“Ajaar.” Queen Acacia quickly looked up to her brother in law who was still standing respectfully to the side. She couldn’t blame Uncle Acacia, after all, Edrym hadn’t told his younger brother anything about his disappearance. But, she was too worried to be rational right now. “How long has it been since Little Alex awakened her bestial bloodline?”
Uncle Acacia was stunned by the question, he didn’t expect this to be so surprising. After all, Ri was half Kitsune. What was the problem with her awakening her bloodline?
“About 3 months prior to the start of this year’s campaign.” He quickly remembered how Dyon had been in a coma for 4 months, causing them to be about a month late to the campaign. So working backward, it should have been 3 months prior. “So, just a few months from a year now.”
Time had flown by. Since the incident at Focus Academy, practically two years and a half had passed.
A small sigh of relief escaped Queen Acacia’s lips. Less than a year gave them a lot of time to work with. And, if their plan to send the children into the Epistemic Tower worked, even the Kitsune wouldn’t have an ability to infiltrate such a thing. By the time Ri was ready to come out, it would be solely to campaign from gate to gate and universe to universe to conquer and earn the right to enter higher levels of the tower. With so much movement and how difficult it was to move from universe to universe, it would be near impossible for the Kitsune to find Ri.
If their plan worked as they wanted it to, the children of this universe would grow into an empire that exceeded even the Kitsune. By that time, would they dare offend her Little Alex?
In the grand scheme of things, it took King Acacia little more than 5-8 years to find and bring back Kawa. However, that wasn’t because it was a simple task.
If one were to think about it, in the life of a cultivator, what was 5-8 years? It was the equivalent of the blink of an eye. Nothing more.
That said, it had taken the Kitsune hundreds of years to come for Kawa. The amount of resources necessary to find and track a member of their clan, even one with a faith seed, was a heavy investment. Kawa went on a mission that should have only taken a few decades, yet never attempted to return. By the time the Kitsune realized and actively attempted to find and bring her back – eventually succeeding – centuries had passed.
So, one may wonder, why was there such a disparity? It was simple. As King Acacia had mentioned in his recounting of the Dragon King’s story, he had his soul bound his wife. He never needed to spend any time searching for her whereabouts at all, he could feel where she was. In the end, it was only a matter time because when it came to a bound soul, distance meant nothing as long as you were in the same plane of existence.
That final caveat is also of utmost importance. To be in the same plane of existence simply meant to be in the same dimension. This meant that searching for someone became near impossible when you crossed dimensional barriers. This was why Little Black was able to sneak into the gate with Dyon’s knowledge – he had entered the storage ring, therefore entering an entirely new dimension. And this was also why Ri would be safe if she entered the Epistemic Tower or if she spent time campaigning in the gates, they were also completely different planes of existence.
Both the Epistemic Tower and the Gates, along with the spatial ring, were newly constructed dimensions created by Dyon’s grand teacher. It was nearly impossible to bypass them and search within.
In the end, King Acacia just remained silent as he allowed his wife to slowly think things through. He had been very calm after the initial surprise, so he knew he just needed to give his wife some time for her to reach his state. Kawa still blamed herself far too much, so it made sense for her to react so strongly.
She had already been centuries old when she arrived here. After all, it had taken her time to find this universe just like it had taken the Kitsune time. But, she had believed her task to still be simple. Search for great power sources, sweep through a weak universe, and help bolster her clan. But, what she found was a feeling of love she had never felt before. Instead of being a tool, she had finally become a person – and she hadn’t been willing to give it up.
She still remembered how she had clashed with her husband. At the time, he had been a mere peak saint and she was already well into her celestial cultivation. And yet, he read her so easily. To this day, she had never fought a tougher opponent. King Acacia was just that talented.
It still pained Kawa that he had pushed himself too hard.
The trials tested talent, but King Acacia had lost centuries of cultivation time trying to awaken his manifestation. As Ri had lamented before, had it not been for Dyon’s help and the awakening of her aurora to 100%, it too would have taken her centuries to awaken her manifestation – just like her father.
Because of this, although King Acacia’s battle prowess was shocking for his cultivation, in terms of his age, it could only be considered above average because of all of that lost time. In the end, King Acacia could only blame being born in a universe with such poor resources. Had he been in any half way decent universe, how could they not invest in a genius like him? Imagine if he had awakened his manifestation as early as Dyon had? Or as early as his daughter had? He wouldn’t need to rely on the younger generation now… He would have conquered the Epistemic Tower himself.
But… Things didn’t always go the way you wanted them to.
King Acacia fought bravely, pushing his True Empath capabilities to the limit while trudging his way through the trials.
After all was said and done, he was forced to sever his tie to his True Empath abilities so he could stay by his wife’s side… And that came at the price of much of his cultivation.
How could Kawa not blame herself?
Kawa took a deep breath, trying to settle her emotions. She had already promised herself to spend the rest of her life by her husband’s side. It was all she could do as a repayment. But, was a solution to their problems not in front of them now?
If King Acacia reclaimed his battle prowess and could now use his True Empath capabilities freely, their alliance would gain a nearly unfathomable boost. The kind maybe only King Belmont and Kawa could match up to. And even then, when had King Acacia ever lost to them? Not to mention the fact that that was when he was still holding back his true empath abilities! There was no telling how easily he would beat them if he no longer held any reservations.
‘I have a good son in law…’ Kawa smiled. She knew Dyon and King Acacia weren’t the best of friends right now. But, she trusted her daughter’s judgement. And because of that, she knew that Dyon would never sit back and watch his father in law suffer for too long just for a petty conflict.
Many would wonder why. After all, Ri was just a teenager. How often were teens blinded by frivolous love and detrimental ties?
However, there were two tangible reasons. For one, Ri was a Kitsune. Worst yet, she was among the three most powerful Kitsune in existence. She was even more inherently prideful and feisty than her own mother!
Secondly, Kawa knew from the moment she saw how Ri kept her sword, that her Little Alex held the values her mother had instilled in her very near and dear. Which meant that there was no way Ri would have promised herself to Dyon unless he survived her cave.
This was of course a test Kawa had given to King Acacia in their younger days. Although he could no longer pass now because his True Empath constitution had eaten away at his purity, it remained that he had once passed.
In the end, Kawa only saw Dyon’s talent as a bonus. What she cared more about was his character – and that was clearly good.
‘Get revenge for my two baby girls son in law. I’m afraid if I do it myself, I’ll get booed for bullying the younger generation.’ A small smile rested on Kawa’s lips as she once again began to enjoy the events below.
Ri of course had no idea about the inner turmoil her mother had just gone through. What she did know was that she was closing in on her prey and her bestial aura was only growing.
Her tails whipped out. Their thick fur seemed soft and delicate, yet, when they crashed into Eboni’s spikes, they left nothing in their wake.
Eboni’s sceptre waved out from her. It was made of a special will amplifying material very much similar to array alchemy wands Dyon had seen in the Celestial Deer Sect – although he had never felt a need to use them.
Because the Geb clan specialized in all kinds of Earth type wills, it wasn’t surprising that many of them also specialized in the amplification path. Eboni would of course try and take full advantage of this. But, nothing seemed to be working!
Ri leisurely walked forward, seemingly expending little energy.
With each spike that threatened to pierce through her, her wrist would flick in an effortless motion, releasing a suppressive and bestial aura that shattered it in an instant.
“Are you done?” Ri asked, “Because if this is all, I may as well start attacking.”
Massive spheres of dark ice will charged at the tips of Ri’s tails as her sword continued to penetrate forward.
Ri’s affinity for void will was so high that it was unmatched through history. In fact, her mother had been so distracted by her manifesting her bestial form that she hadn’t taken the time to realize that Ri had ten tails!
No one would understand more than a Kitsune what their tails represented. After all, their trials were split into 9 levels specifically because of this.
But, what was also strikingly obvious was that there wasn’t a tenth level…
What they didn’t know was that this was a mutation exclusive to Ri. Why? Because she was a one in a trillion trillions birth. To be naturally born with both a God level constitution and a faith seed, just what kind of concept was that?
Eboni grit her teeth as eerie beams of dark ice burst through the air and toward her.
There were many ways to reach absolute zero, even in the cultivation. Why? Because when facing experts, they would always be able to output at least some semblance of energy to maintain the temperature just above that limit.
To Ice will experts, maybe the only real way was to become a master of the absolute path. Only in this way would your ice will reach such a level of purity that even the most potent of warriors wouldn’t be able to maintain their energy output.
However, weren’t there other ways too?
What would happen if a genius among geniuses fused the very essence of the abyss with ice? What would happen if that genius dug deep, reaching into the depths of cold and pulling out its potential?
Ri’s eye slits flashed, “Void Ice. Abyssal Hell.”
Ten beams of bulged, fusing into one.
Elder Den had no choice but to take action, if the participants around the arena froze to death too, wouldn’t his competition be over? But, before he could, a message entered his ears.
“Don’t move.”
The deep voice was commanding and left no room for debate. How could Elder Den not recognize this voice? It was none other than the Patriarch of the Ragnor Clan.
Eboni’s eyes widened as this attack careened toward her.
She felt her defensive disk crystallize even further, cracking under the pressure of the cold.
Her fingers stuck tightly to her sceptre, and unwillingness in her eyes. But, that was before she realized that her fingers were stuck under her own power… Her limbs had frozen over…
She couldn’t move, just the blaze of cold wind had stifled her.
Eboni only felt a single thing as Ri’s legacy attack crashed into her.
Regret.
Ri’s attack tore through the air, slamming into Eboni relentlessly.
Unfortunately for the queuing warriors, Eboni’s power wasn’t enough to be worthy of the full attack.
Swaths of challengers froze immediately. Their skin and inner organs hitting absolute zero in an instant.
There was no chance for them. Whether their lives were still intact remained to be seen, but what was clear now was that there would be no opportunity for them to fight. Maybe intentionally or unintentionally, Ri had eliminated much of the competition.
The truth was that Dyon wasn’t the only one who benefited from dual cultivation. It was obvious that both Ri and Madeleine had benefitted as well, to the point where even defeating a member of the top 30 was nothing but a joke to Ri. After all, how could this universe’s so-called geniuses be prepared to deal with the overbearing nature of a supreme law. By definition, such things reigned undisputed and unchallenged.
Ri took a deep breath. In less than a moment, her used stamina was restored as her body seemed to breathe in the energy around, replenishing her.
Just as quickly, she sheathed her sword and turned her gaze to Madeleine’s battle, ignoring Eboni’s frozen figure.
Madeleine seemed to notice that Ri’s battle had finished, so a beautiful smile spread across her features.
Ode, however, didn’t seem to be having as great a time. She was supposed to be the one tiring out Madeleine, but every time she distorted the air to divert Madeleine’s music, it was her stamina that was draining!
‘Dammit! How much longer can she go on attacking! Why isn’t she tired yet?!’ Ode grit her teeth, clearly frustrated. ‘And that damned bitch Eboni! You couldn’t even last as long as I could against a top 20 ranker and you claim to be a stronger?! Why haven’t you activated it yet?! What are you waiting for?!’
Madeleine small and elegant hands ran across the strings of her Lyre as beautiful music continued to fill the stadium.
Its intensity was still steadily building, increasing with each passing second, but Ode was too distracted to notice. Or, more accurately, she couldn’t hear the music at all. After all, she was constantly creating a vacuum around herself, isolating her from all noise. The truth was that Eboni had already tried to send her a message, something Elder Den had conveniently ignored, but she couldn’t hear it!
Dyon though, had heard this message very clearly. And its contents made his blood boil with rage. ‘How dare they…’ How could Eboni ever hope to get anything past Dyon’s senses with just her level of cultivation?
Elder Den turned a sly eye to Dyon. In his estimation, with how hot headed this child was, if he had heard Eboni’s words, he would have already flown into a rage. But, seeing that Dyon’s features hadn’t changed, he inwardly sneered.
He really didn’t have to do anything in this scenario. After all, what did the actions of the Geb have to do with the Cavositas? Dyon, Ri and Madeleine could only blame themselves for having too many enemies.
In the end, because he hadn’t interfered when Ri had frozen the observing participants, it wouldn’t be seen as biased if he didn’t intervene in the plan of the Planet Deimos geniuses. He couldn’t help but praise the foresight of Patriarch Ragnor.
‘It seems this Femi character is very much interested in making you as angry as possible,” Elder Den laughed to himself, ‘Even going so far as to use such treasures? Well, I guess these girls would be forced to anyway. After all, even I didn’t expect these girls to be so overwhelmingly powerful.’
Madeleine’s smile, though, was oblivious to all of this. Ri was intentionally not finishing off Eboni to disguise how quickly she recovered her stamina, and the truth was that Madeleine was playing around with Ode too. How? Because not once had she sent a true attack toward Ode.
Because of Madeleine’s level of expertise in music will, she could manifest a melody as a will without even attempting to do so. To everyone else, her music will was merely at the first level currently… But in reality, her music will had long since broken into the intent level.
Madeleine’s eyes sharpened, piercing toward Ode.
Ester Sapientia froze, her grip tightening on her chair as her disciple manifested a theory she had spent her whole life studying. ‘Can I even think of you as a disciple anymore…’ She thought to herself.
But, all such thought were washed away by what she was witnessing.
Without being able to master high level music will herself, Ester Sapientia had still spent a lot of time trying to find ways to amplify music. One path led her down the opposite direction with her silencing pills. But, there were a few successes as well. And one such success was the technique Madeleine was making use of now.
Madeleine’s fingers flexed, suddenly increasing to a pace where her hands blurred even to those with saint level cultivation!
The music will she had layered in the air suddenly began to vibrate violently. It was almost like pressing the pedals of a piano, the cacophony of sounds built onto each, magnifying and continually building.
Ode’s features shook. ‘She’s been toying with me…’ A bitter laugh escaped her lips as the music she thought she had been blocking all this time bombarded her ear drums, tearing through her “safe” vacuum in an instant.
Ode’s eyes seemed to become dull, almost as though she was being lulled to sleep by the music. But, the blood seeping from her ears and mouth painted a completely different picture. She was dying…
Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from where Eboni had been.
Ri’s head snapped in her direction, confusion coloring her features. ‘What’s going on?’
It was indeed very difficult to reach absolute zero… Even with Ri’s supreme law… She had failed to completely restrain Eboni!
A thin layer of crystal will coated Eboni in the final moment before she was encased in ice. However, Ri shouldn’t be blamed. Even with this layer of crystal, Eboni could still not muster enough power to leave the encasement on her own! If she had stayed there for a few more hours, even as a cultivator, she would have died!
The reason Eboni was able to break through was a disgusting and vile cheat, something Elder Den had clearly turned a blind eye to.
“Are you just going to fall and die?!” One of Eboni’s messages finally reached Ode’s ears. With her vacuum shattered by Madeleine, and her being a step from death, Eboni’s words finally weren’t being obstructed as she sent them in through essence energy. “You know how important it is for us to claim as many spots in the top ten as possible! If we don’t help my elder brother anger Dyon, you’ll face the wrath of Young Master Tau alone! We have to execute the plan together or else that elder likely won’t be able to turn a blind eye without being obviously biased! Hurry up!”
Ode seemed to finally understand as her body was continuously battered with music will. The reason Eboni hadn’t acted was because they needed to do so simultaneously!
A blinding light identical to Eboni’s erupted from Ode.
In unison, the powers shattered both Ri and Madeleine’s attacks.
‘This… Saint energy?!’ Ri and Madeleine picked up on the fluctuations immediately. How could these girls be erupting with saint energy?! What was going on!?
There was no time to think. A sinister glow flashed in the eyes of both Ode and Eboni as their eyes trained on Dyon’s wives.
“DIE!”