Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The woman had a head of long silver hair. She was quite the beauty herself, matching up to Isemeine quite well. But, considering their talent and cultivation, one would be more hard pressed to find a woman that wasn't a beauty rather than finding one that was. There was a reason that Ryu was usually unmoved by it all. 

Compared to Isemeine's tight martial robes, though, this young woman wore a flowing dress that was a pale shade of green. It seemed that the color suited her quite well, accentuating the shimmering silver gloss of her hair and eyes. 

That said, most would be drawn to the deep ravine that could be found at her chest. Something like thinking about just how much the colors suited her would be secondary for most, even if you were a woman who preferred men. 

"Zenavey." Isemeine replied to the 'greeting' plainly. 

Zenavey smiled sweetly as though she took great pleasure in Isemeine saying her name. However, that smile that could make most swoon made Isemeine's nose wrinkle with disgust. She really didn't like this girl, not one bit. 

"What are you doing here, Isemeine? Weren't your obligations on the first floor?"

Isemeine rolled her eyes. "Obviously, I've already completed them. Is there some sort of rule against me being here?"

"Well, not exactly. But, you aren't part of our branch, so there are some things that you're not allowed to be privy to."

"I think we both know that I have more of a right than you do."

Zenavey's smile thinned out into a forced line. It was still enough to make it seem like she was smiling, but the coldness in her eyes still made the temperature plummet several degrees. 

Isemeine suddenly smiled sweetly, wrapping her arms around Ryu and squeezing her chest to him. She didn't even look up to meet his gaze as she continued to stare at Zenavey. In fact, she even seemed quite proud of herself as though she had truly accomplished something. 

"Can't you see that I'm here to accompany someone? Have the years of playing with corpses and ghosts made you blind to human interaction?"

Zenavery blinked and frowned. For the first time, she looked toward Ryu, her eyes narrowing. She realized at that moment that he looked like an endless abyss, somehow being nothing, yet having unknown depths at the same time. It was no wonder she hadn't even noticed him before, his aura was so reserved that she found it difficult to pinpoint his cultivation level despite the fact she could also tell that he wasn't actively trying to hide it. 

Not too far away, the two young men who had come with Isemeine to begin with coughed beside themselves, wiping their knuckles around their eye sockets as though to make sure they were seeing correctly. 

What the hell was going on? Were they seeing things? This was Isemeine they were talking about! You might get castrated just for looking at her a split second too long. If you caught her on the wrong day, you might be castrated for looking at her at all!

It wasn't just them, but Niel was also speechless. He had managed to get here by riding on the coattails of Sarriel, Nemesis and Ryu's corpse puppet, but he was still at a loss for words. 

How long had it been since they separated? A week? Two? 

On top of that, weren't they practically enemies? He was certain that Ryu had pointed his blade and threatened that girl. Did he imagine that? Did falling for men that threatened to kill you make sense? Was there some new fad he wasn't aware of?ᴘᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ

Niel turned a glance toward Sarriel, only to find her frowning with a slight pout. What was going on here? Shouldn't she be crying? Shouldn't this have been a chance for him to swoop in and comfort her? Maybe if he called Ryu enough bad names, she would let him take her to bed… Right…? Where was that script and why wasn't reality following it?

"Nie!"

Nemesis trotted over and nuzzled Ryu. He didn't seem to care that he was cutting off Zenavey's view of the 'couple' at all. In fact, he seemed to be blaming Ryu a bit because without him, he hadn't been able to continue his evolution. 

Ryu smiled and shook his head. Nemesis was still impatient to grow stronger, especially because of Little Rock and Little Gem. Nemesis was the oldest of them all, but his bloodline was the weakest. If it wasn't for his Adept Body Talent, he wouldn't be able to keep up at all. 

It was no wonder he was so anxious. How could he keep his big brother role if he was being pressured by his little siblings so easily? 

"Don't worry, I already know the next steps. Just be patient. This world doesn't have anything left for you anymore."

"~Nie!"

Nemesis accepted Ryu's caring pat and entered the Incubator once more. 

Ryu knew that to Nemesis, unlike most beasts, his soul was just as important as his body. In order to emulate his Wraith Knight Lineage, he needed to be able to manifest his soul into a Wraith. That would require absorbing the talents of those Clans, but the master-beast duo would have to be careful. 

Wraiths, ghosts, spirits and the like were always the most enigmatic and troublesome to deal with. Even if one was powerful, without knowledge, you could easily be caught off guard. Luckily, Ryu had Eska by his side now, so he could try to pick her brain about the subject. 

Watching Ryu completely ignore Zenavey's presence made Isemeine feel a welling of satisfaction in her heart. Just a few weeks ago, she had wanted to tear him apart for having the same attitude with her. But now, she loved that he was like this. She almost—ALMOST—wanted to give him a kiss. 

Zenavey, though, took advantage of the small distraction to regain her composure. Though she knew that Isemeine knew her well enough to know that she was pissed, that didn't mean she had to make it obvious for everyone else as well. 

"So you are Isemeine's partner?"

Isemeine suddenly became very nervous. It wasn't because she didn't know the real answer, but rather that she couldn't afford to lose face in front of Zenavey. She hated this woman too much to allow her one over on her. 

Now that she thought about it, she didn't even really know Ryu's purpose in doing all of this, nor did she really understand what role she would have to play. 

"You could say so." Ryu replied faintly. 

"But you want to join our Silver Touch branch?"

"Want to?" Ryu raised an eyebrow. "I came here to enter the Tri Palace and take advantage of its resources. Instead, I was thrust into a trial and the Palace I had thought I knew became the Nether Palace. 

"I'm only interested in taking as many resources as I can. As for whether I join your Silver Touch branch, that will depend on what you can offer me. And, even in the case I do decide to, it will be as a Throne."

Zenavey was stunned into silence for a long while before she suddenly began to laugh. Her cadence twinkled like silver bells, the deep ravine of her chest billowing like gentle waves. Once she started, she had a very hard time stopping. 

Being laughed at? Ryu couldn't remember the last time such a thing had happened. By this point, his aura alone would have suffocated any sort of reaction to this level. But, the current Ryu was like a gentle spring breeze compared to his former self. 

He watched Zenavey laugh without saying a single word. In fact, after the first few seconds, he ignored her completely, casting his gaze and senses around the room. He smiled lightly when he noticed Niel and Sarriel, giving them a nod before he continued to scan the room. 

'Oh?'

Ryu raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected to find the others of the Three Pupils Eclipse Sect to make it this far, and yet… Here they were. But, remembering the words Eska had spoken about how infatuated the Silver Touch Branch was with evolving their Pupils, Ryu realized that his surprise was unwarranted. In fact… They just might be his only challenge left in this place. 

Zenavey's laughter seemed contagious. No small number of individuals began to laugh at Ryu, something that caused Isemeine to almost blow her top. At this point, Ryu's face was equivalent to her own, how could she allow this to continue?

Zenavey wiped tears from her eyes. 

"For you to call it Tri Palace, you must be from that small little Moon World. Yet, you're actually still so arrogant. It seems that you don't quite understand how high the clouds in the sky are, let alone the Heavens. Could you even make it through the second floor without Isemeine's help? 

"Forget it, forget it. It won't be long until you realize just how ridiculous your statement is. In fact, I can't wait anymore, this starts now!"

The walls began to tremble. The glass dome that looked into the depths of space above began to slowly open.