It was the voice of King Ourimunda.
He silently hovered behind Ryuk, a faint glint flashing through his eyes as he looked up at the Kraken manifestations.
Ryuk noticed:
King Ourimunda’s form had transformed into a towering humanoid figure, twenty-five meters tall, wearing a crown of darkness interwoven with strands of crimson light.
His eyes were crimson, the same as his hair, and his skin was made of the same gemblack colour, except now with strands of crimson trailing around his exposed torso.
His aura had changed, now becoming even more fitting for the King of Abyssal Krakens.
"We were wrong," King Ourumunda said as he slowly floated up the abyss.
When he did, the thousands of Abyssal Krakens followed after him as they swam toward the spirit manifestations.
When King Ourumunda arrived above, the waters were filled.
The ghost-like apparitions were closer, but all around the entire water were more of them, seven different species of Krakens, along with a total of seven Krakens wearing crowns.
They had formed a mini-army.
Shock and disbelief flashed in the eyes of them all as they stared at the form of King Ourimunda.
That was a form he had lost after destruction and chaos clouded his mind.
Yet, here he was again in that same form.
The other Krakens had also changed to their original selves.
"We were wrong..." King Ourumunda’s voice carried to the end of the last one among them, and in the next moment, they witnessed a scene never to be believed if it were narrated.
King Ourumunda’s hands reached for the crown he wore atop his head, and in the next moment, he gripped hard.
Pulling upward, crimson-dark light bloomed through the world with power as the eyes of the other kings flashed.
The crown should never have been taken off.
It was an excruciating process, so agonizing it felt as though one’s very soul was being torn in two.
But King Ourumunda pulled it off, and after he did, he got on one knee, his hands crossing diagonally as his upper torso bowed upon his knees.
His action was mirrored by the thousands of Krakens behind him.
It was the Bow of Kroken.
The highest bow of apology a Kraken could give.
A bow that had long been forbidden for kings, as it required removing whatever lay upon their head and kneeling to the ground.
An action deemed unfitting for a king, yet here it was.
"We were wrong," King Ourumunda repeated and bowed to the ghostly apparitions, which remained silently floating before him.
But in the next moment, a change occurred.
They all rippled with different lights, and tentacles reached outward toward King Ourumunda.
They came upon him, illuminating him in their glow, and continued to the thousands of Kraken behind him.
The tentacles of the manifestations reached as far as the last person, and silently, the glow continued as the manifestations began to disperse into motes of light.
"They accepted his apology," a Krakenoid woman wearing a crown whispered in disbelief.
The formation that had been formed to build the walls protecting the kingdom from the Abyssal Krakens had gained its energy from the hate of the Krakens that had fallen.
A hate so strong that no Abyssal Kraken could ever wish to go through the wall without having their soul skewered to nothing.
Yet, those same beings who had been nothing but hateful ghosts had accepted the apology for their murder.
It was like the only piece necessary that attached them to this world had been broken, and in that moment, they faded away.
When the last of them vanished, King Ourumunda remained bowing silently for a while before he rose back up.
This time, he turned to Ryuk.
"From now on, I..." he said, but then paused as he turned to the thousands of his race.
"No."
"We all, Abyssal Krakens, owe you our last breath..."
He said, and once more, he fell onto a knee, but this time, his stance was different.
His body did not lie fully on his knee; instead, his head bowed, a single hand crossing over his chest.
It was a sign of surrender, and the same action was mirrored by the other Krakens.
[The Dead Krakens May Have Accepted Their Apology.]
[But The Other Krakens Will Not Easily Welcome Him Back.]
The system panel blinked before Ryuk, who exhaled slowly, looking at the other Krakens.
And truly, he could still see it, the doubt in their eyes as they looked at the Abyssal Krakens.
If they remained here, they would most likely have to spend the remainder of their existence proving they had indeed become righteous.
It would be a waste of life if that were to ever happen, and so, Ryuk made his choice.
His hand reached out, and a finger of his came upon King Ourumunda’s forehead.
Immediately, a pink rune appeared, sinking into the King’s head, and the same occurred for Ryuk, who had the runic circle spiral within both his eyes.
[Congratulations, Host Has Successfully Fused With an Abyssal Kraken!]
"Rise," he whispered, and in the next moment, King Ourumunda rose, the same for the Abyssal Krakens, and they surrounded Ryuk’s figure.
"I will take responsibility for their existence from now on," he said to the other kings
A simple statement, before a portal of white bloomed beneath Ryuk’s feet, reaching as far as the farthest of the Abyssal Krakens, and in the next moment, they all silently descended into the vortex.
In the next moment, they were gone.
"It’s over," King Yorimunda whispered beneath his lips.
The walls that had divided the kingdom had disappeared.
The will of those defeated had been liberated, accepting the apology of King Ourumunda and freeing themselves.
And King Ourumunda himself had dropped his pride and crown, admitting his wrongs, and followed after a new master.
The silent tension of war that had always hung around the Krakenoid Kingdom was visibly dispersing, and soon, it was done.
The kings looked silently at each other before each nodded.
The greatest infighting ever recorded in the Kraken race was truly over.
_____________
At the top of a purple building in the center of the Zafre Kraken’s Kingdom, there at the highest point were two figures silently staring into the distance.
One was a lady with purple hair, her fingers nervously intertwined with the others, and the other was a mermaid.
This was none other than Zaffree and her mother, Celeste.
Silence reigned over but then,
STEP