On the second night, after another grueling battle, Samael decided to take a walk through the city.
After all, sleeping and fighting for seven days straight without doing absolutely anything else would be far too stressful.
"I need to be careful with my Legacy Aspect Ability."
Samael clutched his shoulder as he continued walking aimlessly.
The sea breeze ruffled his hair.
Coastal cities tended to be windy.
"If I hadn't messed with my perception, I would have been able to dodge that."
Samael glanced at the enormous hole in his left shoulder.
He found a bench and sat down.
The endless sounds of battle echoed all around him.
The people of the city had grown accustomed to living with that deafening noise.
There was a simple reason why the city hadn't fallen yet.
The strongest person among them was merely an Ascended.
And that wasn't nearly enticing enough to attract the attention of powerful Nightmare Creatures, let alone beings above their level.
Otherwise, that last remaining city would have fallen within minutes.
After all, a single truly powerful creature would have been enough to exterminate everyone there.
"Knowing that Antarctica will be in a similar state in a year or two isn't exactly reassuring."
Samael let out a small sigh.
"How do these people resist the Nightmare Seed's call?"
They were relatively close to it.
The call was constant.
And extremely uncomfortable.
Almost maddening.
Samael observed the people around him.
Despite everything, they continued to live.
To work.
To talk.
To pretend that their world was still normal.
Then, a familiar figure approached.
It was Master Nero.
She was accompanied by a middle-aged man.
His graying hair revealed his age, but even at his age, he was still extremely handsome, just like practically every Awakened.
However, his appearance wasn't the most impressive thing about him.
It was his aura.
Powerful.
Warm.
So intense that it seemed capable of burning the entire world.
He was the most powerful Master Samael had ever seen.
At that moment, he could no longer tell who was stronger.
Master Acheron...
Or that man.
"Oh, Samael. What are you doing here?" Nero greeted him as she approached, still accompanied by the man.
"Getting some fresh air," Samael replied.
His eyes, however, remained fixed on the man's gray eyes.
"Wait..."
"Gray?"
A small suspicion surfaced in his mind.
"This is Immortal Flame, the patriarch of the Immortal Flame Clan," Nero introduced him, her nose held high with pride over accomplishments that weren't even hers.
"Pleased to meet you," Samael said timidly, at least on the outside.
"So he's Nephis's grandfather?"
Samael studied the man.
"They don't look alike."
"She must take after her father, then."
"Yeah..."
Immortal Flame paused.
Samael remained silent.
"Yeah, what?"
Then the man finished his sentence.
"A pleasure."
Samael was slightly surprised.
"That personality..."
"That can't be."
"Did she inherit it from him?"
For a moment, Samael was stunned.
He remembered Nephis's personality on the Forgotten Shore.
"Sorry, Samael, but I'm a little busy right now. We'll talk later," Nero said goodbye.
She then continued walking alongside Immortal Flame.
Samael watched them leave.
"So that's where she got that personality from..."
From their brief conversation, Immortal Flame had struck him as an extremely serious man.
Samael continued staring at his back.
"I'm feeling a strange mix of emotions."
"To me, he was a fictional character. Just Nephis's grandfather."
"But he was also a childhood hero."
"Someone who helped the world tremendously."
"And I grew up hearing stories about him."
To Ethan, Immortal Flame had been little more than an insignificant figure.
To Samael...
He was practically a childhood hero.
The collision between those two perspectives gave rise to that strange feeling.
Samael looked in the direction Immortal Flame had gone.
Even from a distance, his aura as a Master was overwhelming.
"How powerful must his flames be?"
Samael thought for a moment.
"Could they compare to hers?"
He let out a small laugh.
"I highly doubt it."
The saying that the new generation would surpass the old had never been more accurate.
Immortal Flame and Broken Sword might have been incredible legends.
But Nephis would surpass them.
In achievements...
And in strength.
Knowing that only made Samael even more anxious.
During his first few days in this world, his only priority had been to survive.
He had no interest in becoming stronger.
But that had changed.
Now, he didn't merely need to survive.
He needed to protect the people who mattered to him.
And honestly, expecting everything to somehow remain safe during the apocalypse simply by placing his faith in Sunny and Nephis was naive.
They had absolutely no obligation to protect someone they had barely ever seen.
Much less someone they didn't even know.
So, to protect himself...
And protect others...
Samael needed strength.
A few minutes later, however, something else caught his attention.
[Aspect: Stranger]
Samael stopped walking.
"I felt you when the Spell malfunctioned."
He recalled that sensation.
That presence.
That strange feeling of being watched.
"And the errors that occurred in the Spell were caused by you, weren't they?"
There was no evidence.
No proof.
Nothing to support that conclusion.
Even so, Samael was convinced that [Stranger] had caused those errors.
"But even if I think you were responsible..."
He furrowed his brow.
"What difference does it make?"
Samael knew the answer.
None.
It changed absolutely nothing.
He had no way to control it.
No way to ask his own Attribute questions.
And he didn't even know exactly what [Stranger] was.
"I feel like I'm close to the second stage of Essence manipulation."
Samael clenched his fist.
The conversation about strength had brought his thoughts back to his own growth.
He needed to become stronger.
After thinking for a long time, Samael resumed walking.
His eyes swept across his surroundings.
The people continued to live.
Even under circumstances like these.
And that led Samael to another question.
"Why didn't I assume the identity of someone from here?"
He furrowed his brow.
"Why did the Nightmare simply put me here?"
Then a possibility occurred to him.
"Was it because the Nightmare is Anomalous?"
Samael continued walking.
Apparently, Cyrene hadn't been given a role either.
The Spell's errors had led Samael to think that perhaps he was responsible.
Or rather...
That [Stranger] was.