Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Galkos' pupils constricted, his fist stretching out once again on reflex. However, before he could react, he found a hand on his throat.

His body bent like a bow from his neck, the rest of him following swiftly afterward. Galkos felt Ryu's hand latch to him, pressing down firmly and tearing a path through Elena's entourage without a thought for the their safety.

Those that managed to dive out of the way were fine, but those that were more unfortunate coughed up mouthfuls of blood, being beaten out of the way one after another.

Galkos' head slammed fiercely onto the ground, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as his skull threatened to deform. Even now, he had been caught completely off guard.

In that moment when he pushed Ryu, he felt all of his force sink into Ryu's body and had even felt his heart rupture. Not a single ounce of his strength wasn't perfectly transferred into Ryu, it was the kind of devastating attack that should have torn Ryu's inner organs to minced meat and left him half dead.

Once again, a light breeze passed over Elena. While everyone else was in chaos, it felt as though she was standing in the midst of a spring field, untouched by the rest of the world, even despite the fact she had been the closest to their strikes to begin with.

A roar left Galkos' lips, his neck expanding by twice its usual size to break Ryu's grip. He pushed upward, fury having already taken over all his logical reasoning. He couldn't even remember the last time he was treated in such a way. He had been caught off guard initially, believing that Ryu was already dead. But, this would most definitely not happen again.

However, to his horror, he found his fist stopped mere inches from reaching Ryu's face. In that moment, Galkos truly saw Ryu for the first time.

In all this time, Galkos had never truly observed the young man before him. He was too grand, too lofty to care about an ant. Even when Ryu seemed to be doing impossible things in the face of the Heavens, Galkos' own pride and ignorance led to him directly ignoring such things. Every time Ryu surpassed his expectations, he would have another excuse ready for why it simply didn't matter so much.

But, right this moment, with Ryu's killing intent billowing like plumes of steam, his gaze bearing down upon Galkos as though he was nothing more than trash beneath his feet, Galkos truly felt it for the first time.

The sickening sound of shattering bones resounded as Ryu crushed Galkos' fist.

So what if Galkos had recovered to the Qi Refinement Realm? Ryu had already recovered to the Lower Pulse Opening Realm and since when had he not had the ability to fight across cultivation levels?

BANG!

Galkos' expanding neck found itself crushed back to its original size. Blood vessels popped and cracked, skin splintered and bled, the creaking of Galkos' spine leaving eerie sounds traveling through the air.

"King!"

Galkos' entourage had suddenly become the closest group to Ryu. After Ryu took control of the battle, the two had landed in a space between where they and Elena's entourage lay. Seeing Galkos in such a state, how could they not take action?

However it was exactly at that moment that humiliation overwhelmed Galkos. His blood surged, his cultivation ripping through the Qi Refinement Realm barrier and returning to the Spiritual Severing Realm.

Galkos swung upward with his broken fist, not caring for the state his neck was in at all. As though a mad man, his head arched upward, pushing his throat against Ryu's palm without a care for what happened to his life.

A broken arm? A broken neck? Even a broken body couldn't stop a member of the Heaven's Dew Branch. There was no injury he wasn't able to heal, no pain he was unwilling to tolerate. A pride that had sunk deep into his bones from an early age rose up.

BANG!

Galkos' head was smashed back into the ground, a pair of sinister reptillian eyes looking down at him.

Ryu's fist cocked backward, slamming into Galkos' face and deforming his skull.

BANG!

Another fist descended, forming another dent just as Galkos healed himself.

BANG!

Crackling lightning flames shot into Galkos' body. Ryu released his grip on the latter's throat, raining down fist after fist. It was as though there was no competition to begin with, as though there wasn't a chance for one of the greatest geniuses of the Martial Gods even to fight back, let alone seek revenge.

BANG!

Galkos face became perpetually covered in his own flesh and blood. Every time he healed himself, lingering bits and pieces of his brain and bone would remain behind, coating his features in a grotesque scene of gore.

It was clear that if it wasn't for Galkos' ability as a Heaven's Dew Branch member, he would have long since died. The savage nature of Ryu's beating rolled through the atmosphere like rising tides. The difference was so striking that many began to wonder just how it was that Galkos had landed a blow to begin with.

It was only then that multiple gazes landed on Elena. At this moment, her situation was a striking difference to the battlefield around her.

Her entourage had been scattered, some of which had been hurt and a large number of which had run away. The ground was torn up, streaks of lightning sparking and blazing fires erupting from time to time. And yet, not only had she not moved a single inch, the ground she stood on was pristine and untouched.

They seemed to finally understand. It wasn't that Galkos had managed to almost kill Ryu, it was rather that Ryu had allowed himself to nearly be killed. He traded a near fatal injury just so that a woman wouldn't be inconvenienced.

And now…

BANG!

Ryu's fist shattered Galkos' head once again. With every strike, he seemed to get closer and closer to truly tearing him to shreds. But it was also then that the others could no longer sit idly by.

Seven of the eight along with Galkos' entourage rushed forward, fury lighting their gazes.

With an eruption of qi, Galkos shattered the mold and entered the Divine Vessel Realm.