"I survived. It’s all that matters," he said, before his eyes drifted away to the only thing that was present in this Void apart from himself: the half-destroyed throne.
"Somehow... the throne survived the explosion? Could it be?" he murmured.
In the next instant, Ryuk appeared before its colossal form and sat upon it.
The moment he did, golden runes flared across the throne, converging where he sat before rising to sear through his skin, weaving up his head and face, and ending in a blaze within his eyes.
His eyes snapped shut; purple-coloured veins appeared around his neck, only to quickly turn golden.
[Link With God Tool: Divino Scale Throne is being established.]
[All features being scanned.]
[All parameters accepted.]
"GRRRRRHHH!"
A groan of pain left Ryuk’s lips when he felt the stinging pain that suddenly dove into his soul, almost as if something was trying—
[CAUTION: Encroaching hidden consciousness found.]
[System will now undergo absolute erasure of infiltrating consciousness.]
[Erasure complete!]
[Congratulations, Host has successfully gained a second God Tool!]
Golden rays of light pierced through the darkness of the Void, so bright they chased away the darkness as Ryuk’s eyes snapped open.
There was nothing but gold in his gaze, a hint of aloofness in their depth.
He raised his hands to his face, noticing the drawn runic lines.
There was no sense of increase in strength or any physical difference, but he felt like he had grabbed something, something more mysterious.
He stretched out his hands, and a mirror appeared, revealing three eight-winged Angels gazing into a chasm in the Void.
With a sudden clench of his fingers, the mirror shattered into fragments, the explosion tearing open a rift that hurled all three beings into the realm.
In silence, he watched them strain their necks on appearance, their faces formerly waiting for his end, turning into horror when they looked around the Void, and understood where they were.
And then, they turned, as Ryuk’s eyes collided straight onto theirs.
"WHAT!?"
"IM... IMPOSSIBLE!"
They muttered in shock as they looked at the being who sat on the throne.
It was none other than the one they had tried to kill.
"HOW!?"
The throne was half-destroyed, and the one who ought to be sitting on the throne—one of the Three Divine Angels—was nowhere to be found.
Only Ryuk, his eyes flaring with that unmistakable golden light.
The sight of it alone petrified them so much that it was impossible to even think of fighting back.
It was akin to when a beast on a lower evolutionary scale encounters a being on a higher scale.
To Angelic Beings, the Light was all that mattered, and the one Ryuk held in his eyes right now was one possessed by a being far higher than them in the angelic hierarchy.
"Now... where were we?" Ryuk asked, his second hand—his left—reaching out.
A colossal golden phantom hand materialized, clenching down—and from the depths of the Void, it emerged, gripping an object.
It was a divine scale of white and black weighing pans.
The trio’s expressions instantly crumbled. The sight of the scale brought them such shock that two of them collapsed onto their knees, leaving just one standing—the one who had entrapped Ryuk in the art in the first place.
Ryuk’s words rang out next:
"The two of you kneeling will now be judged by the Divine Scale.
"If your good outweighs your bad, you will live."
"If your bad outweighs your good, you will die."
He chanted; their screams followed.
"PLEASE! PLEASE DON’T."
"SPARE ME!"
"I’LL SERVE YOU! JUST PLEASE DON’T JUDGE!"
"The Divine Scale will now judge."
The second that was mentioned, the scales immediately began tilting.
The instant it happened, both Angels lunged at him with blinding speed, but he had already anticipated it.
His lips opened, mouth turning to maw, with teeth turning homogeneously sharp, a sign of his draconic bloodline being triggered, and he gave a simple command:
"HALT!"
They both instantly halted in place, and the order kept for one second straight before they broke through it, flashing with speed towards Ryuk.
Five wings pierced forward towards him, two golden claws aimed for his neck, but just an inch away, they all paused.
Ryuk’s eyes weren’t on them at all, but on the Divine scale—the dark pan had fallen, lifting the white high into the air.
The Angels followed his gaze, and when they sighted the result of the scale, golden tears fell from their eyes.
"NOOOO—"
They began to crumble from the chest, their skin evaporating away, and within three seconds, they were nothing but ashes, scattering through the void and fading into its depths.
Two eight-winged Angels with a power level at the Nihil Stage were instantly destroyed in both body and soul!
BAAAANG
BAAAANG
The sound of knees collapsing followed as Ryuk turned his attention to the last Angel.
’They died. Oryo and Emeris... died!’
In all of Ammamora, they were the most powerful Angels alive.
They were the eight-winged, and only five of them were alive in existence.
They had ruled over Ammamora for centuries, rarely appearing in public perception, yet with billions of souls, angelic and non-angelic, still following their will, depicted as the Ammamoran Constitution.
Their emergence today to face this threat was meant to finally stretch their rigid bones. And yet... and yet, two of them had been erased, undone by their own divine heart that he himself had cast initially.
Despair sank into Ionio’s heart.
How had the divine skill been hijacked?
Why did he ever even use it at all?
As he sank deeper and deeper, he felt a whistle behind his back, and turning his head upwards, he found Ryuk standing a few centimetres behind him as he spoke out.
Don’t worry. Your life still has its use..." he said, and in the next moment his hands reached into the dark Void, tearing it open to reveal the golden sky of Ammamora.
Grabbing the Angel with one of his wings, he stepped out with him, the entire realm shattering into glass fragments and fading off like an illusion.