Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Fairy Claire stood in the distance, somewhat hesitantly. She had already spotted Ryu flying through the air, and was a bit surprised by that. But more than that, she was a bit embarrassed because she could feel Ryu's gaze on her as well. He had actually spotted her long ago; this wasn't part of the plan.

"Hello, Miss Stalker. Why are you following me around?"

Claire froze, and her expression was practically flushed red after she heard these words. The people of the Heavenly Dew Pavilion would never believe what they were seeing even if they were present. This wasn't the Claire they knew at all.

Was she a stalker? By the strictest definition... probably.

The only reason she was here was that she had done a lot of research about Ryu, and she found out about his oath. If he was anything like that man, which she thought he had to be if they were related in some way, then he would definitely keep his promise.

She hadn't actually been waiting for a long while, only a few weeks. Originally, she had thought that she should wait a few more years, but she was too anxious about it and ended up coming here anyway.

Luckily, she had. Who knew that someone could actually progress to the Sky God Realms so fast? She thought that she might have looked insane standing around here, waiting for Ryu for decades. Maybe he would never come at all; it wasn't like becoming a Sky God was an easy task. In fact, it was harder the more talented you were.

But now she was kind of regretting her actions. She was already labeled as a stalker, and she felt like Ryu could see right through her. She could even react as he landed just five or so meters from her, a curious look in his eyes.

Ryu found all of this to be quite amusing. His first meeting with this woman was when she practically kidnapped him, and since then they hadn't had any other interactions. But he had sensed her gaze on him several times, none more fervent than the moment before he entered the Complete Heavenly Path.

And now she was here.

He could make a few guesses as to how and why; it wasn't too difficult to comprehend how. After all, back then, there had been many witnesses to his oath, whether by the older or younger generation. Plus, even if only the old had heard it, Claire was a Sky God herself, so these were the people she rubbed elbows with to begin with.

However, the why was more curious? Looking at her nervous and flustered appearance, he shook his head.

'No, it can't be. My charm isn't that great.'

The thought made Ryu burst into a fit of laughter.

Claire seemed to finally snap out of her daze under this laughter. She grit her teeth. She was an esteemed Sky God, one of exceptionally high rank. Why was she fearing this Fragmented brat's thoughts?

"Titus Tatsuya, do you know him?"

Ryu's laughter froze, and he was rendered speechless.

This time, it was Hope's laughter that rang through his ears. She laughed so hard that she grabbed at her belly, rolling around in the grass like she wasn't an Omniscient Sky God.

Ryu really didn't have the words. All of this was for his father? Well, this woman was truly... dedicated.

'That old man's not even as handsome as me, how ridiculous.'

Titus was a handsome man, of course. But Ryu was simply on another level. When you took the genes of his parents and then mapped it onto the perfect balance of the Ice Jade Crystal Body, this was the inevitable result.

Of course, since then, his Bone Structure had changed, but that didn't suddenly disrupt or shift his looks at all. Plus, by then, his overwhelming talent had begun to do much of the heavy lifting.

Overall, the more powerful you were, and the more talented you were, the more pleasing to the eye you tended to be. It was the way of the world.

Seeing that Ryu wasn't answering, Claire was already nervously fidgeting. Could it really be that she was wrong all this time? Did they just happen to share the same last name?

"Titus Tatsuya is my father," Ryu finally replied.

Claire's eyes widened before her expression turned downcast. She had expected that it would be something like this, but she had really been hoping that this wasn't the case.

In the True Martial World, having children as early as Titus had, especially when he was so talented, almost never happened.

It was possible, then, that Ryu was just an illegitimate child, but she knew Ryu's personality well after... stalking him for so long. If his relationship with Titus was so poor, he would have never called him father.

"Well, good luck." Ryu patted her shoulder and flashed into the distance.

"Wait!" Claire called out. "What do you mean good luck?!"

Ryu didn't turn back and shrugged.

"If my mother found out you were chasing after her man, she'd cut you into a thousand pieces."

Ryu's giggles echoed through the skies, and in an instant, he had vanished over the horizon, leaving Fairy Claire in a stunned silence.

A brief sigh came from her lips.

She could do all of this, but she never had the courage to stay on the Seventh Heaven by that man's side. Hadn't she returned to the Sixth Heaven? Content to spend her days being called Fairy by everyone she came across?

Maybe if she had stayed to fight, she would have positioned a better chance. But a woman like her wasn't the kind Titus was looking for.

This made it easier, though. She just wanted to know a little bit more about him... this was enough.

The sobs fell down Fairy Claire's cheeks as she began to slowly walk away.

By the time she returned to the Heavenly Dew Pavilion, her sobs had dried, and the thoughts of romance had been thrown to the back of her head.

To her surprise, there was an odd atmosphere, one not usual for the Pavilion.

Adlael had returned.