
‘How many years has it been since I came to this world.’
He had undergone countless experiences.
Awakening alone on a remote island, he had become the final boss monster of a game.
Countless knights and mages had come to oppose him amidst schemes and interests.
But behold!
Their bodies were buried in the earth, and their courage had proven to be nothing but foolishness and arrogance!
Even so, those who sought to subjugate him gathered.
He looked ahead.
On the other side, light erupted from the vast land.
The armies of light there.
Those who had gathered to subjugate him and invaded his territory.
“Fools!”
No kingdom, no empire could stop his military force.
If they blocked his path, only ruin would await them!
“You brave ones—.”
As he slammed down his spear, his armor squirmed and black haze rose up.
“What the Twilight of the Gods is like—”
The black haze took the form of serpents and wolves and howled.
“Show them!”
Warriors and undead.
Giants looked up at the supreme existence.
“My name is Loki.”
As if answering his call, they raised their weapons and roared.
“I am the Constellation of the Apocalypse who shall bring about Ragnarok!”
Episode 1
—Haa… haa…!
A girl was running somewhere, gasping for breath.
The Nord clan.
A clan that mostly sustained itself through pillaging, the Ragna tribe belonged to it as well.
The girl belonging to that Ragna tribe fled through the forest, thinking about how things had come to this.
The village was burning, and the villagers were being slaughtered by armored pillagers.
Voices filled with the sorrow of the weak and the exultation of the strong rang out.
The festival for her coming-of-age ceremony at fifteen had turned into hell in an instant.
And she had no choice but to run to ‘that place’ she had tried so hard to avoid.
—A demon lives there!
A story passed down among the Nord clan since ancient times.
—He is the moon, the darkness, the Constellation who rules over death and sin!
The running girl, Kankun, felt as if her heart would burst.
—If you offer your soul to him, he will grant any wish!
The words the Shaman had spoken to Kankun today, on her fifteenth birthday, flashed through her mind.
After running for a while, an old man who appeared to be in his seventies came into view.
He was one of the influential elders of the village.
“K-Kankun!”
The elder’s eyes went wide upon seeing Kankun.
“So you were here! Kudan has brought outsiders!”
Kankun looked at the elder with a stiffened face.
“U-Uncle?”
One with a bear-like build but a soft heart.
And the man who had always smiled at her and treated her like his own daughter.
Kudan Ragna.
Her uncle.
Such a man was now—.
“It’s a rebellion!”
“……!”
“Kudan, that bastard Kudan has started a rebellion! He brought mercenaries from outside and attacked the village—!”
“What do you mean? Why would Uncle bring mercenaries…?”
“Your father is dead too. W-we’re all going to die now!”
“T-that can’t be… what would Uncle gain from—!”
“It’s because of you!”
Kankun’s face stiffened.
The elder grabbed Kankun by both shoulders.
“Ugh—!”
He gripped so painfully that her shoulders felt as if they would tear.
“Y-you! Because you didn’t become the sacrifice as the Shaman’s oracle foretold, the village has ended up like this!”
“……”
“You are the one who brought calamity upon this village!”
Kankun clamped her mouth shut.
—A child who would bring calamity!
Kankun recalled what the priest had said at her coming-of-age ceremony.
—Kankun, you shall become the shrine maiden who serves him. So become a sacrifice and serve him!
The elder drew a dagger from his bosom.
“The Shaman’s words were right!”
“W-wait a moment…”
Kankun stepped back, but she couldn’t escape because the elder was holding her shoulder with his right hand.
Kankun’s face turned pale blue.
“Y-you have to die for this calamity to end—!”
It was then.
Puhwuk—!
A large arrow pierced through the elder’s chest and stopped right in front of Kankun’s nose.
“Kuh… kuh—!”
The elder spat blood and looked back, his eyes wide.
“K-Kudan…!”
After uttering those words, he collapsed on the spot.
Kankun watched as the elder fell, and beyond the empty space, she saw a man standing tall.
“……!”
A bear-like build and steel-like muscles.
A man with a rugged beard and a large axe on his back.
In his hand was the great bow that had killed the elder moments ago.
Kankun knew who this person was.
‘U…ncle…?’
Kudan Ragna.
The one who had started the rebellion, killed Kankun’s father, and slaughtered the elders—her uncle.
Behind him stood mercenaries who had killed her tribesmen.
Kankun looked at them, her face turning ashen.
She stepped back, and soon began to flee.
“Kankun—!”
Her uncle’s angry voice came from behind.
It was not the voice that had always been kind and gentle.
It was a voice excited and agitated.
“After her—!”
Those who received her uncle’s command began chasing Kankun.
Running urgently through the forest, Kankun raised her head.
Where she was headed—.
—Become a sacrifice and appease the demon’s wrath!
The temple.
The place where she had held her coming-of-age ceremony, and where the Constellation of Sin, or the being called the demon, resided.
She stepped inside the temple.
Passing through the open gate, she ran down the long corridor lined with a red carpet. And she could see one standing at the end of the corridor.
An old man wearing a tattered black robe.
The priest, the Shaman.
Kankun looked at him and pleaded.
She begged him to make the calamity retreat, but the Shaman merely cackled and did not give a proper answer.
“She must be hiding here!”
“Find her!”
The pillagers’ voices came from behind.
In the end, Kankun headed toward where the demon was.
A grand royal hall filled with majesty.
A giant throne of bone, the curved goat’s skull in a spiral shape.
The demon clad in pitch-black armor using it as a helmet.
And the sword lodged in the demon’s heart.
Kankun shouted as she saw the demon.
“Please… O Constellation of Sin! You may take my soul, I beg you. Please save the people of my village…!”
She prayed, offering her soul, begging him to please stop her uncle and end this terrible slaughter.
Bang!
Just then, the door burst open roughly, and her uncle’s subordinates who had raided the village stormed into the audience chamber.
“So she was here!”
“It is Lord Kudan’s command. Seize that girl!”
They approached Kankun, and the closer they came, the more she retreated toward the ‘demon’ sealed upon the ‘Cursed Throne.’
The Shaman who followed behind merely stepped aside, offering no obstruction whatsoever.
Terrified, Kankun screamed at the demon.
“Please, I beg you…! Save us…!”
But the demon did not answer.
Even when she grabbed the demon’s leg and pleaded, he did not move a muscle like a corpse.
She realized. What stood before her was nothing more than a ‘dummy’….
“Let’s stop this now, Kankun.”
Then, the main culprit behind this terrible tragedy entered the temple.
Kankun’s uncle, Kudan Ragna.
He strode into the audience chamber with confident steps.
He shouted to his subordinates.
“What are you doing? Drag her out! We’re leaving with Kankun!”
“……!”
Kankun’s face turned deathly pale.
A weapon, she needed a weapon!
She struggled with all her might to pull out the sword lodged in the demon.
“Are you trying to awaken the demon? Haha! Stop. It’s nothing but superstition!”
Kudan’s subordinates mocked her.
Kankun did not listen to their words.
She had neither gods nor demons now. Rather than be dragged away by her uncle and suffer humiliation, she would choose to fight and die with honor!
But the sword would not budge.
Pillagers came up from behind and bound Kankun.
Her entire body was subdued by the men.
She fell into despair.
“Shaman, forgive the disturbance. I have no intention of defiling the temple, so please show mercy.”
The traitor, Kudan Ragna, begged the Shaman’s pardon.
No matter how much of a traitor he was, he could not afford to offend the Nord clan’s priest.
“Do as you please. So long as you do not defile the temple, I have no intention of interfering with you either.”
At the Shaman’s permission, the pillagers dragged Kankun out.
She could not avenge her father, nor could she save the villagers.
“No… please….”
Nord warriors grabbed her body and dragged her from the throne.
To resist them to the very end, she did not let go of the embedded sword’s hilt.
Frustration and despair gnawed at her heart.
“P-please….”
I’m begging you.
Anyone is fine. Please… me…!
Kankun shed tears in despair.
‘Help me!’
Then, the sword was pulled out.
“……!”
The Nord warriors stiffened in shock.
“N-no—!”
The Shaman grabbed his head and screamed.
“The demon… the Constellation of Sin awakens—!”
“……!”
A silent stillness fell, as if fear had enveloped the cursed temple.
Everyone fixed their gazes on the demon sitting upon the throne, but… there was no change.
The Nord warriors broke into cold sweats and felt relief.
“H-hahah! You were scared, weren’t you?”
“D-don’t make me laugh. Who’s scared! Who would believe such superstition….”
The ‘demon sealed away for trying to judge the gods’ was nothing more than a ‘legend.’
The Nord warriors could not overcome their anger at having been frightened.
Naturally, the target of their venting was Kankun.
The Nord warriors subdued her and threw her to the floor.
Her arms, legs, and head were held; she could not move her body.
‘H…help me.’
Tears streamed down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes. The demon was reflected in her blurry gaze.
“P…please… I’m asking you to help me!”
It was when her despair-filled cry echoed through the audience chamber.
The deep darkness of the helmet.
Within the abyss….
Slowly, red light filled it.
…He had awakened.
Someone muttered.
—Kiaaaaaack!
Crack! Crick-crick!!
The bizarre screech of a specter resounded through the temple.
The demon who had slumbered for hundreds of years moved with horrifying sounds, as if forcibly piecing his bones back together.
He raised his head and twisted his whole body to loosen his stiffened form.
The demon was not the only one who had awakened.
The cursed temple trembled.
—Kiaaaaack!
Black currents that had sprung up before anyone knew filled the interior of the temple. Those currents coiled around the demon on the throne and took the forms of ‘serpents’ and ‘wolves.’
Specters made of bone broke through the floor and crawled up, as if emerging from hell.
“What the…?!”
“U-undead!”
“Everyone, prepare for battle—!”
The Nord warriors shouted at the top of their lungs.
Frightened by this bizarre sight, they scrambled to grab their equipment and gathered.
Kankun raised her head and looked at the demon.
The demon moved his stiffened body with the sound of cracking joints.
Red flames that seemed capable of burning souls blazed from his eyes and mouth.
—Grrrrr…!
The forms of wolves and serpents that exuded ominous pitch-black currents clung to the demon’s armor as if one with his body.
And as if possessing wills of their own, they growled at the unfamiliar humans.
Their master, the demon, raised his lowered head and flashed with red light.
The demon looked at everyone in the audience chamber.
And… uttered words that would freeze even the heart.
“Who… are you?”
It was the moment Kankun’s despair turned to hope.