"Activate Beyonder Dragon."
Ryuk ordered, but what he saw next left him stunned.
[ERROR!]
[ACTIVATION SKILL HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY SOURCE POWER!]
[SKILL CANNOT BE ACTIVATED!]
"What!?" The scream was so loud, even the Nihil Woman turned to him in confusion.
Ryuk couldn’t believe his eyes.
His beyonder dragon skill was refusing to activate!
And it just had to be now of all time?
But then, he sensed something and turned to the side.
Hovering beside his head, wrapped in delicate white draconic scales, was none other than her—the manifestation of his Beyonder Dragon bloodline.
Despite her figure being no larger than a butterfly, her presence in the physical world shook Ryuk’s heart.
"What are you?" he tried to say, but stopped when she turned to face the Nihil Woman.
Her gaze was calm, like a placid lake—no fear, no respect, not even caution.
Then she turned back to Ryuk.
"You are afraid and scared."
"Your heart, though thundering with power, is full of horror."
"You’re sweating, though it looks like mist because of the cold."
"You’re petrified," she said plainly.
And Ryuk couldn’t deny it.
He was scared—terrified, even.
"But you still stayed to fight, even when you had the chance to run with your tail between your legs."
"You still chose to face her head-on?"
"That looks foolish, and I know you, Ryuk."
"You’re someone who thinks
"Your actions now contradict everything I’ve recorded about you. So I’m here to ask—what changed?"
But then—
STEP
STEP
STEP
The sound of footsteps resumed—coming from the Nihil Woman, each step like thunder rolling through the abyss.
"Don’t you think this is quite the bad timing for a chat?" Ryuk asked, mist rising off him as the sweat poured out harder
She hummed quietly in thought.
"I guess, it doesn’t matter why you stopped being a coward. What matters is—you did."
"You went against your own beliefs, hence breaking free from the script I wrote for you."
"And in doing so, you exceeded my expectations and gained a little of my respect.
As she spoke, she floated closer to Ryuk.
"In return, then it’s only fair to give you one of what is being deprived of you,"
Ryuk’s draconic head unconsciously leaned back from her, closing in on him, but it didn’t go far before her tiny hands landed right on his forehead.
Ryuk watched, eyes locked on her as her eyes slowly closed.
And the world mirrored her action, also going silent.
Behind him, the Nihil Woman had stopped mid-step as if stuck in time.
The breeze stilled, the abyss remaining motionless.
GLIMMMMMERRRR
A brilliant flash exploded through the abyss.
Ryuk’s eyes widened as he beheld her eyes—now open—glistening with countless interlocking symbols, like celestial gears that should never have been set in motion.
And then she spoke—a single word that echoed through his soul:
"AWAKEN."
The second she spoke it, Ryuk’s colossal form jerked back violently.
It wasn’t a conscious movement, but every cell in his body screaming in panic, recognizing an imminent threat powerful enough to override his conscious will.
But he couldn’t retreat far. His body halted mid-air as—
BUUUUUUUUURSSSTTTT
A torrent of white blood erupted from Ryuk’s maw.
She hovered in the same position, but her outstretched hands now had their fingers slowly folding together.
And the closer her palm drew in, the tighter the sensation grew.
The feeling of his heart being crushed.
Then she began her incantation. Words that echoed deep in his soul:
"AWAKEN."
"O Light Unblessed, Sealed in the Marrow of Dragons Long Erased."
"By the Right of Soul and Trials Endured—"
"Reveal Thyself in the Vessel Who Holds the Bloodline!"
"Open the First of the Divine Seals Slumbering in Blood!"
The moment those words were spoken—
BUUUUUUUUUUURRRSSSTTT
This time, it wasn’t blood. He had already flooded the ground beneath him with it.
No.
This was something else
His heart—
It had been crushed, reduced to pulp, and ended him.
But the familiar darkness never came in.
Instead, all he saw was the birth of white flames, blooming in every direction.
The darkness of the abyss receded, giving way to a realm of blazing light.
And from the depth of that luminous white, Ryuk saw it:
A single gem of pure white flame, glowing at the center of it all—etched with a sigil that pulsed with ancient power.
And beside it—
—a beating piece of flesh.
His heart.
He watched like an outsider as the gem dissolved into the heart and it began to pulse once more.
And then—ignite.
White flames burst out from within, replacing the deep red and shadowy hue of before.
His heart now burned with divine fire.
It beat louder and louder, sending devastating arcs of energy that slowly tore apart the realm around him.
And even as his conscious mind dissolved—
All he could see was the sight of his heart turning white and burning in divine flames.
In the real world, a pair of gigantic eyes burst open, unleashing a destructive arc of energy that tore through the abyss.
Ryuk shot straight into the sky, shattering the frozen garden beneath him.
He reached the crimson clouds that veiled the world above, and then—
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!
A bestial, primal roar ripped through the heavens.
It wasn’t just a scream. It was an instinct that, if never released, would have destroyed it from the inside.
Unprecedented waves of power surged through his being, the source of it being none other than his heart, which pounded harder than he had ever imagined possible.
And when he gained full clarity over his consciousness, the panel flashed.
[Congratulations to Host on Awakening the First Sigil of the Beyonder Dragon.]
[The Sigil of...]
------
A/N:
If you’re enjoying the novel, consider voting for the novel with Golden Tickets and Power Stones. It helps I, the author, with visibility on the NovelFire app.
In and Out_SnowySmoos