Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

'Dominance Bloodmancy...' Ryu thought.

"Dominance Bloodmancy is a path that takes the soul and makes it the center. It would be akin to becoming the inverse of a Demon. Not much unlike a Faerie or a Fey.

"However, the difference is that this is a deliberate choice and it stirs your Bloodlines away from their usual Faith and tethers them more to your own path. This is an especially powerful path if you have a Soul Nature that is compatible with the fusion of your Bloodlines."

"And if I don't?"

"Well, it's hard to conclude that just yet. Who knows what the fusion of a Dragon, Qilin and Phoenix is? It can pull in so many directions that you have quite some leeway to choose, and that's the power of Bloodmancy.

"You used a Spatial Soul Nature against us. It seems to have an extra hint of something else, but as a whole, it feels like something that's equally as broad and wide-ranging.

"Whether the two can come together into one will be dependent on you."

"And will it ever be permanent?" Ryu asked.

"Over time, the more you refine your control, the more natural it will become and the permanency it will have.

"I personally follow the Path of Multiplicity, it makes my Blood Essence practically unlimited and I can share it with as many people as I please. But this isn't just an auxiliary ability. In battle, endless Blood Essence allows me to overextend myself with ease. Without this ability, I would have never been able to solidify the connection between you and your wife.

"This is an example of my Bloodmancy reaching a state of permanency, or at least close to it."

Ryu nodded slowly, falling into his thoughts again.

"Then, Ryu, this is all that I wanted to teach you. You can find the intricacies of Bloodmancy laid out for you in your Lines of Fate. If you're interested, you can also check to see my and my husband's inheritances as well."

Radiant Star frowned, clearly having not consented to this. But it was too late for that.

"We will bid you goodbye now. As for your gift... you will find out what it is soon."

It all ended more quickly than Ryu thought it would, but Hope had already vanished into the Golden Moon World and he suddenly found the Throne Challenge world collapsing around him.

Suddenly, he was standing in the skies, his aura feeling dim before so many powerful gazes. He was about to make a quip when a wave of fatigue hit him like a speeding struck.

His eyes closed and he fell out of the sky.

***

Ryu awoke quite slowly. He barely had time to squint when he noticed a woman dressed in a familiar white gown sitting on the edge of his bed.

He was a bit disappointed that it wasn't Eska, he felt like he was getting more fond of that woman by the day.

Selheira, who was actually the one there, seemed to sense that disappointment in his eyes and her pride almost flared up again.

Almost.

But she had balled her eyes out enough to ignore it... for now.

"I really hate you, you know," Selheira said softly. It was in that usual gentle tone, a tone that many swooned over.

Ryu didn't say anything. He had just gotten up and his body felt like it was in its prime, he didn't know how much he wanted to let this woman rant.

Plus, thoughts of Ailsa were also surfacing in his mind and he was suddenly ticked off again. He was probably just about to say something rude when Selheira continued to speak.

"I hate that you're so arrogant yet so right. I hate that you're a Fire Dragon of all things. I hate that you're so cruel to me even though you already know how I feel."

Ryu felt a headache coming along. "I'm a human, not a Fire Dragon."

Selheira looked at him and actually smiled. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

She suddenly took off her veil.

Ryu was absolutely floored. He had to admit, the woman was perfect. With her white hair done up in an elegant, empress-like bun, and her blue eyes shimmering like the stars, her face only made it more perfect...

Especially those little dots of crystal scales below her eyes.

Those must have been why she always wore the veil. It made her identity as a Crystal Dragon all too obvious.

"Am I very beautiful?" Selheira asked in the same gentle tone.

"You already know that you are," Ryu responded. He was never one to mince his words.

"Yes, but a woman likes to hear her man say it."

"Her man?" Ryu raised an eyebrow, a familiar mischievous glint in his eyes. It was the same glint he had had when he dressed Selheira down in public back then.

Even though she remembered the memory quite clearly, Selheira didn't back down. In fact, she did the opposite, leaning over Ryu who was still lying down and even pressing a hand to his chest.

She usually dressed quite conservatively, but there was no dress in the world that didn't have a neckline. Leaning so far forward, how could there not be two large mounds of fair skin to see?

Seeing that Ryu wasn't averting his gaze at all, Selheira felt herself flush. The way he was so unabashedly confident in staring at her didn't make her angry at all. In fact, it turned her on. It was the reason she had always been so attracted to Ryu in the first place.

He never suddenly saved her life. He didn't do any life-altering favors for her. He rarely even talked to her.

But his temperament... she absolutely loved it.

Deep inside, she was a dragoness, and a dragoness needed a Dragon to put her in her place.

Those Fire Dragons in her generation only knew how to blow their own horns. They were nothing but hot air.

She breathed in, her eyes quivering under Ryu's masculine scent. In that moment, her eyes even turned to slits and a moan-turned-growl echoed from her throat.

Her lips pressed down onto Ryu's.