“She’s off-limits; touch her, and your hand won’t be the only thing you lose.”
‘…’ Ryuk stood, pressing the man to the ground while lifting his gaze towards Esme, blankly looking, not understanding the need for her to say that dialogue using his voice, as he had been delayed because he needed to kill the old man first.
Yes, lifting his gaze, he looked at once at an old man, now standing with widened eyes and a hollow chest, still not realizing that his chest was already pierced.
“Focus on the fight. We can discuss it afterward,” Esme nodded, seeing her man looking at her intensely even during a fight, reminding him once again that it’s fight first, love later.
[Host, are you sure you want to marry her?]
‘…I am re-evaluating,’ Ryuk increased his grip, pressing down on the man, pushing the system’s words into the backyard.
Naturally, it may not sound good of him, but there were several factors aligning him with her, and one of them was definitely the perks he would get from her.
He was not evil, but his priorities were also set on profits, and being with her, he saw some of them.
She loves him. She has an Illusion, which could be a handy training facility for him.
Around her, he doesn’t need to compromise much, either his time or on clearing misunderstandings with her, since before his bond gets deeper, and if she leaves him, then it will be fine too.
He doesn’t have complete faith in this relationship to begin with; both of their foundations were placed on hollow grounds.
One got attracted due to face, and the other due to some blessing.
“Kughh!… L-lea–ve.” At the mercy of the hand pushing him down, the man could only flail his legs, unable to do much, only at the mercy of the force pressing him to the ground every moment.
“Who was the flagbearer who did this to you?” With a firm tone, Ryuk inquired, lifting the man while clenching his face. Due to the absence of both arms, the man was unable to do anything except futile struggle.
“L-e-ave m-e, y-you bastar—SKCHLT!” Even with being completely broken, not giving way to his pride, the man tried to curse. But before his sentence could be completed, his both legs were dissected from his body.
“AaaaGgggHhh!!”
The only sound resonating throughout the surroundings was the screams of the man, eyes shot crimson with pain, looking at the man in front from between his fingers, tears welling up.
“I asked, who was that flagbearer and where is he?” Ryuk again inquired, not caring a bit. But due to the presence of Esme, he didn’t want to show a more ugly side by using the Grimoire.
“AGhh—THUD.” With only screams, the man fell to the ground, breathing heavily with his limbless body, at the mercy of the man standing with his amber eyes looking down at him.
“Tell me.” Ryuk once again repeated his words, directly placing his boot between the remaining thighs and instantly exerting enough pressure to plummet the ground.
CLANK
POP
CRACK
First, a metal crushing sound belonged to the protective cover, securing the heirloom of the man, and then a soft sound of two balloons bursting accompanied them landing with a crack.
“AAGGGGHHHHHHH!” A pure scream filled with agony reverberated in the surroundings, sourced from the limbless man whose jewels were crushed, with only remaining blood pulp and pieces of metal covers which protected now erased existence of his family heirloom.
His balls of steel were now no more.
At this moment, pain crossed the limit where he lost the sense of it.
Only remaining thing was a brain, placed on burning needles.
“Now, tell me.” Ryuk inquired, not caring about trickling blood from the man’s mouth and eyes, added with mucus mixed in blood falling from the nose, evident of pain inflicted on him.
“P-lease kill me now.” The man seemed to speak without much breaking of the sentence, but his eyes, which in itself turned into blood, depicted his agony.
“He’s repeating it for more than three times— BAM!”
‘Huh?’ Ryuk looked at Esme, who just arrived and kicked the man’s head. Thanks to her weak strength and the man’s already tough physical state, he didn’t die instantly.
“How can you hit him in this state? Are you even human?” Ryuk pointed out, not understanding her cruelty to kick someone who was already in a miserable state.
“I…” Esme looked at him before turning her gaze down, understanding she shouldn’t have kicked, meekly saying, “I am sorry,” while leaning.
Bam!
“He already asked you several times!” This time she punched the limbless man’s face.
‘….’
[….]
“It was Anneh,” the man revealed, already having lost sense of everything, just wanting peace.
‘Henna?’ Ryuk was reminded of someone nostalgic while also remembering the face, but somewhat, he didn’t have anything to say. He had tried all he could.
He couldn’t save someone who would stab him the moment his back turned towards them based on only misunderstandings.
“And then we collided with Heindal,” the man’s organs had already stopped functioning, with only his bloodied brain still working, trickling blood from all over it while flesh pieces came out of his facial orifices.
‘!?’
‘Heindal,’ Ryuk noticed Esme’s slight change in expression the moment she heard that name. Already thinking about inquiring with her, he first tried to get information from the man who wanted to rest in peace.
“With whom exactly?” Heindal was large, and he could only think of a few who could fight a Phase II warrior. Of course, he could guess this guy was already exhausted enough.
But, even with an exhausted body, it seemed confusing that a whole fleet belonging to one of the strongest continents lost this badly.
The only conclusion he could reach was one.
Sword maiden.
A woman who begged for her daughter’s life in exchange for a sword— at least, that’s what he assumed first until he came to know about this sword’s strength.
Though in reality, he never met her; he just received the sword out of nowhere, and he never tried to meet her due to being entangled in kingdom affairs and the search for his mother.
So, if someone possessed such a sword, then it was clear that the strength of such individuals couldn’t be underestimated.
“It was two women, one was a Spirit Sword user and the other was a Demi-human, spouting about the death of someone called Ryuk,” the man spoke without any hesitation, completely like an information counter, lying without any sense of time, state, or death— in a complete trance state.
‘…Bella and Amayara,’ Ryuk’s mind once again resurfaced all those memories lost behind, and from the description, he could guess the names: Bella and Amayara.
And the other half of the sentence prompted him to realize that his sudden disappearance and the state were all coming together to make it appear as if he died.
But he can’t understand, why would they go after Flagbearer?
Did they want to take revenge or something?
Ryuk was immersed in thought when a silhouette slowly moved behind him, nearing his ears, and whispered, “Are they both your girlfriends?”
