THE END OF A LONG NIGHT (1)

WHEN NIKOLAI opened his eyes, he was greeted by the worried faces of his Soul Beasts in their human form. The ones who were hovering over him were North (the Black Tortoise without the black serpent) and West (the White Tiger.)

"Your Majesty…" North and West said at the same time. Then, they both moved away from him and kneeled after leaving a decent space between him and the two. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright," Nikolai said, then he got up. He realized that he was lying on the cold and hard ground all this time. And he also belatedly realized that he was still inside North's shell-like barrier. Ah, right. "What happened to the Devil?"

"The Devil ran away after being bitten by Center, Your Majesty," North said. 'Center' was the name of the black serpent that was often with the Black Tortoise. "But Center was poisoned after he sipped the Devil's blood so I sent him back home. We apologize for failing to end the Devil's life."