“Trash.”

Ryu’s voice echoed with cold indifference.

With a squeeze of his palms, his great swordstaffs vanished.

As though to prove a point, he reached out with nothing more than his empty palm, echoing booms already coming from his bones as his Nine Revolution Skybreaker Bone Structure came to life.

The air around his arm shattered, his robe sleeves billowing in the wind with a shuddering momentum.

Before the spear had even reached him, it had slowed down considerably. And by the time it was about to rest in his palms, it was practically a crawl compared to what it had been before.

Chi.

Ryu grabbed it out of the air, pivoted a foot, and slammed a palm forward.

BANG!

His hand landed perfectly on Primus’ chest, his cold, indifferent, mercury-like eyes dripping with callousness.

Primus’s ribs bent and bowed, but his Bone Structure remained solid. He was a Fire Dragon after all, and he was probably at least partially responsible for the Tyrannical Emperor Bone Structure that Ryu’s father and his grandfather before him were born with.

But Ryu was indifferent to it all.

All the effort and trouble he had to go through with the others, all the power he poured in to connect their Fates and understand their paths…

He didn’t need to do any of that with Primus. He might have been more durable, but what chance did he stand?

“Did you think that you stepping in now would make a difference? Who do you think you are, exactly?”

Ryu’s wrist twisted just the slightest bit the instant his palm reached its deepest connection with Primus’ chest.

A seventh echo sounded.

BOOM!

Primus was sent flying backward, his heels skidding across the limits of space as he tried to stop himself.

By the time he finally managed to, he had been sent flying thousands of kilometers away.

He swallowed hard, trying to control the changes to his body. But, he inevitably spit out a mouthful of blood nonetheless.

“Not bad. You didn’t explode into a bloody mist.” Ryu said indifferently.

With a raise of his arm, Ryu’s great swordstaff appeared again.

[Tatsuya Judgment].

SHIIIIIIING!

The howl of a sword filled the skies.

Ryu had activated [A God’s Brush] long ago, turning the world into a complete scene of black and white. But since then, he hadn’t actually activated any of its attacks.

Right this moment, though, with the sword arc of [Tatsuya Judgment] gliding through the skies, it looked like the world had finally regained a hint of color again.

The problem for Primus was that this color came from Ryu’s strike and Ryu’s strike alone.

Ryu himself didn’t even look to see how it would end. He didn’t want Primus to die so easily, not just yet. This man had to suffer in the worst ways.

Flashes of feathers surrounded Ryu and he found himself enveloped by a formation of Devas.

With a sweep of his eyes, he picked out two of them in the sea of wings, holiness, and devilish might. He could tell with a glance that these two were actually a certain Deva woman’s parents.

Ryu shook his head. It seemed that today, he would just have to butcher… and butcher… and butcher until they realized that there was no path forward but death if they wanted to oppose him.

He let out a roar before they could even begin their chant, their words almost being forced back into their throats beneath Dragon’s Roar.

A chain fell from the skies and Ryu’s voice was sealed for the moment. Zercius took the opportunity to attack, slipping in from above to crush Ryu’s momentum.

As though released from the pressure of a mountain, the chant of the Devas returned, their voices melding into a beautiful melody.

Young Mistress Nightly’s mother pulled out a lyre, her slender fingers plucking across its strings in a delicate cadence. The rhythm filled the air and the laws of the world moved in unison.

Zercius had already done his job and explosively retreated. He had fought Ryu once before and he simply had no intention of trusting the Devas to protect his life in this sort of situation.

In his once free palm, he still held a badge, hesitating again and again. He teetered on that edge of listening to Primus’ words and still trying to do the rest of it all on his own. But… but he simply couldn’t find it in himself to make a decision.

Pa. Pa. Pa.

Flowers of blood burst across Ryu, and for the first time, he suffered wounds in this battle. His body looked as though it was being peppered with rose buds, and yet these roses were nothing more than his own blood come to life under the suffocation of the Devas.

The Devas were a Race depicted as the Heralds of the Heavens. Their hymns were the stuff of legends, and in many ways, the Divine Wing Clan of the Martial Gods gained many of their abilities from observing them.

But since their peak as being known as the strongest Race throughout Existence, the Devas had fallen by the wayside. Though… a starving camel was still far larger than any steed.

Even having fallen, they still stood shoulder to shoulder with the strongest Races across Existence nonetheless.

But their techniques, the mysteries behind their strength, contained more depth within them than maybe any others but the Fiend Race themselves.

Ryu coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling his own power and strength being turned against him in the worst of ways.

It was like they had taken control of the laws of the world around him and made it so that the Path he had taken was in direct contradiction to it.

They were turning him into a Taboo in real time, causing the world to reject him. In fact, because he was using his Childe of Order Constitution at the moment, it was like he was giving them a helping hand by making the problem worse.

Zercius’ eyes blazed and he saw another opportunity. He waved a hand.

At the same time, Primus recovered and his spear was replaced by a familiar, brush-like glaive. He drew across the air as though painting a stroke through the Heavens.