[Yes, Host, the entire Titanora is covered by the Conduit Dome, and energy is being rapidly devoured from outside.]
‘Good,’ hearing the confirmation from the system about the successful initialization of the Conduit outside the Titanora, the subtle calmness becomes vivid in Ryuk’s eyes before they turn downward towards the blonde young man flattened on the ground.
“L-le..ave me!”
Looking at the young man’s struggling figure, evident of his helplessness in not being able to move, Ryuk understood ‘…they will be coming soon.’
Aware of the effect that the young man’s heaven’s hollow would undoubtedly attract someone to arrive for his help, and specifically after calculating the individual who had the most chances of arriving here, a series of preparations were made.
“Kughh!….You—BAM!” Edward tried to say something but was met with a swift head-to-knuckle punch, instantly causing his head to collide with the ground beneath with a remaining wince,” Ugh.”
“Keep hitting him every 186 seconds while increasing force by a ton,” Ryuk commanded Regina, who just gave a hard punch, enough to cause several web-like cracks to form on the ground with visible scattering of air nearby due to the force produced from the collision.
“I understand,” Regina only nodded, understanding the meaning behind his words, signifying that she should not, at any cost, kill Edward or let him escape, providing enough time for Ryuk for something.
BAM!
CRACK!
SWISH
“Agh!”
Another punch, strong enough to break the ground beneath while landing a powerful hit on Edward’s face collided in the same place.
Following the instructions, Regina had already observed that this individual beneath her was adapting swiftly to each punch, making her increase force every 186 seconds—seemingly effect time for his ability to adapt.
Meaning that with each punch, Edward’s body was becoming strong enough to bear it while taking minimal damage, making her initial approach of hitting him with a force less than a few thousand tons slowly reaching the mark where she would need to use her full force, once Edward’s body completely adapts to it.
Indeed, a broken and overpowered ability.
But until then, it would be enough to break the mental will of retaliation of this man.
After all, it may seem that a physical wound inflicted only affects the body, but in reality, there are several things like pain signals, nerves breaking, and even with regeneration, aftereffects remaining inside the mind.
SWISH
“STOP IT!” The man, seeing his son being overpowered by Regina, swiftly shot towards her, his body becoming a blur and invisible, as only a light streak of green light remained even in that simple hundred-meter distance.
BOOOOM!
But before that green light could even cover half the distance, something of a glowing orange hue appeared, colliding with the light.
RUMBLE!
The sheer force destroyed the land nearby to half a mile yet only thing remained unaffected was the woman restraining the blonde young man while continuing to punch every fixed seconds.
“khuck…Stop it, he will die!” The man’s emerald eyes intensely looked towards the shiny amber ones, gazing back at him while drenched in the same colored aura.
“Only if he can,” Ryuk said, already feeling his Ether Core under too much pressure.
Even with it trying to maintain balance, just this much struggle between him and both of the Abernathys had exhausted half of his Ether reservoirs.
Clearly stating that this battle was him against time.
Previously, he would have dealt with Edward himself, but the moment he got news from someone who went somewhere to accomplish some task, Ryuk understood that his plan had been seen through.
WHOOSH
“You! Don’t think highly of yourself, kid!” The man’s eyes shot red with visible rage filling his mind, while his body got shrouded in an intense green aura, his energy core swiftly burning mana to enforce his body.
CRACK!
SCREEECH!
At a visible pace, Ryuk’s body started to get pushed back, causing the ground beneath to break while his feet got dragged along it, with the intense pressing feeling, turning the whole place into nothing but rubble.
Somehow still intact was a sole mansion a few miles away, containing a throne, or else any other architecture had already plummeted to the ground due to the aftereffect of the force produced by the series of shockwaves.
“Do you remember our first meeting?” Ryuk narrowed his eyes with a smile, trying to utilize the situation to his favor as he inquired.
“…YOU!” The man’s mind filled with thoughts to remove this barrier in front of him, somehow again felt humiliated due to the words of this young man who reminded him of their previous encounter, which wasn’t the least favorable memory.
SWOOSH!
While visible to the man, several mana particles started to emerge out of the young man’s orange glowing body, slowly filling the air, causing a slight frown to develop on the man’s pupils before realizing something as it contracted before widening.
‘?!’
“T-this is Ether?!” The man couldn’t seem to digest the fact that the reason behind such pressure coming out of this young man was caused by the very familiar yet unbelievable energy which could have impossible to harness, yet seemed under control.
“Let me tell you one thing,” Ryuk firmly stated while channeling his Ether, surrounding his body with eyes fixed on the man who, upon hearing his words, turned his attention towards him as Ryuk further continued, “I will kill you today.”
‘…This arrogant..,’ the man was already digesting the fact that the young man had just used Ether as the energy source instead of mana, causing a visible bewilderment, but another word from him instantly snapped his mind.
“Don’t thin—” The man wanted to say something but was interrupted by the young man.
“You already know, it’s inevitable,” Ryuk wasn’t going to retreat from this, causing him to clearly state the facts, while also suggesting the thing which will not change: this man’s death today.
After all, this is human nature. Even though they know that one day they will die, yet their anxiety hits the mark the moment the date of their deaths approaches.
But among them exists a few who accept their fate and act much calmer than anyone else.
“….” The man could feel his own mana leaking out of his body at a visible pace due to the soul wound, causing it to become even worse, indirectly taking a larger amount of energy than needed.
The problem wasn’t that he was weak to protect his son but that the individuals in front of him were far stronger to stand with this broken body.
In conclusion, it was clear to him that the young man’s words were right. His death was inevitable if these things further continued.
“What do you want?” The man inquired, glancing towards his son before turning towards the black-masked man, standing firmly while blocking his way.
“I will let your son leave, but every other Abernathy will stay here,” Ryuk firmly stated, knowing that the battle which would have been his way to rise in ranks had now turned into a chessboard.
But the end result of it all was the same: Edward Abernathy needed to have a mental scar strong enough to become a hindrance in his path to the strongest.
‘….’ Even though it wasn’t even more than two minutes, Ryuk could feel his energy draining much swiftly due to his restriction of not using Shunya, leading to a struggle between him and the ZENITH Ranker in front of him.
From the moment he woke up, using his ability to nullify a vast amount of energy present inside anyone’s energy core in an instant indeed gave him an advantage.
But now that he was burning his own dense Ether, which should have been ten times denser than mana, still wasn’t able to keep up with the man in front.
It was vividly clear that density may provide him a vast output but in the long run, it would not compensate him for the lack of strength and would slowly exhaust.
“How can I trust you?” The man inquired, feeling the weakening of energy shrouding the young man’s body, taking it as a signal for him to retreat back instead of further escalating this.
Unbeknownst to the man, the amount at which the young man’s energy was draining may appear the same as his, but in reality, due to the rank difference being huge, young man’s energy reservoirs weren’t strong enough to keep it up or enforce for a longer time.
But, this was what at least the young man wanted to—simply defeat his enemy without letting him see an opening.
“…I will retract my aura,” Ryuk calmly stated, understanding that the man was indeed going the way he wanted him to be, unaware of the consequences.
DING!
[Implantation of Grimoire is Successful]
[Activating auto-kill the moment a life threat is detected]
One after another notification reverberated, informing about the black fluid which had just traveled out of the young man’s body, directly moving inside the man’s, without letting him even detect anything unusual.
Normally, the Neuro-grims use facial orifices to instantly get access to the brain, but through body pores, it will take longer.
But indeed, within a few moments, traveling through the nervous system, they will get hold of one’s brain.
Swoosh
‘?!
Ryuk’s aura subsided, instantly making Drishti, Esme, and Regina, added with everyone, confused.
First, it was a proposal about sparing Edward Abernathy which they thought could be some trick from the young man, but seeing how he just withdrew his energy, they all were in confusion.
‘Heh, was it that thing?’ Drishti’s narrowed eyes held amusement, realizing that she should have also proposed to not use his slave ability added with nullifying, yet remained contemplating the reason for him changing his approach.
Initially, he had told her about how he wanted to utilize this battle to break through his body strength and enter LEGENDARY ranks, but suddenly took a u-turn.
Drishti, not comprehending such an approach, turned her gaze toward the immense dark clouds brimming with demonic energy, scrutinizing them intensely as her gaze pierced through any hindrance, spanning thousands of miles to eventually fixate on the multitude of silhouettes cloaked in deep black.
Her gaze dissipated the shadows, accentuating the figures and unveiling black, spiked battleships occupied by hefty individuals enveloped in demonic energy, their white eyes with black streaks indicative of their lineage. ‘Morana seems to play with fire.’
Demon Queen name is Morana.
