X was leaned forward, weight on his front leg and his arm half-submerged in the bolyui’s inky form. A moment later, letting out a slow sigh, X yanked the spear from its body, tossed it into his other hand, and shook the one that’d been inside the bolyui. Globules of translucent goo flung from his arm and into the air, but quickly dissipated.

Finally, X stepped away from what Karlen hoped to be the bolyui’s corpse—but Karlen kept staring at it, unable to believe that it was actually dead.

The black goo of the bolyui's body was slowly oozing over and around its cage of plants. Like blood, it stuck together in viscous globs. But when it dripped and splattered onto the ground, it dissipated and darted to join the shadow under the towers.

Just like the globules of goo X flung from his arm.

“Getting better at this,” X muttered, looking down at his spear.

Without another word, X lifted his spear and begun to spin it in his left hand. Although the balaclava he wore over his mouth hid half of his face, the way X's eyes squinted made it clear that he was smiling.

X had seemed so cold and ruthless before, but his demeanor was was softer now. He seemed almost childish in his glee.

Is he... admiring his own accomplishment? Karlen wondered, shocked. The first time X attacked the bolyui, he'd still been on the defensive and told Karlen it was still alive. But, now, he seemed completely relaxed, potentially even forgetting that Karlen himself was there.

Did he really manage to kill it!? Karlen had to wonder, allowing himself another anxious glance toward the bolyui.

Indeed, it was still motionless. It didn’t collapse into itself like the first time it’d disappeared to “recover,” as X said.

So Karlen returned his eyes to the unknown man, letting himself get a better look at him now that they didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.

In that instant, X’s image flic̷k̴e̵r̷ed again. Where there'd once been an av̸er̵a̸ge̵-̶l̶oo̸k̴ing̵ Glavni man in plain clothes and a face hidden by a balaclava suddenly stood a tall, inhuman figure cloaked in shades of green and black again.

It was the same thing Karlen had gotten a glimpse of earlier.

Karlen must've made a sound, because X's image quickly flic̷k̴e̵r̷ed back to the plain-looking Glavni man as he quickly looked back at Karlen. Gone was the calm, almost childlike happiness X had showed before; and back was the cold and deadly look he'd eyed Karlen with earlier.

But that wasn’t even X’s face.

“I-I—” Karlen stuttered, tense and stepping backwards.

But X didn’t even start toward him—instead, it simply dropped its spear to its side and turned its face away from him.

Its lie of a face.

“I killed it,” X said matter-of-factly, “you should get out of here before this place disappears.”

“Wh-... what!?”

X looked back up to him, a bored expression on 'its' face. Without looking, it pointed its spear behind itself, out toward an alleyway nestled between two towers.

“A bolyui’s domain fades when it dies. You should get out of here before it does, or risk not getting back,” it elaborated.

Karlen's heart pounded in his ears. Am I willing to trust this thing!?!? It's not human, but—

X sighed, stretching its shoulders back to po̶p each in turn. Although it remained in its false-human shape, it seemed to grow in both size and shape with each pop.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” X added coldly.

OKAY! Karlen thought, eyes bulging as he forcibly flipped on his heel and power-walked in the direction X had pointed him. As terrified as he was to follow that thing's instructions, he was even more terrified to find out what would happen if he didn't.

Karlen's shoulder ached with each step, but a wave of relief fell over him as the domain's sticky warm air cooled, suddenly s̴h̷i̶f̴tin̸g back into Kavo's cold and dry winter air. At the same time, the towers at his sides started to shrink, melting back into—

“KARL!” a voice shouted.

Panicking, Karlen threw his arms up defensively—but winced as pain flared through his shoulder.

His panic was for naught, though. Amidst the Kavo landscape now stretching before him stood Nikolai, the prodigious vykolt himself. Nikolai was running up to him, eyes scanning the area around them. Although a small voice whispered in the back of Karlen’s mind that he could still be within an illusion of sorts, he couldn’t help relaxing at the sight of Nikolai.

Sighing in relief, Karlen hesitantly dropped his defensive stance and simply cradled his injured arm as Nikolai ran up to him.

"Are you okay!?" Nikolai asked, slowing to a stop in front of him. His eyes quickly scanned Karlen up and down. "What happened?"

“I,” Karlen gaped, genuinely shocked to find himself back in Kavo.

Not knowing what to say, Karlen just glanced around, still trying to figure out whether or not he had actually survived.

Over Nikolai's shoulder, where a snowy path intersected two other buildings on the other side of the road, the air s̶hi̷m̷me̷r̴ed̵. Out of that shimmering air stepped X, once again in its giant, shadow- and nature-clad form.

Their eyes met over the distance and X's form flickered to transform back into its human one once again. But it wasn't Karlen that X had to worry about.

Nikolai glanced over his shoulder, following Karlen’s gaze.

Whether or not he saw X as the monster it was, he tensed and squared up as if recognizing it as a threat. Nikolai flipped on his heel, defensively throwing an arm out in front of Karlen despite X being all the way across the street.

“What are you doing out here so late!?” Nikolai demanded, voice sharp. “Who are you!?”

X took a half-step back, lifting its spear and searching the area around it. Looking for an escape!?

Karlen’s heart flipped. He had a decision to make.

Do I think that thing is actually trustworthy? Or was its ‘help’ just circumstantial!? he debated.

The snow around X's feet crystallized into icy shackles as it refused to answer. Nikolai burst forward, the snow under his feet shoving him further along as he ran, but it didn't matter—the icy shackles inexplicably fractured, scattering into the air as though hit by some invisible force.

Or by something X was magically hiding from view, Karlen knew.

Regardless, it caused a glittery cloud of splintered ice to burst around X. Before it could hide him from view, though, it immediately parted from the center, shooting into Nikolai's hands in the shape of an icy staff instead.

Nikolai—who had already managed to cross that distance—quickly darted to sweep that staff under X’s feet.

“WAIT, KOLYA—” Karlen started, shouting at the top of his lungs.

But Nikolai didn't even have a chance. X's wooden spear shot to the ground, blocking the ice staff and somehow shattering it as Nikolai failed to sweep it under him. At the same time, Nikolai was thrown to the ground as if hit from above by an invisible force.

The snow under Nikolai shoved him away, forcing him out of X's—presumable—reach and putting him back to his feet. Nikolai tensed as he lowered his head behind his arms, squaring into a defensive position. Looking almost afraid.

“—THAT THING HELPED ME!!!” Karlen finished, heart pounding.

In the seconds he’d had to think and speak, all of that had happened.

Now, everything went still. Nikolai froze. X watched them before jerking its spear from the ground, taking several steps back, and hesitantly looking between both Nikolai and Karlen.

Finally, Nikolai barely spared Karlen a glance over his shoulder.

“What!?” Nikolai said incredulously.

X suddenly disappeared with a harsh woosh of air. Nikolai jerked, twisting back to look in X's direction while a pillar of snow shot up where it’d been.

But all the snow vanished after passing a certain height, then reappeared as it fell limply back to the ground.

A long moment of silence passed between Nikolai and Karlen after it'd settled.

Finally, it was broken by Nikolai as he hesitantly looked back to Karlen.

“What… just happened?” he asked, bewildered.