Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu slowly stood from his platform. With the way the nine platforms were angled and designed, the nine of them were already positioned as the vanguard. There was no choice in the matter nor did Galkos give them any time to prepare. But, it was clear that they all were ready for this. Maybe the only one who hadn't expected things to begin so soon was Ryu himself. 

But, right then, an overwhelming pressure that made Ryu's brow crease descended. In fact, he could sense with a single look that it wasn't just him that experienced this. Whether it was the youth from the Ignis Clan or the third and final non-Martial God member who seemed to be from the Viridi Clan, each of them had also experienced a sudden bump in this pressure, an added pressure that was very clearly not given to the Martial Gods. 

If that was the end of it, things might still be fine, but Ryu suddenly realized that not only did the three of them gain this added pressure, but his own was raised by an exaggerated amount even compared to the other two. 

'Ailsa…'

Ryu didn't receive a response, but he knew that it wasn't because Ailsa was ignoring him. In fact, they both felt it simultaneously. If Ailsa responded to Ryu, the pressure that he was experiencing now would transfer over to her as well. Not only would this make the pressure far worse, but it would also force Ailsa out to meet whatever was descending along with Ryu. 

There was a good side to this. This likely meant that outside interference was near impossible unless they too wanted to be dragged in. However, the bad news was that Ryu was on his own without a doubt. 

Luckily, Ailsa didn't have to communicate with Ryu directly for them to converse. Rather than sending his voice to Ailsa and waiting for hers in return, all he had to do was use their connection as Life Partners for him to understand what she would have wanted to say. This was slightly more difficult than her just speaking, but with their current level of intimacy, it was barely an inconvenience. 

When Ryu grasped Ailsa's thoughts and speculations, though, his pupils couldn't help but constrict. 

Before he could even begin to digest what it was he had just heard, several pillars of dark light descended from the skies. Whatever devastation there already had been multiplied several times over, tearing even at the very foundation of the castle. 

Ryu reacted quickly, flashing out of the way. However, the reverberating impact ate at the Spiritual Qi that formed his robes. By the time he had stepped into a safer location, his entire sleeve was being burnt away by a dark gold flame. 

Ryu's brows raised in shock. He immediately rose a skin of qi that repelled this flame, but to his shock, what had once been Immortal Qi plummeted to Mortal Qi. Not just that, but even his cultivation had fallen to the Awakening Realm. He felt weaker than he had in a very long time. 

It was then that Ryu grasped something else. His cultivation was in the Awakening Realm now, but why was it that he just used such a powerful technique without issue? 

'My cultivation is being suppressed, but my ability to use techniques and my comprehensions aren't. But why is this suppression so heavy?'

It wasn't just the cultivation drop. Thanks to Isemeine, Ryu had expected this. The only reason he was caught off guard was because he had just used [Lightning Divine Mark] without issue. Still, what was shocking him the greatest was this unrelenting pressure that continuously fell on his shoulders. It felt like something was enraged toward his very being. So infuriated, in fact, that it wanted to destroy him. 

No, it wasn't just enraged… It was disappointed, almost like a parent that had no choice but to turn their own child in for a crime they committed. 

The dark pillar of light that had descended before Ryu began to slowly shrink. Its connection with the void in the sky it had come from grew weaker and weaker until a thin line snapped, revealing what was beneath. 

A warrior standing two heads above Ryu and wearing plate armor as dark as night slowly rose. Its very being danced about with the dark gold flame that had threatened to burn Ryu to ash just moments ago and the pressure it exuded made the very surroundings themselves tremble. 

Ryu's gaze opened with shock. 

It wasn't because of the size of this warrior, nor was it because of its power, it wasn't even because he had recognized exactly what this being was… 

It was because, for just the second time in his two lifetimes, he felt true fear. 

The being didn't have eyes, but rather had two flicker dark gold flames. It didn't have the scent of life, but it also didn't come with the scent of death either. It stood there, and yet it felt like it wasn't there at all, as though it embodied emptiness and nothingness, the nihility of all that was… 

Eight other warriors wearing this same armor had descended, but none were as tall as Ryu's nor were any of their auras as sinister or powerful. In fact, the other eight didn't dare to move in the presence of this ninth. 

Without fail, the eight black armored warriors knelt down to both knees, laying their forearms to the ground and leaving their palms facing upward to the skies. Only after they did this toward Ryu's warrior did they rise back up, aiming their bodies toward the eight remaining participants. 

From start to finish, Ryu's warrior didn't acknowledge them as though they were nothing more than ants. It stood just two meters before Ryu, its head angled downward and dark gold flames rising and falling from the mouth of its helmet as though it was truly breathing. 

Ryu realized at that moment that he had stepped into something that was far beyond his understanding.