"It’s fine. I wasn’t hurt in there, and Ryuk came to rescue me..." Isha said as Void crawled towards her with a downcast expression.
Climbing over Isha and spreading both arms wide for a hug, he whispered,
"I’m truly sorry, Isha. Don’t be mad at poor me," he said, only for his tail to be grabbed by Ryuk as she dragged him off her bosom and threw him on the table.
"Hey, a gentleman can’t even console some nice bosso— I mean, girls, no more?" he shot back at Ryuk, who rolled his eyes before whispering
"Bosoms will be the end of you one day. You know that, right?"
Void, who acted like he didn’t hear, rapidly stuck his tongue in and out of the bowl of milk.
Through all of this, Zaffree observed quietly, and truly, his words about them considering his contracted beasts as family weren’t a lie at all.
Even though Void and Ryuk argued a lot and got into fights almost every minute, the bond between them was clear. \
The same was true for Isha, the calmest amongst them.
She couldn’t help but notice something different about Ryuk.
His aura had changed.
Back then, it had always been somber, but now, with his aura was freer, like one unshackled.
He smiled more, talked more, and argued more.
It was a complete 360-degree change from the usual him.
’So this is what a family is? It’s beautiful,’ she thought to herself, only to be woken up by the call.
"So, Zaffree, where did you plan to go?" she dispersed her thought, voicing out.
"The Krakenoid Kingdom."
"I’ve heard that place before," Void said, pausing slightly and arresting the group’s attention.
"Isn’t it all water and fish?" he asked, making them roll their eyes.
"They’re Krakens, you idiot. What else were you expecting?" Ryuk scoffed as Void stuck out its tongue.
But then, he couldn’t help but wonder why Zaffree wanted to visit the kingdom.
Perhaps her parents were still alive, and she wanted to check on them?
But that also reminded him of her mentioning the Zaffre Krakens being royalty amongst Krakens.
Her background didn’t seem that simple, but if she were a royal, how did she even get captured by that organization in the first place?
That made him truly curious and hence invested in the journey.
Void finished his milk, collapsing on his side, exhausted.
Ryuk eyed the dozens of basins on the table and rolled his eyes.
Not only was the thing lecherous, it was also gluttonous.
Before he could snore off, Ryuk snapped his hands, and a mini vortex appeared in the space beside him.
Void asked
"What is that?"
"The New Pet Space."
"You finally got your shit back together, huh?" Void said, quickly crawling into the vortex before Ryuk could grab its tail.
"Now this is what I’m talking about!"
The elated scream could be heard just as Ryuk shut the vortex.
"I’m ready when you are," he said to Zaffree, who rose, and the trio moved out.
_______
"The Krakenoid Kingdom is quite far, though. We’ll need to get transport beasts," Zaffree said, pointing to a side where various creatures could be seen, winged and four-legged beasts.
But before she could move, Isha grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.
"There’ll be no need for that," she said, and in the next moment, Zaffree found her legs dangling in the air, lifted by Isha.
The world flashed past in a blur of motion, and before she knew it, she was thrown high into the open sky.
As she turned her head down, she was shocked to see the back of a gigantic creature, its sight enough to cloud her entire vision.
In the next moment, Ryuk glitched and appeared by her side, grabbing her before she slammed her face on the scaly back and gently helping her to land on her feet instead.
"Wait," she muttered as she observed the creature in full.
It was covered entirely in white scales, spanning up to a full hundred meters, with four gigantic limbs and two massive wings.
What really blew her mind was the singular horn radiating an incredible amount of frost energy.
"An... An Ice Dragon!?"
It wasn’t only Zaffree that was surprised, even Ryuk, though without much change to his expression, felt numb.
[Isha has reached the Peak of Her Evolutionary State: Ice Dragon!]
The system panel flashed, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
From her just being an Ice Serpent, she had grown, evolving again and again until she was now at her peak, a full Ice Dragon.
"Isha is an Ice Dragon!? I thought she was a Frost Wyvern!?" Zaffree said in disbelief, and the words echoed out.
"I evolved," she said, and Zaffree looked on blankly before whispering,
’I’ve never heard of a Frost Wyvern evolving to become an Ice Dragon before...’
"How does my new form look, Ryuk?" Isha’s voice rang telepathically into his mind.
In response, Ryuk sat upon her back before gently pressing his hand against her scale.
Pink light coalesced in his palms and quickly spread all over her scales, resulting in her glowing with a soft pink light.
He did not say a word in reply, but Isha felt it, the joy and pride in his heart.
"Thank you," she whispered telepathically, her aura jumping by twice due to the pink aura, and she rushed forward with speed as the group quickly approached the Krakenoid Kingdom.
_____________
A journey that ought to have taken at least a day or two was done in less than two hours as they arrived amidst crushing sea waves.
It was dark, pitch-black sea wherever the eyes could see.
A cloud of storm gathered above as powerful lightning crisscrossed through the sky.
"This is it?" Ryuk asked as he looked down at the sea of dark waters beneath him.
It was the most powerful sea wave he had ever seen; the mere weight of it embroils the air with faint pressure.
If an entity at the Eternity Stage were thrown into this water, chances are they would drown in a minute.
"Yes. Beneath is the Krakenoid Kingdom," she said, and Ryuk hummed as they floated off Isha’s back.
Sh rose high into the air before clouds of frost puffed through the sky, and Isha returned to her humanoid form.
One look at the sea beneath, and Isha called out:
"Can I return to the Pet space?"
In the next moment, Ryuk opened up the vortex, and Isha disappeared into it before it shut.
It left just Zaffree and Ryuk, standing above the crushing dark sea waves.