The Extra's Rise-Chapter 803: Two Years (4)

The First Calamity.

The Heavenly Demon.

The name still echoed like an ancient curse across battlefields and textbooks alike. The single greatest disaster humanity had ever faced. A being that didn’t just halt our ascent—she dismantled it, tearing the wings off humanity’s Golden Age right as we were learning how to fly.

In the records, a "Calamity" was the designation given to a being who could threaten all of humanity, across every continent. To qualify, you needed to match a demigod in power, at minimum. Only two humans had ever met that standard—Liam Kagu, the First Hero and savior of the Northern Continent, and my master, Magnus Draykar. The Martial King. The man who taught me how to fight and died before I could surpass him.

I remembered the first time I heard whispers about the Second Calamity. Tiamat had told me, her voice grave despite her usual regal detachment. The great Radiant Dragon, perched atop the highest cliffs of the Southern Continent, had spoken of it with rare stillness in her golden eyes.

It would come, she said, because of what I did.

Because I saved Stella.

I looked down at my daughter, who had grown quiet in my lap, her mathematical mind probably working through implications she was too young to fully grasp. Her dark hair fell across her face as she leaned against my chest, and I brushed it back gently. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"What signs have you seen?" I asked, keeping my voice level while running my fingers through Stella’s hair in the soothing pattern that had always helped her relax.

Cecilia leaned forward, her imperial bearing evident even in casual conversation. "Tiamat said it directly. And so did Queen Isolde, though she was more... cryptic about the details."

"To you personally?" I asked, noting how Stella’s breathing was starting to slow as she fought sleep.

"To all superpowers," Cecilia said. "They’re being careful about information control. The moment news of a potential Calamity becomes public, you’d have riots in Avalon and panic cults forming across all five continents."

Smart. If I were managing the situation, I wouldn’t go public either. Keeping things contained gave you time to prepare, time to build proper responses instead of reactive chaos.

"They want to form intercontinental coalitions," Rose added with business-like precision that couldn’t hide her underlying concern. "Strengthen existing alliances and present a unified front when the time comes."

Because that was the only way to face a Calamity. Alone, you were dust.

"The energy signatures are scattered," Seraphina reported with military efficiency. "But there’s been increased miasmic activity near borders. Nothing obvious enough to cause panic, but enough to suggest something is building."

I nodded, processing the information while Stella’s weight grew heavier against my chest as sleep finally claimed her. Her small hand was still clutching my shirt, even in unconsciousness, as if she was afraid I might disappear again.

Stella stirred slightly in my arms, mumbling something about mathematical theorems before settling deeper into sleep. Looking at her peaceful face, I felt the familiar surge of protective fury that had driven me to face seventeen Marquises and kill an Astral Leviathan.

"She needs proper rest," my mother said with maternal wisdom, rising from her position on the couch. "And you need time to process everything that’s happened."

My father stood as well, his business instincts recognizing that some conversations required privacy. "The guild’s quarterly reports can wait until tomorrow," he said with gentle firmness. "Tonight is for family."

Aria approached to kiss my cheek with sisterly affection that had matured during my absence. "I’m glad you’re home," she said simply. "Really glad."

I carried Stella to the reception hall’s attached rest area, settling her on the comfortable couch with a blanket that Rose had thoughtfully provided. She didn’t wake during the transfer, her breathing deep and even with the total relaxation that came from feeling completely safe.

"Sleep well, sweetheart," I whispered, kissing her forehead gently. "Daddy’s here now."

My parents and Aria left with quiet goodnights and promises to talk more in the morning, leaving me alone with the five women who had waited two years for this moment.

The change in atmosphere was immediate.

Whatever careful composure they had been maintaining for family propriety dissolved the moment the door closed. Rachel moved first, crossing the room with desperate speed that spoke to two years of suppressed need.

"Arthur," she breathed, throwing her arms around me with intensity that bordered on violence. "Arthur, I thought... there were nights I was sure you were dead. Nights I could feel it in my bones that you weren’t coming back."

Her sapphire eyes were bright with tears she had been holding back, her usual Saintess control completely abandoned as she pressed against me like she was trying to memorize my physical presence.

Cecilia was next, her imperial dignity cracking as she wrapped her arms around both Rachel and me. "Two years," she said with voice breaking. "Two years of not knowing if you’d decided we weren’t worth the complications. If you’d found something simpler on that other world."

"Never," I said firmly, pulling them both closer. "Never even a possibility."

Rose joined the embrace with business-like efficiency that couldn’t hide the trembling in her hands. "The guild reports were just excuses," she admitted against my shoulder. "I wrote them because it felt like you were still part of daily operations. Like you might read them and remember us."

Seraphina approached last, her ice-blue eyes reflecting emotions she rarely allowed herself to express. "I dreamed about you every night," she said with characteristic directness. "Training scenarios where you came back injured and I wasn’t strong enough to help. I pushed myself to high Immortal-rank because the alternative was imagining you needed protection I couldn’t provide."

Finally, Reika completed the circle, her violet eyes bright with tears that spoke to devotion that transcended normal human emotion. "I counted every day," she whispered. "Seven hundred and thirty days of wondering if I’d ever see you again. Of wondering if loving you was the smartest or stupidest thing I’d ever done."

Surrounded by all five of them, feeling their warmth and hearing their voices after two years of fighting alone on an alien world, I understood something fundamental about why I had survived everything Xerion Prime had thrown at me.

"I love you," I said simply, the words encompassing all of them. "All of you. Every day I was gone, you were what I was fighting to return to."

"Show us," Rachel said with desperate intensity, her hands tracing the new scars on my arms. "Show us you’re really here. That this isn’t just another dream where you disappear when we wake up."

I kissed each of them in turn—Rachel with the passionate intensity she craved, Cecilia with possessive certainty that claimed and was claimed, Seraphina with gentle respect that honored her reserved nature, Rose with steady affection that spoke to partnership, and Reika with devotion that transcended physical expression.

"I’m here," I said against Reika’s lips as she clung to me with desperate strength. "I’m home. And I’m not leaving again."

"Promise," Cecilia demanded with imperial authority that couldn’t hide vulnerable need.

"I promise," I replied without hesitation. "Whatever comes next, we face it together."

We stood there in the quiet reception hall, holding each other with the kind of desperate relief that came from reunions that almost didn’t happen. Outside, Avalon City hummed with normal evening activities, unaware that one of their protectors had returned from killing a guardian of the galaxy.

"The Second Calamity," Rose said eventually, her business mind reasserting itself even as she remained pressed against my side.

"Let’s worry about that tomorrow," I said firmly. "Tonight is about remembering why we’re willing to fight world-ending threats in the first place."

Looking around at these five extraordinary women who had chosen to wait for me, who had transformed themselves into forces of nature during my absence, I felt something I hadn’t experienced since leaving Earth.

Complete confidence.

A Calamity was coming. A being of ruin and myth, a world-ender with divine power and an ego to match. The kind of opponent that entire continents would struggle to stall, let alone defeat.

I wasn’t underestimating it. I knew better.

But I also wasn’t afraid.

Because I wasn’t planning on fighting alone.

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