Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu waved a hand, and the cracked pieces of the World Gem soared toward him. He pressed the pieces together, and though they didn't magically fuse once more, he could still get a feel for their strengths when they were whole.

The World Gem of the Griffin Race was without a doubt their greatest asset and the source of their talent. It was what housed their soul, the core of the Bloodline, the source of the World Pupils…

It was quite a special item, and a rare material to be sure. Though, it could be said that it was a valuable item without any sort of market. After all… who the hell would dare to offend the Griffins by distributing such a thing?

There were almost certainly black markets out there, but they were under such secrecy that defining them as rare didn't quite do them justice.

Of course… Ryu didn't give a damn about any of this. All he saw were some useful things for Kira to absorb. It was about time that cowardly Corpse Puppet of his started absorbing some real beasts.

He wondered what kind of monster Kira would become in the future as a result.

Ryu casually put them away, likely to the fury of the Griffins watching from the outside. But they had likely also known that this possibility had a high chance of occurring.

It would be all worth it in the end.

Ryu could easily guess at their thoughts, but not only did he not have any intention of dying in this place, not to mention the fact that trying to tire him out of all people was a joke, but while they sat on the edge of their seats waiting for him to finally collapse, they were going to end up suffering a lot of heartache.

That was proven true quite quickly because, while they were practically urging Ryu to hurry on to the next region, Ryu took his time scouting the region, found the Ruins he was looking for, and cleared them one after another.

These Ruins were, without a doubt, even more devastating to the Ruin Master Guild than the other had been.

It was only natural that the harder-to-clear ones were placed deeper. And by extension, the weight given to them was also much heavier.

Every blow here was like a gut punch, and Ryu made certain to take every single one of the chances he was given without fail.

And it was only after Ryu was finished delivering his gut punches that he casually strolled into this next region.

'Well… this is certainly different…'

Ryu almost laughed again. Ahead of him, there wasn't a single person or even a group of individuals. There was an army. An army of Devas.

Once again, he had no idea how this was even possible. Regions were separated, gathering three was still possible, but over 500 like here?

Ryu looked around for a bit until he understood.

'Well, the Devas are quite cruel, aren't they?'

Looking at the dead eyes staring back at him, Ryu realized that these were no longer geniuses at all. They weren't quite Corpse Puppets as they were still under vague control of themselves, but they might as well have been.

What was for certain was that they had no chance of returning to what they had once been. They were in a state of half-life right now where they were neither dead nor alive. But that also meant their Fate was in limbo, not allowing the Title Stele to detect them in the normal way.

Due to that, they had probably swept through the Fate Barriers unhindered.

'No, not unhindered. I doubt there would be such a terrible loophole to take advantage of. If that was the case, it would have been taken advantage of more than what I've seen. There was probably still a price to pay, but I bet that price was a lot smaller than it should have been…'
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Ryu stared forward, scanning each one of their faces one by one. Then, he looked up and shook his head.

"Nono. If we're going to do things like this… Don't think that you're allowed to obscure what's happening from the rest of the world."

Ryu pointed a finger to the sky, and a beam of light ripped through a veil.

BOOM!

The army charged at the same time, but the deed was already done.

Suddenly, a scene of one on 500 played out before the eyes of everyone present. Unfortunately… it seemed that these people had no idea what Heavenly Tribulation Ryu had to suffer through just to be able to stand here today.

Ryu took a step forward, his great swordstaffs flashing into his palms. He flicked one wrist, and as though dotting the skies with the delicate point of stars, a flurry of piercing lines erupted.

His other arm almost lazily swung.

The lines of piercing light shot through one forehead after another. The army had barely covered half the distance between them when almost 10% of them had already died.

Numbers… really weren't the way to deal with Ryu. Not if they couldn't at least hold their own just the slightest bit without such advantages.

Ryu took another step forward, and his lazy swing finished completely.

A wide arc was drawn across the ground, forcing the army to leap into the air.

The organization was ruined in an instant, and the Deva Elders responsible for setting this up couldn't help but curse beneath their breaths. Could it be that Ryu had seen through it all so easily?

"Might as well be an open book," Ryu said coldly.

With a flicker, Ryu appeared in the skies as well, his blades dancing like the wind. No one lasted more than even a single exchange against him.

There were no screams, and the blades were so sharp that they passed right through flesh and bone without even the slightest sound either.

The only sounds in the region at all were the splattering wet noises as they fell from the skies, their eyes having gone completely dull. There was just the slightest hint of regret in their eyes as they breathed their last. Maybe even until now, they couldn't believe that their own Clans had done something like this to them.

Ryu continued to unleash a single-minded slaughter, and in a blink, less than half of the Devas remained.

It was then he sensed that something else was off.

'Mm…'

Ryu's great swordstaff flipped in his palm, its golden blade pointing downward. With a flex of his arm, he thrust down.

A powerful momentum enveloped the land, and a beam of sharpened light descended in a torrent.

BOOM!

Ryu had only just acted when a black dagger silently appeared at the back of his neck. Its timing was perfect, and not a single problem could be found. It was well and truly the best sort of assassin's strike.

CLANG!

The dagger collided with Ryu's neck. At some unknown point, Ryu had suddenly been covered from head to toe in pristine, white scales.

The dagger nicked against him, drawing just the faintest line of crimson, but unable to penetrate any further.

The assassin's arm snapped back, a reverberating forward clang against their wrist.

Ryu was already prepared, his great swordstaff swinging back and down as he pivoted his hips toward the perpetrator.

The assassin's reactions weren't too bad either, managing to just barely slip out of range, burrowing Ryu's own momentum to retreat.

Ryu's blade just barely missed their nose as they arched backward.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three more Devas shattered into a rain, and Ryu finally saw who his attacker was. It was actually one of Young Mistress Nightly's little lovers. Or, rather, one of the consorts that were set up for her in the future.

All things considered, this sort of genius wasn't on the level of Young Mistress Nightly and the others, but they were only a half-step beneath.

There were only a dozen or so geniuses at that elite of an elite level. To be just a half-step away really held some weight.

But what was interesting here was that… this young man was stronger than he should have been for a half-step away nonetheless.

It seemed that he had managed to make some progress in the Title Stele after.

Ryu slowly lowered his great swordstaff, exhaling a slow breath as the wound on the back of his neck slowly healed.

The young man stood there with black wings and crimson eyes, a pair of daggers in his hands as he stared at Ryu.

"My woman. Give her back."

Ryu didn't reply, instead looking down at his great swordstaffs. Then, as though thinking of something amusing, he sneered.

He flipped his palms, his great swordstaffs vanishing in favor of a pair of crystal-bladed, jagged-edged daggers.

With a series of subtle flicks and rotations, the daggers danced in Ryu's hands like he had been juggling them all his life before snapping back into his palm with a satisfying echo.

"Why would I spit out something I've already eaten?" Ryu asked, pointing a dagger right between the young Deva's brows.