Dyon’s body lay completely unconscious, a single arm hanging limply from the side of a crater so deep that the bottom was impossible to make out. It was a miracle that he hadn’t fallen in. With a depth so astronomical, if he wasn’t conscious to fly out, his body would be turned to paste.
Unfortunately, Dyon’s last attack had taken everything he had left. To seal things within the soul tome was easy as long as they were lifeless. However, to manifest them back into their true form took power Dyon simply hadn’t had.
From the very beginning, Dyon knew that the death qi he had sealed within the soul tome would be his final trump card. In a situation like this, where others saw despair, he had tossed all thoughts of loss out of his mind and only focused on paths to victory. However, Dyon also knew that an attack that didn’t land would be useless. Because the death qi within the soul tome wouldn’t have any momentum of its own, for experts on Elder Daiyu and Loki’s level, dodging it would have been a simple matter. Even worse, after killing Elder Daiyu, Dyon knew he simply didn’t have the soul strength left to bring the death qi out…
This was why he had dragged himself over to Elder Daiyu’s corpse, to pull away the last sliver of soul strength that lingered on within him. It had crossed his mind to take the soul strength from Loki, but with him fighting, and Dyon currently being so weak, it would have been a fool’s errand.
Because Dyon knew manifesting the death qi would have taken the last of his strength, even after absorbing Elder Daiyu’s soul, he had chosen to attempt to heal his body first, hoping that he would have enough in him to complete both tasks. But, unfortunately, he had underestimated the strength needed to use the ancient Elvin techniques… Quite simply put, Dyon had been spoiled by his overwhelming soul talent. It was difficult for him to put in perspective just the level of strain normal individuals would be under until he, himself, was in dire straits.
In the end, Dyon had no choice. With the last of his soul strength dissipating, he had to forcefully push past his limits… The consequences of such a thing were untold and likely more severe than usual considering his burning soul.
Now, Dyon had completely collapsed. His body lay naked – as it had been since Loki’s endless torture – with the only interruption in dense black and charred skinned being the cracked of red and dried blood that covered him. His soul was dormant, a faint whisper of gold with only endless darkness as its protection. And his meridians… damaged beyond belief and dry, not even the smallest drop of energy remaining…
However, in that instant, just as the faint embers of Dyon’s soul were about to give out, the cracking of a barrier resounded through the now quiet Belmont inner world.
Essence energy rushed forward, greedily vying for its place.
The world trembled, almost unable to maintain itself under the shift in energy. The artificial skies shook violently, sending furious earth quakes throughout the Belmont Holy Land.
Dyon knew from the very beginning, that the amount of meridians you filled with energy during a break through often dictated your potential. Under normal circumstances, Dyon would likely not fill even a single one. His energy cultivation talent was simply too poor – he didn’t deserve the universe’s blessings. But, this time was different.
A faint and densely black aura emanated from the black wrist band that clung to Dyon’s dangling arm. Its eerie and domineering presence completely overshadowing the deep abyss it hung above.
The moment that Dyon had first felt a real connection to the Dragon King, was the moment his senses were opened up in a way he couldn’t fathom. All this time he had fumbled his way through dealing with the energies of the universe, completely unable to make full use of them. This had even affected the speed of the soul cultivation. After all, after sheering your soul apart, it was these energies you must rely on to grow your soul even stronger! If it wasn’t for Dyon’s overwhelming instincts when it came to soul related matters, who knows if he would have ever made any progress!
But now… The Dragon King’s devastating talent had become Dyon’s. The energies of the universe were irresistibly attracting to Dyon’s unconscious body, constantly stimulating and extending what seemed to be his last breaths.
That said, the problem still remained…
Even as Dyon’s first meridian filled to the brim, overflowing with endless energy before pooling into the second… Dyon’s soul benefitted in no way… If anything, the endless abyss that surrounded it got larger, threatening to snuff out the weakly flicker light.
Dyon’s third meridian filled, pulsing and nearly bursting before the energy spilt over into the fourth… then fifth… then sixth…
At this point, it could be said that Dyon was destined to become a first-grade essence gathering expert. With the scant energy in this universe, even filled two meridians would name you an unmatched genius. After all, in order to accomplish this feat, you were essentially beaconing the energy of the universe toward you – something that was much harder, the less of it there was. The process of a break through was a time where the universe would cultivate for you! Why would the universe waste its time on useless talents?
Seventh meridian…
Dyon’s soul continued to flicker, raging onward with an arrogance only found in its owner, but quickly losing the ability to maintain its consciousness.
Eighth meridian…
Dyon had now reached legendary status… It was a well known fact that no matter how much the universe loved a talent, it would only ever cultivate to the peak of first stage for them. However, the rarity of such a thing could hardly be put into words! This was much more common in ancient times, when the energy of the universe was abundant and the restrictions were looser. But, for it to happen now?… Even among the trillions birthed in the universe, less than a few thousand could boast such a thing…
Ninth meridian!
Dyon’s energy cultivation sky rocketed to the peak of the first stage in a single leap. The universe groaned in agitation, wanting to help Dyon more, but its own laws seemed to reprimand it, giving it no choice but to recede, almost bowing down in apology.
Dyon had stepped into the world of essence gathering experts.
The flood of pure energy had slowly healed Dyon body. His unsightly and sickly looking flesh flaked off as new and soft skin took its place. The wounds on his body slowly closed, chipping away the dried blood as though it disdained to be associated with it.
Dyon’s soul continued to flicker weakly, but his body was slowly returning to its peak condition, removing even more of his flaws and enhancing his features.
His bones mended, and organs repaired themselves. In the end, Dyon breathing, although still heavily labored due to his soul, became slightly more relaxed. His muscles healthily rippled, bursting with newfound vitality that matched its sainthood level strength.
He grew in height once again. Because he wasn’t conscious to supress it, Dyon’s body grew past 2 meters tall, before filling in his larger frame with lean muscles covered in veins that pumped with endless life.
However, this was all akin to trying to cover the scent of dense garbage with a few puffs of perfume… Dyon’s body had once again reached peak condition, his soul was mere seconds from disappearing…
But, that was when a happy coincidence occurred.
Dyon had long since known of the restrictions that would be placed on him upon breaking through into the essence gathering realm. He would no longer be able to use his wills, and his soul would be locked away, leaving him with only his bodily strength to rely on.
In any other situation, this would have been completely devastating. Restricting a martial artist to be unable to utilize wills was like cutting off the hands of pianist and forcing them to play with just their big toes.
Because of his wills, even when Dyon had no energy cultivation, and pitiful body and soul cultivation, he had still been able to defeat meridian formation experts! This was enough to express the importance of wills to a fighter’s overall prowess.
If you also take into consideration how heavily Dyon relied on his soul for fighting, the loss of this strength might have been even more devastating! He would no longer be able to use his awe inspiring arrays. It would be impossible to use the 33 heaven’s weapons. And Dyon’s opponents would no longer seem slow to him, because he would no longer have access to his 6 sense. Although this was an ability granted by his innate aurora, and not his soul, how could an aurora function without the source meant to power it?
All of this sounds absolutely horrible. Especially when it’s considered that Dyon, even with the Dragon King’s help, would be in this state for 5 to 10 years! If Dyon’s battle prowess was only cut down by half, that would be something to celebrate.
However, in this case, had Dyon been conscious, he would be rejoicing, knowing that his gamble had paid off.
From the very beginning, Dyon had only sought out paths of survival. Since that was the case, why would he ever burn his soul without a plan for handling the situation in the aftermath? From the moment Dyon decided to burn his soul, he had already thought of using his essence gathering break through to seal his soul away!
He knew it was impossible to do use The Seal to do so, because utilizing the seal in such a way required soul power. Even when Dyon had hidden his soul away from Loki, it had been siphoning away his soul strength with each passing second. He could hardly hold on, waiting for Loki to take the Dragon King’s weapon from him.
That was when Dyon thought of another possibility. It was a gamble, which was why Dyon didn’t burn his soul from the very beginning. He wanted to see if it would be possible to beat Elder Daiyu and Loki without burning his soul. But, in the end, that clearly became impossible. If he didn’t go all out, he would lose!
In hindsight, Dyon should have used his soul burning to immediately utilize the death qi within the soul tome, but he had been unwilling to do so. The fact of the matter was that that was his plan originally, until he saw that breaking the seals on the Dragon King’s weapon could actually help him kill Elder Daiyu. However, he hadn’t wanted to do so because of how rare death qi was in the universe. Dyon had originally stored the death qi in the soul tome to study. If it hadn’t been for it, in all likelihood, even with the 6 months his grand teacher bought him, Dyon would have never managed to reach the one with heart level because he was simply too stubborn.
The death qi that was once in the soul tome was far above Dyon’s death comprehension… Dyon didn’t know if he would ever find a cultivation tool like that again, which was why he was reluctant to use it in such a way…
In the end, Loki had forced him to do it anyway. Although he had lost a valuable resource, he had maintained his life. Now that his soul had been sealed by the [Inner World: Sanctuary] cultivation technique, it would no longer dissipate.
However, there was a trade off for this as well. Dyon’s soul was meant to be building his inner world along with his wills, this was why they were sealed. With his soul being so severely damaged, unless he took restoration pills, it was impossible to guess just how much longer that 5 to 10 year span would take.
That said… An extra decade or two of weakness in exchange for one’s life was well worth it. Whether Dyon would believe so, remained to be seen.
However, that aside.
Dyon had fulfilled his master’s last wish. He had lived on.
In the air above the shambles that was once a glorious arena, Amell, Nora and King Belmont stood with Patriarch Pakal and their other allies not too far behind them. Although they were bloodied, they had survived, thankful that Amell and Nora were able to dispel their situations so easily.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the couple was unwilling to be too hands-on with this universe’s affairs, and only forced their enemies to retreat. It was clear to all of them by this point that Amell and Nora didn’t originate from this universe… If this universe had managed to raise such experts, not a single person wouldn’t know their name!
However, right now, they were all worried about the same thing: the artificial blood sucking will that was running rampant below.
“So this is it…” Amell said under his breath. With all of the information he and his wife had, how could he not know that the Ragnors had been developing such a weapon all this time? It seemed that they had even managed to find methods of protecting themselves as well.
Nora’s eyes flashed with a golden like as her aurora flames burned, her gaze seemed to be able to pierce through and analyze everything. “If it continues like this, even the Ragnors won’t be able to protect themselves soon. What a stupid clan.”
Although Nora said this, she knew the truth of the matter. It wasn’t that the Ragnors were stupid, it was that they didn’t care about sacrificing their own if it meant advancing. They would simply learn from the experience and move on. This was how Loki treated his experimental subjects, and the rest of the Ragnors were no different.
However, she was very right about the fact the Ragnors’ protection would soon be inadequate. With every purification method their allies used, the surviving red crystals would get stronger, modifying themselves and adapting. This artificial will was truly horrible!
Down below, Patia-Neva wall of ice was continually being bombarded with red crystals, some of it even began to use its sharp nature to climb, seeking to get over its obstacle. Coupled with the endless attacks of the Ragnors, and the situation was seemingly getting worse.
That said, Patia-Neva had fulfilled his goal. The elves and Pakals had long since retreated, in fact, for some odd reason, more elves had gathered to form a defensive line. What Patia-Neva hadn’t been able to divert his attention to notice was that many of the enemy had retreated. In fact, all of Planet Naiad and Planet Deimos were gone, having been ushered away at the fastest possible speed by their leaders. Only the Clyte family had lagged behind because of the death of King Clyte, but after they noticed the Kami fleeing, they made the smart choice in leaving as well.
This didn’t go unnoticed by the Ragnors and Cavositas, however. But, because of their fear of Loki, they didn’t dare to leave, even if it meant their deaths.
“We can’t let this continue, I’ll have to wipe it out in one go…” Nora said softly, her golden eyes shining brightly.
“Remember,” Amell said softly, “No more than 10%, or else they’ll be able to sense us.”
Nora nodded, “5% is more than enough for this.”
A brilliant array appeared in the skies. It was a white so pure that a the heavens began playing a soft melody to accompany it. This was no normal array, it looked like its central formations were really celestial bodies manifesting in the sky, and it didn’t match the color an array should have. By all rights, as an innate aurora wielder, Nora should draw golden arrays.
That was why this wasn’t an array at all, but rather… a dao!
The Ipsums could only watch in horror as their red array shattered in its presence. It was as though it felt much too inferior to exist in the same plane as Nora’s might, and it acted as such.
A comfortable feeling washed over the battle field. The allied forces even began to feel even their heaviest of injuries being healed simply by being washed over by the light!
“Be cleansed.” Nora’s melodic voice rang out. “Celestial scripture, Act 1. Vibrant Light.”
**
Hours later, Dyon rolled in his sleep, trying to stretch out his limbs. But, when he suddenly felt his weight give way to nothingness, his eyes snapped open and he instinctively grabbed forward.
Confusion filled Dyon’s senses as he dangled from the end of an endless abyss with only his grip as his savior.
“I really can’t catch a break…” Dyon could only shake his head. Did life ending events really have to be what startled him awake? Why could he just have his normal mortal world alarm clock?
Black flames flickered in Dyon’s eyes as that last thought barely finished itself. The events of the past two days flooded into his mind, and he was suddenly strikingly aware that he had done nothing but fight for the past two days.
Lifting himself up, Dyon leaped from the edge of the abyss, looking over to see if he could see the bottom. He tried to stretch out his senses, but he immediately felt a feeling of loss. His soul was sealed…
Dyon sighed, looking down at his naked body. He didn’t carry around clothes because he always had the ability to form them whenever he wanted. But now that his soul was sealed, did he really have to walk around naked?
“And why am I so tall now…” Dyon could tell that he was at least 6’6 now, it was an odd feeling. He had always supressed his height. As a martial artist, one had pristine control over their body and its changes. It was only in very rare God constitution level cases that one’s body height was out of their control. That and beasts, of course.
However, since his current height was still well within normal human world limits, Dyon didn’t mind too much. As long as he didn’t shoot up to 5 meters tall, he’d be okay with it.
Dyon turned his gaze toward the exit. Luckily for him, he had already taken the body and energy kernels, or else he would have had no choice but to leave them here. After all, how could he use The Seal without his soul? Unfortunately, that also meant that until Dyon’s soul was unsealed, he wouldn’t be able to use the kernels either.
‘It would be a shame to not be able to use the body cultivation kernels when all I can do for the next ten plus years is body cultivate…’ If that really was the case, Dyon could only shake his head. There was nothing he could do. Maybe his grand teacher would be able to use The Seal in his stead.
On his way to the exit, Dyon stopped by his puppet, sighing as he saw its disfigured state. He picked up a decently sized piece and held it over his crotch before putting the rest in his spatial ring.
Dyon couldn’t help but sigh in relief when he noticed the treasures bound to his soul still worked for him. If not, he would have to carry the puppet himself.
After that, Dyon walked toward the exit with a 1000kg piece of material acting as his loin cloth, oblivious to the fact that he hadn’t yet faced his last celestial being…