Ryuk observed the now-empty room, the crystal pillar that once stood there having vanished. It didn’t concern him; he planned to ensure no one would ever enter this room again.
“Your highness, forgive me, I forgot to ask earlier. With whom do you wish to make the contract?”
Kermit’s words reached Ryuk, and a slight smile graced his face, amused by how the man had been blinded by the allure of money, forgetting the purpose of the room.
However, Ryuk knew better than to expect anything else from a person driven by greed. “You see, Kermit, there are things you should be aware of even when your greed takes over,” he remarked.
Kermit, lost in thoughts of how to utilize the coins, was taken aback by Ryuk’s statement. But, true to his shameless nature, he put on a smile and tried to dismiss the comment.
“Hehehe, your highness, you must be jesting—”
WHOOSH
A sudden sound pierced the air, accompanied by a menacing sight. Ryuk’s hands emitted black, oozing smoke, dense enough to consume the surrounding light. It grew in intensity and began to move swiftly, surging towards the oblivious priest. The devouring darkness overtook him, and it all unfolded within a minute.
“W-what!?!”
The smoke began to dissipate, revealing a gruesome scene. A black, material-like substance wormed its way into Kermit’s facial orifices—nose, ears, eyes, and mouth. It was as if his body had turned into a vacuum, drawing in all the smoke-like material.
“Haaa…haaaa… w-what happened?”
Kermit gasped for breath, on all fours and bewildered. He stared at his hands, struggling to comprehend the meaning behind this agonizing experience. Even if it were a trick to subdue him, it was terrifyingly effective—his body trembled as if something was crawling inside him.
“I don’t have much time, Kermit. I want you to accept that beggar girl as the saintess of Goddess Fela,” Ryuk declared, ignoring the kneeling man, firmly stating what needed to be done. He continued, “And return all those coins.”
Hearing these demands, Kermit snapped. He had endured so much suffering for those coins, and now he was being asked to return them. ‘Is he kidding or something?’
“It’s enough, you BASTAR—”
“AaaaGgggHhhhh!! ”
The priest’s eyes widened, now crimson red and filled with excruciating pain. Veins all over his body bulged, making his face contort in agony. He screamed as if hellish pain had suddenly assaulted his body.
It felt like every cell in his body was being burned and then regenerated repeatedly, while his brain was assaulted with jolts of pain, akin to thousands of needles penetrating it.
Although the brain doesn’t typically have sensory nerves to feel pain, it seemed as though all the pain concentrated in his body had become focused on his head due to the bombardment of pain signals.
“Come after you bring all those coins back,”
Ryuk calmly stated, unflinching at the gruesome scene of the man’s agony. Ignoring it, he left the place and headed towards a specific direction—the person he had been searching for since departing from the carriage.
Ryuk continued down the hallway, eventually arriving at the garden area where his gaze fell upon a young 4-year-old girl tending to her burnt hands.
As he looked at her, memories resurfaced—the scene when he had set fire to this very monastery, a blaze that claimed countless lives. Amidst the chaos, he recalled a girl, injured but tirelessly tending to others despite her own wounds—Adanyl Silvester.
The son of Duke Silvester had perished in a carriage accident, along with his wife and a child they were bringing back after baptism, lost to the sea when the carriage plummeted from a cliff.
No one had seen how the child looked due to the isolation in which Silvester’s son had lived. Adanyl had distinct features compared to her family; while they had black hair and ruby red eyes, she had silver hair and ruby eyes, rendering her unidentifiable.
In that moment, standing before the young girl with her bandaged hands, Ryuk’s heart wavered with a mix of emotions and memories, reminding him of his purpose and the steps he had to take.
Adanyl had been ruthlessly exploited by Priest Kermit, her broken healing ability manipulated for his gain. Her ‘healing ‘ ability was more accurately described as injury transfer—she took on the injuries and pain of others.
The suffering she endured was unimaginable, especially for a young girl of her age.
Nobles, insensitive to the plight of commoners, sought instant relief even for minor injuries. Priest Kermit provided this swift service by exploiting Adanyl’s ability, transferring the injuries instantly and then ‘healing ‘ her. It was a grotesque form of business for him.
Ryuk had witnessed Adanyl’s selfless acts during the chaos when no one else cared for the injured. It fueled his determination to free her from this torment and set things right.
// Past Life Memory //
“Aaaggghhh!”
“You Monster!”
“Goddess fela will curse you… Aahhh!”
Ryuk cut through every one of these hypocrites, his anger boiling as he witnessed them using children as sacrificial lambs.
“Destroy Fela’s statue and leave no one alive,” he ordered his soldiers, and they followed without hesitation.
The venue was filled with screams and blood, but amidst the chaos, he noticed her.
“W-wait, you’ll be fine.”
“Shut up, Heal me! It hurts!”
A girl tended to the injuries of a fat nobleman, his legs crushed by a boulder. What surprised Ryuk more was that the man healed in an instant.
‘Is she a Heroine? ‘ his mind swirled, as such an overpowered ability should belong to someone like them.
“C-come on.” she stammered as tried to move with her broken legs
He was taken aback as his eyes fell on her legs—there was no injury until a moment ago. He would’ve noticed if she had any injuries.
But then again, it didn’t matter; she too belonged to this religion and deserved to die.
WHOOSH
Ryuk’s sword lit with a dark amethyst haze as he moved towards her. On his way, he noticed her healing a priest who seemed nostalgic, ‘Priest Kermit.’
He didn’t think she could heal him, given his mana inside him prevented any healing magic.
“Heal… me… bi…tch.”
Ryuk couldn’t fathom why, despite the cursing, she still tried to heal him. Before long, Kermit’s wounds were completely healed. ‘Now, I see.’
Kermit, in a state of panic and desperation, attempted to flee the scene. However, a mana-infused smoke swiftly enveloped him, focusing on his neck and pulling him towards Ryuk, who remained vigilant and never let his guard down.
With one hand gripping Kermit’s neck and the other wielding an aura sword, Ryuk issued a firm command, “Heal her.”
Thud
He released Kermit, allowing the priest to fall to the ground, gasping for air. He then moved towards the young girl who observed everything with her hazy eyes, seemingly drained of vitality.
He contemplated the true extent of her broken ability—it went beyond merely transferring injuries. She could even transfer mana and curses—a genuine anomaly.
Unlike others, Ryuk didn’t view her as a mere tool. He was deeply troubled by her sufferings and the torment she endured due to her fate.
Kermit, now facing the grim reality of his impending demise, began to heal her. After an hour, she had healed herself enough to stand slightly.
She looked at Ryuk, her gaze lowered, and in a voice like a murmur, she spoke, “T-thank you for s-saving me.”
‘So, at least she’s not stupid,’ Ryuk mused, understanding the girl’s mentality. She wasn’t naive; she knew who was on her side. She simply wanted to survive in this harsh environment, believing that by becoming useful, she could achieve that.
“Give me back my Arvi, you bastard!!!”
Time seemed to slow down as Ryuk’s eyes caught sight of a sword beside him, aimed at Kermit’s heart. Swiftly, he tightened his grip on his own sword.
CLANK
Two swords collided, and two pairs of eyes locked in a clash of wills. Amber eyes glowed with an orange hue, meeting emerald eyes brimming with lethal intent.
“Ryuk, don’t get in my way!” the man with emerald eyes shouted, looking towards the wall separating him from Priest Kermit.
“Isn’t it you who’s in my way?” Ryuk retorted, increasing the strength in his hands and throwing the man a distance away. He questioned the situation, wondering who this ‘Arvi’ was.
He glanced at Kermit and Adanyl, realizing that he wouldn’t have protected Kermit if he hadn’t grasped the severity of the situation.
Why did this girl willingly bear such life-threatening injuries for that man, even when it was a chance for her to escape?
He understood she was not foolish, it was —the Crystal Pillar’s Contract. The girl was bound to this man’s life.
However, he knew it was not a reciprocal contract; it meant he had a slave, a very useful one. Ryuk felt the need to shred that wretched man right then and there.
He shifted his attention to the young man, his figure blurring and seemingly teleporting in front of those emerald eyes. Ryuk’s goal was crystal clear—he would save that girl at any cost and bury this man along with the monastery.
“Kughh!”
Suddenly, a voice came from behind him. In that moment, his mind rushed with thoughts as Adanyl’s voice reached his ears. He couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
BANG
He grabbed the young man’s face and flung him against a wall before standing, frozen, as he witnessed the most heart-wrenching scene he had ever encountered.
His amber eyes reflected a sword piercing Adanyl’s heart, wielded by a woman who was all too familiar to Ryuk—Amayara. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts as he could only see Adanyl’s tear filled ruby eyes looking at him, while her hands held the sword piercing her heart.
‘Why?’
His mind was a maelstrom as he witnessed the woman he cared for piercing the heart of a girl he had only wanted to offer a better life.
“W-why you, I just… Kermit!”
Amayara’s voice sounded like a blur to Ryuk as his mind snapped, rushing with an overwhelming intent to kill towards his bodyguard.
Everyone had turned their back on him— She too, left him to follow a stranger and now when they met, he saw her taking life of a person whom he wanted to protect.
It had hurt at that time, but not enough to kill her. But today…
CLANK
“R-Ryuk.” Amayara’s eyes widened to see, Shining Amber eyes filled with killing intent as his sword being blocked.
“Don’t call me that!”
Ryuk’s shouted at the woman before his focus shifted solely on the young man standing between him and Amayara.
All he could see was a sword passing through a girl’s heart, a girl who had been used, and a woman he despised. He wanted her dead.
“Amayara, I can’t hold him, retreat.”
The young man gritted his teeth, looking at Ryuk who was growing stronger, pushing him back. ‘Shit, I’m being pushed back.’ His pride took a hit; he was always above everyone else, but the moment this man entered his life, he felt inferior.
“But he’s still alive!”
Amayara’s eyes filled with killing intent locked onto Adanyl, causing the remaining shreds of rationality inside Ryuk to snap. ‘So, she wants me dead now? ‘ Good. Very good.
WHOOSH
With a sound, the sword in Ryuk’s hand began to glow even brighter, and mana oozed out of his body, covering his muscles and amplifying their strength.
“Use it now, Amayara!”
As the young man saw his sword breaking, a surge of fear engulfed his mind, compelling him to escape from this escalating danger at all costs.
“Shit!”
Amayara, too, realizing the situation spiraling out of control, activated the artifact, and both of them vanished into thin air.
“You bastards!”
Ryuk stood helplessly, watching them disappear.
After a while, as his mind calmed from the chaos, a sudden realization struck him—’that word wasn’t meant for him.’ He swiftly turned towards Kermit, seeking the truth.
“Tell me everything, Kermit. Why was Amayara after you, and who is this Arvi?” Ryuk’s voice was stern, demanding the truth.
Kermit, realizing his survival depended on revealing the truth, proceeded to explain. Ryuk listened attentively, his gaze shifting between the lifeless body of Adanyl and the man beside him.
Once Kermit had shared all the information, Ryuk remained eerily calm. Without a word, his hand moved swiftly, tearing the flesh of the man beside him. The gruesome act was a reflection of the wrath that burned within him.
“D-didn’t I t-tell you the truth… kughhh!!”
Kermit gasped, his voice choked with pain, as he held onto the hand of the man who had torn his flesh and gripped his heart before crushing it inside him. The agony was unbearable, his eyes widening in horror as blood gushed out of them.
Upon learning what Kermit had done, Ryuk’s mind began to churn, contemplating ways to increase the man’s suffering. Yet, he needed more answers so he ended soon—specifically, after knowing the truth behind the girl Adanyl and the hidden piece, Arvi.
‘Trusting a stranger above me, aren’t we, Amayara? ‘
// Past Memory Ends //
Next Chapter will take time to get release like not tomorrow but after that on 18 Oct.
