"The unlucky fate seemed more likely, no?" Ryuk’s undaunted voice rang out as he cracked his back and neck, and in the next instant—
BOOOOOOOM!
The air on the path of his face was blown apart as a ball of flame passed right through his face, but it was nothing but an afterimage as the world witnessed Ryuk standing easily two meters away from where he formerly stood.
"Pretty honest for a weak one. You’ve always been weird for that..." Ignatius said as he slowly returned his gaze to Ryuk.
Once more, a ball of flame moved with speed toward Ryuk, who slowly stretched out his hand and grabbed at it.
"TSSSSHHH!"
’Idiot...’ The thought resonated in the mind of Ignatius.
The battle was over before it even began.
Ryuk’s hand grabbed at the ball, and instantly, the sound of his own flesh burning up resounded.
Quickly, like flames racing through a bush of dried leaves, the flames began spreading, soon covering all of Ryuk’s hand up to his wrist.
For reasons unknown to Ignatius, the flames never moved past Ryuk’s wrist.
The world took a gasp when they witnessed Ryuk’s left hand fade away into nothing but ashes, leaving only a stump that wouldn’t stop dripping blood.
"Tell me, human. How does it feel to be burned away to nothing but ashes?" Ignatius asked as Ryuk’s toppled hand remained floating in the air.
But then, slowly, he took his hand down, and the world dropped their jaws in disbelief when they watched all of the blood floating out of Ryuk’s stump begin moving back up into his arm.
In the next instant, the blood entered back into his body as bones began easily replicating each other.
Quickly, new skin covered them up, and with a bit of stretching, Ryuk had regained his entire hand once more.
"Surprisingly painless, and not as hot as I thought it would be..." Ryuk remarked, as Ignatius’ eyebrows furrowed.
But then, Ryuk began advancing forward.
"If that is all your flame is capable of, then let’s put an end to this circus show, Ignatius!" he called out, and in the next instant, Ryuk’s body shot forward with speed, as the entire ground beneath him shattered into nothing but fragments of glass.
BOOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOM!
A loud noise erupted as the entire balls around Ignatius soared forward with speed.
’Frost Veil...’
Immediately, a world of ice and snow unfurled before Ryuk, carefully slowing down the flying balls, albeit barely.
With even more mind-numbing speed, Ryuk’s body was like a snake weaving through obstacles, as he instantly danced around the balls of flame.
In the next moment, his feet stepped out of the wall of flames formed by Ignatius.
Immediately, his punch jerked backward as he slammed it toward the young man’s face.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A heavy explosion resounded throughout the entire world as Ryuk’s fist slammed head-on into Ignatius’ face, instantly sending the young man’s head slamming toward the floor.
Before it could reach the ground, it stopped, and Ryuk instantly jerked down his right elbow, smashing straight into Ignatius’ stomach and fully slamming him into the ground.
But then...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A heavy explosion resounded as a flaming punch magnified before Ryuk’s gaze through the dust.
He hurriedly tapped his legs on the ground, watching as the punch barely missed smashing into his face by an inch.
Landing onto both of his feet, Ryuk held a cautious light as he looked at both of his hands.
Right now, he had lost both hands, up to their elbows, but they were quickly regenerating.
Ignoring his wounds, Ryuk looked at Ignatius, and slowly, he heard the sound of footsteps ringing through the room.
What appeared was not Ignatius.
It was a fallen figure who seemed to be the incarnation of a burning man.
Right now, silver runic lines were all over the upper part of Ignatius’ body, gently burning with silver flames. His clothes had been burned off, leaving him with only trousers, which seemed to have been made of some special material resistant to his own flames.
"Your regeneration, speed and punching power are the best I have ever seen for an Origin Plane cultivator..." Ignatius said slowly walking forward,
But Ryuk’s eyes widened to their limit in shock as he found a figure standing before him, mere inches away from his face in less than tenth of a second later.
"But you’re still too far off from my level..." Ignatius said as Ryuk instantly smashed out a fist, but Ignatius made no move to dodge it.
The second Ryuk’s fist smashed against Ignatius’ body, the silver flames instantly swallowed Ryuk’s arm, burning it into nothing but ashes.
In response, Ignatius slammed out a knee toward Ryuk’s stomach.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The kick perfectly connected with no sort of protection, and instantly, Ryuk was raised off his feet, sent flying into the distance, smashing into the ground continuously before skidding to a stop.
PIIIIIIIEEERCCCCE!
The second Ryuk landed onto the ground, he hurriedly moved his head to the side, and immediately, the edge of a flaming sword slammed into the ground, piercing it.
Ryuk’s back muscles twitched as he jumped back into the air.
"Ignatius Skill: Infernal Blade Dance..."
Looking at Ignatius, above the young man’s airspace were dozens upon dozens of short swords covered in the same silver flames.
They were just like the fireballs, except this time, they were swords, and their aura was enough to make Ryuk’s heart race.
’This is tricky...’
’He’s not afraid of my attacks. Now that he has become a flaming man, any minute contact with his body affects me instead.’
’My arms are instantly burned away, and even with my crazy regeneration, my entire fists are at least burned off before my nanobody regeneration keeps up and halts the flames effect.’
’In short, he’s like a fire I can’t touch.’
’And knowing that, he also doesn’t dodge my blows, focusing instead on causing me as much damage as possible...’ Ryuk mused as he felt the stinging pain in his own stomach.
The cloth at his stomach had been burned away, revealing red flesh that kept sizzling.
’Just how am I supposed to beat something I can’t touch?’ Ryuk asked himself as the dozens of swords instantly pierced forth toward him.
Their speed was three times that of the previous fireballs, and they appeared before him almost instantly, clouding his entire vision.