Ryu wasn't very surprised by this turn of events. If there was anything to raise an eyebrow at, it was the fact it took them this long to target him. This was already the second day of competition, leading up to what should be Ryu's very last match. He had thought that they would come at him sooner.
'It seems this Sai young master is smarter than he seems. He likely wanted to test my limits first and had no choice but to send in this jumping clown after realizing I haven't been pushed to anywhere near my ceiling. The real question is… Which puppet should I use?'
"Begin!"
Raolin's body fell forward the instant the words sounded. It seemed as though he would faceplant into the ground, but this reality was thwarted by his blazing speed. His forward momentum was so fierce that he was nearly horizontal to the ground, sonic booms lying in his wake.
He made it to Ryu in a flash, his arm piercing forward with his fingers as his blade. The sneer on his face projected a confidence one could only claim from a sure victory.
"[Minor teleportation]."
The ground swallowed up Ryu. Ryu's voice became a pail of cold water that doused Raolin's excitement.
He snapped his neck toward Ryu's new location, only to find a Middle Fifth Order corpse puppet waiting for him.
"Do you really think you can defeat me with such a puppet?" His embarrassment was drowned out by anger. Wasn't this Ryu looking down on him too much? His emotions were so stirred up that he didn't even realize his judgement had been completely clouded.
[Minor teleportation] was among the hardest Visualizations Spiritual Endowment Realm experts could use. On top of this, the fact Ryu used it on the ground below his feet displayed a level of mastery beyond normal means. This alone would tell anyone with half a brain that Ryu was far out of their league, but this Raolin was more concerned with his face than his life.
Ryu's corpse puppet wielded a spear. Having been formed by the body of a lithe female, its limbs were far more flexible. Ryu found that controlling it was far easier, but tweaking its qi output was a level harder than it had been for more robust body corpse puppets.
Raolin had wanted to shatter this corpse puppet with a single strike, but he found that he continuously hit air.
The corpse puppet glided along the arena floor, sweeping circles around Raolin. It wasn't that it was faster, but rather than its movement were far more efficient. It had to cover less distance than Raolin to meet it goal.
Ryu closed his eyes, feeling every movement within the corpse puppet's body.
The special fluid concoction he used in place of its blood, the rolling qi through its meridians, the weak flickers of its infant consciousness… Ryu felt it all.
'I'm still missing something.' Ryu would be lying if he said he didn't feel frustrated. He hadn't come across many roadblocks in his path of cultivation. Even his dual wielding style was still progressing smoothly, albeit slowly.
However, there seemed to be a hard block suspending him from reaching a next level of corpse puppet control.
Ailsa had told him that he was thinking too much. Though he had the brain capacity to support it, it wasn't doing him any good.
When he moved his arm, did he have to calculate distance and decide which muscles would provide the most optimal movement? Of course not. Yet, this was what he was doing for every corpse puppet. If one opened his mind and read his thoughts, it would be easy to see endless compiled numbers. But doing such a thing in battle would only be to one's detriment.
Almost three hours later, Raolin finally managed to destroy the shredded mess that was left of Ryu's corpse puppet. Unfortunately, there was no victory for Ryu this time. Or rather… there wasn't one for his corpse puppet.
Raolin roared into the skies like a mad man. His injuries were completely superficial, but he was still drenched in his own blood. He felt as though his stamina had been rung completely dry, but his gaze still blazed with fury.
To be pushed to this extent by a mere Middle Fifth Order corpse puppet was humiliating beyond words. He didn't even care about his cousin's goal, all he wanted to do was rip Ryu apart with his bare hands.
"Die!" His blade like finger pierced forward once more, reflecting in the sun like a fine sheet of metal.
There should have been a massive impact, at the very least. The wind should have rippled, the white tiles should have shattered, there should have been a cry of pain followed by a body streaking through the air.
However, what Raolin received was nothing more than the soft touch of two fingers. These two fingers taunted his own weakness, stretching out from Ryu's hand to block his deadly qi with absolute ease.
In that moment, the Ryu who had stood behind his corpse puppets with barely a movement for two days had finally made a move on his own, but the result was far beyond anyone's wildest speculations.
"Are you going to go down on your own? Or would you like me to send you down?" Ryu asked the question completely emotionlessly, looking toward Raolin as though he was nothing more than a rat on the side of the road.
Raolin felt a trembling sense of shame. Against his better judgement, he lashed out.
The slap that resonated in the next instant caused the arena to go completely silent. The blood that coated Raolin's face only made the sound that much crisper. It was the kind of noise that made the ears ring, echoing endlessly through the sound amplifying arena.
Raolin was thrown off the stage, his jaw shattering and his conscious fading.
Ryu looked off into the distance, meeting the gaze of a familiar young man who thought he had hidden himself well. The look he gave him was no different than the one Raolin received. To Ryu, these two were the same. Weak rodents clogging up his path.