In silence, the Half-Fallen stood as she looked into the distance, along with Ryuk, the only sound to be heard being the air lifting around their heads and the flapping of their shirts.
"Thank you, Half-Fallen One," Ryuk's voice suddenly rang out, quickly carried and extinguished by the wind.
It caught the ear of the Half-Fallen One still, who looked at him.
"For what? The cultivation room? I already asked you to forget that," she said, as Ryuk shook his head.
"No, not for that. I'm thanking you for your belief in me."
"The belief that made you welcome me into the Fallen family abode with nothing but an authority card.
"It might be easy for me to tell myself you had no choice but to let me in because of the authority card, but that would be delusional."
"You could have ended me as easily as breathing when I first showed up before you."
"You could have been disgusted by my weak presence for even daring to stand before your mighty self and asking for a request."
"And even if the elders had said, 'Why did you bring an end to his life?' you could have simply said, 'He had obtained the authority card in an illegal way, like most turnovers do,' and that would have brought an end to the discussion.
"When I came here, I truly was at my lowest of the low. No sign of potential at all, nothing pleasing or fun, no seeming value of self.
"But somehow, you reigned down everything for me. You could have denied me and retrieved the card, but you didn't. You should have been insulted by my weakness and refusing my request. but you weren't."
"Even if you were to be nice, you could have simply thrown me into the Ascension Academy, and I would have become nothing but an outer sect disciple, slaving away for the other students. But you took the time to explain carefully.
"You even gave me a choice and followed through with my decision.
"And in the end, you came to watch my fight. When you came, you obviously didn't come to be disappointed, and you knew well I'd be fighting powerful Plane geniuses.
"But somehow still, you had confidence in me. Even if I didn't win, I would somehow still be worthy of your effort for coming down from your castle and watching my fights.
"You believed in me, even when I was nothing and had nothing, and you did that to the end of it all.
"Even though I have no idea why you did it, at least I'm grateful for being given a chance to prove myself..." Ryuk stated, what he had formerly kept in his heart, but expressed fully now.
Every word of his, he meant.
He knew well the Half-Fallen One was strong enough to bring an end to him and suffer no punishment at all, yet somehow she had refrained from all the possible paths and actually took the time to watch Ryuk grow.
While he wasn't sure why she did that, her belief and faith in him had always been clear to see.
And Ryuk had to say, he was at least grateful for that.
Who else really believed in him in this wide galaxy except Uncle Bob and Old Jack?
And now, one of the two really dead, leaving just a singular more person with belief in him still living.
It was always nice to have another.
"You know, Ryuk. The order of the worlds, it is a little unbalanced."
"The strong are usually worshipped by the weak, but not really willingly. The weak might guffaw and obsequiously act on every one of our commands, but secretly they despise the strong. Most of them hold nothing but the littlest flickers of reverence."
"To find a weak person who adores the strong without any ounce of jealousy, hatred, or envy is really rare nowadays."
"Even the weak geniuses with massive potential despise the strong, and use their envy of their power to try and become stronger."
"When you appeared before me, you held nothing—nothing but reverence.
"I didn't sense the slightest flicker of negativity from you at all."
"From my first gaze of you, you managed to amuse me. And for that, I decided to give you an audience."
"So when you appeared before me, it is not that you were of no value. No, you actually had a value of amusement. And that is something truly rare."
"That faint amusement made me believe. And I am not one to abandon my beliefs midway. That is why I had done everything I had...well, at least the major reason." She said, silently.
"And as for believing in your potential, that is true the second I received that card from you. And when I gave you a chance to prove yourself, you really did prove yourself."
"Majority of our Fallen geniuses have been cultivating since they were sixteen, and now they're all eighteen or nineteen, with their cultivation at the Peak of the Plane of Ascension."
"When you appeared before me, it was clear that you had just broken through. Yet right now, in mere days, you're almost catching up to them."
"Your potential is terrifying, Ryuk. At least, I only know of five other people who had the same terrifying potential as yours, and believe me, I have met thousands of geniuses.
"So I could say, my amusement really paid off well in the end. So, it was all worth it." She said with a loud exhale.
"And I have to say, I do love your character.
"You, coming from the lowest grade of Endearth, has taught you humility, and I don't think there's anyone living in such an area ever having life come to them with ease.
"You've had a pretty hard life, Ryuk. At least, hard to the standards of our own big cities.
"This had moulded you pretty well.
"And you might think could there be any geniuses out there who will look at a being of my power level and hold no reverence?"
"But most Geniuses I've come across when they look at me have the thoughts of 'If I was your age, I would be just as powerful.'
They have the talent and believe so much in it that it somehow eliminates the humbleness, and arrogance is what that soon lead to.
"Those geniuses that are humble are usually those who have seen the limits of their own talent and with very little potential."
"A person with a humble background, knowing well of the hardships of the poor, yet equipped with a potential for power that rivals those at one of the best grades of Endearth."
"Tell me Ryuk, is that not value in and of itself?"