"Interesting. He managed to reach the Peak Test Level of the Gravity Sink Zone. That is something I designed for an Eternal Stage being to find entertaining." The words echoed in the clouds where High Scholar Emeris stood.
A smirk of acknowledgment was on his face as he gazed at Ryuk's kneeling figure, but then something caught his eye as he paused on his feet and noticed something wrong with Ryuk.
For one, the machine-looking young adult who had been heaving up and down like a deranged beast suddenly went silent, and then...
RIIIIIIIIIIPPPLLLLE
High Scholar Emeris' eyes flashed as he looked beyond Ryuk and turned his gaze to the sky, watching a bizarre aurora suddenly appear above.
"Hmmm," a deep hmm escaped his lips, as silvery circles appeared in his eyes.
"This... this is a celestial phenomenon?"
He mused to none but himself, but his eyes soon flashed as three runic circles of silver appeared in his eyes, before flaring with disbelief.
"This... This is no ordinary celestial phenomenon. This!"
"This is a Celestial Birth Acknowledgement!" High Scholar Emeris said in shock as he cautiously stepped backwards, his eyes falling down as he watched the aurora in the sky concentrate into one revolving vortex of multiple colors and then...
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPLLLEEE
The sound of an object passing through space resounded as High Scholar Emeris watched the light in the sky illuminate below and shine on the figure of one who remained kneeling silent on the track.
"It's Him!? The Celestial Acknowledgement is for him!?" High Scholar Emeris gasped, as he descended from the sky.
His eyes locked onto Ryuk, and then they flashed with a deep light of disbelief as he began watching a change.
A change that he had never seen before in his almost thousand years of existence.
The Nanotech Model he saw right now kneeling on the ground had been found by him, and he, of course, knew its shape.
While at first sight, it was indeed captivating to the eye, it was undoubtable that the form was bulky and a bit unfitting.
It looked like any regular machine lifeform, one designed by an individual who lacked a sense of artistry.
If not for the energy waves the body exuded, one would mistake the Annunaki Model as nothing but just another inferior lifeform.
But now, right before his gaze, he watched as that Annunaki model, which he fused with Ryuk, began getting destroyed.
It all started as a hairline crack that snaked across Ryuk's bulky armoured shell-like body, glowing faintly with golden light.
At first, the fractures were small, spider-webbing across his blue gem-like Nanotech surface, but then, with a sound like shattering stars...
CRAAACKKKKKKK
His outer body shattered!
Shards of dense armour burst outward, scattering into the air like dying embers, incinerating the grounds and leaving nothing but an abyss in their wake.
Even the runic protection lines etched onto the deep ground were cruelly torn through from the explosion, as smoke rose into the air.
But then High Scholar Emeris' gaze pierced through this smoky covering, his eyes flashing with a feverish light.
From within the wreckage, a figure stepped forward, bathed in soft golden light.
The new Ryuk was... breathtaking.
His form had slimmed and refined into something sleek yet deadly—no longer bulky like a war machine, but carved like a work of living art.
Even though the words in his head seemed unfitting to describe a masculine entity, they were the only words that could accurately describe what was before him.
His torso was tight, elegant, every muscle clearly sculpted yet flowing naturally like the bends of a river—strong but not exaggerated.
His chest was broad enough to hint at his strength, but sleek enough to exude agility and nobility.
Long, regal arms hung at his sides, layered with elegant lines of white and gold—segmented so perfectly that the muscles seemed to ripple with even the slightest movement, as if a king's robe had been woven into his very flesh.
His neck was slender but carried a quiet sturdiness, leading up to a youthful, devastatingly striking face.
His jawline was sharp and smooth, his cheeks holding the faint roundness of youth—a reminder that despite the immense power humming through him, he was just as he said he was.
Only a boy of seventeen.
Cool blue light shimmered in his eyes—not the cold, lifeless glow of a machine that he had before, but the endless calm blue of an untouched sky after a storm.
It gave him a look both ancient and innocent, serene yet unreadable.
His lips were soft, with a slight hue of pink—almost too delicate for the power he radiated—but it only made his presence even more surreal.
His former rough-looking blue hair now flowed back like living metal, short-layered strands of snow white, tipped with faint streaks of iridescent gold, giving the illusion that stardust had settled on him.
But what shook High Scholar Emeris's heart were the two new additions.
Two short golden horns, elegant and smooth, crowned his head, their edges bearing the same golden iridescent light that covered his hair.
They were not monstrous nor demonic, but styled like the royal diadems of ancient emperors.
The molecular life particles that composed his new form had fused seamlessly with an unknown biological core, making him go from the robotic body to flawless skin radiating with the subtle warmth of life that had been perfected.
His entire body exuded a faint shimmer, like moonlight reflected on still water, whispering of power beyond human, yet paradoxically, more human than ever before.
Around him, the world seemed lesser, yet seemed to be part of him, as if it were from him in the first place.
Even amongst machines, even amongst gods—his form alone, along with his aura, would reign him as Royalty.
High Scholar Emeris swallowed thickly, as his eyes faintly quivered.
"This... this wasn't what I designed..."
"This... this feels beyond me." He muttered but then paused in his tracks as he watched him slowly raise his gaze to meet his, his gaze like that of a high being that unconsciously made him want to burst out with all his power and lay down his dominance, yet...
That gaze soon turned soft, before he watched the most innocent smile bloom.
"High Scholar Emeris? I did not expect you would stick around to watch me exercise..."