Far from the scene, Kael continued walking through the streets of Fortress Genesis as if nothing had happened.
The noise of the city returned once more—merchants shouting, footsteps echoing, distant metal clashing from training grounds.
Yet behind him, rumors had already begun spreading quietly.
A Nightmare had been stopped.
And the host had survived.
While walking through the crowded street, Kael suddenly spoke without turning around.
"…Why do you keep following me?"
Behind him, Runa clicked her tongue.
"What? You think I'm some random stranger?" she replied. "Everything I do has a reason."
Kael glanced at her briefly from the corner of his eye.
"…And your reason?"
Runa crossed her arms while walking beside him.
"Heh. Maybe I'm just curious what kind of monster you really are."
Kael stayed silent for a few moments.
The crowded street continued moving around them, people unknowingly passing beside two individuals far more dangerous than they realized.
Then Kael spoke quietly.
"…I'm trying to figure that out myself."
Runa let out a small amused sound.
"…Ho~? You talk like you don't even know what you are," she said, glancing at him sideways.
Kael didn't respond immediately.
His eyes remained forward, calm but distant, as if the answer itself was something still forming inside him.
When Runa didn't receive a response from Kael, she clicked her tongue.
"Tch."
Without warning, she tossed a small paper bag straight at his chest.
It landed with a soft thud against him, slightly crumpling before hanging from his hand.
Kael paused and looked down at it, expression unchanged.
"Here," Runa said casually. "I brought you some clothes. You look like a walking beggar roaming the streets."
Kael glanced at the paper bag in his hand, then back at her.
"…I didn't ask for this," he said flatly.
Runa shrugged.
"Doesn't matter," she said. "You're attracting too much attention like that."
She tilted her head slightly, watching him.
"Even idiots like you should at least look normal in Fortress Genesis. In any case, you are strong to withstand a Nightmare, i think I don't worry about that."
"What really is a Nightmare?" Kael asked calmly.
Runa paused for a moment, her ears twitching slightly as she glanced at him.
"…You really don't even know the basics," she muttered under her breath.
Then she sighed.
"A Nightmare is what happens when corruption in a human reaches its limit," she explained. "Their body, spirit, and will get eaten from the inside until something else takes over."
Her gaze turned serious.
"…And once it starts, there's almost no way to stop it—unless you destroy the core before it fully forms."
"Wait… your memory came back? That you remember the common knowledge of deep abyss?" Runa asked, blinking in surprise.
Kael shook his head slightly.
"No," he said calmly. "I fought it."
Runa paused.
"…Oh, I see—"
Then her eyes widened. "Wait. WHAT?! You fought it?!"
Kael continued walking as if her reaction was nothing unusual.
"…It was weak." he said simply.
Runa stopped for half a step, staring at him like he had just said something absurd.
"…Weak?" she repeated slowly.
Kael didn't look back.
He adjusted the paper bag in his hand and kept moving forward through the busy street.
Runa quickly caught up beside him again, narrowing her eyes.
"…You really have no sense of normal," she muttered. "That thing almost turns a whole district into a graveyard."
Kael glanced at her briefly.
"…It didn't finish forming," he said calmly. "So it was predictable."
Runa clicked her tongue again, walking beside him.
"…Predictable…? You're impossible. Ahh, whatever—you really keep surprising me," she muttered, shaking her head.
Kael didn't respond.
His eyes stayed forward, calm as ever, as if the entire conversation meant nothing compared to what he was thinking.
Runa glanced at him sideways.
"…Seriously," she said quieter, "you're not normal at all. By the way, what are you going to do?" Runa asked.
Kael didn't answer immediately.
He slowed his steps slightly, eyes still forward.
"…What I'm looking for isn't here," he said at last. "Everything I need in this place is only temporary."
A brief pause.
"…All I need to do here is find a way to leave this world."
His voice lowered slightly.
"…And I won't come back."
Runa suddenly stopped walking.
"…Who are you?" she said softly at first, her voice barely audible. Then it cracked.
"Who the hell are you to say something like that?" she shouted, stepping closer. "What gives you the right?!"
Her ears were tense, her hands clenched.
"Who are you to not care about what other people think… to just do whatever you want?!"
Her voice trembled now, anger mixing with frustration.
"…Do you even realize how selfish that sounds?"
For a moment, her expression faltered—almost like tears were about to form in her eyes.
Kael stood still, watching Runa as she spoke.
His expression did not change.
"…Without any consideration for others… acting so bluntly… and more than anything—" Runa's voice shook slightly. "The fact that you don't even think of the people here as human is what—!"
She stopped herself for a moment, breathing uneven.
The street around them felt distant again, noise fading into the background as tension filled the space between them.
Kael stood still, watching Runa as she spoke.
His expression did not change.
"…Without any consideration for others… acting so bluntly… and more than anything—" Runa's voice shook slightly. "The fact that you don't even think of the people here as human is what—!"
She stopped herself for a moment, breathing uneven.
The street around them felt distant again, noise fading into the background as tension filled the space between them.
Runa took a shaky breath, her voice softer but still tense.
"I am… the people here are human too. I may not be as strong as you… but I'm still human."
For a moment, she looked away, as if forcing herself to calm down.
Kael remained silent. He simply watched her.
The crowded street around them kept moving, but the space between the two felt still—like everything had paused on the edge of something unspoken.
Kael's eyes shifted slightly upward.
In his vision, something flickered—an invisible transmission only he could perceive.
A message formed in runa aboves, like a particles, seem telepathy someone sending to Runa.
> "If you break the order, the old woman's life will die."
Another followed immediately.
> "You are supposed to lure him with your words. What are you doing?"
Kael's expression didn't change outwardly, but his gaze sharpened slightly.
"…So there's a hostage, and they want me." he whispered to himself.
His attention briefly moved back to Runa, who was still standing in front of him, emotional and tense.
The surrounding street noise returned, but the hidden pressure behind the message lingered in his mind like a blade at his throat.
Kael's eyes shifted subtly toward the opposite side of the street.
Among the moving crowd, several figures stood too still, pretending to blend in while watching from a distance.
"The guy from the alley on other side." he whispered quietly.
His gaze lingered on them for only a second before returning forward.
"…Should I let them lure me in… to save the hostage?" he muttered to himself.
Beside him, Runa still looked frustrated and emotional, completely unaware of the silent exchange happening behind the scenes.
"There's no point…" Kael whispered to himself.
His gaze remained on Runa, but the world around her had already begun to distort again in his vision.
The streets.
The people.
The sky.
All of it overlapped with that hellish world beneath reality—rotting corpses walking under a crimson sky.
"No matter who I save… reality itself will not change."
His eyes narrowed faintly.
"…Truth showed me the true nature of this world after all."
The flickering intensified briefly.
"A world where the dead continue to exist… and true life no longer does."
"This is the True Deep Abyss," Kael whispered.
Runa's eyes widened slightly, as if she didn't fully understand what he meant—but her patience had already snapped.
She suddenly grabbed Kael's shirt.
"…In that case," she said coldly, voice trembling, "I can't see you as a human anymore. Let's part ways here."
Kael didn't resist.
Runa released her grip and turned away.
"…From now on, we're strangers." she continued, walking forward without looking back. "We won't be seeing each other anymore."
But as she walked, her head turned slightly—just once—glancing at him over her shoulder, her expression unreadable.
Then she continued on, disappearing into the crowd.
Kael's gaze shifted immediately.
Through the crowd, he saw the men from earlier in the alleyway moving quickly, trying to slip away.
"tch." one of them hissed. "Shit… The Red Assassin betrayed us. Send the message to the leader."
Another nodded urgently.
"We already brought the Nightmare poison. There's nothing to suspect us—"
Their voices faded as they merged deeper into the streets, attempting to escape unnoticed.
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly as the pieces aligned in his mind.
"Nightmare Poison…?" Kael whispered to himself, his eyes narrowing slightly.
He glanced once more toward the direction the men had fled, then looked down at himself.
His clothes were still stained from earlier fights and dust from the street.
"…Well," he muttered quietly, "I should change my clothes first, I guess."
Without urgency, Kael adjusted the paper bag Runa had given him and began walking again through Fortress Genesis, blending into the crowd as if nothing had changed.