"Forbidden beings, huh. She’s not exactly wrong, I guess," Odette said, and Ryuk’s eyebrows furrowed.
"Of course. I didn’t expect to fight an Exiled God on that mission. Not that it was an easy mission or anything, but still — it caught me off guard, so I suffered an injury," she said.
He asked, suddenly, "What happened to the exiled god?"
"Oh, her? She’s dead," Odette replied.
Ryuk paused in surprise.
"A god can be killed?" he asked, watching Odette chuckle.
"Anything can be killed, Ryuk," she said with a mischievous grin, but then her grin faded immediately.
Her reaction didn’t escape Ryuk, and he watched her turn to him, saying,
"You know what, I take back my words. Some things can’t be killed. At least one thing..."
He asked, "What is that?"
She paused, then flashed him a smirk while pointing a finger at him.
"Huh?"
"That Knull form of yours," she said, bringing Ryuk back to his Abyssal Knull transformation.
"That form belongs to a being that can never be killed." The name appeared in his mind, and Odette said it aloud.
"Yes, Theth’Vorgath. He’s the only thing I know that can’t be killed. Exiled Gods, Hollow Cults, Ashen Kings, all of them on the other side of our reality, can be killed by him, and he can be killed by none."
"He is invincible in every sense of that word..." Odette said, her eyes gleaming as if she were talking about her favorite celebrity, but Ryuk’s face remained blank.
’Theth’Vorgath isn’t invincible. He’s a failure. A failure of everything...’ the thought echoed in his mind.
"Why do you call him a failure?" Odette asked as Ryuk shrugged and moved for the exit.
"Don’t worry about it," he said.
Clenching the doorknob, he opened the door, stepped out of the room, and shut it behind him.
’Could he be at odds with Theth’Vorgath?’ Odette wondered silently to herself.
She moved, reached for the knob, and disappeared from the room.
_______
"Where are you even going?"
The words echoed through the clouds where two figures rippled through the skies, disappearing before they could be seen by those below.
The night sky further hid them well.
At the front was Ryuk, his snow-white hair whipping around his head.
He turned at the words to find Odette flying after him; his speed unconsciously slowed, and she easily caught up.
"Just flying around," he said with an obvious expression.
She suddenly zoomed to his side and then—
BAAAAAAAAAM
She knocked into him, sending him blasting through a cloud and out the other end.
"Hey, watch it!" he shouted, watching her giggle mischievously as she lunged and knocked into him once more.
But this time, she struck an afterimage instead, as Ryuk appeared at her other side, running his shoulder into hers and sending her flying instead.
"Oh? You’ve gotten faster?" she said, pausing in the air and lunging forward with intense speed, knocking into him again.
But it was also an afterimage; he had moved away, grabbed her hands, and thrown her through another cloud.
She burst out, chasing after him faster and faster, but dodged all her attempts until the last one.
She was able to send him flying down, but he also managed to grab her wrist at the last second, pulling her with him as they both fell through the clouds.
The air whipped crazily around them, but a voice cut through.
"Hey, Ryuk." Odette called as he looked into her eyes.
Her other hand fidgeted around the edges of her coat, and he let go of her wrist.
"Thank you... for saving me," she said.
Disbelief clouded his expression, but cleared as he replied,
"You would have been fine in six months anyway," he said with a shrug.
"Can you just shut up and say ’You’re welcome’?" she demanded, grabbing at his clothes with a vein popping at her temple from irritation.
"Okay, fine. You’re welcome," he said, watching her hmph and let go.
"But saying thank you doesn’t match your vibes, though," he added, only to get a knock on his forehead, making him wince.
He stopped his fall and landed on one of the lower clouds, and she also landed, sitting by his side.
"But why, though?" she asked, and he replied.
"Why what?"
"You said it yourself: anyone could have sliced me into bits and turned me into ashes in such a vulnerable state, but you chose to quell the poison instead."
"You could have just ended me and regained your freedom once more, or at least gotten rid of the annoying tyrant that preys on your blood without asking," she said.
Ryuk turned his gaze downward while sitting on the clouds and gazed at the Ammamoran city below.
The view was breathtaking.
"I have a mission," He said suddenly.
"What mission?" she asked.
"To one day defeat you," he replied.
She looked at him and could tell it wasn’t a joke.
"But I don’t see that mission being complete if I stab through your neck while you’re unconscious and out already," he said.
"One day, I will defeat you, Odette." He repeated, "And when I do, you’ll be at your full, true strength and capability... just like the first time I met you."
"You’ll have no excuse for losing then," he said.
Laughter erupted from her lips.
"I don’t think such a day will ever come," she said, her devilish pride and confidence returning, but Ryuk only smiled.
Silence reigned, the breeze whipping fast due to such a height, before a voice cut through,
"Can I ask you something, too?" he said, and she nodded.
"Why me?" He asked a question she didn’t really understand, and he continued.
"Even though you knew you were so vulnerable, but still chose to call me to your side?"
"Was it you feeling suicidal and wanting me to be the one to end it, which I don’t think is true at all?" he asked, watching her fall silent.
"Besides, if blood were all you needed to get rid of the poison, you could have chosen anyone available right then, and never would have needed to risk six months in slumber."
"Why specifically mine?"
_____
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