Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1964 Distracted

Ryu stood in the middle of a large protective formation as the building above his head was ripped to shreds.

Soon, a petite young woman appeared, one of her eyes glistening with a brass radiance, and the other releasing a frigid chill.

Fiend Childe Aria Moon.

Ryu looked up almost indifferently. It was as though he didn't realize that he was in danger at all. In fact, his gaze still seemed to be somewhat distracted as though he was still trying to wrap his head around what he had just seen.

It was hard for him to believe, but he had to.

BOOM!

Suddenly, Aria attacked. She didn't seem to realize that Ryu was distracted, or maybe she simply didn't care.

Her gaze was vicious and she clearly wanted him dead as quickly as possible. And yet... The attack vanished the moment it appeared above Ryu's head as though it had been blown away by the wind.

"... I'm busy, if you don't mind..." Ryu said lightly, still absentminded.

Aria's eyes widened.

What was that? How had he just done that?

It felt like he had just stretched out the space...

'No, it was time!"

Aria's heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Ryu actually aged her attack until it ran out of energy and just puffed out of existence. But how was that possible?

No, even more importantly, how could a Transcended do such a thing?

What Aria didn't realize was that she was still wrong.

Ryu hadn't just aged her attack. He extended the space between them until her attack might as well have been a lifetime of travel away, and at the same time, he severed the Fate between Aria and her attack until she couldn't even truly see what happened. With Fate, the attack lost its very foundation.

If anything, Ryu had gone a bit overboard. But right now, Aria just felt...

Weak.

Ryu shook his head, realizing that this certainly wasn't the place for him to think. At the very least, he didn't want to waste his time with annoying flies right now.

He looked down at the formation beneath his feet and it trembled once.

Aria froze. "STOP!"

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

CRACK.

At that moment, a False Shrine began to rise up from the ground. But its Fate with the Fiends had already been severed. Without much effort, Ryu took it into his Inner World, receiving the second and last piece he needed to construct his great swordstaffs.

He looked up into the skies and took a step.

At that moment, the number of Lords was greatly increasing in the air.

Ryu, still a bit absent-minded, stood in the midst of all of them. Because of his little mistake, he hadn't been able to finish refining the world at the same time, but that much was fine.

He would just have to deal with all of these people first. And Aria Moon would be a decent Summon as well.

He needed to rapidly raise his Fate anyway. Subduing such a woman would go a long way.

Ironically, the best thing to do was to make it obvious that the so-called Goddess Tatsuya was actually his wife. But his pride was much too deep for such a thing. If he was going to raise the foundation of his Inner World....

He would do it himself.

And he certainly wouldn't rely on his own woman to do such a thing.

[Tatsuya Constellation].

A silver star appeared high in the skies behind Ryu and his Birthed Phenomena took shape beneath it.

"[Heavenly Dao Tree]..."

His voice was soft, and yet it seemed to project to the corners of the entire world.

A crystalline tree appeared to Ryu's back, wrapped in mystery.

Suddenly, it lashed out.

It was impossible even to react to, and the result was shocking.

The targeted Lord tried to dodge, and seemed to succeed, only to realize the branch was somehow still on its way. He dodged again, only for the odd feeling to occur again, and then again, and then again. It felt like his body was being constantly reset, transported backward in time only to be forced to try to dodge again.

His afterimages layered on top of one another, becoming more and more numerous until...

SPLAT!

His head splattered into a rain of blood.

Everyone froze.

Ryu hadn't even moved, and yet a Lord had died in such a mysterious fashion.

Was this really a Transcended?

The worst part was that Ryu still seemed to be somewhat distracted. He wasn't even looking at them, nor could they feel his Spiritual Quintessence. It was as though his entire mind was elsewhere.

Suddenly, the Heavenly Dao Tree began to move more sharply, more fluidly.

Ryu seemed to have resigned himself to a fact and he focused more on what was happening. And as a result, the Lords began to fall in droves.

They were like children in the middle of an adult's game.

Ryu just stood there, his hands clasped behind his back as he gave them a level gaze.

At that moment, his Dao Heart seemed to become sharper and more refined. He was going through a sublimation right before them all, and most couldn't even sense it, let alone understand why it was happening.

Only Aria found herself trembling.

She had been a genius all her life, only to realize that she was nothing before this man.

Ryu leveled an even gaze at her. If her Dao Heart shattered because of this, he wouldn't even be interested in taking her as a maid anymore, let alone a Summon,

However, surprisingly, she didn't disappoint him.

Aria unleashed a roar that seemed to pump her full of courage. Her aura pierced toward

the skies, but compared to Ryu's own, it was like a moth to a flame.

She shot forward, grasping at the air and forming a brass halberd she swung down with

all her might.

Ryu reached out with a finger.

Aria struggled, but she found herself slowing down more and more until her blade came

to a stunning halt on Ryu's extended finger.

Ryu seemed to look right through her, his attention seemingly already elsewhere.

It was no wonder he was so distracted, though...

In the moment his Soul and Eyes connected, he saw through Fate and he realized

something profound.

The Spacetime Star of the Zu Ancestor was practically identical to the Fate of his eyes...

and that wouldn't make any sense unless he was either born with it...

Or he had been the one to create it in the first place.