Kion stood frozen. A few seconds stretched into eternity. His mind was a shambles of thoughts, fragments scattered in the wake of what he'd just witnessed.
What exactly had happened?
Even now, he couldn't put it into words. Couldn't even trust his own senses.
His entire body felt cold. His eyes trembled. His mouth remained slightly open, the breath in his lungs refusing to move.
Every emotion he could name—and countless others he couldn't—swelled inside him, threatening to crush him under their weight.
The eel monster. The one they had struggled against for what felt like an eternity. The one they had fought not to defeat, but to survive.
Because destroying it had been impossible.
None of them had entertained the thought—not even for a second. And yet…
This boy. This Drifter.
He had swooped in. And ended it.
Like snuffing out an ant beneath his heel.
Kion's mind screamed at him to understand—to make sense of it.