Ryuk’s voice rang out through the space as Rakhasa floated forward towards him.
"You sound disappointed?"
"What were you expecting from an Evil Succubus?" she asked mockingly, her maws opening wide as Ryuk shrugged his shoulders.
"I was expecting it to be a lie," he said as her gaze sharpened with suspicion.
"What lie?"
"A lie that just because you’re an Evil Succubus, you’re automatically a monster. I was hoping it would end up differently."
But then, the wall beside his head shattered into cracks as Rakhasa’s claw smashed into it.
She appeared mere inches from him, her eyes blazing with crimson aura that burned its image into Ryuk’s mind.
"I... Am A Monster!"
"How?" he replied, unfazed, as her fiery expression paused in confusion before she shot back.
"Have you gone insane!?"
"Look at me. I have four horns sticking out of my head, and my hands and feet end in claws! Claws!" she barked out, drangling her claw in front of Ryuk.
"And my tongue is that of a snake. Snake. What part of me look unmonstrous to you?"
"And those were your own words, remember!?"
"I did say that." Ryuk said with an agreeing nod.
"Then why did you expect things to have turned out differently?"
"Because you tried to save a life. If you’re a monster, then why did you try to save her life? A weak, pathetic life that you could’ve easily slaughtered. You kept her, and even after death, you fought for her!"
"Why?" he asked, as her brows furrowed, lost in thought—but he never gave her a chance to reflect before the question thundered once more.
"I asked why!"
"Why did you save her and isk being stuck here for eternity if you’re indeed a monster!?"
"Why fight for a dead life’s honor, if you’re a monster?"
"Why!?"
"I Asked Why!"
"I DON’T KNOW!" she roared back, the sonic waves slamming Ryuk deeper into the wall, his shirt blasted to ashes from the power of her attack.
But then it stopped as Rakhasa regained herself.
She reached toward him in fear of having injured him... but her hand paused just before it could touch him.
Eventually, she took it back, clenching it into a fist before she turned her gaze to the side.
"I don’t know..." she whispered, more quietly this time as silence descended onto the area before he spoke out.
"You’re not a monster Rakhasa."
"Just because you have four horns, claws, and inhuman feet—that doesn’t make you a monster."
"And you never should have been judged as a monster just because you happen to be born into an evil race and possess an evil form."
"It’s not right."
"Tch, and what do you know about being judged as a monster?"
"What pain have you gone through to think you understand how I feel... about being seen and judged as a monster?" Rakhasa said with a scoff as she walked toward him, towering above him with her claws glinting with blood red energy.
"I know it. At least the fear that comes with being judged as one."
"And how do you know?" she asked, crimson light bubbling in her eyes as she studied the young man, whose head dipped at his feet before he slowly raised it.
Her eyes widened slightly as she saw those once circular blue irises morph into a serpentine pattern, along with a crimson light flashing within them.
"Because... I’m a monster too."
"ROAAARRRRRRRRR!"
In the next instant, an ear-defining roar burst out from Ryuk—his most bestial yet.
Rakhasa had never heard anything like it before, as following that beastly roar was an insanely dreadful aura that was enough to send her flying out of the crack in the wall, blown erratically backwards before she crashed into the opposite end.
Her eyes didn’t register the pain at all, as she turned her gaze back to the cave where Ryuk had been, only to find it completely covered in dark and heavily obstructing mist.
____
"RAAAAAGGGH!"
The inhuman growl burst from Ryuk’s throat as his body began expanding uncontrollably, the raw mass tearing off the remaining clothes he had on to shreds.
His hand clutched at his head as he felt a colossal headache ripping through it, while his heart thumped with unbearable ferocity.
[WARNING!]
[WARNING!]
[UNSTABLE TRANSFORMATION HAS BEEN OBSERVED!]
[TRANSFORMATION HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED TO BE OBLIGATORY AND CANNOT BE STOPPED!]
[Ryuk! What are you activating?]
"GRRHHHH!"
The pain—it was heart-ripping.
Like a core of endless headache blasting through his head, and molten lava flowing through every inch of his bones.
He felt objects piercing out from his spine and head, as he looked to his hands, now covered in blue draconic scales.
But not for long, as their color began changing, becoming a mix of blood red and crimson over the blue.
His claws evolved into long, sickle-like blades glowing with intense, purple energy.
THUUUMMPP!
Ryuk’s hand reached for the edge of the wall to steady himself from the mental torment, but his hand cleaved through it like butter.
He had always felt it.
He had felt it in his chest—something waiting to burst out of him.
Something within him that couldn’t wait to reveal itself to the world, and it started after he had faced that Knull Army and wiped them out.
But he had pressed down that feeling with all his power.
Pressed it down, perhaps because he didn’t know what it was. The fear of the Unknown?
But no, that was a lie.
It was because he knew that whatever it was... would never be welcomed.
He just knew it.
But after he had left Aster’s office. It was getting harder and harder to keep down.
Like an aching itch that only grew more and more.
And now...
But now... He Will Unleash It!
____
ROOOOOOAAARRRRRRRR!!!!
A second roar blasted out from within the cave, a mental pressure reeking of insanity and madness bursting from where Ryuk was.
Rakhasa instinctively felt her heart skipping.
Then it stopped.
An absolute silence.
Not the kind that brings peace, but the kind that is the foreboding of danger.
Then—
THUMP
THUUMP
The sound of heavy, pounding footsteps echoed, shockwave booming outward, the entire cave shaking from the force of each thump before, finally—
CRASSSSKKKKK!
The mouth of the shattered cave made in the wall, shattered into pieces as a hand pierced through the mist and held its side.
But it wasn’t a hand—it was a claw.
A monstrous claw covered in red scales, with its nails glowing a purple energy that gripped the edge of the wall, grinding into it and sending cracks for a 5-meter radius before the full body stepped out.
Rakhasa’s jaw dropped to the ground, and she unconsciously whispered...
"Monster..."