Ryu's rage dissipated, not because he had forgiven what Sarriel had done, but rather because he suddenly found this situation very amusing. Everything from Ailsa reprimanding Sarriel like only a big sister shoulder, all the way down to the tinge of green that was Sarriel's lovely features now, he found it all to be almost too excellent.
This Sarriel woman was even more stubborn than he was. Coupling that with what he assumed was the backlash of her technique and it was a miracle that she had even held it together for this long to begin with.
Ryu released a chuckle beside himself, but that much earned him the glare of two ferocious lionesses, Sarriel on one side and Ailsa on the other. Ryu could only be baffled as to the reason why Ailsa was giving him such a look now. Toward such a thing, he could only put his hands up in defeat and turn toward the only woman who was always good to him.
"Are you okay?"
Yaana blinked and nodded, a light smile on her face. Someone else might have already died beneath Sarriel's strike. But, it was clear that, for one, Sarriel hadn't used nearly as much strength as she had against the previous Tenth Order beast and, Yaana herself was in a unique position to deal with Sarriel's blow.
As a part Faerie, Yaana was in a unique position and was granted a far stronger Mental Realm than most humans. When it came to matters of the soul, it was rare for her to fight a match and as such, her senses were especially sensitive. On top of this, Yaana was probably the strongest at her given cultivation Realm when it came to evasion, even better than Ryu when he was using his <Lightning Divine Mark> technique or the Silver Star Visualization.
None of this even mentioned the fact that Yaana's Spiritual Sense worked differently than others did. Rather than seeing and reacting like most people did, Yaana could feel and react. She could use the space around her like a blanket to touch upon information that sight alone couldn't match. In some regard, this ability to sense was even better than Ryu's <Third Perspective> which gave him a perfect and bird's eye view of everything.
With all of these compiled together, even while being a lesser cultivation than Sarriel, Yaana didn't sweat dodging her attack in the slightest. In fact, it had been easy even though she had been caught somewhat off guard. It could be said that none of Ryu's wives were pushovers and thinking that they were so would end in your shooting yourself in the foot.
"I'm fine, really."
Yaana didn't have much of a temper usually, and this was especially so when she was around Ryu. So, she didn't feel like it was necessary to pursue this matter.
At the same time, Yaana was very intelligent in her own right. She could tell how important Sarriel's information was to Ryu. Barring something catastrophic, she didn't want to be the reason that these matters fell through.
Ryu lightly grasped her hand and gave her a small pulse and a reassuring sort of warmth.
"Let's go. I believe we have a lot of things to discuss that can't be done out in the open like this. As for everything else, I'll deal with it later."
…
Soon, five sat in an immortal abode cut off from everyone else.
Ryu sat with Yaana in his lap. Ryza sat at the head of the table looking particularly out of place. And, finally, Ailsa and Sarriel, clearly by choice, sat across from one another, still glaring.
Ryu sighed. More women really did mean more problems. Luckily his Yaana didn't want to make enemies with anyone. Sarriel was definitely a troublemaker. As for Ryza, she was still wondering why it was she hadn't gotten even the slightest bit of respect a Sky God should in the face of so many juniors. She was fine with Ryu not acknowledging her presence because he was an overly arrogant brat, but what about everyone else? Even the soft and dainty Yaana had hardly spared her a glance. Was her imposing aura and majesty not enough?!
"Let's start from the beginning. Tell us the truth. Are you from the past? Did you Fey Race enter seclusion like the Ancestral Beasts had? Or did you come from another world?"
Sarriel frowned, finally looking away from Ailsa. "Why do you need to know all of these things?"
"I think it's pretty obvious why I might have use for this information. What's not obvious is what reason you'd have for trying to hide them. It seems like your only reason for pushing back is because you don't want to talk about those matters, but given the situation and my needs, that's not a good enough reason."
Ryu explained his position unhurriedly. As things stood now, time was on his side. No one could interfere with this world for the foreseeable future, the Ancestral Beasts were embroiled in war with the Martial Gods and the pause in Ryu's cultivation due to his <Intuition> meant he didn't need to worry about such things at all. His only goal right now was to slowly become stronger by experiencing life and tempering his Dao, and he was confident that he would soon one day have the strength to make the Martial Gods pay for their actions.
Sarriel's expression darkened, but she had no way of refuting. There really was no other reason to keep these matters hidden outside of her own unwillingness to talk about it. If it really was a secret she had to take to the grave, she wouldn't have even given Ryu so many hints to begin with.
Why would she want to talk about her eradicated Clan? But now, it seemed she didn't have a choice.
"… My Clan is gone just like I told you. I'm the product of a final attempt at survival and was sent here from a distant past."