Ryu's body felt light and powerful. As though this was the first time he had killed in a long while, it felt like an injection of adrenaline was pulsing through him. It seemed that his much lighter personality hadn't come with a weaker murderous aura.
"Hm? That's all? Unfortunate."
Hearing this, Isemeine rolled her eyes. This man was so unreliable. Here she thought he was doing this because he was enraged on her behalf, but now it sounded like he just wanted an excuse to kill. What did he treat human lives as, exactly?
"If your hands are feeling so itchy, I can name quite a few Sky Gods too."
"You say that like I wouldn't dare to do anything," Ryu sneered.
"What could you do?" Isemeine responded, voice laced with disdain.
"Give me 10 years and I'll show you."
"Oh my, I can already feel myself getting wet. Just 10 years? What a manly man," she couldn't have said these words with more sarcasm if she tried.
The more Ryu and Isemeine bantered, the more stifling the atmosphere seemed to become, but the two of them didn't seem to notice at all, they were entirely focused on their own sexual tension, it seemed. It was absolutely ridiculous, didn't they know how much danger they were in?
Aika appeared with a frown. With her status, she shouldn't have come to such a thing, but when she realized that it was Ryu, how could she not? But this matter was definitely troublesome, even she couldn't be as unruly as she usually was in this situation.
Asce, of course, wasn't very far behind if Aika had appeared. He was pleasantly surprised by this sort of outcome. Ryu was a great annoyance to him despite what he had said to Starlight, he knew quite well how amazing it was to have a Founding Dao, even if it was immature. But now, he had all the reason in the world, and Aika couldn't protect him.
Without a word, Asce raised a hand. Aika flinched, hesitating, however Asce didn't seem to notice as he struck down with the full force of his palm. He didn't seem to have any intention of giving Ryu a chance to escape. He would feel much better when this sort of scourge was dead.
BOOM!
Asce frowned. His palm had just descended, but he found Aika standing before him, her fair and small palm extended forward, forming a barrier just a mere three inches from his own. It seemed that even now, Aika didn't have any desire to touch Asce.
Asce, though, quickly calmed down. "What is the meaning of this, Aika? Are you ignoring the mandate of the Ninth Heaven?"
Aika, who wasn't very good with words, didn't know what to say immediately. She used her fists most often because she didn't like to think. Anything else was a waste of time to her. But it was in situations like this that her weakness was the greatest. She had acted without thinking, knowing that the situation was bad.
Her Radiant Star Sect had barely managed to reach this point. She knew how much of a bad situation they were in. Though they had her, the talents under them were lacking. The only ones she had belief in were Selheir and Ryu, and she quite liked them both.
A Sect, even if it had powerful existences, needed fresh blood. It was the best way to gather Fate, and that was needed if they wanted to make sure the Sect didn't crumble again. Saving Ryu seemed to be a must, but she couldn't think of a proper reason outside of this. She couldn't very well say that she wanted to protect one of her Sect's disciples, right? Because then that would implicate the entire Sect.
They had originally been destroyed by internal conflict and Sects of the Eighth Heaven. If Eighth Heaven powers could do this to them when they were at full power, what chance did they stand in their current state against Ninth Heaven monsters?
"I.."
"Hm?" Asce pressed, his expression squeezed into a tight frown. He seemed to be really struggling, but anyone who knew him would know that this was nothing more than nonsense.
One after another, the heavyweights of the other Sects appeared. This was clearly no longer a situation that could be dealt with by the juniors. Plus, many wanted to appear so that they could make certain that no more of their juniors died.
They had only been able to bring down a select few, crossing the barrier through a Heavenly Path was extremely difficult, especially when it was a Complete one. But now four had already been lost in such ridiculous fashion. They couldn't allow any more to fall.
Just when it seemed that Aika would truly not have an answer, a laughter echoed.
"Isn't it obvious? She just stopped you from making the biggest mistake of your life. You should be thankful."
Asce's gaze sharpened.
"Boy, is this a place where you can speak?!"
Asce wasn't even the one who responded. Instead, it was a man with a set of azure eyes and hair, crackling lightning around him threatening to burst out at any time. Just from his voice alone, many had to cover their ears, some even beginning to bleed from their orifices.
This man was a Core Elder of the Azure Lightning Sect, and it was obvious why he was so chippy. Ryu didn't seem to respect him at all, killing his disciples as though their lives were worth just as much as any other.
"Oh?" Ryu smiled. "Feel free to attack, then. Please do."
The Core Elder, Core Elder Faerd, frowned. He didn't know why this boy was so confident, was it because of Aika? Did he not know that Aika wasn't invincible? There was no doubt that she was extremely powerful, but how many Aikas were there on the Eighth Heaven? And how many more of them were there on the Ninth? He was far too naà ̄ve.
"Nothing? Then shut your mouth."
Ryu's smile faded, his expression becoming a biting cold. The atmosphere frosty along with his words, a hardly concealed disbelief on the faces of most. Even Isemeine was speechless.
"This guy..." she muttered.
"Hush, your husband is working," Ryu berated. Isemeine's lip twitched, but she didn't say anything. "Do you have any idea who she is?"
Isemeine, who had been wondering what Ryu was relying on, was rendered speechless again. What was he trying to do here?
In truth, Ryu knew more about the Martial Gods of the True Martial World than Isemeine did. Isemeine had spent many of the last thousand years outside of the True Martial World, honing her skills and slowly assimilating with Eska. She only came here after she gained the legacy of a certain Taboo Power, and it allowed her to finally close the gap in foundation between herself and the geniuses of the True Martial World.
She knew that her family was from this place, and that they were powerful, but she didn't quite understand what kind of status they had,
That said, even if she had known, she probably still wouldn't have said anything. For one, she was just a peripheral member of their collateral branches. And second, and most importantly, she had no method of proving it.
This second part was the most important. Most wouldn't believe because it was too ridiculous, what was a Martial God's descendant doing here? And even if they did believe, more likely than not they would just try to kill her in secret to avoid any possible complications.
All in all, it was entirely useless to try and use this identity.
"This fool is going to get me killed," Isemeine wanted to shed tears, but she found the situation far too amusing and ridiculous to squeeze any out. To think that things would end up like this.
Many frowned when they heard Ryu's words, but they hesitated again when they saw the state of Isemeine. If she had such a great background, why hadn't she uttered anything? That only meant one of two things, maybe even both. Either she was worthless to this power, or she couldn't prove it. Either way, they had ability to deny so long as they pretended it was all ridiculous.
Suddenly, Ryu vanished and appeared before Core Elder Faerd.
"Go on. I can see it in your eyes, you don't believe it. You want to pretend like it's ridiculous, to give yourself some plausible deniability, right? Hit me, then. We'll see what happens."
Ryu grinned wildly, standing before the Core Elder.
Faerd, whose gaze had practically just been spitting fire, suddenly hesitated.
"What's wrong? Not moving? What happened to your earlier confidence?"
Ryu's smile became brighter and brighter.
Isemeine closed her eyes and uttered a little prayer. 'What did I do to deserve this?"
What she didn't know is that her act, contrasted with Ryu's confidence, made Faerd feel as though he was being baited.
But... that smiling face... was just too annoying.
ROAR!
Faerd punched out, his expression turning fierce.
But his life force hardly got the chance to gather before a pillar of red light appeared. When it disappeared, so had Faerd.
