Meiying continuously shook her head, furiously rubbing her tears away on Dyon’s shirt and trying to stop them from falling. No one knew more than her how important time was. ‘I can’t be crying right now!’
However, as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t.
Dyon didn’t press her. At this point, he cared little for what big moves the Daiyu were making and what the ramifications would be. What would happen would happen, but there was no reason why a girl just about his age should have to carry such a burden on her own. She had earned every right to cry as she pleased and Dyon dared anyone to say otherwise.
As for the World Tournament? That was even further from his mind. He hadn’t hesitated to abandon it when he knew Meiying’s life was on the line, and since he was already gone, whether he came back sooner or later didn’t matter to him.
“I’m – I” Meiying tried to speak, but she couldn’t get the words out.
“There’s nothing left you need to do.” Dyon said softly. “Even if you want to wash your hands clean of this and pretend it never happened, I wouldn’t blame you. The day Madeleine became my wife is the day you and Delia became my little sisters. Do you understand?”
Meiying’s tears erupted to an all new level. All the previous apprehensions and misgivings she had crumbled as she let go, collapsing in Dyon’s arms.
Thadius, who hadn’t been in Dyon’s ring, but had of course followed Dyon after seeing his odd movements, appeared beside River and Ronica.
River snorted, “You should take notes from the successor. This is how you should treat women. Brute.”
Thadius could only helplessly look from River and Ronica, sighing in defeat. Inwardly, he praised Dyon. ‘Too good. Too good.’
**
Time passed, but eventually, Meiying was able to grasp a hold of her bearings. The past two years of her life were a testament to how mentally tough she was, she refused to let something like this set her back for too long.
“Heh,” Meiying laughed through sobs, “I think I ruined your shirt more than Madeleine did on her wedding day. Speaking of which, you didn’t have a wedding ceremony without me, right?”
Dyon laughed, “Of course not. Even if I brought it up, she’d refuse unless you were there.”
Meiying lightly pushed Dyon away, wiping her red and puffy eyes before lightly patting herself on the cheeks. It was truly adorable.
Dyon looked at Meiying with a tinge of regret in his eyes. He shouldn’t have agreed to her doing it, he knew it. But…
“You know Meiying, the very fact the object you stole were what they were told me a lot… In fact, it told me a lot more than you know…” Dyon spoke seriously, he meant what he said. The fact those objects in particularly were so key to the plan of the Daiyu let him know a lot. He never thought he’d say it, but he had to thank Elwing for that.
“Really?” Meiying’s violet eyes sparkled, looking up at Dyon.
“Of course. And, considering how much time you spent with them, I have no doubt that you know other things of importance. Anything you can think of, no matter how miniscule or seemingly unimportant might help greatly. The time you spent there won’t have been in vein. I promise.”
Meiying nodded, smiling light, “There was a lot I learned… But, much of it was about Daiyu history and how they came into conflict with your celestial deer sect.”
“Father in law told me about this last night, actually. I believe it had to do with the marriage to my master and the Dragon King?”
“Yes. That was the start of the animosity, but in the end, that was only a drop in the bucket… The sad truth is had that event not happened, the Daiyu might have even sided with the celestial deer sect. Unfortunately, the Daiyu Patriarch at the time, and my former grandfather in law, was one of the three Daiyus who were claimed to be the best fits for the 25th White Mother … So, you might guess that he had little will to cooperate with the celestial deer sect.”
Dyon sighed. Why was the Martial World always so petty about women?
“Truth be told though… I don’t think this is as black and white as choosing the side of good or evil,” Meiying added softly. “Elder Daiyu had no reason to explain himself to me, especially since he thought I was sealed. And yet, he did so anyway…”
Hearing this, Dyon’s eyes could only soften. Elder Daiyu was still, at the end of the day, someone who treasured the life of his grandson. And, for better or worse, he had tried to leave a warning for Dyon about trusting the Martial World. If Dyon had known that leaving that warning had cost him decades off of his already shortened life, he might have felt even more sympathy.
The Martial World was a cruel place where people often had to do cruel things for the sake of their families. Elder Daiyu had chosen his side based on dignity, and it was likely that the side he chose might have given him great benefits. In the end, hadn’t he been right? The celestial deer sect was gone, and although his family was greatly crippled… They had survived.
“I can’t be sure, but it sounds like he holds some regret about his actions. But, it’s much too late for him to change course,” Meiying said solemnly.
“Why is that?” Dyon asked. It seemed like Meiying was leading up to something… It didn’t make sense otherwise. Why wouldn’t the Daiyu be able to turn back? Their enemies were gone?… No? The Elves were greatly crippled too. The celestial deer sect was gone. And the Kitsune weren’t even in the quadrant anymore. So, what was the problem?…
“The entity that they’re in business with…” Meiying said softly, “Has more control over this situation than anyone knows or wants to know…”
Dyon frowned. The entity?
Truth be told, Dyon had many theories for why the celestial deer sect was destroyed – much of which were derived from the trail of clues his master had left him. By picking apart what weren’t in her memories, that should have been, he was able to compile a few possible stories.
In the end, the one he had settled on that was the most likely was a combination of what his grand teacher had told him and the clues left by his master. And that was that the celestial deer sect was destroyed because of array alchemy.
The chaos factions of the cosmos saw array alchemy as a threat. This was why the disciplines were separated. In fact, had Dyon never met Uncle Ail, he too might have subscribed to the segregation of alchemy and formation theory.
Dyon’s senior brother, and the originator of array alchemy, had created the discipline as a direct counter to the coming chaos. The theory was that if you reached a penultimate level of array alchemy, you’d be able to recreate every law in existence for yourself, thus becoming a being who could form a universe from your own thoughts. If you ever reached that level, what use would there be in worry about “heat death”. You could directly reverse it on whim.
However, reaching such a level was just a pipe dream. It was clear even its creator hadn’t – and that was with millions upon billions of years at his disposal. Dyon didn’t know exactly how old his grand teacher was, but he had an idea of how far back the history of the gates went. And since he used array alchemy to create the gates, that directly meant that his senior brother had been alive before the creation of the gates.
This meant that a genius far above Dyon, capable of creating array alchemy from the ground up, had an unfathomable amount of time to grasp the peak levels of array alchemy, and had still failed to do so in all this time.
For all they knew… It would never be possible!
And yet, the shrewdness of their enemies didn’t take any chances. They directly chose to stifle the spread of array alchemy, to the point where the combination of the two was looked down upon.
“I can’t be exactly sure,” Meiying continued, “But, from what I can tell – some of which comes from my eavesdropping and some of which comes from my will’s abilities – a lot of what Elder Daiyu can say is sealed. He’ll often have very roundabout ways of explaining things, or he’ll avoid topics he should probably otherwise explain.
At first I thought that was just him. Old experts often have quirks about him… But, then I realized he only acted this way when he was talking about very specific things… Namely their plans for the future. The truth is I don’t even know what they’re using the Belmont Holy Land for right now. It was clearly another thing he wasn’t allowed to say.
But, what really let me know that this entity wasn’t something they could break away from was the fact that Elder Daiyu didn’t seem to be the only one effected. In fact, aside from the younger generation which was practically limited to just Chenglei, every other member of the Daiyu seemed to have this seal on them as well.”
“Which means this plan was set long ago…” Dyon pushed out a breath.
“Mm. If not, there’s no way they’d know what they were doing. Their coordination is too good.”
Dyon thought for a moment. His grand teacher hadn’t told him any specifics… All he had asked Dyon was whether or not he’d be able to handle the truth in the future, or if he’d become just like the demon sage – losing his mind for millennia.
In the end, he had said that if he told Dyon, although the treaty couldn’t bind him, it would immediately kill Dyon.
Truth be told, Dyon found that to be complete rubbish. He had too great an understanding of array alchemy to believe something like that. The ability to effect a person through the actions of his grand teacher was no different from binding his grand teacher. Something which his grand teacher himself had said wasn’t possible! It was clear he just hadn’t wanted to tell Dyon.
“As for the bits of the plans I have understood… It seems they still need King Belmont for the last step. Their goal was to first infiltrate and lie in wait for the Belmonts which is probably why they sent saints to chase after me despite how important they are to their plan.”
Dyon’s eyes flashed. This was good. This was really good. It wasn’t as good as it could be, because Dyon had no doubt that the death of the saints would be noticed – although it had happened much sooner than he anticipated. That said, they wouldn’t be sending any more out to chase. They were smart enough to know that if 3 saints died, Meiying had made her way to some powerful experts.
“The only problems is that because you’ve escaped, they’ll likely know that we might be ready for an ambush… Because whether or not they know of my connection to the Belmonts, they’ll notice the fact I’ve made it into the top ten.”
“You’ve made it into the top ten? No way,” Meiying looked at Dyon, a bit in disbelief.
“Of course. This brother in law of yours is truly amazing. In fact, we were in the middle of the final round when I left. It’s still going on now.”
“Ah! I’m sorry,” Meiying looked down.
“Don’t be ridiculous. What is a ranking compared to your life? I’d leave a hundred world tournaments if it meant saving you.” Dyon grinned. “Come on, your sisters are probably worried, they miss you.”
Dyon scooped Meiying up, his wings flashing as he flew toward the arena with his demon generals trailing him. He knew that since the Daiyu were lying in wait, there was no point in speeding over there. There were too many other variable and Dyon still didn’t know how the Ragnor and the other planets fit into all of this.
Meiying looked up at Dyon’s side profile, a faint anxiety playing her heart strings. But, the more she thoughts about it, the less she could bring herself to tell Dyon.
‘He’s such a caring person,” She thought, ‘But if he finds out… No… When he finds out the truth… Will he still be the same?…’
Dyon watched from the entrance of his cornered area as Madeleine and Delia were seemingly trying to suffocate Meiying to death.
Behind him, there was a battle raging. It was between Tau Aumen and Zabia Jafari. Truth be told, it was quite interesting, but Dyon couldn’t be bothered to care.
“Hmph, so you left us all worrying just so you could go save another girl?” Clara teased, poking Dyon’s side.
Dyon coughed, “I do a good deed, and this is how you treat me?”
“You could have at least said something,” Ri pouted. “We were worrying.”
“Okay, okay, sorry, sorry,” Dyon wrapped his arm around Ri’s shoulder, kissing her head.
Clara shook her head, “Upped and got two wives and suddenly forgets how to apologize to his friends. What happened to bros before hoes?”
Dyon grinned, “So you admit you’re a boy now? I knew it all along to be honest. How could a woman be so aggressive. Literally no redeeming qualiti – “
Clara pinched Dyon’s side, “Ah, ah,” Dyon jumped, pretending to be hurt to appease Clara.
“How many times did they call my name while I was gone?” Dyon asked.
He didn’t think he had been gone for long, but, martial battles could last hours, but they could also last a few seconds. If the battles he missed erred on the side of seconds, he might have missed much of the event already.
“You were called up three times,” Ri said frowning. “They clearly did it on purpose. No one else has been called more than once.”
“But, that Caedlum guy and Thor directly resigned. They happened to be two of your opponents, so right now you have two losses and two wins.” Clara finished.
“Really?” Dyon raised an eyebrow.
Caedlum he could understand. But, Thor was a nice surprise. ‘It seems I didn’t misjudge you. I’ll leave it up to Ava whether she forgives your sister or not. But, you two deserve my help.’
“Who was the person I lost to?” Dyon asked.
“Other than Vidar, there was this person named Jace Clyte.” Ri answered.
“Alright. No big deal. To be honest, with this line up, I can probably still get top three.” Dyon looked over his shoulder again. He noticed something odd about the fight between Tau and Zabia, almost like it was being stalled. But, he thought nothing much of it.
“Meiying,” Dyon called.
Looking up, a misty eyed Meiying peaked over Madeleine’s shoulder.
“I’m going to change your appearance a bit. There may still be some enemies lurking around here, and it might not be great for you to be out and about.”
Meiying nodded, allowing Dyon’s eyes to flash gold and change her features. Her eyes dimmed to a calm brown and her face became sharper, in contrast with its usual delicateness.
“Next fight.” Elder Den’s voice boomed.
“Oh?” Dyon looked over, ‘Tau Aumen won… huh… Interesting.’
“Saru Shruti vs Vidar Ragnor!”
“Alright.” Dyon said, finishing up with Meiying. “After the tournament, we’ll find an opportunity to explain everything to King Belmont.”
Meiying nodded, but before she could even finish the action, Elder Den’s voice boomed again.
“Victor, Saru Shruti!”
Dyon snorted in laughter. It had been maybe 5 seconds, and he had already lost? That’s sad even by his standards.
“You shouldn’t laugh,” Clara said teasingly, “Technically, you lost to him. He’s been calling you a coward for the better part of a few hours.”
“Next match! Lionel Belmont vs Thor Ragnor.”
“As if. Ten moves would be more than enough for him. In fact, it’s an overestimate.”
“Sure, sure.” Clara was seemingly having a lot of fun with this. She knew that Dyon would never hesitate to give up his prestige to save any one of them, but that didn’t mean he like having his name trampled over. “You never gave me those books on array alchemy you promised.”
“Oh, right.”
“Victor: Lionel Belmont!” Elder Den’s voice boomed.
Initially, Dyon was shocked. ‘Is Lionel that strong?…’ But, when he looked over, he noticed that Thor had simply resigned again. It seemed he had no interest in placing in the top ten at all. Either that, or he was saving his strength.
“Here you go,” Dyon smiled as his ring flashed, piling a bunch of beginner level books beside Clara.
“Next match! Saru Shruti vs The D – “ Elder Den paused, shaking his head and sneering, “Victor: Sa –“
Dyon’s eyes flashed. In an instant, his body disappeared from his position.
“Ah, ah.” Dyon’s voice suddenly interrupted Elder Den. “Sorry about that, I’m here now!”
Elder Den frowned, looking down toward Dyon. “Do you take this tournament as a joke?”
There was little else Elder Den wanted to call Dyon other than a coward, but even he knew how ridiculous that sounded. Dyon ran from Vidar yet came back to face the opponent that had beaten him in a near instant? He didn’t feel like walking into a verbal trap again.
“Of course not.” Dyon smiled, “But when nature calls, it calls. You can’t have expected me to just hold it in, right?”
Elder Den’s face twitched. What was he talking about?! Martial Artists past the foundation stage had no need for such things. In fact, as soon as you tempered your inner organs at the 5th and 6th stages, you would never again have to. Who was he trying to fool?!
“Ah, Elder Den, you have such a perverted mind. Nature calls for many things. I’m just a bit too embarrassed to share. But, I’ll take my losses in stride. You won’t stop me from participating from now on, right?”
Suddenly, a beauty gently landed onto the stage. She was truly worthy of being known as a member of the six beauties of the universe, although they had now lost one of their members.
Her delicate brown skin was flawless and unblemished. She wore a beautiful sky-blue Saree dress with long and flowing sleeves, but had a body that clung tightly to her curves. Her hair was a long jet black, but her eyes shone a piercing sky blue… She was truly perfect.
Vidar, who was on the sidelines, gritted his teeth. He didn’t know where Dyon had gone, but, for him to come back at this very moment when he had just taken a devastating loss truly irked him.
Elder Den couldn’t find a reason to reject. Since Dyon had accepted his losses, there was no longer anything to discuss.
“Begin!”
Saru Shruti stood silently – completely unmoving. And yet, Dyon too didn’t move.
“I’ve been looking forward to fighting you,” Her voice was gentle, like spring waters gliding over the smooth rocks of a river.
The crowd was immediately mesmerized. This was the first time they had heard this beauty speak throughout the entire competition.
However, her words only served to further aggravate Vidar. She hadn’t spoke a word to him! She simply ended his chances with a simple palm!
Dyon shook his head, “Women are truly too dangerous.”
Saru Shruti smiled, “Since I respect you, I’ll give you the favor of using my full strength.”
How sensitive was Dyon to music will? It could be said that he was nearly without match in this regard. It had been the very first will he grasped and that was when he had no real concept of such a thing. So, how could he not tell what Saru was lacing her voice with?
However, why was he frowning? If he knew what was happening, especially since it was a will he was so familiar with, what need would he have to frown?…
Quite simply put… This was a level of music will mastery he had never seen before.