Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Sarriel shot into the air, her visage a reflection of icy cold. Or, rather, what could be seen of it was.

Even though her injuries were quickly healing under a mysterious power, likely related to her Bone Structure, much of it had been torn and bloodied down to the very bone. Just the amount of stamina it was taking to cure her of these injuries was enough to drown an ocean. And, if not for her flexible armor, maybe the entirety of her upper torso would have vanished.

Even now, Ryu stood above her. Whether subconsciously or by design, she hadn't shot up enough to be level with him.

She glared upward, the emotion within her draining away with every passing moment. In another few seconds, what was a face half covered in blood, flesh and gore had recovered to its initial beauty, crimson liquid dripping downward as though refusing to continue to stain her. In a moment, her face was once again spotless. However, the tear in her armor couldn't be repaired, revealing large swaths of her delicate, blood boiling skin.

Sarriel continued to rise into the skies until she was level with Ryu, her qi steadying itself back into a steady rhythm. In that moment, her energy had almost gone out of control, nearly spontaneously breaking into the Path Extinction Realm. If she allowed that to happen, it would ruin everything she had been planning for so long, not to mention putting a blemish on her heart.

Fooling this world was one thing, but it would be impossible to receive this Ice Devil World's Legacy if she was truly beyond the cultivation requirement.

In that moment, she had felt the brush of death and her body instinctively reacted. It was a humiliation. A naked humiliation.

Sarriel's aura began to surge, an added qi layering onto her already immensely powerful momentum. This one, however, wasn't sharp and deadly like her sword qi, nor was it heavy and cold like her ice qi… No, it held a gravity that pulled one toward a deep abyss, taking hold of the body and forcing one to believe that death was the only path forward.

The deathly black fog began to manifest itself, a third Small Realm manifesting itself and layering atop of Sarriel's two existing ones.

Ryu's gaze narrowed, his palms stretching out to cause his bone Great Swordstaffs to shoot back into his hands.

'Death Inheritance… A complete one…'

This was one thing Ryu didn't have. He could rely on his bloodline for his Elemental Inheritances. He could rely on his memories to comprehend a path forward for his Great Swordstaffs. He could rely on his Northern Heavenly Wind to progress his Wind Inheritance. But, up until now, he had yet to come across a complete Death Inheritance.

There was a chance that he could comprehend something from his Primordial Chaos Death Qi. It was even possible that the Phoenix Sky God had left a secret he had yet to unearth. But, as of now, in this regard, Sarriel was far beyond him.

It was only now that Ryu remembered that Sarriel was a Necromancer. No… it wasn't that he had forgotten, but rather that he had assumed that everything else was an act, so why would she be upfront about where her true strength lied?

But, if there was really nothing in it for her, then why would she have entered the Nether Palace? Why would she have been invited by the Martial Gods, allowing her to come to this Era from her own? Wasn't it obvious, then…?

BANG!

The fog around Sarriel merged into the blinding pillar of blue, tearing a hole through the skies.

The energies began to swirl about, the crown around her forehead becoming brighter and brighter.

The harsh land of snow only became harsher as a portal of swirling black tore a path through the skies.

An aura the likes of which could crumble the world descended. Ryu's vertical slit pupils couldn't help but constrict. This aura…

'Demon Duke?!'

BANG!

It was like a pane of glass shattered. A fluttering white fabric that stretched out for hundreds of meters descended almost as though it was trying to blanket the entire mountain.

However, soon, it became obvious that this fluttering fabric was attached to a humanoid figure, one with skin so white and pale that it almost looked as though they had just bathed in a sea of chalk.

The figure was over a kilometer tall, its every movement freezing even the fundamental laws of the world. Let alone the sluggishness of his qi, Ryu found that even activating his techniques became difficult as though everything in the world should freeze in the presence of this existence.

It was a Dominion. Ryu was absolutely certain that this Demon Duke had a Dominion. A Dominion so powerful that even his own obscene control of qi was curbed and flattened. There was no doubt that this Demon Duke was in the Dao Pedestal Realm.

The glow of Sarriel's crown only grew fiercer. Her arms spread outward, her aura towering to the point where it seemed to merge and fuse with the Demon Duke above.

The pressure was suffocating. Only half the body of the Demon Duke had appeared and yet the mountain had already begun to crumble, something even the battle between Ryu and Sarriel had only been capable of doing a fraction of.

But, what happened next was even more shocking.

The Demon Duke began to be eaten away at, becoming motes of light that shot into Sarriel's body.

Sarriel continuously underwent shocking changes. Her black hair becoming a striking blue that swung about for dozens of meters, her violet eyes icing over, and even her flexible armor being replaced by an ice plate armor that radiated with blue runes capable of freezing even space itself.

And then… Sarriel's Small Realm's multiplied in strength, breaking into the realm of Dominions.

The world whined and quaked. Ryu hardly got a chance to counter before he felt his limbs freezing over piece by piece, his body threatening to shatter into tiny shards of glass.