Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The ground caved in, the air itself exploding even before their fists connected and completely collapsing after they did. 

In the blink of an eye, the two had already retracted their attacks, swinging their legs forward.

A flurry of exchanges erupted. Ryu seemed to be the perfect mirror image of Sarriel, his fists and kicks countering her every action as though he could see them ahead of time. 

Every time the two met, the snow was blasted apart, the clouds above split and the earth beneath their feet crumbled. They danced across the base of the mountain range with such speed that they could hardly be seen. By the time the devastation of their attacks took hold, they had already moved to a new location, their auras only growing with each passing moment. 

By now, it was all too obvious. This power was nothing like what Sarriel had displayed within the replica Nether World. In fact, it could be likened to night and day. 

Back then, she had pretended as though her power level was only on par with the other Half-Step Path Extinction Realm geniuses. And yet, despite displaying that same cultivation level right this moment, her battle prowess seemed to be on par with Ryu. 

Ryu's gaze sharpened, his fist turning into a palm as he moved to block Sarriel's own. But, before he could register what happened, he felt a fist collide with his jaw. 

Ryu's face distorted, ripples spreading throughout his cheeks and bone. He could even feel his skull threatening to collapse, and maybe it would have had his Ice Jade Crystal Body not undergone a mutation just a few weeks prior. 

He shot out of arm's reach of Sarriel like an iron ball from a canon. A line split across the air as Ryu almost crashed to the ground. If not to protect Yaana who was still on his back, he may very well have allowed it to happen just to dissipate the force. But, without a choice, he could only take the full brunt of the strike, skidding to a stop as he feet deeper and deeper trenches into the ground. 

A slight hint of something metallic touched Ryu's tongue. He didn't need to look to know that it was his own blood. 

He wiped it with a thumb and spit the rest away, shaking his head. That single punch had sent him almost a kilometer away from Sarriel, so she could consider herself vicious enough. 

Ryu had never been very good at hand to hand combat to begin with, nor had he ever really practiced it. Plus, he was facing someone with Heavenly Pupils adept at deception. Falling for feints and suffering counters was practically inevitable. 

He slowly pulled his legs out from the deep trenches he was in. Without a choice, he could only send Yaana into the incubator. A fight of this caliber wasn't one that he could continue carrying her along for. As worried as he was that something might happen to her in there, he should rightfully be more worried about what was happening out here.

"Very satisfying. Just like how I dreamed it up. I think I'll have to taste it again."

Sarriel looked at her fist as though she was admiring a trophy. 

Truthfully, she had expected her punch to take at least half of Ryu's head with it. She knew exactly what Bone Structure Ryu had and it wasn't conducive to defense. However, his face had managed to hold up quite well. That was curious to her. She wanted to use her pupils to see what had changed, but she couldn't quite understand what she was seeing. 

As things went, the stronger Truth Pupils became, the better they were at deceiving, but their ability to see through the truth of things never really improved. Even Ryu hadn't quite understood what mutation his Ice Jade Crystal Body had undergone. In fact, he planned on just waiting for Ailsa to explain it to him. Sarriel had no chance in the matter. 

Ryu put a hand to his jaw and shifted it from side to side as though to check if it was still working. It didn't take very long at all for the reddening and swelling of his face to vanish as though nothing had happened at all. 

"Thanks for that." Ryu said lightly. "Now I can really go all out."

Ryu didn't explain what he meant, nor did he care to. The intent behind that attack was to blast his skull into a rain of blood and gore and that was all he needed. 

'[Summoning Corpse World].'

All the winds of the world seemed to vanish as though a vacuum was formed instantaneously. Billowing death qi rose up, swirling faster and larger with every passing moment. 

In one instant, there was nothing but a vast land of snow between Ryu and Sarriel. In the next, thousands of Skeleton Warriors appeared, each and every one of which was of the Higher Skeleton Warrior stage. 

Their bones radiated a delicate light blue that matched well with the falling snow. And yet, their auras billowed with a dense black fog that was in direct contrast to it. 

'[Bone Manipulation].'

Two of the Higher Skeleton Warriors Ryu had called forth shot toward him. Half way to his hands, both became radiant blue Great Swordstaffs, snapping into Ryu's palms as though they had always meant to be there. 

But, this was just the beginning. 

Ryu's aura continued to surge. One after another, the Skeleton Warriors began to implode. In the blink of an eye, an army of thousands became just a hundred. The rest became a rich bone essence, hanging around the surroundings under Ryu's control. 

Half of this bone essence fused with the hundred remaining Skeleton Warriors, becoming elaborate armors that bulked them up to an extreme. The other half shot into the ground before rising up to form a massive dome-like bone cage. 

In an instant, Ryu turned a mountain of snow into a cemetery of bone, brandishing his two Great Swordstaffs with a cold indifference. 

Killing intent he had buried within his heart bubbled forth, painting the world in darkness as his Immortal Rings pulsed to its rhythm.