A finger twitched.
Once more, and—
FLICKER.
A bright flash illuminated the room as Ryuk snapped his eyes open.
The first thing he saw were huge rainbow eyes blinking just a few inches from his face.
They moved farther away, and he sat up, only to be pushed back by Iris, who jumped into his arms, embracing him tightly.
Unconsciously, he exhaled in relief, wrapping his arm around her.
"I’m glad you’re okay," he whispered, their embrace lasting for a long while before they finally parted.
"Where’s the Zaffre Kraken?"
He asked himself, only to watch Iris turn her gaze behind her.
Right now, they were both in the room he had designed, and divided by the glass wall was the other laboratory, currently filled to the brim with water.
And even more shocking — inside the lab was the Zaffre Kraken.
But currently, it was pinned to the wall, its entire body flattened like a paste, staring at Ryuk.
His jaw slackened at the impossible sight, but his eyes furrowed when he looked around the Kraken and noticed strands of rainbow-colored hair arranged in a formation, all of their light concentrating on the Kraken.
He turned back to Iris and noticed the length of her hair had reduced.
’It tried to kill you,’ She said to him, staring hatefully at the Zaffree Kraken.
Ryuk picked her up into his arms, moving closer to the glass.
His frost grimoire appeared, and he touched the glass.
Frost passes through to turn the bubbling water in the lab, parting them to the side before freezing.
This enabled him to enter the lab with Iris, and the first thing he saw was the various blade lacerations on the ground, confirming Iris was speaking the truth.
’Activate Sovereign Rewriting.’
Golden motes of light appeared all around him, and immediately the lacerations were covered up and smoothed.
This stopped more water from coming in.
His hands reached forward, removing the hair strands scattered all over the place, gathering them back one by one.
"You shouldn’t cut your hair," he said to Iris after he gathered them.
She pouted at his scolding, taking the strands from his hands.
With both hands grabbing the strands, she placed each of them on her head, and Ryuk watched as a brilliant rainbow light flashed through the room.
When it dispersed, Iris’s hair was whole once more.
’I can always rejoin them,’ she said with a happy grin, obviously proud of her ability.
With the hair removed, the Zaffre Kraken, of course, could move once more, but it was also currently frozen in Ryuk’s ice, unable to move.
"That girl is called the Rainbow Monster back in the Orasken Organization."
"She’s a Level 7 Anomalous Threat, the highest grade of threat amongst the experiments, and one of the three Level 7 Anomalous Threats in the entire base.
"What is she doing with you?" the Zaffre Kraken asked, faint caution in its voice.
All it got was Ryuk sighing as his hands grabbed one of its tentacles and pulled it out, before throwing it to the side.
Then, white scales briefly covered his arms, and from his fingers, white flames began burning.
Dipping them into the cube, he watched as the water instantly started to boil — but it only lasted for a couple second before all the water immediately dried up, steam filling the air.
With the mist out, he turned to the prisms and counted, noticing there were still fourteen, and none of them were missing yet.
His devices, which he planned to use to design new TechnoWarriors, were still relatively okay since they were water-resistant.
But he couldn’t find his chair, meaning it had probably been thrown out into the sea.
"At least the important things are still okay." He consoled himself beneath his breath.
"Hey," he called, turning to look at the wobbling octopus.
"What’s your name?" he asked.
The Zaffre Kraken scoffed in annoyance, replying,
"You don’t deserve to know!"
"Then, I’ll call you Zaffre!"
"What the!? How did you know!?" it screamed out in shock, only to notice Ryuk also looking back at him in dumb shock.
’I thought Zaffre would be good because it’s called a Zaffre Kraken...’
’Who would have thought that’s its real name?
"Get my name out of your mouth, you feeble-looking thing!" it cursed, and Ryuk raised an eyebrow, looking Zaffre up and down.
In a way, why did it look like it was referring to itself?
"You threw away my chair," Ryuk called out, watching the Zaffre blink its four eyes at him, speechless.
"Oh, I’m sorry."
"Losing your chair must have hurt a lot. A lot more than being forced into a contract against your will!" it barked out loud, and Ryuk finally knew the reason for its anger.
He could only sigh, heading out of the lab.
"I’m planning to go get some fresh air. You coming?"
As much as Zaffree wanted to refuse anything he asked, just to annoy the hell out of this feeble-looking bastard, it also wished for nothing more than to see what lay beyond this underwater bunker.
So, without saying a yes or no, it simply reduced its tentacles to a smaller height and followed Ryuk out.
At the side of the room, Ryuk tapped on a button, and the wall opened up, revealing a glass-like barrier in the shape of an elevator.
Stepping into it with Iris, Zaffree followed too, and he tapped another button inside the lift as they were whisked upward.
Midway, a staring contest occurred between Iris, whose head lay on Ryuk’s shoulder, pouting as she eyed, behind Ryuk, every inch of Zaffree’s movements, while Zaffree itself glared in hate at the tiny girl.
To think she, the mighty Zaffre, was subdued a second time, and the one who had done so was such a spoiled little thing.
’That ability of hers must be the so-called God Authority. Nothing can truly fight against such a power,’ it thought to itself.
Just then, the world brightened all of a sudden.
The glass opened up, and the trio came to stand above the water.
’It’s... It’s an entire sea!’