"Huh?" This time, it was Ryuk's turn to raise an eyebrow.
He had not expected such a reason.
"You see me as an equal, do you not? You don't fear me at all. You seem to have realized I am at the Eternal stage, yet you never really rose up from your seat in shock, like most I have come across in more than hundreds of years would."
"That's only because you don't think I can get rid of you in an instant. Your act of probing, your claim that you own your beast and that she can only be taken away from you, was something any beast tamer with a shred of pride in their heart would do for their beast. But the way you did it was borderline disrespectful."
"And what I found nauseating is knowing that your disrespect didn't come from the fact that you know I wouldn't kill you because I value your beasts. It came from the thought process that made you believe you would be able to survive a battle with me."
"If not, you wouldn't be nestled on your seat so comfortably knowing well, I an Eternity Grade Expert have the thought of killing you in my head."
"And for that reason, I very badly want to prove to you the vast disparity that exists between anyone at the Eternal stage and anyone below it."
"Trust me, it'll be an instant domination, done before you could even blink."
SNAAAPPP.
As she spoke, she snapped her fingers and looked into Ryuk's eyes before continuing.
"As fast as that, you'll be blown to dust," she said, her gaze just as cold and emotionless as before.
But Ryuk merely furrowed his brows for a few seconds before they settled back into place.
"And lastly, it's because you're a headache."
"Oh?"
"There's too much chaos surrounding you."
"You're the 'last' hope of the Ten Families, they say you have some Eternal-grade expert behind you that knows a thing or two about how Endearth could survive the Knulls, and then you defeated some three weaklings that called themselves Knull Wanderers or whatever, and now because you're young and easily fooled, you're an important asset, and that and that and that."
"I coudl end you in a blink, but the consequences of that wouldn't end in a blink."
"The other Eternal-grade experts would probably rise up from their godforsaken slumber and come knocking on my chambers, asking for some sort of vengeance or whatever when, in essence, they just want a good reason to take something from one of my golden treasure caves."
"Killing you would give them a righteous excuse to barge in and carry away my life treasures, which is just not worth it at all to kill a single person—not even an Eternal Being yet."
"And for that reason, I really am in a pinch right now," she said.
Yet, Ryuk didn't at all find her musings hateful.
It was simple and direct, just like how Isha herself was. It seemed the Frost Wyvern truly breathed indifference and directness, not minding whether you liked what they said or not.
And of all the things she had listed, the morality of killing him wasn't even an option at all, revealing just how twisted her thought process was.
But then, she was an True Being.
Ryuk wasn't entirely confident he could face her toe-to-toe.
He wasn't that arrogant to the point he would illusion himself.
But he knew well that if he realized his life could be over in an instant, the way he would burst out with Might and run away would be unlike anything the world would have ever seen, and even an Eternal-grade being would be in for quite the shock.
He wasn't confident in winning, but he was confident in running away.
A second choice that Ryuk always had in every situation and which he never failed to recognize.
"Well, if I were in your shoes, with risks of losing my treasures that I hoarded all my life, and also getting hate from the other Ten Families, which might very well affect the Nagas, my companion race in the war to come..."
"I can imagine if the next Knull portal opened right at the heart of the Nagas' plains and you had just had a battle with the Ten Family Eternal experts."
"They are strong enough to give a command to their warriors not to help you, meaning you would be risking facing all of the Knulls on your own—something even an Eternal-grade expert would struggle to keep the death rates under control, judging from how bad the second Knull Gate was."
"I wouldn't risk such an amount of death and destruction just because some arrogant brat was ignorant of my own strength or because he was a beast tamer. I mean, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of beast tamers out there."
"Killing a beast tamer? Fine by me. But killing a beast tamer only to lose so much? Then absolutely not worth it. I'd just ignore him instead..." Ryuk said, exactly what he would have done if he were in her shoes.
And he spoke what was on Queen Snowarda's mind, as the Frost Wyvern furrowed her brows before she finally relaxed them.
"What do you think, Snow?" the Frost Wyvern asked, turning to the author—I mean, Queen Snow—to ask for her opinion.
"I think he's right, Elder Celine. It's just as she said, right now, he's no different from an ignorant beast tamer."
"To kill an ignorant beast tamer might be alright, but under the conditions of making us the enemies of the Ten Families and giving them a reason to enter our territory without restrictions in any respect, and even risking us being alone to fend for ourselves in the Third Knull War..."
"I'm afraid that's a bad thing."
"Besides, the boy's Eternal-grade expert is a key to obtaining certain secrets of the Knulls. If you kill him now, we lose that."
"I think you should consider sparing him... for now." She said.
Ryuk's eyebrows twitched upon hearing the last part, and the Frost Wyvern's eyes flashed with light instead.
"For now, huh? That sounds tempting, Snow..." The Frost Wyvern flashed Ryuk a wicked smile with those widened maws of hers that uncannily resembled a sinister smirk of revelation.
And Ryuk, shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
'Why do I feel like I've only dodged a calamity, but it'll be coming back for my ass soon enough?'