Under the curious eyes of everyone including those who were hiding in fear of Nikol, he slowly opened his eyelids which weren't any different from his other body parts because of how red it was.
Zenda and Lydia got ready with everyone else to run away in case, he wasn't different from before but right now, Nikol's eyes didn't have any aggressiveness to them instead it was the same kind of look but this time, they had an awkward gaze to it.
"Nikol, are you okay? did you come back?" Alva who slowly got close to him questioned, as she couldn't wait until others confirm his sanity. She wanted to hug this man in front of him and beg for forgiveness for what they did, just like everyone else.
"Yeah," It was a short answer but from the tone of it, others were easily able to guess what was happening.
"What happened to you, Nikol?" Lydia who got close to this duo questioned.
"Nothing!"
"..."
"..."
The whole atmosphere around him became awkward, as he didn't even look at others with eye-to-eye contact.
"Hahaa, anyway let's go back, this war is a huge success thanks to Nikol, we should celebrate this," Hoping to ease the tense atmosphere, Lydia shouted with a smile hoping others would also follow her path and it didn't even take few seconds, everyone started to cheer but among this crowd, none of them was genuinely happy.
Some lost their children, some lost their mothers, and none of them had anything to celebrate about this so-called victory.
"Shut up," While they were cheering, suddenly they heard an unbelievable word coming out of Nikol's mouth shocking most of them.
"What did you say, Nikol?" Alva tried to question him again but, she only understood that it wasn't a good idea because of how aggressively Nikol looked at them.
"I said shut the fuck up," This time Nikol had no idea of holding back, as his sound even echoed throughout the forest showing how loud his words were.
"Let's celebrate? Let's cheer? Are you people dumb or something? Look around you, does this look like something you should celebrate?"
Every human and elf who listened to his words couldn't help but wonder, why they tried to act like this was an absolute victory. They saw the blood puddles that were created by their comrade's blood, organs splattered across the ground.
"Do you take me for a push-over? First, you people poisoned me and paralyzed me and now trying act all friendly with me, it disgusts me, I believed each and every one of you, especially you girls," With his trembling hands, Nikol pointed at his most faithful girls.
"Nikol, we didn't-" Alva had tears coming out of her eyes listening to him, even though Nikol felt his heart racing with how sad this situation was, he didn't feel like bowing his head this time, especially when these girls betrayed his trust.
"I said, shut up, I don't care anymore, either way, you people only saw me as a breeding stallion, if we had a real relationship, you wouldn't have done something like that to me,"
Usha felt her dreams crumble every time Nikol opened his mouth. Even though he was being rude to them, none of them had any comebacks since they knew, it was their fault.
"Nikol, listen to us, we did that because of you, we couldn't let you die on the battlefield," Lydia supported Alva who was shedding tears. She stayed strong because she got ready to face something like this. She knew their actions would get some backlash and they still decided to go along with it so, she had no reason to back down right now.
"And did it give you good results? if so tell me, Lydia, Do you mean you don't need me?"
"No, I didn't mean-"
"All of you betrayed my trust and poisoned me, that's all I know and that's all I need to know," The pain and disappointment in Nikol"s voice was so apparent by how shaky his vocals were.
While the relationship between Nikol and the girls was taking a vast amount of damage, Usha observed everything with silence until she couldn't.
"As I thought, the only woman I can believe is my sister, It was a mistake believing you people,"
His words were like sharp knives that could pierce someone's heart without even getting touched by how sharp and rude they were. He really had no idea of holding back against them because of how pained he felt. He wanted to hear the reason they did it, but at the same time, he was scared to listen to it.
Usha kept running and running, until she could see Nikol's face clearly and shouted something which made everyone gasp because of how absurd it was.
"Nikol, I'm pregnant,"
"..."
"..."
It was one thing after another thing for humans and elves. At this point, they had to overwork their brain to process everything that was happening as this was one of the most absurd days in their life.
Even Nikol had no words to answer her, as he kept looking at her beautiful eyes which had long lost the shining warrior gaze and instead replaced with the shade of a vulnerable woman.
"No way!"
The situation became even more confusing and complicated.
"Why did you do that? Why did you poison me? Didn't I ask each and every one of you to believe me," Nikol calmed down after Usha's announcement, and he still couldn't believe that he was going to be a father but before that, he had so many things he needed to clarify with Usha and others.
"You would have died if you were to fight on the battlefield, so that's why we decided to protect you by doing that," Lydia answered his question.
"We had no choice, we knew you won't accept even if we requested you to stay,"
"How do you know that I would die if I fight on the battlefield?" Nikol was confused, about why they were talking about the same thing about him dying, when he was the reason dark elves went back with their tails tucked in between their legs.
Even though Nikol had no control when he was fighting like a crazy monster, he still had his consciousness and observed everything that happened in the battle.
He saw how he attacked both parties including dark elves and human-elves people. Even though he wanted to feel bad for them, deep down there was something that enjoyed this bloody massacre. It was something cruel yet kind at the same time. Nikol had no idea what happened but he was motivated to learn this power so, he can use this effectively to chase down any enemy he want in future.
"It was because-" All of them hesitated to say the reason which disappointed Nikol even more.
"So this reason is more important than our relationships? Am I not important to you as much as this reason?"
Others hesitated to say it, but Alva was the complete opposite of Zenda, Usha and Lydia. She quickly opened her mouth right after Nikol said those words gaining a frown from everyone in the field including Usha.
'Is she trying to be the only good person here? I won't let her do that'
One by one, everyone started saying the same thing confusing Nikol even more but he heard one thing clearly and shortly, which gave his answer.
The culprit behind this incident and who gave the idea of paralysing Nikol and battling dark elves all alone without his help.
"Arti..."
"Yes, we hesitated because this was an order from a fairy but right now, to us, our relationship is more valuable than some promise,"
"We truly love you, darling, It's just we didn't want to see you die and suffer,"
When he heard their reason, Nikol couldn't help but feel even more conflicted. This whole situation felt like a dream to him, of how many twists he had in one day which changed his mind.
"Why would she do something like that? This doesn't make any sense,"
Everyone looked at each other's faces with helpless looks unable to answer his question. They realised how foolish they were to not even question the purpose of, what they were doing.
According to Lydia, Arti suddenly appeared in their meeting and the drop the bomb about Nikol's inability to face dark elves, then she suggested keeping him in the safest place while all the humans and elves faced their enemy.
"Damn it, I knew she wasn't up to any good, when she appeared out of nowhere," Stumping his leg with an angered look, Nikol looked at the girls in front of him with a questioning look.
"I will give you all one chance to decide," Walking close to them leaving no space for them to go back, Nikol looked at them straight with a piercing gaze.
"Who's more important to you? Is it me or the fairy and goddess, I can't let something like this happen again," His question was a simple yet troubling one for girls as most of them had troubled faces except a few who already decided their answer.