Abyss Draconis

"Hey, Ryuk…"

She suddenly called out, hesitating a bit as she looked at him.

He blinked twice at her, and eventually, she spoke again in a low voice.

"I'm sorry… about what happened with Iris."

She turned to look at him, but noticed his expression didn't change much.

Instead, he had a funny smirk.

"Don't be sorry about that. It was never your fault in any way," he reassured.

She nodded.

"I know, but… after everything you had with Iris."

"You were so gentle with her, and for a while, I even thought she was your daughter."

"All of that just to be repaid with such cruelty—it must have hurt…"

Ryuk shrugged, taking a tap from the ground and levitating off, though in truth, he was simply flowing with the water's wave.

"You might not know, Zaffre, but what happened with Iris, me getting shoved half-to-death and all, I might actually deserve it somehow…"

She raised an eyebrow as he went on.

"Truth is, I kinda saw it coming.

"I got warned, but refused the warning somehow."

"So yes, I kinda see myself as deserving it. Maybe next time, I'll learn to listen."

"But… all in all, it wasn't really a painful betrayal moment like you think…"

He rested both hands over the back of his neck, then paused, turning his face to her.

"Or do I look heartbroken?"

She studied him for a moment before her expression plummeted.

"No. You look as goofy as ever."

She scoffed, and Ryuk chuckled.

"Thanks for the compliment."

"What have you been up to all this time anyway?" he asked, floating farther away.

Zaffre followed, her hands held together.

"Not much."

"After I left you in the lab like you instructed, you exploded all of a sudden, and I couldn't stay any closer."

'Even the island itself began drying up, so after waiting a couple of weeks, I decided to go on some exploration."

"That's how I got here. With my Royalty Bloodline as a Zaffre Kraken, I'm now one of the High Water Lords."

She explained as Ryuk quietly listened.

In the end, he got the gist of things, although he hadn't known such underwater kingdoms even existed in Ammamora at all.

They didn't seem to have been included in the Grade X evacuation.

And he also didn't know how Zaffre had become a Water Lord.

Was she chosen, or did she fight for it?

But he understood the gist still.

"To think my Zaffre would be so good at Authority. Colour me impressed," he praised, watching her grin in pride.

"Nothing less is to be expected of a Zaffre Kraken."

Silence continued for a while before a question broke it.

"So… Iris has returned to her family, the bunker has been blown to dust, and you finally finished your evolution."

She leaned closer, curiosity bubbling in her eyes.

"What are you planning now… or for the future?"

Ryuk thought for a while.

There were many things he wanted to do, but they all came down to one.

"I'll be leaving Ammamora."

He said it curtly, watching her expression.

It didn't change much, almost as if she had already expected that.

If anything, he could see a faintly happy glint cross her eyes.

"When are you leaving?" she asked.

"Huh? Are you planning to come with me?"

"Of course." She gave him a 'duh' expression.

"But what about what you've got going on here. You being a High Water Lord, and..."

She shrugged.

"I'm only here because I have the purest bloodline around."

"If I disappear tomorrow, the previous guy in line will be able to sit in for a while—I bet he can't wait. Besides, receiving reports all day isn't as cool as I thought previously, so…"

Ryuk looked at her silently for a while, waiting for any flicker of doubt.

But in the end, there was nothing.

"Then, we leave as soon as you're ready," he agreed.

She nodded, then swam out of the room, disappearing elsewhere.

This left only Ryuk, floating around in the throne hall.

His eyes stared at the purple ceiling for a long while.

A long pause, before he quietly spoke out:

"Trying to keep two lives at once only delays both, that much I know now."

Steely focus returned, the flowing wave around him pausing in its tracks.

"Now, I focus on the most important."

'My previous excuse of not being powerful enough is no longer true anyway...'

"So...it's finally time to be on the full offensive."

"I'll finish this...once and for all."

____________________

A flicker of purple light rippled through the void, and silently, a figure emerged, suspended in the air above a sprawling white mansion.

Blue-purple irises scanned the periphery of the building, and a moment later,

VROOOOM

The air flapped as the figure vanished.

In a golden living room that reeked of grandeur, a purple-skinned lady sat on a humongous sofa, a crown of darkness resting on her head.

In between her fingers was the end of a white cup, within it a swirling liquid of dark red.

Her eyes were closed, head resting over the sofa, but then, the corner of her lips twisted slightly, her eyelids fluttering open.

She sat upright, reaching forward to place the glass cup upon the table.

"You finally finished your evolution?" Odette asked, as she looked at a darker corner of the room, where a figure could be seen, resting against the walls, with head drooping low.

Ryuk slowly raised his head.

She could see it now, eyes, cold as ice, burning with a glittering pink light.

Enchanting it was, yet equally dangerous.

His silence, his pose. It didn't seem like the boy she once knew.

He kept his will, that will to win, that he had on their first meeting.

Now he has that same will, burning in that silence, and more, he does not radiate that ironic weakness that had followed the will previously.

She rose to her feet, her hands morphing into dark, humongous claws.

They shifted to the side, and from the depths of the Void, they re-emerged.

Humungous axes covered in Nihil Energy.

Odette's purple eye color softened into an abyssal dark.

Her mouth widened into a maw that reached her ears, her crazed grin spreading.

"Finally back for a rematch, huh?"

Ryuk finally rose from his reclining position.

"Yes. I Came To End It."