"Perhaps, it is?" Ryuk mused under his breath.
He really had not seen himself as a humble person, nor had he seen himself as talented.
He only knew that his strength was not enough, and he was running out of time.
Talent, humility—what were those in the face of his eventual death?
But if there was one thing he knew, it was recognizing when people did good for him.
Just like how he still remembered how Duke Thalion had helped him, and how he ought to repay the Vampire one day.
"You might be more than you believe yourself to be, Ryuk," the Half-Fallen one said cryptically, as Ryuk unconsciously looked at his hands, but all he could see was his weakness.
'It's still not enough...' was the thought that reverberated in his heart.
"Let me ask you something, Ryuk," the Half-Fallen one said in a more relaxed tone, and Ryuk gave her his attention.
"What do you think of Morgaine?" she suddenly asked, while looking straight at him, as Ryuk furrowed his eyebrows for a short while before replying.
"She's strong. Very strong. Her physical abilities can match mine, if not even surpass them, and I still don't know yet how to defeat her domain..." Ryuk replied with a pretty serious expression that made the Half-Fallen one look at him strangely for a while before she giggled out loudly.
"What?" Ryuk asked, wondering if he had said the wrong thing.
"That wasn't the answer I was expecting. Your reverence for strength is quite out of this world. Is there any other thing you see in people, save for their strength?" the Half-Fallen one asked, as Ryuk thought about it long and hard before shaking his head.
"No, there isn't much, save for that."
"There are many other strengths, Ryuk. Qualities of a person are strengths on their own. Qualities like bravery, compassion, love, belief."
"Those are strengths in and of themselves. And when you reach a sufficiently high level, then perhaps strength, like how hard you punch or kick, no longer becomes a priority.
"Just like how money will no longer be a priority for a once poor but now billionaire figure," the Half-Fallen one explained as Ryuk narrowed his eyes.
'A time when strength will no longer be of interest. I don't see that happening anytime soon.'
"Right now, I am almost at the peak of my potential. I no longer see much in the strength of physical power. Fights don't interest me much, even though I was quite the crackhead like Morgaine when I was younger."
"Now, I have to say, being with Morgaine herself, I desire more than going into seclusion and improving my strength," the Half-Fallen one said, but somehow, Ryuk could sense something in her voice.
Something not quite right.
"You worry for her?" he asked, noticing the melancholy of the Half-Fallen one.
"But why? You're the Half-Fallen. Don't you have enough power to protect her?" Ryuk couldn't help but ask. He never for once imagined there would be someone as powerful as the Half-Fallen one yet having worries in her mind.
"I don't have the power."
"In this world, to survive, we need personal strength."
"I have fought wars and battles, dancing on the rope of life and death countless times to reach this level, where almost nothing in this world is a threat to my life."
"But while I can truly defend Morgaine, she must also learn to go out and survive. She must fight her battles and fears, brush shoulders with death countless times, so one day, she would reach my level."
"While I do have the power to stop such a fate for her, I know well that if she never goes through it, then not much will be there for her future."
"Much is there to lose overprotecting her than to let her go out into the world and carve her own path. Especially with there being no guarantee of me surviving till the end of her time." The Half-Fallen said as Ryuk nodded, slightly understanding her point of view.
"The Ascension Academy is a dangerous place, Ryuk. Very dangerous, I will warn you," the Half-Fallen one said seriously.
"There are many geniuses that will resume the Ascension Academy this year, all of them seemingly the best of the best amongst the various races.
"But through the last decade, the rate of graduation of the students from the Ascension Academy is around 30%.
"That means, in the span of three years, before the students are able to leave the Academy's hold, 70% of them are lost to the Academy..." the Half-Fallen one said, as Ryuk's eyes bulged in shock.
"You think being able to pass and gain entrance is already difficult enough. Wait until you get into the Academy itself. Then you'll realize how brutal the Academy is..." the Half-Fallen one finished, but Ryuk had his doubts.
"Why, even though you know that 70% of geniuses in the Ascension Academy die, do you still send the best of your geniuses to the place?
"It's like you're sending them to their death, something I would expect only a family with no choice to do..."
"Ascension Academy is their only chance of survival. Sure, 70% of them die, but the remaining 30% who manage to come out are the hope of Endearth," the Half-Fallen one replied, but Ryuk didn't resonate with her.
"All I see in Endearth are the top ten families engaged in more senseless rivalry, and the weak worshiping the ass of the strong.
"Hope of Endearth, you mean for the remaining 30% who survive to help fight a better war for their families?" Ryuk asked with a callous expression, as the Half-Fallen one chuckled.
"Do you really think that Endearth is as peaceful as the top ten families doing their rivalry?"
"Do you really think there are no exterior threats to us?
"Have you ever thought of why the top ten families currently have a temporary alliance between each other? For what? To stop us from destroying each other?"
"Is that really our thinking process?" the Half-Fallen one asked with an amusing smile, as Ryuk thought about it well before nodding.
"I actually do so..."