"You have something that belongs to me," Ryuk said, looking at the doll-like lady.
She stopped when she was a meter away from the mountain, and in response to his words, her hands, which had been held together, parted slightly, leading to the appearance of strange violet-coloured strings.
They appeared at the edge of her fingers, merging from one finger to another.
"You’re right..." she said, turning from her strings to Ryuk, whose eyes quivered in slight confusion.
’Strings? Which part of me is a string!?’
"Where is your army?" the dragon asked, as Marionette watched him descend from the mountain.
He landed upon the ground, shaking it with might, but she did not tumble.
"I have not come to fight. Only to ask some questions,"
The mannerism, the tiny-child-like words, her innocent doll-like appearance, all reminded Ryuk of one thing Evander had said the first time he had met him.
____________
"Oh please, I assure you, unlike the rest of the Knulls, my Queen is more civil and above such things as brutish and barbaric fighting..."
____________
Knulls are the incarnate of destruction, and he could never believe such words, especially for one named a calamity.
Still, it made his claws hesitate to cleave through her immediately, and he asked,
"What do you wish to ask?"
She turned away, looking at the strings on her fingers.
"If you had the power to control billions of Knulls, forcing them to do what you want," she said, as Ryuk’s eyebrow creased at the bizarre question.
"What will you do with that power?" she asked, and a second had yet even to pass when Ryuk uttered,
"I’ll be taking control of your mind first, then ask you to detonate yourself." He said, and she replied right after.
"And after I detonate myself?"
"Then, I’ll take over the minds of the remaining five calamities and give them death, in one horrible way after another."
"And then?"
"And then, I’ll gain control of the minds of those who know a thing or two about the Knull Dragon war, and learn everything that happened."
"And then?"
"And then, I’ll get rid of every Knull who in one way or another is responsible for bringing forth that war."
"And then?"
"And then, I’ll ignore the power until there is another chaos- or destruction-hungry Knull to get rid of."
He said with a finality to his tone as Marionette quieted down.
"So, you’ll destroy those who you believe have wronged you in one way or another."
"Not those, I believe..." Ryuk growled out. "It is those who did!"
"What about the innocent?"
"The other billions who have no clue about it all?"
"You hate all Knulls, don’t you?"
"If I hated all Knulls in general, you wouldn’t find me perched on a mountain doing nothing."
"Most likely, half of your population would have been wiped out," Ryuk said.
"Some Knulls deserve death, including you," he said, pointing a claw down at her.
"And I’ll be serving it."
"Everyone else can go burn in hell, and I wouldn’t blink."
Marionette looked at the dragon.
He had not given his words thought before uttering them, making them come directly as what they truly were.
She looked into his eyes, those rage burning as red flames.
"You are filled with too much rage."
"Sooner or later, it will burn you out, leaving you nothing but an empty husk," she whispered, as Ryuk grinned instead.
"Before I become an empty husk, you all would be ashes first."
"It is not a fair price."
"We’re cursed to all turn to ashes soon enough anyway," she whispered, something that made Ryuk’s eyebrows furrow.
But she did not say any more.
Instead, she turned her back to him, and he watched as the strings that held the gown behind her back slit open, making them slide down.
It revealed her back, displaying a vertical line from her neck to her waist, which was held by a string.
The string loosened, revealing a spine-like bone approximately five centimeters long, shining with a violet hue.
What was more, on every side of the bones were strings that he noticed reached out to the paths of her skin, almost like a power source that held her together.
"What I have is your nervous system, which possesses the power to take control of the minds of all Knulls it bonds with."
"Take it, but remember your own words," she said, as Ryuk’s claw reached forward towards the spine.
He was just a few inches away from grabbing the bone when suddenly his hands moved, and he grabbed her by the shoulders instead.
VROOOOOOOM
The air flapped heavily, and Marionette watched herself furiously jerked back.
Her eyes looked forward, and she saw it: a blade as dark as night crept out of the Void, reaching for her neck.
It moved very fast and silently, like a viper, yet it also came too late, as she was pulled back, making the blade miss by an inch.
She appeared by his side, a glint in her eyes, as her hands held her throat.
She had been saved.
She turned to the side, staring in disbelief at Ryuk, but his eyes were focused forward.
The blade vanished back into the Void, and then a door of pitch darkness appeared before both as he stepped out:
A knight of darkness, holding a humongous sword of darkness.
"Marionette Knullite."
"You have disobeyed the orders of the Ancient Devils to not appear before the Son of Theth’Vorgath and betrayed us, Knulls."
"The punishment for your atrociousness is death!" the Knight said, and Marionette replied.
"I am already dead, just not by your blade."
Now Ryuk understood.
The stringed bone of his was what held her together, truly like a power source of some sort.
If it were taken, the strings disappear, and naturally, she dies.
"How bizarre a Knull," he muttered to himself, and in the next moment, his hands reached to the side.
A dark rift opened up, and Marionette was thrown within, devoured by the darkness as the rift closed up and disappeared.
Only after did Ryuk turn his attention to the Dark Knight before him.
"You have something of mine."
In response, the knight raised his dark swords.
A cyclone of darkness rushed into the sky, conjuring forth a massive dark shadow rift.
From the depths of it, they began descending. Shadow Knights.
Different races, ranging from titans to centaurs, each holding its own unique weapon.
They covered everywhere, numbering in the thousands, and casting a shadow upon Ryuk.
Then, his humongous dark sword turned to Ryuk, uttering in a voice cold and firm,
"I am Achylles, the Knight of Death, and I’ll be offering you the gift of death."