"What now?"
At Atticus's abrupt question, the clearing fell silent. That single question lingered heavily in the air, occupying every mind present.
The thrill of battling a superior race and winning began to dissipate as the gravity of their situation started to settle.
"The monster kid is right. Aren't we all toast now?" Luminous suddenly broke the silence.
"Stop calling him a monster," Seraphina remarked sharply, turning toward Atticus. "Are you sure you're okay, sweetie?"
Atticus stared at her for a moment. The pause was brief, but for beings of their power level, it was significant. After the incident in the Starhaven sector, Atticus hadn't spoken to Seraphina. He still didn't know how to navigate the entire Spirit King situation.
Still, Seraphina had been nothing but kind to him. Atticus gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. "I'm fine."
"Then what the hell am I supposed to call him?" Luminous protested loudly. "He's more than eight times younger than us, and he's already this powerful!"
His outburst earned him a furious glare from Octavius Resonara.
"Stop screaming," Octavius growled.
"Come on, bunny ears. You can't be that sensitive after the battle we just fought! I didn't see you telling the elders to try and kill us more quietly!" Luminous shot back, his tone sharp as their auras began to rise, locking gazes like two clashing storms.
The other paragons sighed in unison. Even after fighting together against an external threat, the Resonara and Stellaris bloodlines just couldn't get along.
As the tension thickened, a calm voice interrupted the scene.
"We can save this for later. We have more pressing matters to attend to," Oberon stated firmly.
The group turned to him, noting the serious expression etched on his face.
"Let's assess the damage caused and discuss the precautions we need to take against the Vampyros. Their queen may have retreated for now, but for all we know, she's preparing her forces to retaliate," Oberon continued.
The atmosphere grew solemn. The euphoria of their victory evaporated, replaced by the harsh realization of the world they lived in. Jezeneth wouldn't let this humiliation go unanswered. And beyond that, the Vampyros might not be their only concern moving forward.
One by one, they nodded in agreement with Oberon. Without another word, the paragons turned toward the human domain, vanishing as streaks of light on the horizon.
"What's wrong?" Magnus asked, noticing Atticus had suddenly paused, his gaze fixed in the distance.
For a moment, Atticus didn't reply, staring silently. Finally, he shook his head. "It's nothing."
Magnus scrutinized him briefly but said nothing further. Together, they vanished into streaks of light, heading toward the human domain.
Far from the cataclysmic battlefield, high in the sky, a seemingly empty space rippled, and two figures materialized.
The first was an aged woman, her crimson eyes burning with an intense bloodlust. Her entire body trembled, radiating an uncontained fury.
She was the paragon tasked with keeping the Vampyros apex safe, and she had watched everything, from Jezeneth's battle to the grand elders' defeat. Seeing the leaders of her race treated in such a manner enraged her beyond words.
If not for her duty to stay with Lirae, she would have joined the battle herself.
While the aged woman seethed with anger, the second figure, Lirae, wore a wide, smile. She seemed entirely indifferent to her guardian's fury.
'He still sensed us despite the distance,' she thought, her heartbeat quickening.
Lirae didn't care that her grandmother had been humiliated. She didn't care that her race had lost to the humans. Her focus was singular, Atticus, as he streaked away into the horizon.
He was interesting. Beyond interesting.
In her past life, Lirae's existence had been suffocating. Endless responsibilities and countless titles had made her life hellish. She had power and authority, but she had lacked freedom, the one thing she desired most.
All she had ever wanted was to live free, unburdened by politics and endless vigilance. She had chased that life in her past, only for it to end in betrayal.
Now, her eyes gleamed as she watched Atticus disappear.
She could still remember. She had always been drawn to interesting things, things she couldn't understand. Because of this sense of obsessive curiosity, she had been drawn to a warrior under her.
This ended with her getting her heart stabbed from behind.
As she was given a second chance and reincarnated into Eldoralth, she wanted nothing but to live the life she had craved in her past life, but her circumstances made it difficult. And now, here she was again, feeling the same thing she had felt in the past as she stared at Atticus.
Her heart was beating fast, a wave of different feelings surging through her.
Lirae was scared, and at the same time, she felt excited. The past betrayal still haunted her, yet her curiosity was currently overwhelming it.
'I have to get back,' she shook her head, regaining her senses. 'Let's see what Grandmother plans on doing.'
Jezeneth's actions were baffling even to her. She wanted to understand what was going through her mind.
"We're leaving."
Her command snapped the guardian out of her anger, and without hesitation, they vanished from the area, heading back towards the Vampyros fortress.
After leaving the scene of the battle, Atticus hadn't immediately headed towards the human domain. He, along with Magnus and Octavius, stopped by Fort Echohelm, or rather, what remained of the once imposing fortress.
The damage had been so severe that, if not for knowing there was a fortress there before, none of them would have believed it had ever existed.
The mountain had fractured, and large chunks of it had been obliterated due to the battle. Yet, as they arrived at the scene, both Atticus's and Octavius's gazes flashed.
The former could see and feel, with his spiritual eyes and senses, that there were lifeforms underground, while the latter could hear them.
Atticus focused on the earth element, bringing out the people underground in the next second.