Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Sarriel's blade flashed, deflected the wing scythes one after another. The ground to her side was ravaged and torn, but she remained indifferent, the speed of her movements not matching the ease of her expression in the slightest.

She could tell that Ryu was tapping into his inheritances right this moment. This sort of flame and lightning manipulation technique could only come from the memories of Ancient Beasts. There was no doubt when it came to control of the elements, beasts stood near the top of the food chain.

But, why should she care? If there was a second group that could stand right next to them… Wasn't it the Faeries and the Fey?

Sarriel and Ryu both vanished, their blades clashing. At that moment, whether it was clones or Skeleton Warriors, they all collapsed, unable to withstand the pressure.

Sarriel's blade danced and Ryu's ferociously tore through the air. Space froze in Sarriel's wake and tore in Ryu's.

"[Moon Blade]."

Sarriel's katana drew an elegant arc. In one moment it was by her side. In the next, it was by Ryu's neck.

However, Ryu himself seemed to hardly react to the change.

"[Immortal Sakura]."

CLANG!

Sparks flew, deflecting Sarriel's blade up and over Ryu's head and revealing her torso. At that moment, Ryu's blades which had previously been parried away rebounded with an even greater speed, lightning streaking across them as the energies of the world sung.

Sarriel's violet eyes blazed with a new light. She appeared to be right before Ryu, but in a single blink, she was a hair out of the range of his swinging blade. It didn't feel as though she had moved, but like she had always been there from the very beginning.

However, Ryu seemed to have already felt the change before it happened. He watched as the lines of Fate twisted to her will, warping reality to become exactly what she wanted. As Sarriel had put so poetically, if enough people believed it, then a falsehood could become the truth.

While that sounded nice, if there was a reality that he, Ryu Tatsuya, didn't like…

He would crush it.

Ryu's mouth suddenly opened, his jaw widening to reveal a row of pristinely white teeth. His throat bulged, his chest expanded, the scales covering them suddenly beginning to glow with a fiery crimson that seemed to die the world in the color of blood.

Dragon's Breath.

Ryu's roared, a beam forming right before his mouth and tearing its way through the world. It was so solid that it almost appeared to have a metal body… Until, that is, the air began to react to its appearance.

The air expanded and exploded, the earth cratered and collapsed, the skies trembled and the dome of this world shook, threatening to shatter like egg on rock.

Sarriel's expression changed for the first time, her brows raising slightly. This wasn't just fire, she could sense a rampaging lightning within that descended like heavenly punishment.

Sarriel released her sword, allowing it to hover before her. She quickly began to form hand seals, a form of technique usage that hadn't been used in several Eras. If Ryu hadn't known before, this would have been enough to confirm that she had come from a distant past.

Her aura surged, her qi following the complex patterns of her fingers as a massive blue moon appeared above her. At that moment, her jet-black hair gained a hint of a lush blue luster, glowing as though a moon goddess.

Sarriel's sword flew back into her palm, her Immortal Ring resonating with the moon that now hung above her head, the arrogance in her eyes only growing the more of her power she displayed.

Her Bone Structure trembled, glistening beneath her skin in resonance with the moon above. As though activated by some mysterious energy, a crown began to manifest around her forehead, the light in her eyes growing so fierce that it became difficult to even look at her directly.

"Be severed."

It wasn't a technique, nor was it a mantra. She spoke these words as simply as if she was an Empress commanding a commoner.

Her blade slashed downward. It was so slow that the afterimages it left in its wake seemed to be more of a trick of the eye than anything else.

In that moment, a beam of crackling fire and lightning seemed capable of splitting an entire world in two found itself being sundered, sliced beneath an energy it couldn't even muster the courage to go against, let alone the power to do so.

It was casual enough to cause despair in even the greatest of existences.

But, somehow, Ryu had already vanished. Sarriel's pupils constricted, but it was already too late.

He appeared above her, his draconic feet smashing down into her seemingly delicate shoulders.

His roar caused a tornado of force to jet outward as he lowered his horns.

Sparks of lightning erupted between them as Sarriel suddenly found herself colliding into the ground below. At that moment, she understood what had happened. Ryu had actually merged with his Dragon's Breath using his Spirit Body. Not only had he taken her off guard, but he gained the same forcefulness his Dragon's Breath had had and used it to power his kick.

She felt as though half of her body had collapsed under that blow. Had she not released the seal on his Bone Structure, that was exactly what would happen.

Sarriel suddenly found Ryu's Drago-Qilin Horns bearing down on her face, a swirling ball of crackling violet lightning surrounded by raging black arcs. She knew immediately that attacks formed from a Qilin's Horn were no less fundamental to their race that a Dragon's Breath was to them. At such close range, even she couldn't help but form a solemn expression.

In that instant, she caught a glimpse of Ryu's gaze, but there wasn't a hint of mercy in them. It looked back at her as though she was nothing more than a dead woman. No… It was deeper than that. There was disdain, arrogance down to the very depths of his soul.

There was no one in this world that he, Ryu Tatsuya, was inferior to.

The arcs of lightning formed into a solid sphere and shot out.

Ryu stood with his foot pressed onto Sarriel's chest, his attacks blasting into her neck and face as though he wanted to rip it all from the rest of her body. He felt her flesh and bone distort and twist beneath his sole, but the arrogance in his gaze only grew more palpable.

The world lost its sound.

The ground beneath Ryu's feet lost its own footing, collapsing into a blackhole of endless depths.

Ryu found himself standing above this fathomless abyss, arrogantly standing in the skies, blood dripping from his feet… blood that most definitely wasn't his own. Above him, a large tree of translucent, sparkling crystals stood, its canopy seemingly wide enough for the whole world to take refuge beneath.

Its cherry blossoms fell from its branches, fluttering down with a heavenly, enigmatic pattern of their own.

Silence reigned…

Until the ground began to tremble once again.

A pillar of blue light shot up from the ground below, tearing open another abyss no less deep than the one beneath Ryu.