The metal curtain rose with a shrill screech, unveiling the immense diamond bay window of the basement control room.
What the group saw on the other side froze their blood.
Facing them, anchored in the depths of the earth, a titanic eye stared at them through the glass.
It was the eye of the Calamity.
Its pulsations of pure hatred made the bunker walls vibrate.
David, hands trembling on the controls, broke the silence:
“It’s the original Calamity… Normally, it is scientifically impossible for it to manifest this way… but I think it’s too late.
The barriers have collapsed.”
Eden approached the window, his face impassive.
He noticed the heavy drops crashing against the diamond.
“Is it raining outside?” he asked calmly.
David, surprised by the question, tapped on his keyboard:
“Yes, the storm is raging on the surface… but how can the rain help us defeat this monster?”
Eden offered a mysterious little smile.
“Nothing on Earth can destroy this thing, David.”
He turned around, adjusting his combat gloves, and stared at the horizon with a gaze of steel.
“Nothing on Earth, true… But in the sky?
We won’t know until we try.”
Without losing a second, Eden headed to the hangar to retrieve his raid bike.
Lamar followed him, his face heavy with worry.
He grabbed him by the shoulder:
“Eden, wait!
It’s true that this story about a list came from a child’s mouth, but we shouldn’t take the words of ‘Him’ lightly.
Don’t go out there.”
“There’s nothing to fear, old brother,” replied Eden in a detached tone while starting the engine.
“I’ve fought these monsters all my life; it’s not today that I’m going to kick the bucket.
Instead, keep the beers cold, I’ll be back soon.”
Lamar took a step forward and firmly gripped the bike’s handlebars, his gaze resolute:
“Eden, let me go.
It’s my turn.”
But Eden, in an imposing tone that brooked no argument, simply let out:
“Lamar… let go of the bike.”
Alya suddenly stepped in front of the machine to block his path, arms crossed, with a pleading look.
But Eden didn’t blink.
He passed to the side with a sharp steer, made the twin-cylinder engine roar, and launched himself onto the launch ramp, plunging at full speed into the storm.
Facing him, the gigantic silhouette of the Calamity began to move, leaving the depths to track him on the surface.
In his earpiece, Lamar’s crackling voice resonated:
“Hello Eden, do you hear me?”
“Five by five, old brother.”
“You only have five minutes to synchronize your attack with the storm, Eden.
Are you sure about your plan?”
A short silence passed, filled only by the whistling wind and the creature’s rumblings.
Then, Eden replied with his usual arrogance:
“Who do you take me for?
I am Eden, the Calamity exterminator.
And what do I have in front of me?
A simple Calamity.
So prepare the feast for tonight, because we’re going to celebrate!”
Lamar continued, his voice urgent:
“David calculated the coordinates.
If the attack is to have an effect, it will be over there, at Point X.
The beast’s singularity attracts everything within a thirty-kilometer radius; it’s impossible for you to miss it.
Good luck.”
The communication cut off sharply into static.
The Calamity unleashed itself, opening a massive maw to swallow the biker.
Eden, without slowing down, let go of the handlebars with one hand and performed a series of complex mystical signs.
He abruptly slashed his palm.
His blood hit the ground, and instantly, gelatinous structures resembling immense trampolines burst from the earth.
Eden reared his bike and jumped. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
At the same instant, the Calamity dived and swallowed the bike entirely before sinking back into the ground.
Eden, propelled into the air, landed heavily on the first biological trampoline, which launched him even higher into the skies.
“Faster…” he whispered, eyes fixed on the black clouds.
He performed a new series of signs.
Two minor Calamities in the shape of giant frogs obeyed his call and projected their sticky tongues to latch onto the ramparts of the second fortified base.
They grabbed Eden in mid-flight and catapulted him toward the stratosphere.
It was there, amidst the lightning, that he spotted the lightning-bolt-shaped object he had identified during his very first mission in this zone.
He reached out his arm, pulled with all his strength, unhooked the celestial artifact, and pressed it against himself.
Below, the Calamity had positioned itself at the center of the destroyed base, opening its gaping maw wide toward the sky, ready to receive its prey.
Eden floated just above it, in freefall.
In the control room, Lamar, Sophie, David, Tony, Mrs.
Bones, and Sally followed the thermal signal and began the countdown of the last chance:
“Five… four… three…”
In the air, Eden brandished the artifact, charging all his energy into it.
The object began to crackle with destructive electrical power.
“Take that, you giant living sausage!” he screamed.
“Two… one…!”
“DIVINE WRATH!” thundered Eden.
Behind him, through the clouds illuminated by the storm, a titanic and ethereal silhouette took shape, mimicking his movements exactly and charging a monumental attack.
“HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT!!!”
An immense pillar of divine lightning struck from the sky, passing through Eden and the artifact to strike the heart of the Calamity head-on.
The shockwave was so violent that it pulverized the ground for miles and propelled Eden’s body into the air, unconscious.
Fortunately, Alya, who was piloting an Order transport plane at low altitude, opened the hatch.
Clinging to a long rope ladder, she projected herself into the void and caught Eden in mid-air before the plane moved away from the blast zone.
During his blackout, Eden found himself instantly projected into the same infinite white space where Tony had been just before him.
“Oh no…” he thought, looking at his hands.
“Don’t tell me I’m dead.”
A familiar, deep voice resonated in the void:
“Truly… one has to be completely insane to attempt such a stunt.”
Eden turned around abruptly:
“Who are you?
Is it you, ‘Him’?
Did you come to get me?”
“No,” replied the mysterious voice.
“It is not your time yet, Eden.
Your watch is still ticking.”
“Well, since you know everything, enlighten me about my past!” Eden said, taking a step forward.
“Who is this woman who wrote me that letter?
Where did Kim go?
And who is Alya, really?”
The voice began to fade as the white light flickered:
“You will find all your answers…
by seeking your first death.”
Eden snapped his eyes open, gasping, and woke up in Alya’s arms inside the rescue plane sent by the Order.
But before he could collect his senses, a roar a thousand times louder than the previous one shook the aircraft.
Through the porthole, they saw a scene of apocalypse.
A fourth Calamity, of such gigantic size that it surpassed all the others combined, had just awakened from the depths of the earth.
The monster Eden had just killed was only a child compared to it.
Lamar, who was standing near the plane’s jump door, observed the monster and let out a nervous laugh:
“Hora hora hora… Ho ho… Mommy has just woken up, and she doesn’t look happy at all that we killed her kids.”
Without hesitation, Lamar began to put on his parachute.
“No, wait!
What are you doing, Lamar?!
Stop your nonsense, we can still slip away in the plane!” cried Eden, trying to get up.
Lamar turned around and gave him a serene smile:
“You know very well that’s false, Eden.
If we don’t stop her here, she will follow the plane and destroy the entire sector.
“Oh, Lamar…” whispered Eden, his throat tight.
“Give me a fist bump to lend me your strength one last time, old brother,” said Lamar, extending his mechanical fist.
The two men struck their fists against each other, and said with one single voice, united by an indestructible pact:
“Brothers for life, here below and even in the afterlife!”
Lamar threw himself into the void, plunging in freefall directly toward the gaping maw of the giant underground Calamity.
In mid-flight, energy began to saturate his cybernetic arm.
“ATOMIC CANNONS!” he screamed as his mechanical limb expanded, tripling in volume under the pressure of the thermal energy.
“BIG BANG APOCALYPSE!!!”
The explosion that followed was of such colossal power that it instantly swept away the storm and the black clouds, revealing a pure blue sky.
Later, the plane finally managed to land amidst the smoking ruins of the base.
David approached Eden, head down, looking guilty:
“I am truly sorry… He had strictly forbidden us from telling you about the fourth Calamity.
She was sleeping deeply when we discovered her.
When Lamar found out, he ordered us not to inform you so you would stay focused on Tony, saying he would handle it himself if she woke up.
We really thought she wouldn’t move… we were wrong.
I am sorry.”
Eden looked at the smoking crater and sighed softly:
“It’s nothing… It was his choice, he decided it alone.”
Suddenly, amidst the curtain of smoke from which the rest of the Calamity was evaporating, a familiar, triumphant voice rang out:
“Hurrah ha ha ha ha !!!”
The silhouette slowly took shape through the ashes.
Everyone held their breath.
It was Lamar!
He stepped forward shirtless, his metallic arm completely pulverized and reduced to crumbs by the explosion, but he was alive.
And most importantly, he was carrying something precious in his other good arm.
“Look what I brought you back from the monster’s guts…” he said, smiling.
In his hand, safe and sound, stood Mr.
Bones, clutching Alya’s sacred sword tightly!
Upon seeing her husband, Mrs.
Bones let her joy burst forth.
She ran toward him, and the couple embraced before beginning to dance an improvised waltz amidst the rubble.
Little Tony approached them curiously.
Mrs.
Bones, with a conspiratorial wink, slipped away for a moment toward the plane’s pilot to discreetly swipe a gift package the pilot had bought for his own son, and slipped it quietly into her husband’s hands.
“Code blue!” she whispered in Mr.
Bones’ ear.
Mr.
Bones immediately crouched down and handed the gift to the little boy:
“Happy birthday, my little Tony!”
Mrs.
Bones slapped her forehead laughing:
“You got it wrong, Bones!
That’s the code red protocol!
I said code blue!”
Mr.
Bones corrected himself with a big, warm smile:
“For staying so well-behaved, my little Tony… here is your well-deserved surprise.”
The whole family and the survivors burst into laughter and rejoiced, forgetting the horror of the battles for a moment.
Eden approached, crossing his arms:
“Mr.
Bones, you are a miracle.
Can you explain to us how you survived inside there?”
“It’s very simple, Eden,” the old man answered joyfully.
“When I was swallowed by the creature in the previous chapter, I found Alya’s sword floating in its stomach.
I held onto it with all my might.
It was the mystical energy of this sword that protected me from the gastric juices and kept me alive until Lamar came to open up the monster!”
“And now, I’m hungrier than ever.”
The two fortified bases now being totally destroyed, the Order pilot took them back, each toward their next destination.
The Calamity arc had just closed, but the mysteries of Eden’s first death were only beginning.