Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1878  Chaos

Ryu didn't waste any time. He brandished his great swordstaffs and took a step forward. He didn't use any techniques, no flowery skills. He was simple and to the point, erupting with his greatest strength.

That said, that didn't mean that he did nothing at all. In fact, just the moment he attacked, he suddenly retrieved his Inner World.

Kira, who had gotten used to the suppression of Ryu's Domain, or what he thought was a Domain, was taken aback when it suddenly vanished. Suddenly, his own Domain was lost in a whirlwind of chaos and he was bombarded with an array of senses that he couldn't comprehend in a short time.

All he knew was that he had to move, he couldn't stay in the same spot.

He dodged backward, but Ryu's blade was too fast. It cut down at a diagonal, ripping into his traps and looking to cleave his body in two.

But then…

Ryu's blade froze.

A feeling of danger welled up in Ryu's heart, but his blade even seemed to be stuck for a moment as Kira's muscles flexed so hard that it trapped it in place for a split second.

BANG!

A heart-shuddering pressure rammed into Ryu's chest and practically shattered all of his ribs at once. Ryu was blown back faster than he came.

Despite the pain, he was already prepared for a follow-up, only to realize that Kira wasn't coming after him at all. Not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

Kira had no idea where Ryu was, he had only struck out based on the placement of the blade. But right now, he didn't dare to move casually.

Ryu landed on his feet heavily, his body swaying. He looked down at his bloody chest and slowly shook his head.

Was the gap really that big? Ryu was very disappointed.

In reality, he shouldn't have been. Kira was an entire cultivation Realm above him. Let alone a few broken bones, Ryu should be dead right now. Between two talents of equal level, even a sub-realm of cultivation was a huge disparity, let alone an entire Realm.

But that logic wasn't enough to stop Ryu from being disappointed. Staring down at himself, he realized something quite profound.

Schemes and intelligence really were quite useless in the face of true strength. He could hit Kira just like that hundreds of times, but the result would be the same.

His body was so powerful that his blade wouldn't make it through and he might even find himself getting trapped. Then eventually, Kira would manage to launch a counterattack that actually took his life.

Obviously, Kira understood this as well, or else he wouldn't just be standing there with his senses primed and ready. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Slowly, Kira's vision cleared and he could finally lay eyes on Ryu again. Seeing his state, he couldn't help but sneer.

"So weak."

Ryu didn't reply to Kira.

'It seems that I might have to take a different approach.'

After probing Kira's strength, Ryu realized that if he wanted a victory, he would have to use [Heaven's Gate].

The good news was that the cap of this world was the Perfect Sky God Realm, so he could use this skill.

The bad news was that even if he did, he anticipated a very long, drawn-out battle that would likely do more harm to him than anything else.

For one, it would drain him.

That was fine enough, because he had several methods of "topping up," so to speak. However, what he wouldn't be able to escape was the problem of Kira's companions potentially catching wind of this battle.

If Kira was this powerful, the others were likely extremely powerful as well. Although he had played Adlael in the past, it was clear to him that the Adlael of today wasn't the Adlael of the past.

'I need another way… or, I need to be accepted by this world more…'

Seeing Ryu's practically blank, emotionless stare, Kira felt frustrated. He didn't dare to take the initiative to attack Ryu, and it seemed Ryu knew that. He made no attempt to protect himself and just stood there lost in thought.

'It seems that it's time for plan B.'

Ryu took a step and vanished from Kira's sight, leaving him frustrated and grinding his teeth.

Now, Kira was on edge, not knowing when Ryu might appear again.

…

Ryu moved through the world, summoning his Inner World. His mind churned as he tried to think of a different solution.

It was almost amusing. He had just concluded that schemes couldn't work against absolute strength, and yet here he was, trying to scheme again.

'Well… they're too far from absolute strength.'

Ryu's gaze flashed as he came to a stop. He looked up as an idea came to mind.

He stomped a foot and soared high into the skies, basking in the chaos that washed over him.

'Really?' Ryu was taken aback.

At first, he thought that the chaos in this place was lower-case chaos. This sort of chaos was birthed from Order and it wasn't true Chaos, but rather referred to randomness. However, with enough computation, it was possible to see through it.

Since this Holy World was in the Real Plane, it wasn't a bad conclusion to come to. It would also explain why Ryu wasn't able to see through it immediately.

But then again… weren't there other reasons to explain why he couldn't see through it?

'No, this isn't chaos… this is Chaos.'

That was when the realization hit Ryu. The Holy World was in this state because it was in a state of being born. There was no form of truer Chaos. It was replicating the start of the universe on a much smaller scale.

In that case…

Ryu's gaze flashed and the atmosphere around him changed. Fluttering Runes of Dark Gold took shape as he loosened the restrictions on his Chaotic Silk Meridians and allowed his Childe of Chaos Constitution to flourish.