Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Chapter 2177  World Control

Ryu didn’t bother to move as the auras converged toward him. They blazed across the skies, their speed quite impressive, but the subtle sort of fusion between them, despite the distance that should have separated them, was even more intriguing to Ryu.

‘Interesting.’

BANG! BANG! BANG!

All three came to a stop in the skies at the same time, an explosion of forces rippling out in all directions. As though a show of force, the wind pressure from their movement alone shattered the fragile space into shards…

But all Ryu saw was a poor lack of Control.

Maybe they had done it on purpose, but as far as Ryu could tell, it was pathetic nonetheless.

“Griffins, huh?”

Indeed, the three figures standing high in the skies above Ryu were Griffins, their wings proud, their paws standing atop the air as though on solid ground, and the gems at the center of their foreheads shimmering with strong might.

In response, all three Griffins just growled.

“No, no, no need for introductions. You three probably haven’t realized that they’ve sent you here to die. So, how about, as a courtesy, I show you that first.”

Before the Griffins could speak, Ryu stepped forward. His body flashed, and his palm was already near the gem of the middle Griffin in the blink of an eye.

‘Hm?’

Ryu, rather than finishing his attack, raised an eyebrow instead.

Something was off.

With a flash, Ryu vanished again.

The space he had just been standing in suddenly bent and twisted, folding in on itself as though a spontaneous black hole had just taken shape.

The Griffin Race—what were they most known for? Weren’t they the origin of the Number Two Ranked Heavenly Pupils in Sacrum? The World Pupils?

These three Griffins seemed to be capable of layering their World Gems together, creating a far stronger effect than they could on their own.

They were still in the same category of pathetic genius to Ryu. But pathetic was just a relative term. It was a different matter entirely if the three were actually working together.

Because of that, they could actually cause quite some problems for a true genius.

Logically speaking, these three shouldn’t have been able to find each other and come together so easily in the Title Stele. But as Ryu had already noted…

Outside interference.

A flash appeared in Ryu’s eyes, and his somewhat chilled blood began to boil a bit. But not out of anger—he really couldn’t be bothered to care about all that.

“Arrogant human. DIE!”

The three unfurled their wings, and a Domain of fluttering, rich brown feathers formed. The feathers circulated in a whirlwind, blocking off all escape routes.

The left Griffin swiped out a paw. A powerful force appeared above Ryu, but as it descended, it doubled in power, then doubled again.

What made the World Pupils so powerful—was it not Control? And yet, these three appeared with such a sheer lack of it.

Now, Ryu finally understood why.

They destabilized this region first, disrupting the laws governing it so that they could replace it with their own Domain. This made their Control over the region at least twice as effective. When their World Gems were stacked onto one another, this effectiveness hit yet another higher tier.

Ryu raised a palm above his head as the suffocating might descended. He looked like nothing more than a small, insignificant ant beneath the strength of the illusory paw. The Griffins were already so much larger than him to begin with, but with the multiplying of its power, it looked as though Ryu was trying to catch a mountain with his bare hands.

A grunt left Ryu’s lips as he was nearly crushed beneath the might of the paw.

The feathers suddenly surged in from all directions, slicing and dicing at his body. Fabric and blood flew.

BANG!

The paw collapsed, seemingly crushing Ryu beneath its mass.

The three Griffins stood proudly in the air, sneers on their snouts. They had been sent here to die? Was that a joke?

They were sent here for just one reason, and that was to eliminate the man who disrespected their Goddess.

“Idiots. I’ll show you what real World Control looks like.”

The Domain of rotating feathers froze. The paw above Ryu’s head suddenly shattered.

At some unknown point, Ryu, with his torn robes, stood high above the Griffins. By the time they snapped their heads up, it was already too late. In Ryu’s hand, a steely blue Brush was already dancing in the wind, an illusory world taking form around them all.

Ryu raised the Brush high.

“[A God’s Brush]… [Earth].”

Ryu’s arm slowly descended.

Danger signs filled the hearts of the Griffins, and they wanted to run. But for some reason, they felt completely frozen in place, their bodies suppressed to an extreme.

It was like they were locked in a vice grip, their bodies being slowly squeezed. Blood began to run out from their eyes and ears, and then…

CRACK.

A fissure ran right through their World Gems.

Pain worse than a spear to the soul tore through their bodies. But they hardly had a chance to experience it before Earth descended.

BANG!

There were three explosions, but it truly sounded like just a single one.

Blood, gore, flesh, and sinew were strewn about as the Griffins found themselves shredded to pieces.

The first stage of [A God’s Brush] had only half descended before they were entirely unable to withstand the impact any longer and were torn to pieces.

Ryu stood high in the skies, his gaze indifferent.

He had made it quite clear that they had only been sent here to die. It had little to do with him that they hadn’t believed him.

But what was this exactly? An attempt to tire him out?

Ryu would have laughed if it were funny. Instead, the tiny bit of heat in his blood was increasing.

Finally, some real fun.

They had better start sending more powerful opponents.