With the first of the many out of the way, Casen spent 3 days cleaning up the Neutral Continent.
Though this continent was filled with other races, interestingly enough most of those that oppressed each other were humans. Each battle he had was harder than the last but every heart he consumed after felt worth it.
Surrounded by lifeless bodies Casen looked up through the hole of the ceiling he crashed into. His once pristine white hair was dyed blood red of his enemies. He was currently in the city of Iclosa.
He needed a bath and sleep.
'Well, it wouldn't hurt to check out the dragon continent and set up a place there, maybe I'd find more information.' Casen thought as he stretched his wings to fly away from the area.
He didn't want to stay in this place anymore since the angels would most likely be dispatched to investigate the suspicious increase in deaths yet no souls were transported between Heaven nor Hell.
While he didn't have an opinion on the race he preferred if he didn't meet them and avoid questioning. They'd have to get their information from the witnesses.
He had already spent a few days in the Neutral Continent and it would take the same amount of time to get to Iurix giving him space to breathe and prepare himself in case anything were to happen.
There was another thing for him to address as well, he could see strange opalescent weaves and threads in the air wherever he looked. He first noticed it when he had consumed Adam's heart who was known for his fire magic so he figured it was because of that but this change was too suspicious.
Adam was well versed in the intricacies of mana but that knowledge was never put to fruition and kept him stagnated, it was the only reason Casen could kill him with his limited knowledge in combat and solely relied on his nature as a dragon.
'Besides that.' Casen pulled out a large black scale that barely fit in his hand. It was emanating a dense purple aura. It resembled the scales that grew on his skin but it was far tougher. He found it when he was uprooting the last of his targets who supposedly fed the black market with items.
He lifted the scale to his eyes and upon further inspection he found there were small engravings etched into the material that he didn't recognize. Just as he gazed into it, a black smoke swirled around him and his surroundings changed and before him was nothing but two glowing slitted eyes in the color of a soul-stirring amethyst staring directly at him.
The entirety of its body was encased in shadows but he could instinctively feel it was larger than anything he knew, it defied his logic.
The pressure waving off of this creature overwhelmed his senses, he was feeling fear and a strong urge to kneel to a greater being. His whole body shook as he denied the warnings blaring in his head, he couldn't when he felt an inexplicable desire to keep his eyes gazing into its own.
This action wasn't without repercussions and his ears and eyes bled profusely, the pain was immense but the allure of those eyes captivated him to an extent that it was pushed back and ignored.
"Pretty, your eyes are pretty." Out of anything Casen could've said he chose the most absurd line that would've made anyone split blood if they were here. He was truthful to a fault and it was this flaw that got him into problems when he couldn't restrain it.
The pupils of the creature in front of him dilated at his words, obviously not expecting that it would get a compliment that was different from the other creations it encountered. With a loud huff from its nose, it lowered its head until it was a few mere feet away.
Just from being this close Casens' insides were being forcibly shut down and torn but nevertheless, he reached out his trembling hand to place it on the middle part of its nose. His confidence came from the fact that he thought this creature was just a curious puppy, an overwhelmingly dangerous puppy who couldn't be defined as one.
His hand eventually met its destination and after a couple of seconds his consciousness couldn't hold on any longer and it faded away causing him to be thrown out of the realm and back to where he was flying high in the air to which he fell from. Unbeknownst to Casen his left hand which he used to touch the being began turning black up to his arm until it covered all of it.
His skin now in the depth of darkness that contradicted his otherwise white appearance glowed in purple engravings like that of the scale he picked up. Unfortunately or fortunately for Casen, he had caught the interest of a unique individual.
When he landed on the ground with a loud thud the grass under his hand began to wither and become corrupt which grew worse as he lay there.
When he finally came to he slowly sat up with a groan and held his head with his hand. Opening his eyes Casen immediately saw the changes in his arm and the grass below him. "I touched something I shouldn't have but it looked too cute." He frowned.
The pain was worth it in his eyes if it meant that the creature was happy. In that expanse of what he could only call the abyss there was nothing else around and he figured it was lonely. Adding onto the fact that just by being near it was turning his body into mush even if it was suppressing its aura. No one would want to approach it.
"Giving means receiving. I'll take this new change positively, though corruption is a problem." He scratched his head as he tried to figure out a way to prevent this. He wasn't affected when his hand touched himself which he was thankful for. "I suppose I should hurry now."
He stood up and flapped his wings to dust himself off and continued his way toward Iurix albeit unsteadily, he was still recovering. While he was flying Casen failed to notice that the scale he was holding before the encounter was now gone and instead turned into one of the engravings on his arm.