SCHLKT!
“It was easy,” Esme saw all the things now lying dead on the ground, which would have taken some time, but it was much faster.
“Don’t go away from me,” Ryuk knelt while Esme gripped his cloth from behind, seeing him doing something with the only remaining half-dead creature among all of the present ones.
‘How did he turn into this?’ Ryuk narrowing his gaze, looked at the muscular creature who was none other than Priest Kermit, now somehow changed into a hideous ugly creature.
[Host, it seems he went into a place filled with dense Demonic energy.]
‘Can you heal him?’ Ryuk inquired while already aware of the answer.
[No, Host.]
“Esme, how far is Demon territory from here?” he inquired.
“Not much, why?”
“Is there any way for someone to bring demon seed here?” On the backs of every creature, a black parasite-like thing bubbling like a small balloon was evident of the reason for them to become like this.
“If you are talking about those things, then it is a gift from the Demon Queen herself,” Esme’s eyes followed Ryuk’s gaze as she informed.
“A gift?” Ryuk turned his gaze towards her, narrowing, while not understanding the meaning of the gift.
“It is a disease which is pandemic in many places; I came to this town to cure it,” Esme informed about the widespread disease while leaning and moving her hand to touch it.
“Stop it, what are you even doing?” Ryuk gripped her hand, not letting her touch the corpse.
“…are you afraid that it will harm me?” Esme pointed her other hand towards herself, inquiring, with her eyes fixed on him.
“Yes,” Ryuk stated, not averting his gaze.
“T-this, I…” Esme couldn’t find the words to speak, seeing his such straightforward demeanor.
“…I am going to touch it,” expecting something, she increased force in her hand.
“It’s your choice,” Ryuk averted his gaze, slowly standing.
“Wait, weren’t you going to keep staring at me?” Esme, feeling disappointed, slowly stood from her place, directly holding Ryuk’s hand on her initiative.
“Hey Esme, we just met some hours ago, right?” Ryuk, not asking directly but keeping moving forward, signaled towards her alignment towards him in such short span of time.
“Yes,” Esme kept moving while holding his hand, looking straight.
“I don’t see you as you see me, Esme,” Ryuk was not dense enough to not get the clues from earlier, her pranking him just after she came to know about him having some lover was one of them.
“Of course, I know, but isn’t it enough that you know my name without even me telling you?” Esme turned her eyes towards him, feeling amused at how he could make such a silly mistake.
‘…..’ Ryuk averted his gaze, understanding he did forget this in the heat of the moment, realizing how small but crucial mistake he made.
Somewhat old memories also played a big role in making his tongue slip.
“It’s fine, I don’t need any reason, but can you call my name again?” Not paying attention to the front, Esme’s eyes were fixed on him.
“We arrived,” Ryuk halted, informing Esme, making her slightly disappointed but knowing that work was necessary.
BANG!
The huge stone gate became a victim of Ryuk’s kick, instantly shot open while several cracks formed, still intact but now useless.
“Y-you! How did you people enter here?” A man with his right eye bulged into a black and red striken pupil, while the other eye was buried inside fat on his outer skin, looked at the arrived figures.
[Control yourself, Host.]
The system instantly informed, feeling the surge of killing intent oozing from Ryuk witnessing the things in front of him.
It was the same thing that made him destroy the whole Goddess Fela’s monastery in the past life, but right now, it was even worse.
What he saw was small children with their limbs replaced with the same bulged creatures, some had eyes looking out of them while a few seemed dead with only those parasites alive.
A scene that was enough to shred that guy instantly, but he seemed to be delayed.
SWISH
“You monster!” Esme’s golden pupils shone with killing intent as her body closed the distance between her and the man, instantly punching his face.
BAM!
“Kughh—thud!” Colliding with the stone wall, the man’s figure fell to the ground with the only remaining big bulged eyes now inverted inside due to the punch.
[….]
‘Nice shot, Esme,’ Ryuk approached one of the children whose lower body was a bulk of flesh with veins clearly visible. Not caring about anything, he lifted the boy.
“Arrrfff….” The child tried to speak, but the aftereffects of torment had already numbed his mind.
“It’s fine, I will heal you,” Ryuk reassured, taking the child in his embrace, caressing his back softly, while looking at seven more kids like him.
BAM!
“You piece of shit!”
‘Again, a nice shot,’ Ryuk kept looking at the white-dressed woman giving some kicks to the man who was none other than the Mayor himself.
BANG!
‘And you say I have blood-seeing preferences,’ Ryuk moved towards her while holding the child, arriving and looking down at the half-dead Mayor.
“Why isn’t your dress tainted?” Noticing no blood stains on her white dress, he inquired.
“It’s a gift from grandma,” Esme replied, not paying attention to Ryuk, slowly leaning down and punching the Mayor again until he turned fully dead from half-dead.
clap-clap
“Now, I feel good,” Cleaning her hand, she turned towards Ryuk who was holding the child, making her golden pupils visible from within the mask slightly become soft, seeing the state of the little one.
But turning her eyes towards the young man, masked in black and also clad in a black suit, a genuine small smile formed on her face. Stretching her hand on the child’s back, she added, “It’s reassuring that you don’t hate them.”
Her words meant about the natural instincts of many humans who would find something like this repulsive or, in a literal sense, disgusting to touch.
Ryuk understood her meaning, but paid little attention to his own bare hands in contact with the bulging tumor filled with pus. Turning towards the other children with a narrowed gaze, he added, “If one finds them ugly, then they have yet to see how a human heart looks like.”
‘….’ Hearing his words and understanding the experiences he had gone through to say something like that, Esme placing her hand behind slowly leaned forward, with the white mask covering her face, adding, “But, aren’t your heart beautiful?”
“…I don’t think it is any better.”
With those words, Ryuk moved from there but was caught by the woman who interrupted while tilting her upper body with hands behind, adding, “Not everyone’s heart is ugly, you can see mine.”
“Not interested,” Siding beside her, he moved towards other children and lifted another two, not caring about pus or blood they reeked, tainting his skin, only thing in his mind was helping them.
“Oh my, it is very heavy!”
Suddenly pulling him towards the direction was a voice. Looking there, he saw a woman who was weaker than normal adult trying to lift four children, added with their extra grown tissues making each one heavier than 70 kg.
‘….’ Ryuk could not help himself, finally not having any other chance, he snapped his fingers.
Snap
WHOOSH
Instantly all of the kids accompanied with Esme were covered in Ether, elevating in the air, with her golden pupils widened looking towards him, who only suggested, “Don’t force your tiny muscles and do some physical exercise.”
“…you are right,” Esme nodded while flailing her hand like swimming in the air, which Ryuk, understanding, let her come near him.
Arriving in front of him, elevated to his eye length, both of their eyes meeting, she stated, “Why don’t we do some intense exercise together, tonight?”
We took too much time in Ardoros, about a month. It was a crucial plot point since, randomly, I can’t align Drishti’s role with him (not love or anything) due to her background being in itself such untouchable. Her role will be crucial in many aspects, along with Regina’s. They both will play vanguards for Ryuk’s journey. Now that we have come out of Ardoros, things will move faster and in a more interesting way, with fewer fight scenes (not my fault, I got an itching of writing, Boom, Bang, WHOOSH). But I will try to introduce some romance and Ryuk’s character development to some extent regarding his love interest. He does have a repulsion due to previous experiences in past lives. Let’s see where it goes, but yeah, the twist I am planning will have the same adrenaline surge, like the chapter where the Son of Heaven got the Cucked bloodline.
HAHAHAHA
