"The connection... It’s too faint," Ryuk muttered to himself as he raced through the floor he was on.
He had called Isha and Void’s names more than a dozen times, yet received no reply.
The connection he felt with them was incredibly weak, so faint it couldn’t even allow him to narrow down their location or state.
What’s more, the floor he was on felt like an endless hallway that didn’t go anywhere.
There were countless rooms, but not a single soul.
He had checked some of them, and all he found were large cylindrical pods filled with green fluid, each containing some strange being.
They weren’t what he was looking for, so he ignored them.
"Deactivate: Beyonder Dragon."
"Activate: King’s Aura," He ordered, and in an instant, the glass-like shards around his head and the white scales recoiled, replaced by a deep blue flame that flickered from the depths of his eyes.
Immediately, the aura spread forward across the entire area.
Ryuk stopped in his tracks, eyes closed.
Though his body remained still, the blue flame began to billow outward violently, reaching a mind-numbing level of intensity.
CRACKK!
CRAAACKK!
SHAAAATTER!
The sounds of the surrounding glass pods bursting echoed around him, but he paid them no attention as his senses expanded madly.
And then, after 10 seconds of pure silence—
’I can feel her...above me,’
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A massive crater formed where Ryuk had formerly stood as he blasted upward at terrifying speed.
His fist clenched tight, and he slammed it into the ceiling above.
Space rippled beneath the impact as the entire floor above shattered apart.
He landed on the upper floor, only for him to crouch to the ground, and he leaped once more
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
One floor after the next ruptured as he continued rising, blasting through the 3rd, 7th, 12th... until finally, he slammed into the 15th floor.
"Huh?"
GASSSSSPS
Gasps of shock echoed through the room as Ryuk’s figure landed before a group of blue-skinned humanoids in white lab coats, each of them turning toward him in alarm.
The moment he landed, Ryuk could feel the connection much clearly now.
Yet what he saw made his breath catch.
His eyes trembled.
"Ahhh!"
"Ahhh!"
"AHHHH!"
Sounds of deep, sharp exhales rang out from his lips, worsening with each passing second.
Right before him—lined across the room—were rows of the same 10-meter tall cylindrical pods filled with green fluid.
Some had cracked open, and scientists were using mechanical arms to drag various bestial creatures into containment.
But Ryuk’s eyes locked onto something else entirely.
A Frost Hydra head suspended in a pod filled with green fluid.
And when he turned to another pod in the room, he found another Frost Hydra head, and another that contained two massive, feathered wings.
’Isha...’
The name echoed in his mind like a thunderclap.
These divided body parts...belonged to Isha.
His Isha.
"What... have... you... done?"
The words were a whisper.
Yet every single glass pod in the room shattered into nothing as Ryuk slowly turned toward the scientists.
"Wait... isn’t that... the slumbering Test Subject Number Zero?" one of the scientists recognized, eyebrows furrowing in alarm.
"What is he doing here?"
"Wasn’t he locked up?" They were saying when everything suddenly paused.
Each of them froze in sheer panic as, all of a sudden, color drained from the world.
All around them, reality distorted into a crimson hue, giving way to a dark dimension of blood-red light that covered the walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything.
And at the center of it all...
A lone figure stood, cloaked in shifting purple, flickering in and out of existence.
"WHAT... HAVE... YOU... DONE?"
His voice was like metal grinding against metal, resonating through every inch of their bones.
Each one of them knew in their conscience that a monster had awakened, sending forth a nightmarish aura that should never have been.
"KILL HIM!!!"
"KILL HIM NOW!!!"
One of them screamed as glowing runic lines erupted throughout the lab, magic circles activating at once, flaring violently toward Ryuk.
Hidden compartments in the walls flew open, revealing hidden machinery and turrets that began firing without pause.
KAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!
The world gave way for him.
Silently.
Forcefully.
And then—
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!!
A rain of blood showered the room.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Screams of horror rang out like banshees.
"NO!"
"NO!"
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!!
Brain matter and blood splashed through the air as a head was crushed into its own chest.
"Wait!"
"WAIT, LET ME—!"
A scientist screamed in terror, backing away—
But then:
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!!
A bloodied claw erupted from his chest.
Then another hand burst through his stomach.
"Ple—"
He hadn’t finished the word when the space between his waist widened, split down the middle, followed by his mouth, and finally, his face.
One second later, he was ripped in two, intestines gushing like a broken tap.
"MONSTER!"
"MONSTER!!"
"CALL THE BOSS!!!"
The other scientists screamed in horror, backing away from the glowing purple monster before them.
His hands were soaked in blood, crouching atop a pile of at least a dozen corpses.
"Ahhhh..."
A deep exhale of purple steam left his lips as he slowly turned to them.
His entire face was covered in squirming purple veins, making him look even more hideous and terrifying.
"CALL HIM!"
"CALL THE BOSS!!!"
One of them screamed—and it was his last word, as a punch tore through his head and exploded the top half of his body like a balloon.
Agonized screams rang out—but Ryuk didn’t stop.
He tore through every single one of them.
They fired spells, bullets, blasts of mana—but all that rained down on him only delayed the slaughter.
He pressed forward—unstoppable.
Relentless.
Merciless.
They were soon reduced to five.
"Please—!"
One of the five, a female scientist, tried to beg—but she collapsed into herself, her body erupting with blood and organs like a burst watermelon.
The same scene played out again and again, until only one was left.
Ryuk’s hand reached forward, gripping the last female scientist by the head as his claws pierced into her skull.
His voice came again, low and demonic:
"What... have... you... done?"
Her body repeatedly quaked in horror, trembling beneath the crushing pressure of his grip and the suffocating monstrous aura.
"Isha! It’s Isha, right?! She’s alive! She’s still alive!"
"She’s on the 25th Lab—Mythic Room!"
"Please, spare—"
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!!
BUUUUUUURSTTTTT!!!
Her chest caved in, a hand pierced through her heart, and ripped open a gigantic hole that revealed the other side of the lab.
All Roselert felt was a searing pain that clouded her vision—and then she was tossed like trash across the room.
Red blood spilled from her eyes.
And the last thing she saw...
...was the purple monster bursting through the floor as the ground gave way, unleashing a shockwave that rippled her corpse into fragments.
And even in death, all she could remember... were the red tears sliding down the monster’s cheek.