Ryu opened up a large range between them with quite some speed, his steps were light and his Soul Nature moved with even more fluidity than even his feet. He didn't seem panicked and he even somewhat wanted to see how much strength Pierthorn really had.
The truth of it was that Ryu had caught Pierthorn off guard and then pressed his advantage without giving the latter room to breathe. This was what his Spacetime Soul Nature was best at, though shockingly enough, in terms of pure offensive power, it was likewise shockingly powerful.
Pierthorn, for obvious reasons, had never fought someone that could out-maneuver him in such a way, and that was especially so when it was from a distance. A Mental Realm Master's greatest strength was in long ranged combat, but he had been completely outplayed.
But now... he was absolutely furious.
His Spiritual Qi lurched and then solidified. Like dominoes being stacked up in quick succession, countless barriers formed around him. Even after dozens had been formed, he didn't seem to have any intention of stopping, and to make matters worse, each barrier felt like a moat of thousands of kilometers. Even with his Spacetime Soul Nature, Ryu didn't feel as though he could cross even one of them, let alone so many.
'Fascinating..' That was the first word that came to Ryu's mind, before he suddenly realized that the barriers weren't what he should be focused on at all.
Those illusory swords formed in the air once more, but they were even more solid than they had been in the past. At the same time, he sensed the faint hint of something different, something quite subtle, and yet powerful. It was akin to a pinch of baking powder that would make pancakes rise, small and insignificant, and yet its lack of presence wouldn't be missed all the same.
'Dao.'
Ryu was certain, and once he was, he latched onto it. His eyes reflected a sharp light as the illusory swords descended. Something told him that he needed to understand Pierthorn's Dao before they reached his range, or else dodging just might become impossible.
Then it clicked.
Close and yet far. The words came to Ryu's mind so naturally as though they had been whispered into his ears. It was the first time he had felt such a thing, but then again, this was the first time he had cared enough to try and understand a target's Dao after he had entered the Founding Dao Realms.
This wasn't a matter of space or time, like it seemed, but rather one of illusion. Pierthorn kept forming swords, but he definitely wasn't anywhere near a Sword God, nor a blade master. When they first appeared they were illusory, and then they solidified.
And then there were his barriers, they were powerful, certainly. And theoretically, it was possible to form a spell that increased range and the sense of it. Ryu himself had done as much before even forming a Dao, and that was without even forming his Spacetime Soul Nature. It was his self-created Visualization, a technique he hadn't used in ages because it was far too weak now, [Warped Ripple].
The trouble was that one, it shouldn't have been so easy, and two, shouldn't have been capable of countering Ryu so easily.
Theoretically, had he run into someone with a Space Soul Nature, or even that dragon he had offered to become his mount, assuming the same level of strength between him and them, his [Warped Ripple] would have been rendered entirely useless. By the same token, Pierthorn's should have been against him as well unless he too had a Space affinity, or at least had time to set up a more complex spell.
The fact it wasn't meant the gap was being made up by a natural energy, his Dao.
'Mature Dynastic Dao of the Fragmented level...'
The moment it clicked for Ryu, the swords appeared before his face. He didn't move, his robes fluttering and his eyes forming a twin pair of circles that rotated in opposite direction, each more complex than the last, one white gold and the other dark gold.
The suffocating presence of a Founding Dao erupted and the swords that had solidified in the air became illusory in his eyes once more. They layered atop one another, and the closest one...
Was at his throat.
Ryu shifted and vanished, dodging out of the way of the sword he hadn't seen until just moments ago. His Sword God Aura flared and the swords faltered further, dimming once more to become nothing more than keen beads of light in his eyes. Nothing of them was real but a small, centimeter wide sharp hue of light. 99% of the swords were fake, but that only made it more devastating.
The true blade could be hidden anywhere within the swords and even his Spiritual Sense couldn't see through them. He might step past a blade that he thought he had already dodged, only to find his throat slit.
But that was only the first layer of the illusion. The second layer was the movement of the illusory swords themselves, and then the third was their solidification.
More important than all of that, though, was just how subtly Pierthorn used his Dao. If not for Ryu's hyper sensitivity, he wouldn't have known he was using it at all. It was hard to imagine just how many had died to Pierthorn without even knowing how it happened.
'Is this how Sky Gods battle? How boring.'
Ryu raised a palm and his Great Swordstaff slapped into his hand with a satisfying pop.
He raised it, leisurely, blade tip pointed toward exactly where the roaring Pierthorn was. Having lost his body, Pierthorn was absolutely furious, he didn't even seem to realize why it was that Ryu had managed to dodge his attack at all. But by the time this transient thought passed through his mind and he tried to remind himself to calm down, it was too late.
A blade suddenly appeared before his somewhat weak soul form, but what was scary wasn't the blade itself, but rather what coated it... a dancing blade energy of concentrated Spiritual Qi.
Black Spiritual Qi? He had never...
His body was cut apart, shredded to pieces, and then consumed whole.
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