Valeska released a maddened, banshee-like roar, her shriek causing space to crack and shift.
A powerful force sent Ryu flying backward, a flash of pink appearing before his chest in the blink of an eye. In quick succession, Valeska released a flurry of strikes, leaving Ryu's torso a mangled mess of flesh and blood as though his blackened scales were nothing more than a spread of butter.
The fierce glow in Valeska's eyes was unlike anything it had been before.
Her distorted nose snapped back into place, her crushed jaw and cheeks regaining their volume as her speed seemed to explode.
However, Ryu's expression remained as unmoved as always.
"<Fate Reversal>."
Valeska's relentless attack stuttered, a mouthful of blood flying from her mouth as her own chest erupted into a mangled mess.
Ryu's Great Swordstaff swung forward in the small gap, taking advantage of what was ultimately a split of a split second as though it was as easy as breathing.
His blade ascended from below, tearing through the ground and warping its polearm to the point when it collided with Valeska, the entire edge was pressed flush against her body.
Valeska should have been cut directly in half, but a spark of blinding golden-pink erupted and she was sent flying once again.
Ryu raised his blade again, causing yet another bolt of black lightning to descend. He repeated his same actions as though he hadn't skipped a single beat, Kagan's body splitting in two all to provide yet another ball of Fate for him.
Valeksa's cry bellowed into the skies. Pink diamond wings burst from her backs and hips.
A single flap tore through the fabric of reality. In that moment, Ryu could see all four Planes with his eyes, a single step capable of leading him to any single one just that easily. And yet, that singular flap also brought Valeska right to his face, her blade piercing forward with a blinding momentum.
Ryu rose his Great Swordstaff, the flat of its blade meeting the piercing blade, rotating just the slightest bit toward his outer hip the instant the met.
Just the small change sent Valeska glancing off to the side, her impetus threatening to send her flying by him.
However, at the instant Ryu had lifted his sword, his weight had shifted as well, his leg lifting as he whipped his shin into what should have been her soft belly but was really her hard armor.
All of Mistress Holy Wing's momentum reversed in an instant.
She sped out like a bolt, a speeding cannonball released from a cannon. Her body burst into flames, her wings being forcefully wrapped around her body as the wind pressure was far too much for her to fight back against and unfurl them.
Ryu calmly raised his blade again, repeating the same actions with the same level of monotony.
His wrist flickered, another ball of Fate entering the fray of Martial God Sky Gods. By this point, their number had been cut down by more than half, Ryu's slaughter causing the corpses of old monsters that had experienced tens of trillions of years of life into nothing more than piles of flesh and bone.
Kagan was practically losing his mind. Being forced to the brink of death only to be reeled back at the final moment again was having a severe effect on his psyche.
He realized that Ryu was doing it on purpose. He had never intended to spare him, nor did he fear the organization behind him. In fact, he wanted him to suffer, suffer so much that he wouldn't even want to live any longer.
He was being reared and used like livestock. Just the same way these people had seen Ryu's Tatsuya family as a convenient key to getting what they wanted, he made them feel used and abused.
This was his, his family's. And yet they wanted to take away the things that had been grown on their land for their benefit?
Not while he was here. Not while he could make them suffer.
A blaze of pink diamond light shot by Ryu. His body tilted to the side, but not far enough, his arm being severed from his shoulder and spinning into the air.
Valeska rose into the skies in the distance, her expression livid. Pink diamond runes crawled up her cheeks and encroached the side of her eyes, looking a lot like Heavenly Ice Phoenix Patterns with their straight lines and sharp corners.
The whites of her eyes had vanished, replaced by an entire gem of pink, her wings looking less like soft, pillowy constructs and becoming more like precious metals carved into gorgeous constructs.
Valeska stomped on the ground, her body barreling forth.
"I DON'T CARE HOW POWERFUL YOU'VE BECOME! I'LL ENJOY KILLING YOU!"
Valeska's sword hand reached out, her body practically becoming one with her sword qi as she soared forward. In the blink of an eye, she was already within a meter of Ryu, her blade prepared to pierce right through his heart.
However, even having lost an arm, Ryu's expression couldn't have been more placid.
He didn't even raise his second Great Swordstaff, his lips slightly parting.
"<Fate Reversal>."
Valeska's eyes widened, a sharp pain suddenly ripping her sword arm out of its socket and sending it spiraling into the air.
Ryu's arm snapped back into his shoulder, his grip still holding onto his Great Swordstaff tightly. As though it had never left his body, he swung downward, matching Valeska's momentum with his own.
A light of fear lit in Mistress Holy Wing's eyes, but it was already too late to retreat. The wounds Ryu's last <Fate Reversal> had caused her had yet to even heal despite her healing factor, there was no time to even think of reattaching her arm.
BANG! CRACK!
The spark of pink that had protected her before shattered like fine glass, her valiant armor going with it.
When it seemed she would be sent flying into the distance again, Ryu's left Great Swordstaff rose light lightning, smashing downward and shifting all her backward momentum into the ground.
The flat of Ryu's blade smashed half her body into minced meat. Her bones turned to mush, her flesh becoming a mangle heap of blood.
The ground beneath them collapsed, but Ryu's qi surged outward, stabilizing it. He wanted her to feel the full brunt of smashing into the earth.
BANG!
The pain was unbearable to the extent Valeska didn't dare even to scream out.
Ryu didn't wait, he didn't even hesitate. He didn't speak any final words, nor did he get any final digs in. He had had his fill of humiliating this woman with words long ago. Now, he only wanted to sever her life with his blade.
However, just as he was about to swing down and end it, a hand appeared on his forearm.
It was strong, stronger than anything Ryu had ever experienced. And it was large, not to the point of being giant, and yet it still felt far larger than what a human should wield.
This was completely unlike when Tybalt had snuck up on Ryu. The difference was worse than night and day. Ryu's senses had not only been heightened to an extreme, they had progressed forward through a trillion years of improvement!
In the distance, Elena's eyes widened.
"RYU! RUN! PLEASE!"
"Is this the son-in-law I've heard so much about?"
The voice was almost too soothing to come from a man, and yet it was as deep as a vast ocean, penetrating through the four Planes with an ease that shouldn't have been possible. It was as though when this man spoke, the world was forced to listen.