Byrine frame trembled. He had never felt so belittled and humiliated in his entire lifetime.
"Take out your corpse puppet!"
His humiliation fueled his roar. A sharp qi surrounded his body as his sword appeared in hand. The Ember Clan may have been one for flame wielders, but the Lao Clan he was born into was a Clan of swordsman!
"For you…" Ryu flashed forward, his body suddenly appearing not even two feet away from Byrine. "… I don't think I'll feel better unless I do it with my own hands."
The crisp slap resounded through the arena. Byrine's body flew to the side, his head and shoulder smashing into the stage barrier so fiercely that his neck seemed to break in a single instance.
The silence was deafening. Was the difference really so large?
How could they know that to the current Ryu, this Throne Byrine was nothing more than a joke? Ryu's personal strength was already comparable to a Peak Connecting Heaven Realm expert when his bodily strength and Chaos Qi were used as one. If he added his comprehensions and Impose Barriers to this calculation, even Half-Step Immortal Ring Realm experts would have to take him seriously.
Yet this so-called genius Throne Byrine was a mere Middle Connecting Heaven Realm expert. Not only that, but he had already cultivated just over five hundred years to reach this mark. Just by this fact alone, his talent was actually far below Esme's.
This Byrine who saw himself fit to trumpet around his status before Ryu was actually nothing more than a jumping clown. If it wasn't for the fact he had pissed him off, Ryu wouldn't have even bothered to deal with such an inconsequential person.
"Weren't you very imposing just now?"
Ryu appeared by Byrine's half-unconscious body and sent him flying with another kick. His demeanor appeared incredibly relaxed as though he was doing nothing more than taking a stroll in the park.
"Weren't you a lion?"
Even as Byrine's body flew through the air, Ryu mystically appeared above him, striking down from above and using the dazed Throne to shatter the white tiles of the stage below.
Ailsa sighed softly. 'Aiya, my Little Ryu pretends to be so cold but he's actually gotten so angry for a complete stranger. I'm a little jealous.'
In the distance, Guiot was looking on with a shocked expression. After reuniting with his mother and sister, he found out the truth of what was happening and couldn't help but look toward Ryu with a conflicted gaze.
This man so suddenly came into his life and gifted him something that was far too difficult to repay. If he were to return to the Outer Ring now, he would already be among one of their greatest experts. Yet he had reached this realm so… easily… at the whims of a young man he didn't even know.
The crowd was even more stunned. Byrine and Alote were the two premier geniuses of their Core Region. Though they were worse than Ancestor Ember back when he was young, they were still the very best…
How could this be happening?
"I'm just a little prince from the Higher Mortal Plane. Shouldn't you be teaching me about how much of an ant I am right now?"
'Puchi.' Ailsa choked on her own breath, falling into a fit of laughter.
'You're so bad Little Ryu. How could you be compared to a normal little prince?'
No matter how you sliced it, even though Ryu took the crystalline jade and found Ailsa under his own power, his starting point was still much higher than those of the Mortal Planes. His words were definitely a bit disingenuous.
However, the crowd didn't know that. His words sent off a bomb amongst them.
Weren't they just looking down on the Outer Ring? Why was their hero suddenly being beaten by someone of even lower status?
Matheus looked on with a bitter smile. 'He really is nothing like a Necromancer.'
"Stop! Stop!" The stage judge panicked. "Byrine Lao is unable to battle, the match is over!"
Though he said this anxiously, the stage judge was truly hoping that Ryu continued to attack, only then would he have a justifiable cause to be a bit heavy handed. Unfortunately, things did not go as he pleased.
Under the astonished eye of the stage judge, Ryu's attacks abruptly came to a stop. To a normal martial artist, such an abrupt stop would cause a severe backlash, but Ryu slowly fell to the ground as though he hadn't been fighting at all.
Even the stage judge was stunned. He thought he had timed his words perfectly so that Ryu wouldn't be able to stop, yet how could he know that this was a joke before Ryu Chaotic Silk Meridians?
In that moment, Byrine's Throne considerably dimmed in luster even as Ryu's own brightened. The former nearly fell out of the Half-Step Seventh Order entirely.
With a dull thud, Byrine fell to the ground headfirst, his neck injury becoming several times worse.
In the distance, Pascal was sweating profusely. This was way too far out of his expectations. The man he provoked was a Throne? A Throne who could toy with Byrine as though he was nothing more than a joke at that?
Of the families, only his Sai Clan didn't have a deep grudge against Ryu… Yet he actually went out and sought it for himself!
He felt like a fool. How could a normal individual possibly get their hands on so many Crown Grade herbs?
"Commander Fidroha, I really can't take this for even one more second." Edwin's trembling had only grown worse and worse with each passing moment. It really seemed that he could explode at any time.
Fidroha herself was frowning. Even if Ryu had a Faerie partner, this speed of improvement was too great. How could they properly control him? However, she couldn't change the fact that the higher ups were dead set on having this Cultus Faerie beholden to their wills. She didn't have the luxury of changing this.
Though she seemed high and mighty here, and Edwin even called her Commander, what could a mere Immortal Ring expert mean in the face of the Martial Gods? In fact, the Immortal Ring Realm was the bare minimum requirement of joining the Apostles, and even then, she wasn't a true member. It was just that these ignorant people from the Pedestal Plane believed she was.
'What do I do…'
Suddenly, she had an idea and her eyes brightened, her forehead relaxing.
"Hold on a moment, Ryu."
Her voice was as delicate as the flowing wind. Many men felt their heart beats quicken in that instant. However, others sneered, believing that Ryu's arrogance was finally going to pay its due price.
Ryu's footsteps toward his seat paused.
"Please advise me, respected Apostle." Ryu said lightly.
Though his words seemed respectful on the surface, the fact his head wasn't lowered and his features were indifferent painted a completely different tale.
Host Minn's sneer became fiercer toward Ryu's attitude. Unfortunately, the reality smacked him awake from his delusions.
"I believe that this Final Selection Tournament is already meaningless for you. You may not necessarily lose even in our Blossom Plane Final Selection Tournament." She said with a faint smile.
Her words were like a detonated bomb, sending the hearts of the crowd into a frenzy. To those of Lower Planes, those above them were no less than deities. Such words had a more profound impact on them than anything else possibly could.
"With your strength, it already wouldn't be impossible to become a Junior Brother of mine. In fact, I am of the mind of turning this Final Selection Tournament into a little test for you. If you pass, you'll become just like these two subordinates of mine and be named a candidate for the next Apostle Selection…
"… What do you think?"