[You think by keeping a lesser number of beasts, you’re able to keep their loyalty strong?]
[I think you’re wrong.]
[One beast, two beasts, ten beasts, fifteen beasts, even an army of beasts, who said numbers have anything to do with loyalty?]
[Loyalty is an understanding.]
"An understanding?"
[Isha, no matter what you do, will forever be loyal to you.]
[Sure, she might flip out sometimes like she did recently, but you heard her words after she cooled down.]
[She knew deep in her heart that you’re the one good guy she can always rely on.]
[Why do you think she would stop believing that just because you fused with more beasts?]
The question left Ryuk completely speechless.
[You have already proven your heart, Ryuk, and you have done it more than enough times.]
[The bond you share with her isn’t something a decision—such as trying to grow stronger and fusing with more beasts—would break.]
[Even more so now that she has realized her jealousy was only a petty thing, and understands that you growing stronger also equals her being safer.]
[The same goes for Void.]
[You have already proven your loyalty, so he doesn’t really care much, because he knows that no matter what, you’ve always got his back.]
[His loyalty won’t fade just because you added more beasts.]
[It’s not about keeping fewer beasts to prove your loyalty or earn theirs.]
[It’s about making each of them understand that when the entire world one day turns its back on them, they will always have someone who will fight back against it for them.]
[And that someone is Ryuk.]
[If this belief is ingrained in their deepest core, then you will have their unwavering loyalty.]
[They might sometimes wish to be the only one you have. They might sometimes grow jealous of the care you show others, or if you use other beasts more than them.]
[But that doesn’t erase their loyalty. You only need to balance things out, and everything will be fine.]
[The world is too cold for you to harbor a belief that works against you. Do you think if the Calamities buried their swords in your heart, they would give a damn about your beliefs?]
[Do you think they would sit and listen to you say, "I could have grown stronger if only I had fused with more beasts, but I didn’t because of x, y, or z"?]
’No.’
[Of course not.]
[Death, Ryuk, makes a joke out of most concepts in life, and one of those is a hindering belief.]
[If loyalty in beasts is what you want, it isn’t something obtained by limiting their numbers.]
[It is proven through action.]
[Get as many beasts as you can. Improve your strength as fast as possible. And to anyone whose loyalty you wish to keep, prove that you’re worthy of it, and they will return it to you equally.]
[Only a strong man can show loyalty, not a weakling.]
[If you believe in loyalty, then you had better be strong too.]
The system explained at length, and Ryuk sat silently for a while.
Time passed as he thought over every single word, reflecting on his journey with both Isha and Void.
Seven hours passed in this deep contemplation before, finally, he shed all the guilt he had been carrying and embraced the will to do what needed to be done.
Rising to his feet, his hands elongated into claws, and he dipped them into the prism in his hand, rotating the locks around it.
Quickly, the runic formation on the prism aligned, and a moment later, the prism fell to the ground with a loud,
BAAAAAAANG!
It flashed with a bizarre, ghostly green light that reeked of a strong sealing aura, before it finally dimmed.
The prism split open to reveal a creature.
A creature with a rounded, bulb-like head and four prominent eyes, currently closed.
Its body was soft, lacking bone or rigid structure.
From beneath its head, eight tentacle-like arms extended outward, loosely coiling around each other. Each arm was lined with circular suction cups along its underside.
Its skin was smooth as glass, covered in a bizarre mixture of blue and purple runic lines running across its surface. The patterns constantly shifted—from full blue to full purple—and sometimes even faded into a dark, shadowy glow.
It remained silent, obviously in a slumber.
But looking at such a creature, only one word came to Ryuk’s mind.
’An octopus!?’
He thought in surprise.
He had read of them before, and the only time he had seen one was when he traveled with Orellith and they came across that Kraken, essentially a monstrous, oversized octopus.
This was his first time seeing one so small, and surprisingly, not unpleasant to look at.
Unexpectedly, it was even... beautiful.
He bent down to one knee, extending a finger toward the creature.
But just before touching it, he paused and asked—
Hey system, what is this creature?
[System Scanning Activated.]
[Scanning Complete.]
[Searching Database for Semblance...]
[Semblance Found.]
[Congratulations, Host has come across an Anomalous Bestial Species—]
[A ZafreKraken.]
"It’s a Kraken!?" Ryuk voiced in surprise.
The creature before him seemed no different from a regular octopus. How could something so small be a Kraken?
[The ZafreKraken, according to my database, is an extinct Royalty race of the Krakens.]
[They were not known for being small, but for being immensely powerful, capable of wielding a unique ability that only they among all Krakens possessed, an ability referred to as Oragon.]
[That’s all the information available in my database.]
The system reported, and Ryuk exhaled slowly before making up his mind.
Extending his hand forward, he placed it squarely between the creature’s four eyes, closing his own.
A moment later, his eyes snapped open, this time glowing with a blazing blue light.
[Skill: King’s Aura has been activated!]
"Wake up!"
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A/N:
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In and Out_SnowySmoos