Capítulo 957: Finally Meeting with Him (I)
The one who had spoken was a peculiar-looking lord.
He was far from humanoid, more beastly, with two large golden deer-like horns jutting from the upper sides of his crystalline face.
Speaking of his face, it seemed carved from countless crystal fragments, each one a different colour and material, shifting subtly as if alive.
Though beastly, a divine aura radiated from him.
“As impatient as ever you are, Lord Valkhar,” the lord who had spoken of Ryuk’s patience said to him.
Lord Valkhar answered with another powerful scoff.
“I am not impatient, Lord Grynn, but more efficient.”
“He smells like a killer, and has killed before, hence a killer.”
“Get rid of him, meeting over.”
Lord Valkhar roared out, staring at Ryuk with narrowed eyes.
The man’s expression remained neutral.
Not even a flicker of unease crossed his face, despite the casual way they discussed killing him.
“Tsk. Look at him, acting all cool, even after everything he mostly relies on has been taken away from him,” another lord said, drawing Ryuk’s attention.
This one was a woman.
Long orange hair poured down like a waterfall into the void surrounding them. Her face was mostly humanoid, though half of it was covered in oscillating gear-like runes.
The same runic mechanics coated her fox-like eyes, which narrowed at Ryuk as if attempting to pierce straight into his soul.
“You may be right,” Ryuk replied, causing the Lords to pause.
“I cannot feel the soul bonds I have with my beasts, nor can I feel any of the rifts I possess. I was just wondering about that not long ago.”
Ryuk was telling the truth.
He had bonded with Isha, Void, Zaffree, and the Abyssal Kraken King.
Yet right now, he felt none of those bonds.
It was as if they no longer existed.
His connection to the Techno Ruin Forge was gone as well, and the familiar tether to the Void Asura rift had vanished.
Even his link to the Garden of Meturasa had disappeared entirely.
“That is because everything connected to your soul has been severed, leaving you bare and limited solely to your own power,” she explained.
“As for your rifts, they are in our expository, with a seized status.”
Her mechanical runes clicked in amusement, clearly expecting a reaction from him.
“Two of my pets are in one of them. I hope you let them out before stowing it away?” Ryuk asked calmly.
Her grin faltered, and her brows creased.
“I would be more worried about you than some Void Cat or Ice Dragon if I were you.”
Ryuk nodded and reclined slightly in the seat.
“I guess that is a yes then. Good.”
“Tch, you…” she began, anger rising, when a gentle ripple of golden energy passed through the void and silenced the hall instantly.
The ripple came from a raised hand from another lord.
He had a dark complexion, with pointed ears reminiscent of an elf.
What drew Ryuk’s attention most were his eyes.
They shone like miniature suns, golden bulbs burning with restrained ferocity.
On his forehead rested a half-moon-shaped halo that leaked soft golden light, and his curly golden hair framed his face like cascading flames.
The hall remained utterly silent as his hand lowered again, his golden eyes turning toward Ryuk.
“I am Lord Asgard,” he said, and a faint flicker of light moved through Ryuk’s eyes.
That name sounded familiar, and he had heard it mentioned more than once.
“Did Seer and the others tell you about how I feel about you?” Ryuk asked, and Lord Asgard nodded.
“Their words, from you, went along the lines of:
‘I want to believe that this Lord Asgard is a powerful being, and naturally, his judgment must be absolute.’
‘So if he believes you all can take me on and bring me back, then you must be capable of capturing me and bringing me back.’
‘If you fail to capture me, then that means he is a being of poor judgment.'”
His words echoed through the void, and some of the other lords shifted in their seats.
“And?” Ryuk asked mildly.
“They failed. But does that make you think I am a being of poor judgment?” Lord Asgard asked.
“Naturally,” Ryuk replied without any change in expression.
Seer, Finx, and Zayra. Three from E.A.R.
They had been sent to capture him on Lord Asgard’s orders, and they had failed.
The failure did not paint a very impressive picture of Asgard in Ryuk’s mind, though the respect the other Lords had for him was undeniable.
“I have been watching you for quite a long time now, Ryuk,” Lord Asgard said.
A golden light bloomed at the center of the hall, forming an image of a large world-like sphere.
Its surface was covered in countless golden lights of varying brightness.
Ryuk’s eyes were drawn to one particular light. One that burned brighter than most.
“Right from the moment of your birth, your anomaly light shone brighter than many.”
“But after your severance, it dropped drastically,” Lord Asgard continued.
The golden light dimmed rapidly in the projection, shrinking to a near-invisible glimmer.
“Years passed, and it remained the same, until you encountered another anomaly light. One named Emiris Von Lauren.”
Ryuk remembered that name well.
High Scholar Emiris.
He was the one who had fused him with the other Annunaki model.
“Through predatory fate sharing, you absorbed his anomaly light and strengthened your own.”
That wasn’t something Ryuk was aware of.
“From there, your anomaly flared brighter and brighter, eventually surpassing even your original light,” Lord Asgard said.
In the projection, Ryuk’s anomaly light brightened again, and now, it has brightened that it overshadows even your original.
He said, and all eyes in the room turned to the ball, which had a golden light upon its surface, burning like the sun.
That was his current Anomaly light, and truly, it was beyond any other light Ryuk saw on the ball’s surface.
“I did make many poor decisions, one of them being not keeping you under strict watch sooner.”
“But you were indeed quite the anomaly, as I have never seen such a dramatic surge in anomaly light before.”
Lord Asgard paused.
“I suppose that to a true anomaly, even an Anomaly Watcher can fail in his judgment.”