Sword Qi , fire balls, Saber Qi , all flew towards Ryu in a beautiful fashion, there was no where he could evade the attacks to, he only had to face it head on and the only feeling that rung in his head as he stared at the attacks weaving towards him was danger, he knew that if he took on all those attacks he would come out dead or half alive. He also had the option of vanishing into smoke and escaping as well, but he had made up his mind to keep that escaping tactic as a secret and will only use it in a battle he was sure to win.
With all the odds against him and him also giving himself an handicap it was same as him serving his head on a silver platter and handing it over to the palace master and elders but Ryu was actually head over heels for the next battle. His brain cells rung with warning bells while his blood cells boiled with battle intent and he moved with a huge swing of the massive sycthe in his hand, he dispelled some of the attacks that flew towards him but he was still sent flying and crashing into the benches.
Ryu bounced back to his feet immediately and dived towards them again, he swung at the sword master that stood in front, his attack was blocked and just then a fire ball came flying towards him. He used the force of the sword that blocked his sycthe to move backwards but still ran into a palm strike that sent him flying straight towards the midst of the teachers .
His eyes flashed with cold light as he dispelled the huge sycthe and allow himself to plunge right in their midst, they couldn't send attacks in their midst since the space they stood at was pretty limited and a bit cramped up.
He crashed into a female teacher who couldn't get out of the way quickly and with a quick somersault he stood to his feet while swinging his claws at her throat, his foot dove into the guts of another teacher.
A palm strike fell on his chest sending him reeling to the other side again, his innards rattled and blood flew out of his mouth nonstop, he had only managed to kill 3 teachers with the element of surprise but that was it.
He couldn't even get a chance to attack, the more they attacked, the more he felt like his hands were tied behind him, he could'nt quite understand the feeling and for a second where he slowed down to understand where his discomfort was coming from a large cluster of Qi was sent his direct. He couldn't dodge or block and could only bear the brunt.
His ribs cracked and hand bent in an unnatural angle as he flew backwards. Just when he was about to crash into the classroom wall, he felt a tingle to his back and couldnt help but roar in rage. Like that was the only push needed , two pitch black wings tore out from his back and spread wide , with a single flap he stabilised his flight in the air.
" DONT LET HIM ESCAPE!!!!"
The palace master yelled immediately when he saw the wings and this time he also took action. He stretched his hand towards Ryu and a huge suction force drew Ryu towards his palm with zero to no resistance, Ryu couldn't even flap his wings because they were both bombarded by the rest of the teachers except two.
"Little demon I think yours ends here and now!!" The palace master declared while looking into Ryu's eyes hoping the latter might plead for his life and sell out some information but Ryu didn't even have as much as a frown on his face, there was no struggle, no resistance, he even had the look of a curious and naive little kid on his face, if not for those glowing crimson pits he had for eyes, one might even feel sympathy for him. But it seemed like he couldn't get a way out of this one.
" Palace master if I may..". At this moment that master young spoke up. The palace master frowned for a bit because he had noticed master Young's inaction during the whole ordeal and him speaking up now was like he was with Ryu.
Master young turned to look at Ryu, he didn't wait for the palace master's approval because if the palace master wanted to kill Ryu he would have done it immediately he caught hold of his neck.
" Why did you do it?? The students..why did you kill them??" Master young was genuinely curious about this, Ryu had attacked to kill Shawn during a simple assessment exam despite there being no enmity between them and the students were even more random of a kill.
"Are you asking a demon for its reason to kill, you can't be that dumb right??"
A teacher asked with impatience from among the crowd but master young didn't reply, he felt like he knew Ryu more than the others and from what he had observed of him the death of those students could have been nothing more than an accident on his path and that's what intrigued him, how can one accidentally mummify two nascent soul cultivators who were in such a moment without both of them noticing?? How can that be done with such a low cultivation as a level 1 soul birth realm cultivator?. It didn't make sense.
Ryu looked at master young for sometime but didn't answer and turned away, he knew his reply didn't matter but he also wanted to thank master young because just this little delay had reduced the tension the palace master felt and now he could see things clearly and obviously he was curious about Ryu, because the demons he knew were really different from what Ryu looked like.
Demons were like a hybrid of human and beast, but there were also some who could look exactly like normal humans but Ryu was too weak to fall into that category so he wanted to understand what was going on, and Ryu eyes was way too different from any creature he had ever seen, there was no eyeball, just a dense pit of crimson that glowed in place of the eye. He even had a ridiculous thought like maybe another species had finally appeared on their planet.
With that Ryu was locked up in the dungeon. When he was finally left alone, his wrists that were chained together suddenly faded into smoke and he was free.
He stood up and stretched his bones, although his wounds were healing, it was very slow like it was not even healing but he could feel the tingle of the tissues trying to get back together.
He turned into a puff of smoke and sped towards the huge gate but was unable to pass through, his head slammed into the gate and he fell back with his butt hitting the hard floor, even his smoke form was cancelled.
"What the hell" he said while standing up and staring at the gate curiosily. He tried again but was pushed back and this time he felt like all his energy was drained. With that he walked to his cell and sat at the door waiting till he eventually fell asleep.
Suddenly his ears perked up and he immediately vanished into smoke again, this time he drifted towards the gate and stood by the corner quietly.
Very soon miss Liv came in with the students and immediately he she opened the gates he sped out and drifted up into the air before unfurling his wings and flying away towards the south of the city.
Ryu looked at his wounds as they closed up, he remembered the battle and the feeling of bloat he felt when he tried to absorb the negative energy around them, he felt like he would explode if he did that and eventually didn't.
He looked around him to make sure there was noone in the vicinity, he had heard about beasts roaming the forests , he was hoping for some to come by although he wasn't hungry, he thought he could practice his sycthe on them.
His clothes were torn but his wings clung around him shielding his naked body away from view. He laid down on the floor while facing up, his breath slowed down and his heartbeat became much louder like it was about to jump from his chest.
He remembered the feeling of when he was about the battle, he could feel the blood circulation of when he was in a bloodlust state and could feel that the bloat he felt had been elated at that moment but came back when he decided to rein in the bloodlust and defend for his life.
He began circulating the energy following the same pattern. At first it was had to recall but the moment he started the motion the path became more clear to him and he circulated it slowly and steadily. He increased his pace gradually as more and more energy roared alive in him.
At this moment he felt the real amount of energy that laid in him, he felt that with that energy alone he could break through straight up to the soul tempering realm.
He wanted to continue but he knew that the location wasn't safe, he thought hard for sometime trying to choose a specific way to live.
He wanted to go try his luck at another city, and now that he understood the weight of his existence he would be more careful, but he needed a place to cultivate without interuption because he had to atleast be at the spirit enlightenment realm before he could revive his sister. And deep down he was unwilling to continue life as a pauper now that he had some power and more potential to grow stronger so his was in a dilemma and didn't know which choice to make.
"Maybe I should locate a city first then I'll choose on a status, but all in all, I refuse to still be a pauper, I know mom took the Thorson's mansion, I'll have to get my foothold firm so even if I revive Claudia, I won't have to be a dreg"
He made his choice and started walking towards a random direction. Since noone will help him grow stronger, he would do that alone and prove to this world that he isn't some degraded demon that they think he was.