Abyss Draconis

[Congratulations on Reaching the Peak Cataclysm Stage of Void Cultivation!]

[The Second Stage of the ASura Void Grimoire Has Been Successfully Completed]

[Three New Abilities, Including a Domain Skill, Have Been Awakened]

The system notification panel flashed as Ryuk slowly rose to his feet.

The entire Abyss Spinefield seemed to tilt unstably from his simple motion of standing.

As Ryuk stood, his gaze lifted to his palms. Then he clenched his hands as a shocking aura burst out into the world, destabilizing gravity.

Both his eyes shimmered with a patch of black light. Half of his hair was veiled in void light, the other glowing with frosty white.

"Finally. Finally… I'm ready!" he muttered before withdrawing his aura as his hands unclenched and dropped to his sides.

"Why are you here, Void? Did Antares send you to me?" he asked as Void's gaze narrowed into a sharp glint at his figure before he shook his head and walked toward Ryuk.

"No. Remember the girl with the perky boobs?"

"Aster?"

"Yeah, she's here, and she badly wants to see you. I can't even stay around her. She seems like she could detonate any second..."

'Hey system, how much time has passed since I arrived in the Abyss Spinefield?'

[Exactly 3 more weeks! You've spent 5 weeks total with this Void Cultivation.]

The system's interface flashed as Ryuk furrowed his brows, then relaxed.

His hand moved as he grabbed at the Void and pulled it to the side, tearing open a wormhole that revealed the green grass outside.

"Come, come, Void…" he said, stepping out of the Void Portal, followed tightly around by none other than Void, who walked carefully as they arrived on the island.

Ryuk's hand slowly rose as he looked at the rays of sunlight that fell onto his skin, bringing a little bit of stinging pain.

He lowered them, then looked at the entire island. It was just as he originally remembered it.

The snow had thawed, allowing sunlight and a cold breeze to blow through the area, flapping his clothes.

His gaze faintly scanned the entire area before pausing on a particular spot. In the next instant, he took a single step forward.

A void ripple appeared beneath his feet, and in that very instant, he vanished into space.

When Ryuk reappeared, he stood at the edge of the island.

Sitting at the cliff's edge was none other than a blue-haired lady, wearing a hoodie conjoined with a dark cloak.

"I didn't know you smoked too…" Ryuk's voice echoed out as Aster took an inhale of the cigarette stick in her hand, exhaling a loud puff of air before she flung the stick away.

"I've been here for a week," she responded as Ryuk's brow knitted slightly.

"I was busy a bit. Sorry for the delay," he said. "How did you find the place while you were here?" he asked as she clicked her tongue.

"Repulsive?"

"I guess you must be finding everything repulsive then. A bit understandable to be fair…" he said, watching as Aster brought out another cigarette from her pack before lighting it with her lighter and taking another inhale.

Ryuk's brow creased slightly at the action—One: because he hated the smell of smoke. He had always hated it.

And two, because he couldn't understand why she threw her previous smoke away only to light another moment later.

She exhaled deeply, leaving a cloud of smoke, before turning the side of her head toward Ryuk and asking, "Any words you have to say?"

Ryuk nodded. "Yes. How did the disbanding go? Everything sorted out?"

The cigarette in her hand dispersed to ashes before her hand folded into a fist.

"Do you understand, Ryuk, how hard it is to build a thousand-man faction up from nothing, and turn them into one of the Major Factions on Endearth?"

"The endless meetings, the endless signatures, the pressure, the headaches, …"

"And then to be forced to shut it down just when it's just at the verge of growing into something bigger?" she asked.

Ryuk thought about it silently for a minue before shaking his head. "I don't."

"Of course, you don't. How could I expect a kid to understand?" she mocked, but Ryuk's expression remained unperturbed.

"But if there's one thing I do know, it's that… we will be fine without the Organization in this Last Invasion."

Aster's gaze quivered in anger, and in the next instant—

KAAABOOOOOM!

A fist covered in blue smashed into Ryuk's head, cracking space into nothing from its power.

Yet, Aster clicked her tongue as the image dispersed. It was but an afterimage.

She turned behind her to find Ryuk sitting where she had just vanished from.

"We will be fine?"

"Have you allowed your power to get into your own head?"

"Face the 7th Knull Invasion all alone?"

"The Ascension Alliance is now obsolete, along with every top faction?"

"The Starweave Organization must be shut down since it's now useless?"

"Do you know… it took hell—hell of dragging myself down—just to make sure your ass is cooped up safe on this god-forsaken island and hasn't even been razed the ground yet by the same Top Factions you now consider obsolete!?" she shouted, her voice rising in fury.

Ryuk chuckled.

"That reminds me, before I left for my Void cultivation, I asked Antares for a favor. That is, for him to safeguard the island."

"And if he faced a problem, he could send Void to warn me about it."

"When I opened my eyes, I saw Void before me. And for a second, I really wished those people came…"

"I really wished he said, 'Antares sent me to you because he can no longer handle the pressure and the entire island has gone up in smoke…'" Ryuk said as Aster paused in her motion, watching as a storm suddenly began brewing around them, sending their cloaks flapping wildly.

"What would you have done? What could you even do?"

"I guess we'll never know…"

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A/N:

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