The young woman was completely taken aback.
What the hell was wrong with this person? Didn't he see that she was a beautiful young lady? Did he just not like women? She was so stunned that she forgot to be angry for a moment.
Isemeine was shocked out of her thoughts by none other than her own thinking. Since when had she relied on her looks to do anything? She would much rather put a foot through Ryu's chest than rely on something like that to vent her rage.
The issue was that Isemeine knew she wasn't allowed to kill Ryu, she wasn't even allowed to harm him. If she did so, she would be punished by her family. And, depending on how important Ryu was, the punishment could even possibly be quite severe.
But all of this was really too annoying. She couldn't remember the last time someone had actually pointed a blade at her like this. In fact, she couldn't remember if anyone ever had. Such a person was probably locked away in a grave somewhere by now.
At this point, even the two young men who were following Isemeine looked toward one another and simultaneously chose to take a step back. They seemed to show no signs of helping Isemeine. In fact, they looked toward Ryu with a hint of pity. They were very much aware of this princess's fiery temper.
There weren't a small number of men who had tried to court Isemeine. Among them, there were no small number who had tried to 'protect' her before. Not only had these few not received the results they wanted, they even ended up getting beaten up alongside the aggressor. Quite frankly, they wanted nothing to do with this.
Isemeine tried to rein in her temper, taking deep breaths and forcing out an ugly smile that contorted even her pretty face somewhat.
"… Could you … please lower the blade…"
Ryu frowned when he heard these words, mostly because this wasn't the level of self restraint he had expected. He had gone through all this trouble, taking roundabout methods to hide his strength, all for the sake of a moment exactly like this one. Yet, this was the very last thing he had expected.
However, Ryu also wasn't the kind of person to do something just because a pretty face asked it of him. He still hadn't forgotten that these people likely had strong ties to the Martial Gods, how could he just let them go like this?
At this point, the odds of this woman simply answering his question without force had already plummeted. In fact, it had already hit rock bottom the moment Ryu chose to be on level ground with them. The ego of this girl was clearly even larger than his own despite the fact she seemed to be held back from acting as she pleased due to some red tape.
Isemeine's forehead popped up with veins when she realized Ryu actually wasn't listening to her despite how polite she had tried to be. She was truly this close from completely forgetting everything and smashing this young man's head into meat paste.
It was at that moment, though, that a horse covered in silver plated armor suddenly appeared in the skies.
Sarriel laughed nervously, placing a palm on Ryu's arm and slowly pulling it down.
"Haha… He doesn't mean anything by it, it's just that everyone here that we've met has been an enemy so there was no reason to believe that you three weren't as well."
Ryu's frown deepened, sending gaze toward Sarriel. But, probably aware that he would be unhappy, Sarriel avoided his gaze like the plague. It took too much out of her to even come up here, she couldn't handle such a glare at the same time.
The veins on Isemeine's forehead didn't seem to calm immediately. It was taking everything in her power not to pounce right this minute. She was even imagining what it would feel like to pound that handsome face in until it wasn't recognizable.
'… His skin probably feels soft and supple too. My fists would fit right in.'
Isemeine grit her teeth, her irises practically lighting on fire. What she found maybe the most irritating was that was Ryu continued to meet her gaze without a word. He was clearly completely unperturbed.
The truth was that Ryu was almost looking forward to fight. He didn't care if it was a woman or a man. He had yet to test out the Heaven Gate of [Heaven and Earth Gate] and this would be the perfect opportunity. But, somehow, Isemeine managed to hold back her temper.
The violent fluctuations of qi in the air came to a slow stop as Isemeine took a deep breath.
"… Big sister?"
"Hm?" Isemeine looked up to find Sarriel looking at her quite sheepishly.
No matter how fiery Isemeine's temper was, she found it difficult to get angry when such an adorable little girl called out to her like this, especially when it was such a polite form of address.
After sending a curious gaze toward Nemesis, Isemeine looked up to Sarriel once again.
"Do you mind explaining what is going on? We all… um… expected something much different." Sarriel said with a soft voice, almost as though she was scared that Isemeine would lash out at her too.
"Oh… Right." Isemeine smiled lightly, even wanting to give Sarriel a pat on the head. "This place is the Nether Palace. Though it appears to be almost identical to the Nether Realm, the truth is that it is only a replica created under the strength of a Dream Wraith."
Ryu's gaze narrowed.
Among the nine Demon King Clans, the Dream Wraith was one of the rarest and most enigmatic. Of the rumors of a potential Demon Emperor Clan that surpassed the Demon Kings, the Dream Wraith always seemed to be wrapped up in such discussions.
From Ryu's own research, there wasn't nearly enough evidence to guarantee the existence of a Demon Emperor Clan, and even the name itself was only casually chosen so that there would be a label to refer to these imaginary Demons.
The reason why the Dream Wraith Demon Kings were wrapped up in such thoughts, though, was because they played an all too important part in Reincarnation.
According to many legends, before Reincarnation could be undertaken, one's memories must first be erased. From Ryu's understanding, the Dream Wraiths gained strength by snatching and absorbing these memories.
While many legends wrote this as a function of necessity, the truth was that it was a function of greed. The Dream Wraiths took these memories because they wanted and needed them. The only reason they didn't kill these souls off and even protected them to enter their next lives were only so that these individuals could live another fulfilling life to give them even more memories to absorb.
The Dream Wraith were among the very rarest Demon Kings to appear as Summons. Not only was a Summoning Necromancer with a Demon King summon impossibly rare to begin with, one with a Dream Wraith was even more so.
And, even in the incredibly sparse instances that one would have one, it would at best be a lower ranking member of the Clan. No one had ever contracted a true noble of the Dream Wraith Demon Kings.
It was no surprise, then, that Ryu harped on this point far more than he did the fact that this was a replica world. Especially since Ryu had already guessed as much.
No matter what floor of the Nether Realm it was, it would never be constricted to just three creatures. There weren't even flying beasts in the skies and there weren't any Elites in the wild… It had been obvious for a long time already that much of this place was artificial.
But, the idea that it was the work of a Dream Wraith…
'The year of my life… Did I not experience it…? Or were my memories of it taken?'
Ryu felt a rage threatening to bubble forth once again. These people… really liked to play games.
Isemeine was irritated that instead of seeing a light of shock or curiosity in Ryu's eye, all she saw was the very same placid look. In fact, she even sensed a hint of killing intent that he was trying to control.
"… Since one among you has gathered two keys, you have the right to buy a passage for up to ten individuals to the second floor where you will have to collect a single key to ascend to the third."
"Big sister, if I might ask… What is it that we are fighting for?"
Isemeine felt almost a motherly urge to protect Sarriel with all her might so she didn't even hesitate to respond.
"If you pass the third floor's assessment, you will gain the right to two options.
"The first is to decline joining my family as a subordinate and keep all the treasures and legacies that you have gained.
"The second is to agree to subordinate yourself under my family. In this case, you will gain a complete Summoning Necromancer Legacy and you will be granted control over a Demon Baron and a Commoner Demon Clan.
"If you should accept, you will receive these rewards and be officially titled an Apostle of my Martial God Clan!"
Ryu's knuckles popped and cracked as he tightened his grip on his Great Swordstaffs. In that moment, he almost couldn't refrain from revealing a fiendish, murderous grin.
He really wanted to kill this girl.