“Where do you think you’re going! How is this proof at all!” The little boy, Ur Aumen seemed furious with Dyon’s disregard of his family, “For all we know, you manipulated the images to show what you wanted!”
Dyon looked back as though he was looking at a complete idiot. “You’re a kid, so I won’t be too difficult on you. That said, when I was your age, I would never think to say something so stupid.
I very clearly explained that arrays record the laws of the universe. The only way I could have faked those images is if I was not only a saint capable of manipulating saint energy, I would also have to have the ability to use Horus family techniques and Geb family techniques. That’s on top of being a capable enough refiner to recreate the tools they used, all while also being able to use the techniques of my wives as well.
It is possible for me to create a fake image that simply copied the look of those techniques, but then it wouldn’t feel real. Which is why your father is so ashen faced right now.
I admit that I’m pretty impressive. But, I’m not that impressive.” Dyon snorted, waving good bye. “Oh, and King Clyte. You’d better give up all thoughts of taking away Delia. She’s my wife’s little sister, and so she’s mine as well. She’s not under Earth’s protection, she’s under mine. If you’d like to play a few rounds with my demon generals with your pitiful cultivation, you’re free to try your luck.”
Although Dyon didn’t say any more words after this, his anger was far from sated. When he had signed off Planet Deimos to death, he meant it.
However, at the same time, he knew he needed more control. He had handicapped himself in order to improve his body cultivation prowess in his fight with Femi, but he also understood that that wasn’t something he could sustain for a long period of time.
The Demon Emperor’s Will technique was an odd one of give and take. In the beginning, as long as Dyon increased his body’s strength by absorbing more of the demon sage’s blood, he could use higher levels of the technique with increased ease. However, there was a limit to this. Why? Because the technique itself is an amplifier to your body’s power. If Dyon was making his body stronger, to then use higher levels of the technique, the problem became clear. If his body was stronger, wouldn’t it be even more strenuous to amplify it?
This was why higher levels of this technique didn’t require a stronger body, but rather better understanding and higher efficiency. Dyon could breach the second act, true, but at what cost? In the brief moment he had used it, his bones had nearly collapsed in on themselves and his muscles had almost ripped from their tendons.
Clearly Dyon had the power, but what he needed now was experience. He had to reach a deeper understanding of what it meant to be a demon emperor.
In the end though, Dyon wasn’t worried about the final stage of the tournament. The so-called geniuses of this universe were far too weak. If he hadn’t refused to use his energy and soul cultivation against Femi, he would have won with absolute ease. He simply had too much of an advantage, especially when it came to his techniques. While his opponents might be lucky to have learned a lower heaven level technique, Dyon had whole libraries of divine level techniques to choose from. There was simply no competition here, and he had made that clear.
Dyon was, of course, mostly correct. In fact, he couldn’t be blamed for his assessment given the information he had.
The only problem was that not all of his remaining opponents were of this universe.
**
Little Lyla’s playful giggle filled the dining room hall as she played in Madeleine’s lap. She had long since heard of this other big sister of hers, but this was her first time meeting her. That said, they seemed to form an instantaneous bond. After all, with Lyla’s abilities, it took little effort for her to see through people and in terms of Madeleine, who wouldn’t immediately fall for such an adorable little girl?
“Little Black,” Madeleine reached over and pinched a small boy’s cheeks, “Or should I call you Zaire now. Look at you, you’re half grow up!”
Zaire grinned brightly. He was currently sitting on Clara’s lap, but it was clear that Clara was decidedly worse at dealing with children. She felt uncomfortable and awkward. The truth was that she was very much used to children crying when they saw her cold eyes, but Lyla and Zaire didn’t seem to mind at all.
It warmed her heart to see this, but in the same vein, she wasn’t all that great at expressing that she felt that way either.
That aside, the rest of the room was filled with familiar faces. They had chosen to come back to the mansion that Dyon had rented instead of stay behind to see how the Cavositas decided to clean up the mess that was the last round.
In reality, everyone who had meant to take part in that final round had died with the except of Ri, Madeleine, and the remaining top 20 members who had flashed away in time. Unfortunately for them, that left one spot unaccounted for. In fact, if you counted Femi’s death, there were two spots.
So, it was likely that they’d decide to round up those who had lost in previous rounds, and had forgone participating in the death round, to battle for these two remaining spots. That said, many hardly cared, they were only eager for the final day.
Suddenly, the door of the dining hall opened. But, when everyone turned their gaze over, there was not a soul there.
A flash of purple-gold enveloped the entire mansion, causing even more confusion to pervade the atmosphere.
However, everyone sighed a breath of relief when a familiar boy walked out with a light smile on his face. That said, the fact there were now two of them in this room still left a confusion on the faces of many, and considering he had a beautiful middle-aged woman to his side who was looking around with just as much confusion, their reaction was very much warranted.
Before anyone could say anything, the sound of shattering glass filled the quiet atmosphere.
“Delia?” Eli looked over worried.
However, Delia was in a daze as her eyes glistened with tears.
With speed that shocked many of them, Delia instantly appeared before the woman who was now looking back at her with the same gaze.
“Delia?” The woman spoke in such a soft voice that even them as cultivators hardly heard. It was as though she was scared if she said it too loudly, that her guess would be wrong.
Her small and trembling hand touched Delia’s soft cheeks, trying to make sure that this moment was real.
Just an instant before, she had been a world of cold ice, sitting on a throne that was little else but a prison. And now she was in front of her daughter? Nothing seemed real anymore.
However, she never got a response to her question… Not verbally anyway…
Delia couldn’t speak. All she could do was wrap her arms around her mother, crying into her bosom.
“Little Delia, mom can’t stay. I – I can’t stay here.” Despite her words, Sofia couldn’t seem to let go of her daughter.
The situation confused Dyon. He had long since figured out that there was a massive part to this story he hadn’t figured out.
When Eli had brought Delia to him, thinking that she was dying, he had examined her to be perfectly fine. But, the problem with that was that there was an unfathomable energy that had held her together, thus allowing her constitution to act. The question was, who could have placed that unfathomable energy within Delia?
Dyon didn’t know how exactly to sense celestial level energy. This of course made sense, considering his boundary was far too low for such a thing. But, what he could tell was that the energy within Delia had been of a much higher grade than saint energy.
Originally, Dyon had thought that this was because of Delia’s mother. After all, he had already met Patia-Neva, and he hadn’t given off the air of a celestial level expert. In fact, he was nothing more than a meridian formation expert, just like the other heads at the time… Or so Dyon had thought.
However, Delia’s mother was very clearly still a saint! By all rights, the energy that had saved Delia couldn’t have come from her. So the question remained…
If it wasn’t Sofia, the only person it could have been was Patia-Neva. Or, that was the person who made the most sense. But if it was Patia-Neva, that meant he was strong enough to hide his presence from even Dyon… So why hadn’t he saved Sofia himself?
If he was so formidable, why had he even allowed his family to be separated?
Dyon was a person who could hide himself from even King Belmont and Connery Sapientia of all people. He had such a powerful soul that even the celestial experts of this universe were beneath him. And yet Patia-Neva had to have been right under his nose with him being none the wiser.
“Patia-Neva.” Dyon’s voice filled the room. But, he purposefully manipulated it so that Delia and her mother couldn’t hear him. If he was wrong, all he’d be doing is ruining their moment together. “If you’re there, now’s as good a time as any. I don’t need an explanation. But, your family does. I know you have a good reason for not saving your wife earlier, so I promise that I’ll protect both her and Delia while you can’t.”
With a wave of his hand, Dyon sent a teleportation array to an empty room upstairs before sending Delia and Sofia away. At this point, teleporting small distances like this for him, as long as he could make use of a relay station – a technique he created himself for his first campaign – was child’s play. Larger distances would require more intricate arrays and more time, but his proficiency now was more than enough to help a mother and child have some privacy. It was also more than enough to save Madeleine and Ri.
Within his spatial pocket, Patia-Neva had been shocked to hear Dyon directly address him. But, after thinking things through, and seeing how Dyon wasn’t sure if he was there, he began to understand.
“Thank you,” He said, quietly transmitting his voice to Dyon before tearing his way toward the room Delia and his love were in.
Dyon smiled, and with that final act, his clone disappeared.
Suddenly, Dyon turned his gaze toward the door. “You guys can come in, you know. Why wouldn’t I welcome my mother and father in law?”
A moment later, an awkward looking King Acacia and his beaming queen walked in. Dyon, of course, let them in through his barrier and into the dining room hall.
Ri immediately got up and hugged her mother. They had been separated too abruptly before, and Ri, although she supported Dyon then as his wife, still dearly missed her mom.
“Aw, Little Alex, don’t be like this.” Kawa smiled warmly, rubbing her daughter’s head, “You’re a grown woman now! I expect little grand children to be running around soon. Since I couldn’t raise you, I have to redeem myself!”
A light laughter filled the room as Ri blushed profusely, hiding her face in her mother’s chest.
Dyon got up, offering a seat to his in-laws. He seemed to be treating King Acacia as though he had never said a bad word about him, but that only made the complicated feelings in Edrym’s heart permeate even more.
They had only come here because they noticed odd movements from the Pakal clan. Although Dyon seemed confident in apparently handling the world himself, Kawa had insisted on them being protectors.
“Dyon I –“ King Acacia started.
Dyon immediately shook his head, “I can’t have my father in law apologizing to me. Pretend as though it never happened.” Dyon smiled, as long as King Acacia had the intention to apologize, that was enough for him. “This, by the way,” He continued, turning to Little Lyla, “Is your successor.”
King Acacia was stunned by Dyon’s reaction. The more he interacted with this boy, the less he seemed to understand him.
“What an adorable little girl,” Kawa smiled lovingly.
“Big brother,” Lyla looked over to Dyon with a sad look on her features, “He needs help.”
Dyon turned a meaningful gaze to his little sister before rubbing her head. “Alright. We’ll see what we can do.” Dyon had already had every intention to help his father in law. Dyon couldn’t sense celestial energy, in the strict sense, but gauging the cultivation of celestial experts was within his ability. After all, he had been able to do so even with Elder Daiyu.
From what he could see, his father in law was much weaker than he should be. Even weaker than Head Sigebryht, something that shouldn’t be the case. Clearly something was wrong.
However, before Dyon could make a move, the doorbell suddenly rang.
Moments later, even Dyon was sitting in unbridled confusion. His home had brought together a mix of people few ever assumed would be able to share a dining room table.
A mortal. Elves. Beasts. And now red skinned Pakals. It was truly an odd mix.
Because of the animosity between the Ragnor and Pakal, in the strict sense, Kawa and her husband didn’t need to hide themselves considering they were only wary of the Ragnor knowing of their power. But, to be safe, they had hidden themselves, leaving just Dyon and his wives and friends.
The two of them believed that if need be, they’d step in, in time to save them from harm.
But, the problem now was that even Dyon was becoming overwhelmed by all of these crisscrossing and interlocking stories. Is this what they meant by fate? What were the odds that the legacy world he conquered, his very first, mind you, would be the legacy world of the creator of the technique that sparked everything to begin with?
If it wasn’t for the blood sacrifice technique, the Storm family would have never come to be and in all likelihood, the Pakal v Ragnor rivalry would have stayed out of this universe.
Even further, what were the odds that he would have entered that very same legacy world with Caedlum, someone who was clearly much more suited to the legacy than he was? If it wasn’t for Dyon’s soul talent being so overwhelming, thus letting him grasp true demonic will instead of the artificial will of the legacy world, he would have never succeeded in becoming the demon sage’s successor to begin with!
Now everything was coming full circle.
“Truth be told,” Dyon started, “I had a very special opportunity for Caedlum to be a part of. I just never thought you’d have taken the initiative to come to me…” Dyon turned to Arios, “The demon sage was really a Pakal?”
Caedlum raised an eyebrow, ‘Special opportunity?…’
“You could say so,” Arios responded. But, it was clear from his answer that things were a lot more complicated than they seemed.
Patriarch Pakal sighed, “To the world, Sargeras was an unprecedented talent destined to transcend. Had he not sacrificed his future for the greater good, causing him to ultimately lose his mind like he had, there was no doubt that he would have transcended.”
Dyon nodded, listening intently.
“However, to the Pakal clan, Sargeras is a tale in what could have been. He’s the ultimate regret etched in the annals of our history.”
“So you mean…”
Patriarch Pakal shook his head with regret, “Our ancestors were too short sighted. Sargeras had always been talented, even throughout his youth he was unmatched in the Pakal clan. However, there came a day where a young man that was likely the second most talented in our clan arose to find that he had a faith seed within him.
At that time, long before my birth, the Pakal clan was very small. Nothing compared to the Emperor God Clan it is now. So, in our history, there had only ever been a single transcendent, so you can imagine how much importance was placed on this single sign.
Because of this faith seed manifestation, Sargeras was removed as our first in line genius and replaced by his faith seeded rival.”
Dyon frowned. There was nothing he hated more than things being chosen based on luck of the draw.
So many young masters and mistresses walked around with their heads held high for nothing more than being lucky enough to be born into the right families. Did they even deserve such a thing? Did they work to prove that they did? In many cases, the answer was no. And clearly, this was another one of those.
“As you likely know, the demon sage was arrogant to his very core.”
Dyon nodded, remembering back to the first tales Arios had told him about the demon sage. A main reason why he had had so many enemies to begin with was because of his arrogance!
Arios had then warned Dyon to not follow down the same footsteps, but Dyon had responded by saying he just couldn’t lower his head. Everyone only saw how arrogant he was and refused to see how much hard work he put in to be worthy of being so arrogant.
“In his youth, it was no different. After being slapped in such a way, he immediately cut all ties with the Pakal clan. Swearing to one day prove them wrong.” Patriarch Pakal smiled bitterly, “And that he did… So wrong.
In a mere few hundred years, Sargeras had built his own empire to a level far surpassing a regular Emperor God Clan, to the point where he ruled more than half this quadrant alone! And our pitiful Pakal Clan, still clinging to our so-called faith seeded genius, were barely counted as a God Clan…
You may not know this, but the requirements for being a God Clan in various universes and quadrants varies greatly. Reason being, God, Royal, King and even Emperor God Clans are decided based on territory owned and ruled, not cultivation level.
God Clans rule a percentage of a planet. Royal God Clans rule an entire planet. King God Clans rule at least one entire universe. And Emperor God Clans rule at least 25% of a given quadrant. So, while our faith seeded genius had managed to bitterly cultivate to high levels of celestial cultivation and could even match some weaker lower dao formation experts according to our clan records, we were still pitifully weak.
As you can tell… Regret might not be a strong enough word for this. Sargeras could have raised the clan up to the level of an Emperor God Clan!”
Dyon could only shake his head, “There’s no medicine for regret. But, from information I have now, your Pakal clan has become an Emperor God Clan. So things worked out in the end, no?”
Patriarch Pakal clenched his fists, “The strength of our Pakal Clan now can only be attributed to the kindness of Sargeras. And yet,” Patriarch Pakal’s jaw grinded his teeth together, “They betrayed him again. This time in the worst of ways! What they’ve done is nothing short of destroying the legacy of a legend!”