Ryu didn't know what to say or think. This sort of matter… It was happening at maybe the worst time possible. He wasn't yet strong enough to charge into the Shrine Plane, but if he didn't who else would?
After being sealed for so long, his mother wouldn't be in any state to fight. In fact, she would likely be at her very weakest. All alone, she had been the sole reason why the Martial Gods hadn't been able to dredge up everything they could from the Shrine Plane. In fact, it could be said that his mother was the last line of defense.
Ryu closed his eyes, his breathing coming almost to a dead halt.
This wasn't how he would normally react to things. The emotional high of Elena speaking to him for the first time in so long had knocked him off his balance. It only made it worse that the news was about his mother, the woman he respected the most in this world.
Ryu couldn't put the love he had for his parents into words. His mother had always been by his side during his first life, and his experiences in his second made him realize that this was more of a rare thing than he thought it was.
Ryu's parents had had every reason to abandon him, to treat him as though he was worthless. And, even in the case they didn't go so far, no one would have blamed them for neglecting him. And yet, the love he had experienced from them was among maybe the only shining lights he had had.
He could still remember how his mother would always insist on preparing his meals. She was the Mistress of the Tatsuya Clan, a once in a generation genius. The kind of weight on her shoulders everyday was still far beyond anything Ryu had ever experienced. But such a woman refused to allow anyone else to care for her son but her.
And those had just been memories Ryu remembered before he gained his Origin Flame. Once he fused with this penultimate Flame, allowing him to remember things as far back as when his consciousness just formed in the womb, the warmth he felt for his mother touched upon levels maybe no one else would ever be able to match.
He could remember the soothing words she spoke while she was pregnant. He could remember how much care she took in bathing him while he was a child. Every morning she would wake him with the same soothing song and every night she would lay him to rest with words just as soothing.
Even when Ryu was found out to be a cripple, nothing had changed. The tears his mother shed that day weren't in lament for having such a useless son, but were rather for him. The weight of her empathy was heavier than any burden Ryu held.
These emotions washed over Ryu, his expression becoming colder and colder with every passing second.
"How long." Ryu asked.
'At most three days.'
"Then in three days, I'll be cleansing the Shrine Plane with blood."
**
Elena sat in silence, the words of Ryu reverberating through her mind. She had deliberated for a long time as to whether to tell Ryu about this or not. By most observable metrics, it would be nothing more than suicide for him to come here now. However, in the end of it all, she felt like if she didn't… Ryu would never speak to her again.
It was an odd feeling. She had been certain that she wanted to slowly separate herself from Ryu. It wasn't because she hated him, but it was rather that she felt their time had passed. The things they wanted were too different. Or, at least the things she wanted had evolved so far beyond what they had been in the past that she couldn't see them aligning at all.
But, the idea of Ryu never speaking to her again… She couldn't describe it in words.
She knew that she would be protecting Ryu from himself keeping his information from him. However, she also knew Ryu enough to know that keeping this from him would be the absolute worst kind of betrayal. He would never accept an apology for it. He would never forgive. He was that sort of stubborn individual.
Faced with this crossroads, Elena made a choice. A selfish one.
Choosing between Ryu's life and death, and his hatred of her… She actually chose to allow him to die instead.
Elena had made the choice before she even knew what was happening and by the time it sunk in, she felt such a strong feeling of disgust and hate toward herself that she couldn't move.
Her hands trembled and her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. She had spent the last several months venting at air. She didn't even quite understand what she was so mad about. Even millions of years of introspection couldn't seem to snap her out of this state.
Ryu had no idea the kind of reserves the Martial Gods had. If he really became a threat, the trump cards and ammo they had was far beyond what words could possibly describe.
Cold shivers caused goosebumps to race across her body. She brought her knees to her chest, her lovely pink diamond hair seeming to dim somewhat as the natural light it gave off wavered.
If she could so easily make such a selfish choice now, what others had she made? Was she wrong all this time? She didn't know how to bring herself together.
She had to do something. She had to stop Ryu from coming. Even if he hated her for it, even if he never spoke to her again.
Elena's nails dug into her thighs, her hands squeezing down hard. However, just as she had resolved herself, a voice echoed in her mind.
"I know that I've done more than enough to earn your hatred. But, for as long as I live, I'll be your husband.
"I wasn't able to do this in my first life, but in this one, I'll always stand in front of you.
"I have no intention of dying."