The creature was gone.
Not defeated. Not destroyed. Simply Gone.
Fray remained standing for several seconds, staring at the empty space where its enormous body had been.
His body was battered, bruises spreading across his skin while cuts marked his arms and torso. His breathing was heavier than usual, and the lingering cold made every movement uncomfortable.
Eventually, he reverted to his human-like form.
His scales disappeared, his reptilian features softened, and his enormous frame gradually returned to its usual size.
The moment the transformation was complete, he turned toward Shad.
Despite everything that had happened, his first concern was the human.
He hurried toward the place where he had left him, expecting to find him unconscious or barely able to move. After the creature's disappearance, Fray had barely had time to assess the battlefield, let alone check the condition of the person he had carried through the fight.
Instead, he stopped in surprise.
Shad was sitting on a cooled section of rock, his injured left arm resting carefully against his leg. His right elbow rested on his knee, while his cheek leaned against his fist. His eyes were closed, and his expression suggested that he was deep in thought.
He looked almost peaceful.
Fray stared at him.
How long had he been awake?
He was about to ask when Shad spoke.
"I've been awake since the beginning, if that's what you're thinking."
One of Shad's eyes opened.
He looked directly at Fray.
For a moment, Fray seemed confused. Then, perhaps slightly flustered, he clicked his tongue.
"You are one weird creature, you know."
"Maybe I am."
Fray studied him for another moment.
"But weren't you scared?"
Shad's eye narrowed slightly.
"Scared?"
"That you were going to die. Or something close to it happening to you."
Shad closed his eye again.
For several seconds, he said nothing. He breathed in slowly and exhaled, considering the question as though it deserved a serious answer.
"Death."
He spoke the word slowly, feeling a bit wistful about it.
"I never really felt like I was going to die."
Fray's expression changed.
"Honestly, that creature never felt truly life-threatening to me."
Fray stared at him.
Shad continued before he could respond.
"It was strong. Very strong."
His eyes remained closed.
"But since coming to this strange world, I've encountered creatures that made me feel genuinely threatened."
He paused, searching for the right way to explain it.
"They were dangerous. Their strength wasn't the only problem. There was something about them that made fighting them feel like a gamble I couldn't afford to take."
He opened his eyes and glanced toward the empty battlefield.
"But that thing?"
He shook his head slightly.
"It was just strong."
Fray found the answer arrogant, almost unbelievable.
He had watched Shad fight. He had seen the injuries the creature inflicted on him, and he had witnessed the scale of destruction it could unleash. Even Fray, with all his experience and abilities, had been forced to fight desperately to survive.
Yet Shad spoke as though the creature had been little more than an obstacle.
Still, Fray had known him for a long time.
Far longer than the eight years Shad believed they had spent together.
He had watched him, studied him, and fought beside him. He had seen enough of Shad Darc to know that the human rarely expressed fear in a way that could be easily understood.
Even so, Fray couldn't always understand the way he thought.
That was perhaps the strangest thing about him.
Shad looked ordinary.
He behaved ordinarily. He could be careless, quiet, irritated, curious, or completely indifferent depending on the situation. Nothing about him immediately suggested that he was special.
And yet there was something fundamentally wrong about Shad Darc.
Not wrong in the sense of being evil.
Something deeper.
Something about his nature and existence that Fray had never been able to identify.
He wasn't sure he even wanted to.
Shad looked at him.
"You don't need to think too much about it. Relax your mind."
Fray's expression remained doubtful.
"The thing is..."
Shad stopped himself.
His eyes opened briefly before closing again.
"Never mind. What do we do next?"
Fray stared at him for another moment, evidently deciding that whatever explanation Shad might have offered wasn't worth pursuing.
He turned his attention toward the empty battlefield.
"Nothing, really."
He considered what had happened, then allowed a faint smile to form.
"It seems Veyris isn't your average person."
He paused.
"Or, more accurately, commander."
"Is that so?"
The voice came from behind him.
Shad's eyes opened fully.
Fray turned around.
His expression immediately changed into a friendly smile.
A man stood behind him.
He was almost as tall as Fray, with a lean, athletic build. His hair was gold, and his eyes were a strangely transparent red. They didn't merely appear red in colour; they seemed almost clear, as though something beneath their surface could look straight through whoever stood before him.
It was Commander Veyris.
Fray's smile widened.
"Thank you for saving the entire continent from total annihilation. If not for your timely—"
Veyris casually raised one hand.
Fray stopped.
"I don't enjoy unnecessary praise," Veyris said. "Especially not from a Reptilus."
He lowered his hand.
"So enough with it."
Veyris approached Fray and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You have proven yourself, Reptilus."
Fray immediately looked down at the hand.
His expression soured.
"I don't particularly like it when someone I don't trust—or have a mutual relationship with—puts their hand on my shoulder."
Veyris blinked.
"Hmm."
He removed his hand.
"My apologies."
His tone was light-hearted, as though Fray had merely pointed out a minor breach of etiquette.
Then Veyris's gaze shifted toward Shad.
A mischievous smile appeared on his face.
He leaned slightly toward Fray and spoke in a quieter voice, one that shouldn't have carried far enough for anyone else to hear.
"So tell me."
His eyes remained fixed on Shad.
"What is a human like you doing in a world that doesn't belong to you?"
Fray's expression changed.
Veyris continued.
"You know, you never told me how you ended up in the Dark Forest."
For a moment, Fray was too surprised to respond.
Not because Veyris knew Shad was human. That part wasn't surprising. Fray had known Shad's true nature for years.
What caught him off guard was the way Veyris had said it.
Until now, Veyris had treated Shad like an Albelihu.
He had spoken to him as one.
He had never corrected anyone who assumed Shad was an Albelihu not like anyone in this back waters region really knows what an Albelihu and Reptilus are not to talk more less a human as they all refer to them as high bloods.
And yet now he was standing in front of Shad and openly calling him human.
Fray glanced between them.
So that was why Veyris had never questioned Shad's supposed identity.
He already knew it was false.
Shad stared at Veyris.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
"Since when?"
Veyris smiled.
"Which one are you asking?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Since when you've been here?"
A pause.
"Or since when I knew you were human?"
Shad's expression remained calm.
"Both."
Veyris considered the question.
"Let's see."
He raised one finger.
"For the first one, I arrived immediately after the creature disappeared."
His gaze briefly shifted toward the empty battlefield before returning to Shad.
"And the second?"
His smile widened.
"Since the first time I saw you."
Shad remained silent.
Fray's eyes narrowed.
Veyris had known from the beginning.
Then why had he allowed everyone else to believe Shad was an high blood as they called here?
Veyris seemed to read the question from Fray's expression.
"As for why I called you an Albelihu before..."
He shrugged.
"That was simply the identity you were using."
Shad's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You knew."
"I did."
"And you said nothing."
Veyris smiled.
"You never asked."
The answer was so casual that it almost sounded insulting.
Shad studied him for a moment.
Veyris continued.
"Besides, whether the others believed you were an Albelihu or not didn't change what you were."
His transparent red eyes remained fixed on Shad.
"Human."
The word hung between them.
Not as an accusation.
Not even as a threat.
Simply as a fact Veyris had apparently known from the beginning.
Veyris's smile faded slightly.
"Do you perhaps assume I don't know what a human is?"
He stepped closer.
"Or what one looks like?"
He was noticeably taller than Shad now that they stood directly opposite each other.
Veyris stood at roughly ten feet, while Shad was around eight and a half. Shad's body had gradually grown over the years since he had arrived in this world, particularly after he began training with Flow.
Yet the difference in height was the least important thing between them.
Shad showed no reaction to it.
He simply looked into Veyris's transparent red eyes.
"How am I supposed to know?"
His voice remained calm.
"I know very little about where I am. Or why I'm here."
Veyris studied him.
"Hmm."
He nodded slowly.
"Is that so?"
He stepped closer.
"So you're telling me you don't know how you managed to find yourself in this, my world?"
Shad opened his mouth to answer.
Veyris raised a hand, stopping him.
"Well, you don't have to answer. It's not like I care."
He smiled again.
Then his expression changed.
"Do you know what my people see your kind as?"
Shad looked at him.
"What?"
Veyris's lips curved into a dark grin.
"hmm, Let's just say you will get to find out if you manage to leave long enough."
He answered almost immediately.
There was no hesitation in his voice.
Shad stared at him for a moment.
Then he gave a small nod.
"That's good to know."
Veyris's eyebrows rose.
For the first time, genuine amusement appeared in his eyes.
"Hmm."
He looked Shad up and down.
"Not bad for a lost human."
Shad answered without changing his expression.
"Thank you for the compliment."
Fray stared at the two of them.
He suddenly wondered whether he was the only sane person standing there.
The battlefield behind them was still smoking. The continent was still suffering from the creature's lingering cold, and none of them knew whether the abomination would return.
Yet these two were casually discussing what humans are and how they they are seen like that mattered at the moment.
And judging by Veyris's expression, he was enjoying the conversation far more than he should have been.