The figure stood silently in the shattered chamber, black coat rustling faintly as if moved by its own wind. Kaelor Vantheon didn't dare break the silence immediately. The man—or being—before him exuded an aura that made the very air feel wrong, heavy, unmeasurable.
Finally, Kaelor's voice broke the stillness.
"…You saw him. What do you think of him?"
The hunter's golden eyes glinted in the dim light.
A slow, measured exhale escaped him.
He did not speak immediately.
Kaelor shifted slightly, careful not to provoke the apex's patience. "Do you… understand why I want him evaluated, controlled… guided?"
A long pause. The hunter's gaze lingered on the broken crystal shards that littered the floor, still faintly humming with black essence residue. Then, with a voice low, calm, and ice-sharp:
"He's not meant to be controlled. Any attempt would be… fatal."
Kaelor's heart skipped a beat. Even as the President of the Inner World Association, he had faced dangerous hunters and rogue awakeners. But something about this voice—it carried certainty, authority, and absolute comprehension of forces far beyond human reckoning.
"You've seen his fight with Kane's brother… the Abysmal-Rank dungeon collapse…" Kaelor pressed. "Do you realize what his presence will do to the world if left unchecked?"
The hunter finally turned, slowly, his expression unreadable, but his eyes fixed on Kaelor as though weighing him. "Left unchecked? No. Observed. Tracked. Monitored. And… respected."
Kaelor's hand twitched ever so slightly. "Respected? This is Drax Magna we're talking about. He—he shattered our core crystal during the rank evaluation."
"And?" the hunter replied simply. "He walked away. That tells me everything. He doesn't need your association. He doesn't need anyone. He is. The world can bend, the dungeons can tear, and the weak will crumble—but Drax will remain."
Kaelor exhaled, running a hand through his silver hair. "I see… And what would you do if he chose to act against humanity? Against our rules?"
The apex hunter's eyes narrowed. A faint smirk touched his lips, almost amused. "Then the world would have already lost. But I doubt he will. Not without reason. And he has a mind, unlike most unmeasurable threats."
Kaelor's chest tightened. He had witnessed countless dangerous awakeners, dungeon conquerors, and rogue monarchs in his lifetime. But Drax? Drax was on another level entirely. Even here, years into humanity's understanding of inner worlds and essence, Drax's presence was something… primordial. Raw. An anomaly that refused to be cataloged.
Kaelor swallowed the knot forming in his throat. "…So you think he can be… useful."
The hunter's gaze shifted briefly to the floating shards of black crystal. A shadow of a grin flickered across his face. "Useful is an understatement. Necessary. Humanity may not survive what's coming—Drax might be the only reason it does."
Kaelor's lips parted slightly, breath caught in awe and dread. "Then… we watch him. Protect him when necessary… and pray he does not break the balance completely."
The apex hunter's form seemed to ripple, a faint distortion like the air itself feared to touch him. He took a slow step closer to the shattered pedestal. "…I'll be watching. Always."
With that, the figure melted into the shadows of the chamber, leaving only the faint echo of his presence behind—a warning, a promise, and a question all at once.
Kaelor straightened, exhaling deeply. "…How was he," he whispered to himself. "…what do you think of him?"
But the answer was gone, lingering in the space the hunter had just vacated. Only the black residue of the core crystal and the faint hum of Drax's Unclassified aura remained as proof that the impossible had walked through their doors, and it had not looked back.