Fear spread through the White Plaza like a living thing.
Only moments earlier, the settlement had been celebrating.
Now the same people who shouted Hol’s name stood frozen beneath the gray sky, staring at the blood-covered figure writhing at the center of the platform.
Nobody understood what they were seeing.
And that made it worse.
Shuan remained on the ground, trembling violently while steam rose from his wounded body in pale twisting waves.
The snow beneath him had almost completely melted now, exposing dark wet ice beneath the platform.
Tiny streams of water slid outward between cracks in the frozen surface.
The heat coming from him no longer looked natural.
It looked wrong.
One of the soldiers slowly lowered his rifle.
“I hit him directly…” he whispered.
Another stared at the healing wound near Shuan’s shoulder with visible panic behind his eyes.
“That should have killed him.” The crowd began retreating instinctively.
Step by step.
As though distance alone could protect them from whatever was happening.
“Stay back!” “Don’t touch him!” “The Eyes of Ice—!” Panic spread through the civilians now.
Several people grabbed their children and pulled them away from the center of the plaza.
Others covered their mouths in horror.
A man stumbled backward and nearly fell while trying to escape through the snow-covered crowd.
The fear had changed completely.
Before, they feared a monster from stories.
Now they feared something real.
Something directly in front of them.
Shuan cried out again.
The sound cracked weakly from his throat as another violent wave of pain tore through his body.
His fingers clawed desperately against the melting ice beneath him.
Every muscle tightened.
Every breath burned.
He could feel his wounds closing beneath his skin.
The sensation horrified him.
It did not feel healing.
It felt unnatural.
Like his body no longer belonged to him.
Tears continued falling from his eyes without stopping.
He looked terrified.
Not dangerous.
Not monstrous.
Terrified.
And somehow that frightened the crowd even more.
Because monsters were easier to understand than suffering.
Hol stood completely still near the front of the platform.
The color had drained from his face.
For the first time since the execution began— he looked genuinely afraid.
His fingers tightened hard around his staff while his eyes remained fixed on Shuan’s regenerating body.
“No…” he whispered quietly.
The old man took an unconscious step backward.
As if reality itself had suddenly betrayed him.
He had seen the bullets tear through Shuan.
Seen the blood.
Seen him collapse.
That should have been the end.
But instead— the thing before him was surviving.
Lemar remained silent beside him.
Unlike the others, her expression barely changed.
She watched Shuan carefully, her sharp eyes following every detail.
The steam.
The melting snow.
The closing wounds.
As though she had expected something like this long before arriving at the settlement.
Then finally— she spoke.
“…So the rumors were true.” Her voice was calm.
Quiet.
Yet the words cut through the panic spreading across the plaza.
Several soldiers immediately looked toward her.
One of them spoke nervously.
“You knew about this?” Lemar ignored the question completely.
Her eyes never left Shuan.
Meanwhile, Shuan tried forcing himself upward.
His arms trembled violently beneath him.
Pain shot through his body instantly.
A broken scream escaped his throat as another surge of unbearable heat exploded beneath his skin.
The snow around him melted faster now.
Steam burst upward visibly.
People near the platform recoiled in panic.
“Move away from him!” “It’s a monster!” “Eyes of Ice!” The shouting became chaotic.
Fear overwhelmed the crowd entirely now.
Several civilians turned and ran deeper into the settlement.
Others remained frozen in place, unable to look away from the impossible scene unfolding before them.
Shuan could barely hear any of it clearly.
His mind had become a storm of pain and confusion.
His body no longer felt cold at all.
Only burning heat.
Endless burning heat.
He looked down weakly at his own trembling hands.
Steam drifted upward from his fingers.
The sight filled him with horror.
Because deep inside— he was beginning to fear that the people around him might be right.