Ryu exhaled a breath, feeling the swaying flames within him.
This white flame that went by a name even he could still not pronounce had always had a mind of its own. Regardless of what he did or tried, it never seemed to listen to him. But now, it suddenly had blossomed and gained a mind of its own.
It wasn't lost on Ryu that this white flame had saved his life once before. And, it also wasn't lost on him that its fires were likely what made the Phoenix Sky God Spiritual Foundation so unique and amazing. But, if it didn't want to listen to his commands, there was very little he could do about it.
Thinking back through it all, this white flame was even the reason why his soul had gained a fully elemental form, laying the foundation he needed to improve it to the Indestructible Soul Realms. There were so many mysteries surrounding this flame, mysteries he hadn't even begun to tap into just yet.
No amount of knowledge seemed to have prepared him for it, either. He had never read about such a flame and he hadn't heard any legends of white phoenixes either. It felt to him that this must have been a special Dao of the Phoenix Sky God, a creation formed through their journey that ultimately led to the formation of this unique flame that seemed to somehow rival even the Origin Flame.
It was odd. The Origin Flame was meant to be the pinnacle of all flames, and yet even after taking a complete one as his own, the white flame still refused to listen to his commands. The only possible conclusion was that this white flame was either on the same level, or even beyond.
Ryu opened his eyes once more and began to walk.
The death shrine looked like dark catacombs. Stones and skulls of various sizes lined the walls, paths alternated between thin and narrow and opening up to reveal grand majestic halls, and a dense blackness pervaded it all.
Ryu walked forward with confidence, his gaze seemingly able to see through everything.
Unlike the previous Shrines he had been to, there weren't any protectors of this one remaining, causing it to revert back to its original state. Or, rather, the state it had always been in.
Without a Saint or Saintess, a Shrine was designed to protect itself and stop others from reaching its core. It required an extraordinarily skilled Ruin Master to slip by all of the tricks and make it to the center. This was something that would have been a worry for anyone else, but… He was Ryu Tatsuya.
Ryu had been able to do this with a much lesser version of his Heavenly Pupils. Now that it had reached the highest level possible, strolling through Ruins almost felt like doing the same through his own backyard, there was practically no difference.
Ryu saw through mazes, sidestepped traps, and pick the right path time and time again. In just a few hours, he entered a grand hall, so grand, in fact, that he felt like a drop in the middle of a vast ocean.
The floors were covered by an obsidian sort of marble, so shiny and polished that it felt like one was standing in the depths of space rather than solid ground. The walls were covered in elaborate designs of black, gold and crimson, depicting the scenes of epic battles and, namely, tragic deaths of heroes long past.
Ryu moved forward slowly, crossing the grand hall before suddenly coming to a stop.
The region before him didn't seem any different, just the same vast, shiny blackness. But, it was then that Ryu pursed his lips and blew.
A strong breath left his lips, shooting out in a line and hitting the ground ahead… only for it to reveal itself to have never been ground to begin with.
A wild ripple of water spread outward, the surface of the almost hidden lake separating into two.
Ryu's gaze narrowed. Almost too quickly, the waters settled back down, providing themselves to be far too viscous to be real water.
That blow of wind Ryu had just released was enough to split an ocean in two and even leave a deep gash down its bedrock. And yet, this black 'water' had hardly moved. It was almost impossible to fathom just how dense and heavy it was.
'Blood.'
Ryu was certain.
What had tipped him off to the existence of this 'lake' hadn't been his eyes, but had rather been his senses. The vitality pumped within this blood was almost overwhelming. But, what was odd was that Ryu's grandmother hadn't mentioned it.
'It's likely that they ended up in a different section of the Death Shrine all together, likely a false core…'
Though Ryu had made it look easy, this was the most complex Ruin he had ever been in. It was easy for another to get fooled.
Many Ruins had what were called False Cores. These False Cores were designed to look and even feel like the real Core, and would even have great treasures to partake in, however they would essentially be throwing off less skilled individuals from the true treasure.
'This is Dark Phoenix Essence Blood. But… Why?'
The other Shrines didn't have Blood Essence in them when they were found. If they had, this would have been something Ryu was ready for. But that was obviously not the case.
The Shrines and the Bloodlines that could make the best use of them were two separate entities entirely, neither tied to one another. The Ice Phoenixes, for example, happened to control the Life Shrine, but the Life Shrine didn't birth Ice Phoenixes, Ice Phoenixes just happened to be the best candidates to make use of the Shrine. Same went for the Rebirth Shrine and the Fire Phoenixes.
But now, this Death Shrine seemed to break all of these rules, and it felt… Deliberate. Something that went beyond a coincidence and felt all too planned.
Ryu took a step forward, suddenly falling into an abyss of blood.