Ryu was shrouded in a crackling black lightning. It infused itself into his violet lightning flame, darkening the scales and energies around his body as though tainting it.
Ryu's grip around Isemeine's throat was so tight that her neck nearly snapped. She could feel her skin giving way to his strength, her spine crackling and threatening to shatter completely. As quickly as Ryu's strength had vanished, it had come back even fiercer than it had before. It even seemed as though his body had never been injured in the first place.
Isemeine suddenly began to laugh again.
"What, are you angry? You men are all such worthless scumbags. What? You can fuck as many women as you want but she can't dare to touch another man even after so long?"
Isemeine found it all to be very amusing. Not even a few minutes ago, Ryu was being cursed out for abandoning a woman by someone she assumed must have been her relative. But now he was throwing a temper tantrum about something she said casually?
If it was just a small want before, right now she really wanted to bash his face in.
Ryu's cold eyes stared into her white-gold. What once were violent irises continued to gradually darken.
Veins popped across his arm, booms sounding through the air as he squeezed tighter and tighter. Just the crackling of his and her bones alone sent ripples through space.
When it seemed that Isemeine's neck might really give way, her spear shot forward like a golden flood dragon.
Ryu's [Immortal Sakura] manifested in the blink of an eye, fluttering rose petals falling from the skies, only to be shattered by the mere wind pressure of Isemeine's spear alone.
The breaking of glass and the whistling of wind howled through the air. Even at such close quarters, and even from such an awkward position, she managed to reach such a speed with nothing more than the flick of her wrist, her eyes dead set on ripping Ryu's throat out.
The white gold energy billowed, flooding the surroundings until Isemeine looked like a sparkling star in the midst of all the darkness. Her light was so bright that it was viewable from thousands of kilometers away, sending a pillar of white gold into the skies.
Ryu was forced to retreat, his body twisting to the side.
Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. Isemeiene's spear tore the air in two, aiming to rip a chunk out of his torso.
But, it was at that exactly moment that Ryu's body became incorporeal, allowing a spear to shoot right through his chest.
Crackling dark violet lightning and flames swirled around Isemeine's spear as it hit nothing but air.
Ryu's body vanished into a flicker of lightning. When he reappeared, his arms jetted outward, grasping at air and causing his Great Swordstaffs to fly out from the mountains they had been stuck in and into his palms.
A blooming Small Realm grew around his body, its momentum growing with each passing moment. It was as though Ryu wanted to suffocate every shred of energy in this world, forcing it to bend to his will and heed his call.
Isemeine lightly rubbed her neck, a dim fury lighting her eyes.
'Small Realm…?' Her eyes narrowed. '… So this is the power of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils… Worthy, indeed… They say he is the greatest genius ever born in the Martial World. I'd like to see it for myself!"
Violent cyclones of Nether Qi gathered around Ryu, his skin glowing a fiercer and fiercer light beneath his scales. The more qi he absorbed, the more violent the black lightning around him became, darting in to the surroundings and snapping in the air.
'[White Serpent's Dance: Winding Step].'
Ryu vanished, appearing before Isemeine in the blink of an eye.
His steps felt illusory. Even if one focused, it felt impossible to pinpoint the location of his feet. It felt as though they were both in a single place, yet not at the same time. And yet, the oddity didn't seem to stem from Ryu himself, but rather an inappropriate shift in their focus.
Ryu clashed with Isemeine, their exchange suddenly shifting into a flurry.
Isemeine's spear spun in her hands. Her speed and strength seemed unmatched, her countenance unfazed. Even the bruises that had just coated her neck had already vanished, replaced by a vibrant, unblemished fairness that shone almost as bright as the white gold that surrounded her.
Ryu's comprehension of a perfect offense and defense, grasped after he entered his Earth Gate for the first time, hadn't faded.
As delicate rose petals continued to fall from the skies, contrasting the crackling of his black lightning, his left hand held the staunchest defense. No matter how Isemeine attacked, he seemed to see through her in the blink of an eye, countering with the perfect block, [Skim], or [Parry].
As for his right, it moved along with an enchanting dance. Breaths of fragrant wind swirled around him, his body filled with an intoxicating cadence.
Ripples trembled through the sky. Every time the two separated and clashed once more, mountains collapsed and avalanches started.
It felt as though just their single step could shatter everything, their single action could upturn the skies, their single roar could shroud a clap of thunder.
Isemeine whipped her golden spear outward, using the rebounding force to shoot backward several hundred meters.
A light breath left her lips. Somewhere deep inside, she felt that this was all too ridiculous. Even though she had only been trying to probe Ryu's bottom line, not even using 10% of her strength, this was still too ridiculous.
A Lower Connecting Heaven Realm expert was battling her and even though he had suffered, he still wasn't anywhere close to going down. In fact, his body seemed to be… recovering? She couldn't explain it, but she felt that her instincts were true.
Isemeine looked into the skies, cursing the Nether Qi around her. If it wasn't for the fact she couldn't use atmospheric qi freely, while apparently he could, she wouldn't have even needed to try so hard.
'Fine. If he wants a battle, I'll give it to him. As long as I don't have to dig too deep and reach that level, it will be fine.'
Isemeine's aura suddenly imploded outward. If she was a star before, she was nothing short of a supernova now.