Great Disaster

''This page is about the disaster in Arc 7 and Arc 8. For the historical incident that took place 400 years before the events of the series, see Great Calamity.''

The Great Disaster (大災) is one of the four major disasters, taking place in the Sacred Vollachia Empire approximately one year and several months after Natsuki Subaru was summoned to the world. It is an armed conflict where the deceased citizens of Vollachia were brought back from the dead as undead by Sphinx. Its prognosis is a driving force behind the events of Arc 7 and it is a major conflict that takes place during Arc 8.

Directly preceding the disaster was the Battle for the Imperial Capital, a battle for control over Lupugana between the Imperial Army, the Pleiades Battalion, and the so-called Rebel Army. Its stopping point was marked by Chisha Gold's death and the rise of countless undead throughout the Imperial Capital of Lupugana.

Background
More than 40 years before Subaru's arrival to the world, a member of Vollachia's Imperial Family named Stride Vollachia fell sick and spent three months on the border between life and death. After conquering his illness at the cost of his body beginning to resemble a living corpse's, Stride began to believe in entities known as the “Observers”. He wrote a journal containing contents about them and the signs of a future Great Disaster to come. Stride soon concealed the journal inside the Crystal Palace's library, and for undisclosed reasons, his name was erased from the records of the Imperial Family and the Vollachia Empire.

In the same era, the future bearer of the Great Disaster, Sphinx, was taking part in the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica's Demi-Human War. She had once been used in a failed immortality experiment by Echidna, but after acquiring parts of the Witch of Greed's soul, she found her way into the world and happened upon Valga Cromwell nearly 350 years after her creation. She joined the Demi-Human Alliance at his beckon and gained infamy as the only “Witch” besides Satella whose name was engraved into the history of the Kingdom. However, during a battle for Lugunica Castle, Sphinx was forced to retreat and found herself taken captive by Leip Barielle, who she would be held prisoner by for over 40 years. Although she attempted to further her plans through two occasions while being trapped, these both failed. Sometime afterwards, Sphinx settled on targeting Vollachia with the plan of destroying the Empire.

When he was a child, Vincent Abellux discovered the hidden journal of Stride Vollachia, which contained foreknowledge of the Great Disaster. He used it before and after becoming Emperor in an attempt to minimize the ruin it caused after ascertaining that it could not be stopped and believing his death was inevitable. Many of the actions Vincent had chose throughout his life, including his recruitment of Chisha Gold and Cecilus Segmunt, saving Prisca Benedict's life, his reforms to the Empire after becoming the Emperor, and the reestablishment of the Nine Divine Generals, were all for the purpose of minimizing the Great Disaster's ruin.

Eventually, Ubilk, a Star Reader of the Empire, received a commandment that foretold that the Great Disaster could only begin with “Vincent Vollachia's” death in front of Chisha Gold and Vincent himself. This greatly upset Chisha, who discovered that Vincent had known about the Great Disaster since he acquired Stride Vollachia's journal. In a later conversation with Ubilk, Chisha had the idea to replace Vincent's role in the commandment by using his ability.

Before the events of Arc 7, Chisha began cooperating with Berstetz Fondalfon's plan to rebel against Vincent, forced him away from the Imperial Capital, imprisoned Goz Ralfon, who had helped the Emperor escape Lupugana and gained knowledge of the Great Disaster, and became the acting Emperor by taking on his appearance. Throughout the arc's events, Chisha acted as the Emperor in Vincent's place. He visited the Demon City of Chaosflame, witnessed the city's destruction by a mass of shadows, ordered members of the Nine Divine Generals and Kafma Irulux to guard Lupugana's bastions, and waited for Vincent to arrive at the Crystal Palace during the Battle for the Imperial Capital.

When Vincent arrived at the Crystal Palace's throne room, during the Battle for the Imperial Capital, he and Chisha had a short confrontation. Suddenly, the latter was killed by Balleroy Temeglyph, a dead man who had formerly been the Ninth among the Nine Divine Generals. The deceased citizens of Vollachia, began being brought back by the bearer of the Great Disaster, Sphinx, and the Great Disaster began without Vincent Abellux dying, as Chisha's death while in the form of Vincent Vollachia fulfilled the prediction of Ubilk's commandment.

Trivia

 * The name “Great Disaster” is not exclusive to the modern incarnation of the disaster. Long ago, at an unknown time in the past, Lupugana's Magic Crystal Cannon once destroyed a large city, and according to legend, it was used in an incident also known as a Great Disaster.