I watched with satisfaction as the poison elements gathered and formed into the shape of a dragon before shooting towards the Shade. The lightning bolts I summoned crackled around me, adding an extra layer of protection.

As the poison elements crashed onto the Shade, I could see his transformation slowly fading off. The Shade writhed in agony as the poison began to spread throughout his body, weakening him further.

"Die already!" I growled, summoning more lightning bolts as I watched him struggle. His body was visibly boiling, but just to be safe, I continued to shower him with lightning and let the poison elements eat him slowly.

It was then, that something unexpected happened. The Shade's transformation began to fade off. My eyes lit up in excitement and satisfaction as the dark cloud that surrounded him began to dissipate as well, revealing the original but broken body of a knight lying on the ground.

I cautiously landed next to him, my eyes scanning the knight's face. "Is he finally dead?" I muttered to myself.

But before I could even try to figure it out, the Shade's voice interrupted my thoughts causing me to tense up and almost send another bolt of lightning his way. "You may have won this battle, little dragon, but you will never defeat me," his voice was cold and chilling, but it seemed like the bastard had resigned to his fate.

I rolled my eyes, before replying, "You've said that before. What do you want now?"

The Shade let out a weak chuckle. "Oh nothing, I was too hasty, too greedy, now this whisp can only disappear back inside this broken vessel. You may have defeated me, but my essence will remain. You can kill this vessel, and destroy this whisp along with it, but know this; I will find a new host, a new vessel to inhabit, and I will come back stronger than ever."

I snorted. "We'll see about that."

Just as I was about to destroy the knight's body completely, to my surprise, his eyes suddenly snapped open, glaring at me with intense hatred. "You fucker, you damn overgrown lizard! I'll fucking kill you, I swear it to the heavens above! I will kill you!" he spat out, his voice filled with venom. "You killed her! You bastard! You killed her!! Why did you leave me as the sole survivor?! Why!?"

A frown overtook my face as I looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The knight's eyes widened in shock and outrage. "You don't remember?! You fucker! You don't remember attacking us, killing everyone on that boat?! Killing her!!"

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"The boat?" I mumbled before my eyes lit up as I glanced at the knight before me. "You were there?" I spoke with a frown.

The knight cursed and struggled to get up, his final strands of sanity slipping away. "I was there! We were all there! She was there! I will kill you, dragon! I swear it to the heavens! Even if it's the last thing I have to do!"

Looking at the broken knight before me, a sigh escaped my mouth as I felt a sense of pity for the man. I did not think of that day much after it happened. If anything, I had done a lot worse by destroying Piya. But this was the first time I was truly faced with the aftermath of my actions. It seemed like I was partially responsible for whatever had happened to the young knight.

It was hard to say if I truly regretted what I had done. A part of me did feel that I was rash and that there were better ways of handling things, another part deep down, still did not care much for the sorrows of what were essentially lower beings than I am.

Needless to say, glancing at the maddened man before me, I was feeling conflicted. Perhaps the time spent with my apprentices was slowly changing me.

"You killed her! What had she done to deserve that? Nothing! What have we done to you?! Nothing!" The man's shouts slowly turned into silent sobs as he collapsed with his back to the ground and gazed at the still-dark cloudy sky.

"Kill me..." He suddenly said.

Another sigh escaped my mouth, truly how conflicting. I shook my head and sat down next to the knight before speaking, "What is your name?"

My question must have caught him off guard, for the knight's hazy eyes suddenly lit up and burned with a rekindled fury, "Why do you care!? Just kill me damn it! Damn you!!"

I shook my head and replied, "I don't. But I am indeed responsible for what happened to you. I do not know if what I had done was the right or wrong thing to do, dragons have a different moral compass if you might call it as such. But, for whatever its worth, I do apologize for killing someone important to you,"

The knight's eye's widened in shock as if he could not believe what had just happened. His expression twisted into one of confusion, anger, and disbelief all at once, before he opened his mouth to say something but seemed to have difficulty forming the words. Finally, he managed to stammer out, "Y-you apologize? For killing someone important to me? How can you possibly expect me to believe that? You're a dragon, you don't care about us lowly humans!"

I looked away and did not answer, he was right to a certain degree. I didn't and so I did not reply. The knight continued to glare at me, his broken fists clenched at his sides. "You took away everything from me, my love, my friends, my life! You're a monster, a beast that doesn't deserve to exist!"

I frowned at his words, feeling a surge of anger rise from the depths of my body and soul. How dare he call me a beast! My instincts screamed at me to rip his insolent mouth and body into pieces, but I forced myself to remain calm. I was the one in control of my instincts, not the other way around, I was no mere beast.

The knight scoffed before continuing, "You're all the same, heartless creatures that only care about power and destruction. I will never forgive you!"

"Never..." He whispered again, as his strength finally seemed to have left him. Tears continued to stream down his eyes before he closed his eyes for the final time.

A final sigh escaped my mouth as I shook my head.