Journey to Become the Zenith

Shadow Left Behind

Henrick who was left behind with a pile of dead bodies, felt his knees weaken as he fell to the ground. He couldn’t believe what had just happened to him. He thought Shawn was exaggerating, but it turns out he wasn’t not one bit. That man called Victor was a monster that could devour everything whole.

His knees slammed heavily against the blood-soaked earth.

Thud.

For a few moments he simply stayed there.

Motionless.

The night wind moved quietly through the trees, carrying the thick metallic smell of blood along with it. Torn leaves drifted slowly across the battlefield, brushing against corpses and shattered weapons.

Everything felt unreal.

Henrick’s breathing had become uneven.

”Haa...”

”Haaa...”

His fingers dug into the ground beneath him.

Cold.

Wet.

When he looked down, he realized his hand was touching blood.

He immediately pulled it back as if burned.

His pupils trembled.

The image from moments ago replayed inside his head again.

Victor’s smile.

That calm expression.

That terrifying confidence.

Those golden eyes looking at everyone like they were insignificant.

Henrick swallowed hard.

”No...”

His lips moved unconsciously.

”No... no...”

He wasn’t speaking to anyone.

He was trying to convince himself.

Trying to deny reality.

But his body remembered what his mind wanted to reject.

His instincts remembered.

The overwhelming pressure.

The feeling of suffocation.

The sensation of standing before something that wasn’t human.

Even now his muscles still felt stiff.

His heart still beat wildly.

His body had not yet realized the danger was gone.

’Damn this, what should I tell my lord? Should I tell him that he should listen to Shawn and never mess with Victor and his companions again. If we stop now, Victor wouldn’t do anything against us. Since in his eyes we are nothing more than bugs.’

Henrick lowered his head.

His expression twisted.

Bugs.

The word felt like poison.

Because he knew—

Victor wasn’t lying.

That was the terrifying part.

Victor never once acted angry.

Never shouted.

Never threatened.

He simply looked at them as though everything had already been decided from the beginning.

Like a grown man watching children throw stones.

Henrick clenched his fists.

”...Damn monster.”

His voice was weak.

There was no hatred in it.

Only fear.

A fear so deep it had already reached his bones.

Henrick then started to remember the look Victor gave him, as if he was nothing. He treated this whole event like it was just some child’s prank. Henrick couldn’t help but shiver at that suffocating experience. That smile Victor had all throughout the conversation was unnerving.

That smile...

He remembered it too clearly.

Victor had smiled while standing among corpses.

Smiled while speaking casually.

Smiled while deciding who lived and who died.

Yet somehow—

It never felt insane.

That was what frightened Henrick the most.

Victor wasn’t smiling because he enjoyed killing.

He smiled because none of this mattered to him.

Because the difference between them was so absurdly large that this whole event held no importance.

Henrick suddenly felt chills spread across his back.

Cold sweat rolled down his face.

”Just who the hell are you...?”

His voice disappeared into the night.

No answer came.

Only silence.

Only wind.

Henrick slowly forced himself to stand.

His legs shook slightly.

He almost fell again.

Then his eyes drifted around him.

Corpses.

Pieces of armor.

Broken weapons.

Blood.

Everywhere.

Henrick tried relaxing his heavy breathing, trying to calm himself down. He then looked at the bodies of the dead knights and mercenaries littered all throughout the place.

The moonlight fell quietly across the battlefield.

Under that pale light, the scene somehow looked even more horrifying.

Because now—

He could properly see everything.

Upon closer inspection Henrick noticed some things. The shields the knights used were all cut horizontally and it would seem that they were all cut in the exact same manner. Actually all of them, even the dead bodies were sliced in half horizontally.

Henrick frowned.

Slowly—

Very slowly—

He walked toward one of the broken shields.

His boots crunched against leaves and fragments of metal.

He crouched beside it.

His fingers traced the cut surface.

Smooth.

Too smooth.

There weren’t rough edges.

No cracks.

No damage around it.

It looked less like it had been cut—

And more like the material itself had willingly separated.

Henrick’s eyes widened.

”No way...”

He stood up and looked around again.

Then moved toward another corpse.

Then another.

Then another.

Every single one.

Exactly the same.

Same angle.

Same precision.

Same result.

The time it took for him to receive the message and find Victor, didn’t really take that long. That would mean Victor either killed all of these people with blinding speed while using the same move, or he killed them all with one slash. Either way this just proves even more that he was a monster.

Henrick felt his throat become dry.

One slash?

No...

No human should be capable of that.

His mind immediately rejected the possibility.

But another part of him—

The part that had looked directly into Victor’s eyes—

Accepted it instantly.

Because after witnessing everything tonight...

Nothing seemed impossible anymore.

He slowly looked toward the dark forest where Victor had disappeared.

The shadows between the trees suddenly felt deeper.

More dangerous.

As if something terrifying still watched from within.

Henrick unconsciously took a step back.

’I know my lord, and I know even if I report what had happened he would never back down. Victor even said those provoking words, if you want to oppose me, sharpen your fangs. No matter what I say, or do not say my lord will still keep on bothering Victor. There must be a way that we can avoid that monster, while at the same time satisfy my lord’s wishes.’

Henrick lowered his head.

His expression became absent.

His mind raced desperately.

Think.

Think.

There had to be something.

Some way.

Some solution.

Anything.

But every path he imagined led toward the same ending.

Victor smiling.

Victor standing above mountains of corpses.

Victor looking down at everyone like they were insects.

Henrick left the area with an absent minded look on his face unable to think of a way to deal with the situation.