"Where... where am I?" Orrelith muttered under her breath, feeling a pounding headache that gave her the illusion of her brain pumping within her skull.
The world was blurry at first, but she could feel a strange force coursing through her veins, gradually clearing her head and making her feel better.
When she opened her eyes, she met with the scene of weirdly armored beings surrounding her.
’What are they?’ she thought, shocked to the point of being unable to move, especially when the scene of how she had ’died’ came rushing back into her head.
"Where am I?" she asked once more, this time louder—and the reply came, echoing firmly through the Void.
"WELCOME TO HELL, YOU COLD SINNER!"
A Pang echoed in her heart from those words as she raised up her head to where the voice came.
But her fear quickly faded when she saw who had spoken.
A hovering handsome young man, who held a mocking smirk on his face, though he was seemingly trying to hide it behind a disdainful expression.
"Wait, you died too?" she asked, and watched as his expression pummeled to the grave.
"What the hell?"
"Hey, if I die, I’m going to heaven, not hell!" Ryuk barked out as Orrelith rose to her feet.
She glanced at the armored beings again. When they continued to stare blankly, offering no threat, she turned her attention back to Ryuk, her cold demeanor slowly returning.
"What happened?"
"We lost," Ryuk replied, this time seriously.
"She was too strong. And now, we’re hiding away in a pocket of space..." he said, as she eyed the surrounding void, before pausing on the Nexus Legion.
"And they are...?" she asked,
"Those are one of mine," Ryuk replied, as she turned to her clothing.
Her armor was in terrible shape—cracked, torn, and barely clinging to her body.
The sight of them made the memories return vividly:
The memory of her fighting that Nihil woman.
She had exchanged a total of nine moves with her, in literal seconds, and the tenth move was enough to send her collapsing onto the ground, losing consciousness immediately.
"She’s strong. Overwhelmingly strong," she muttered in realization, something Ryuk couldn’t deny.
But beyond that, she also examined her skin and noticed there were no marks or burns.
Something she remembered had appeared on her before.
Her wounds had closed up, and there was no internal bleeding either, something that had caused her to collapse in the first place.
Clenching and unclenching her fists, she could feel her strength returning.
It all led to the question. She had collapsed and should have been killed.
Yet here she was—standing alive, with no marks or injuries, and full strength once more.
How had she escaped certain death?
"You saved me..." she whispered, turning to look at Ryuk.
"Why?" she asked—and noticed as his focused expression changed into a mischievous one.
"Well, what type of man wouldn’t save a damsel in distress?"
But Orrelith wasn’t going to fall for that, and he could see that, judging from her blank, cold stare that was still waiting for a proper answer.
"Okay, fine."
"This is why I saved you," Ryuk began.
"Firstly, this place we’re hiding in is a simple realm that shields us away from the chaos of the outside world."
"But the catch is, the entrance to the door will always be present where we opened it in the first place, and that place is still in that world."
"So, if I am to open the gate to leave here, we will both be landing right back in her realm."
"I’m guessing she knows this too—so she might even be waiting for us to step out," He explained.
But he didn’t need to explain more before Orrelith pieced things together.
"So, you saved me because you realized you’ll eventually have to fight her again, and two of us should fight her than just one?" she asked, as Ryuk hummed.
"And also maybe because you realize you have no way out, and were hoping I have something that can get us out of this realm, hopefully?" she added.
"No. I was hoping you would have something, some artifacts that can help us both fight and kill her."
"Something stronger than divine-grade weapons," Ryuk said.
Truthfully, it was why he had saved her.
If he fought that Nihil woman alone, his chances of winning were nil.
It would be better if he fought her along with someone who was equally as strong as he.
So, it was just as she said. Better for two than one.
But more importantly, he had hoped she would have useful weapons, just like the scythe, but of higher grade, since she seemed to have an unending array of artifacts after all.
Saving her wasn’t a noble act from his side.
But if he wanted to survive, she had to be part of the equation.
"Thank you for saving my life..." The words echoed out through the void, as Ryuk slowly turned his gaze upwards to see her bowing her head.
"I thought I just told you—I didn’t do it for you," he said, his brow lifting in surprise as Orrelith rose upright.
"Truly, you didn’t do it for me—but for yourself. But the truth is, you at least gave me a second chance at life."
"I’m grateful for that," she said—and he could only smile wryly at that.
"So... do you have a plan?" She asked, and Ryuk nodded.
"Yes,"
"What is it?"
"It’s simple. We can’t stay here forever, so we’ll eventually have to step out of here and leave."
"Leaving will mean fighting her, so we need a plan to fight her and win."
"To get any momentary power gain in such a quick time. We’ll need new and more powerful artifacts that can significantly improve individual strength." Ryuk concluded the amazing plan he had in his head.
"So..." Orrelith said.
"Your plan is for us to fight a Nullity Stage Being?"
"And not just any ordinary Nullity Stage Being, but one from the Legendary Nihil Devil Race, who is at the Nullity Stage?"
"And also almost got us both killed in a matter of mere minutes, just a moment ago?"