Theron stood there in silence for a long while, the world becoming a pulsing echo of his heartbeat ringing in his ears. He could practically feel every chamber in his chest opening and closing, their valves flexing and relaxing in a continuous motion that only seemed to get faster and faster with every passing second.
Finally, he closed his eyes.
He wasn't living for himself.
In this last year, he had lost count of the number of times he had whispered these exact words to himself. The furious side of him wanted to rampage, but it was foolish to even consider it.
Where would he go on a rampage? Who would his opponent be? He couldn't even protect himself completely in an Empire like the Nightingales, and now he was supposed to go up against a power that was stronger than them?
How would he do that exactly? By screaming to the skies like he had a year ago?
The last thought caused him to exhale. A steaming cold breath came from his lips, pulled right into his necklace.
Theron looked down, his gaze carrying its own icy hell within. The temperature in the surroundings seemed to drop by just a few degrees, but it was very real nonetheless.
His gaze shifted and he looked off into the distance, but the shadow that was meant to be protecting Akkun still hadn't appeared.
While it seemed foolish for Theron to kill Akkun without finishing his questions, he had done it on purpose. The fact Akkun's soul lamp recorded his last moments meant that anything he found out through Akkun, others would know that he knew—at least up to a certain point.
Maybe it wouldn't make much of a difference if that Karmic Spirit Mancer knew that he knew of his existence, but Theron still didn't want him to know that he was aware just yet.
And more importantly, if just the immediate situation was taken into account, the secrets of the Nightingale Empire and its surrounding lands…
However, there was one thing that Theron was quite certain of.
"I know you're there. So how about we stop wasting time?"
Theron's foot moved in a flash, Akkun's head deforming as though a ball on the roof of his foot as he kicked it out.
There was a pause and then the head suddenly accelerated, a great deal of power and menace sending it flying into the distance.
If all of that was the first reason he killed Akkun so abruptly, the second reason was to find this danger hidden away in the shadows.
The instinct of this shadow, maybe for every year since Akkun had been born until right this moment, was to protect. No matter how stone-cold, no matter how indifferent, that instinct would kick in even to the slightest extent when Theron so abruptly acted to kill.
Unless the shadow was ready and prepared to control themselves, there would definitely be a flinch of their bodies, a twitch of their hearts, a hitch in their breath.
Theron had killed Akkun so abruptly, and for seemingly no reason at all. Akkun's last words had just been about pinpointing time, and there were still so many other questions to ask, it was simply the last moment the shadow would expect him to be killed.
The head exploded on contact with the wall, but there was nothing at all.
Theron looked out, blinking toward the location. He stood there for a long while as though he was still double-checking.
Then, he shook his head, bent down to snatch Akkun's spatial ring, and then turned to leave.
Just as he passed a certain location hidden in the shadows, he suddenly moved. His eyes left streaks in the air, almost as though he had instantly become a wild, untamed beast with death-filled pupils.
Savage and abrasive, he swung his short sword with all his might. But at some point, it had been swapped. No longer being a normal short sword…
But instead, his father's.
A cry of surprise echoed as something shifted, struggling to block.
There were two sounds, but the first of clashing weapons was suffocated by the sound of a back slamming against a stone wall.
All the air seemed to leave Theron's body at the same time, hacking up the wind of his lungs and the saliva of his throat in one go. His inner organs shook and his ribs and spine flexed against the solid earth.
This wasn't just some First Resonance Gold Mancer. No, Theron couldn't quite tell his cultivation just yet. But what he did know was that there was a big difference between this man and the Mist Mancer.
Even caught off guard, he defended so perfectly. No, not just defending, but countering.
However, Theron was ready for this.
The shadow seemed to slowly manifest, Dark Mana rippling around him as he looked down at the blade in his hand.
A blade that had been severed in two.
A gash ran down the length of his chest, just barely missing his neck and opting for his collarbone instead.
Both things seemed to shock him, but losing his weapon seemed even more ridiculous to him…
But then he looked up to the translucent blue short sword in Theron's hand.
Confusion. Surprise. Greed.
The emotions were all layered atop of one another.
"… How did you know I was there?" the shadow asked coldly.
Theron's body slid down the wall, landing nimbly on the tips of his toes. His body swayed slightly before stabilizing itself.
He really had to thank this man. If not for that sudden jolt, the last of the disequilibrium in his body wouldn't have been shaken out. Now, he was ready.
The frigidity in Theron's eyes reached a new depth, his focus coming with a frosty stream of light that danced out of the corner of his eyes.
Water Mana pooled around him, his hair beginning to emit solar flares of violet, blue, and pink as though becoming the silky tendrils of the Immortal Jellyfish.
His toes flexed into the soles of his shoes and then the ground beneath.
He accelerated forward.