Eren had to question himself a few times.
He knew he was Vaelzara’s summoner. But being called "Master" was something he hadn’t expected at all. She said it so effortlessly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There was no reluctance in her voice, and certainly none of the arrogance he had expected from someone who once ruled an entire kingdom.
But something else had been nagging at him since she appeared.
The dead.
Vaelzara had brought them up more than once, and the way she spoke made it sound like she knew something he didn’t.
’Why would she tell me that?’ Eren wondered. ’And even if she had to, why now?’
He stole a glance at the Demon Queen. Her expression was calm, yet something in her eyes made him feel she could see far more than he wanted her to.
Before he could settle his thoughts, Vaelzara folded her arms.
"What are you thinking about, Master?"
Eren jolted. "Uhh... nothing, actually. I, uh..."
"You have a lot of assumptions about me," she cut in. "You’re wondering how you ended up standing in front of the Demon Queen who nearly destroyed the Human Faction five thousand years ago. Am I wrong?"
"No," Eren hesitated.
"I thought so."
She turned toward the desolate wilderness, like someone looking back at a distant memory.
"I slaughtered the First Order Army, fifty thousand men. Then came the Second Order, thirty thousand more. By then, I was tired of counting the dead."
Her tone was strangely casual, as though she were describing an ordinary afternoon. Eren knew those battles. He had studied them at the academy, and they were still taught as some of the most devastating defeats in human history. Yet she spoke of them without a hint of pride or regret.
"Then the Third Order Army arrived. That was when the battle stopped being interesting and started becoming terrifying. Their commander was rather troublesome."
"But you lost in the end," Eren said.
Vaelzara looked at him. Then she nodded.
"That’s right. I lost."
Strangely, her simple admission made him more uncomfortable. He had expected excuses, or even a threat. Emboldened by her calm, he found himself speaking again.
"The Lance of the Dawn defeated you. And before you died, you knelt and surrendered, pleading guilty to all your atrocities."
The words were out before he could think twice.
For a moment, Vaelzara didn’t answer. Then she smiled, a peculiar smile that looked like genuine surprise, as if she had discovered something fascinating about the young man in front of her.
"Hmm... Is that what they told you?"
Something about the way she asked made him uneasy. Still, he nodded.
"That’s what the historical records say."
She held his gaze a moment longer, then shrugged.
"I see."
That was all. No denial, no anger, no attempt to defend herself. She simply turned away and looked over the wilderness again, and Eren was left wondering whether he had offended her, or whether she just didn’t care what humanity believed. Considering everything he knew about her, he wasn’t sure which was more frightening.
"Where is this place?" She asked after a few seconds.
"The Ashen Frontier. You’re standing in my territory, on land claimed by the Human Faction."
"Your territory?"
"Yes," Eren nodded boldly.
She looked around at the barren earth, the lifeless trees, and the endless gray sky. Her gaze settled on the few supplies he had brought, and for a moment she said nothing. Eren felt a sudden need to explain.
"I’ve only just arrived."
"How fortunate."
He wasn’t sure what that meant.
"And why did you summon me?"
Her tone had changed. The faint amusement was gone, replaced by a seriousness that reminded Eren of the woman in the history books. This was the Demon Queen. A former ruler who had commanded armies and fought a war that shaped the history of Dominion Expanse.
Eren straightened his back. He might be terrified of her, but he didn’t plan to spend the rest of his life stuttering whenever she looked at him.
"To join me in developing this territory. You’ll be working under me as my servant."
He stopped. Her expression hadn’t changed, and he suddenly reconsidered his words.
"...My subordinate. I meant subordinate."
He had braced himself for a scowl. Instead, she only looked at him, and then she spoke.
Her voice had suddenly softened.
"I thought I would be reunited with my soldiers. With my family. With everyone I had lost. I thought death would be the end of everything I had suffered."
She looked toward the horizon, and the wind stirred through her white hair.
"But there was no such thing as peace. After my final breath, there was only darkness. No light. No sound. Nothing to tell me whether a moment had passed or a thousand years. And yet, I remained aware."
"Every dead soul was there, no matter its strength or the manner of its death. We were all plunged into an endless void, stripped of everything except the awareness that we no longer lived. Imagine knowing you once lived, yet being unable to touch anything, hear anything, or even know whether the world you left behind still existed."
Her crimson eyes returned to him.
"Imagine remaining aware for an eternity, without knowing whether it would ever end."
A chill crawled down Eren’s spine. He had never thought about death that way. To the living, it was a final ending. But if she was telling the truth, then what waited for the dead was far worse than he had ever imagined.
"And then," she said, "I heard a voice. A human voice. It asked me to return, to leave that endless nothing behind. And somehow, I found myself here, standing in front of the one who called me back."
Eren realised he had no idea what to say.
The woman before him had commanded armies and ruled a kingdom, yet she had just described an existence where none of that mattered. Her power hadn’t saved her from the void. Her title had meant nothing. For thousands of years, all she had possessed was the awareness of what she had lost.
And now she was alive again, standing in front of a young Settler whose greatest achievement so far was claiming a patch of barren wilderness.
Vaelzara slowly lowered herself onto one knee.
Eren’s eyes immediately went wide.
"Thank you for bringing me out of the curse of death, Master."
"Today, I, Vaelzara Veyrath of the Demon Faction, swear to serve you to the end of your days."
His mind went completely blank.
’Did she just... bow to me?!’
This was Vaelzara Veyrath. The Crimson Calamity. The woman who had almost destroyed the Human Faction and sent eighty thousand soldiers to their deaths. And she was kneeling in front of him. Not because he had defeated her or conquered her kingdom, but simply because he had called her back.
For several seconds, he forgot how to breathe. Then he realized she was still kneeling.
"R-Rise."
His voice came out far louder than he had intended. For a fleeting moment, the corner of her mouth twitched. She rose gracefully and gave him a slight bow.
Eren stood there, stunned. He had expected resistance, questions, maybe even an argument over why a legendary Demon Queen should obey an ordinary human. He had never expected her to pledge her service within minutes of appearing.
But he wasn’t about to complain. He cleared his throat.
"Well... as my subordinate, you’ll be helping me develop this territory and make it safe enough to live in. We’ll need protection against monsters and enemies, and a reliable source of food and other resources."
"Build the territory, make it habitable, protect it from monsters and rivals, and establish a sustainable supply of food and resources," Vaelzara repeated. "I understand, Master."
Eren blinked. She had picked out the territory’s most urgent needs without him having to explain a thing. Maybe summoning a former Demon Queen hadn’t been such a terrible idea. As ruler of the great Veyrath Demon Kingdom, she must have had plenty of experience managing people and defending land.
Of course, his territory was still little more than a barren stretch of ground. But for now, he had a Demon Queen, and that was already a major improvement over having nothing.
"Oh, right. Before we start, there’s something else I need to do. I have a few more summonings to carry out."
"Carry on, Master," she said with a shrug, stepping aside.
He turned back to the Ultimate Summoning System. Two SSS-Rank Summoning Allowances remained.
[AVAILABLE SSS-RANK SUMMONING ALLOWANCES: ×2]
An idea crept into his head.
’Wait a minute. Do I really have to summon them one at a time?’
He glanced at Vaelzara, who was watching him with mild curiosity.
’What if I activate both at once?’
There was only one way to find out.
[SSS-RANK SUMMONING ALLOWANCE ACTIVATED.]
[SSS-RANK SUMMONING ALLOWANCE ACTIVATED.]
[Searching for suitable spirits...]
Fortunately enough, it worked out!
Eren took a deep breath. This time, he was ready for something extraordinary. At least, he hoped he was.
[TARGETS IDENTIFIED.]
[SSS-RANK SPIRIT CONFIRMED.]
[SSS-RANK SPIRIT CONFIRMED.]
[SUMMONING IN PROGRESS...]
The notifications faded, and the ground began to tremble. Loose stones rolled across the earth. A sudden gust lifted ash into the air, and the dead trees creaked, their brittle branches rattling against each other.
Then the air to Eren’s left turned bitterly cold. Frost spread across the ground, creeping over stones and dead roots as though an invisible winter were marching across his territory. Get faster updates on g.com.
At the same time, the air on his right began to crackle. Pale-blue sparks leaped between the branches of the dead trees, and in the distance, the clouds began to churn.
Eren looked from one side to the other.
"Okay..." He swallowed. "This is definitely different."
Two summoning formations opened on the ground, one glowing pale blue, the other golden-white. For a brief moment, the whole wilderness seemed to hold its breath.
Then the first one erupted in icy light, and a slender figure stepped out from its center.
Long silver-blue hair flowed down her back, turning almost white where the light touched it. Her features were delicate yet mature, with an elegance that made her look like an ancient painting brought to life. Her icy-blue eyes opened slowly. She wore a white-and-dark-blue mage coat stitched with frost patterns, dark boots, and a silver pendant that rested against her chest.
Tiny crystals of ice drifted around her shoulders, and a fresh layer of frost formed beneath her feet.
When she lifted her gaze, Eren forgot what he had been about to say. She carried herself with a quiet dignity, and the cold around her felt less like an effect of the environment and more like an extension of her very being.
Before he could recover, the second formation erupted in golden-white light, and a tall woman landed with a solid thud.
She had a strong, athletic build, with broad shoulders and the frame of someone who had spent a lifetime fighting.
Long black hair fell around her face, slightly untamed, and her golden-amber eyes scanned the clearing with the alertness of a seasoned warrior. But it was the enormous pair of dark gray-black wings that caught Eren’s attention first. They slowly unfolded, faint sparks of lightning crawling along their edges. A greatsword hung at her side, its dark blade almost too large for any ordinary warrior to wield.
Where the silver-haired woman felt like the arrival of winter itself, this one radiated raw physical strength. She looked like someone who could tear through a battlefield without casting a single spell.
[SUMMON IDENTIFIED.]
[NAME: ELENA SNOW.]
[TITLE: THE FROZEN CALAMITY.]
[CLASS: FROST ARCHMAGE.]
[RANK: SSS.]
[SUMMONING SUCCESSFUL.]
Before Eren could even process it, another notification appeared.
[SUMMON IDENTIFIED.]
[NAME: HELA MOUNTAIN.]
[TITLE: THE WINGED CALAMITY.]
[CLASS: VALKYRIE WARRIOR.]
[RANK: SSS.]
[SUMMONING SUCCESSFUL.]
For a moment, Eren heard nothing at all. The wind faded, the tremors felt distant, and even the cold creeping across the ground barely registered.
He knew those names, too...
Everyone who had studied the Great War knew them. Elena Snow, the Frost Saint who had once stood among humanity’s greatest mages, whose name was tied to the catastrophic winter that froze an entire city.
And Hela Mountain, the legendary Valkyrie who had turned the tide of battles, only to become an enemy in the eyes of the very civilization she once protected.
Both had died in the Great War. Both were remembered as calamities. And both were standing in front of him!
He slowly turned toward Vaelzara. The Demon Queen was staring at the two newcomers, and for the first time since he had summoned her, she looked genuinely surprised. Elena had turned toward her as well, while Hela’s hand rested near the hilt of her greatsword, her gaze moving between the three of them.
For a brief moment, the four figures stood beneath the gray sky, surrounded by frost, lightning, and the fading remnants of crimson energy.
Three women whose names had once shaken Dominion Expanse. Three legends who had died in the same devastating war. Three beings whom the official records remembered only as calamities.
And one young Settler who had summoned all of them within minutes of arriving, in a territory that didn’t even have a proper shelter.
Eren looked at Vaelzara. Then at Elena. And then at Hela.
His lips parted, but no words came out.
His mind, which had been lagging a few steps behind everything that had just happened, finally caught up with reality.
’Vaelzara Veyrath... The Crimson Calamity.’
’Elena Snow... The Frozen Calamity.’
’Hela Mountain... The Winged Calamity.’
He felt his soul slowly leave his body.
’I didn’t just summon three SSS-Rank spirits.’
His knees nearly gave out.
’I just summoned the Three Calamities of the Great War!’