"You..." Ryuk tried to muster, yet no words came from his mouth as his teeth ground against each other, nails digging into his palms.
He had been there ever since Ryuk could remember growing up.
He had always been—the only one he could trust after his uncle.
He had always been a close friend to them, like family.
But now, hearing that all of those memories were planned…All from a vision he had fifty years ago.
He no longer knew what to feel.
The realization that all of those memories were... fake.
"Old Jack... you bastard!" Ryuk roared, a sickening crunch resonating from his clenched teeth as he slowly stretched his hand toward Old Jack.
Immediately, the Fallen tried to move, to dodge the strike—but it was never meant to be a strike.
A single dark sigil appeared in Ryuk's palm, followed by a world-ending suction force.
Old Jack felt himself whipped forward at terrifying speed.
His face slammed into Ryuk's palm, whose hand smoldered with darkness as claws rigidly tore through flesh, tightening their grip on his skull.
"Of all the people I expected to be fake... You were the last," Ryuk forced out through gritted teeth, his voice trembling beneath fury as he watched golden claws cleave toward his heart—yet halted just before they could touch.
An incredibly defiant explosion erupted, tearing a crater into the sea they both stood upon. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveI★Fire.net
Old Jack was roughly slammed into the ground, uncontrollable gasps of pain leaving his lips—but he had barely a second before Ryuk's foot smashed into his chest, blasting him deeper into the earth.
Ryuk didn't follow. Instead, he reached his hands toward the abyss as Old Jack came flying backward toward him.
Silently, his golden claws cleaved forward toward Ryuk's face, but when they collided.
It was the sound of metal crashing against metal.
A spark flew across Ryuk's cheek, but then Old Jack's eyes widened when he saw not a single scratch on Ryuk's face.
It was like he had struck a metal block instead.
A punch slammed into his face, his skull sinking inward as he soared backward with blazing speed, slamming into the ground a couple more times before coming to a screeching stop.
But once more, Ryuk stretched out his hand toward him.
A sigil appeared again, and with it came the same horrific force that dragged Old Jack back.
He tried to retaliate—but all he got was another brutal punch crashing into his stomach.
Blood burst forth like showers, only to be dragged back against the current as Ryuk cleaved through his shoulders with another strike.
For the next few seconds, all that followed was destruction and gasps of agony.
And after just ten seconds, a figure now lay limply in Ryuk's palm, both feet dangling in the air.
One arm ripped off, clothing reduced to tatters, as cracks sundered through his Fallen form.
"Give me a reason not to end you right now..." Ryuk said coldly, his hands moving behind him, morphing into a claw glowing with purplish energy.
"I... had no choice," Old Jack forced out from between the gaps of his teeth.
But it only made Ryuk's jaw clench harder.
"So all you did was pretend. You became friends with my uncle. You became the only one he could trust with me. He believed in you!"
"And how did you repay that trust, treating us like characters to be controlled!" Ryuk barked out, slamming him into the ground, shattering it for miles on end as Old Jack sputtered blood from the corner of his lips, lying broken within the cracks.
"Bob knew," he said, and Ryuk unconsciously paused before a new vein of rage exploded in him.
"Liar. If Bob knew I was nothing but a chess piece on your board, he would have killed you himself."
"He might not have known I'd become a thorn in your life. He might not have known I'd make it hard, all for you to succeed... but I know he knew."
"He could see my world, and he understood."
"He was farsighted... unlike you," Old Jack said, a mocking laugh echoing as Ryuk raised his legs and smashed them into his ribs, slowly inching toward his beating heart.
Broken pieces of the ribs scraped over the beating object as even more blood poured from Old Jack's lips.
"My uncle would have ended you in a blink if he knew what you were really up to."
"He must have seen that you were trying to help me. He must have seen that you loved to watch me grow... but he could never have known why."
"How you orchestrated my life to become more painful—just so I could face Zar'kul."
"Don't pretend you knew him better than I did. You don't." Ryuk shut back.
"You're right. He never knew my end goal was for you to face Zar'kul. He truly never saw the vision..." Old Jack said, as Ryuk clicked his tongue.
"But if he were here right now, he would have understood... that I had no choice."
"You did have a choice!"
"You could've gotten stronger!"
"You could've gone through that pain yourself, and faced Zar'kul on your own!"
"You could have saved the world if you trained hard enough."
"But you didn't—because all you saw was a vision of hardship, because you were a coward!"
"Instead, you passed it all to me."
"Don't give me that bullshit that you had no choice."
"I saw no vision of difficulty!" Old Jack whispered out, coughing blood as he did.
"All I saw in my future was...death!"
"I was the supreme genius of the Fallens. One with the purest bloodline. A true Fallen!"
"I believed I was going to be the hero that saves the world... the one to end the Knulls."
"But then, I obtained divinity, and divined one hundred different futures."
"One hundred different outcomes towards the moment I tried to become the hero I believed I was meant to be."
"And in every single one—I died."
"I was never fated to defeat Zar'kul. No matter how hard I trained, no matter how far I pushed myself... I died to him in every timeline."
"The only outcome that led to success... was an outcome where you were involved."
"And hence, I had two choices..."