'Was this the gift left by her?' Observing the sharp sword intent that had just sliced through the battleship and the spire. Ryuk's gaze subtly shifted to the sword in his hand.
The intense vibration that he had felt moments ago had subsided, replaced by a calm sensation in his grip, reminiscent of a familiarity from a past life.
This felt like the sword had become one with him, making it his personal weapon even during his fight with the Son of Heaven in his previous life.
SWISH
Suddenly materializing in front of him was a bulky man in a white robe, flanked by several other people.
"Young Master!" Adrian, recognizing the newly arrived figure, swiftly tried to close the distance, accompanied by other members of the Crawford family.
THUD
Bam!
"Open it!" Before they could get within a fixed distance of those people, an invisible barrier repelled all of them, forcing them to punch it in hopes of breaking through.
"Young Master, stay away from—" Dreck also joined the Crawfords, relieved to see how they were protected by the Young Master. Observing this, even members of the branch families, having changed their opinion, attempted to breach the barrier.
But all their efforts were futile, only leading to their voices fading before they could even reach Ryuk, leaving them confused while they kept trying to break through the barrier.
'What is that system?' Ryuk narrowed his gaze upon seeing how Adrian and the other branch family members were hindered by a round dome formed around them, with a diameter of 300 meters, effectively caging them all in.
[Host, the Dome is created by an ASCENDANCY level Individual .]
'!?'
Although Ryuk had anticipated this whole event was orchestrated by someone from a higher position in the main family, the extent to which they went to stop others from helping him made it clear how desperate they were to kill him.
Perhaps there was a time limit within which they had to kill him.
"You must not know me, but Fucker—" Anzac, glaring down at the young man in front of him, tried to remind Ryuk of the mistake that was going to cost him his life but was interrupted.
"Name's Anzac, brother of Banzac, ranked Legendary Middle with Perfect and helped his brother in the genocide of their own kind, hm, guess I was wrong about that guy. There was still someone to mourn after him," Ryuk remembered some memories, looking at the status window.
He contemplated ways to deal with the man in front of him, not wanting to reveal his possession of a heaven-grade artifact on this continent.
Naturally, no one ever attempted to take that object from Heindal, as the retaliation would have been too severe for those of higher rank or near it; the consequences could have been devastating.
No one would want to destroy their present strength by bringing something to their land that couldn't be controlled.
"Kugghhh... You bastard, finally got you," Anzac's face formed a mocking smile, seeing how Ryuk's sword was stuck in his flesh while his internal muscles gripped it tightly, preventing any movement.
In this position, Anzac's physical strength restricted Ryuk's movement, and it was enough to lead to a blow.
'Damn it.' Understanding what was about to happen, Ryuk swiftly covered his whole body in amethyst Ether to protect himself from the upcoming impact, but at short range, it wasn't enough.
SWISH
BAAAM!
'?!'
Ryuk's eyes widened as he felt the heavy punch. Even without breaking his defenses, it sent an internal shockwave powerful enough to damage his internal organs.
But before Ryuk could be thrown a distance, Anzac pulled him near to land another punch, and that was when Ryuk finally stopped holding back.
All his doubts about the difference between physical strength and mana-enhanced strength were completely clear to him from this fight.
He realized he could not compensate for a lack of physical strength by merely enhancing his body with Ether.
The energy might protect his outer body and even increase his overall strength, but against dense muscle and bones, it would lack in hand-to-hand combat.
BAMM!
Another punch was thrown at Ryuk's face, but this time, his palms stopped it, shrouded in amethyst Ether—far denser and stronger than Mana.
"Kugh!... Don't tell me, y-you," Anzac, enraged until now, hadn't noticed the energy used by the young man. But after his punch was blocked, he could feel the energy was Ether, not mana.
Something which should never be possessed by a human body, and even if it could be, the amount he was feeling right now was impossible.
SCHLKT
'Huh,' Anzac's eyes, fixed on Ryuk, slowly replayed the image of blue liquid coming out of his body like a gust, drenching his body and instantly slicing through it.
"AaaGgggHh—" The only scream left within him after his once metal-like bones were cut in half by the same sword, now turned into amethyst, oozing out sharp sword intent.
BANG!
With a swift kick, Anzac was thrown a distance, unable to control his body as his now depleted Energy Core—drained to *Shunya*—allowed the pain to flood his mind.
The only words that could leave his mouth in his bloodied state were,
"Haa... Haaa... Y-you bastard, what are you!"