In front of him, Ryuk could see the dangling shadowy tails ripping out from his stomach, sapping him of every vestige of strength as a ghastly beast's chuckle rang out through the area, echoing loudly in his defeated heart.
Slowly, the beast walked forward towards him, its tail held up at his eye level, as its shadowy eye stared deep into him.
"You... Foolish... Weak." The beast called to Ryuk, whose eyesight dimmed as he looked at the beast's claw slowly rising towards his body and then...
In one swift move, his shoulder burst out with blood, as his hand was cleanly severed by only a single finger from one of the beast's claws.
"I've been tricked," Ryuk mused, looking down at his dangling feet with dim eyes.
'The beast fooled me by only using its tail to attack, making me think that was its only way to strike.'
'I had looked at its claws and seen they barely made any mark on the ground, nor did they even shake it that much contrary to its tails.'
'I thought its claws were weak, no doubt.'
'Yet now, they are easily slicing into the ground as if it was nothing but butter...'
Ryuk mused, looking at where the beast's claw was, ruthlessly slicing into the earth.
'Such a thing never occurred during the battle, meaning the beast was purposefully fooling me. It fought with only its tail and tried to keep me off its body deliberately, so I would believe its fangs and claws were useless and not a threat.'
'That made me draw in close to it, and in the end, its claws and fangs just happen to be its most powerful weapons.'
'I was defeated in intelligence by a Grade B beast. My analysis was wrong. For the first time ever.'
'Even when I know all beasts' main weapons are their claws and maws, I still somehow fell prey to a bloody mutt one.'
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP
Once more, Ryuk's second leg was severed from his hips, but he drew no gasp of pain at all.
'His defeat rang louder and caused more pain through his own mind.'
He wasn't disappointed that he lost in strength.
It was a Grade B beast, for hell's sake. One equivalent to A Core stage Plane of Dominion beast! Trying to fight it while only being at the Core Stage of the Plane of Ascension himself was already insane in the first place.
What hit him was that he had lost in his intelligence. He had been outwitted so easily and fooled, and just when he had thought victory was in his palms, he had felt it snatched away from him and reduced to a useless state.
'My intelligence isn't absolute.'
'My analyses aren't perfect.'
'Sometimes, I can still be wrong... '
Ryuk thought as the beast slowly opened its gigantic maw and then inched towards Ryuk's head from above.
Its intent was clear: to snap off Ryuk's head from above.
'In the end, only one thing can set everything right.'
'Only one thing is truly absolute and can't be fooled or manipulated,'
Ryuk mused as he slowly raised his head, his eyes looking straight into the shadow beast's, and a deranged smile appeared on his face.
"Activate Nano-Umbral Reaper!"
The second those words were uttered, the beast's gigantic maw instantly cleaved outwards towards Ryuk, biting straight into his waist. Ryuk's upper body was instantly swallowed up by the beast, leaving what was left of his legs to fall onto the ground with a splatter.
The beast tried to chew on its prey, only to find out all of its teeth wouldn't move, and in the next instant, it backed up hurriedly as panic set into its eyes.
Soon, it was accompanied by horror, but it was still too late.
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP
A gigantic, clawed hand ripped out from the beast's forehead, iron-like and holding a milky white substance, which was none other than its brain.
A pained howl left the beast's mouth, but it was cut short as five gigantic lines appeared along its face and then...
Its head was burst open as a claw tore it apart, and then...
It landed on the ground, deader than dead!
[Host has defeated the Whip-Tailed Mutt, a Lower Grade B creature]
[Rewards: +7,000 EXP!]
"Ahhhh," a deep inhale left Ryuk's lips as he slammed down to the ground, a heavy stomp from his sharp claws tearing through the earth like it was nothing but butter.
He had instantly regenerated all of his body parts, now towering at an incredible height with dark marks all over his body. Raising his hand to one side, his Nano-Reaper scythe began reconstructing itself as Ryuk's eyes unconsciously turned to look at the beast now missing its head.
In a second, the tide had changed, and he, who ought to be dead, was now standing triumphant.
Looking at the curved moon in the sky, a grin spread across Ryuk's lips as his scythe fully formed in his hands.
"Tonight... Is... Night Hunt!" An inhuman growl escaped his devilish lungs, and in the next instant, he soared forward with speed, piercing into the sky of the entire forest and instantly shooting downwards towards a particular direction where he sighted his first target.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A heavy explosion resonated forth as one of the tiger-like beasts suddenly had something smash into it from above, sending half of its entire body exploding into nothing.
The scene instantly attracted the attention of the remaining two beasts and Isha herself as they looked at the new entrance.
A humongous devil, whose source could have only been from the deepest, darkest depths of hell, with an equally humongous scythe in his grasp, intense smoke bursting out of his lips and nose.
Immediately, Ryuk landed, then faded away once more, and then...
The remaining two cat-like beasts suddenly had a slit appear down their throats, and in the next instant, as their claws unconsciously moved to feel the stinging pain, only for—
Their heads fell to the ground, the final straw being none other than their own claws, as their huge bodies collapsed onto the ground, deader than dead.
Now standing alive but battered was none other than Isha, with the devil standing in front of her, murderous waves oozing forth and slamming into her face head-on.
Now, Isha could feel it.
The Smell of Death. The Feeling of Terror.