[BEYONDER DRAGON DEACTIVATED!]
’Tch.’
The weakness came.
It was sudden...
A deep weakness that paralyzed every bone in his body.
And also alien...
How long had it been since he was crippled from a fight, unable to move?
But even then, he was deeply confused.
’How?’
’How was I defeated... so quickly?’
’All I received were three physical strikes.’
There were no special techniques or skills activated—yet a woman had defeated him.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The earth beneath him quivered as Ryuk’s hands gripped the ground.
STEP
STEP
STEP
The sound of footsteps came closer and closer, as he forcefully pushed himself up into a crouch.
When he rose fully, she was once more before him, beholding that same wild grin.
"You have a firmer will than her," she said as she brought up her left arm, heaving the dangling Orrelith.
"But you’re still too weak—but also too young," she said, her left claw rising to her chin as she rubbed it, eyes watching Ryuk with a thoughtful look.
"You have as much power as her, but she’s lived for 300 years or so. While you... You seem not to have even reached 20."
"That’s a sign of good potential. You might just be worth keeping alive," she added with a rebellious grin, just as the claw holding Orrelith began to tighten.
Golden blood began pouring down, the sound of cracking resounding.
Orrelith’s eyes slowly flew open from the pain—
The pain of her skull slowly being pierced.
Sharp claws digging for her brain—but it all suddenly paused when the words echoed out:
"Let her go..."
"Oh?" the Nihil woman smirked faintly.
She looked at Ryuk, whose every pore dripped with blood, and an amused grin curled on her lips.
"That’s a poor way to beg for your lover’s life, isn’t it?" she asked, as she resumed digging her claws deeper.
"As the young man slowly raised his head, his purple eyes locked into hers.
For someone just defeated, you’d expect some mix of disbelief, anger, or pain.
But when she looked into his eyes... she paused.
"Begging for her life?" Ryuk repeated.
And a moment later—
VROOOOOOM
The air flapped as he flashed forward, his left hand inching toward her stomach, only to be grabbed by her claw.
At the moment both her claw and his hands met, Ryuk’s purple tattoo began changing.
From a bright purple glow, it rapidly darkened into a pitch-black glow.
A serious, focused grin stretched across Ryuk’s face.
"I’M ORDERING YOU!"
He said, but the voice that came wasn’t just his.
It was the roar of an ancient monster.
And quickly enough, she witnessed the transformation.
His smaller form rapidly expanded into something monstrous.
From his 2.5-meter height, he shifted into a 7-meter-tall humanoid beast that came to tower above her.
Four gigantic horns protruded from the sides of his head as crimson red scales rapidly armoured his entire body.
From his spine, a massive tail burst outward, slamming into the ground and hurling open a deep abyss.
He raised his head—his gaze burning red—locking eyes with her purple ones.
And silently, his other claw slashed.
"Law of Destruction — Terminal Execution!"
He called out—and then:
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP
It was no ordinary claw slash.
The Nihil woman immediately noticed.
Every inch of space where that claw passed started to vanish rapidly.
Space wasn’t just cracking from the slash—
It was erasing, as if it had never existed at all.
’That... That’s the Law of Erasure!’ she thought in surprise.
She immediately dropped Orrelith and slashed forward at Ryuk’s incoming attack.
But just as both claws were about to collide, Ryuk’s claw changed its trajectory by just an inch,
It slammed straight into the side of her abdomen, covered by dark armour.
"GRHHHH!"
A groan of pain, unable to be held back, echoed in Ryuk’s ear as he watched her body jerk backward from the force—and then:
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
She was blasted back like a cannonball, fading into the distance amidst a spray of pitch-black blood trailing her path.
Orrelith’s body was about to collapse to the ground with a thump when it landed instead on Ryuk’s gigantic red tail, which wrapped around her, drawing her in close to him.
One of her eyes cracked open as she mumbled:
"R... U... N."
"Le...ave me... and... RUN!" she called out.
But Ryuk’s claw moved to the side, and he ripped open the space, whilst giving the command:
"Activate Void Rift."
The second he spoke, a dark vortex materialized where the claw slash had struck—and Ryuk, in an instant, stepped into it, disappearing with the body of Orrelith.
The Rift closed—and just a moment after—
She reappeared.
Flickering purple eyes burning with intense bloodlust.
She looked at the surrounding space, eyes finely locking onto where the Rift had been opened.
"I know that form..."
"He’s a Knull," she said, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of intense bloodlust and bizarre joy.
"A Knull holding the faint aura of Carnage..."
"Only one Knull in existence bears the Aura of Carnage!"
_____
When Ryuk stepped into the familiar void of the Rift—
CLAAANNNGG
Once again, the sound of chains echoed—and in an instant, he was bound.
Though he managed to shield Orrelith, wrapping her safely in his tail, which was far away and wasn’t caught in the chain.
He looked forward and saw a dark elf stepping toward him.
Surprise flickered across the elf’s face as he saw the monster and the lady.
That person... was none other than the assassin Ryuk had captured during his first main quest.
"Take off the chains... or I’ll take them off myself."
That was the first thing the monster said—and the heaviness of it chilled to the bone.
Something in his heart told him, only horror would await him if he dared refuse, causing him to release the chains.
In the blink of an eye, Ryuk took a single step, appearing upon a floating platform where he laid down Orrelith’s battered body.
A second later, his Knull transformation began to recede, resulting in him dropping to his knees, blood gushing out of every orifice.