Silvyr’s brows raised at the appearance of Dyon. She had always been quite open with her sexuality, but it had been quite a while since she had last been interested in a man.
Bas and Liska, who were still kneeling before Silvyr’s throne, couldn’t help but look back. But, the sight they saw sent shivers down their spine. Although Silvyr had told them that Dyon hadn’t died, they had only accepted it because they didn’t dare to refute the second daughter of a King God Clan. However, wasn’t the evidence directly in front of them now?
“Is this the innate aurora wielder?” Silvyr’s grip on her breasts tightened ever so slightly, a faint excitement blushing her cheeks.
“Yes…” Bas responded softly, a bit off-put by the fact it wasn’t only Silvyr reacting so strongly to Dyon’s appearance, but also his own wife.
He nudged Liska, causing her to turn away in embarrassment.
Dyon’s body had changed completely. There was a reason the martial world had more beauties than the mortal realm did, and that reason was energy cultivation. The purification allowed for by essence energy was so dramatic that Dyon’s features had gone from comparably handsome to most others, to almost otherworldly. It was as though all shackles that had been fettered to him were removed… He was quite simply in his perfect state.
But, just that wasn’t enough to make someone like Silvyr nearly lose control. She had many attractive men in her harem, and even if they weren’t to the level Dyon reached now, the difference wasn’t drastic enough for such a reaction… The reason lied in Dyon’s power.
Silvyr had never felt such a stifling atmosphere come from a young man her age. His presence, his demonic will, his demeanor… She wanted it for herself.
However, Dyon didn’t care. Looking down at the soundly sleeping Ri, he diligently circulated his wills to heal her, even including his essence energy. With his new energy cultivation, Dyon’s ability to heal had reached new heights. He was no longer limited by the quality of his body, or even Ri’s. But… The more time passed… The more uneasy the warriors watching began to feel… Because with each passing second, with each new injury Dyon found, with each sigh of relief that escaped Ri’s soft lips, Dyon’s anger only grew.
And yet, for some inexplicable reason, no one could bring themselves to move. It was as though death loomed over each one of their heads, and should they choose to? There would only be the end of their lives waiting for them.
Minutes passed before Dyon’s eyes flashed a final time, completely swapping Ri’s wrecked armor for soft and oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. He had wanted to give her something comfortable to wear, but this was the most comfortable outfit he could think of.
Ri shifted in her sleep, groaning awake. Suddenly remember she was supposed to be battling, she started, jumping up in Dyon’s arms.
Dyon was surprised by her sudden movement and didn’t have a thought of dodging as Ri’s forehead slammed into his.
“Ow…” Ri rubbed her forehead before she realized her feet weren’t on the ground and that she was instead being help up bridal-style.
“Hm?” Ri’s blue-silver eyes blinked as she looked around, confused to find a ring of black flames around her. But, what was even more odd was the fact that no one was attacking. “What’s going on?”
Suddenly, a familiar scent caused Ri’s nose to twitch. In fact, the scent was so much better and much stronger than it had been before. “Dyon?”
Ri looked around excitedly before she finally realized she was in someone’s arms. Looking up, she found a wincing Dyon trying to get over the fact his head had just been rammed.
Confusion flashed through Ri’s features. ‘Was my husband always so handsome?… Did I miss him too much? Am I seeing things?…’
But, Dyon’s touch, the comfort Ri felt in his arms, and his pine cinnamon scent… They were all too real for Ri to ignore.
Tears started glistening in her eyes.
“Little feu glace? Why are you crying?” Dyon looked down at Ri, his heart still weighed with a heavy feeling of guilt. He still didn’t know what was true and what was fake from the old man’s illusion. In fact, maybe it was only wishful thinking that made him hold on to the possibility that there were some falsehoods.
But, now wasn’t the time to deal with that. He just wanted to make sure Ri was okay, first and foremost.
Ri’s small hand touched Dyon’s cheek, almost as though she was checking whether he really was there.
“You really are back…” Ri whispered.
Dyon’s healing of Ri suddenly reminded everyone that underneath the endless injuries and blood… There was an ethereal beauty that had been before them. Despite how almost comedic it was as the oversized sweat shirt drooped down Ri’s arm as she lifted it up, her beauty could not be ignored anymore…
However, not everyone was happy about this. The middle-aged man who had been assigned to kill Ri was trembling with anger. As a warrior, having someone turn their back to you and completely ignore your existence was something he couldn’t tolerate.
“If you two are done washing your necks, I think it’s time you die.” The man’s black hair was streaked in gold, reminiscent of mixed blood Uidah clan members.
Ri was snapped back to reality due to the unwanted voice. She tried to climb out of Dyon’s arms, but, suddenly found that Dyon’s grip was too tight for her to do so.
When she looked up, all she found was a gentle smile. “You just lie there comfortably. In fact, you can even take a nap if you want. I got it.”
Ri wanted to protest, but something about Dyon seemed unfathomable right now.
A peak first grade expert hadn’t appeared in this quadrant for centuries because of the decline of celestial will. Although Alidor was trying to find a new path by using his innate aurora, that was obviously not something everyone had access to.
And now that Dyon had used Alidor to become used to his new body, only he knew how powerful he was…
And it was about time for others to find out too.
“Okay.” Ri smiled brightly, resting her head on Dyon’s bare chest. His heart beat was so steady and strong that it almost lulled Ri to sleep. But, despite how tired she was, she wanted to see this through to the end.
Dyon continued gently circulating his aurora within Ri. Although he had healed all of her external injuries, there was still too many accumulated internal injuries. And that wasn’t even to mention the stress her soul was under after forcefully pushing the Tree of Life and Death to her limit.
Turning toward the fuming warrior, Dyon’s face immediately became cold.
His eyes scanned the man standing less than five meters from himself. “Wash my neck?”
The man trembled under Dyon’s gaze. He didn’t understand what was going on. He couldn’t feel any cultivation coming from this young man, and yet, he felt as though his life was in Dyon’s hands.
“74 opened meridians. Second stage essence gathering. Lower 4th grade.” Dyon deduced this almost immediately. “Why would you think you had a right to kill my wife with such pitiful cultivation?”
The brows of the surrounding warriors twitched at Dyon’s provocation. Was this kid about to try and fight them with no cultivation and a woman in his arms? What kind of ridiculous concept was that?
Suddenly, Dyon’s demonic will blazed. A dripping red gold aura spread out from him, emanating a stifling pressure.
The Uidah warrior suddenly felt as though his knees would give out on him at any moment. His will to fight was being slowly erased and it seemed as though Dyon’s presence was only becoming larger and larger.
“Please! I’m sorry!” The warrior fell to his knees, shivering in fear. All he could see before him was an insurmountable mountain. There was no use in resisting. This was the king of all things.
The sovereignty path was something Dyon had long since awoken to, ever since his very first talks with Ri. However, before he could use it to its fullest extent, it was basically relegated to a seduction tool that Dyon imperceptibly leaked.
But, now? Dyon could sustain his demonic will at the peak of the ninth level and his understanding of himself had reached an entirely new level due to the True Empath trials.
A normal person might have been crushed by the mistakes of their past, having it weigh on their hearts for years to come. But, Dyon was different. Where others saw failure, he saw room for improvement. Where others saw a dead-end, he saw a path through. Where others saw despair, he saw courage and bravery.
Dyon knew he had made mistakes, but leaders make mistakes all of the time. What separates the greats is their willingness to adapt and change. Dyon’s confidence in himself was unmatched. He had no doubts.
He would bring the lotus alliance out of this situation. He would bring his fiancées away. He would have his name reign supreme in the martial world.
With all of these goals in mind, this wasn’t the place for him to stumble.
Dyon’s eyes flashed with a purple gold as a brilliant weapon’s hell array appeared behind him, spinning viciously in the air. “Some things can’t be forgiven…” He said faintly.
A spear laced with wind and sword will pierced forward, impaling the lowered head of the Uidah warrior. There was no time to scream or cry out in agony, there was no time to despair… there was no time to regret.
Silvyr’s eyes flashed with anger at this scene. It wasn’t that she cared about the death of a foot soldier, but what she did care for was the face of the Uidah family. And one of their members dying while begging for their life on their knees was not something that she wanted to see.
But, Dyon couldn’t care less. This man was only the first that would die.
‘I need to regroup the army… It’s not possible for me to do so for everyone, but just the demon generals should be enough.’
Wings burst from Dyon’s back. A domineering black and a pure white shone over the battlefield, lifting him into the air with unmatched speed.
However, he wasn’t escaping.
Wind raged around Dyon as he abruptly stopped in the air, holding onto Ri in his arms.
The air became heavy as Dyon’s humanoid manifestation appeared, looming over the battlefield with an oppressive might.
Dyon’s soul strength immediately climbed to the peak of the 6th stage. However, this time, Dyon felt no stress. His body felt light and comfortable… This was his perfect state.
The wind whipped beneath Dyon, laced with roaring black flames.
The armies were forced to retreat. Many were only of the meridian formation level… Their power simply wasn’t enough to deal with the fusing of Dyon’s wills. He was simply too domineering.
‘What is he doing?’ Silvyr’s eyes narrowed. She was used to being a step ahead of her enemies. She had never used tactics in the strictest of sense, but she always had plots that often worked in her favor. Psychological manipulation, allocation of warriors, concentration of forces, these were all things the Uidah family with their buddha’s eye were good at.
But, Silvyr couldn’t make heads or tails of Dyon’s actions. She could only watch as hundreds of meters of space opened up beneath his feet along with a steadily growing array.
Ri looked so very fragile in Dyon’s arms, but the security she felt was unmatched. It was as though anything Dyon did could only lead to victory.
So, when Dyon looked up and winked at his demon generals and tens of miniature arrays sped out from him and toward them, people could only watch with baited breath.
Arios’ eyes flashed as he suddenly realized Dyon’s intention. ‘A large array coupled with many smaller ones? I don’t know what happened to you in the past few months… But, you’ve suddenly become a monster.”
With that last thought, Arios disappeared from where he stood along with one hundred other demon generals.
Before anyone could wonder where they went, the massive array below Dyon’s feet suddenly glowed with unparalleled brightness.
… As the light slowly faded, the only thing that was left was complete shock.
Using the same principle of a larger teleportation relay station and many smaller teleportation arrays… Dyon had arranged all of his demon generals below him.
A smile crossed Dyon’s features as his eyes dimmed from their purple gold to his normal hazel.
“Let’s end this.”
Everyone was suddenly very much aware of how powerful an innate aurora wielder was on the battle field. To be able to completely change the landscape on a whim was something that could only be described as godly…
And yet, Dyon did it easily.
What the observers didn’t know was that this was only made possible by Dyon’s ingenuity. If he had tried to draw a separate teleportation array with coordinates and distance for everyone, he would have burned out – even with it just being a hundred.
However, to create just a single teleportation platform and many much smaller and easier to make connections to said platform, was a much less taxing task.
“Spartan Formation: Demon Emperor’s Will Variation 1.”
As soon as the words left Dyon’s mouth, the demon generals suddenly became giants.
Their skin reddened, and their muscles and bones creaked under the pressure of the demon sage’s ultimate body enhancement technique… And although they didn’t have access to the perfect stages… That somehow made them look all the more dangerous.
The demon generals immediately shifted, forming a perfect square.
Ten demon generals made up each side as Dyon created layers of defensive arrays to protect their corners.
However, maybe the oddest part about the formation was that the ten generals making up each side were so very spread out, even as far as being five meters apart. It seemed that this made no sense, if the point was to make use of a spartan like strategy, small spaces and a tight formation was better. But, Dyon ignored all of this.
The remaining sixty demon generals formed the center of the square, fifteen covering each side.
But, this only raised more questions. Why had fifteen behind ten? What was the point of the spaces?
Many had these thoughts running through their minds, but Dyon only leisurely watched the shifting with a smile playing his features.
Suddenly, he lowered himself to the center of the square formation, hovering just five meters above the ground.
His wings retracted as an array appeared below him. Sitting cross legged, Dyon held Ri in his arms as he faced an army of nearly a hundred thousand. A sad look appeared on his face when he thought about what it must have been like to fight this many without him to communicate with everyone. But, it was all over now.
“You’re about to realize that I’m the most dangerous person on this battlefield.” Dyon said faintly. His voice was laced with an indomitable music will and a fiery rage dripped from him.
He was angry. He was angry that he hadn’t been here. Angry that he couldn’t take responsibility as a commander. Angry that his fiancée had been hurt.
“If you want any chance of winning. It’s best you find a way to get to me.” Dyon’s eyes darkened as he circulated the Mathilde family technique.
Suddenly, his 6th sense was amplified, complementing the Asura’s Imperial Eye.
Dyon had realized something form the words of the old man. When the entity had said that the buddha’s eye was a distant relative of the aurora, Dyon had initially thought that it was just an exaggerated joke. However, he then thought about it further… Didn’t the aurora have another name? And wasn’t that name ‘mind’s eye’?
If many eye techniques could be traces back from the inspiration they found with the aurora… Then didn’t that mean that Dyon could use his aurora to better understand and amplify these techniques?
Dyon couldn’t have been more right.
His irises became a solid gold with flecks of red and purple etching into them. Dyon could suddenly see everything. Whether it be directly in front of him or hundreds of meters away.
And then… a massacre began.
The Tree of Life and Death bloomed behind Dyon, tearing through the grey soil and snaking its way through the battlefield.
Cries of agony rang out bodies were pierced, and limbs were torn.
The roots suddenly became coated with a dense black fire, sweeping the writhing bodies into nothing but ashes as fruits began to fall from the Tree the hung above Dyon’s head.
Then, everything got worse.
Massive white flowers began to bloom on the battle field as Dyon’s clones began to run amok. There goal was simple: Use devour and be reabsorbed into Dyon.
The amount of soul power the 10% clones could absorb was minimal. In fact, they could only absorb the soul power from nearly dead meridian formation warriors that Dyon had already stolen all of the essence energy from. But, the amount they absorbed still outweighed the amount Dyon used in making them…
So, it was exactly as Dyon had said. The demon generals had not moved a single inch and yet within five minutes, a thousand of the enemy meridian formation experts had already been slaughtered.
The Uidah essence gathering experts just stood there in awe. Even the lotus alliance couldn’t help but tremble at the display of power.
It suddenly became very obvious to everyone what the purpose of Dyon’s formation was… It wasn’t to set the demon generals on the approaching armies and hope they could win… The demon generals had one job and one job only: Make sure no one bothered Dyon as he vented his rage.
Bas and Liska felt their hearts being torn apart. This wasn’t the Uidah experts that were dying, it was their own clansmen! Their very own brothers and sisters! They wanted to fight, but what could they do in the face of such power?
The big sect seeded geniuses couldn’t even hold onto their weapons anymore. They believed that they could survive for now because they didn’t know Dyon could bypass the gate’s rules… But, what about when they left the gate? Would Dyon look for revenge? They had thought he was dead!
Jessica’s lip trembled as she looked toward Delia, “D-Delia… I-I, I had to survive. Please, please don’t tell Dyon. Please!”
The four of them dropped to their knees, pleading with everything they had.
Delia looked at them silently. Something had snapped within her when she unlocked the path of the absolute, but she was very much still Delia. Soft hearted… Naïve… and much too lenient…
So, she only nodded. Walking away and toward Lotus Tower to heal herself. There was simply no doubt in her mind that Dyon had this won.
Outside of the maze, the massacre continued.
The number of basilisks had already dwindled from ninety thousand to nearly eighty thousand, and yet, Dyon seemed to not tire.
To him, eliminating meridian formation experts was as easy as breathing. His soul was currently at the very peak of the 6th stage, meaning the peak of the essence gathering stage. His energy cultivation was at the very peak of the meridian formation stage. And his body cultivation was also at the very peak of the meridian formation stage. They were simply no match for him…
Dyon felt no need to attack the much more difficult Uidah warriors. If they wanted to do something, they could come and deal with his demon generals, they were already itching for combat.
The elves had already retreated into the Gorilla’s Den formation as instructed by Dyon. If the Uidah wanted to attack them, they would have to first go through the demon generals.
Silvyr had said and done nothing through this whole ordeal. The deaths of the basilisks meant nothing to her, she only wanted to try and find a way to win.
But, every thought she had seemed completely stupid.
‘Wrap around the white-haired demons and attack from the side? No… no… The gates aren’t a playground, I can’t just skirt around unmarked territory. To make things worse, this raging snow would make such a maneuver slow, by the time I got into position, the rest of the army would be wiped out and the much smaller group of a hundred would have an easy time intercepting us… Dammit!’
‘Maybe charge at them directly, hoping to blast through? That’s even more ridiculous! It took ten of us to fight one when they were unorganized. What are we supposed to do against them now that they are?! Dammit!’
The more time that passed, the more it became clear there was only one option left…
Silvyr grit her teeth as she said words that felt like poison in her mouth, “RETREAT!”
Today was simply not their day. She had only brought a thousand essence gathering experts to deal with this tower because she had gotten reports that it was weak. And then, she went on to further underestimate the sheer impact an innate aurora wielder could have.
Had the Uidah army come with a hundred thousand essence gathering experts, what Dyon had done wouldn’t be possible. It would take too much focus to use his Tree of Life and Death against warriors of that caliber. But, this day was different… This day was a triumph for the Lotus Alliance.
They held their heads high as they watched the basilisks and the King God Clan retreat.
This was a battle they had fought for nearly four months, and yet, it had ended because of one young man within the span of a few hours.
Some felt shame, but others began to carry a deep reverence for Dyon… And others seem to have fallen even deeper in love.
Ri laid on Dyon’s chest. She hadn’t made it through the battle.
She slept soundly with her small hand rested on Dyon’s neck.
Ri looked absolutely perfect.
The small smile playing on her soft lips, the crystalline snow that matted her blue-silver hair, even the rosiness of her cheeks as she slowly made her way back to peak health under Dyon’s gentle guidance…
‘We are together in all things.’ Dyon thought quietly as he watched Ri fall into a deeper and deeper sleep. ‘What you started, I finished.’ Leaning forward, he planted a kiss on Ri’s forehead before he too headed toward Lotus Tower.