"You look pale, you okay?"
The voice rang out a second after Ryuk stepped in.
His drooping eyes turned to the side, and there she was, Zaffre, a rose stalk between her lips as she gave him a single-eyed look, her tone dripping with teasing amusement.
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue, glancing at the octopus just chilling in the beautiful garden.
’Should have brought her ass out and let it get burned in abyssal energy,’ he thought, glaring at her.
"I’m fine. Thank you for your ’care’," he said, earning a light chuckle from Zaffre.
Ryuk turned and quickly noticed it.
The garden... it was snowing.
He looked up and found snowflakes raining down.
The source of it all was just beside the great tree in the garden, a large, crystallized, egg-like cocoon.
What was more, the Red roses and blue lilies within a kilometer distance had turned snow-white.
Isha had yet to finish her evolution.
"Annoying, isn’t it?"
The voice came again by his ear.
Ryuk turned, raising an eyebrow at Zaffre, who was looking up at the falling flakes.
"You’re not a fan of cold?" he asked, watching her roll her eyes.
"Who is a fan of cold?"
"I am," Ryuk said.
Frost gathered in his palm, forming a massive snowflake that burst right on top of Zaffre’s nose.
"Tsk." She clicked her tongue, wiping the frost from her face before looking back at him.
"Have you reached there yet?"
It occurred to Ryuk then that he had told Zaffre to remain here until they reached the Upper Realm.
But he’d already reached it and hadn’t told her.
"Yes, we have. We’re in the Conqueror Realm right now," she said.
A glint crossed her eyes, something Ryuk immediately noticed.
"Have something you plan on doing?" he asked, watching her blink with a mix of reluctance and intent.
Then she turned and said,
"You seem to want to do something in here."
"Yes, I do. It might take some time, too," he replied, watching her nod.
"Okay then."
"Once you’re done with whatever you plan, there’s somewhere I want to visit."
’I can bring you too, if you promise not to be an annoying brat," she added, and he rolled his eyes.
"Okay. And you’re the annoying brat."
Ryuk continued deeper into the garden as Zaffre wrapped herself in her tentacles again.
Staying in a single place like this should have bored her, but there was something about the garden, something that erased that feeling completely.
In a way, she even felt reluctant to leave.
Besides, ever since she arrived here, her cultivation speed had advanced continuously, and what’s more... the visions.
This place was paradise, and the last thing she wanted to do was to leave.
But...there was also something that continuously pulled at her heart.
She had to leave soon.
"Just what is he up to now?" Zaffre muse, watching Ryuk walk farther and farther until he disappeared completely.
"If he’s trying to walk to the end of the garden, then he’ll be spending quite a long while," she muttered, snickering to herself knowingly.
_________________________
"I think here’s good enough," Ryuk muttered to himself.
He didn’t know whether fusing with his parts would make him release destructive energy like his last evolution had, so he had decided to stay away from Isha and Zaffre as much as possible.
With enough distance, his mouth shifted into a wide maw, and the musculature of Azraggoth reappeared only to be devoured whole by him.
BAADUUUMP!
His heart pounded heavily the moment he devoured the body, but it didn’t end there.
Opening his maw once more, he threw the orb of blood in.
BAAAAAAADUUMP!
BAAAAADUUUMP!
BAAAAADUUUUMP!
His heartbeat pounded wildly this time, each pulse sending forth waves of energy.
Grabbing the last object, the spine with the thread, he devoured that too.
As it entered him, Ryuk felt his consciousness slipping away rapidly.
He sat down, but even that didn’t help.
His eyes blurred, and in the end, he had to lie flat on his back.
The pink skies above did wonders to calm his breath, along with the soft touch of lilies surrounding him.
Soon enough, he drifted into sleep.
Moments later, a single ray of light suddenly burst out of him, then another, and another.
Soon, Ryuk could be seen, the real him.
The light rays scorched away his Nanobody.
If one were to pass by, they wouldn’t find Ryuk but a skeletal figure buried within roses.
His heart was there, beating beneath his ribs, and that was when it moved.
The orb of blood.
It came closer and closer.
PSSSSST!
The sound was like a hot ball tossed into ice.
The orb buried itself into Ryuk’s own beating heart, and immediately, the sound of his heartbeat changed.
It beat deeper, a rhythm that felt more alive.
Next came the spine-like object hovering above him like it possessed a will of its own.
It drifted down and attached itself to the bone at the back of Ryuk’s neck.
Rippling, its thread spread out, elongating across his spine and to various parts of his skeletal system, binding the already firm bones even tighter.
Then came the muscular body he had devoured.
It had been reduced to bits upon swallowing, but what it became was a sludge, a semi-solid metallic sludge that dripped over his bones.
With his heart pounding against it, it began to pump something new.
Strands rapidly extended over the metal sludge, and soon, an unbelievable transformation began:
A New Rebirth.
These were the physical changes to him, but the rebirth was not limited to his body.
Ryuk opened his eyes, but the pink skies didn’t welcome him.
He sat up, and he paused, seeing he was standing between two groups.
This was his soul space, and turning forward, Ryuk found them.
"You’re both finally here."
_____
A/N:
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