Though snow fell upon the world, flakes drifting in the wind, a part of this world refused its existence, and it was the silhouette of that singular mountain.
Specifically, what lay above it.
Isha had him in her arms, and she could see him, Ryuk, covered in dark tattoos that faintly crackled with dark lightning.
She noticed that those occasional flares of lightning were the ones responsible for chasing away the snow elements around.
It was like energy was refusing to go near him, as though he were cursed by nature.
But what she found more alarming was his debilitating state.
One of his arms was gone, and in the place of his left eye was a pitch-dark scar that crossed from his eyes to his jaw.
When she looked within that scar, she found nothing but ashes.
She had watched him in many battles and many states after, and this was one of the most debilitating states she had ever seen him in.
What was worse?
She had no idea what had reduced him to such.
____
The world was a void of darkness to Ryuk.
His head was ringing, memories drifting far away from him.
All he knew was the name: Isha.
In some way, through the lightheadedness he felt, he somehow remembered that so clearly.
He felt a warm glow embrace him after he called her name, and in that familiarity, he managed to drag himself out of his unconscious state.
Opening his eyes, he was met with the sight of glassy white eyes.
His hand reached out, grazing her cheek and wiping away the tear before it could mar her face.
"Do...not... cr... y. I’m... fine,"
He said to her, but his words didn’t come out like he planned them in his head.
They were a cracked whisper.
"Let’s fuse, I can heal you once we’re one," she proposed, pressing her body closer, but he barred her, pushing her slightly away.
"Not now," he said, continuing, "Just keep an eye on the surroundings. I need some time to understand."
She nodded, laying him in the snow before transforming into an Ice Dragon that flew around the mountain.
Ryuk closed his eye, seemingly falling into slumber, but no, he wasn’t.
The memories were returning to him like tiny droplets of water.
The more they came, the more he was able to piece things together, up until the final moment when the being had appeared, striking him with the dark lightning.
’What happened back there?’ he thought silently, and the panel flashed.
[You were supposed to retrieve your Logic Core from Eravel and fuse with it.]
[Having the Logic Core taken away meant her getting erased, and for some reason, you couldn’t watch her fade away.]
[You reversed time itself, bringing her back from death and returning the Logic Core back to her.]
[Your action defied the heavens, and it sent down that being that almost killed you as a warning.]
The system summarized, helping him get a hold of the memory pieces.
’The heavens? I thought that was just an expression...’
[I... I thought so too,]
It replied, showing it was just as confused as Ryuk himself.
But while that being’s existence was confusing, what was even more confusing was his own actions.
Why had he decided to keep Eravel alive, and even go so far as to reverse time for her?
Was it because she gave him the Logic Core without fighting?
’No. That can’t be the reason.’
The Sixth Calamity, Marionette, had also returned his Nervous System without a fight, and yet he had taken it away from her.
What he remembered vividly was that feeling.
That feeling of his heart turning colder upon seeing her fade to ashes.
Her fading away was like an important part of him being lost, and in that moment, all his senses had been fired toward one purpose:
Bringing her back alive at all costs.
He didn’t even know that forbidden technique he had used.
It occurred to him only at that moment, and he used it.
But it seemed the forbidden technique this time brought its own repercussions.
’She’s alive still, so I can ask her about why I felt that way.’
’Know who she really is.’
For now, though, he needed to get back on his feet.
Right now, he was paralyzed and absolutely weak, with stinging pain radiating from his bones due to the lightning pulsing through them.
But pain was something that had already become familiar, almost comforting to him.
[That lightning, according to my database, is called Punisher Lightning, recorded to have struck those who, in one way or another, have gone too extreme in their paths.]
[It doesn’t just paralyze the bones; it also banishes the Natural Energy of the Universe from that person, something most cultivators require to heal.]
[Those who get struck by Punisher Lightning are essentially cripples, and... You are one right now.]
’No wonder I couldn’t feel the frost essence, though I’m sleeping on it.’ Ryuk thought in realization.
It was why he had refused Isha to fuse with him, as he wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong, and it could be debilitating if it got transferred to her.
But being a cripple?
No, he wouldn’t himself that.
His draconic bloodline used Aetheris as the main source of energy, and that was indeed banned from him, so he couldn’t use it to heal.
The same is true for his Knull bloodline, which uses Abyssal energy, and also his Void Apex energy and the rest.
But he had an energy that didn’t belong in Nature.
Hurricane energy.
Sinking into himself, Ryuk focused on the dark lightning crackling within his bones.
That energy was already within him, so no further touch was needed.
He just needed to be able to control it.
Silence was all there was for about an hour, but then, all over the dark tattoos upon his skin, purple runes started to take form, beginning from his neck and soon spreading across his entire body.
Then, their colors shifted to black before they began to crackle with dark lightning.
In the next moment, all of the lightning tattoos faded, only to reform on the back of Ryuk’s left palm.
With the tattoos gone from his body, the snowflakes drifted around him once more, some landing on his skin, and when they did, they spread a frosty, white, glass-like aura across his body, wiping away the dark ashes and replacing them with frost.
In just another hour, his skin had turned back to normal once more, and he reverted to his draconic form.
Ryuk rose to his feet, bones crackling like thunder as he felt the control of his body return.
"I’m back."
______
A/N:
If you find the Chapter entertaining, then do consider voting for the novel with Golden Tickets and Power Stones. It helps I, the author, with visibility on the NovelFire app.
In and Out_SnowySmoos