Samael and Liu walked slowly along the ancient road that had been consumed by nature.
Broken asphalt emerged between gigantic roots and deformed fungi that covered the remains of the forgotten city. Trees pierced through ruined buildings as if they wanted to completely devour the last traces of humanity.
The two walked side by side in silence.
Small patches of blood appeared along the path.
Fresh blood.
Samael observed the trail while trying to ignore his own weakness.
His fever still hadn't passed.
His body remained heavy.
Fighting in that condition was practically impossible.
And honestly...
He wasn't sure Liu could win another battle if they were attacked again.
Then Liu suddenly stopped.
"Hey, Samael... look over there."
She pointed toward a corpse partially hidden among the roots.
That wasn't unusual.
Finding Nightmare Creature corpses in that area was common.
There were no humans there.
At least, there shouldn't be.
And creatures needed to feed.
The weaker ones inevitably became food for the stronger ones.
The two slowly approached the body.
Then they noticed something strange.
The wounds were different.
The creature hadn't been eaten.
Its body looked...
Destroyed.
Torn apart by an absurd force.
There were no bite marks.
No signs of feeding.
Samael examined the deep wounds before commenting:
"It was probably one of the others."
Liu nodded slightly.
But she continued watching Samael from the corner of her eye.
He was far too quiet today.
Much quieter than usual.
Tenebrae's words still lingered in his mind.
"Filthy nephilim."
Samael let out a small internal sigh.
"Enough."
That train of thought wouldn't lead anywhere.
"I'll leave that problem for my future self to deal with."
Honestly?
That sounded exactly like something Ethan would do.
Ignore problems that were too big until there was nowhere left to run.
Trying to distract himself from his thoughts, Samael changed the subject.
"What do you think about calling me by my nickname?"
Liu turned slightly toward him.
"Samael is kind of long to say all the time."
Samael was much more accustomed to "Sam."
Nowadays, only Elizabeth still called him that occasionally.
Back then, she used both names interchangeably.
These days...
She only used "Samael" when she was annoyed.
And Layla simply refused to use nicknames.
"Liz..."
His chest tightened slightly.
Samael had been avoiding thoughts of her as much as possible.
Because every time he did...
The worry almost suffocated him.
For a moment, he looked away toward the ruined buildings around them.
Trying to think about anything else.
Liu remained silent for a few seconds before answering:
"I don't have a nickname..."
She hesitated slightly.
Then looked away.
"...Sam."
The tips of her ears turned faintly red.
It was the first time she had ever called someone by a nickname.
And honestly...
It still felt strange to consider Samael a friend.
In her mind, only two days had passed since they met.
She had spent the rest of the time unconscious.
But Samael...
Samael had already started seeing her as a friend.
After all, he had stayed by her side for an entire week.
As they continued walking, the ruined buildings became more frequent.
Roots pierced through windows.
Giant fungi grew along cracked walls.
The entire city looked like a corpse being slowly consumed by the forest.
And the farther they advanced...
The more corpses they found.
All destroyed in the same strange manner.
Then—
BOOOOM!
A distant sound echoed through the buildings.
Both immediately raised their guard.
Another impact followed shortly after.
Samael's first thought was Elizabeth.
But he immediately dismissed it.
She was still far away.
Very far away.
There was no way it could be her.
Liu narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Sam... wait here. I'll go check."
Calling someone by a nickname still felt strange.
Samael answered immediately:
"No."
And kept walking forward.
Deliberately.
Just to make it clear that he had no intention of obeying.
Liu frowned slightly.
Then replied with brutal honesty:
"But you'll slow me down."
Silence.
The problem...
Was that she was right.
Samael slowly clenched his fists.
Those words hit him far harder than they should have.
The two continued walking side by side.
But the silence was different now.
Heavy.
Uncomfortable.
Very different from the peaceful silence before.
"I shouldn't be this hurt."
Samael almost became annoyed with himself.
It felt childish.
Ridiculous.
He understood perfectly what Liu meant.
She was right.
Even so...
It still hurt.
A little.
Annoyingly.
And it would probably take some time to disappear completely.
"Why...?"
Samael lightly gritted his teeth as he walked.
"Why am I being so sensitive?"
Maybe it was the injuries.
Or the sickness.
As he walked, Samael caught sight of his own blurred reflection in a pool of fresh blood on the ground.
And realized that perhaps being called a nephilim had touched an old wound he had been avoiding for a very long time.
The truth was that Samael had always avoided thinking too deeply about who he really was.
Ethan.
Samael.
Neither of them.
Or perhaps both at the same time.
An imperfect mixture of the two.
Something that belonged neither to his previous world... nor to this one.
Months ago, when he finally realized that, Samael became unable to look at his own reflection without seeing it blurred.
As if even his own mind couldn't define his existence.
The Nephilim attribute and his Flaw only made that insecurity worse.
At that moment, he honestly didn't recognize himself anymore.
Then they finally reached the source of the battle.
And found someone.
A black-haired boy.
Bel.
In his hands was a strange staff.
And every strike from that weapon caused absurd destruction.
BOOOOM!
An invisible vibration exploded into the chest of the creature before him.
The impact shattered concrete, roots, and flesh all at once.
Its destructive power was monstrous.
Honestly...
Samael had only seen something more destructive in Vanitas's lightning.
The creature collapsed dead onto the ground.
Then the boy slowly turned toward them.
His empty eyes met Samael's and Liu's.
Liu immediately became alert.
Her guard rose.
Because in that place...
Another human could easily be more dangerous than the creatures themselves.
Around the boy lay three dead Nightmare Creatures.
And despite being injured...
His condition was far too good for someone who had fought them alone.
Claw marks and bite wounds covered parts of his torso and legs.
Even so... he looked disturbingly fine.
The boy observed them for a few seconds.
Then spoke.
"Ah..."
His voice was strangely empty.
Artificial.
"Other people."
A small smile appeared on his face.
But it never reached his eyes.
Not even for a second.
"It's good to see you."
It sounded so fake...
That it almost felt mocking.
Samael felt uncomfortable with the boy's tone immediately.
His guard rose at once.
Ironic, wasn't it?
Samael found Bel more unpleasant than Tenebrae.