City Lord Loom's eyes narrowed. He found Ryu's actions more confusing than they'd ever been before. If he didn't know better, he'd think that this young man had a split personality, one of which was a dolt, while the other was sharp and intelligent.
The Inner Ring had its own governmental system apart from the Outer Ring, but it wasn't drastically different. While in the Outer Ring, there were nine major cities controlled by three Fifth Order Sects each, in the Inner Ring, there were dozens of major cities split amongst five Half-Step Sixth Order Clans.
Though the Inner Ring technically covered a smaller area than the Outer Ring, it had much less wilderness around it, leading to this situation.
In the end, though Looming City was Zu Clan territory, it was only so in name. The truth was the Looming City was a city built by the Loom Clan, a powerful Fifth Order Clan in their own right. Unfortunately, they were forced to pay a certain tax toward the Zu Clan, which was why in technical terms, they were controlled by them.
Still, that beauty named Tae was correct. Had Tharon been a Zu, City Lord Loom would have had no choice but to punish Ryu to the full extent of his abilities. After all, he still had to answer to the Zu Clan. But, since he was a Basteel, he had a certain amount of wiggle room.
The issue was that with Ryu's blatant exposing of this, the wiggle room he had was halved instantly. Who knew what kind of treasures Tharon had in his spatial ring? What if it was something the Basteel Clan absolutely wouldn't part with? And, asking him to personally hand over the spatial ring was very different from him taking it himself.
Despite knowing the position Ryu put the City Lord in, he sneered.
"I'm not a fan of being blackmailed." City Lord Loom said coldly.
"And I'm not a fan on those who believe themselves to be more powerful than me acting as they please. That fool had nothing to do with you, yet you insisted on crossing so far to pick him up. And for what? To display your dominance? You brought this on yourself."
The atmosphere became more and more difficult to breathe in. This young man was really unwilling to take even a single step back. In fact, he was pressing forward. Had he lost his mind?! If he was so certain that the City Lord needed him, then all he had to do was play it cool. Plus, Tharon was unconscious, if Ryu just followed the City Lord, it wouldn't be impossible to ask for the spatial ring in secret, why did he have to do it public like this?!
There was little those of the City Lord's stature wanted to protect more than their image. Such a thing was directly tied to the Faith and their future path. Even if the City Lord wanted to make use of Ryu before, how could he still do so now?
Some believed that maybe Ryu was acting this way because he had some sort of backing. In fact, his talent and young age, not to mention his display of wealth in taking out thirty corpse puppets, convinced some of this already. It was only Ailsa who facepalmed continuously. It was only she who knew that Ryu didn't have some grand plan nor backing, he really was just pissed off.
No matter how often he reminded himself that he was no longer the Scion of the Tatsuya Clan, he found it difficult to remain quiet in the face of clear disrespect.
To Ryu, the City Lord's actions in taking Tharon without asking him first was nothing short of a slap to the face. Who was he to save his, Ryu Tatsuya's, enemy from his fate? How dare he?
Those who watched on could tell that Ryu was truly enraged. Though it wasn't true, his momentum even gave the illusion of matching the City Lord's aura.
Suddenly, the City Lord's aura completely dissipated as he shook his head.
"Inexperienced. Far too inexperienced."
He casually swatted his palm downward. Before Ryu could react, a monumental pressure descended from the skies, crashing down into him and the Bloodied Steed he sat upon.
Though the poor beast tried to maintain its upright posture, its strong legs inevitably buckled, sending Ryu sprawling to the ground.
Ryu pushed off to land on his two feet, but his back was bent so far forward that his forehead practically touched the ground. Anyone watching could tell that he was straining himself to the limits in order to avoid kneeling at all costs.
He coughed violently, blood flying from his lips.
"Heh…" Ryu chuckled, his eyes able to see nothing but the ground.
A strong restrict qi bound him, pulling him forward against his will and away from the Bloodied Steed.
Tae frowned at this scene. What was it that made the City Lord so confident that Ryu had nothing to rely on? Did she miss something? She knew that the City Lord wasn't a fool, and considering the current tense political climate, there was no way he would take the risk of offending a big character.
There were only two possible explanations. Either the Loom Clan had become desperate enough to take the risk, or she was too inexperienced and this Ryu had nothing to rely upon.
'Could it be possible for a genius so young to…' Suddenly Tae's pupils constricted, realizing that she had forgotten an extremely important detail while she was analyzing Ryu's talent – he had no Inherited Name!
What was it that they heard Tharon yell? He had called this Ryu a 'nameless bastard', no? That was it! There was no chance that someone from a big Clan would ever claim to be nameless!
Ryu's knees bent, trembling under the pressure. Though his eyes reflected the fiery pits of hell, because his forehead was nearly touching the ground, not a soul could see them…
Maybe if they had… No, maybe if City Lord Loom had… He would have realized that saving his face wasn't worth it.
City Lord Loom looked down at Ryu's awkwardly bent body, his expression carefree once more. He shook his head. This child was so prideful, but did he think others didn't have the right to their own pride as well? Sometimes, one had to know when to lower their head. His hand waved again, sending Ryu's body to the excited Captain Zu. But, hearing the City Lord's next words, that excitement was doused instantly.
"Throw him in a cell. But…" His eyes sharpened. "… Be sure to follow proper protocol and don't dare bend the rules again… or I'll have your head."