Kazuma Sato 1

Kazuma, Aqua, Darkness, and Harlan stand within the burial chamber; Megumin remains above with the surrendered goblins while the unconscious captain and scout lie beyond the sealed camp.

When Harlan brings the silver amulet near the black altar, every ward flares white. The violet crystal projects the words AWAKENING AT MOONRISE across the dusty floor.

Harlan sets the amulet into a shallow depression beside the altar. Aqua raises the crystal over it, and silver fire joins violet light in a widening ring.

A deep heartbeat sounds beneath the road. Dust falls from the ceiling, the altar's black stone warms beneath the artifacts, and a sealed stairway begins grinding open behind it.

Kazuma's call reverberates through the burial chamber and up the newly opened stairway. The echo shakes loose a pebble, which strikes his shoulder before skittering across the altar floor.

Megumin descends briskly, crimson cloak sweeping behind her. She reaches the chamber with her staff raised, coughing once as dust drifts from the grinding stairway.

She plants her staff beside the altar and begins the incantation. Crimson sparks coil around her, brightening the silver wards and staining the chamber walls red.

Kazuma gestures the party away from the altar and guides them behind the nearest arc of silver wards, using the engraved stones as a defensive line.

The wards flare as everyone crosses their boundary. Kazuma catches his palm against a sharp silver ridge, drawing a thin line of blood, but the formation is secure.

Harlan crouches beside the warded stones, clutching the ledger against his chest. Megumin continues chanting near the altar, crimson sparks circling her staff.

Beneath the altar, the heartbeat deepens. Dust trickles from the ceiling, while white ward-light locks into a continuous ring around the waiting party.

Kazuma draws his bow from his shoulder and plants his feet behind the silver ward-line. He nocks an arrow, sighting the altar through the white radiance.

The heartbeat beneath the altar becomes a thunderous pulse. Black stone splits apart, revealing a descending hollow filled with pale golden eyes and the scrape of enormous claws.

Kazuma keeps the bowstring taut as the Beast rises behind the altar, its horned silhouette filling the widening stairwell. The arrow remains trained on its exposed head.

Kazuma lowers his bow just enough to make himself the obvious target, then retreats along the ward-line toward the altar. The Beast follows, claws hammering stone.

Its horned head crosses the silver boundary. The wards erupt into white chains around its limbs, dragging the enormous creature fully into the protected ring.

The Beast lunges at Kazuma before the binding light tightens. He twists aside, but one claw tears across his sleeve and knocks his bow from his hand.

Darkness steps between Kazuma and the Beast, shield raised. The creature thrashes against the silver restraints, its pale eyes turning toward her as crimson fire gathers around Megumin's staff.

Kazuma raises two fingers toward Megumin, then points past the ward-line at the Beast. The signal is unmistakable: cast now.

Megumin drives her staff into the stone. Crimson light collapses inward around its tip, while the silver wards strain against the Beast's thrashing limbs.

The chamber vanishes beneath a roaring sphere of scarlet fire. The blast consumes the altar, the bound Beast, and the open hollow in one blinding detonation.

When the fire clears, smoke rolls across fractured stone. The silver wards still glow, the Beast lies motionless within the ruined altar ring, and Megumin drops heavily against her staff.