Abyss Draconis

The next second, Throneshift was activated, and he could immediately feel the pull into the deep darkness.

It remained for a while before he felt reality once more.

But when he opened his eyes—

It was all dark.

Pitch dark.

"Where am I?" he muttered to himself, rising to his feet.

"Activate Skyvein Lattice," he ordered.

The world transformed into a realm of drifting golden-dark particles, yet he sensed no life at all, revealing that he was alone here.

[Host's approximate location is being scanned.]

[Scan Completed.]

[Host has been discovered to be placed in a Being Storage Ring.]

"A Being Storage Ring?" Ryuk muttered, raising an eyebrow.

He had never heard of that before.

[A storage ring is a small void space usually used to hold objects, but with a great limiting factor: it cannot hold anything with life.]

[A Being Storage Ring, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, possessing the capabilities to store a living being within.]

[Host is inside a Being Storage Ring,] the system explained, and the realization finally dawned on him.

"So, I got stored away. That's a nice option, compared to being whisked around," he muttered.

Then, hands reached out, and immediately—

A vortex of swirling dark energy spiraled out of thin air, and Ryuk stepped into it, disappearing out of the ring.

When he stepped out just a moment later, he found himself in a golden hall.

"I understand, Elder Nogarasukue..." The voice was the first thing Ryuk heard when he stepped out, and it felt familiar.

Turning to the side, he found her on a knight's bow.

Morgaine.

She seemed to sense him just a second later—her eyes dilating in shock at his appearance.

"Ryuk?" she said in disbelief.

It was clear she never expected him to show up at this time.

But then, Ryuk's eyebrows faintly knitted together as he turned his head to the one Morgaine knelt before.

It was a Fallen Angel.

One of the pitch-black Fallens, as he possessed Pitch-black hair, a pitch-black cloak, and six pitch-black wings coiled behind him.

His eyes were pitch black too, holding irises of crimson gold.

A Fallen who looked somewhere around the age of 40 to 60, although Ryuk knew his true age was probably ten times that.

His eyes turned to look at Ryuk, a faint mix of confusion, and that gaze Ryuk had seen far too often.

That emotion of flickering disdain.

The Fallen spoke first, before Ryuk could mutter a word.

"And who gave your peasant self permission to appear here?"

"Or did you blindly lose your way?" he asked in a condescending tone.

The kind Ryuk was slowly realizing was maybe the only tone available to beings who thought themselves mightier than the heavens because they had sat on a throne for too long.

But before he could reply,

"He did not lose his way, Elder Nogarasukue," Morgaine interjected, still on her knee.

"He is a familial one whom I stored in a Being Storage Ring without informing him."

"I assure you, this is a mistake..." she said, and Ryuk noted her tone.

It was that of someone who didn't want to offend the Fallen sitting on the throne.

When he looked at the man on the throne, he saw a gleam of realization cross his eyes as he looked up and down at Ryuk, before his lips moved.

"You may leave now, Morgaine," he said.

Morgaine rose to her feet, giving a slight bow before her hands reached for Ryuk's palm, trying to bring him out of the hall—but then, the voice sounded.

"I didn't say you can take him with you, did I?" he said, resulting in Morgaine pausing in her steps.

'Tsk. Just what I feared...' she thought to herself, turning to look at the Elder.

But Ryuk spoke.

"Continue. I'll join you soon," he said.

Protest was written in her eyes as she argued.

"But Ryuk, I—"

"Trust me," he said, cutting her off before she could respond.

Her golden eyes faintly flashed with a crimson pentagram, and her lips bit down in frustration.

Somehow, something told Morgaine that if she left Ryuk here, things wouldn't end well.

'I should've listened to Mom and left the Being Storage Ring with her. Why was I so adamant?' she thought with regret.

She looked once more at him, but after getting his reassuring nod, and that confident smile of his.

The worry she felt evaporated as she returned a nod before her eyes turned to Elder Nogarasukue, who wore a plain, unreadable expression.

"Then I shall take my leave," she said, before she continued out of the golden hall.

STEP.

STEP.

STEP.

The sound of her fading footsteps could be heard by both Ryuk and Elder Nogarasukue, each maintaining their silence—as if they had previously agreed upon it.

But the instant Morgaine's footsteps completely faded from their hearing, the Elder opened his lips.

"So you're the boy from—"

RIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

His words were drowned out by the devastating sound of about three layers of space being severed into nothing as Ryuk tore forward with horrifying speed.

An incredibly wild aura, like that of a beast's king, descended and filled every inch of the room, so fast, it was unbelievable.

Elder Nogarasukue didn't waste a moment as he shot to the side with speed, but even then, he was too slow.

KAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Shockwaves exploded throughout the hall as a foot appeared right above the throne where Elder Nogarasukue sat.

Tattoos covered every inch of its surface, the mere aura oozing from them, enough to reduce the black throne into ashes.

Yet, it slammed down with horrifying force into the Elder's head, nailing him into the ground amidst a 10-meter crater that spread around like a cobweb.

Elder Nogarasukue's weary eyes were filled with ultimate disbelief, his brain unable to comprehend the instant change.

Everything had happened so fast—it was all over within a split second.

Yet fury filled him when he finally processed the situation, as he raised his gaze.

"YOU!" The scream was like the shriek of a banshee, but it halted in shock when he saw those eyes.

Eyes radiating a killing intent so massive, it drowned out the rest of the words in his throat.

Then Ryuk spoke a word that completely numbed the elder's mind...

"..."