Syril carried Nathan to the edge of the crater, then laid him gently on the ground before looking at him in disbelief.
"Y-you... you're still alive"
Nathan turned his body, took off his mask and spat out all the blood that had accumulated in his mouth. Then he wiped his face with his arm and looked weakly at Syril.
"I'm surprised too..."
Syril opened her mouth and didn't know what to say, then smiled slightly and hugged him.
Nathan grunted slightly as he felt the pressure of Syril's hug on his sore and weakened body. His burned skin suffered from the touch of Syril's clothes, but for some reason Nathan felt more calm than worried about the situation.
Sighing as Syril continued to hold him, Nathan looked towards the center of the crater, more specifically the castle in the middle.
'How...?'
Nathan had no idea how he had managed to get out of the realm, but beyond that, he couldn't understand why the large castle had also gone out with them.
What was happening right there was simply unheard of and astonishing, for it was the first time that a realm had ever merged with the earth in any way.
But Nathan did not have much time to worry about the castle, but what was coming next was the worst.
A cataclysm, Nathan hadn't even been born when the last one happened, but now he was about to witness one.
But even with all the information he knew, Nathan wasn't even completely sure if it was actually going to happen.
But either way, Nathan didn't want to get involved... nor could he.
Surviving the fight against Tana and Gril had taken its toll on him, and in the end, Faye's attacks had simply exhausted him completely.
Syril broke away from Nathan and looked down at his burned body.
"What happened to you?"
He looked down at his body and sighed, but just as he was about to answer Syril, he heard a voice in his head.
'I-I... did I get out?'
Amelia was seeing the world through Nathan's eyes, but even after several minutes had passed since they had left the realm, she was still having trouble processing what was in front of her.
Nathan had completely forgotten about Amelia, but as he let her process her chaotic thoughts, he answered Syril.
"Well... I tried to survive at all costs"
Syril was silent but she didn't ask further knowing it wasn't the time to speak. She turned her gaze towards the crater and watched as Dilliard and Byron stood in front of the open castle gates along with other members of the government and Khan who had gathered with them.
Even standing at the edge of the crater, Syril could still feel the ominous aura of death coming from inside the castle.
Nathan, for his part, had not noticed it before, but he did not have to think long to remember where he had felt that sensation before.
Nathan swallowed and then saw something coming out of the castle.
"It's him..."
Syril also noticed someone coming out and looked at Nathan when he heard his whisper.
"Do you know who it is?"
"Who... no, that's not a person"
In front of the castle gates, both Dilliard and Byron frowned as they saw a person walking towards them. Faye didn't have time to tell them the details of the realm, so right now they had no idea what they were up against. But seeing a person walk out of the castle gates, they didn't know how to react.
"It's not possible..." muttered one of Khan's soldiers.
Dilliard didn't say it, but he too had the same thoughts.
Bipedal calamities were not so rare, some even had a human-like shape and structure, but the calamity in front of them far surpassed anything they knew.
The calamity approaching them wore a military uniform with several medals along with a gold chain hanging from one side of his coat collar to the other.
It had no skin, and its decomposing muscles had some maggots crawling in and out of its face. Last but not least, the empty eye sockets of the calamity had a deep darkness in them.
Then, when the calamity came out of the castle, it turned its head as if it was admiring its surroundings even though it had no eyes... and spoke.
"So, this is what another world looks like... quite different from Argon" The calamity's cadaverous voice echoed in the ears of all present, who did not know how to react to seeing it speak.
After finishing admiring the surroundings, the calamity turned its head in the direction of Dilliard and Byron and smiled, showing its rotten teeth.
"Humans... so we're not so different after all"
Dilliard frowned as he heard the calamity speak.
'Different?'
Back on the edge of the crater, Nathan ignored the pain coursing through his body and took to watching the calamity that had left the castle.
It was only the first few days after he had arrived at the castle that Nathan had encountered this being, when he was at the dinner table with Lynn, Herfir and Seinor.
That day was the first time Nathan had seen a calamity speak like that... although it was actually the second time, counting the boy in the abandoned village years ago.
However, it was the first time he was aware of what the existence of such an intelligent calamity meant.
"A special category?" Nathan didn't know how to define it, a special category calamity was supposed to be a calamity that had unique abilities unlike other calamities of the same race... but this being was simply too unique.
For two months, everything Nathan had experienced and seen screamed danger, in capital letters.
But now things had changed. Being outside the realm, there were many more people who could face the calamities of the third rank. At that very moment, Dilliard and his father were at the front.
Nathan did not know how to react when he saw his father. When Dilliard and Byron stopped their fight with Faye, Nathan's thoughts were still in chaos trying to survive her attacks so at that moment his brain simply couldn't keep up with what was going on.
But now that things had calmed down, Nathan bit his lips with complex feelings inside his heart.
"Damn it..."
Syril looked back up at him as she heard him whisper, and just giving him a glance, understood his thoughts. But she just kept quiet, whatever was going on inside Nathan's heart and mind, it was his own battle. Besides, she had a more important mission.
"I have to get you out of this place"
Without looking at Syril, Nathan nodded a few seconds later. He knew that staying was stupid. In his state he could do nothing, now everything depended on others... and on fate itself.