Chapter 495: Soft or Strategic?
“But I already knew of that fact and reminded myself of it for 200 or more years. That’s enough time to recover from it.”
“So, why not hang around you instead? Seems like you could use a companion. Especially one who used your butt to wipe the ground not long ago,” Antares said with a mocking smirk.
“That was before. You won’t be wiping my butt on the ground anymore…”
“HAAHAHAAHAHA!”
“Still sore from the loss? Haha. My axes are ready anytime you are…” Antares said with a wild grin as Ryuk waved him off.
“No. No. Not in the mood.”
“I just came back. I have to check the state of things first.”
“If you want to stay by my side, then no need for a Contract Grimoire.”
“My eyes will be on you anyway.”
“Sounds good.”
“I will be in the Void Ruin. Still got a couple of healing sessions to do to get back to my full strength, and I can feel I’m close to a breakthrough,” Antares said quite seriously, and Ryuk shrugged before he reopened the Asura Void Rift for him and he stepped into it.
“You can summon me when you get in a pinch. I might be able to get some exercise while doing that…” he said before he entered into the void gate, which closed behind him.
Ryuk inhaled and exhaled before he turned to the void standing leisurely to the side.
“Now, Void. We check on the state of the world.”
“Has the third Knull gate opened? How many days have passed? And also, we get to check on Isha too…” Ryuk said, and he watched as Void’s humungous five meters tall height, which quickly reduced in and shrunk to just about a few centimeters tall, and it disappeared—only to reappear on his right shoulder.
And in the next instant, Ryuk slowly lifted himself off the ground before he began a beam of light moving into the far distance.
One thing Ryuk could notice was—even though his current level of strength was about three times the previous times when his travel would rupture the stronghold of space—surprisingly, the space around him was only sliding into fragments as he travelled.
It was just rippling—and that was because he could now absolutely control every ounce of strength he used.
He made sure in his flight to manipulate the gravity an inch around him—just enough not to shatter space around him.
A vast improvement from his previous barbaricness where space would have been blown into a void by his mere passing.
He felt himself in control now, and he could swear he loved this new form of his. The form where he felt every ounce of his strength under his control.
[So, with your skirmish with High Scholar Emeris…]
The system said as Ryuk’s eyes settled on the panel.
‘And what’s with that?’
[Well, you eventually let the man go when he was right there in your palm—his death just a slash away.]
“Hmmm…”
[Why did you let him go?]
[I was pretty sure you had already set your mind to end him when you unlocked your Primordial Gate,] the system asked as Ryuk’s eyes lit in slight fury when he remembered the scene—but in the end, they softened.
“I let him go…because he was more than a scientist.”
[More than a scientist? Ryuk, he tried to cripple you. Take away your Primordial Gate. If he had succeeded, he would have taken everything—your pet world, Void, your World Tree, your Ice cultivation power, and your Void cultivation power.]
[This fusion that you have with the Annunaki model could have cost you your life—and it took away all of your previous Nanotech skills.]
[Even though one might argue you are better off now, the truth remains—you had a 99% chance of dying every since you got into his palms.]
[He was a scientist, an evil one— through and through!]
The system said, as Ryuk clenched his hand into a fist before he released them.
“That’s true. But he’s also a father that is respected. A grandfather that is beloved. And a hero that is looked up to by millions.”
“He experimented on me, yes. That is wrong and unacceptable.”
“But the truth is—if I had killed him, what would that have done?”
“What advantage would that have brought me—other than feeding my ego?”
“Besides, he has just lost 70% of his true energy—his true power.”
“Does beating up an old man who is 70% crippled feed my ego?”
“I would have left the Medysla World right after, and you think his son, King Auremis, would let things slide like that?”
“What of his two daughters who watched their grandfather die before their eyes? The rage, the helplessness of watching their beloved, murdered right in front of them.”
“The Ancient Elders who held Aurmeis back from interfering—they would be blamed for life by him, and they would also harbour nothing but hate.”
“If the truth was revealed to the Silverunics, they would harbour nothing but hate— and all they would see is not a boy who got experimented on unrighteously, but an ungrateful Machine kid who they tried to make one of them only to get stabbed in the back by.”
“He might just be one man, but he carries the faith of millions—and so, the hate of millions too.”
“Crossing the Silverunics was never a choice of mine in the first place. I never thought I would go to a different world and meet with a different race.”
“But that also means we can cross paths in the future.”
“I’d rather cross paths with them and have them indebted than have them find me one day—burning with revenge,” Ryuk replied.
[And yet your eyes still burn with fury?] the system said, as Ryuk kept quiet, flying forward silently.
‘I’m angered because I deviated from my plan—one that I had harbored since the beginning.’
‘I spared him when I had already sworn I would end him.’
‘This is the first time I’ve had to change my plan so abruptly—because of placing myself in others’ shoes.’
‘The first time when my initial decision was… wrong?’
‘Or I’m just refusing that killing him was wrong.’
‘I don’t want to believe that I could be wrong… or shortsighted,’ Ryuk silently thought to himself, but the notification panel faded afterward.
“But still, I got a good bargain you know.”
“I got their Core Reactor. I’m sure that should put them in quite the pinch.”
“And finally, I got the first tool to upgrade the Techno Void Ruin.”
“Sooner or later, I would evolve the Techno Ruin and get my own powerful army.”
“And also, I get learned another aspect of Aetheris—the power of Imagination. Inputting one’s will and Aetheris to create a domain where one’s imagination will instantly bloom to life.”
“And ultimately, I get to understand just how strong I truly am right now—and put all my skills to use against a strong opponent too.”
“That give me some confidence, knowing I can fully take on even Abnormal Eternity Grade Experts.”
“The fight isn’t as hopeless as you may think, System.”
——
A/N:
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In and Out_SnowySmoos