Erica stared blankly at the crow before her, unable to react for a moment:

"The crow... can talk?"

Vega folded its wings across its chest, bowing politely.

Its gentlemanly demeanor left Erica somewhat dazed, but she couldn't ignore the fact that it was still a crow.

"Allow me to introduce myself briefly, young lady."

"I am the evil god — Habika."

"Evil god Habika?"

Erica murmured the name, but clearly, she had never heard of it before.

She knew the empire's history well, and there had never been any record of such a deity.

"Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't recognize me. You can call me by my current name, Vega."

"Now, allow me to ask again."

"Do you truly want to save Viktor Kravina?"

Erica finally snapped back to reality. At this moment, she didn't care who or what the being before her was, nor did she care about its identity or capabilities.

Like grasping at the last straw on the edge of despair, she nodded repeatedly, only wanting the evil god before her to save Viktor.

Vega closed its eyes and chuckled softly.

"The ritual is not yet complete. To save him, you need your own power."

"Believe in me, become my follower, and I will help you fulfill your wish."

Black magic arrays, like venomous snakes flicking their tongues, spread across the ground, gathering beneath Erica's feet.

Dark mist began to rise from around the array, enveloping Erica.

She had never seen such magic or such an array before, and it made her feel extremely uneasy.

Was it because... it was an evil god?

Erica had no other choice. She could only nod and agree to its terms.

As long as she became its follower, she could save Viktor.

This was Erica's only thought at the moment. Without any hesitation, she quickly said:

"I agree. I will believe in you and become your follower."

Vega looked at the devout Erica, its single eye radiating arrogant triumph.

"Very well, I acknowledge your sincerity."

Its gaze shifted to the unconscious Viktor.

It mused inwardly.

'To think a girl would go to such lengths for you, Viktor.'

'You've truly gained something precious without even realizing it.'

In an instant, mist spread from Vega's body, as if injecting some magical power into the array on the ground.

The black array began to writhe frantically, its edges extending tiny tentacles that danced upon the earth. Then, a burst of light enveloped both Vega and Erica.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The next second, the light shattered like a mirror, and the array vanished.

Erica opened her eyes, trying to find any changes in herself.

However... nothing had happened.

There wasn't even a mark on her body.

Was this... the contract-signing ritual?

If Vega knew the young girl's thoughts, it would surely laugh its beak off.

Because it had no teeth.

Signing a contract was never just a matter of words, and this dark array was merely a one-way connection for followers.

To sign a contract with it?

At the very least, one would need to sign a formal contract like Viktor did!

"Is this... enough?" Erica asked, looking at it with confusion and obvious urgency in her voice.

Was this enough to save Viktor?

That was undoubtedly what she was thinking.

Vega looked at her, smiling without speaking, then narrowed its eye and asked:

"Before saving him, I need to ask you a question."

"Why are you here?"

Why are you at the volcano's summit?

Erica paused for a moment, considering her words carefully before finally telling the truth.

"I heard it, the volcano, crying out in pain."

"It said it was hurting."

"Oh?"

Vega glanced at Erica with interest. Suddenly, it understood everything.

It narrowed its eye and chuckled lightly, as if using words to guide her step by step.

"And then? What can you hear now?"

Hearing Vega's question, Erica frowned and shook her head.

"I can't hear anything anymore," she said.

This was to be expected.

Vega turned its head, thinking to itself:

'Because the Fire Calamity has been put to sleep by this terrifying man...'

It would perhaps never forget that scene.

When the final 'Magic Ark' fell into the depths of the volcano.

The surging, boiling pillars of fire and lava seemed to freeze and stagnate.

The 'Ark' devoured everything, including Guledon.

In fact, Guledon should have been able to withstand that kind of attack.

If it had been at full strength, such war magic wouldn't have even scratched it.

But at that time, Guledon was already severely wounded, its body flowing with lava, its proud defense reduced to almost nothing.

Guledon ultimately crumbled into lifeless rock within the volcano, forced into a deep slumber.

As for why it was slumber rather than death.

Because Calamities do not die.

As long as magical elements exist in the world, Calamities will continue to live.

And Viktor's current state, to put it bluntly, wasn't due to injury at all.

Having witnessed his battle with the Fire Calamity firsthand, Vega didn't think there was anything that could hurt Viktor now.

At this moment, he had fallen into a state called "magical overload."

Viktor had used magic borrowed from it to fight Guledon continuously for three days and two nights without any restraint.

But that power ultimately wasn't Viktor's own.

The magic Vega allowed him to use wasn't infinite; there was bound to be a threshold.

Normally, the consumption wouldn't reach that threshold.

But Viktor was far from normal.

So, at the last moment when his magic was depleted, the link between it and Viktor was forcibly severed.

Yet this still wasn't enough to make Viktor faint.

Even more insanely, before Guledon fell asleep, he had torn off a piece of Guledon's 'magical essence' and forcibly fused it with himself.

This was why Viktor's body seemed to be flowing with lava.

Because his body was digesting Guledon's magical essence.

Viktor had already exhausted his own magic, and then forcibly accepted an astonishing external magic source.

If he didn't faint, who would?

But it wasn't a big deal; he'd recover after resting for a few days at most.

Right now, what interested Vega more was the girl before it.

'Interesting, how interesting...'

'A girl who can communicate with Calamities, I fear even if she doesn't know how incredibly valuable she is!'

This was quite a windfall.

As it was rejoicing, suddenly, it heard hurried footsteps.

'Someone's coming?'

Vega smiled and looked towards the slope, its extraordinary vision spotting a silver figure.

It naturally recognized who it was, but now wasn't the time to reveal itself.

To avoid trouble for itself and Viktor, it flapped its wings and moved in front of Viktor.

Its beak grasped Viktor's collar.

Yet its voice continued to sound in Erica's ear as usual.

"You saved Viktor. I'll make sure he knows about this."

"Little girl, we'll meet again."

As soon as the words fell, before Erica's eyes, Vega's body suddenly began to expand. The jet-black crow instantly transformed into an astonishing black-feathered giant eagle.

It grasped Viktor's collar in its beak, flapped its wings, and instantly took flight.

A gust of wind blew, scattering all the surrounding debris. In almost an instant, it disappeared from Erica's sight.

"Viktor..."

The black silhouette in the sky grew smaller and smaller, more and more blurred, until it faded from her vision.

Gwen, arriving too late, missed her chance. She hadn't been able to catch Viktor and question him thoroughly as she had hoped.

Instead, she saw the gradually disappearing black dot in the sky, her expression extremely grave.

"Viktor? What on earth is going on..."

Then, she noticed Erica.

Erica's body showed numerous burn marks. She knelt on the ground, trying her best to force a smile.

As if using the last of her strength, with a thud, she fainted and collapsed to the ground.

Gwen: "..."

She walked forward and slowly picked up Erica.

When she looked up at the sky again, all that remained was the endless downpour of rain.