Dyon looked up into the sky. He had known that something was odd about Patriarch Ragnor’s movements, but to think that he was biding his time for his warriors to get into position…
‘Why now… What’s changed…’ Dyon’s eyes flashed with a sudden realization, ‘Meiying!’
Dyon felt like slapping himself on the forehead, but there was really nothing he could have done to change things.
All this time, Dyon had been wondering just how the Daiyu would react to Meiying’s disappearance. Regardless of the fact he killed their saint experts, after enough time passed, they would have noticed that something was wrong. However, Dyon didn’t think that it mattered because Meiying didn’t end up returning with the important piece of the puzzle she thought she had. Because of that, Dyon felt that it was likely that the Daiyu would continue forward with their plans, disregarding Meiying entirely.
The reason Dyon hadn’t been worried about that change, is because of how obvious it was that the Daiyu were targeting the World Tournament. If it was just about seeking out the Belmont Holy Land, there were a million other times to do this. The only feasible reason might have been to take advantage of the time that King Belmont was away. But, that clearly didn’t make sense considering they were attacking King Belmont right now!
If it was all about avoiding King Belmont, Patriarch Ragnor wouldn’t be attacking at all!
Taking a deep breath, Dyon calmed himself. In the grand scheme of things, he had too many trump cards to be worried in this situation. But, he had the sneaking suspicion that a clan of people willing to bide their time for thousands of years… and yet another clan willing to pay the cost to send their branch family across tens of universes… wouldn’t be defeated so easily.
King Belmont’s face twisted with rage. This was his planet. He was the ruler of this place. Attacking it was no less than a slap to his face.
He immediately contacted his warriors. Having been preparing for this for so long, to the point where he remained in secluded cultivation for decades at a time, how could he not have been ready? Ever since the Ragnor conquered the Earth Gate last and stepped into his domain along with elves in tow, he had been ready.
But… He received no response…
“They’re ready too…” King Acacia spoke softly. Part of his words were meant to comfort his friend, but the other was to let them all understand a striking reality. Maybe, just maybe, they had underestimated this threat.
They were completely disorganized and disjointed. They had been so focused on this ethereal entity that they had forgotten about the very real current and tangible threat. Even worse, it was likely that many of their subordinates had no idea what was going on.
“We can’t try and explain the full situation, that would be impossible.” King Belmont immediately regained his composure. This wasn’t the time to fold, he had to be a king. “Keep the message simple and straight forward. The Ragnors are attempting to seize hold of Earth’s Royal God Clan position. We’ll rally everyone in this way.”
Immediately, streams of celestial will began branching outward from the Belmont skybox, attempting to inform all clans of just what was going on and to prepare themselves thoroughly.
However, the more the tried, they more they realized that certain clans had barred off communication entirely!
The Cavositas showed no response, but, at the very least, that was partially expected. But, when King Belmont realized that the Niveus God sect wasn’t responding either, his throne shattered beneath him.
‘I’ve been so blind!’ Earth was meant to have a supportive group of God level clans to back the Belmonts in case another Royal God Clan attempted to take control of the universe. And yet, in just an instant, Earth had lost half of their power to the Ragnors.
Patriarch Ragnor stood in the skies with an amused look as he studied Dyon’s face, but then his gaze shifted over to Ri and Madeleine with a disgusting gleam in his eye. While everyone was focused on Dyon’s treasures and just who his secret master was, Ragnor had locked into something else. ‘How could a warrior not be powerful with such talented dual cultivation incubators!’
The truth was that Patriarch Ragnor had experimented on many girls before he succeeded with Tammy, attempting to find himself the perfect partner. However, the problem with Tammy was that her cultivation was too weak. Unless she became powerful enough, regardless of her affinity, she would be useless to him.
That was exactly how twisted of an individual he was. He didn’t care that Tammy was her niece, if she could be used in such a way, he would use her.
Almost ironically… It was lucky for Tammy that she was so weak…
But, Ri and Madeleine were different. With their talent, and the fact they weren’t Ragnors practically sentenced to death, in as little as ten years, they’d be powerful enough to be of great use to him.
At this point, Dyon’s treasures were almost secondary to him – a cherry on top if you will. He almost couldn’t refrain from licking his lips. But, he had to maintain his amiable outer appearance, so he persisted in smiling lightly as more and more warriors organized in the skies above.
Dyon had little time to think about what disgusting plots Patriarch Ragnor was thinking of. To him, he had to find the most efficient way to not only ensure the safety of his wives, but to also find everyone else he needed to care for.
However, just as he was thinking of just to do, an already bad situation became easily ten times worse.
The movements of their enemies no longer just included the Ragnor, Cavositas and Niveus…
King Clyte and King Aumen appeared beside Patriarch Ragnor, somehow looking like the best of friends…
This suddenly turned from a civil war to a single Royal God Clan facing against two entire planetary forces allied with half of their own…
“Well… Isn’t this just fantastic…” Dyon chuckled.
It was such a shame. His soul was only a half step away from breaking into the celestial stage. At that point, he’d be able to repair his puppets to reach the peak level of celestial cultivation. With that kind of power, if he used them cleverly enough, it was likely that even a lower dao formation expert might have trouble dealing with him.
That said, Dyon fully understood that if he tried to push his soul to such a level now, he would die. His body was simply too weak. Then there was the amount of time it would take to repair such complex arrays. Not to mention the fact that Dyon hadn’t studied any array alchemy theories past the grandmaster level.
From his understanding, array alchemy reached a massive watershed when your soul stepped into the 9th stage. Even with his genius, he’d need more than just a moment to fully grasp it…
‘I could bring out the demon generals… The most talented amongst the saints can last at least a few bouts against this caliber of celestials. If they team up, maybe they can even last longer than that. But, is it smart to reveal the demon generals now…? Just because they could survive, doesn’t mean they’d win… At this point it would be hundreds of thousands against three thousand. But, unlike the gates, they aren’t capped to our level…’
Dyon had to be smart about his movements. He was their leader. He couldn’t just rely on their power while putting them at risk like this. It would be easier to maneuver with less people for now. His top priority was to protect Ri and Madeleine and make his way over to Clara. Then he’d go and get Little Lyla and Zaire.
“Look at you, planning.” Vidar suddenly sneered, walking up to the stage Dyon stood on casually to stand beside Tau who had previously paused his pursuit. “Can’t you see that this is inevitable? If you return Tammy to me now, though. I can let you have a little bit of dignity in death.”
Had anyone else said this, maybe they may have fooled those listening into thinking they actually cared for a family member of theirs. But, Dyon knew better.
After hearing how good of an effect Tammy would have as a dual cultivation partner, Vidar’s eyes had shone with jealousy. He wondered why his father hadn’t just given her to him if he hadn’t wanted her.
Dyon’s face twisted in disgust.
“I’d like to pound his face in.” Ri growled, a dense black void aura manifesting itself around her as ethereal tails whipped about, destroying the already damaged stage.
She still hadn’t recovered from the past ten minutes of emotional upheaval. In fact, these were the first words she had spoken since Dyon’s drastic recovery. But, she had to step forward now. While everyone else was in awe at Dyon’s sudden recovery, her and Madeleine felt something completely different. No one knew more than them how tired Dyon was right now.
He had just faced a battle against the universe itself. Then, he pushed his soul to the absolute limit to treat a wound that should have been untreatable. And, even worse, he was still diverting some of his soul power right now to keep the soul of the man who gave him that wound from dissipating.
And yet, instead of complaining or looking for help, his eyes were calculating how he could do more.
How could they feel anything but rage?
‘How do I deal with this…’ Dyon thought. He wanted to just send Ri and Madeleine into his ring, but if something like sending a person in against their will was so easy, Dyon would never have to worry about an enemy ever again. And, it was very much clear that neither of his wives would agree to being sent in.
‘They’re too powerful for me handle. The puppets could work, but I would have to use the stronger one as well… Alright, that’s fine. I’ll do it. But, it has to be at the right time. When the stronger one appears, it has to kill one of them for sure, or else it would be a waste. Also, the puppets need my guidance to be the most effective. If I let them fight on their own, they’re susceptible to being tricked…
Okay… Then I’ll –‘
Suddenly, something happened that made Dyon realize that all of his previous thoughts had been silly. He was so used to fighting alone, so used to scratching and clawing through the world by himself, that he had almost forgotten that for the first time, maybe everything wasn’t on him…
King and Queen Acacia appeared in the air, right along side King Belmont, Big Red and Patriarch Pakal. They faced off against their enemies with their heads held high.
To Dyon, it had been a long time since he had seen backs broad enough to stand in front of him and it had been even longer since he felt that same warmth well up inside of him.
Their opponents had nine celestials on their side. Two Royal God Clan heads, and their two subordinate God Clans, along with Patriarch Ragnor, Patriarch Cavositas, and the Matriarch of the Niveus sect. Anyone could see how lopsided this affair was… Well, it was until the Elvin Head Sigebryht and Grand Elder Deryth made their appearance.
The sight of sixteen celestials facing off was enough to place a weight on any warrior’s chest.
Inwardly, Dyon was hopeful. Despite the two-celestial difference, Dyon was well aware that his mother and father in law had battle prowess that far outweighed their cultivation. This wasn’t as hopeless as it seemed.
However, there was something else that Dyon was worried about. According to the information he had, Planet Mino with their Shruti Royal God Clan, and Planet Nix with their Jafari Royal God Clan weren’t the same clans that had represented those planets in the previous world tournament…
So, the question was just what were their motives?
And maybe more strikingly, were they yet another foe they had to face off against?…
“Well then, I’ll leave them to you.” Dyon grinned, “And as for them.” Dyon turned his head toward the rankers he had been competing with just moments before. “I’ll handle them just fine on my own.”
“Lionel.” King Belmont’s voice boomed. Violet flames danced around him, flickering sometimes in red and blue, before they retreated to their normal violet. “Set aside your angst. You are a Belmont.”
Lionel nodded. “Yes, father.” Without so much as another word, he sprang to action.
Tau Aumen’s face twisted in anger as flames of red and blue raged toward him. “To dare use flames against me? I’ll be sure to show you Belmonts what real fire is!”
Lionel’s attack seemed to throw the entire stadium out of its stalemate. It was chaotic mess.
Innocent civilians cowered in their seats, unsure of what to do. But, even worse, often times, warriors simply weren’t aware of who their enemies were!
The initial stages of the battle was a disgusting and cowardly showing of backstabbing. The Niveus, Cavositas and Ragnors took full advantage of the unknown betrayal and by the time the rest began to catch on, many had already died!
The Shruti and Jafari still seemed to be in an odd state of limbo. The Jafari seemed to still be at a loss, unknowing of how to move forward with the death of their young king. But, the Shruti seemed more focused on ensuring that Saru made it back safely with getting accidentally pulled into a battle that had nothing to do with them.
Dyon looked to black band on his wrist. Somehow during the whole process, his scythe had disappeared. But, luckily, since his soul was still fighting, he hadn’t lost connection to his weapon. In fact, it was because of this that Dyon was confused about why the key had severed its connection with him at all. Ownership of beasts or treasures was always done via the soul. So, just because he was on the verge of death, shouldn’t have meant that the key would disown him…
Suddenly, a voice filled Dyon’s head. It was so ancient and deep that it startled him. ‘Hmph. You should be grateful that I severed the connection. If it wasn’t for me, that old man would have never known to help you. You’re welcome.’
‘Ah – … Thank you.’ Dyon finally got out. But, there was no longer a response from the voice. It seemed gone now.
“Dyon?” Madeleine looked over at him worried. This wasn’t exactly the best time to space out, especially since Vidar and Thor were making their way over.
Before Dyon could answer, King Belmont suddenly spoke, “I’m sure you’re all aware that we can’t fight here. Whatever it is you want would be long destroyed. It’s in all of our interests that we don’t.”
“Agreed.” Patriarch Ragnor smiled amicably before his figure flashed into the skies. In an instant, sixteen figures had disappeared.
Something in Dyon couldn’t help but think about how cool what he just saw was. In the middle of a life and death battle, and yet all his only thoughts were of how amazing it would be to fight in space.
“To think you’d get distracted now.” Vidar didn’t wait, he immediately burst into his strongest form. A 20-meter tall mammoth of a man came careening toward Dyon, accompanied by the lightning strike of a deadpan Thor.
Dyon turned a casual gaze toward Vidar, almost giving him an incredulous look. ‘Really?… Truth be told, my soul is feeling a bit tired. But, you’re too weak to help it!’
Dyon’s skin reddened as he immediately jumped to the peak of the first act of Demon Emperor’s Will. His fist shot forward, accompanied by a piercing space will.
However, before his fist connected, he sensed danger he shouldn’t have. His senses were on another level now. With his soul having reached the peak of the saint stages, it was suffice to say that there was little his 6th sense couldn’t pick up… And right now… It was screaming to not underestimate Thor.
Dyon immediately retracted his fist, taking Ri and Madeleine by the waist and leaping backward as an arc of red lightning blasted into the spot his had just been at.
‘There’s got to be another way Ragnor is controlling them… If it was as simple as an array, I would have sensed it a long time ago! He has no reason to attack me so viciously when he knows I have his sister with me.’
An instant later, Vidar fist crashed into the same spot, causing the whole of the arena to shake under the weight of his fist. It wasn’t that his attack was more powerful, or else Dyon would have dodged because of him instead of Thor. It was that his control was near nonexistent. He had so much power yet had no idea how to focus it!
Dyon frowned. “Ri, Madeleine. I think the two of you can handle Vidar alone. I can’t afford to be distracted by him while fighting Thor because I’m much too tired to use my death intent right now…”
The stamina required for using a supreme law was ridiculously high to begin with. It was a heavy drain on your concentration and soul. But, to couple that with the passive corrosive effects death qi had to begin with, and you were left with a law that was almost more trouble than it was worth. And that was not to mention the sheer strain an intent level supreme law would cause.
Dyon simply didn’t know whether his body could handle his second intent level death qi right now. Technically, he shouldn’t even be using an intent before the essence gathering stage to begin with. If it wasn’t for the solid foundation of his cultivation, it would be impossible.
The thought of using his demon generals to subdue Thor crossed his mind. But, something was telling Dyon that if he didn’t fight Thor personally, he would never be able to tell what was tying him down right now.
Ri and Madeleine nodded, looking toward Vidar with clear disgust on their features. Maybe alone handling a top ten ranker would be too much, but together, they found no issue with it.
However, unbeknownst to Ri and Dyon, Madeleine was hiding her own fatigue… With the evolution of her celestial intent due to her unselfish nature, Dyon wasn’t the only one who had to deal with the strain of a supreme law recently. But, even worse… Madeleine’s supreme law had been on the level of an intent, and her lack of stamina currently was showing it…
“Let’s go.” Dyon’s eyes narrowed, focusing in on Thor’s figure in the air behind Vidar.
The battle had just begun.