For a moment, time seemed to freeze.

Ryu's body hung in the air like a coiled spring, his arms spread out and bent as though he was a crane. His foot was firmly planted against Arteur's chest, the depth of his eyes piercing through the short distance that separated their gazes.

And then, time accelerated to its peak, Ryu's body uncoiling with an explosive power that shattered the sound barrier before his leg was even half way through unfurling itself.

Arteur shot out like a laser canon. The skies were split apart as though a God had reached down and drawn a line to divide the world into two.

Space crackled and shook, a thin pillar of crimson following Arteur's figure through the air. Concentric circles of exploding wind following his wake, the battle between hot and cold qi becoming so prominent that it felt like the entire was about to collapse.

Ryu's head turned toward Tybalt who had seemingly managed to extricate himself from the collision. But, even as the latter fell from the skies, he held his hands up innocently as though none of this had anything to do with him. The way his white-gold eyes twinkled and his hair waved about in the wind gave him a warm sort of charisma that made everyone around him want to hang onto his every word.

Everyone except for Ryu, that is.

However, Ryu didn't spare him more than a single glance. At that moment, Arteur had smashed through the ground and buildings, his flames licking about the city and causing pillars of flames to rise and fall in his wake.

It was then that his roar shook the skies. Rage, humiliation, fury, all bubbled up from his core.

His head tilted to the skies, a mighty shout shook the dense clouds above as they struggled to close after just being split in two. He didn't know who Ryu was, nor did he care. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to burn him to ash.

A sword appeared in his hand. It was only three finger widths wide and about 1.3 meters long. It looked as though it couldn't have weighed any heavier than a feather, and yet it swallowed up the qi Arteur poured into it as though it was a bottomless ocean.

It shone a violent crimson color, the kind that made you think of rivers of blood, oceans of bone and skies of corpses.

The bloodthirst was palpable. Arteur's hair turned a burning shade of red and his irises vanished, replaced by two orbs of pure radiant bloodlust.

The ground cracked and shattered, splintering in all directions for tens of kilometers as Arteur's knees bent.

In one blink, he was still on the ground. In the next, he had rocketed back into the skies, his wings of fire unfurling to the point they spread out a kilometer to the left and right.

Ryu responded in kind. Sparkling ice qi hovered around him like a raging torrent. It took no more than a single breath for wings of ice just as large to spread out from his back, countering the oppressive heat Arteur bore down with in an instant.

And then, the two clashed.

Ryu's Great Swordstaff. Arteur's Sword.

The sound was so blaring that it alone shattered all the windows in the surrounding several kilometers. But, once the wind pressure of their battle caught up, the devastation could hardly be put into words, it was like a tsunami of earth was rising with the two of them being none other than the epicenter.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Arteur's voice was like a clap of thunder, sending Ryu's hair fluttering backward. But, all that did was reveal a face as cold as ice, a demeanor as unshaken as diamond and a disposition as noble as even the Shrine Mountain in the distance.

Still, Arteur hadn't spoken for the sake of Ryu's response. He didn't care what the latter would say, all he wanted to see was blood.

His sword retracted itself before snaking forward at an even greater speed.

Ryu's gaze could follow its arc with ease. He could already tell that Arteur was in the Lower Dao Pedestal Realm on the verge of stepping into the Middle. His attainments in the sword, likewise, were definitely not small, as were his attainments in the Dao of Fire. In addition, he had begun to use his Spiritual Foundation in earnest, so the qi he had access to was slowly surpassing Immortal Qi in quality.

However

Why should he care?

'[White Serpent's Dance: Winding Step].'

Ryu's figure seemed to vanish out of the path of Arteur's sword, his afterimage being sliced into two only for his true self to appear to the latter's side. His speed was so quick that it felt to those observing that he teleported. However, who didn't know that the space on the Martial Plane was far too sturdy to allow such a thing at the hands of anyone below the World Sea Realm?

Arteur's wings flapped a single time, sending forward not only yet another wall of heat, but also moving him out of the way of Ryu's strike.

He countered with an unmatched swiftness. If there was anything the palm sized Scarlet Sparrows gained in exchange for size, it was speed. Arteur didn't believe that anyone could outdo him in this aspect. Anyone who wanted to was asking for death!

Ryu's crystalline blade just barely missed the tip of Arteur's nose, only for the latter's sword to appear at his throat.

A vicious light lit Arteur's eyes. "[Reverse Flow Pierce]."

Ryu's pupils constricted. He felt as though all the blood in his body was flowing in reverse, his strength suddenly plummeting as he lost control of his own Vital Qi.

Arteur's timing bordered on perfection, his blood red sword appearing just an inch from Ryu's throat in the blink of an eye.

However Other than a slight change in his pupils, Ryu's gaze was filled with an undying indifference.

"Take form and conquer the world." Ryu's soft voice somehow filled the skies.

Arteur's pupils constricted. An Immortal Ring summoning?!