Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu looked into the flaming giant woman's eyes, the glint within his own applying a pressure to her that she had never faced before. For a moment, it felt like Ryu was the giant and she was the normal human.

Every fiber of her being screamed out: "No!". There was no way she could defeat this man. And yet, this was ironically the very reason she took a step forward and attacked without a word.

If she took a step back now, then her Dao Heart would be cracked at the very least. In the worst-case scenario, her path of cultivation would cease to be right here and now.

Ryu knew this intimately. He had already begun to feel out this woman's character the moment she appeared. He knew what kind of heart of a warrior that she had, and he knew that she had no ability to resist these sorts of stakes.

If she refused, then her Dao Heart would collapse and he would win anyway. And if she accepted like he thought she would...

Well, the result was obvious.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Fist and ax danced, the clashes causing concentric circles of blown apart sand, flesh and blood to shoot toward the outer regions of the cage.

Ryu's fists seemed to have a forcefield protecting them. The giant woman acted to split everything apart with every move she took, and yet she couldn't make it past those barriers at all.

When she approached Ryu, it was like he was surrounded not only by another space, but another time as well, as though he was a world and a decade away, standing before her and yet not at the same time.

She tried to use her void flames once again, but they couldn't be lit within Ryu's vicinity, and it was at that moment that an illusory flame of Ryu's own suddenly danced into being across his body and robes.

Despite its appearance, the temperature didn't seem to rise. Instead, it calmed as though stabilizing beneath its might.

When this flame appeared, the giant flaming woman felt that even her own flames were spiraling out of control. Let alone allowing the void to catch on fire, she couldn't even manifest them anymore.

In the past, Ryu's Rebirth Flames could only make him immune to all flames at and below his level. But now, even suppression was possible.

Before him, who had the right to use Flames? Before an Emperor Phoenix, even a world's embers could only smolder.

She felt like she was being suffocated from all sides.

In terms of strength, Ryu was crushing her.

In terms of skill, he was outmaneuvering her.

In terms of talent, he was grinding her beneath his feet.

She could see that he wasn't just trying to defeat her, he could have done that long ago.

He was showing her that no matter the aspect, no matter the path she took, she could only be inferior to him.

Every time they clashed, she would take exactly one step back. He didn't use any more or any less strength, almost like he was coddling a child that he didn't want to harm.

Every strike was like another resonant howl through her soul and Dao Heart, her mind and body crying out in pain and horror with every stroke... and yet she didn't shed a single drop of blood, not because Ryu couldn't, but rather because he didn't want to.

She was about to be his new plaything, why would he damage his own things?

At least that was what the giant woman thought... and it fueled her fury to a new level.

Her flaming blue hair erupted and a second ax appeared in her hand. She roared as though she had lost her mind, unleashing a flurry of attacks that resonated through the room.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ryu blocked with the fluid motion of a flowing river. The first was taken by his palm, the next by his elbow, the last by the pinch of his fingers.

He held the ax in his palm and pressed down, tilting the giant woman off balance just as she attempted to swing once more with her second ax.

He found that predicting the movements of those that used conventional weapons was easier than anything else. The more he fought the giant woman, the more he realized that this must be due to his God Aura fusing with his Close Combat Mastery. Of the nine core weapons, there wasn't a single one he didn't understand as intimately as the back of his hand...

And that was this woman's downfall.

Thrown off balance, the second ax descended too quickly, landing an inch by Ryu's foot. He didn't even flinch as he reached down and grabbed this blade as well.

Suddenly, both battle axes were under his control, and no matter how hard the giant woman tried, she couldn't pull them back up.

Her head was as large as a third of Ryu's body. Because her axes were under Ryu's control and she was forced to bend forward, their faces weren't even a meter apart.

Looking into those silver eyes, the fury of the giant woman felt like it was truly about to boil over. How dare he look at her like this? As though she wasn't worth much of anything at all?!

She roared right into Ryu's face, blowing his white hair back to the point it looked as though it was dancing in hurricane-force winds. And yet, Ryu didn't even flinch.

"You lose," he said calmly.

The giant woman continued to struggle to pull her axes back, but it was entirely useless.

The arena was in a state of complete silence. Everyone thought that they would see a great battle, especially after what happened during the first go-around. They never expected that Ryu was hiding this much of his strength. In fact, if he wasn't so adamant on leaving the giant woman with no room to maneuver, they would have never known.