"A place where Aetheris Energy is at its maximum?" Ryuk mused to himself, pondering the idea.
Right now, there was nothing he wanted to do more than focus his attention on his cultivation—something he hadn't finished well during his last seclusion due to the circumstances of the Knull War.
But now, he had around three weeks to a month free, and he didn't even need to make an appearance in the upcoming Knull War, which could give him even more time alone.
He didn't have much to do with this time, so why not get back into seclusion once more instead? Improve his strength for the challenges coming ahead.
And if there was a place oozing with a large amount of Aetheris Energy and he was about to begin its cultivation...
Then it probably was the best idea for his seclusion place.
"Okay then. We'll check it out? What location is it though? I can request MadWhite to lend us a jet too..." Ryuk said to Asteralaixa, but watched as she climbed up the railing before signalling with her fingers for him to follow, and then jumped down, soaring into the roadside in the distance.
"Hey, wait!" Ryuk called out as he debated whether to tell MadWhite before he left, finding the leaving a bit too sudden.
But then, he felt his device in his pockets and shrugged before climbing down too.
"I'll just call him up in the morning," he mused to himself, as he followed after Asteralaixa, soon arriving by the side of the road where the cars were blitzing past.
He stopped, his hair and clothes flapping harshly from the wind motion around him.
But then, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked around and suddenly lost sight of Asteralaixa.
"Wait, but I saw her right..." Ryuk muttered, touching the space before him where he had last seen Aster.
But then, he felt his hand come into a block—as if touching an invisible wall.
And not a second later, the wall began dispersing, and coming out from the empty space was none other than Asteralaixa.
But now she looked a bit different, wearing something far from her usual flowing robes.
Right now, she was donning a sleek matte-black biker jacket, snugly fitted to her frame and lined with subtle blue accents that shimmered faintly under the passing blitzing lights, the high collar brushing her jawline.
Instead of robes, she now wore armored riding pants, tight and efficient, with bulky outward-stacked sharp angles and tech fabric glowing faintly as if alive with motion.
Gloved hands—sleek and dark with refined knuckles—and what he couldn't fail to notice last was her long blue hair.
Usually cascading freely, it was now braided into two long ends.
On her face was a humorous grin as she saw Ryuk's bizarre stare, watching him shake his head, clearing up the shock before asking:
"Why are you dressed like that?"
"Like what?" Aster asked curiously.
"Like someone who googled 'How to look cool on a bike' and maxed out every suggestion?" Ryuk said, resulting in a loud burst of laughter from Asteralaxia.
"You can't be helped. Here..." she said, throwing an object at Ryuk.
He caught it, his eyebrows raised when he saw the helmet.
Slowly, he raised his gaze back up to ask what it was for, but his lips hung when he saw Aster sitting on a gigantic bike with surprisingly just a singular tire.
"I... How!?"
"How did you even get this?" he asked, looking at the bike, which was almost at his full height of 1.8 meters, its end bursting out with large amounts of blue flames as Aster revved it before stretching her hand toward him.
"We'll get there faster this way..." she convinced, as Ryuk took the hand.
With a soft yank, he found himself on the back seat behind her.
"Wear the helmet. Trust me—you'll be needing it," she said, as Ryuk creased his eyebrows but wore it in the end.
He watched Aster lean forward more while the power bike seemed to grow even angrier.
"Hold on tight!" she said.
"What?" Ryuk asked with a bizzare expression under the helmet.
But his face changed instantly in the next instant, as he felt a powerful force that almost shattered his spine.
His body instinctively shot backwards from the power, resulting in his hands instantly darting out and grabbing onto whatever he could, barely stopping him from being blown away.
"What the hell, Aster!" Ryuk screamed out in shock, as the world instantly became a rushing blur.
The air crazily falling around him with speed, amidst the loud rumble of the bike that rapidly weaved through the fast-moving cars on the road—insanely overtaking them while barely escaping crashing into them by the skin of their teeth.
Ryuk could only hold on tight around her waist, but soon fragments of her hair left her helmet, blowing around his face.
He tried to to blow them away from his mouth with his breath, but they only narrowly missed from falling into his mouth and, in the end, he could only silently close his mouth and leave them helplessly.
"What do you think, Ryuk? Fast, no?" Aster shouted out, the helmet barely concealing the twisted excitement in her voice.
Ryuk could only roll his eyes, but a chuckle soon left his lips.
For truly, it was quite an experience. An experience he had never had before but had always thought of having if he ever saw one.
Who would have guessed it would be now?
"Yeah. It's really fast—and cool," Ryuk replied, shouting his lungs out just to even hear his own voice.
"Sorry, can't hear you! Come again?" Asteralaixa shouted back as Ryuk replied again.
"It's really fast—and cool too!" he shouted even louder.
"Sorry, still can't hear you! Come again?" Aster said, sounding strained, as Ryuk was about to shout it out once more—when his eyebrows furrowed.
'How come you can only not hear after I just finished saying it?'
"Aster. Stop fucking with me!" Ryuk screamed out, resulting in a loud laugh.
"So you heard, didn't you?"
"I did. Just wanted to hear it more than once..."
"Tch. Anyway, can we slow down a bit?"
"Oh, you want to go faster? Fine by me..."
"No, I mean—"
VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM