Chapter 578: Persistence and A Frozen Heart
A world, not barren, but abundant.So abundant with trees, mountains, grasses, and lakes.
A look upon this world, and Ryuk felt—it shall remain like this for an eternity. Unblemished by anything.
The tornado might rage upon these lands, but it shall not carry all away.
Fire might burn across this world, but it won’t consume the mountains.
Lightning might strike, but it won’t erase the lakes.
No force of nature could truly conquer the scene before him.
That was what he had thought before he looked at the bottom-left Frost Flake and saw its runes, which pulled him into this world.
But now—
Now that he had the Rune of Frost inches before him, his mind had been completely changed.
For one, he had seen the world rain with snow.And when he had first looked at the snow, he had scoffed.
If fire, lightning, and wind could do nothing to this world…What would Frost even do?
But he had been proven wrong as quickly as he had dismissed the thought.
He watched the snow. It continued falling—and kept falling—and kept falling.
It took endless days, perhaps thousands of months, or perhaps hundreds of years. But at the end of that time, Ryuk witnessed a truth he had once mocked.
The world—so abundant. The world filled with trees, mountains, and lakes, he believed, could never be buried or extinguished—They were all buried completely by frost.
Frozen into silence, then shattered into nothing.
And now, there was an absolute truth: Only Frost remained.
Had it conquered them all? Yes.
But how?
Was it power?No. Fire had power, too. But it couldn’t rage through it all. The same could be said for lightning and wind.
They all failed.
What was it that snow had? What gave it the ability to bury the world itself?
It was just one thing…
“Persistence.”
“Frost spreads—not exploding like fire, but with patience.”
“It takes its time, never in a hurry at all.”
“And with enough persistence, it buried the world that even the most powerful elements struggled to conquer.”
Is Frost slow? Yes. It is ridiculously slow.
Ryuk felt like he had become a grandfather for how long he had to watch it.
But did it reach its destination?
Absolutely.
It taught him a single truth:
“One doesn’t need to rush to win. One just needs to make sure to never stop moving.”
“To hunger for it so deeply, the desire remains even after endless months and years.”
“Eventually… one would win.”
“The Fourth Concept of Frost is Eternal Hunger.”
The rune disappeared into Ryuk once more, and he felt an even deeper thud in him from the outside world—
as if the chains had been almost completely cracked.
Now, only one more chain remained.
His gaze drifted to the remaining Frost Flake rune that was on the lower right edge.
Its rune was awe-inspiring—filled with a concept he could already feel to be different without even entering its world.
But if there was one thing he noticed at first sight:
“Cold. It’s really cold.”
The rune was the embodiment of coldness.
But Ryuk stilled his heart and magnified his focus—endlessly so, until he felt himself disappear into the runes…
When he opened his eyes, he wasn’t faced with snow at all.
It was a dimension.
A dimension of endless mirrors. The air around him was a mirror, unending.
And what did it reflect? It was more than just Ryuk.
Instead, it was his life.
But not the entirety of his life…
Just the deaths.
Once more, the scene of him watching as Uncle Bob was slowly reduced to ashes, fading away into nothing—
And unconsciously, a tear slipped down from his eyelids, tracing down his cheeks.
When it landed onto the glass,the entire glass shattered into pieces,and Ryuk found himself back to where he began, just before the runes on the snowflakes.
For a few minutes, he remained still, feeling the emotions, the guilt, and the pain he felt from Bob’s death assault him.
But after a couple of hours of standing there, he breathed, reopened his eyes, and stepped into the rune world once more.
Just like before, the glass appeared again.
But it didn’t play the Uncle Bob memory anymore.
What it revealed was instead a peculiar scene.
One of Morgaine, himself, and the Half-Fallen One.
Ryuk remembered that night.
He watched it as he was led into the portal, where he appeared before the remaining Elders, and watched the Half-Fallen looking down at him from above, to instill her fear and feeling of a higher existence in him.
He could feel the Elders’ amused gazes—But most of all, he could feel his heart shattering from the disappointment.
He had considered her family—someone he could trust—And she had seen him as a tool to be controlled.To be used.
Unconsciously, his heart pounded louder as his teeth ground tighter from the anger.
The emotion resulted in the world shattering into pieces once more,as Ryuk opened his eyes to the sight of the runes again.
His teeth were still clenched hard as the memory filled everything he could see.
And instinctively, he clenched his fist and threw out a punch in anger—But it did nothing.
Helplessly, he could only remain here, standing, exhaling, and inhaling, trying to control his breath.
And after a time, he couldn’t count, composed—He stepped into the rune once more.
And this time, it showed a different scene.
The scene of being called a Monster by the Silverunic princesses—Even though all he had done was ensure they were safe.
The scene of being misjudged.
It triggered another wave of anger. Their loud words of doubt echoed in his head.
And the same fate awaited him again.
He was thrown out—only to go back in.
And soon, another memory—And he was thrown out once more, only to go back in again.
Another throwing out—and another locking in.
An endless, endless circle—Until he was finally thrown out once more.
But this time, the rune stirred itself—a sign that he had comprehended what it required.
“I understand now…”
When Ryuk reached the rune and it disappeared into him,He felt the final chain shatter—But something else changed with it.
It wasn’t his eyes.
No.
It was his heart.
It had gotten… colder.
But now he understood.
The rune had never rejected him because he was unworthy.
It simply wanted him to watch, to feel, to relieve despair, danger, betrayal, hatred…
But in the face of it all, to do one thing:
To not react.
“To feel all emotions… but not be controlled by them.”
“To witness betrayal, but not clench your fists in anger.”
“To feel pain, and let no tear fall.”
This rune was the coldest of them all, for it embedded itself into his very core and turned into a Frozen Heart.
But it did not mean his heart was empty. It did not mean he could no longer feel.
No.
It meant something far more powerful.
“To wield true Frost, a cultivator’s heart must be clear. His emotions acknowledged… but not obeyed.”
“A Frozen Heart is not empty, nor is it devoid of feeling.
It is simply clear—emotions seen, but never surrendered to.”
“The Fifth Concept of Frost… is Frozen Heart.”
And with all five Concepts comprehended and combined, Ryuk felt the shift.
The final chain that had bound his cultivation shattered, and he felt an endless surge of Frost energy rising into him, each stream filled with the runes of the Frost Concepts he had mastered.
Yet, through it all, Ryuk touched something beyond the five.
Something that could only be reached by combining all five Frost Concepts into one.
The First Concept taught stillness. True power begins with inner calm.
The Second taught fragility. Beauty and strength lie in embracing imperfection.
The Third taught silence. Presence does not need noise to be profound.
The Fourth taught persistence. Patience outlasts all opposition.
And the Fifth taught clarity. Emotions are meant to be seen clearly, like frost on a window, but not allowed to rule.
And when they all came together, they gave him a simple realization.
A simple path he could now walk.
A path of gentle control, inevitable progress, and unshakable peace.
Frost does not shout.
It simply evolves—And in time, everything bends to its presence.
“This is the Ultimate Law of Primordial Frost.”
“The Law of Serene Dominion.”
He muttered the name aloud.
And in the very next instant—
The world zoomed out around him.
He felt the sigils he had earned rise out of him, only to gather in the air, swirling together into a single sigil.
A sigil of true Frost.
A perfect hexagon—each side inscribed with one last ancient rune, before it seared itself into the point between his brows.
His eyes flared with radiant frost as he felt the change wash through his entire being.
And then, his eyes opened to the real world.
“Ahhhhhh…”
The first thing that left his lips was a deep, echoing exhale, resulting in a plume of visible frost, before the notification flashed:
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