"What are… you even?"
The words rang out from a place that, at one sight, one could see ought to be mighty.
High walls, a wide expanse with a glowing blue gem floor, a roof that seemed unending.
It was all characteristic of a place grand and mighty.
Except now, it had been broken down to ruin.
The long pillars were littered in cracks, some having fallen already.
The blue gemmed floor had been shattered into nothing—some places having unending abysses, still radiating a faint aura of destruction that had come upon them.
On some parts of the ground were the bodies of Mermans, badly bitten and covered in cracks, their huge tridents shattered into pieces until they formed a small mountain of garbage.
But there was one peculiar thing about them that one could see—it was that they were all alive.
They were deeply injured, but alive.
And remaining standing in what was supposed to be a majestic throne room were two people.
One of them was a Mermaid wearing a crown.
With her extraordinarily long tail that reached seven meters coiled around the throne where she sat.
On her face and neck were cracks, as if something had thrust into it forcefully, and beneath these cracks one could see the same blue runic lines that covered the Guardian.
Her breaths were laboured, barely audible, as she seemed to struggle to hold onto the life that was slowly seeping out of her body.
But even then, her gaze remained on the figure standing before her.
A lady of extraordinary beauty, donning a long blue robe covered in runic lines, her strong blue aura trailing behind her, with eyes of blue staring at the throne.
On her robes, blue light danced around it, revealing it was no ordinary artifact, and her eyes were as calm as the surface of a lake—unbothered by the destruction around her, as if she was beyond them all.
Even the pain etched on the Mermaid Queen's face didn't bring the littlest of creases to her own.
"You invaded, but didn't fight the civilians."
"Instead, you came for me. You defeated my Guardian, but didn't kill him."
"You could have killed my guards, but you spared their lives."
"Yet, you caused so much destruction."
"Why are you doing this?"
"When did our Aquatic Race earn your irk?" The Mermaid Queen asked the lady, whose eyes remained unperturbed as she looked at the cracks on the side of her face and her neck—the only thing that seemed to keep her attention.
"Your people don't matter to me."
"I need some bit of energy, and only you and that Guardian of yours seemed to have enough to interest me. Hence, why I'm here," she answered, unruffled, as the Mermaid Queen bit her lips in anger, when she remembered him—
Her Guardian, who had fought the intruder with everything he had, yet had lost in the end.
The only thing that kept her going was that she knew he at least wasn't dead yet.
The mysterious being before them didn't kill, only injuries for some unknown reason.
Her choices were thinning, and she was starting to wonder if she would need to use the secret card to take down this lady before her.
"And talking of your Guardian... he really is one hell of a foe..." the lady said as she slowly turned her head into the distance.
She could feel it—the mighty aura that was rapidly approaching her with fervour and power.
'I've lost connection to my energy. That must mean he had found a way to repress it. How though?' she wondered as the Mermaid's Queen sunken eyes flashed when she could finally pick up the aura.
A massive aura that thundered forward, spreading like the sea and rapidly approaching them.
The entire ground shook heavily as a tail landed down onto the floor, lifting the entire structure from the force, and then the dust soon settled as the figures were revealed.
None other than a Merman, with a stature bulging with unbelievable might.
His humungous trident glinted with powerful blue light that seemed to draw the light of the entire world into it.
"You!" Ocerios growled in anger as he looked at the destruction before him.
The mighty palace had fallen, its guards littering the cracks, and now the Queen had been held captive in her throne—all the handiwork of this monster in human skin before her.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR ACT!" Ocerios roared out as his trident pinned forward, the ground beneath him shuddering from power, and he was about to shoot out when the voice rang out—
It couldn't be any simpler than that, yet the entire wave and billowing energy faded into nothing, as the world was seemingly held in a state of silence—as if sound was refusing to move in the face of this command.
Ocerios felt his hatred and anger calming down from the words, as he stopped himself at the last second.
And even the lady, whose eyes held no emotion at Ocerios' reappearance, had her eyes shaking in slight shock upon hearing the voice.
"Is that...?" she wondered in her head, and finally, Ocerios turned to the side, giving way to the sight of an unnoticeable figure.
A young man with snowy white hair.
"Ryuk!?" the lady called out in shock on sighting him.
And for truly, she was none other than Asteralaxia.
The sound of footsteps rang out as Ryuk calmly walked forward, soon appearing before Asteralaxia, who had a smirk appear on her lips—but then, she watched as Ryuk walked by her side and continued forward.
As she turned her head, she found him standing before the Mermaid Queen, whose eyes furrowed at the sight of the human boy.
"Here," Ryuk called out as the Queen looked at the blue vial in his hands.
"This will heal you up—like it healed your Guardian..." he said to her, as the Queen looked at the Guardian, whose body had clearly been healed from the afflicting energy induced into them by the lady.
And seeing him giving no objection, she took the vial and downed its contents, her body wriggling and spinning from pain, before the blue energy in her was washed outside, and Ryuk watched with clear eyes as the blue energy slowly floated back to Asteralaxia, dispersing into her.