His grimoire appeared about his head, guiding the lightning elemental energies that threatened to rampage in every which direction on their own.

”Come!”

The calm cadence of Matheus’ voice hung in the air. There was only the slightest breadth of silence before his corpse puppets burst into action, their armor clinking and the ground quaking.

Ryu brandished his Great Swordstaff. Sparks flew along the ground as he swung it in a wide circle, leaving a deep gash in the stone as the blade arched from low to high.

A familiar armored armadillo found itself getting blasted backward, a char caused by strong pulsing lightning splitting its lower jaw apart.

The rest of Matheus’ corpse puppets split into four streams, pouncing toward Ryu’s Lower Skeleton Warriors under the lead of the former’s two Lower Skeleton Wolves.

A silver armored bear rose to its hind feet, standing to almost four meters tall in an instant. The shadow it cast seemed to envelop Ryu completely, seeking to crush him into a pile of minced meat.

It slammed downward, the wind crackling and whistling beneath its might as its two front paws aimed for Ryu.

At that moment, Ryu’s gaze suddenly flickered.

'Death Acupoint.’

Before Matheus could react, a shadow appeared before Ryu, piercing out with something with such speed that it was impossible to spot for just a moment.

BANG!

A hole was torn through the armored bear’s chest, gaping to the size of an entire head.

The core structure of the corpse puppet completely collapsed, its body falling over to reveal a man with skin as black as night standing before Ryu. This man looked so real that it even took the Necromancers of this city several moments before he was recognized as just another corpse puppet.

Ryu’s body flickered, shifting into a bundle of lightning that reappeared as human just a moment later. With a casual ease, he had stepped over the bear corpse puppets body, his gait steady as he continued to bear down on Matheus.

A strong murderous intent wafted from Ryu’s body as his silver eyes sparkled.

Just now, he had realized that using Death Acupoint on a corpse puppet was even easier than using it on himself. As he thought about it more, it only made sense. How could a living, breathing being be less complex than a dead puppet?

Whenever a necromancer controlled a puppet, they were artificially giving it life, but how could this match up to the realities of living and breathing?

With a thought, several swords of lightning appeared in the skies. They flickered occasionally, but they looked so solid that one could almost mistake them for weapons forged of a bright blue metal.

At that moment, Matheus wasn’t panicked. In fact, he was still kindling his fury.

When he chose not to save Ryu from the hands of those Core Region geniuses, he wasn’t wrong. When he chose not to raise a hand to help Ryu battle the Inner Ring Clans, he wasn’t wrong. When he chose to save his Grand Uncle even at the cost of infuriating Ryu, he wasn’t wrong.

However, he felt that Ryu was wrong.

Those were his choices, not the choices of his younger cousin. It was he who hadn’t taken action all those times, it was he who saved their grand uncle. Why, then, would he blame Taedra? Why would he make her suffer through such pain and hardship?

He would rather Taedra mourn Ryu’s death than pine after his life!

It was then, however, that Ryu’s lightning blades descended.

At first, Matheus thought it was a coincidence that he had lost connection with his armored bear. This wasn’t the first time this had happened to him in battle and it most definitely wouldn’t be the last. It was an inevitable part of being a Necromancer.

This was why being a Summoning Necromancer was so sought after. Summoners were much less likely to lose their connection to their puppets. Not only was this because the summoning and controlling process was much more complex, but it was also because summons had their own intelligence and were their own forms of life, making them just as if not even more complex than humans.

However, it then happened a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth.

To Matheus’ horror, he realized that every time one of Ryu’s blades descended, another corpse puppet would be severed from him.

Before he would react, of his dozens, only his two Skeleton Wolves remained, suddenly finding themselves surrounded by two Skeleton Warriors each.

’What…?’ Matheus didn’t know how to respond.

Before he could react, he found Goaman’s ink black hand around his throat, raising him into the air.

Matheus didn’t bother to look toward the four youths who were deemed to be on his level. How could there be any loyalty in such a place? What they bowed to was strength and nothing else, but all the while, they were searching for a way to claim this power for themselves.

When Ryu met Matheus, he was in the Half-Step Connecting Heaven Realm. But now, just like Ryu, he was in the Lower Connecting Heaven Realm.

Ryu could only conclude that there was something special about Matheus’ soul that allowed him to control such powerful corpse puppets. But, none of that mattered.

Even if Ryu didn’t use Goaman, how could a Matheus at his cultivation level possibly matchup to him? If there was one thing Ryu was confident in… It was that no one even in his cultivation realm could defeat him, let alone the same sub-stage.

Ryu didn’t say a word as he took Matheus’ spatial ring, and neither did Matheus struggle.

With a thought, Ryu shattered the protections and took out the very Tri Key he was looking for.

As expected, there was yet another one.

Once Ryu finished taking it for himself, he realized that the Keep was unnecessary.

He looked toward Matheus. But, completely outside of his expectations, he actually hesitated.

He had already said it clearly before. He would only give Matheus one chance, and he had clearly not heeded his advice. But…

Just as Ryu was at a loss, the city began to tremble, a massive formation appearing in the skies as a strong surge of spatial qi swirled.

Ryu looked up to find three figures slowly appearing in the skies. However, when he saw what they were, his pupils couldn’t help constrict, a sudden seething rage boiling up from the depths of his heart. No matter how much he tried to control it, he simply couldn’t.

He had never laid eyes on these people before this day, but somehow he knew exactly who they were.

The Martial Gods. They had appeared here.