𝑂𝐕𝐞xt.𝗇t

The golden miasma above rattled and boomed, the Heavenly Path’s perpetual golden light becoming dark for the first time.

The ground rattled, trees that stretched countless kilometers into the skies swayed, and the very water bodies that did exist in the place formed tsunami-like waves destroying everything in their path.

Ryu’s silvery irises glowed with a fierce and undying light, the wound to his chest quickly reforming as the tattoos on his body danced, exuding a radiant light.

To his back, 13 mighty and trembling dark gold rings of qi took form, shaking the world.

Mae’s gaze couldn’t help but constrict. She had seen these Immortal Rings before, but they were nothing like she had experienced before. The unbalance Art Sect’s grounds were designed to be cut off from the Heavens, this was the best sort of location to practice their techniques, but as a result of this, when Ryu spoke the enchantment to summon his Immortal Rings, she hadn’t felt the true weight of those words…

Until now.

The heavens seemed to be absolutely infuriated, and yet Ryu’s aura only continued to climb. The higher Heaven he was on when he summoned his Immortal Rings, the more oppressive the backlash. It was almost a unique form of suicide to dare to summon these rings in the Heavenly Path of all places… But that only made them all the more powerful.

Ryu immediately sensed something as his Immortal Rings took shape, but he pressed down the feeling, knowing that he couldn’t allow himself to explore it, especially not here. If the world wanted to see it, to bring him down, then they would have to force him!

Ryu punched out and Starlight almost immediately reacted, sending out a palm in retaliation.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Ryu coughed up several mouthfuls of blood as he was forced back again and again, but he continued to send out strikes until his gaze flashed.

”Storm.”

The rumbling thunder above solidified just as Ryu’s own Immortal Rings likewise Solidified. The fury of the Heavenly Path was palpable, and yet Ryu only made personal use of it, turning the fury of the Heavens toward himself and activating his Storm Talent.

Arcs of white, gold and radiant royal blue lightning descended from the skies, piercing toward Starlight and causing his expression to change. He was once again surprised. Ryu really did have the Storm Talent! No, not just the Storm Talent, but the Lightning God Talent as well! This didn’t make any sense!

The truest form of Tribulation Lightning fell from the skies and Starlight was forced to dodge, and then dodge again.

Ryu shuttled through space and appeared before Starlight, his gauntlets having turned into a shimmering swirl of white, gold and royal as he smashed downward.

Starlight’s gaze flashed with an annoyed light. Every time he felt that he had Ryu suppressed, he would come out with more bullshit, and what were those words he had spoken before supposed to mean? He usually considered himself to be an even keeled individual, but for some reason that look in Ryu’s eyes was pissing him off.

If you’re weak, then just admit that you were weak. What sort of weak person hides trump cards and brings them out one by one just to get defeated again and again. If you’re weak, shouldn’t you bring out everything you have right at the beginning?!

Starlight’s temper flared. It was as though Ryu truly thought there was a chance to defeat him with just this pitiful amount.

”you don’t have the bones of the Qilin. You can’t assimilate with lightning properly. You can’t reforge your Spirit Body as it should be so you can’t even summon as much lightning as you should be able to with that talent. You have three of the four pillar talents of their race, but your use of them is pitiful. Just piss off!”

Starlight’s frustration had been building up ever since Ryu’s first appearance and now it just felt like it was bubbling over.

The void trembled once again, and a second Constellation formed. It was once again exuding the aura of the Dominion Grade and it formed a shimmering dark gold shield.

The shield slotted perfectly into one of Starlight’s four foggy hands, forming an impenetrable defense and gently pressed forward.

Ryu found his fist meeting an undeniable force. Even as lightning erupted all around it, he couldn’t make it through, and he found himself flying backward like a ball out of a canon once again.

Even as he was flying and Starlight was regaining his bearings, the latter opened up the void again and a third Dominion Grade Constellation descended, forming a sword that was transparent and reflected the starry skies within itself.

In his fury, Starlight’s foggy arm raised the sword and slashed downward, causing a mighty sword qi to surge forward and appear before Ryu in the blink of an eye.

Ryu’s pupils constricted and his body flickered with a bolt of lightning, dodging out of the way. And yet, even though he had dodged, it felt as though time had come to a stop. Scenes played in Ryu’s head again and again. In 9 of 10 of these scenes, Ryu managed to doge, but in the tenth, he was slow to react, causing him to lose an arm.

Ryu’s heart skipped a beat and his body seemed to shift backward.

SHIING!

A sharp pain rushed through Ryu’s left shoulder and his left arm flew into the skies, a pillar of blood and a spark of lightning following with it.

Ryu almost couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Was that a time-based ability? No, not quite, he had time affinity, he would at least be able to stop it if he had no other choice. That was causality, Starlight had seen ten futures and picked out the one he liked best and forced Ryu to accept it at the same time.

Ryu wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with such abilities… Was this how people had felt when he used the [Fate Reversal] ability of his Heavenly Pupils?

Starlight, though, didn’t rely on Heavenly Pupils, he relied on a Constellation.

Holding his bloodied arm stump and gazing toward Starlight, Ryu suddenly realized that of his six arms, only two were filled… At the same time, Starlight seemed to be quite furious.