'Wait, how did I get tracked previously?' he wondered to himself as his mind drifted back to when he had noticed he was being tracked.
'I was no doubt traced through my Apex Watch, but the only one who has my number is Morgaine… not the Half-Fallen one? That means I have been tracked through her device?' he wondered to himself, as his eyes flashed and his hand, which was reaching for his device, paused mid-motion before retreating.
'If I'm being tracked through my device, then calling up her number will no doubt make them get my location—and now, I'm at MadWhite's mansion.'
'I might just be getting MadWhite into trouble. I can't call her here...' he thought to himself, exhaling a breath of relief before he focused back on the stars above.
"I'll find a way to get back to her and reassure her I'm okay. Don't want her getting too worried again..." Ryuk mused, but then was awakened by her words.
"Worried about what?" The voice rang out as Ryuk sat up, turning to look at Asteralaxia, who had a curious expression on her face as she looked at him.
"Huh?"
"You seemed pretty lost in thought, and I could swear your expressions went through a thousand changes just now," she said, as Ryuk shrugged his shoulders.
"Just a couple of things not worth you sweating about..." he said while rising to his feet, before moving forward to the edge of the balcony, looking at the expanse of green grass and the cars that lined the side, on MadWhite's garage space.
But then, he looked far away, sighting the streets where various cars bolted by—dark jets that almost seemed to mix together with the night, blitzing past with speed.
The motion of it all worked magic in calming down his emotions, seemingly entrancing in their length.
"Quite an advanced setting for a Wild World," Aster suddenly called out, piquing Ryuk's attention.
"What do you mean?"
"Technological devices equipped with mana-powered runes to boost their speed. Myriad of races. Complex and different action. It's not quite like a Wild World."
"Those are usually more simple, with everyone known for one thing and doing the same thing."
"Not much distinction, not much differentiation. Enderath seems almost no different from an Upper World, due to its number of different races coming together and co-existing..." Aster said, the faintest bit of amazement in her voice as Ryuk's eyebrows creased before he understood it and nodded his head.
"I guess it would have looked no different from a Wild World, if the other races were never brought here. There would have been only Humans in it and I doubt all of this would be possible, if it was only the Humans," he muttered aloud, resulting in a nod from Aster.
"You seem to care about them—the Humans," she said, and Ryuk nodded.
"Why is that?" she followed, as Ryuk turned to look at her, staring into those blue depths before he nodded.
"Because I'm one?" he responded, but then watched as Aster shook her head.
"You're not a Human."
"Just like the other races, your source energy radiates in a signature different from this planet. You don't belong too," Aster said, as Ryuk creased his eyebrows.
Amongst all other people in Enderath, not a single person knew he wasn't human—except for Asteralaxia.
And that was due to her ability to identify the strange surge of Source Energy of every inhabitant of a world.
There was no point lying about it.
"Nobody in the world knows that. So, I'll like to keep it a secret. And while I'm not biologically a Human… I consider myself one still."
"You decided to ally with them against the other races?" she asked, as Ryuk shrugged his shoulder.
"I guess that's one way to put it."
'If he isn't a Human… then what is he?'
'His aura is so special—I can't sense a second one like his on this world.'
'Could he be like me? Completely from a different place?'
'Why does he seem to be hiding that fact?'
'And why do the people here not seem to know about it?'
'Why do I feel like he would be rejected if they knew what he was?'
'What race is he even?'
A thousand and one questions came into Aster's mind, but in the end, she decided to remain silent.
She too was not from this world, and Ryuk had never asked her any overly personal question as to what race she was.
He could… but didn't—meaning he was probably respecting her privacy.
Perhaps it was time to repay that, by also not overly interfering in his business.
"What are you planning to do next, Aster?" Ryuk asked, drawing her attention.
"If I may guess… perhaps growing stronger and reaching the next true stage?" he asked, as she nodded.
"Obviously. Just because I have a way out doesn't mean I want my strength to lag behind."
"Fine by me."
"But you do realize going around and sucking out people's soul power isn't the best way, right?" Ryuk said, as Aster creased her eyebrows.
"We need our strength if we're to fight the Knulls."
"A person like you—or to be more concise, your power—is very dangerous. One that can absorb soul power and weaken us."
"If we're weakened and then have to fight the Knulls too, then our defeat is pretty certain," Ryuk pointed out, and she didn't need to think about it twice before realizing it was the truth.
Her reason for absorbing soul power was because she had wanted to quickly regain her power and get free from Ryuk's control.
It came at a side effect, but it was worth it if she was able to leave Ryuk's control.
But now, that she was on his side, and was also looking forward towards defeating the Knulls...
Then she had no need to be taking such extreme measures to cultivate her energy.
"I know. I did that because I almost had no choice… but now, the options are different."
"I'll just go the normal route of cultivating Aetheris Energy."
"It's surprisingly pretty abundant here. Maybe because no one cultivates it..." Aster mused as Ryuk's eyes flashed, but then her eyebrows creased as she turned to him.
"Wait..."