"How fast..."The realization hit Owen like a truck as he looked at Ryuk, who was now before him.
Fear gripped him from the suddenness, but he forcefully reigned it down,
"DIIIIIIII—!"He tried to scream, but the words died in his throat when Ryuk extended a hand and flicked a single finger into the center of his Adam’s apple.
"UUCCK—!" Spittle came flying out as Owen was forced a few steps backwards, but he came shooting forward again, swiftly slashing his sickle toward Ryuk’s neck.
CLAAAAAAANNNNG
PUUUUCCHHIIIIIIII—
The sound of iron clashing rang out.
Owen felt his weapon connect with something, and he maintained his slashing motion—until something felt off.
His eyes widened in shock as he slowly stood upright.
He looked at his weapon and found its edge had shattered.
Cracks ran down what remained in his hands.
Then—
TRICKLE...
He felt liquid pouring down his face.
Raising his hand, he touched near his eyes and realized it wasn’t just blood.
It was the broken edge of his weapon, buried deep into his eye socket.
The realization fractured something inside him.
Pain diffused slowly through his senses, but what truly gave him a taste of true pain was what followed.
Two white-scaled fingers appeared before his face.
They gripped the embedded blade and yanked it out in one swift motion.
Blood erupted from the socket.
He screamed, but the scream died in his throat when he felt the same blade, once lodged in his eye, flash across his throat, cleanly severing it.
A spray of blood once more burst into the Void.
Owen stumbled backward, three unconscious steps before his legs hit a platform behind him, and he collapsed hard onto his back.
His lips tried to move, but only the gurgling of blood filled the air.
"Ahh—ahh—"
His nose flared, trying to draw air, but it felt like the entire world had been drained of oxygen.
’This... this is how I die?’ The realization hit him as his one remaining eyeball rolled in its socket.
He saw him.
The young man covered in white scales stepped forward slowly.
Ryuk crouched beside Owen’s head, lowering himself.
One hand extended, hovering right above Owen’s face.
A faint gleam of light flickered before Owen’s eyes as his trembling hands reached forward, because in Ryuk’s hand was another vial.
The same one Owen had once taken, filled with potent life force.
If he had that...If he could just reach it... he could live
But the motion to raise his hands happened only in his mind.
His body remained paralyzed.
Red tears streamed from his eyes as life left him, even though what could save him lay just a couple of inches from his nose.
A creeping silence, but it brought about one realization over to Owen.
One that brought a smile to his lips.
A strange, unexplainable smile.
The memories came flashing back—Him stabbing Ryuk in the eye, slowly cleaving open his throat, and then dangling the life vial before his face...
And now here he was—Lying on this platform, one of his eyes gouged out, and blood oozing from the cut in his throat.
And to top it all off, a vial now dangled right before his face, too.
The same scene, perfectly recreated, but this time, with one major difference.
Him—the young man with the overconfident ego—had somehow managed to save his own life.
But he—powerless—couldn’t even lift his hands, and there was no companion left to call upon, neither the strength to fight.
’Was I the one who... underestimated him?’ Owen wondered, his thoughts unraveling chaotically yet becoming clearer than ever.
No... I never underestimated him.
I always knew he was a monster. I feared him, and I respected his strength.
I saw an opening. An opportunity where this monster seemed wounded and vulnerable.
Like he was one step from the grave.
And I took that opportunity... because I thought that was the closest chance I’d ever get to escape this nightmare.
It wasn’t underestimation at all.
"Instead, it was a desperate gamble...and I lost.’
’Now... now I understand him so clearly,’ Owen thought, as his eyeballs moved, blinking once to look at Ryuk—whose face slowly blurred out.
’Even when he was just one step away from death... I still failed to kill him.’
’The difference in our strength was wider than I calculated.’
I knew the monster was strong, but I failed to truly understand just how monstrous he really was.’
Those were his final thoughts before the last flicker of his life aura faded.
Ryuk watched as the final bit of light slowly died from Owen’s eye.
He stopped dangling the vial before his face and called
’Oblivor,’
The figure had already appeared before him.
"Feed this to the unconscious girl..." Ryuk instructed, passing the vial to Oblivor—who bowed and disappeared.
And then—
Ryuk sat down on top of the levitating platform beside Owen’s corpse, his gaze drifting into the distance.
Owen’s blood kept flowing, and soon it reached him, painting his body in a dark, sticky red, but Ryuk didn’t flinch or try to avoid it.
He remained still...and silent.
On his face, he held a truly bizarre expression.
The expression of melancholy and remorse.
Right now, he felt an unfamiliar emotion.
The only time he’d felt something even remotely close was when Uncle Bob had turned to ashes.
The one thing in his life he genuinely cared about...Yet couldn’t save.
But back then, he’d been more furious at his own weakness.
But now?
Now it was something else.
This emotion...
Pity.
Pity for the little chess piece he’d overlooked. The one who had, for a moment, flipped the board against him.
Even though Ryuk had reversed it again, and eventually gained the upper hand.
He still felt it...sadness.
Today, Ryuk learned truths.
Truths he’d never learned from Zar’kul, nor from that monster of a woman, even with their overwhelming power.
And those truths would stay with him.
Even until his final moments...
He would never forget the nameless assassin whose corpse currently rested by his side.