The most shocking part about it all, though, was the fact that she had meant every single word. There was no irony, no humorous tone, there wasn’t even the madness one would expect to see in the eyes of someone saying something so insane.

Even as Isemeine tore her way through the air, blinking across exaggerated distances in a single breath, Ryu’s rage inflated to the point he laughed.

Ryu looked up into the skies, his gaze rapidly flickering between a cold silver, a chilly sapphire, and a crimson ruby.

In just that moment, he had seen the real face of the Martial Gods. Their audacity, their hubris, their arrogance… It made his own feel like a small fish swimming amidst oceanic waves.

This was probably how they all felt… that the hopes and dreams of others was nothing more than something to be stamped out on their war path. Only their way was correct, only their way was worthy of being nurtured and spread.

Ryu had never felt so enraged in his life.

Something snapped.

At that moment, Ryu’s Ice Jade Crystal Body seemed to lose its form, shattering into countless little pieces as Ryu’s body burst.

Violent bursts of resplendent blue lightning and raging black-red flames erupted.

As though a God was connecting the Heavens and the Earth, a blazing pillar of violet shot up, seemingly wanting to incinerate everything.

The black rock beneath Ryu’s feet shattered, the dark clouds above dispersed, crackling lightning and fire swirled about, causing space to bend and twist.

”Who am I?!”

Ryu’s voice booms, concentric circles and shattering air erupting from all sides.

”I am Ryu Tatsuya!”

BANG!

A blur shot through the air. In an instant, a beam of white gold and another of dark violet met.

The sound was so loud that it felt as though everything had fallen into a void for just a moment before the explosions sounded. It was like two planets had collided, causing the laws of gravity around them to warp to unseen levels.

The sweep of Isemeine’s golden spear met the downward slash of both Ryu’s Great Swordstaffs. In that moment, she could feel a strength she never thought she would experience battle against a mere Connecting Heaven Realm expert. But, what she saw was even more shocking than that.

Gazing at her through their locked blades, she saw a pair of dark violet, vertical slit eyes. If it wasn’t for the fact she knew that Ryu had to be human, she would have never guessed they belonged to one. To her, it felt more like a beast had set its sights on her, a primordial demon of ancient blood.

From his feet up the to even the sides of his neck, Ryu was covered in dark violet scales. His face was dotted with a few on his cheeks and forehead as well, giving him a demonic sort of charm that radiated a dangerous aura.

From his forehead rose two large horns that curved and branched as though wanting to pierce the skies. His hair had lengthened, flowing out like a bright white river dozens of meters out from his body.

Ryu’s entire body danced with crackling flames. As though his lightning and fire had fused perfectly, it sometimes exuded characteristics of the former, and sometimes the latter, almost like it couldn’t decide exactly what it wanted to be.

But, what was undeniable was its strength.

The purple lightning flame licked across Isemeine’s white gold qi and almost forced it to collapse in that instant.

At that moment, Ryu’s shout reached Isemeine’s ears. He had been moving so fast that he completely overshadowed his own voice, clashing with Isemeine long before she could register what it was he had said.

Now, though, Isemeine felt her heart quiver.

”… Tatsuya?”

She suddenly understood Ryu’s attitude, his rage… His talent.

”You… The Princess’s husband…?”

Ryu, who had just been about to follow up, feeling that their weapons had been locked for too long, faltered. What did he just hear? What had she just said?

The moment Ryu failed to keep his concentration, his strength waned. The power dynamic shifted and Ryu found himself flying back like an arrow from a bowstring. It couldn’t have been more obvious that his level of shock was far beyond Isemeine’s.

Blood shot from Ryu’s mouth like a projectile, his body rocketing into the surface of a mountain range.

He felt as though every bone in his body was being crushed. The difference between the strength he had just displayed and what he had shown just this past moment was so strikingly different that even Isemeine was partially in shock.

Much like Ryu, she had been taken aback too and her own strength somewhat waned as well. But, why was there such an exaggerated difference?

Ryu didn’t need to think to understand the difference at all. Immediately, even as he was flying through the air, he understood.

His Rage Flames were fueled by emotion. The stronger his fury, the stronger they became. However, usually, this just made his flames hotter and more dangerous and didn’t cause much of a change to his individual power, at least not in terms of his physical output.

But, the moment he gained his Fire Spirit Body, everything changed. After his Flames mutated and fused with his lightning, everything changed again. And then, one final time, the state of his Ice Jade Crystal Body suddenly evolved, causing yet another change.

The result was Ryu’s fury integrating with his Rage Flames and subsequently causing his body to increase in strength.

But, the moment he heard mention of Elena, all his concentrated emotion seemed to dispel. At that moment, the difference between himself and an absolute genius of the Path Extinction Realm couldn’t have been more obvious.

The words continued to ring in Ryu’s ears…

’The Princess’s husband…?’