Dyon stood there, looking down at Ri’s fragile figure. Everything seemed frozen in time and no one was willing to make the first move.
“Devour.” Dyon whispered faintly.
“AAGGGHHH!” Chike writhed in agony.
His soul was being torn apart so slowly that it felt as though every portion of his body was being broken down and grinded into the finest of pieces.
“HELP! HELP ME!”
The members of Planet Nix wanted to move forward, but their queen stopped them with a wave of her hand. A small smile played her features, as though this was exactly what she had wanted to happen. Everything was but a puppet on her strings and she was a master.
The veins of Chike’s face bulged and burst, streaking his dark features with a dense and boiling blood.
His arms and legs shriveled inwards, cracking and deforming under the pressure of Dyon’s suction.
Soon, he couldn’t even scream anymore. Yet, Dyon constantly used his aurora to maintain his nerves, making sure that to the very end, he was fully aware of every bone snapping. Of every bit of flesh tearing. Of every bit of his life being drained away from him.
In the end, he was nothing but a lifeless carcass that barely represented what he used to be and Dyon now knew everything that had transpired.
Dyon shrunk down, striking Ri’s footholds away with Celestial will as he picked her up. “Hey, hey. Don’t cry,” Dyon’s voice was so gentle that the warriors of the surrounding four planets had almost forgotten the murderous intent he had just once held.
The truth was that Ri wanted to be angry. She wanted to tear through everything in her path and make them pay for taking something so precious away from her. But, the seal wasn’t allowing her to accumulate any strength and the emotional pain wasn’t letting her think straight.
“I find this soul technique of yours quite interesting. I want it.” The queen of the Nix spoke softly as though she had absolutely nothing to do with the current events. Although she hadn’t been sure at first, it was clear that Dyon had used a soul type technique to kill her subject.
On Planet Nix, there were three clans united as one. Each with their own specialities. The truth was that this ‘queen’ of theirs, was only called as such because she was among the six beauties of the universe. In reality, she was no queen. She was Ulu Lebna, a member of the Lebna God Clan – a clan having a strong branch specializing in seals, but mostly being known for the soul and spirit techniques.
“Here are the facts. Your wife is quite rude and needed to be punished. You were quite rude and needed to be punished. And now, you’ve killed a member of our clans outside of an arena, so let me tell you one more fact. I can kill your wife with a wave of my hand.
Bow down and kowtow until I’m satisfied. Then, you’ll be a servant of the Nuru and Lebna God Clans under the banner of the Jafari Royal God Clan. Although my husband is not here today, I’m sure he would take a liking to your ex-wife as a toy.
You two will never be together again. This is the price you pay for killing one of us.”
Ulu smiled to herself, content.
The truth was that this had been her goal all along and she decided to sacrifice Chike to achieve it. The moment Dyon walked in, everyone was checking for his energy cultivation level. But, Ulu was different. The first thing she checked when it came to anyone was the soul cultivation level.
Dyon had learned long ago that checking someone’s soul level was a breach of etiquette, however, when he felt Ulu check his, he hadn’t bothered with it. Reason being, her soul wasn’t powerful enough to read his level accurately. Dyon was someone with the soul of a peak essence gathering expert at full throttle. Even when he didn’t complete his soul by unleashing his manifestation, he was still a mid level essence gathering expert.
However, from very long ago, Dyon had had the habit of hiding his soul power. When he fought Saeclum and killed him at the Legacy World Opening, it was that strategy that had saved his life. The problem was, that since Dyon never checked the soul strength of others due to etiquette, he had no concept of what an average soul strength would be for someone his age…
So, when Ulu scanned his soul and saw a 15-year-old with the soul strength of a peak meridian formation warrior, she had immediately decided to draw in Dyon’s talent to their side and make him serve them.
Ulu had originally wanted to use a slave seal on Dyon. But, she knew that her soul simply wasn’t powerful enough to force any kind of soul technique onto Dyon. Which meant… She needed to find a way to force him, and Ri provided the perfect opportunity.
Eboni finally couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore. She bent over, trying to maintain her former elegance as her cheeks reddened, “You heard the queen, go on and kowtow. In fact, take this useless one with you.” A crystal pillar appeared below the unconscious Uta, sending his large body flying toward Dyon who was still lovingly caring for Ri.
Before, they had been apprehensive about Dyon’s retaliation. Many hadn’t made the connection between Dyon and a mysteriously named Demon Sage that had an unprecedented rank. However, when Dyon made his First-Grade cultivation clear, they began to remember something very important… Although no one knew who the Demon Sage was, he still had a clear affiliation… Planet Earth. Elvin Kingdom.
Previously, people had assumed that the Demon Sage was one of the peak essence gathering elves that had left to campaign elsewhere. After all, a 15-year-old? Having that rank? It didn’t make sense. But now, none of that mattered. Ulu had made it clear that Ri’s life was in the palm of her hands. If Dyon didn’t want his love to die, retaliation wasn’t an option.
That said, there was yet another reason Ulu decided on provoking Planet Earth like this. The name Demon Sage meant something completely different to the more powerful planets… And if she was right…
Dyon didn’t even glance at the flying body. His eyes flashed with gold as a brilliant defensive array appeared in the air, stopping all of Uta’s momentum in an instant and crushing even more of his bones.
Silence.
Many months ago, on a far off and neutral asteroid, an auction of unprecedented importance had taken place. The headlining item? An Earth Constitution Pill named: Queen Fairy.
The God and Royal God Clans were in an uproar. The idea of a ready made, fully awakened bodily constitution was a concept that was so rare that an all-out war nearly broke out. However, there was another reason this pill made a mark the likes of which few had ever seen…
The study of alchemy had stalled in this universe for many years. Although the Sapientia did their due diligence in researching, there weren’t many expert alchemists among them. In the end, much of their ‘findings’ were only cheap theories that no one had the skill to put into use. But, this pill was an opportunity to shift all of that. If they could study it and reverse engineer it, then maybe the universe would have the rebirth of alchemy they were looking for. This was even more important because they were only steadily becoming weaker and weaker… Alchemy was the best way to make up for the lack of energy density in the universe!
In the end, the pill had been won by the Sapientia family for further research. Unfortunately for the other God Clans, the Sapientia family was just too rich. Maybe the most important reason, though, was their nonconfrontational style. For the sake of avoiding war, the families could only allow the Sapientia to win.
However, that was only until the name Demon Sage came up once again… And this time, on the ranking list. No one knew what that meant. Could the Demon Sage they had been looking for really be so young as to be on that list? Or maybe he was just weak enough to have a low enough cultivation to be? But, neither made much sense… Or, rather, people chose to believe that it didn’t make sense. It had to be a coincidence. No one could be so talented, they thought. And on the other hand, no one could be so great at alchemy, yet have such poor cultivation.
Unfortunately, Dyon was oblivious to all of this. When he had sent in the pill through the Elvin Guilds anonymously, he, much like what Prince Belmont had said during his visit to the Elvin Kingdom, already knew that there were other Earth Constitution giving items… However, what Dyon hadn’t taken into account was that while Prince Belmont’s phoenix feathers were irredeemable, the Queen Fairy Pill could be made in an unlimited quantity…
Their value simply couldn’t be compared.
“I’m sorry,” Ri mumbled again and again, still absentmindedly staring at the small hand she placed on her belly.
She felt like it was her fault. And worst yet, although she had been burying a deep apprehension at the idea of meeting Madeleine, this was the first time all of those thoughts were completely casted away. If she couldn’t birth Dyon’s children, at least there was someone who could.
She had jumped into the fight herself, and she felt like she should have won. She had the obligation to win. How could she feel worthy of Dyon if she lost?
Dyon forced a smile, wiping the tears from Ri’s soft cheeks, “There’s nothing to worry about. I promise.”
Many months ago, seals were something Dyon couldn’t make heads of tails of. However, there was a reason they looked identical to arrays.
“The queen didn’t give you a grace period. Slaves don’t deserve such a thing.” A member of the Nuru clan sneered in anger. It had been his brother that Dyon just killed and since he couldn’t take his rage out on the queen, especially considering who her husband was, it would have to be Dyon.
He walked over slowly, “It’s clear you don’t understand how your statuses have changed.
If I wanted your woman to strip naked and hang from the ceiling – she would. If I wanted you to cut your own manhood off and eat it raw – you would.
In fact, if I wanted to pull out my cock and have your woman suck it right here – I could.”
Dyon raised his hand, his eyes flashing in gold as gently covered Ri’s quivering hand. “Ri. I said there was nothing to worry about, okay?”
Ri finally looked up at Dyon. She found gentle eyes, glowing in a bright gold with purple hues coloring its edges looking back at her.
Maybe months ago, Dyon would be helpless in this situation. Forced to watch Ri be disrespected and being enslaved himself. However, he hadn’t spent month refining his array fundamentals to give up so easily in the face of a challenge.
But suddenly, Dyon froze as he heard the unzipping of pants.
“Ah,” the Nuru warrior made his way to their side, “To suck the cock of a Nuru warrior should be your honor. Release the bitch and back away, she’s got work to do.”
Ulu and Eboni watched on with a smile playing their features.
Dyon looked up to find a truly disgusting sight. The anger he had buried in order to tend to Ri resurfaced causing dense black flames to color his eyes.
“Ah, ah, ah. None of that. I mean, unless you want her to die.” The Nuru Warrior sneered tapping his limp cock. “Hey, this isn’t going to harden itself. It’s hard enough for me already knowing I’m dealing with nothing but a beast. You’re going to have to put some effort in.”
Suddenly, Ulu spoke up, “I’m quite tired of waiting. You have 3 seconds to begin kowtowing or I’ll begin to torture her.”
Dyon said nothing for a long while before he finally spoke.
“Since you like to speak of doling out punishment, I think it’s time I do the same.” He said faintly.
“Stop speaking nonsense. You heard my queen. Leave the woman here, I’ll take good ca – “ The eyes of the Nuru warrior widened as he suddenly felt something warm and wet cut off his words.
An odd and sickening gurgling sound was all that filled the VIP area as the Nuru warrior fell back, gripping the large gash in his neck.
“You dare!” Ulu’s rage peaked at this. He actually dared to kill yet another of their members even with the death and torture of his woman looming over his head?!
“HAHAHAHAHA! I’ve never met such an idiot!” Eboni couldn’t get enough of it. It was as though this was movie and she had bought front row tickets.
Even Ode couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Eboni. “As if you would respond to provocation any better. Cheap slut.”
Ulu’s eyes steeled. “Since you wanted it this way and couldn’t accept a simple punishment. You can watch helplessly as your woman writhes in pain.”
Dyon completely ignored Ulu, looking down at Ri. “Just focus on me, okay?”
Ulu’s face twisted menacingly, her small hand lifting into the air. A dense black fog coated it as she slowly clenched fist.
However, the screeching agony she had expected never came.
Smiling gently, Dyon’s eyes once again began to glow. And it suddenly dawned on everyone… Dyon hadn’t used an array plate…
“Innate Aurora…” Saru Shruti’s eyes narrowed. There were just too many surprises between this couple. This Dyon that they had looked down on had too much to him that they couldn’t fathom.
Dyon diligently coated the seal with his aurora, surrounding it in an array perfectly fused with celestial will.
He wafted a comfortable feeling into Ri until her eyes closed into a deep sleep. Then, barely caring for the exposure of his ring, he drew a concealment array around Ri before sending her in.
Dyon knew what he had to do. But, that needed more time than he had now – he could only induce a sleep in Ri for now.
“You did all of this just to try and pull me to your side?” Dyon didn’t seem to be talking to anyone in particular as he glanced at Uta’s unconscious figure. It was clear he was about to die at any moment, and yet Planet Deimos’ warriors weren’t making any effort to help him.
Ulu frowned at Dyon’s words, ‘How did he know that?’
It made sense that Ulu was confused. She had no idea that the technique she had been coveting from Dyon could absorb memories. Right now, Dyon had a full understanding of what Ulu had wanted to do. Unfortunately for her, Dyon’s skill with arrays had increased far too much. But, all he had done for now was sever Ulu’s ability to control the seal by cutting it off from the outside world.
There was a reason the Sigebryht family seals and Ulu’s seal looked almost indistinguishable from arrays.
Seals were the antithesis of arrays. While arrays wrote in universal laws, the goal of a seal was to erase those laws. That’s why the Sigebryht family could seal away the death qi to stop the cyclones, they had locked away the will by writing an anti will.
The reason Dyon hadn’t been able to understand seals before was because he was essentially used to doing math questions without showing his work. He could cut through the calculations to reach the answer but hadn’t understood properly until he solidified his fundamentals.
Understanding seals, without first fully understanding arrays, was like trying to understand integrals, without first understanding how derivatives worked.
“I want you to know that the only reason I’m not killing you all today, is because this is a fight for my wife. However, you still deserve a punishment, don’t you think?”
Ulu remained silent. She couldn’t understand where Dyon’s confidence was coming from. Did he think she was as easy to deal with as the Nuru brothers? One was barely in the top 100 and the other wasn’t even on the list.
“You must think you’re very powerful, hm?” Ulu smiled. If no one had seen her malicious deeds just moments before, all they would have seen was an otherworldly beauty. But, now, that smile had a venom no one could ignore.
“The dead one said something about stripping my woman naked and hanging her from the ceiling, right? I wonder what you’d look like hanging from the ceiling like that. I’m sure you man servants would love that.” Dyon’s face remained expressionless as he shifted his gaze to the ceiling. But, his words caused a palpable anger to grow within the Nix Warriors.
Their most elite warriors had remained with Ulu’s husband, thinking that only Ulu was necessary. It was now their job to protect the dignity of their queen. And yet, here was this fifteen-year-old boy saying whatever he pleased.
“You!”
The warriors of planet Nix stood, storm toward Dyon. But, he ignored them, his foot slowly raising in the air before dropping.
Dyon’s figure flashed, ripples of space and celestial will sending booming circles of raging winds flying out in his wake.
“Ugh,” Ulu’s face paled as Dyon’s strong hand wrapped around her delicate neck.
“Ulu Lebna. Ranked 30th. Supposed member of the six beauties of this universe. Know today that you made a mistake in opposing me.
You wanted my wife to never give birth, right?” Dyon’s eyes bore into Ulu, flames of black coloring his once hazel-green eyes.
Dyon’s manifestation bloomed into existence, boosting his soul to the peak of the essence gathering level – 6th stage.
Ulu’s eyes bulged, her voice struggling to push past Dyon’s grip, “Y-your soul strength. N-no!”
The Nix warriors tried to charge toward Dyon, but purple gold defensive formation formed, stacking again and again. It was complete overkill. Each was of the peak master level and the heaven’s chimes that rang through the air shook even Chaos Tower itself.
Eboni trembled at this sight. Was this really the man she thought she could beat? She wasn’t that much more powerful than Ulu. In fact, their ranks were so close that strength couldn’t be decided from it at all. And yet, she was nothing in front of Dyon.
It was suddenly very clear to everyone that Dyon hadn’t been even remotely trying when he fought Uta. He hadn’t used any energy cultivation. But, even worse, he hadn’t even used his utmost strength – his soul!
For the first time that night, Tau Aumen and Saru Shruti smiled. They were both thinking the same thing. They wanted nothing more than to fight Dyon and see how they measured up.
Aside from them, though, there had been one other planet that hadn’t said a single word during this entire exchange. Planet Naiad.
If Delia had been there, she would have immediately recognized her mortal enemies – the Clyte God Clan… Or now, more accurately, the Clyte Royal God Clan. And maybe, had Dyon paid more attention, he would have noticed that among their allies included those who were boring holes into his back… The Kami God Clan.
However, Dyon didn’t care about any of that now, all he cared about was making Ulu pay.
“Unlike my wife,” Dyon said faintly, “There’s no one in this universe that will be able to help you after this. Never think of enjoying sex again. Never think of conceiving. You will never have a child in this lifetime.”
A dense black array began to form on the tips of Dyon’s fingers.
Ulu could only think one thing.
Despite the hand clamped over her throat. Despite the stretching of her spine. Despite the burning of her lungs as she begged for air. The only thing she saw was that dense black. All she could think of was death.
“STOP!”
Suddenly, gazes turned to the doorway as the receptionist burst in, looking down at Dyon as he tried to stop him.
Dyon’s fingers paused as he looked over to the receptionist. He had known from the very beginning that this man was powerful, or else they wouldn’t have allowed him to guard this area.
“Why?” Dyon asked faintly. He didn’t really care about this answer, he just wanted to confirm something.
The receptionist cleared his throat, “Fighting must be done in the arena. This is not a sanctioned match and thus only increases the tension between planets. If the match isn’t organized, it shouldn’t happen.”
The eyes of the surrounding warriors flashed in realization. Did such a powerful warrior not have the backing of his own planet? What was going on?
Dyon’s eyes glowed in a gold as he looked down at a ring on his finger. Before he looked back up.
“Interesting. So, where were you before?”
The lips of the receptionist twitched, ‘Is he an idiot? He should know that this is deliberate. Why is he asking questions?’
The receptionist cleared his throat again, “As the Nix Planet missuses said, your wife attacked first. For breaking the rules, it was a suitable punishment.”
“And if I insist on punishing this woman?”
The receptionist sneered, “Are you powerful enough to act against me? Why are you asking such ridiculous questions?”
Ulu couldn’t help but laugh. She had no idea why people of Earth were helping her, but this was truly comedic.
“Mm. Unfortunately, your threats mean nothing to me.” Dyon’s hand pierced forward, stopping Ulu mid-laugh. “Enjoy.” Dyon said faintly, anchoring down the death array directly into Ulu’s womb. “Know that there is not a single expert in this universe that can help you now.”