Elena's words weren't very loud, and there were howling cold winds all around, but who here wasn't an expert? Hearing what she said was all too easy for them, especially since she made no attempt to hide her tone.
It was clear that she had quite some confidence. As for where it came from, maybe only Mistress Holy Wing who narrowed her eyes almost as soon as she appeared, knew aside from Elena herself.
Many frowned, especially those who claimed themselves to be the enemies of Ryu. It felt like watching food being snatched right out of their mouths.
Ryu rose his head, his gaze meeting Elena's.
At that moment, being looked down upon by Ryu, Elena felt her heart almost leave her chest. There was such a dense oppression and rage within, the kind he seemed to have been curating for countless millennia. Each strand of darkness seemed to have been refined to an extreme.
However, as soon as that image flashed by was seemingly as soon as it vanished. Ryu's bright silver eyes returned and his lips curled into a smile, the kind of intoxicating smile that was all too impossible to replicate.
"You look very beautiful today, Elena, as always. I don't think I ever told you that enough, I'm sorry for being such a bad husband."
Elena truly did look beautiful, very much like a goddess descended from the skies. Her skin seemed to radiate its own healthy glow, causing the snow around her to shine with a faint pink sheen. She really didn't seem like a living being at all.
For a moment, Elena didn't know how to respond. Ryu's words weren't exactly true. Even at his coldest, he would still compliment and indulge her, just because he had been cold, didn't mean he couldn't show his love. If he was unable to, his relationship with his parents and grandparents wouldn't have been nearly as close.
"I…" Elena felt somewhat flustered.
For those who knew the recently crowned Queen, this was the sort of reaction they had never expected. None of them knew the real Elena, none of them had ever witnessed the lifelong prankster and jokester.
Ryu could tell that his wife had become far more jaded in his absence, and he rightfully blamed himself. He had managed to regain his lost self after all this time, but in doing so, he had cost his wife hers.
Elena's words froze when she felt a hand caress her cheek.
Ryu's smile only seemed more radiant. His warmth seemed to envelop her in the cold, his presence blocking out everything. For a moment, there was only the two of them.
"I've only ever really thought about myself," Ryu said lightly. "In my first life, I was selfish. And in this life, I've also been selfish. I've never really thought about your feelings or your wants. I always ask you to give, but I can never seem to give you back what you've lost.
"I've taken love from you. I've taken patience from you. I've taken even your time from you, robbing you of your youth.
"I cannot understand what made me the man who you wanted to marry, the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.
"You probably wanted a simple life, a simple man, a simple existence beyond the peaks and valleys of the martial world. But I have never been that for you.
"When I lacked power, I was an anchor and a pit of darkness in what was otherwise your brightness.
"When I finally gained it, my goals reached beyond the peace you wanted. I crave for battle, for war, for blood. I'm a stupid man who can't enjoy the simplicities of life and retire with a smile on my face.
"That much isn't fair to you. I can understand if you hate me… All I can promise is that when I reach that mountaintop, I'll obediently return to your side."
Elena's tears soaked Ryu's palms.
She knew it was naïve of her. There was only so much running she could do. Even if Ryu agreed to stay by her side until the very end, she knew the time would come where their weakness would cost them their happy life… It had already cost them once before.
Even if Ryu hadn't killed himself that night to seek power, the death of the Tatsuya Clan was coming, and that wasn't something she could control.
Ryu had ever right to call her a fool, a useless idiot, a stupid woman who couldn't see the obvious truth right in front of her. There was no such thing as peace in the martial world, not unless you were the weakest of the weak. But, even then, your life could be overturned by the whims of the next powerful brute you came across.
And yet, Ryu hadn't called her any of these names. Those kind eyes looked down at her with all the doting and affection in the world, the very same kind of affection that had been completely absent in her life during that last nearly billion years.
Ryu's smile spread into a grin and eventually evolved into laughter. His head tilted up into the skies, causing the Shrine Plane to quake as his chest rumbled.
"You are my, Ryu Tatsuya's, woman. You are allowed to be as willful, unforgiving, and unreasonable as you want. No one will dare say a single word, even me. Those that dare to have an opinion can taste my blade."
Ryu wiped Elena's tears with his thumb, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.
He took a step past Elena, his boisterous laughter seeming to cause the hearts of those that had taken it upon themselves to grace the front line to stop entirely.
"Watch well, Elena." Ryu's voice boomed. "The me of the past has long since died. This husband of yours will become a man whose knees won't buckle beneath even the greatest of pressures, whose gaze won't falter in the face of the greatest of dangers, whose heart won't waver in the face of the worst of odds."
Ryu's laughter vanished, a pillar of darkness rising from him and piercing into the skies.
His hands reached out, causing two fearful youths' faces to shoot into his palms. With a squeeze of his fingers, their skulls shattered, their blood dripping to the ground.
"MARTIAL GODS!"
Ryu's voice caused the clouds above to split, arcs of blue lightning crashing down with fury and a tempestuous hell.
"I HAVE COME FOR YOUR HEADS!"