Ryu felt completely drained. Using the last of his strength to summon Esme like that really felt like he was scraping the bottom of a barrel. He had truly hit his ceiling.
At the moment, though, Ryu was only glad that his plan had worked. Having to defeat those two while also making sure not to damage their futures was really a pain in the ass. His Grandpa Kukan was definitely right about women.
In the end, he had to wear them down until they had almost nothing left before catching them off guard. But, even then, he had relied on some of the special characteristics of Osiris.
Had Ryu teleported Esme and then had her attack, the two would have likely still reacted fast enough to dodge. And, by this point, Ryu didn't have enough energy left to control Esme in battle, so his fate would have been sealed.
Rather than doing that, Ryu actually teleported Esme such that the daggers in her hand shared the same space as the heads of his two little nephews.
In the real world, this would have been impossible. Controlling spatial qi in the domain of a cultivator was asking to be detected and thwarted. But, in Osiris, this was less of an issue because some fundamental laws could be broken.
Long story short, the two couldn't dodge because the instant Esme appeared, their skulls had already been run through. Had the two been in top condition, they would have definitely sensed the fluctuations of spatial qi. But, Ryu had made certain they wouldn't be able to.
Now, though, Ryu had no idea how to deal with his own body. He could barely hang in the air even now.
In fact, to say that he was hanging wasn't even true. Rather, he was slowly falling even now. It was more accurate to say that he was barely able to slow this fall. As for staying in the air, what a joke.
Ryu coughed up another violent mouthful of blood, his mouth and chest bleeding out to the point both formed a bloody waterfall.
At that moment, a soft figure caught Ryu. Though he found it too difficult to open his eyes at that moment, he didn't need to for him to realize that it was Ailsa.
Ryu opened his mouth to speak out something sarcastic and witty, but in its place came another flood of blood. That said, this didn't stop Ailsa from knowing what he was going to say.
"This is what you get, always trying to take advantage of me. Hmph."
Though Ailsa said this, the worry on her face painted a completely different picture.
The one thing this world seemed to have a problem with replicating perfect was Ryu's Realm Heart. But, this made sense. After all, it was the presentation of the seed of an entire world. It wasn't as simple as replicating abilities, something that was quite easy considering this was a dream world. It was a different matter entirely.
Before Ryu went on his six month retreat, he had still believed that Osiris replicated everything perfectly. It wasn't until after his seclusion that he realized it was nothing more than a fa?ade.
Ryu concluded that this was because the Realm Heart wasn't truly a part of his body. Or, maybe he had yet to truly make it his. Regardless of which it was, he couldn't make use of its full abilities in Osiris.
The truth was, though, even if he could, after fighting for so long with a stone in his heart, it was hard to tell if his Realm Heart would be of any help in the real world either.
If Ryu died here, he'd take a massive hit to his talent. He would be able to fix it when he crossed into the Soul Birth Realm, unlike the two little nephews who had already long since entered that Realm, but in order to do so, he would have to enter the Immortal Ring Realm first which would, obviously, require crossing the Connecting Heaven Realm.
Even heaven defying geniuses needed 900 years to clear this realm. Ryu was already a step above such geniuses, and he gained a boost from his Realm Heart while cultivating in the Mortal Realms. So, if he holed himself up and did nothing but cultivate, Ryu might be able to reach the Immortal Ring Realm in 1-200 years.
Of course, none of this accounted for breakthroughs in comprehension, nor did it involve fortuitous encounters or even Ailsa's interference. Still, this sort of boost in speed was more than just a little obscene.
Yet, all of this was only true if Ryu's soul wasn't harmed. If it was, let alone 900 years, even ten times that might not be enough to enter the Immortal Ring Realm.
To Ryu 200 years was already way too long. If it was up to him, he would step into the Immortal Ring Realm at this very instant. But reality was cruel.
Ailsa helped Ryu to the ground, taking along Esme who had become like a puppet without its strings. Luckily, Esme had some small intelligence to her own, so she was able to continue standing without Ryu's input.
"Ryu, Ryu! You need to stay away. Don't you dare doze off!"
His eyelids were too heavy at this moment. His eyes were the one thing that he could always count on, even back when he was a mortal. It was thanks to his Pupils that he was still able to make something of himself. But now, he couldn't see anything but darkness through them. Even what he assumed was the sun above was just a pale foggy shape.
Ryu knew that he had definitely overdrafted his Pupils. But, he should have expected as much after stacking [Heaven and Earth Gate] with [Lines of Fate]. The fact he lasted so long was a miracle. It would definitely take some time for his eyes to recover.