Isha asked naively, as Ryuk turned to look at both of them, who had pretty normal expressions.
"I... don't think so. Maybe?" he said, as he watched her mutter a quiet,"Oh," before falling silent.
"Don't worry. You'll get all the time in the world with them before they leave. The entire day tomorrow," he said, gently ruffling her hair before resuming his walk up the stairs. Official source is novel⦿fire.net
Midway, he looked outside, noticing the sun slowly rising in the distance, its light chasing away the darkness.
"We actually stayed up all night? You all need to go to sleep," he said, as they rolled their eyes.
They were all close to Eternity—most even beyond it.Sleep was the last thing they needed.
Still, they watched as Void puffed into a gas of smoke that appeared on the stairs, then vanished again, following after Ryuk.
Antares sipped the last of his coffee before moving upstairs to his room, leaving Isha, Aster, and the Succuterra Rakshahsa behind.
The latter soon brought out her device and began scrolling through it.
"What are you up to, Void? I can smell your lecherous fur from so far away, you know..." Ryuk's voice rang through the room as he fell onto the bed, bouncing a few times before settling.
It didn't take a second before—
—and Void appeared beside his head.
"Such uncouth words. You offend me, Ryuk," it replied with feigned dignity.
Ryuk rolled his eyes at the cat.
"That's what you are, Void. I'll change my mind if anyone in this house denies it..." he said, watching it squint its eyes in thought, as if trying to come up with one, before it shrugged its shoulders indifferently.
It knew well—its reputation preceded it in this house.
"Anyway, Void. I heard there's a cat like you. A Void Cat, too—on Endearth." Ryuk suddenly remembered, turning to the panther lounging beside him.
"Yes. I heard he's with the Shadow Walker leader or something," he replied, as Void hummed in thought.
"My pure heart just wants to know... could it be male or female?" it asked, as Ryuk's brow twitched slightly.
'You can't be helped, Void.'
"It's a male. Definitely a male," Ryuk said, and watched all interest instantly drain from Void's eyes.
"I'm not a Void Cat, Ryuk. I'm a Void Panther. So no need to go see something so unspecial..." it muttered, dismissively flicking its tail.
"Yeah, right, Mr. Special..."
"Besides, we're going to a new world. So obviously, we should be traveling through space. I heard from Rak that there are so many Void creatures in the Void."
"I guess I'll get to see a lot of them soon..."
"I guess..." Ryuk murmured, exhaling a breath.
"I'm curious, Ryuk. Rak said to travel between space, you need something called a... um, spaceship? Or something like that."
"It moves fast, and only it can resist the crushing Void pressure. If you want to travel, you need that."
"I'm just wondering... do you have one?" Void asked, as Ryuk's expression tightened a bit.
Its words made a lot of sense.
The last time he had gotten into the Void, he hadn't seen any other living worlds nearby.
If this were the Wild World, it was safe to say the Upper Realm would be quite far.
He couldn't just fly all the way there non-stop.
He needed a spacecraft—and he didn't think his jet, which was obviously designed to attend to occasions on Endearth, could survive that kind of long-distance space travel.
"Honestly, I don't have a spaceship. At least, not one suited for long journeys."
"But Elder Celine is planning on Isha leading them back to their world. A world filled with Frost Wyverns."
"And I think she's planning on taking the rest of the Frost Wyverns with her, so it's safe to guess she would have a spaceship if she wants to do that," he said.
"So we'll be anchoring along?" it asked, as Ryuk grinned.
"No, that's too uncourthly."
"You could say we would be the map to their destination. Hence, a very important reason to be brought along..." Ryuk said, turning to look at Void, both of them smiling shamelessly to themselves.
"Now that sounds more like it..." Void said, before asking,
"And Antares will be coming along?"
"I think our route also passes by his world, so yes—it would technically be better to ..."
"And Rak and Aster? Why don't you want them to come along?" it asked, as Ryuk raised a brow.
"Me? I never said I don't want them to come along..." He replied, as Void gave him a slow blink with knowing eyes.
"Yes, your eyes said it," the panther replied, turning to lick its paw as Ryuk's gaze gleamed before he eventually sighed and settled.
"I don't know, Void."
"All I did in the beginning was try and borrow their strength, really."
"Aster was knowledgeable, so I thought she would be of use when the Knull War came, for humanity to have a strong expert."
"And Rakshasa too was strong. I thought she would be of help, too."
"But now, it's all done," he said, and Void replied,
"So, you're done with them then?"
Ryuk wanted to nod but paused, turning a suspicious glance to Void.
"You make it sound like I used them like tools and now discarded them?" he asked, as Void shrugged.
"I think that's what you did, no?" It shot back as Ryuk asked.
"In what way did it seem like that?"
"You borrowed Aster's knowledge and Rak's might for the Knulls. And now that the Knull war is over, you didn't hesitate to 'free' them."
"The Contract grimoire, the deals, the terms, and dispersing it into ashes, might make things look more technical, or righteous, or whatever."
"But really, the summary is you see them as tools, and once you are done with them, you dispose of them."
"And I think anyone, if they can sit and think about things for a while, will see that's what things really are..."