Ryu's smile brightened.
"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."
It wasn't until Ryu spoke these words that Elena's entourage seemed to snap out of their shock. Having broken free from the hypnotization of Ryu's voice and looks, they realized the ridiculous nature of the situation.
The one to react first was a young lady deep within the Cosmic Seed Realm. In fact, the next time they held this ceremony, it might very well be her who took the helm. She was known as Cleo.
Judging by her demeanor, she was likewise a member of the Berserk branch and had a pair of fiery crimson eyes to match it. But, unlike the burly Syriah, she didn't have muscles bulging out of places they shouldn't. Though… She more than made up for it with her temper.
It seemed that Ryu was having a streak of bad luck recently when it came to running into ill tempered women. Well… It wasn't' like his own temper was very good to begin with either.
"Can you read the situation?! Get the fuck out of the way!"
Ryu blinked, turning his gaze toward Cleo. Normally, his first instinct would be to snap, he might even kill this Cleo individual, honestly. From what he could see, she had completed her 11th Rite, the Rite of Perseverance. She would have a very hard time matching up to Ryu at all.
But, she was very lucky in this regard. Ryu wasn't sure if she was a friend of Elena's or not, as such he didn't lash out. Plus, he wasn't in a murderous mood at the moment. Instead, he just wanted to have a nice chat with his wife. He was only a little annoyed that they were being interrupted. He was ignoring even the rampaging Heavens above, why would he care for the interruption of a single woman?
Ryu completely ignored Cleo and looked back toward Elena, the smile on his face never leaving.
"What do you think?" Ryu suddenly asked.
Seeing Elena respond again, Cleo's next words were caught in her throat. Was this really Elena? What the hell was going on here, exactly?
Instead of responding, Ryu pointed up to the sky as pillars of dark light fell continuously. It was only after Ryu did this that everyone realized that it wasn't that Heaven's Punishment hadn't fallen, but rather that there were fluttering blossoms in the sky that blocked a new destructive beam every time it appeared.
"I think that you're very good at causing trouble." Elena replied plainly.
"Don't you think I'm also good at dealing with trouble?"
"Are you? I don't think I agree." Elena replied just as evenly.
"Whatever the lady says is correct." Ryu said solemnly, not even trying to fight back.
"A lack of backbone too, that isn't good for a man."
"My backbone is here only to protect you."
"Who said I needed protection."
"Who said I said you needed it?"
"Then get out of my way."
"As long as the lady wishes it."
Ryu stepped out of Elena's way, but the moment she took a step forward, he too walked forward. The sequence was so in sync that it looked as though their minds were linked together. But, the truth was that ever since Ryu stored Elena's soul strand away, he hadn't brought it out again. He wasn't using any advantage he had at all nor did he have any idea what Elena was thinking.
None of that mattered to him. He was more than willing to start back at square one, but the truth was that he had no idea how to woo a woman.
If he thought about it, all the relationships he had were of women coming to him, he had never had to try for such things before. Elena appeared in his room naked, Yaana nurtured feelings for him over two lifetimes, Ailsa was destined to be his life partner, Eska was practically forced into choosing him for the sake of giving her Clan a chance…
It could be said that Ryu didn't know the first thing about pleasing women, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.
A cold shoulder? He would accept it. Indifferent words? He would accept them. One of these days he'd stumble onto the right combination of words and actions.
As for embarrassment? Ryu couldn't ever remember feeling such an emotion in his life. He never cared what others thought and he disdained to explain himself.
"… Did you know that he was this shameless too…?" Sabelle looked over toward Godefride. However, the latter's lip only twitched.
"He has a death with." Eustis was speechless.
They all knew what kind of existences were after Elena's hand. With the exception of the Sky Gods, all the World Sea Realm experts who were qualified to chase after her were in attendance right this moment. If he had made himself an enemy of all the Martial Gods previously, he was now making himself public enemy number one to everyone.
Ryu, though, didn't care what anyone else was thinking. Did he need permission to woo his own wife? If they had a problem with it, they could come down here themselves. When they were all on the same playing field, he really wanted to see if they would dare to still be so arrogant.
Elena's brow furrowed slightly as she looked up into the skies. It was almost as though she hadn't realized that Ryu was still following to her side at all.
A breaking point was finally reached. One after another, Heaven's Warriors that stood three meters tall crashed to the ground, instantly outnumbering them three to one. They made Ryu's previous opponents look like nothing more than ants.
Elena's aura flared and she prepared to take a step forward, but a hand on her shoulder suddenly stopped all her momentum entirely.
By this point, Galkos and Cleo felt like fainting. He touched her? He actually touched her?
"What do you think you're doing?"
One would have thought that the one who said this was Elena, but it was actually Ryu himself who spoke.
"While I'm here, you don't have to lift a finger. Just sit tight."