(Time-Stilled world, surface level, on one of the floating islands)
"I'm sure I heard him calling your name at the end…" Bob muttered, his brow furrowed as he stared at the empty edge where Raiden had vanished. "What did you do?"
Karl didn't answer at first.
He stood still.
Too still.
Then, he smiled.
Not the broken, grieving smile of a man who had just lost his friend.
But the kind of smile that belonged to someone who had never once considered Raiden a friend to begin with.
It spread slowly across his face as his posture straightened, shoulders rolling back, spine aligning as though he was finally shedding a mask that no longer served him.
Then the act dropped.
His expression changed from looking like a sorry little slob, to a confident predator, as he looked straight into Bob's eyes with a daunting gaze.
