The second she said that—
VROOOOOOOOOOM
The air flapped violently as the entire ship tilted 50 meters backward from the resultant force.
Like a rocket bomb, Orrelith shot forward with incredible speed, becoming a beam of light that quickly faded away from view.
[Her Bravery is Admirable,] the system said, as Ryuk looked at the disappearing figure.
She had just mentioned that this could very well be their last fight before death, and yet she had rushed forward as if she had no idea what the danger was.
Such bravery—which could, to any normal person, be very well termed as pure insanity—was truly admirable.
He turned away from her and back to the scythe held in his hands.
’Activate Beyonder Dragon,’ Ryuk ordered, and a moment later, the six shards slipped out from the void of space, coming to arrange themselves around his head.
From within his skin, white scales began to slip out, his shimmering purple hurricane runes aligning themselves.
Ryuk felt the boost instantly.
A 5x increase in his physical stats, which made the bulging veins of his arms recede as he felt the scythe become light.
He passed it into his right hand, revolving it around him and slicing open mini black holes before it eventually landed in his hand again, swinging backwards.
Ryuk crouched to the ground, facing the direction of the island, and then—
KAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
The ship was sent another 50 meters backward as he burst forth from its bay, rapidly moving through the air.
Soon enough, he was in the sky above the island, still piercing forward, and he didn’t need to be told where—
Because he heard the sound.
BAAADUUUMP
BAAADUUUMP
The sound of heartbeats, coming from within the largest sky-piercing mountains present on the island.
Heaving his scythe backward, veins squirmed out of his right hand as his feet slammed into space, crushing it like glass before—
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
It wasn’t a simple slash.
In less than half a second, Ryuk had sent three space-rupturing scythe strikes filled with every single bit of his physical power, ripping toward the mountain.
The resultant force was enough to send he himself jerking backwards in the process, slamming into one of the mountains and blowing it to bits.
The phantom of three purple-colored scythe beams was all that was left behind after his disappearance, rapidly making their way toward the mountain with seemingly unparalleled sharpness and power.
Yet, mere meters before the scythes touched the mountain—
Everything came to a screeching stop!
The air refused to move.
The black holes around the scythe beams halted in their billow, and even the beams themselves paused mid-step.
STEP
STEP
STEP
The sound of footsteps echoed out, and the entire realm quivered with every single step.
An opening appeared from within the mountain, and the first thing to emerge was a claw of abyssal darkness that slashed forward toward the three scythe beams—
It was in the motion of one who wanted to chase away an annoying fly, but what came from that simple, harmless-looking swat was a 10-meter-long phantom of pitch-black, devilish claw.
They easily cleaved through the hanging scythe beam attacks like a knife through butter, continuing into the distance—
__________
Even though the sound of those steps came from about a kilometer away—
Ryuk felt it.
It was like someone was stepping directly onto his naked heart, resulting in its sinking deep within his ribcage.
When he burst out from the remnants of the destroyed mountain, he had collapsed in—
He found it just a meter away
A 10-meter devilish black claw oozing with abyssal energy, and was more than thrice his entire height.
The aura...
"ROOOAARRR!"
A roar left Ryuk’s lips as his fingers tightened madly against the edge of the scythe.
Flashing forth toward the claw, his clothes were turned to ashes from the sudden friction, the scythe cleaving toward the claw—
KAAABOOOOOOM
CRAAAACK
CRAAAAACK
An explosion burst forward, drowning him in a tempest, and following that explosion was the sharp sound of something cracking to pieces.
Veins squirmed like snakes along his arms, his teeth clenched in maddened fury.
DRAAAGGGG!
The floor beneath him was dragged to pieces as Ryuk was sent skidding backward from the power, amidst the sound of his arm bones cracking into pieces as it resisted the billowing claw attack.
’HEAVY! IT’S TERRIFYINGLY HEAVY!!!’ he roared in his head, when—
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
The claw suddenly vanished, becoming ethereal as if it had never been there.
It bypassed Ryuk’s resistance—but the moment it passed through the scythe, it turned real again, flashing through him and slamming into the ground behind.
Dust filled the air, but just five seconds later, it cleared, and the result was revealed.
The ground where the claw had landed had a total of five marks, whose ends were unknown, almost like an abyss.
And as for Ryuk, who stood before this abyss, still in the motion of resisting against his scythe—
His eyes, which were wide open from resistance, had the light in them dim, and a moment later—
SPUUUUURRRRRRRTTTTT!
Blood burst out from both sides of his shoulders and all over his torso.
THUMP
THUMP
His knees gave way instantly, slamming onto the ground, followed by his entire body.
One move, one claw, and Ryuk collapsed onto the ground, slowly bathed by his own pool of blood.
[-4,500 ENDURANCE]
The system panel flashed before Ryuk’s gaze, whose entire body quivered like one who had voltage after voltage of electricity being passed through him.
But that was nothing compared to the overwhelming pain Ryuk felt.
For one, it was as if his sense of pain had been magnified by thousands upon thousands of times, sending forth the impulse of the claw still raking through his body even long after it had already ended.
He remained paralyzed on the ground, mouth wide to take in air, even as ceaseless explosions rang out through the background.
When he finally felt himself get a mouthful of air, his fingers clenched tighter against the scythe and forcefully rose himself onto one knee amidst the self-unraveling pain—
He raised his head, and his irises widened to their limit when he saw what stood just a hand’s reach away from him, piercing gaze boring down onto his figure.