Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"What is it?" Isemeine asked.

Ryu's gaze seemed odd at the moment, and his smile definitely felt different. However, though Isemeine could also see through hundreds of miles, there was too much in that direction for her to point out exactly what Ryu was looking at.

"Nothing much. Just that it seems that the older generation is starting to pay a little bit of attention."

Isemeine's gaze shook at these words. "Should we go down?"

"No." Ryu said. "It isn't quite time yet for the old to come to take revenge for the young. That would take much more commotion than just this."

Isemeine was speechless. More? Even she wasn't this unruly. However, when she saw that Ryu actually planned to put what he said to action, she almost couldn't stop herself from reaching out to stop him.

Ryu's hand grasped forward, snatching one of his Great Swordstaffs out of the air. Even now, they were still being nurtured by the stifling cold qi in the surroundings, becoming more and more solid and powerful with each passing moment.

Ryu raised his arm in to the air, holding his blade with one hand and Isemeine's waist in the other.

'[Third Perspective].'

In the blink of an eye, the entirety of the Heaven's Dew branch was reflected in Ryu's mind. Tens of thousands of kilometers in every direction was painted into his psyche with the ease of a single stroke. He locked onto every aura of note with ease.

And the most fear inducing part…? Not a single soul was even aware.

"You will be the first."

Ryu swung his blade down.

The air whistled and whined, a large scythe of blue, crystalline energy jetting out as though it had a mind of its own.

It tore a path through the skies, leaving nothing but frozen remains in its wake. Windows shattered, the ground turned into a frozen hell, large, sweeping icicles grew off of the buildings, homes and towers… And yet, the Great Swordstaff Qi remained unhurried, undiminished, and unaffected.

At that moment, a sudden surge of qi rose out of a building in the distance. It tore its way out from the roof, turning to face the scythe of blue headed its way with a ferocious momentum.

Unfortunately, even after gathering up all the momentum they could, it was all useless.

Another ice coffin was formed, falling from the ground with a heavy thud, a look of unwillingness and rage forever etched onto their face.

"… Didn't you say that those who didn't come out personally weren't worthy of fighting you at all?" Isemeine really didn't know what to say about Ryu at this point.

"They were taking too long." Ryu replied simply, his blade rising high in the skies once again.

"That was the 81st ranked…" Isemeine couldn't even finish her words before Ryu's blade descended again. "… That's the 78th… The 74th…"

Isemeine shook her head. At this point, she just accepted that her life was finished. Even her father wouldn't be able to block her out from all this commotion. Plus, the trial for the Throne wasn't even here. If Isemeine had to be honest, she wasn't entirely sure where it was either, she just had a good guess. After all, you couldn't just hide away your Throne Trial, that would be yet another hit to your Faith.

What she did know, though, was that it most definitely wasn't here. Ryu hadn't even given her time to explain anything before he went on a rampage. Clearly, he was just using this as an excuse to vent some of his frustrations.

Ryu's blade descended again.

"If you're going to do this, why waste time on Path Extinction Realm experts at all! You might as well target the Dao Pedestal Realm ones!"

"I'm saving myself some time." Ryu replied.

"How is this--?!"

Ryu's blade descended again.

It was like he was paving roads of ice. From above, it looked as though the city was being frozen beneath layer after layer. In fact, Ryu even felt like his Ice Flame might progress to the Monarch Realm very soon.

"Hm…?"

Ryu's blade suddenly paused, his smile fading. Isemeine, who was by his side, suddenly felt a shiver down her spine.

As long as Ryu's smile remained, as long as he was still having fun, even if he went overboard, Isemeine felt that he wouldn't go too far. However… If that smile faded… And he let the rage of what had happened in this place overwhelm the happiness he felt toward finally being back in the place he was born…

At that moment, an arc of scarlet flame tore through the skies. The flames were so hot that the falling temperatures began to slowly rise once again, the snow that had been falling from the dense clouds above vanishing into puffs of vapor.

The flames were such a harsh color of crimson that they almost seemed to be painted out of blood. The pair of wings they originated from sent a wall of heat forward every time they flapped, leaving even more devastation than Ryu's ice ever had.

Ryu didn't even pay much attention to the person the wings were attached to. He couldn't take his eyes off of the flame themselves. He didn't even really register the fact that this winged individual was carrying another person with a hand to their shoulder.

He was all too familiar with those flames. He had seen them countless times.

If the Deep Eruption Sect was among the weakest subordinates the Tatsuya Clan had, then this Clan was among the strongest. Not only were they among the strongest, they were almost among the closest, even allowed to frequent the Tatsuya Palace with almost as much ease as a Tatsuya could.

Maybe to call them subordinates was incorrect as the power they held was no less great than the descendants of other Ancient Beasts.

But... The fact that one of their own here and was even freely cozying up with the other youths of the Martial Gods… Wasn't the betrayal as clear as day?

'The Scarlet Sparrow Clan… Good.' A fiery light lit Ryu's gaze. 'I was just getting bored.'