Chapter 7
The night had been very pleasant, to say the least, thought Raito as his brain kicked him awake. There had been a few noobish mistakes on both sides, but it made them both go satisfied into that good night, and in Raito's case, sleepy enough to make waking up very unpleasant.
Then Raito forced his eyes open and looked to his side.
Oh shit. Talk about a turn-off!
In the place where Ryuk had seen him off to sleep was a card that said, if translated to l33t speak, "he's in ar hel watin for a lif ban".
Damn! Raito managed to roll to the floor, still wrapped in the blanket, and flipped through the spell book as fast as his heart would be pounding if he were still a human, and found the spell he needed. He waved the kanji for meet, punched it and whispered "to Ryuk".
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20 seconds later, Raito materialized in Ryuk's cell.
The ceiling and walls were made of pure obsidian that shined like a freshly-waxed car, with spikes jutting out like giant fishhooks. It didn't have a door, just bars made of fire that crackled and emitted a sulfury stench into what would've been the air. Hanging from the center of the ceiling by chains was Ryuk, clawing at his binds like a caged animal until he spotted Raito.
"How did you..." Ryuk's voice lacked its usual playful sting as he turned to Raito and held his hand weakly.
"Spell. Do you know what these chains are made of?"
"Metal on the outside, fire on the inside. If you crack them open, it'll seep out and harm even Shinigami."
"Not a problem. Remember when I was reading your spellbook?"
Ryuk suddenly laughed, and when he spoke his voice was stronger. "Oh yeah. Wasn't there some protection magic, Albus Dumbledore?"
"Yes, and that's exactly what I'll do." Raito drew first the symbol for fire, then the symbol for shield, punched at Ryuk and drew his fist to his chest as what he had instead of blood turned to ice. "For at least an hour we'll be guarded against fire. If I cast another protection spell, the fire protection will go away, so don't get any bright ideas midway," said Raito with a smirk.
After waiting a few seconds for the protection to fully activate (installing additional updates?), Ryuk shouted "shijimi-suru!" and sliced the air with a free hand, making the chains crumble and drip magma onto the floor. Ryuk shook the debris off after a few shakes and followed Raito through the firey gates, the flames licking them but
never burning.
Ryuk's voice was back at full strength, but deadly serious. "Thank you. Now we have to escape from this place. We're in the Level 3 complex right now, which means we got 5 levels to get through before we're out of hell. After Level 8 is the castle, and once your get out the door you're home free. There are a few guards, but they're still sleeping."
"How do you know this all, Ryuk?"
"I kept my eyes open and my mouth shut while I was being dragged to this dump. It's always the quiet ones you gotta watch for, hyuk hyuk."
Raito looked around the prison, which reminded him of To-oh but darker and drearier. They flew across the levels quickly, due to the fact that Shinigami didn't break the rules a lot. Few cells were built, and even fewer were occupied. Most of the occupied cells were filled with telltale red dust that revealed the prisoner had been starved of deaths to, well, death. They flew in a diagonal pattern of mostly straight lines until they came upon a pale gray staircase.
"Almost there," chanted Ryuk quietly, more to himself than to Raito.
From then on, it was smooth sailing. They jetted across the dreary fortress as fast as possible, so when they flew up a long circular staircase they both threw up in their mouths a little. But right as they approached the door to freedom, someone materialized behind them and grabbed their shoulders.
"Going somewhere?"