Dyon leaped over Vidar’s outstretched hand, landing on his massive head with sword qi swirling at his feet. “You’re slow.”
Vidar cried out in agony as Dyon jumped back into the air, leaving him for Ri and Madeleine.
With a flash of his ring and concealment array, Zabia’s limp and unconscious body disappeared. This, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by the Jafari, despite the chaotic situation. But, that was exactly what Dyon wanted.
“You!” The voice of an old woman boomed into Dyon’s mind, but it was immediately rebuffed by Dyon’s soul strength, causing the voice to begin violently coughing just as Dyon clashed with Thor in the air.
They both fell to the ground, the crackling of lightning and the whistling of sword qi in their wake.
‘It’s best you thank you me old lady.’ Dyon sent his voice with wind will, diverting his attention just enough to dodge Thor’s furious spear attacks. ‘If not for me, he wouldn’t be alive.’
With his new soul strength, Dyon found that his will control had become so much more refined. He had little doubt that he could maybe even reach a fifth level will fusion now.
Matriarch Lebna was stunned by Dyon’s words as she watched the two young men clash. But, from the looks of it, Dyon was only casually dodging, unwilling to directly attack or harm Thor just yet.
Her gaze shifted to Ulu’s lifeless figure. The clamouring of war was taking hold of the arena. Cries of innocents and the scraping of metal on metal filled the air. And yet, Ulu didn’t seem to take note of any of it. She hadn’t even noticed Dyon take Zabia’s body.
Dyon’s feet shifted with calculated precision, never lifting off the ground. He had never fought a lightning will wielder on the caliber of Thor before, but what he knew was that it was important for him to keep himself grounded – only then would he minimize the damage resulting as much as possible.
“You… You can save him?” Matriarch Lebna didn’t dare believe what she was hearing. She turned to her fellow celestial elders, allowing them in on their conversation. But, they too were incredulous.
From the way they saw it, Dyon’s allies were in a predicament and they were a variable. Dyon had no clue whether they sided with the Ragnors or not. Coupling that with the fact they knew that their appearance in this universe was odd and reading Dyon’s thoughts were easy. Not a single one of them didn’t think that Dyon was using Zabia as leverage to seek their help – or, at the very least, their neutrality.
Dyon rolled his eyes. ‘I really hate dealing with elders.’ He thought to himself.
The sheen of Demon Emperor’s Will radiated off of Dyon as his movements continued to snake around Thor’s spear.
His palms and forehand always connected with the very first blunt portions of the spear, parrying away the blade and using Thor’s momentum against him.
Quite frankly, anyone at or near Dyon’s level of cultivation moved too slowly to him. It was as though he was watching a movie at half the normal speed. And, the fact his processing and thinking ability had reached otherworldly levels only served to facilitate that.
Of course, the only thing that held Dyon back from using this advantage to win every battle instantly were the limitations of his body. His reaction speed was just too slow compared to his computational speed.
Dyon felt lightning will course into his body, but with a simple shift of his feet and the overwhelming control of his soul, he would always divert it into the ground.
The crackling of lightning sounded as the arena floor heated up, clearly not very good at conducting either.
‘I’m sure you all have a means of telling whether he’s alive or not. And, you’re also smart enough to know that under normal circumstances, he would long be dead. Stop wasting my time.’ Dyon replied firmly. He was quite annoyed at this point. Whether he felt bad for Zabia and his child in this situation or not, the fact still remained that Ulu had brought this pain unto herself.
Suddenly, a loud thump resounded behind Dyon as someone landed. “Should I help you successor?”
Dyon didn’t turn back, he had already long since sensed the fact that Thadius had gotten his message and had rounded everyone up safely.
“No need.” Dyon said, looking into Thor’s eyes. Somehow, emotion had yet to flicker across them. Even with the pressure of Thadius standing behind Dyon. Something had to be wrong… Unless he was confident in beating Thadius too?… ‘Ridiculous.’
Behind Thadius, Little Black had gone to his beast form. The swirls of white fur that graced his thick black coat, the patches of beautifully arranged black scales covered in crystals, and the patented singular white scale on his forehead were still all there. But, maybe the most striking change to him was the fact he had already grown to over ten meters long, standing at about 7-8 meters tall!
Even more shockingly, his antlers were still mere bumps on his head. He was clearly nothing more than a baby. But his aura…
Dyon chuckled bitterly, ‘It really pays to have a great lineage… a seven-year-old essence gatherer…’ Dyon no longer had any doubt in his mind that the fusion of his master and her husband’s blood had given Zaire access to his supreme beast level bloodline.
Little Black’s paws softly landed on the stadium. He growled as he looked toward Ri and Madeleine fighting the now cowering Vidar – that said, it came out as an adorable yipping sound. But, he didn’t dare help because Little Lyla clung to his back.
‘We need a base to regroup everyone.’ The ferocity of Dyon’s attacks increased. The snaking of his hands started to come coupled with piercing strikes toward Thor’s torso, pushing him backward all while trying to catch the flicker of emotion. But, nothing came.
Dyon sighed, sending a kick toward Thor’s chest. His foot his metal as Thor blocked causing him to leisurely skip backward along with his momentum.
A tower appeared in Dyon’s hand before growing to an astounding height. “Bring everyone in Thadius. This is where we turn this around.”
Dyon felt much better have the demon sage’s tower to his back. Even if he didn’t use energy stones, the tower could within stand the attacks of peak saints without a scratch. However, to survive attacks of a higher grade, it would need an energy supply to do so.
That said, technically speaking, if there was enough energy, even a dao formation expert wouldn’t be able to dent the tower. That said, one could hardly fathom the amount of transcendent stones that would be necessary to protect against a dao formation expert for an extended period of time.
Vidar immediately noticed the changing of the tides. He never imagined that he would struggle this much with two women, especially in his released state. But, the reality was right before him.
Pillars of light collided with his fists while Ri seemed to teleport around him in an instant, slashing deeply into his tough skin. If his body wasn’t so robust, he lost count of how many times he would have died by now.
His head tilted backward as a roar projected from his lips. Warriors in the sky immediately noticed that their first in line genius was in trouble and took action without delay.
‘Ri, Madeleine. Enter the tower for now. We’ll find a better opportunity for you two to fight, now is not the time!’ Dyon frowned. He knew it wouldn’t be so easy to take out Vidar. Him and Thor were too important to the Ragnors for them to be completely without protection.
Madeleine’s face was flushed red as she breathed heavily. She had no idea what was wrong with her. She used to be able to call upon her celestial will so easily, and yet it felt like such a burden to her now.
“Madeleine!” Ri’s figure flashed, appearing beside her in an instant.
Vidar’s fist careened toward them, collapsing space with the heaviness of his body. Laws just seemed to bend to his whim.
Before, Madeleine had been completely neutralizing the ability of Vidar’s body. But she suddenly felt a wave of fatigue that she had been trying to ignore.
Dyon’s eyes flashed with anger, but Thor’s spear kept him at bay. He wasn’t worried, with him having told Thadius to watch their backs, nothing would happen to Madeleine. What troubled him was how out of it Madeleine seemed.
Ri wrapped her arm around Madeleine’s waist, skipping backwards to avoid Vidar’s blow. But, the shock wave of the fist sent them flying back faster than they were ready to.
If it were up to Ri, she would have teleported away with Madeleine. But, void will had a dark and chaotic nature to it that didn’t leave her feeling confident in taking another person with her. This was especially true since her comprehension was still at the will level.
Madeleine coughed heavily, her lungs aching for air. ‘Am I pregnant?…’ An odd thought came to mind for Madeleine.
It didn’t make any sense. With Dyon’s array alchemy, he was too skilled to make a mistake like that. On top of that, it had been less than half a week since she lost her virginity – how could she forget the day? Even if she was pregnant, even considering the grandiose nature of her and Dyon’s bloodlines, it was too soon for her to be weakened so much.
Having eliminated that idea, Madeleine felt an odd mix of relief and sadness. But, her thoughts immediately switched to focus on the new feeling she had when she utilized her celestial will. The only problem was that Madeleine had no concept of a will’s ability to evolve to a higher stage…
Thadius instantly appeared behind Ri and Madeleine, landing a steady hand on their shoulders to stop their momentum.
He looked to attack Vidar but settled for a glare when he noticed the tens of saint level experts that had appeared around him. With a flicker, he took Madeleine and Ri both to the tower, leaving them inside to rest.
“Kill them!” Vidar roared viciously. Bloody wounds ran along his already heavily scarred body – so deeply that his bone shone through. He had thought that space will was the sharpest will there was. But, whatever it was that Ri was using… Shook him to his core…
The saint forces split, a large portion headed toward the tower while a handful sneered from above at Dyon’s figure. However, before they could do anything, Thadius appeared to Dyon’s back, looking toward the saints arrogantly.
“So much nerve…” He shook his head, almost pitying them. And soon, they understood why.
With a flash of Dyon’s ring, he brought out the same ten saints he had used to rescue Meiying, ensuring that he didn’t reveal any more of his trump cards than he had to. If he took out too many saints, their enemies would be too focused on this portion of the battle – putting his severely undermanned demon generals at a disadvantage in both cultivation and number.
The aura of the eleven demon generals shook the saints to the core. Those who had had thoughts of attacking the tower immediately forgot about it, not daring to turn their backs to such experts.
“What is it that you want exactly?” Suddenly, a voice Dyon had been waiting to hear back from filled his ears as the Lebna God Clan Matriarch spoke.
Dyon smirked, stepping forward to send another strike toward Thor’s spear.
In an instant, his fist twisted as his fingers flickered out, sending a beam of sword qi toward Thor’s fingers. ‘Can’t hold a spear without fingers, now can you?’
Thor frowned, showing a change in emotions for the first time as a band of spear qi wrapped around his hands, trying to deflect Dyon’s penetrative might.
‘Let’s just say that I can offer your clan much more than the Ragnor can. But, I’ll leave that aside for the moment, because I’ll only give you those things should you be a worthy ally.’
The Matriarch frowned, watching Dyon pursue the retreating Thor. Their height difference was at least half a meter, but she had seen this boy attack things far greater than himself time and time again. “What are you offering if not that…” She finally spoke.
‘Well for one. A chance to be my ally. Two, my grand teacher seems to know quite a bit about your Jafari clan. Three, how about the fact I can save your king and his heir?’
Lionel’s blue and red flames coursed around him, settling the air at an uneasy scorching hot and frightening cold all at once.
The truth was that the flames of the phoenix only had temperature as a by-product of their true essence. In reality, the red flames were meant to represent reincarnation, and the blue flames were meant to represent life. However, other than some crude healing possibilities when the two were used together, the Belmont’s didn’t have the capabilities nor the affinity or legacies to tap into such power. It was akin to being given the delicacy of a god, but only being able to watch from afar and smell the distant aroma.
That said… The power of these flames could not be underestimated, even in their handicapped state. Even in the face of Aumen’s domineering golden flames, Lionel lost out in no way.
Blazing golds, reds and blues scorched the skies, blasting against each other in almost artistic form. This was a battle the crowd would have anticipated with baited breath, and yet they had simply lost all chances of truly enjoying it.
Within the demon sage’s tower, Ri lay Madeleine down to rest, circulating her ice will to try and help her stamina. But, she too didn’t have any idea what was happening.
“Is she going to be okay?…” A soft and apprehensive voice came from the side of Ri, filled with concern.
Turning, Ri found a group of people with golden eyes. But, seeing the varying degrees of worry, she couldn’t help but sigh.
“She’s just tired. She’s not injured at all… She’ll be fine.” Ri didn’t like Madeleine’s family very much because of how they treated Dyon, but, they were Madeleine’s family nonetheless.
A middle-aged man stepped forward, “You must let us take her away from here.” He had received a message from Connery Sapientia that he couldn’t ignore. After all, he was a mere Head of a miniature branch family. How could he ignore the orders of their Patriarch?
Ri frowned, not liking what she was hearing.
“You have to understand.” Madeleine’s father continued. “The Sapientia are completely neutral. We care not for wars and will never participate. Even if the rulers of this universe change hands, we won’t say a thing. Our only goal is research. Madeleine staying here not only taints the image of the Sapientia, she’s also in more danger. If you care about her, shouldn’t you let her come with us? She’s clearly already heavily effected by this!”
Seeing Ri still hesitating, he continued. “I appreciate the fact that Dyon thought to send someone to save us from the chaos, but I’m sure you understand the logic of my words.”
Ri sent a glance to Madeleine’s sleeping figure before she shook her head. “Madeleine wouldn’t accept it if she was awake, so I won’t accept it in her stead.
Secondly, no one cares what you are outside right now, it’s complete chaos. If you felt that you were so safe as Sapientias, why did all of you follow Thadius? Dyon’s expressed orders were to ask if you were willing, Thadius wouldn’t have forced you. Just one of you is enough to send this message to me.”
Head Sapientia froze. It was true. In the span of time they had spent outside, they had already been attacked by a few clans on their level. They hadn’t cared that they were Sapientia, they had just wanted to use the chaos to their advantage to gain some benefits.
But, in the end, he shook his head. “We’ll be receiving protection from Patriarch Sapientia himself, it will be completely different.”
“Even more reason why my answer is no. Did you already forget what they did to your daughter? They muted her! They all but shackled her against her will and you want me to allow her to go back to that?!” Ri growled. Who hadn’t witnessed the Sapientia’s treatment of Madeleine? Whether they twisted public perception or not, how could Madeleine’s own family not be aware of her pain?
Delia stepped away from Eli and Venus to stand by Ri’s side along with Little Black and Lyla. “We won’t accept it.” She nodded in affirmation.
“And for the record.” Ri added with a harrumph. “Madeleine is not a Sapientia. She’s a Sacharro.”
Madeleine’s father frowned, but there was nothing he could do, how could he fight against a top 100 ranker? Let alone two of them. Not to mention that beast looked formidable…
He twirled the spatial ring on his finger, sending his mind in to the array plate within. ‘I have to look for an opportunity…’
However, even as the thought crossed his mind, a sharp sword qi cut the ring in half. In fact, it cut all of their rings causing a shower of items spring up.
Head Sapientia eyes flashed as he tried to catch the array plate, but it was suddenly swallowed into a darkness. In the next instant, it appeared in Ri’s hand.
Anger coursed through Ri’s features as the array plate corroded to non-existence. All she could think about was what might have happened had they not have Little Lyla by their side. What if she had failed to read their intentions in time?
Ri spoke through gritted teeth. “Because you’re Madeleine’s family I won’t kick you out or kill you. But. You had better be very well behaved lest you feel my anger.”
The Sapientia family trembled, stumbling backward. But, there was nothing they could do.
**
Dyon’s battle with Thor raged onwards as his demon generals protected him from the onslaught of saints. Vidar had tried to join the battle, but after being blown back by the sheer impact of their strikes, he had been forced to retreat and treat his injuries.
Planet Nix have been dealt with for now but… Planet Mino was still an oddity. He had fought and beat Saru, and they seemed like an amiable sort of people – people who knew how to pay their debts and show gratitude – but, Dyon couldn’t be sure.
Sparks of lightning rained across Thor’s body, but Dyon continued to punch relentlessly. Often times he would be blocked. But, on a few rare occasions he had slammed into Thor’s body for himself.
It was clear that Dyon’s body was stronger currently, but Thor’s was more durable.
Thinking back to Vidar’s body, it seemed to be a pattern amongst Ragnors – although Vidar was an extreme example.
However, Dyon was at a dead end. While he himself wasn’t being pushed to the limit, he felt as though neither was Thor. He was simply going through the motions, completely unwilling to turn this into a life and death battle… It was almost like a spar…
Suddenly Dyon leaped backward, breaking their exchange. “I can’t seem to understand you…” Dyon said faintly as the sounds of waging war raged around them. “But, maybe that’s because I’m not trying hard enough.”
Thor’s eyes flashed as he watched Dyon’s black band morph into an eight-foot-tall jet black spear. Delicate black flames and a dripping red aura danced along it, although they didn’t seem to be emitting from Dyon, but rather the spear itself. But, its blade was truly spectacular. A simple swing caused no distortion in the air whatsoever… It was so smooth and sharp that wind gave way without resistance.
“Maybe I can only truly understand you with a spear.”