Abyss Draconis

At first, it was all dark—itching darkness where he couldn't even see his own hands.

But then...

GLOOOOOWWW

GLOOOWWWW

GLOOOOOWW

The sound of faintly crackling lights rang in the distant space as he watched a blue flame bloom. It continued into the distance as the crystals in the wall began lighting up, stretching farther and farther into the distance, providing illumination—until they arrived before the end of the room, where stood a throne.

A throne with a figure seated upon it, completely covered in unnervingly long blue hair that hid all his features. His massive tail, five meters in length, wound around the throne.

His back was tilted to the side of the seat, and stabbed into the floor beside him was a gigantic black trident that radiated a soulless aura.

"Hello?" Ryuk called out to him, not moving an inch from where he was standing.

His voice echoed through the walls, finally stirring the man awake.

Ryuk watched him sit upright, the sound of bone cracking like lightning.

The man eventually rose, and Ryuk's eyes flashed as he watched the figure slowly lift his face—and unconsciously...

GASSSSPPPPSSSTEP...

STEP...

STEP...

A gasp left Ryuk's lips as he looked at the man, stepping two paces backward until his back slammed against the door behind him.

If there was ever a word to describe horror, it would still fail to capture the image before him.

A man riddled completely in scars. One eye had been brutally ripped apart, replaced by three jagged claw marks, and all over his face were cracks glowing with blue light.

When Ryuk looked below his face and down to his body, his heart pounded faster.

He saw those same devastating cracks barely containing the blue energy within him—energy that seemed desperate to explode outward.

"I…" Ryuk tried to speak, but instead steeled his heart and walked toward the man.

For Ryuk could sense something from those cracks. A familiar aura.

In the next instant, he ordered silently in his mind—and a vial soon appeared in his hand. He appeared before the Merman, stretching out his hand.

"I don't know what afflicts you or how you came to be like this. But I can sense your life waning away, bit by bit. Take this… and maybe you can rise back to your feet once more," he said as he stretched out the blue vial in his hands.

The system had been able to analyze the cause of the man's breakdown and had offered Ryuk a cure already.

He could sense that the Merman was covered in cracks, unable even to stand on his own feet. What harm could he do to him?

The Merman looked at the vial before him with piercing left-blue eyes before turning it back to Ryuk, his gaze flashing.

He could feel the bizarre energy in his body reacting wildly—trying to escape whatever was in the vial. A sign that maybe, just maybe, it could save him.

"Don't…" the man's thick voice barely echoed through the world as he spoke.

"Waste… it…"

"On… me…"

"Give… it… to…"

"…My Queen, instead…"

He finished, and Ryuk watched as blue liquid seeped out from his eyes and nose. The little life left in him was fading fast, and seeing the man's unwavering eyes—eyes that wouldn't bend—Ryuk made his move.

He appeared before him, gripping the man's neck with his hands and halting him in place.

Then, lifting his head, he opened his jaw with a finger and poured the contents of the vial into his throat before stepping away from him.

The man fell to his hands as his body and bones began crackling, flaking apart like a broken, holographic.

An inhuman grunt filled the throne room.

Ryuk watched with furrowed brows as the blue energy that seeped out from the cracks in the man's body began rapidly rising into the air, as if being forced out of him.

The Merman writhed madly, his hand tearing fresh cracks into the ground beneath but as the blue energy left his body, the cracks quickly began sealing themselves.

The blue energy vanished, and the light gathered into a ball, trying to escape through the roof—but then...

"YAAAHHHH!"

A battle cry escaped the lips of the Merman as his hand reached for his massive dark trident.

A powerful blue wave of energy burst out furiously from its depths, covering its underside, and then—

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The ground cracked into nothing as the Merman surged into the air, above the blue energy, slamming down with his strike.

It was as if the entire ocean was placed under that single swing of his.

A powerful shockwave whirled toward Ryuk, his feet skidding across the ground uncontrollably—yet his eyes remained pressed on the scene before him.

He watched the strike cleave through the blue ball of energy, which soon turned dark before it exploded into nothing, its remnants fading into the wind.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPLLLLLE

A mini-ripple spread as the man slowly swam down to the ground, his eyes gazing at Ryuk—whose brows furrowed deeply when he finally saw the power level this man was at.

He couldn't help but click his tongue.

'Tch… A Pseudo-Eternal Stage.'

The Merman was at his power level—and now Ryuk had awakened him.

Ryuk prepared himself for a fight, but then the Merman's next actions surprised him.

He bowed his head and said, "Thank you."

"But I'm afraid I must go to my Queen's side as we speak. The Monster is on its way to her right now!" the Merman said, swinging his gigantic trident to the side and ripping open a portal before walking toward it.

The Monster? Ryuk wondered, remembering the familiar blue energy he had sensed in the man's wound previously—before he instantly made his choice.

"I'll come with you!" he said, walking with conviction toward the Merman, whose eyes furrowed as he turned his back to him.

"If the Monster reduced you to such a state, then running back for a second round doesn't guarantee your victory. But what if you have me by your side? Your chances increase, won't they?"

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A/N:

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In and Out_SnowySmoos