1358 Flashing Platforms
Ryu didn't seem to notice that others appeared. He was in a very crucial part of his thoughts and he didn't feel like getting up to greet people.
"This bastard!" Leah's shrill cry echoed and she directly struck out with a palm.
She was the only one among Empana's friends remaining. Whether it was Satra or Kritcsz, they were all dead. Among Empana's soldiers, only Jorlumin and a few elite troops remained. It could be uttered that Ryu had truly screwed them over.
Seeing that her friends of a lifetime had fallen, but this Dao Pedestal Realm brat was completely unscathed, how could she not be completely infuriated?
Unfortunately for her, almost the moment she attacked, her qi spun in reverse. Her arm exploded and a large portion of her chest was taken out. Her lips moved, as though she was trying to say her final words, but it was all useless.
Leah collapsed, dead.
Even after all of this, Ryu didn't even open his eyes. He didn't have much sympathy for fools, especially not fools who were as annoying as house flies. With a simple look around one could see barriers separating everyone. Why would this trial disallow fights between Planes, but sanctions fights within Planes? This was clearly a safe zone, but this foolish woman had attacked with intent to kill.
The only unfortunate part was that it was she who had attacked and not Empana. If it had been him instead, that would have made things much more convenient.
Ryu's mind continued to deduce and think, quickly reaching the end of his thoughts. The timing was a bit off, but it was still fast enough. He believed that he had a solution. He turned to Mae, ready to break things down for her.
"Don't you owe me an explanation?" lanjor appeared by Ryu.
"Shut up, I'm busy right now."
lanjor was speechless, but he had pretty much expected this. Unfortunately, Ryu's actions had really put him in a bit of a bind at the moment. It was he who had recommended Ryu, and now because of Ryu Empana had suffered quite a bit of losses. If it wasn't because lanjor had clearly suffered quite a bit as well, Empana may have very well turned on lanjor already, which would make things a great deal more inconvenient for him.
Of course, Ryu didn't care much about all of this. He had already known that lanjor wouldn't die, and this guy was trying to make use of him all the time. lanjor was well aware of what kind of powerhouse Ryu was on the Ruin Master scene. Although he didn't know exactly how Ryu matched up to the people of the True Martial World and True Nether Realm, what he did know was that if Ryu could accomplish so much as a mortal on Sacrum, what could he accomplish that he was now countless times more powerful?
That said, if Ianjor had known that Ryu's Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils were sealed currently, he might not have jumped so eagerly at the chance. But as the saying went, ignorance was bliss.
Now, though, he was suffering because of Ryu. He should have known that this bastard hated to suffer a loss. It had felt good at the moment to paint Ryu into a corner, but now things were like this.
lanjor shook his head, feeling like pulling his hair out. Even though what he had done was a little aggressive, he had technically saved Ryu's life. This bastard wasn't grateful at all!
Ryu gave lanjor a glance and shook his head. "What? Would you have preferred me to stay there to die? Obviously I just took a chance at survival. Is it my fault you all ran into them and threw off the schedule of the geyser exploding?"
lanjor wanted to hit his head against a wall when he heard this. Who would believe that bullshit?! He most certainly didn't! This little bastard definitely did it all on purpose.
Unfortunately, Ryu had already ignored him, focusing all his attention on Mae. He spoke quickly, but no one could hear his words. Those around him thought that it would be easy to intercept the transmitted messages of a Dao Pedestal Realm expert, but to their shock all of their efforts were actually entirely useless.
They could only watch as Mae's gaze turned brighter and brighter, a faint excitement taking hold of her loveable appearance.
As Ryu was silently explaining things, the Second Plane's pillar trembled and a group appeared. Very soon after that, the First Plane's did as well, but under the gaze of everyone, it actually began to lower until it disappeared from all of their sights.
No one had appeared for the First Plane. Maybe they weren't even aware of what was happening, or maybe they had all died before reaching this place.
The challenges should have been adjusted based on the strength of the individuals in question, theoretically. But that didn't mean it would definitely allow a winner through. The fact that no one of the First Plane had made it through wasn't surprising at all. Even those of the Second and Third Plane that had managed to reach this point were in a completely sorry state. It was hard to imagine that they'd be able to make it through the next round at all.
After the First Plane's pillar vanished, the others began to rumble before moving forward in unison. Those that had rushed to Leah's side could only leave her corpse be. There simply wasn't any time to waste on someone who was already dead. They gave Ryu cold looks, but that was about all they could do.
Ryu stood to his feet, taking Mae's hand as he looked into the distance. Mae's gaze flickered, a hidden golden flame dancing within her crimson irises.
The pillars rumbled to a stop, lining up in a perfect straight line. They all faced the same direction, looking ahead to what looked like a vast nothingness before the barriers around them slowly faded.
The world fell into darkness with only the faintest of lights illuminating the pillars. Then, a flashing rectangular platform of gold appeared before each one of the pillars...
The issue was that there was only one of them.
This one pillar flashed and disappeared, taking turns appearing before the pillars one by one before getting to the end of the line and returning to the first.
Beyond this step there was a vast nothingness.
Confusion settled in. Just what did this place want?
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