CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Deal"
Light fumed, and he physically manifested it with his fists clenched. "How dare you, Morph! How dare you make a deal with a monster like this!"
Morph chuckled. "Oh, why so angry, Yagami? I already told you what I am."
Nazareth grinned. "With Morph's help, I'll remake the Dragon Sect—even the World—in my own image, like the god I will become. Like the ill-fated son born in the town of Galilee, born with nothing, his birth place becoming my alias—a nothing of a place. My name was not choose by chance, Yagami, much like yours—Kira/Killer. And I will use it to give a re-birth to everything!"
Light grit his teeth, seething with vengeful intent. But without the Death Note, or even knowing the man's real and full name, he had little hope of defeating Nazareth.
"And unlike the Death Note with its limits, there are no limits with the Life Note!" the brute said with a prideful, toothy smile, laughing.
Light gave Morph a sideways glance. That's not what Morph told Light when he explained the Life Note to him, and with great power there always came a hefty price.
Light had an epiphany. "Prove it!" Light widened his arms. "If you're better than Kira, then you must have the power to do anything you wish, even alter the fate of one's destiny. While the Death Note kills by writing a name down within its pages, the Life Note can restore life—Morph has told me so." With hands open wide, Light said, "I propose an alliance. And together with the power of death in my hands and the restoration of life in yours, we could forge an world greater than one has ever known. An unending kingship that will span generations."
Morph mused, a hand to his chin. Was the Imp privy to Light's scheme? But he said nothing.
Nazareth let out a throaty chuckle. "You want a partnership with me, even after I tried to kill you? Even after I killed these two?" The brute pointed.
"What are two lives in the wake of the many who could fall before us as we reshape the world," Light said, stepping closer. Ryuk made a noise of puzzlement, but the events appeared to amuse him, so he merely stood back and watched things unfold. "And you are truly a god now with the power you wield at your finger tips, even more powerful than I. You could bring back anyone, if you wished. Minions to obey you, bleed for you, fight for you, die for you, and dare I say, love you. And you can have as many women as you desire."
Nazareth cupped his chin. "I could…a god can have all that."
Morph cupped his hips and he smiled with exceptional amusement. The Imp seemed to know exactly what Light was doing. And yet, Morph kept his mouth shut, letting it play out.
Light pressed on. "But a leader must also have followers, a wise man once said, a man without followers is just a man out for a walk. I am Kira, I control the Death Note. But, let's say, you resurrected those two—" Light pointed to Asumi and Riki "—to follow you. I doubt they would refuse you after seeing your new found power, restoring their lives. Riki would make a good houseboy, a servant to your every whim, and Asumi, well—" Light shrugged— "she would make a good wife, and sire your children, so your dynasty would continue on for years to come."
It sickened him to say all these things, but Light knew he had to play to Nazareth's ego.
Nazareth appeared to take Light's words with serious reflection. "Yes, I like that idea," he said. "Morph, could you resurrect these two, and heal their injuries, too?"
"I could," Morph said, giving Light a sideways glance. The Imp shrugged as if he didn't care. "But there will be a price. While our deal allows me to snatch snippets of your life force to feed on, yet something like this will require much more energy to undertake. Restoring the dead is no small feat. But I assure you, the process won't kill you, just weaken you a bit."
Nazareth seemed to take a moment, as if contemplating the consequences. But then he smirked. "Do it, there's nothing that can hurt me! I'm invincible! I'm protected, you said so."
Morph nodded. "I did say that," he said with a smirk.
Once again, Morph shared a glance with Light—a brief one—and with his eyes alone, Light could see the Imp had seen the cleverness of Light's plan. The trickery of it.
Light took a couple of steps back siding himself with Ryuk to give Morph room to work.
Morph said he would need a minute to prepare, and with Nazareth's help, Asumi and Riki were laid out on their backs, in a gentle manner. But Light couldn't help imagine the state of their crushed necks. And he would never forgive Nazareth for that. The man was evil incarnate.
"So, what's your plan, Light? Are you really going to concede Kira's power to Nazareth?"
Light gave Ryuk a quick glance, and keeping his voice low so Nazareth couldn't hear, he said, "Of course not, but my plan is so obvious, even Morph has figured it out, but he's not saying anything to Nazareth for some reason." Light wondered why that was.
"And Nazareth is too stupid not to, huh?" Ryuk replied, he chuckled. "So, that little guy in the white tunic, he's a friend of yours? I saw him the Orb. He's not a Shinigami, but I don't know what he is. And why does he had a white notebook like mine?"
Light figured Ryuk may be too young of a Shinigami, or not even know of the battle between the Shinigami and "The Brigade of Life" that Morph relayed to him that took place eons ago, if Ryuk doesn't recognize him. Or the Shinigami King purposely kept the battle from the Shinigami, letting it fall into the forgotten realms of history.
"I'll explain everything to you later, Ryuk, now be quiet, and let things play out," Light instructed. Ryuk didn't seem to care that Light talked down to him and shut-up.
Nazareth stepped back as Morph knelt down between Asumi and Riki, putting a hand on each of their foreheads, touching them briefly—like marking them. He opened the Life Note and proceeded to write something down on separate pages—a name a page, Light guessed—looking down at each of them in turn. No words were spoken, or none out loud. And surprisingly, a bright white glowed from each of them, blindingly brilliant, that Light actually had to put a hand to his eyes to block, narrowing his gaze. If this is how the Life Note worked, it was heavenly in nature. The glow lasted for several seconds. And once the glow began to fade, Asumi and Riki both let out a huge gasp, sucking in air, as their lives were restored.
"There, all done," Morph said.
This coincided with Nazareth suddenly collapsing to the ground. Morph had said the extra energy would weaken Nazareth. Nazareth was still conscious, albeit light-headed, putting a hand to his head. "Oh, you never said it would be like that," the big man said.
"Ah," Ryuk expressed. "It seems like Morph zapped the big guy's life span by two-thirds." Light found his surprising. "You know when I said, the price for the Shinigami Eyes is half your remaining life span. Well, it looks like that goes the same for what Morph did to this guy. Only it made him weak as a new born kitten. I doubt he'll recover any time soon."
"Like excessive blood loss," Light mused, "but on a spiritual level."
"Kinda like that," Ryuk said.
"Perfect," Light said. He went to Asumi and Riki, as Morph backed away. Light saw Asumi smile at him as he held her hand to help her to sit. Then Light turned to Riki, who rose to a sitting position on his own, feeling his throat, voicing slight discomfort. Light let out a deep sigh of relief. "Are you both able to stand?" It took a little effort, but they both did.
"They can't see me, Yagami," Morph explained. "So, don't worry about explaining me."
"What happened?" Asumi asked.
"I'll explain later," Light said, already thinking of a suitable lie. "Now, you need to get to the safe distance while I put an end to this situation." His lip curled, looking at Nazareth.
Asumi and Riki followed Light's request. Little did either of them know, they stopped and stood next to a god of death. Light let out another breath of relief after he saw they were safely out of harm's way, then turned his full attention to Nazareth.
What remained would be his redemption in them dying for him.
Nazareth remained sitting, unable to stand at the moment. Light stood over him. The brute looked up, and smiled. "See, I am a god. I resurrected them, and now they can both follow me."
Light narrowed his gaze. "And why would anyone wish to follow an idiot like you?" Nazareth looked shocked. "There can be one god of the new world, and…I /Kira…will remake it! Kira doesn't share, and would never with the likes of you." Nazareth attempted to grab Light. Light backed off, and Nazareth fell over. "Why, you double-crossing little shit!"
Morph stepped to Light's side, holding the Life Note.
"He beat you with your own stupidity," the Imp said. "I'm quite impressed. Light, you really are a smooth-talker. You woo'd Asumi, and even got Riki on your side. But what will you do now?"
Light brought his left arm in front and pulled four times in less than a second on the dial of his watch, which ejected the hidden compartment. "It's time to finish this," Light said with finality.
Morph tilted his head. "Unfortunately, you don't have enough space on that tiny scrap," he said. "I've already crossed his name out in the Life Note. Unlike a Death Note, I can remove a person's name with two strokes through it. A name in a Death Note remains there forever." Morph showed Light Nazareth's full name. Indeed, it was six names—first, four middle names, and a surname. However, he also saw something strange about it.
"You see, this is an unusual case," Morph began. "The reason why he had six names is because when someone wrote down his name on a birth certificate, they mistakenly joined the Kanji, thus the cosmos believes this is name. So, if want to write his name down in the Death Note, Light Yagami, then you will have to write just as I have written it down here—conjoined."
"You can't do that! We have a deal!" Nazareth pleaded, one arm extended, his legs folded underneath him, as if too weak to even use.
"But like you said, the scrap of the Death Note in my watch is too small to write it down," Light admitted, pushing the panel back. He frowned. "That means I can't kill you, you pathetic excuse for a human being." A roar was heard in the distance. Light smiled innately. Still, despite this feeling like a hollow victory, he would still have his revenge—in one way or another.
Light turned to walk away. Morph smiled and followed.
Light walked to Asumi and Riki, and gave them both a legitimate smile. "Let's get out of here," he said, "we don't want to be here when Nazareth finally gets his judgement."
"Wait! You can't leave me here like this!" Nazareth shouted out.
It was then Kito suddenly appeared out of a thicket of brush near Nazareth, and as Asumi and Riki left the Arboretum, Light quickening their pace so they would miss the moment to come, Light momentarily turned back, and with a wicked smile, witnessed the last desperate attempts of Nazareth to live, fighting off the large lizard, and heard Nazareth's blood-curdling screams, as he shut the Arboretum doors behind him, as if there was nothing more left to see.
The Komodo Dragon ripped Nazarath to pieces.
Ryuk followed, and chuckled. "Oh, nice one…And you didn't even have to use the Death Note to kill him. I was right to drop the Death Note so you could pick it up. Even without it, you are a worthy Shinigami in my eyes."
Little did Ryuk know the truth was far different than he would ever know about the origin of the drop. And like he had said to Ryuk before, Light became Kira to cleanse the world of evil for humans, not Shinigami. And Nazareth was pure evil.
Death Note or not, Light just did the world a favour.
As they walked the corridors, Riki leading the way to the exit of the underground facility, Asumi passed Light the USB stick she had been hiding on her person—somehow it had managed to stay wedged between her breasts despite all the fighting.
Light said he would prove invaluable to take down the Dragon Sect organization and its members, and he would hand it over to the police as soon as he could—a lie, of course.
Kira would laid waste to them all.
As for Morph, he had summarily vanished after the affair ended.
To be continued…