"Tch, monster..." Ryuk cursed under his breath as he rubbed his throbbing spine.
He stared up in hate at Odette, who held her evil grin and a satisfied expression on her lips as she looked at him wincing in pain.
"That’s for daring to hug me without permission, hmpf!" she huffed. Ryuk clicked his tongue, but the pain didn’t linger long.
He asked,
"So... what do you plan on doing before?" he asked her, as her pupils narrowed before she turned to the direction she was previously facing.
She pointed into the dark Void.
"I was planning on going in that direction, and every planet I see will be destroyed, with all of its inhabitants drained of their blood," she said with a chilling seriousness that made Ryuk’s spine chill within him.
"I’ll keep going until I reach the final planet—the ARC’s base. I’ll destroy them all... then move on to their next base." she said, turning to look at Ryuk, who had his jaw hanging down, all colour drained from his face.
"Is that a joke?" he asked, just to be sure.
"Does it look like one?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.
Both stared silently at each other for a while, her with her ’what’s wrong?’ expression, and Ryuk, who opened and closed his lips, trying to mutter a word but with nothing coming out.
[You know what’s scary?] The system panel flashed before his eyes.
[Her Power Level Is Enough to Pull Off All She Just Said.]
The system highlighted, as Ryuk silently heaved a sigh of relief.
’If I had left like she asked, and she went ahead and did what she said. I would have carried the curse of billions of lost lives on my soul for being the one who brought her out in the first place.’
’Seems like I made the right decision.’
"Well then... that was before, right?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Yes. That’s a part of what started the last war in the first place."
"I’ll probably destroy hundreds upon hundreds of worlds and kill billions... but then, it’d all just be a repeat of the past."
"Perhaps... It’s truly time to let the past go. Carve out a new future," Odette muttered under her breath as she let go of her silently squeezed hands.
She could remember the past.
It wasn’t much different from what she had set out to do just a few seconds ago.
A circle of endless destruction and blood.
She was known to be the most vengeful and power-hungry Nihil there was in the universe.
But all that walking that path got her was having her people and her planet destroyed—and almost getting herself killed in the end.
If she embarked on that old path again, she would rake away billions like she had done before, but in the end, she would just be captured—or truly killed this time.
She was strong.
Even right now, she knew she still wasn’t at the peak of what she was in the past—far from it even.
But she also knew what power was out there in this universe.
Powers that could truly erase her from existence if she crossed her boundary.
Her fate of death would be certain, then.
So perhaps, why not blaze a new path this time?
A path with a meaning beyond blood and destruction.
"I don’t know where to start," she said out loud, turning to Ryuk.
"So... I’m guessing I’ll just start from somewhere that doesn’t require getting fresh blood on my hands at least," she said, as Ryuk hummed under his breath.
’I also want to return to Ammamora and resume my life too.’
Ryuk thought in his head, as the image of Old Jack, Mrs. Lynia, Morgaine, and even the grumpy Officer Rhys flashed in his mind.
’I don’t plan on letting all that just whoosh into the air like nothing.’
’But I’m also scared.’
’Scared of bringing something that could destroy all of this along with me,’ Ryuk thought silently to himself.
’I was previously planning on luring her to Ammamora and getting her subdued by borrowing the powers of the strongest in Ammamora...’
’But now... I don’t want her destroyed anymore.’
’But still, it’s...it’s too risky.’
"Hey," she suddenly called out, pulling Ryuk out of his reverie.
"You know," she said, as one of her hands wound around her cheek, "I can listen to your thoughts, right?" she completed, a sentence that made Ryuk pause in shock as he blurted out.
"What did you just say?"
"I also want to return to Ammamora and resume my life too."
"I don’t plan on letting all that just whoosh into the air like nothing."
’But I’m also scared. Scared of bringing something that could destroy all of this along with me.’
"I was previously planning on luring her to Ammamora and getting her subdued by borrowing the powers of the strongest in Ammamora."
"But now... I don’t want her destroyed anymore. But still, it’s too risky,"
She said, borrowing Ryuk’s manner of speaking and leaving his face pale.
"You didn’t think my drinking your blood was just to regain my energy and open a portal, did you?" she asked with an evil smirk, as the hair behind Ryuk’s neck rose.
[That was close,]the system blinked, as Ryuk shot back.
"Hey! My thoughts are my privacy! Even if you can read them, you should have requested my permission before you—" he was saying, but paused when he saw her image flicker, and in the next moment, Ryuk felt the embrace from behind him.
The arms wrapped around his abdomen, and hot air blew at his ears, turning them red.
His heartbeat unconsciously pounded harder.
In the next moment—
GAAAASSSSPPPSSS
A gasp, bordering on a moan, left his lips as he felt the fang sink into his neck.
PSSSSTTTCHHH
The sound of blood being sucked echoed, this time, twice as long as the first, lasting for a whole 20 seconds.
She eventually pulled back and whispered into his ear:
"I am an evil, destructive monster, just like you fear, Ryuk. No doubt about that..." She said in a seductively chilling voice.
"But... that doesn’t mean I will bring the pain to the one who was there for me when he has no reason to be."
"Trust me...and I, Odette Nihil, promise not to disappoint you,"