Abyss Draconis

Chapter 949: Silently Lost

"Come with me to the Halowyrms, and I... may consider forgiving your atrocities."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Knull burst into laughter, his chained body shaking uncontrollably.

"You mean follow you to certain death!?"

"With me, it’s certain death for you anyway."

"I cannot die, Theth’Vorgath. I possess no soul." Knull’s words echoed calmly.

"Even if you rid me of all my existence runes, so long as one more Knull remains alive, I will linger."

"And when more of them begin to exist and their bloodline concentration rises high enough, I will return."

"There’s always hope for me."

"But they, the Supreme Races, they possess enough God Tools to completely erase me from existence."

"Walking there is walking to certain death. And the same is true for you."

"This is our end, Theth’Vorgath. Make peace with it." Knull said to him.

A long silence followed.

Then, a single word broke through it.

"No."

____________

[We were wrong...]

The golden system panel flickered before Ryuk, who lay resting at the bottom of the ocean, eyes gazing upward toward the filtering rays of sunlight.

His fingers rose slightly, letting the golden rays pass through his energy-formed hands, refracting faint blue light across his face.

’Yes... yes, we were,’ he replied silently.

[You know, I used to think you were just being childish, with your hatred toward Theth’Vorgath.]

[Refusing to call him "Father" and despising being called his son and all that.]

[But now... I think differently.]

[It’s almost like you already knew how much he ruined your life.]

’What does it matter, though?’ Ryuk thought quietly.

[Oh?]

’I could blame him, curse him, or hate him for all eternity, what difference would it make?’ His hands closed, leaving only one finger extended toward the drifting light.

[The past is the past, huh.]

’Perhaps...’

[Perhaps it’s time you really just... leave the past behind.]

He had always chased the past, for as long as he could remember.

Seeking the Knulls, reclaiming what had been stolen from him in the past, trying to uncover what had happened in the past.

Now he knew it all. But it was anything but worth it.

’Perhaps... perhaps it’s time I truly let it all go.’

A faint shimmer glowed across his palm as a golden pyramid materialized above it.

It held the final thing he was missing, His Soul.

[On the brighter side, you get to regain what was rightfully yours. Maybe it’s not all meaningless?]

The panel flickered, light glinting briefly in Ryuk’s eyes before they dulled once again.

’What use was any of it?’

[What!?]

’Even when I didn’t have my skeletal system from Knull, I could still stand just fine.’

’Even without my muscular system from Azraggoth, I could still lift tons.’

’Even without my nervous system, I could still see, feel, and think clearly.’’

’I could love just right. Hate just right. Smile just right. Walk just right. Laugh just right.’

’’I... I already had it all, didn’t I?’

’But I wanted it so desperately still.’

[Maybe because they were part of your truth.]

’But all of it... It was mostly to prepare for them, the Calamities.’

’The fear of them coming one day and taking everything I had.’

’Now that I think about it...

’Hasn’t my entire life been ruled by that single emotion—fear?’

[It May Have. But the threats of losing everything back then, too, were real.

The panel blinked softly.

Ryuk hummed under his breath.

[Besides, that fear is gone now. The Calamities are dead. Knull is off your back.]

[Theth’Vorgath is free, keeping the remaining Knulls away, if any still survive their incoming extinction.]

[You’re free now, Ryuk]

"I’m free..."

Bubbles escaped his lips, floating upward, carrying the sound of those words through the water.

"Ahh... of course. Freedom."

"How could I have forgotten that..."

He mused softly, a faint halo of relief spreading over his otherwise expressionless face.

[The Dragons.]

[There’s a chance they might still be alive, even if only faintly.]

[What do you plan to do?]

Ryuk stared in silence for a long moment before answering.

’I thought the Dragons all died waging war to protect me—their Draconis.’’

’But that’s not the case.’

’They went on the orders of their Queen.’

’And as for their Queen... she waged war to free Theth’Vorgath.’

’She fought for love.’

[Reasonable?]

’Maybe,’

’But now, Theth’Vorgath is free... and she’s the one imprisoned.’

’The only logic is for Theth’Vorgath to do what she once did, for him.’

’To wage war for her.’

’Whatever happens... it has nothing to do with me anymore.’

His eyes slowly closed as memories flickered through his mind.

Memories of her.

She was a woman so strong... and yet so gentle.

’How beautiful would it have been... if there was no war at all?’

’If the Knulls and Dragons had coexisted in peace, and Halowryita had never been born.’

’Though you fought for love, you were still kind enough to keep me safe from it all.’

’I’ll honor that by living well from now on...Mother.’

Ryuk thought quietly.

A rift silently opened before him, glowing with a soft milky-white hue.

From within emerged an enormous draconic form, his true body.

Scars lined its scales, and a hollow crater gaped where its heart should have been.

Ryuk reached forward, gently rubbing its metallic jaw, then slightly parted them.

Opening his hand, he revealed the golden prism, his soul, and slowly placed it within the dragon’s maw.

The instant he did, a quiet ripple surged outward through the water.

Ryuk extended his arm, gripping the edges of space itself and pulling open a vortex.

With the last strength he had left, he pushed his draconic body into the fold between the dimensions.

He had regained everything, everything except his Logic Core, which remained in Eravel’s possession.

But he didn’t think it was necessary to retrieve it.

He still wasn’t sure why he had chosen to return it to her.

Besides, the Logic Core wouldn’t change things much, fused or unfused, since he had his brain.

The strain of the dimensional rift had drained every last ounce of energy from him.

His vision dimmed, and his eyes began to close.

But just before darkness consumed him, he felt two presences.

They appeared above the sea, their shadows cascading down through the water as they slowly descended toward him.

Ryuk felt a familiar aura amongst the presences.

A presence that made his heart well up in a weird feeling:

Nostalgia.

But he was too tired now, and just wanted to sleep.

To sleep... forever.