Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu had never felt that dual wielding was so easy. His movements fluidly flowed from one to the next, the pressure on his joints and flexibility was almost non existent, and the transformations he had to account and calculate for were nigh negligible.

The ease made Ryu truly feel what it meant to dual wield for maybe the first time in his lifetime… And it felt so great.

It was as though the whole world was at his fingertips. What he could read and react to felt infinite and the creativity of his attacks felt endless.

Ryu didn't even realize how much of an effect his actions had on the remainder of the Martial Gods. Kaori was meant to be a trump card, a final measure taken with them to ensure that nothing with wrong on this side.

But, somehow, first, the Awoken Moon Sect had returned and was currently undergoing a transformation beneath a curtain of light they couldn't seem to penetrate no matter what they did. And now, their trump card was fighting a battle of equals with a young man two cultivation levels beneath her?!

Kaori's laughter sung through the air, but her jovial nature couldn't seem to transfer to her comrades.

Ryu's skin glistened with Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns. Every clash with him felt like ramming into a stone wall. He didn't even have to make use of the fluttering blossoms of his Immortal Sakura to increase his defenses at all.

Ryu's figure flickered, activating <Lightning Divine Mark> for the first ime in their battle. His speed touched upon an unconscious level. Kaori almost couldn't react before she found a blade at her throat.

Up until this point, Ryu had only basked in the beauty of duel wielding, picking up something from Kaori's technique and listening to the resonance of his weapons. With every exchange, he felt his comprehension deepening and his Dao strengthening. However, he suddenly reversed it all on its head, leaving a blazing trail of lightning in his wake as he struck like thunder.

CLANG!

Ryu's brows shot up before he laughed uproariously.

Kaori's teeth bit down on his blade, threatening to shatter it into pieces. Ryu had no doubt that if not for the strong sword light he had enveloped it in, Kaori would have already been chewing on bits and pieces of metal. In fact, if he kept letting her bite down like this, that was exactly what would happen.

She didn't miss a single beat, swinging down her sickles for Ryu's head. However, with another flicker, Ryu vanished.

Kaori frowned. She had been ready for <Lightning Divine Mark> and had even left a hidden marker on Ryu's dagger. However, in that brief moment, she lost connection with it entirely. And, even after Ryu had appeared again, it had vanished completely, being nowhere to be seen.

Ryu appeared again with a smile on his face. Trying to mark him? Was it even possible to hide such a technique from his eyes?

<Lightning Divine Mark> sounded like an invulnerable technique, but it had its weaknesses… Namely the markers. If they were destroyed, the technique would not only become useless, but it would also become very dangerous, even leading to cultivation deviation in the midst of battle.

When Kaori had marked his blade like that, she had essentially given herself a cheat code toward finding his Marker and destroying it just as he appeared.

It was quite impressive that she managed to think of such a counter measure so quickly. That was the first time he had used that technique against her. Though, unfortunately for Kaori, it was even more impressive for Ryu to see through her marking technique and decide on using a completely different technique as sickles were flying toward his head.

As Kaori's confusion slowly vanished, so too did her childishness. In that moment, she had chosen to go all out.

POP! POP! POP! BANG!

Ryu's gaze narrowed. This technique, he had seen it before, but never on this level. This was the very same Berserk technique Edwin had used during their battle in the Core Region, the very same Edwin Ryu gained the human skin Tome from.

Back then, Ryu had used his <Lines of Fate> to copy and take the technique for himself, but he had never actually used it. Maybe it was because the idea of using a Martial God technique disgusted him, but he had never even thought about that technique since then despite the fact he had gone out of his way to learn it.

That said, the technique wasn't exactly useless… It was another point in his knowledge well, another step toward him truly comprehending the Heavens.

Kaori's Pulses and Vessels continued to implode, loud explosions going off within her body.

"[Thirteenth Style: Release]!"

SHUUUUUUUU!

Ryu's gaze shifted from Kaori and back toward Ailsa who seemed primed and ready. Ryza stood by her side, a dark expression on her face but the reality of it all not giving her much of a choice in that matter at all. It was right then a demonic gate began to split the skies, the fluttering snow of the Moon World becoming tinged in hints of blackness.

Ryu took a breath. "Alright, let's end this."

His neck craned to one side, a satisfying crack being released.

"Take Form and Conquer the World."

Ryu's smile faded, his irises flickering with a dark gold hue as 13 halos of matching color appeared to his back. The resonance of them all sung through the skies, all the qi in the surroundings several hundreds of thousands of miles being sucked toward one person.

"You'll be the first to experience my Dao." Ryu said lightly. "I hope that allows you to rest in peace."

Ryu held his twin blades up. But, somehow, the momentum he gave off was completely different.

Kaori froze, her battle intent wavering and giving way to fear. It was an emotion that she had never experienced in her lifetime before. In fact, it was so foreign, that even as her last visions of the world faded, she didn't quite understand what it was. Until…

"Oh… I'm afraid…"

Ryu stood before Kaori, his violet blade having pierced all the way through the center of her forehead.

A single action. A single strike.