Chapter 491: The Power of Imagination
In the next instant, Ryuk made his choice.
“Activate Void Vortex!” he ordered, and true to his will, the technique instantly activated.
He immediately stepped into it—yet when he stepped outside, his eyes flashed in perplexion as he looked around and found out that he was still standing exactly where he had left.
“What’s wrong?” he muttered, and in the next instant, he reactivated Void Vortex, only to step in and step out back to where he had started.
‘The space has been locked down?’ he thought confusedly but then watched as High Scholar Emeris delivered the last strike of his brush hands, before he slowly lowered his hands back to the ground and turned to look at Ryuk, shaking his head at him.
“You’re dead—you just don’t know it yet.”
“Imaginio… Weight of the Forgotten,” Emeris uttered, and in the next instant—
CRAACCKK
The sound of knees cracking, resounded before—
SHATTERRR
Ryuk’s kneecap shattered instantly into nothing as his legs immediately buckled.
His eyes flashed in horror at the weight pressing down on him, as he felt the gravity seemingly increase by a factor of 10,000, wanting to crush him from the inside as he was slammed down into the ground.
The earth swiftly lit with cracks beneath, but then the word rang out once more:
“Imaginio… Unbirth!” Emeris uttered, and in that moment, Ryuk felt the sensation that enveloped him.
In an instant, he watched as his draconic scales suddenly began peeling away like old paint, his claws retreating back into human skin.
His heart, which was beating incredibly fast, slowed down to a crawl.
His gigantic wings behind him withdrew into themselves before the slits on his back closed up—and that was when Ryuk truly felt the Weight.
In an instant—
CRACCCK
CRAACKK
The sound of bones gruesomely shattering echoed out as he was pressed flat into the ground.
His teeth clenched hard as he felt the full force of an increase in gravity by 10,000x.
‘My technique… it’s been unfurled. Like I never activated it in the first place!’ the thought echoed in his head through the pain, but that was when real understanding dawned on him as he remembered Emeris’s words:
____
“Imaginio… Weight of the Forgotten.”
“Imaginio… Unbirth.”
____
‘When he called out the first word, gravity increased by 10,000x.’
‘And when he called the second, my draconic transformation unfurled, and I returned to what he knew.’
‘In his head, the image of me after fusing with the Annunaki model came back.’
‘Could this be it? His power of imagination.’
‘Emeris twists imagination with the combination of Aetheris and his will to affect his opponents.’
The realization instantly dawned, yet Ryuk was barely able to put it to use when he instantly heard the words:
“Imaginio… Nanotech Puppetry!” High Scholar Emeris said, and in the next instant, Ryuk’s body writhed under the force as he felt his own nanobody suddenly undergoing changes beyond his will.
And then—
BAAAANG
GASSSPPP
Intense gasps left Ryuk’s lips when he felt his own hand morphed into a gigantic nanoclaw, sinister in scale—its grip closing around his throat.
As Ryuk’s other hand moved to try and stop it, movement failed.
His second hand instead grabbed at his head and began tightening on his skull.
“Ahhh, Ryuk.” The voice echoed aloud as he looked through the gap of his fingers, looking at High Scholar Emeris, who descended before him.
“You’re strong, Ryuk. Especially your draconic bloodline. The might of it feels like it can never be buried to the ground, you know…” High Scholar Emeris said seemingly in praise, but the mocking grin came just as fast.
“But the truth is—even dragons will drown in enough rain,” High Scholar Emeris said as Ryuk felt the grip on his throat and skull increasingly fold, squeezing him of the remnant of life as blood poured down the corner of his lips.
Yet, from the pain, Emeris watched as the boy’s pained expression slowly morphed into a smile.
“Who…” he forced out from the struggle.
“All… I… was… capable… of… was… dra…gon?” he asked in mockery. And in the next instant—
PIIIIIIEERCCCCCCEEE
High Scholar Emeris instantly turned behind him as he watched a gigantic vortex suddenly manifest behind him, and from within came an claw, pitch-black in color, with writhing furs sharper than steel.
And instantly, it slashed toward High Scholar Emeris, tearing the surrounding space with its power.
KAAAABOOOOOOOM
“ARGGGH!”
A groan of pain left High Scholar Emeris’s lips as he was slapped deep into the void, and that one moment of disorientation was all Ryuk needed to break apart the hold of the grasp on his throat.
And he instantly ordered two commands:
“Return back, Void.”
“Activate Sovereign Rewriting!”
In the instant, the claw retreated back into the void before the vortex also fade away, and instantly, the world around Ryuk changed massively.
The former void had been repelled, and he saw tiny streaks of dark blood tailing the entire area.
It was the inks that were coating High Scholar Emeris’s brushes, but it seemed it had infected the entire world.
‘This is how his imagination affects the world. With the aid of the runes he had been writing before, he turned the entire area into a painting canvas of his.’
‘It works similar to an Apex Domain—one where all of his imagination will come to life with just a word!’ Ryuk’s brain quickly analyzed, and a moment later, he ordered:
‘Hey system, pour all of my remaining Ability Upgrade Cards to Sovereign Rewriting!’
[Congratulations, Host. Sovereign Rewriting has levelled up to Level 20!]
Immediately, golden splashes of light appeared around Ryuk as his hands instantly stretched outwards, pulling the bonds between these dark bloods, destroying them into nothing with his will.
The dark inks around Ryuk were the first to break, and instantly the force of gravity that held him tight was erased immediately.
Then it began unfurling outwards toward High Scholar Emeris, whose eyes flashed in horror.
‘My control… it’s being dissipated!? How!?’ he thought in shock, but was instantly brought back when he watched a powerful explosion of energy rock out from Ryuk as his blue draconis scales instantly reappeared on his body.
His wings tore out from behind, and with a single flap, Ryuk disappeared into space before instantly appearing before High Scholar Emeris—their eyes mere inches away.
“Your Mundane Imagination won’t take me down,” Ryuk said out loud, and in the next instant, his claws pierced outwards ripping through High Scholar Emeris’s ribcage and tearing out straight from behind him.