“Stooop,” Ri wiggled out of the large bed, avoiding Dyon’s evil hands.
They had woken up relatively late in that morning and Ri wanted to get moving. She had never been to Arena City before, and more importantly, had yet to be on a real date with Dyon.
Dyon had told her that Uncle Acacia had come to see her and took Little Lyla and Zaire back with him. Also, Delia had insisted on going off to train on her own before the world tournament, so right now, it was just the two of them. Everyone else was either elsewhere in Arena City, or had gone back to the Elvin Kingdom to recuperate.
But, because Ri had said she was sore this morning, Dyon had used that as an excuse to use his aurora to heal her. But, in typical perverted fashion, he had almost gotten too handsy.
Dyon chuckled to himself, “Okay. Let’s go out today.”
Truth be told, Dyon wanted to do this as well. After all, the only way he’d find information of the Viridi family was by going out.
On that front, there were a few things Dyon had learned.
For one, the Ragnor family was the only God Clan that made excessive use of slaves. Although this was odd to Dyon, when he thought back to Red and Blue and their scarred features, his heart couldn’t help but tremble in anger at the thought of the Ragnor clan mutilating Eli, Uncle Ail and Venus.
However, there was another important point. The Ragnor Clan always seemed to be making odd moves. The more than a year Dyon had spent away from this world had almost made him forget that, but now, it was once again in full display.
They had asked the Elvin Kingdom for nothing but transcendent stones for passage into this universe. They started a war with the Pakal for a seemingly not so useful technique. They forgave large portions of the Storm family, despite them having defected and left a stain on their family. And yet, maybe the least covert oddity was their slavery trade.
It wasn’t that the martial world was on a moral high-horse, abstaining from oppressive slavery. But… The Ragnor God Clan was probably the only instance of such a relatively powerful clan dabbling in such things.
That aside, Dyon had learned another thing of importance.
The God Clans were situated near the center of the martial world, which was essentially a large continent of the side of the world opposite to the mortal world.
Each God Clan had a piece of territory surrounding the large natural moat of the Royal God Clan. Currently, they were in Arena city – coined as such for the massive Chaos Arenas they housed.
Madeleine had told Dyon about these a long time ago. They were built by the Cavositas God Clan and were essentially places where warriors could fight for money, prestige, and a chance to join the Cavositas Clan should they want to.
So, it went without saying that Arena City was in the territory of the Cavositas. But, the reason Dyon had settled here was twofold. For one, this was where the world tournament would be taken place. Because of their love of battles, the Cavositas also had the best facilities to host such an event. The second reason was that this was the easiest place to not be detected while investigating where the Viridi family were.
The Cavositas were not shy about their ties with the Ragnor family, so it was likely that some of the Cavositas facilities were used to help the Ragnor’s businesses. Also, with the influx of people coming to Arena City for the tournament, Dyon’s poking around would be less noticeable.
It wasn’t that he wanted to hide the fact he was here, and he wasn’t scared of even the top elders of the Ragnor because of his puppets. But, if the Ragnor knew what he was looking for, it might make the situation worse for the Viridi, and that wasn’t something Dyon wanted to see.
Leaping up after Ri, Dyon playfully tickled her shapely waist as she sent her mind into her spatial ring, seemingly looking for something to wear.
Through her giggling, Ri slapped Dyon’s hands away, “What do you think? Sweat pants date? How romantic it is for you to be taking me to a bloody arena.”
Leaning back onto the bed, Dyon shook his head. He could tell Ri wanted to wear something else. After all, she had been fighting for months on end – it was very likely she wanted something as far removed from that as possible. “I’ll be doing the fighting, if necessary. In fact, I’ll dress up for you too. I’m sure considering how popular the Chaos Arenas are, there’s good places for entertainment seating.”
Ri smiled brightly. It seemed Dyon always told her what she wanted to hear.
Just a few months back, she had never thought she’d feel so good just by Dyon letting the Elves know that she was his. So, her heart fluttered at the thought of him doing so with the entire martial world.
Although she was now told that she had become exceedingly beautiful, a small part of her was still attached to that old Ri. Sometimes she even wondered if she would trust Dyon’s love for her had he not made it clear that he wanted her even before seeing her true appearance. However, even with those thoughts, Dyon always seemed to settle her doubts… In fact, it was so easy for him that something Ri thought he was the true empath and not Little Lyla.
Strong arms lifted Ri up, causing her to gasp in surprise. “Pervert.” Ri giggled as she noticed Dyon swing her into bridal position. But, his hand had conveniently wrapped around to rest on her breast.
Dyon grinned, “I don’t know what you mean.”
Ri could only roll her eyes as Dyon brought them into the room’s bathing space.
A while later, Dyon sat on the edge of the bed watching Ri get ready.
In the martial world, there was an odd mix of modern and what seemed like ancient clothing. There were qipaos, changpaos and kimonos – even including ancient clothing from non-eastern mortal realm cultures – and yet there were also a lot like Delia who wore clothes that would make them nearly indistinguishable from the current mortal realm population.
In the end, Dyon chalked this up to the leaking of wills influencing the mortal realm again. After all, it made little sense to think was the vice versa. Why would the martial world take stock in trends of the mortal realm – a place many of them despised? Even Delia had labeled him a commoner when they first met.
So, to please Ri, Dyon wore dark jeans and a white turtle neck sweater, and long black coat the reached to his knees. It was suffice to say that Dyon didn’t like having to dress like this, the whole concept was ridiculous to him. But, he couldn’t very well wear sweat pants when Ri was shining so brightly.
Turning back toward Dyon, Ri blushed under his gaze. “Does it look okay?”
“Perfect…” Dyon answered absentmindedly.
Ri was only wearing a minimalistic, thin strap blue dress that stopped just barely above her knees and a white knitted poncho. However, the dress clung tightly to her curves, making Dyon’s gaze heat up.
Ri smiled, walking to Dyon and pulling him up, “Let’s go, then.”
Dyon didn’t even manage to regain his senses until they had walked out of the door. Ri’s long blue-silver hair, the purity of her eyes and the perfection of her curves was almost too much. Couple that with the fact her delicate and soft shoulder were exposed as the poncho slipped down and Dyon felt like staying in again.
Ignoring the entranced glances they got walking through the inn lobby, Ri dragged Dyon out of the entrance to step onto a cobbled road.
Getting a good look around, Arena City was definitely much larger that the Elvin City. Even the ‘inn’ they had been in was only called as such because of odd disconnect between mortal and martial world language. In fact, the supposed ‘inn’ would be known as a hotel in the mortal realm. It had more than ten stories and the room Dyon and Ri had been in was a suite on the top floor.
Not knowing which direction to head in, Dyon’s eyes flashed in a purple gold as he searched for a dense center of fighting spirit and martial experts. Not long after, his eyes trained on the tallest pagoda he had ever seen.
It was entirely black, and the tiles looked sharp enough to cut even the strongest of experts. In fact, the tower was so tall that Dyon could see its peak even while looking past the inn they had been staying in.
“That way.” Dyon said with a light smile, shifting his hand to grip Ri’s.
During their walk, Ri seemed oblivious to the gazes she was receiving. She was too transfixed on Dyon. The way they laughed and talked with each other seemed so natural that even this small interaction made Ri’s heart warm.
“What do you mean Uncle Acacia was acting weird?” Ri asked playfully. She found it funny that Dyon was teasing her uncle but was also very happy that Dyon was getting along with her family.
“The entire time I spent with him was odd. He was shifty – always looking around as though someone was going to sneak up on him. Even when he took Zaire and Little Lyla away, he propped them up on his shoulders and flashed away at top speed even though he could have just walked.”
Ri grinned, “You know what that means, don’t you?”
Dyon looked down at Ri as they thought of the same thing. “His woman is here.” They said almost simultaneously.
Ri giggled lightly, “I’ve always wondered who she was.”
“She must be quite powerful if Uncle Acacia is so worried about being found. What do you think happened between them?”
After a bit of pondering, Ri responded with a shrug, “I’m not sure. All I know is that their relationship wasn’t a secret to the older elves, or else it wouldn’t have been so easy to sell me as his daughter.”
“Hm, but if she’s too powerful, and the elders know about her, it may have been odd to them that you were allowed to stay with Uncle Acacia for so long. Then again, you disappeared from the public eye a lot.”
“Mm. What I do know, though, is that I don’t think it ended well for them…”
Dyon remained silent as Ri collected her thoughts, it seemed that this was important to her.
“Uncle never treated me poorly. In fact, he treated me exactly how he would a daughter. Even now, he dotes on me unconditionally.
But, it always seemed as though the love he showed me was about more than just my being his niece. Of course, he loved me for that, and he highly respects my dad. After all, that’s his big brother. But…”
“You think there was some part of him that wished you really were his daughter by that love of his?”
Ri smiled, wrapping her arms around Dyon’s, “You read my mind too well. He loves her, but he never talks about her. Yet, at the same time, it’s almost like a fantasy world of his and I’m a character in his dream.
I always wonder how he’d react if he ever met her again.”
“Maybe we’ll have to play cupid then. After all, we have a cheat code.”
Ri’s eyes widened before she started laughing, “Only you would call your little sister a cheat code.
The idea of a little girl bringing together powerful saint level experts sounds adorable, though.”
Dyon smiled, already devising a scheme. Sacharro meant sugar for a reason, after all.
Soon, Ri and Dyon reached the entrance of the Chaos Arena.
There was a neat and orderly line filled with what looked like fairly rich individuals. Well, more than seemed. The entrance fee was in saint stones – something Dyon was fully aware no one on the level of what Focus Academy had been on, or even those on the level of the big sects, could afford.
Unfortunately, Dyon didn’t know much about the hierarchy of clans, especially those between the levels of the big sects and the God Clans. He was absolutely certain that there had to be those bridging the gap. After all, the most powerful experts of the God Clans were of the Celestial realm, and yet the big sects only had essence gathering experts to follow. Logic dictated that there was an in between and it was likely that much of these people were of that in between.
Soon, Ri and Dyon made it to the front.
A tired young man with heavy bags under his eyes stood at a podium-like structure next to the entrance. Without even looking up, he began his same monotone speech.
“Welcome to Chaos tour. Payment is based on cultivation level as well as the level of access you want. If you are powerful you pay less, no negotiations.”
Dyon remained silent, allowing the young man to continue.
The business plan of Chaos Arena was simple. Although they had many fighters prepped, they also like an audience participation element as well. Therefore, it was more benefit to them should the experts be powerful, thus why they lowered the cost for more powerful individuals.
That said, observers were well within their rights to turn down challenges and just enjoy the show, should they choose. After all, Chaos Arena doubled as an entertainment center for the martial world.
“VIP areas are accessible only to notable officials of the martial continent, or members of the God Clans. Please be aware of this and avoid such areas should you not have the background to do so, or else Chaos Area security will be forced to take action.
Lastly, there are special rules in place due to the coming world tournament. We have many more tourists, and even powerful clans coming from the other four planets. It is best to be cautious and patient when you see a new face. This is not only for your benefit, but for the good and peace of Chaos Arena.
I don’t sense any cultivation from either you two, so the fee is 10 saint stones each.”
Dyon sighed. 10 saint stones was an exorbitant price to others, but it meant nothing to him. That said, he didn’t feel like paying more just because his cultivation was too pure for the Chaos Arena employee to sense.
“Check again.” Dyon said faintly. His essence energy projected from himself, blanketing the area around him.
The eyes of the young man snapped up, his eyes widening when he senses how young Dyon was.
You have to remember… To many of the martial continent, surpassing even the ninth level of meridian formation was impossible… So, for Dyon to release his cultivation to the extreme like this, all people felt was the pressure of an essence gathering expert.
And not just a normal essence gathering expert. The density of Dyon’s essence energy was comparable to a 7th grade expert at the peak of their essence gathering cultivation. In fact, it was ever purer and denser than that.
When that was couple with Dyon’s youth, the young man couldn’t help but shiver. He didn’t even dare to look at Ri despite how beautiful she was.
This young man that he had never seen before, could very well be one of the experts from the four other planets he was talking about…
Shaking his head profusely, the young man apologized again and again. “No payment sir, no payment. I apologize.”
When the young man had said payment was based on cultivation level, he had neglected to highlight how cultivation level was tied with age. If an old man with one foot in the grave had stepped up with Dyon’s level of cultivation, he would have had to pay the full 10 stones. However, Dyon was a talent. And what more could the Chaos Arena want?
Smiling, Dyon walked through the large black doors and into a lobby area with a few elevator door heading to various levels.
“Let’s head to the VIP areas,” Dyon said, looking at Ri.
Ri pouted, “Your cultivation is really scary you know. I should be practicing instead of having fun.”
“Don’t be like that,” Dyon said playfully, “I still remember when you were beating me up.”
“Hmph, give me more time and an old man to help me cheat, then I’ll be right back to that.”
Ri, of course, said this in jest. She was fully aware of the grueling process Dyon went though to earn his meridians. In fact, many might not have even remained sane after experiencing something like that. And yet, here was Dyon, smiling as brightly as ever and only seemingly only caring about the others around him. It wasn’t lost on Ri how well Dyon treated her and how thoughtful he was.
“If I didn’t get more powerful, how would I survive your attacks?”
Ri blushed adorably at Dyon’s innuendo, her canines shining through slightly, through her smile. “Pervert.” Changing the subject, Ri continued. “Are you sure we should go to the VIP area?”
Dyon chuckled. “I think you’re forgetting something very very very important.”
“Hm?” Ri looked up at Dyon, confused.
“The guy said important officials and God Clan members, no?”
Ri’s eyes twinkled with a sudden realization, she couldn’t help but giggle to herself. She really had forgotten something quite important. But, that was more so because she was used to completely hiding her identity.
“Who could be more of an affirmed God Clan member than the Princess of the Elvin Kingdom? Plus, her husband is quite dashing, so of course he also deserves a seat.”
Ri rolled her eyes, “Okay, Mr. Jaws. Let’s go.”