Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

2048 Hypocrite

"Nameless, huh?" Ryu said. "I was right. He and I are really too different. So similar that we took opposite paths, you said? I guess that is also correct. I wonder... between the two of us, which one is stronger?"

"He could wipe you out with a single thought. In fact, he would if he cared to pay attention to an ant disrespecting him like this."

Ryu didn't seem offended. In fact, he only laughed harder.

"I'm sure you know that isn't what I meant," Ryu spoke through his laughter, the wild ambition in his eyes burning like a furious light.

"And I'm sure you know that he wouldn't care about your semantics."

"True." Ryu's smile became a fiendish grin, his heart beating wildly as anticipation grew within him.

Would he be content if he were to die here? Yes.

But the world had forgotten one thing.

He was a hypocrite.

Down to his very bones.

Who cared if he would be content?

Contradiction.

DUDOOM. DUDOOM.

Ryu's heartbeat grew so furious that it began to ripple across the world of fog he was in.

He already had a solution to the problem. He just didn't want to use it.

He could also guess who this voice was. He just didn't want to acknowledge it.

But in the end, between the choice of allowing his life to fade away here and grasping another chance...

There was only one choice to make.

Who cared if he was a hypocrite in the eyes of others? Who cared even if he was a hypocrite to even his own self?

In what felt like a far-off, distant past now, Aika had once told him that his Dao Heart was so rigid that it was brittle. If he ever failed one day, it would cause him to collapse.

However, she didn't really understand the type of person Ryu was. She couldn't be blamed, though, because even Ryu didn't understand what kind of person he was until

this very moment.

How could the Dao Heart of a hypocrite be broken?

If he ever met anything contradictory, he would just ignore it. If it came again, he would steamroll it. If it came again, he would grind it into such a fine dust that it would have no choice but to cower before him.

He was Ryu Tatsuya.

And that was all that mattered. So long as there was that shining beacon in his heart that lit his path forward, his steps would never be stopped...

Even by himself.

BOOM!

The call of a White Phoenix echoed through the air.

White Runes filled the skies, descending and piercing into the cocoon that took shape around Ryu. Soon, the dense, heavy grey fog that looked like the Primordial Dust was laced with these gorgeous white runes.

BANG!

A great swordstaff disappeared from Ryu's palm, and his arm reached out with a great amount of speed.

Sarriel's blade was caught in the middle of the air.

A stunned expression crossed her face for a moment, but it didn't trick Ryu. His second great swordstaff disappeared as he snatched out at the air, grabbing her clone's second sword out of the air as well.

Ryu's aura surged and his forearms writhed with almost serpent-like veins as his power erupted.

**CRACK. BANG!**

Both blades exploded beneath the pressure, sending all three of Sarriel's clones flying back and spurting out a mouthful of blood. The third didn't even get a chance to attack before the shockwave sent her reeling.

Ryu's white hair fluttered in the air as he looked into the skies.

"How long are you going to spend up there?"

At that moment, there was a shimmer, and a gorgeous woman stepped out from seemingly the middle of nowhere. A black dress clung to her curves, her sharp violet eyes staring down with a twinkle.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The instant her cherry lips parted, her three clones shattered into a rain of blood. The words she had been about to speak stopped in her throat, her pupils constricting

into pinholes.

"Were you going to say I should defeat your clones first? I should say, I knew that none of them were the real you since the battle started. Unfortunately, it was a bit too embarrassing to expose you then, so I didn't say anything. I think you've underestimated my eyes far too much."

"What happened to not speaking? You're no longer a mute?" Sarriel asked calmly. "Holding back my tongue was getting annoying. If there's a woman that needs a

spanking, shouldn't I give her what she's pining for?"

Sarriel sneered, the wind kicking up around her.

"A truly arrogant bastard."

"Haven't you grown tired of the tsundere shtick yet?" Ryu asked, rolling his neck, His wings flared out, and mountains for dozens of kilometers were flattened beneath their wind pressure alone. "I can tell you that one way or another, you'll obediently climb into my bed. Do you believe?"

"Not in the slightest bit."

Ryu smiled, flicking out his wrists and causing his great swordstaffs to appear at the

same time Sarriel waved a hand to manifest her steely blue katana.

"That's fine. I can make you a believer. We can start with lesson one."

Ryu took a step forward and vanished.

BOOM!

The pressure of their two blades stopped them from meeting. Space bent, but was

forcefully maintained by Ryu's pressure.

Sarriel's gaze flashed, her blade passing through his. But Ryu didn't react to the

sudden warp in reality at all.

Instead, both of them came to a sudden stop.

BOOM! BOOM!

Air exploded as their weapons stopped at one another's necks. Another millimeter and

both of their heads would fly into the skies.

Just as Sarriel was about to speak, a pressure slapped against her face, sending her

flying into the distance.

"Lesson one. I don't hit or abuse my women. If you want to avoid the pain I'm about to

inflict, there's really only one choice to make."

Sarriel's eyes bulged in shock, and then came her fury.

"RYU TATSUYA!"

"Ah, my name has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Learn it well. You'll be saying it a

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"You see, that was less nice. Doesn't have the same charm.""

BANG!

Sarriel appeared before Ryu in a blaze.