(Yuuta POV)
"Yawwwn…"
I woke up stretching my arms above my head, a strange lightness running through my body. It felt… off. Not bad—just unfamiliar, like I had accidentally left sothing important behind while sleeping.
"…Did I lose weight overnight?" I muttered sleepily.
My eyes were still half-closed as I turned to the side. Elena was right there, curled up peacefully, breathing softly without a care in the world. Watching her always cald down, and for a brief mont, I thought maybe I had simply slept too well.
Then I noticed the snow.
Tiny, glittering particles drifted through the air, slow and lazy, as if winter had decided to move in without asking permission. The cold finally registered, and my brain reluctantly followed.
"…Why is it snowing indoors?"
I sat up.
The floor beneath was frozen solid, thin cracks of ice spreading outward like soone had been very angry at gravity. A chill ran up my spine, fully waking this ti.
I squinted down the hallway.
"What… happened here?"
The hall looked like it had lost an argunt—badly. The walls were coated in frost, stone cracked and frozen mid-break, as if sothing had been slamd into them repeatedly and then politely left there as a reminder.
This was our new house.
I had imagined many things for our first day here.
None of them involved structural damage.
"…Great," I sighed, rubbing my face. "We haven't even unpacked yet."
I carefully got to my feet, making sure not to wake Elena, and stepped into the hallway to inspect the damage properly.
That's when I saw him.
Allen was sprawled across the floor, completely unconscious, his body covered in bruises and swollen patches. He looked less like a terrifying demon and more like soone who had volunteered to fight a dragon bare-handed—and imdiately regretted every life choice that led to it.
I stared at him in silence for a mont and then Erza who was sleeping
"…So," I said quietly, "I'm guessing I missed sothing important."
I let out a slow sigh, my eyes drifting back to the frozen wall.
"Being able to cast magic is really cool," I murmured to myself, staring at the ice as if it might answer back.
Then sothing else caught my attention.
I looked down at my body.
The newer scars—the ones on my fingers and along my arms—were gone.
"…Huh?"
My heart skipped as I quickly checked my chest and hands, running my fingers over the places where the wounds should have been. Smooth. Completely healed. No trace left behind.
They were gone for real.
"Erza…" I whispered, turning my head toward her.
I stopped myself.
Erza was asleep.
She looked completely exhausted, curled slightly on the sofa like a cat that had finally collapsed after staying awake for too long. A novel rested loosely in one hand, while the other lay on her stomach, rising and falling with slow, steady breaths. Whatever had happened here, it had clearly drained her completely.
I moved closer without thinking and knelt beside her.
She looked… beautiful.
Not in a flashy way. Not the kind that demanded attention. Just quietly, overwhelmingly beautiful. For a mont, it felt like the rest of the world had faded out, leaving only her.
I watched her sleep and felt that familiar ache in my chest.
She didn't know how to show love. Not openly. Not gently. Yet sohow, I always understood what she ant, even without words. I rembered the day she first appeared in my life—threatening to kill without hesitation.
Now here we were.
Not perfect. Not peaceful.
But deep enough that she wanted to marry .
Carefully, I reached for the novel in her hand, planning to place it on the side table so it wouldn't fall. The mont I lifted it—
Sothing slipped free.
A photograph slid out and fluttered to the floor.
I froze.
The photograph lay on the floor beside the sofa, its edges slightly curled. I bent down and picked it up carefully, my fingers brushing against the smooth surface as my eyes focused on the image.
It was the Church of Gilgal.
Even captured in a photograph, the structure looked unreal. Vast white stone pillars rose toward the sky, and the arches seed to glow faintly, as if light itself had been carved into the walls. I had heard stories about this place since I was young. They said it was the oldest church ever created, a place where heaven and earth overlapped.
There was a rumor tied to it—one so unbelievable that people still whispered it in reverence and fear.
If a couple married under the Church of Gilgal, their bond would beco eternal. Even if they ascended to heaven, even if death claid them, they would remain bound to each other forever.
People sacrificed everything for a chance to marry there. Wealth, status, reputation—none of it mattered. And yet, no one was ever chosen.
Money held no value in that place. Titles ant nothing. Only those who passed its harsh trials were allowed to marry under both heaven and earth. The church was even ntioned in the Bible itself, which was why it had beco sothing closer to a legend than a real location.
As the aning sank in, my grip on the photograph tightened.
Erza… was thinking about marrying here.
The realization left stunned. I stared at the image for a long mont, unsure whether to laugh or panic. Sotis, I genuinely wondered why Erza believed everything was possible for her.
Then again, she had always been like this.
A small smile ford on my lips as I leaned closer to the sofa and gently pinched her nose.
She shifted slightly, her brows knitting together as she murmured in her sleep.
"Don't, Yuuta," she said softly. "I told you… I don't want you to hate …"
The words made my chest ache.
"She's too cute," I muttered quietly, watching her relax again.
That was when I noticed her phone vibrate on the side table. The screen lit up, drawing my attention. After a mont of hesitation, I picked it up and looked at the notification.
The ssage was from Gilgal New Life Church.
The request had been accepted.
Erza had been approved to take the trial.
I stared at the screen for a long mont, my thoughts refusing to move. The weight of what I was seeing slowly settled in, piece by piece, until my brain finally caught up.
"What the hell?!" I shouted.
The reaction was imdiate.
Erza's eyes snapped open, and before I could react, her hand shot out and wrapped tightly around my neck. She lifted with ease, her expression sharp and furious.
"What are you screaming for, you idiot mortal?" she demanded.
"I'm sorry!" I gasped, struggling to breathe. "I'm sorry, my wife!"
She released with a scoff and fell back onto the sofa as if nothing had happened.
I collapsed to the floor, coughing violently while my heart pounded in my ears.
"…This marriage is going to kill before the wedding," I muttered weakly, staring at the ceiling.
And strangely enough, the thought didn't scare at all.
I let out a quiet sigh and lowered myself to the floor, choosing the empty space beside Allen. Erza was completely exhausted, and I didn't have the heart—or the courage—to disturb her after everything that had happened.
"…Damn it," I muttered softly.
The floor was still cold beneath , but I barely cared. My body felt heavy in a different way now, not from pain, but from the kind of fatigue that settled deep into the bones. Allen remained unconscious beside , unmoving, and for once, I decided not to question how a demon and a human had ended up sharing the sa floor.
I turned my head toward the window.
Moonlight spilled quietly into the room, brushing over the frost-covered edges of broken stone. That was when sothing felt wrong. My gaze shifted outside, instinctively searching for a familiar presence.
Grandpa wasn't there.
The Banyan tree stood tall as always, its branches stretching wide into the night sky. The small tree house he had built rested among the leaves, gently swaying with the breeze—but it was empty.
He should have been there.
A strange unease crept into my chest as I continued staring, waiting for so sign of movent that never ca.
"…Where did he go?" I murmured.
This late at night, Grandpa never wandered far without reason.
And sohow, that worried more than the frozen walls, the broken house, or the demon lying unconscious beside .
Late Night — Pacific Ocean
(Grandpa POV)
I stood suspended above the vast ocean, the endless black waters stretching far beyond what the human eye could comprehend. This world called it the Pacific Ocean, but nas ant little to . What mattered was the feeling that had drawn here.
Sothing was wrong.
The night air was cold as I hovered several miles away from Erza and Yuuta's new ho. I had followed the disturbance instinctively, tracing the source of the pressure until I reached this exact point above the sea. The aura here was unnatural—dense, heavy, and unmistakably hostile.
I looked down at the silent waves.
"You disgusting thing," I said calmly, my voice carrying across the water. "I can sense you."
The ocean did not answer.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Co out," I continued, my tone sharpening. "By the royal authority of the Atlantis Kingdom."
For a mont, nothing happened.
Then the sea reacted.
A massive blue whale breached the surface in panic, its enormous body twisting awkwardly through the air. Its movents were frantic, desperate—as if it were fleeing from sothing it could not outrun. The water beneath it churned violently.
Sothing was chasing it.
The ocean split open.
A gigantic mouth erged from the depths, wide enough to swallow the whale whole. Rows of unnatural teeth glistened under the moonlight as the creature surged upward with terrifying speed.
The whale let out a scream—raw, agonized, and short-lived.
In the next instant, it was gone.
Swallowed whole.
The sea closed over itself as if nothing had happened.
I felt it then—the presence that Nova itself had once feared.
"Mortivex," I muttered.
A silent nightmare.
In Nova, Mortivex had been classified as a Calamity, a creature that moved with indestructible power and annihilated everything in its path without reason or rcy. Entire regions had vanished simply because it passed through them.
And now…
It was here.
On Earth.
The water shifted again as a massive shadow rose beneath the surface. Slowly, deliberately, the shape turned upward. Two cold, ancient eyes erged just beneath the waves, locking onto with terrifying clarity.
Mortivex was staring at .
Not mindlessly.
Not instinctively.
It was here for a purpose.
I raised my voice, allowing my authority to flow into it as the ocean trembled beneath us.
"What brings you here, Mortivex," I demanded, my gaze unwavering. "Cursed creation of the Silent Lair. Why have you co to this shallow mana world?"
Mortivex did not answer.
He stared at in silence, his massive form barely moving beneath the surface of the sea. His eyes were fixed on the way a crocodile or a tiger looked at its prey—not with haste, but with certainty. And yet, beneath that gaze, there was understanding.
He knew I was not prey.
I was the predator here.
For a mont, I felt irritation stir within . I had expected nothing else, of course. Mortivex was known as a mindless calamity, a living disaster that devoured without thought or reason. Expecting an answer from such a creature was foolish.
Perhaps I truly had grown old.
Then his jaw moved.
The sound was wrong—wet, grinding, unnatural. Cracks split along his massive maw, and dark blood began to spill into the ocean below. Even in pain, even with his body tearing itself apart, Mortivex forced his mouth to move.
Slowly.
With effort.
"Where… is… my… prince…"
The words struck like a blow.
For a brief mont, I nearly lost my balance in midair.
Prince.
I stared at him, truly looking at Mortivex for the first ti since his ergence. This was no longer a silent calamity. A creature that should not have possessed language—should not have possessed thought—had spoken.
He spoke again, his voice dragging through agony.
"Where… is… my PRINCE…"
To be continue..
(Note: Chapters will continue to be released today. It may take 1–2 hours to upload, as I need to recheck everything properly.)
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