Chapter 597 In Six
Ryu swung his sword upward to meet Sarriel's. The clash was like nothing this world had ever witnessed before, a cascading, explosive waterfall of ice, lightning and fire.
The two blades had hardly met when Ryu already pressed forward with his second. He seemed completely unmoved by Sarriel's display, the coldness of their gazes meeting across the void and clashing as fiercely as their blades themselves.
Sarriel's free hand stretched out a palm, drawing a circle in the air that reflected Ryu's second Great Swordstaff even as she swung her katana once more. Her movements became faster and more free flowing as though she was finally not holding back anymore. All sorts of miraculous arts Ryu had never seen before manifested themselves, pressing down while suffused with endless killing intent.
Ryu's own blades gained an enigmatic air to them. Even without actively using [Heavenly Flow], he seemed to have stepped into a realm that existed beyond it. His every stroke caused heavenly energies to sing as though he was fusing with them.
His Immortal Rings trembled, the dark gold pulsing with stronger and stronger lights.
As though pushing back against a suffocating pressure, they fought back, pressing up and bursting through a barrier that had been holding them back.
A roar left Ryu's lips as he spontaneously broke through to the 3rd Immortal Ring stage, his power soaring.
The essence of Ryu's strikes grew not only swifter, but far more enigmatic. His meridians pulsed and whined, growing a stronger and fiercer connection to the Chaos Realm, filling his body to the brim with qi that could topple the skies.
The Glove of Order pulsed, a greater strength flowing into Ryu's twin Great Swordstaffs as the black lightning and flames grew in power.
'[White Serpent's Dance: White World].'
Ryu's aura surged. In that moment, the world seemed to lose its color, the qi of the atmosphere bending to his will and accumulating within his blades.
He slashed downward as though he wouldn't be satisfied unless the world itself was split in two. It was like he wasn't fighting Sarriel but the world itself.
Sarriel moved quickly, her gaze flashing. As she moved her sword as though about to sheath it at her hip, her eyes flashed, a second Sarriel appearing between herself and Ryu. This time, there was no doubt that her clone had at least 90% of her strength.
It shot forward, meeting Ryu's strike with its own blade. There wasn't an ounce of fear or hesitancy in its eyes as though Ryu's attack was nothing more than a spring breeze.
Sarriel herself had withdrawn her blade to hip in a sheathing motion. However, there was no sheath in the slightest. In fact, for some odd reason, her blade was facing the sky as her thumb pressed down on it while it was her four fingers that were wrapped around the dull side of the blade.
A trickle of blood left her thumb as the crown on her head continued to glow brighter. It dripped down both sides of the sword as though it too had been severed in two. She watched with indifference as her clone was obliterated by Ryu's strike, even forming another one without batting an eye.
However, this time, before the clone could do much of anything, it burst into a rain of blood and gore, its essence surging toward Sarriel's palm.
It all splattered against Sarriel's sword and ice armor, painting both crimson as her aura continued to rise. And then, before Ryu could even prepare a second attack, the world fell into silence.
"Blood of Mine. Sword of Mine. The Moon reflects all Things. The Sword Severs all Things. The Moon Goddess watches over the Night.
"…
"[Eternal Rest]."
Sarriel 'unsheathed' her sword. Her blade ran up the length of her thumb, slicing down to the bone as it arched upward in an elegant arch. Every inch Sarriel's thumb run down began to glow with a fearsome light, coating the katana with a sword qi that shattered space everywhere it passed.
When Sarriel's blade reached the apex, it hung in the air, mirroring her Immortal Ring manifestation and piercing right toward the skies.
The energies of the world trembled, even the peak of the mountain threatening to collapse.
Sarriel slashed downward.
The world was covered in a blanket of red, dyed in the blood of the fallen. It seemed to speak to Ryu's soul. After giving up just a bit of blood, Sarriel was able to force the world itself to kneel. It was as though her blade spoke volumes on its own.
You might die and be forgotten by the world. But she? She was Sarriel Moon. A single drop of her blood was enough to make the Heaven's shed tears. As for her life itself? It was more valuable than even the world.
Space no longer seemed capable of repairing itself. A scythe of crimson tore through it all. It carried the same will as Ryu's. It was like it wasn't aimed toward him at all, but rather toward something much grander.
Ryu's pupils constricted. This attack was on the level of a Mystical Grade technique. And, unlike when he was facing that fool from the Scarlet Clan, she had not only executed it before he could interrupt it, but the power behind it was also far beyond what he would have faced had he failed to stop that Scarlet Sparrow.
On top of that, the words Sarriel spoke weren't meaningless. They were similar to Chanting or reciting Mantra technique. They called down a mysterious power that only multiplied the strength of her sword swing.
Ryu took a breath, his expression becoming colder.
He didn't know what Sarriel's purpose was. He didn't know why this Legacy World was so important to her. He didn't know why she had come from her time to this one or even what her goals were. In fact, he didn't even know if it was just her or if there were others she was allied with.
But at this moment, none of it mattered. There was a time when he could be said to care for this woman. Even now, he wasn't sure if all of that was an act. And, even if it was an act, how could a woman as clearly prideful as Sarriel allow herself to put on such a performance?
The more confused about it all Ryu became, the firmer his resolve was. Making sense of the plight of his enemies wasn't his job. Sarriel might have a purpose, but he had one too. And that duty would always be to his family.
Ryu didn't move an inch from his location, allowing Sarriel's crimson blade qi to approach him. But, just when it seemed that he would be torn in two, he spoke three simple words.
"[Divine Chaotic Annihilation]."
The world froze.
Ryu's forehead split, revealing a dense sphere of black that solidified everything around it. His eyes suddenly became pervaded by an endless blackness, radiating out a fog that was just as dark.
Sarriel felt like her Dominion had almost become useless. Her control over her energy faded by several folds while Ryu's own only seemed to multiply. At the same time, her blade of red came to a grinding halt for just a moment before it was suddenly twisted apart into nothingness.
Sarriel's pupils constricted, but it was already too late.
An overwhelming surge of Spiritual Qi surged into Ryu's Spiritual Sea. But, he had long since been ready.
An enormous Visualization on his Grimoire manifested itself into the skies, pulsing with raging flames prepared to topple all of existence.
The pages began to flip, immediately landing on what Ryu wanted.
Ryu's palms squeezed together, his two Great Swordstaffs shattering into pockets of crackling lightning and dancing flames.
He raised his right arm up into the skies, causing this lost energy to surge up his forearm and toward his clawed arm. In that moment, Ryu's arm seemed to grow a size, pulsing with so much vital qi that it truly looked like the claw of a dragon.
His claws lengthened, the space around them pulsing as Ryu poured more and more Spiritual Qi into his Grimoire.
BANG!
Ryu's arm grew another size. But, this time, it became obvious that it wasn't his flesh, but rather a shield of energy in the form of a claw surrounding it. However, it looked so corporeal and real that it felt more like a Dragon King had raised its fury against the Heavens themselves.
The Dragons were a crude race that didn't have many great sayings. They were far more focused on their overwhelming strength as opposed to building up their scholarly wiles. As one might expect with such a race, the sayings they did have, then, embodied this perfectly.
Ryu had heard it and at this moment, those crude words resonated with his very mind and soul.
'A Dragon's Breath can split the skies in two… A Dragon's Claw can split the world in five.'
A fiendish grin appeared on Ryu's face, an aura to rule the world causing his hair to billow about as though each strand was a rampaging Dragon of its own.
"In that case, I'll split the world in six."
BANG!
Ryu's energy claw grew to the point it rose over a hundred meters into the sky. The only reason space itself wasn't twisted and sheered apart was because [Divine Chaotic Annihilation] hung there menacingly, sealing the fate of all those that appeared before it.
This would end here.
Ryu's claw began to descend. Before it even picked up momentum, it proved that Dragon's truly disdained to lie.
The grating sound of the world itself being torn in six shook the Legacy World.