Sayan appeared to be a young-to-middle-aged tall man with grey-dark hair. His eyes were red and glowed like flames. His complexion was pale, and he had an innocent yet intense aura. He was wearing a dark-red coat with a artwork of countless blood shreds on the front side.
His face bore a striking resemblance to Shiory's, with a lonely and slightly sadistic expression.
Even though Sayan seemed to be trying to smile awkwardly, his face told a different story.
"You're here to kill me, right? If so, let me ask you something…" Sayan said calmly.
As soon as Sayan spoke, Raizel remembered something. It was a moment from a few minutes ago when he had met Shiory for the first time.
"You're here to kill the Dragon King, right? If so, kill me first," Raizel recalled Shiory saying.
"They're… they're similar!" Raizel thought to himself, utterly surprised.
"You are… who are you?" Raizel asked curiously.
"Me? Don't you know? I'm the King of Dragons and one of the victims of the Strange Presence—you.'' Sayan took a breath.
''Do you remember me? Do you remember the time when you almost destroyed my entire world several thousand years ago? Do you remember the time when you destroyed everything around my world like a selfish weapon?''
''You are the Strange Presence, the man who used to destroy everything in his presence. Do you remember, Edward Raizel?" Sayan asked, his eyes filled with anger and rage.
"I remember, but I did what my master ordered me to do. I fulfilled my master's orders, and I will continue to do so. I exist to serve," Raizel replied.
"Those rumors weren't wrong after all, were they?" Sayan said, a mystery smile in his face.
''You are the warrior of the story, the warrior who destroys everything and anything. You are the foolish creature who exists only to destroy, a being who can't save anyone or anything.''
''You are the fool, the destruction, the war, and the root of everything happening," Sayan said, a bit of anger in his face yet sadistic.
"I know. I know I exist to fulfill my masters' orders. I don't know why, but everyone around me is always different and strange to me. Everyone around me thinks of me as the strange one, but to me, everyone else are the strange ones, not me.'' Raizel replied with a curious tone, though a faint sadness lingered beneath his words. Something weighed on him—quiet, constant, and unresolved.
''I've never managed to find the answer to this question, nor do I have the right to ask. I exist to serve. I don't need to hear anything other than orders. I don't want to," Raizel said calmly, his eyes constantly searching for something—an answer to a question he had been curious about for millions of years.
Sayan smiled slightly, a fake smile.
"Do you know why you are the Strange Presence? Do you know what's so strange about you? I don't know if you realize it or not, but I understand now.'' Sayan said calmly. The anger that once clung to him had finally faded, leaving only silence in its wake.
''Unlike others, you don't exist to do anything for your own sake. You exist to serve the world, the story, the creation itself, even to the point of death. You are a servant, a slave who does everything according to his master's wishes. You don't have your own world. You are the strange existence who exists in a completely different world rather than the mortal world. You exist without a world of your own, without thoughts of your own, without a will of your own. And thus, you are the Strange Presence of the entire creation," Sayan said, casually yet a trace of roughness.
"I don't care about this anymore. I exist to serve the world, and I will do so as long as I can," Raizel said calmly.
"I have a question for you. Why did you fuse the world with that girl? Why did you destroy the Blessed World? Who gave you the order to do that?" Raizel asked in a harsh tone.
"Order? Did you forget that you are the Strange Presence? Yes, it's actually a casual act for you to follow someone's order. You've always destroyed countless worlds just as your masters ordered, and that is why you are the Strange Presence. However, unlike you, other mortals don't follow anyone's orders.'' Sayan's voice faltered, then stopped entirely, swallowed by something deeper.
''They exist to act for themselves. They don't want to serve anyone. Everything they do is to fulfill their own desires. I was no exception. To achieve my goal, I had to do this to that certain person—the person I used to love the most. Maybe there was a hole in my selfishness that didn't allow me to be selfish enough to break a promise. I fulfilled his promise, but at what cost? A huge cost that's impossible to regenerate." Sayan said calmly.
Raizel was slightly surprised.
"I've always seen a world where everyone tries their best to save their loved ones at any cost, but why this…" Raizel thought to himself, puzzled.
Sayan took a deep breath, his words lingering on the edge of his lips. His expression spoke of something long buried, something he had yearned to share but never could.
"After you destroyed the Blessed World, almost every single inhabitant was supposed to die, but somehow, they survived. It was because of Shiory. She used every ounce of her magic power to create a massive ice spell and form a protective barrier.'' Sayan took a breath.
Using the barrier, she saved every inhabitant of the world. However, my fate wasn't to be saved by my sister. Someone else saved me—a half-dragon, half-human being, the former King of the Desert World.''
''After he brought me to the Desert World, he trained me for a long time. He did everything to make me the strongest in most worlds. However, I didn't know that his help would lead to my own downfall.'' He drew another breath. Eyes wide, unblinking—he hadn't flinched once. Fear gripped him, sweat running down his face like silent proof of the sadness burning inside.
He started speaking again, his voice trembling, but the fear on his face began to peel away—slowly, like a wound learning to close.
''Several hundred years later, the former King of Dragons, the root being of the Desert World, reached the end of his lifespan. Before his death, he asked me to keep the world intact. Unlike other worlds, the Blessed World and the Cursed World—or, as I call it, the Desert World—coexist with a mortal's soul. If the mortal's soul is destroyed, the world will also be destroyed in a short amount of time. The effect of the root's absence began to show. As you can see, the dragons no longer have the power to return to their human forms. They no longer have enough magic to maintain their human forms. But the number of people who can fuse their soul with a world is extremely limited. In fact, there was only one person capable of it—Shiory.''
As Sayan spoke, Raizel kept his gaze locked on him. He wasn't just listening—he was searching, trying to unravel the quiet storm behind Sayan's eyes: the fear, the sadness, and that flicker of desperate desire.
''After saving the inhabitants of the Blessed World, she fused her immortal soul with the world to keep everyone safe and the world intact. I was torn between two choices—saving my birthplace, where my loved ones live, or the land where I grew up. After a long moment of reflection, I made my decision: I chose to save the land that raised me. Unable to find anyone else to fuse their soul with the Desert World, I resorted to using Shiory. However, stopping her wasn't easy. To disable her magic, I had to use a dirty trick. I revealed my true identity to her and made her drink poison. After drinking it, her mana core was completely disabled. The biggest challenge was undoing her fusion with the Blessed World. Since it was the Blessed World, undoing it required curses to be placed in her heart—curses born from sadness, desire, and the thirst for revenge. By forcing her to kill our parents and all our relatives, I filled her heart with curses. The curses disabled her fusion with the Blessed World, leading to its ultimate destruction.''
''Then, I fused her soul with the Cursed World and kept the world intact until now. After bringing her here, I erased myself from her memory. I wanted her to curse me so deeply that I could die. I no longer want to survive in this world. I can't bear to see my sister's suffering anymore. It's not because you destroyed my world back then—it's because of the promise I made to the Dragon King, a promise that forced me to do all this," Sayan said calmly. As he spoke, he couldn't hold back his tears. His eyes were filled with endless sorrow, and tears streamed down his face.
"I don't know what you think of it, but in my view, you just fulfilled his order. However, right now, I will destroy you to save my own world from the threat of the dragons," Raizel said while drawing out a purple sword.