Dyon stood there: frozen, thinking about what the book in his hands could mean.
‘Did the Elvin Kingdom have something to do with the destruction of the Celestial Deer Sect? Master’s filtration of her memories wasn’t exactly perfect…’ Dyon thought, shuddering when he remembered all the animal sex, ‘I can’t be 100% certain that she meant to leave it out. She probably just blurred out everything Elvin as a broad stroke, or else why would she practically handicap me? The soul manifestation technique would be and is something incomparably important to me…’
All Dyon knew was that even if the Elvin Kingdom itself wasn’t involved, something from it was. He concluded that in filtering out everything that had to do with the sect’s destruction, the 25th White Mother had accidentally left out important things. She couldn’t be blamed for this, whether it was giving up her essence blood, or transferring all of her memories, both greatly weakened her. This left her with a very short amount of time – a time that was even shorter considering she wanted to preserve some of her power to leave a bit of her soul in Dyon. Originally, that soul strand was meant to ensure that Dyon treated Little Black well, but it ended up being used to save Dyon.
Because of the time and weakness, the 25th White Mother decided that it was better to make sure everything important was blocked rather than accidentally leaving something behind that would be too impactful for a currently weak Dyon.
“there’s no real point in harping on this… I would have been cautious regardless, but now, I’ll have to intensify that. Who I can and can’t trust is all a blur right now… it’s best if I err on the side of distrust.”
Dyon’s goal for now wasn’t to solve the mystery of the Celestial Deer Sect’s destruction – he accepted that there was a reason his master didn’t want him to know just yet. What he didn’t know was that a large portion of the reason those memories were sealed was not so Dyon wouldn’t see them, but so that no one else could see them…
Either way, Dyon settled on finding more about the current situation of the Elvin Kingdom. There was no reason for such a seemingly prosperous kingdom to have so many orphans who received no help from the government. Unfortunately for Dyon, government help was a strictly human world concept. But, what he was right about, was that it didn’t make sense for a martial world government to not seek out outstanding talents within those orphans. Although Dyon had no way of knowing now, none of the orphans he made a home for ever had an opportunity to display their talents. Something that was completely out of the ordinary.
In the end, Dyon decided to push all of these thoughts to the back of his head. He instead clutched the small and thin book, excited to see what his soul would manifest as. In fact, he thought he was about 90% certain of what it would be.
While Dyon was reading through books on the technique, he learned about how your soul had innate constitutions to it. These innate constitutions meant some people were more inclined to certain wills and technique types and paths. This happened to be the first concrete explanation Dyon had for why he learned sword will so much faster than anything else.
To him, since he had demon qilin and celestial deer essences, his speed at understanding those related wills should be the best. But, somehow, it only took him a week to reach the 7th level of sword will. If it wasn’t for him purposefully slowing down his will depth increase in order to explore paths and begin creating his own style, he would have long since reached the peak of sword will and be an infinitesimally small distance away from an intent. But, as of now, Dyon was just waiting for the appropriate time to burst through to the 8th and 9th layers. He was fully aware that he could do so whenever he wanted, but that wasn’t important to him.
All this to say, Dyon was almost certain that the reason for his affinity with the sword was because of his soul. So, he was almost certain his soul manifestation would be in the form of a sword. Something that excited him to no end.
‘this way, I’ll be able to use the sword much sooner,’ Dyon looked at the regular sword on his back, sighing. He wanted nothing more than to use the jet-black sword, but, he knew it wouldn’t be right to.
Dyon began to flip through the book. It looked like the technique itself was meant to circulate a pseudo form of mind’s eye, or aurora, to communicate with the soul. Dyon nodded as he read through this, it made sense. The entire point of his aurora was to not only store his aurora flame, but to communicate with his soul as a power fuel. It made sense to use the same sort of principle to manifest your soul. The reason it was called a pseudo aurora was because the technique barely required the aurora to be open to a single percent. Technically, not even half a percent was necessary. Only the initial beginning was necessary, which meant no external resources but your own self was necessary.
For a person not like Dyon to open their aurora, they first had to make initial contact with their dormant aurora, opening it up slightly, before continuing to use treasures to increase its awakened percentage. At least half of the technique was about this awakening and communication process. Dyon flipped through it quickly, obviously not needing it since his aurora was fully awakened.
Very quickly, Dyon reached the important sections. It described a meditation technique. According to the unique type technique, the method of communication between the aurora and the soul was different in any attempt to manifest the soul. While array alchemy used the soul as a power source, the unique type technique attempted to project the soul with the aurora as the power source, as counter-intuitive as that might sound.
Although Dyon couldn’t be sure, he assumed the differences in the method of awakening the dormant aurora was what might change a unique type technique into a singularity type.
After memorizing the concept, Dyon decided that it was best to meditate on what it meant. Although the first portion of the technique was highly specific in directing the actions one should take, the second portion was more like an explained theory. Essentially, the differences in approaches someone might take was also part of what manifested each soul differently.
Time seemed to go by slowly as Dyon pondered on the right means of soul to aurora communication. Eventually, days had passed before Dyon decided he needed a change of scenery. After a dip in inner world’s lake and a swap into new sweats and a white t, Dyon strapped the long iron sword to his back and flashed out of the inner world, immediately appearing in the 5th floor library once again.
After dealing with the awkward moment of his hand being stuck between two books, Dyon’s ears twitched as he heard the sound of a distinctly eastern melody.
‘that sounds like a guqin… down that corridor?’
Dyon knew next to nothing about the Elvin Kingdom, and it didn’t seem like the information he needed was in any of the books here anyway. His best choice was probably to ask Ri, but he had no idea where she was. So, Dyon decided that maybe it was time to get acquainted with more people.
‘maybe it’ll be another beauty,’ thought Dyon with a grin as he slowly walked to the corridor.
He found a dark set of stairs with faint moonlight wafting through as though it was a mist.
Once he reached the top of the stairs, his blood rolled as he realized he couldn’t have been more right. Dyon was sure that Madeleine had gotten even more beautiful in the time he hadn’t seen her. Not only would she have grown into her body more, the stronger her cultivation, the more she practiced Celestial will and the more she improved her Goddess’ Disposition, the more fairy-like she would become. But, the woman in front of Dyon right now was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Surpassing his master. Surpassing Madeleine. And even surpassing Madeleine’s master.
“Elves sure are a beautiful race…” said Dyon absentmindedly.
The girl who had been enthralled with her music, looked up, startled to find Dyon looking at her. Her long silver hair lightly fluttered under the night sky. Her eyes looked like purple-blue crystals, twinkling even in the dark. Her dress was loose and the purest of whites, yet couldn’t hide her ample chest and unmatched figure.
The girl only smiled, choosing to continue playing. Dyon listened quietly, an array flashing underneath him as he sat cross legged in meditation. He breathed slowly, trying to calm the raging storm with him.
‘this is ridiculous… All I did was see a beauty and I already can’t control myself. Come on.’
Soon, Dyon calmed himself. At some point, he began using the music to meditate on the unique type technique. His body shimmered, a fog-like opaque whiteness coated his body. His aurora began to shine a strong purple-gold, allowing his flame to appear on his forehead.
He slowly established a new connection between his aurora and soul. The aurora flames raged, getting brighter and brighter.
Acacia Academy’s inner world began to tremble.
The girl looked up in shock. She had no idea whether she should continue to play or not, but it was clear that something amazing was about to happen.
Dyon’s aurora lit the whole night sky. The inner world became as bright as day, flickering lights of purple and gold covering the academy.
Elder Flyleaf awoke form meditation, ‘so soon?… is it really him?’
Uncle Acacia’s reaction was much the same, a small smile playing on his lips, ‘he’s trying to destroy Acacia’s inner world. How arrogant.’
His expression turned serious, “call the elders here. We can’t let the inner world collapse.”
A stoic boy who was meditating near Uncle Acacia looked up in confusion, not understanding what was going on. But, he immediately leaped up to do the will of his master.
In the Elvin City, tremors began to transcend dimensions. Cracks formed on Acacia Academy’s Castle, ripping tears through the stone pavement of the caldesac.
The city was in an uproar. Citizens looked up in shock as lights of gold and purple began increasing in height. Dark clouds began to roll, blanketing the moon and fighting against the lights of Dyon’s aurora. Arcs of lightning flashed, dancing through air as a pressure blanketed the Elvin Kingdom.
“this…” Uncle Acacia no longer had words for what was happening. Soul manifestation of this scale was rare. So rare that it only happened a handful of times every generation. Even now, each family might only have 1 or 2 geniuses of this scale.
In 9 corners of the city, each of the major families looked up with serious expressions on their faces. Each of them clenched their fists, wondering which of the other 8 families had just birthed a genius.
“Looks like the race for the throne just got more complicated…” no one knew who said it first. Or maybe they all thought it at once. But, one thing was clear: none of them were resigned to this fate.
Within the Acacia inner world, cracks were beginning to form in the sky. Blinding light seeped through them as swaths of space and time intents flooded into the world.
A domineering aura washed over everyone. The sounds of thunder boomed, leaking in from the outside world. Arcs of lightning seemed intent on destroying the inner world along with Dyon’s aurora.
Slowly, the white fog around Dyon began to expand as well, the beautiful silver-haired girl watched on as best she could, protecting her eyes from the blinding light.
Dyon’s clothes shredded to ashes and his sword flew from his back, almost as though the only thing worthy of being around Dyon’s aura right now was himself alone.
His muscles rippled and flexed, beads of swear running down them. But, his face showed no signed of strain or pain. His handsome features were radiant as his hair shifted ever so slightly in the air. If one couldn’t see the growing flames around him, you would almost think he had nothing to do with what was going on.
Arrogance seemed to almost drip from Dyon. The fog grew in size again and again, intent to dominate everything in its path.
BOOM!
A massive hole was torn through the canopy of the inner world, allowing the entire Elvin City to feel the full brunt force of Dyon’s superiority.
Space seemed to distort around his aura. Buildings creaked and the weak willed hunched over, trying to stop themselves from kneeling to no avail.
Experts grit their teeth as they felt the creaking of their knees.
“who could possibly be so arrogant for their soul manifestation to have such an appearance…”
Everyone’s thoughts were the same. Could there really be a person with such a personality? For your very soul to manifest such arrogance, this couldn’t be faked. It wasn’t some fake confidence brought by backing, or who your parents were, or what school you attended. It was an arrogance borne of unyielding faith in one’s self.
Uncle Acacia could only smile bitterly, “who’d you bring here little Ri?”
The torrent of space and time was being fought against by the elders. The skies of the academy filled with soul manifestations, but even with that, the cracks seemed intent of spreading.
Elder Flyleaf had beads of sweat falling down his forehead as he looked over at Elder Erunonidan.
“I’m glad at least one person is enjoying this,” he said looking over at Elder Flyleaf with a playful disdain.
“HAHAHAHAHA,” a booming laughter erupted from Elder Flyleaf, he couldn’t contain his joy.
The other elders looked over at the two in confusion, but, there was no time to ask questions. If the school’s dimension really collapsed, there’d be untold ramifications. Although there was a failsafe that ejected everything out, if it was used, a large portion of the surrounding area of Acacia Academy would be destroyed.
However, Dyon’s soul manifestation didn’t seem to care. The Fog had continued to expand, reaching into the skies and shattering everything in its path. It split into two, vaguely taking form as everyone looked on in anticipation.
Soon, there was one humanoid type figure. The other seemed to take the shape of a pagoda.
“is that… twin manifestations?” The beauty shuddered. The rarity of the manifestation scale was even more overshadowed by there being two manifestations.
Geniuses around the city looked up, their eyes narrowing in contempt.
“so what if you have two manifestations? If you’re only just awakening your soul, you’re still too weak.”
The geniuses would have been right, if Dyon had been an Elf. But, unfortunately, he wasn’t. To Elves, soul manifestation was something done before even reaching the age of 10, with only a few exceptions. To them, there was nothing to worry about as of now.
But, there was a second reason they called Dyon weak. A reason that couldn’t be washed away so easily. To some, two of something might seem better if it was a good thing to begin with. But, to a soul manifestation, two soul manifestations meant a split power. It meant two paths one could take. It also meant confusion and misunderstandings. Dyon, no matter how rare his manifestation was, had a tough road ahead of him.
The Elders frowned looking up at the slowly forming manifestations, “can he really do this…” whispered Elder Flyleaf.
He had no idea, and neither did the other elders. Only time would tell.
However, all of their doubts seemed to be instantly shattered. The humanoid figure looked down at the city, almost as though he could hear the thoughts and misgivings of what he thought of as “so-called experts”.
ROOOOAAAAARRR
A piercing roar laced with musical will boomed through the island, covering every inch and sending shivers down the spine of every living thing.
A blood red aura started forming around the pagoda as it seemed to fluctuate from 7 levels, to 9, then to 12, and back to 7 again.
It formed first. Tiles of red and black covered the structure. There were no windows, only a single black door that was slowly creeping open. There was a dense fog of red and black around it, shaking with a violent aura.
The humanoid figure waved its hand towards the pagoda, causing a streak of light to fly towards it. A pillar of blinding white appeared in the vaguely shaped humanoid’s hand, slowly spreading its light to cover the figure.
BOOM!
A pair of what looked like massive wings appeared on the back of the humanoid, as the light became more and more blinding and the darkness of the pagoda loomed over the island.
‘just… what is that…’
Everyone gasped as cracks began to appear on the humanoid figure and the pillar of light in its hand.
Some sneered, laughing at Dyon’s misfortunate, “so talented yet you bit off more than you could chew. Now, you’ll be losing half of your soul. Such a sha –“
Many couldn’t even finish their thoughts.
A resounding shock wave, alternating between blinding lights and dreary reds and blacks sent wave after wave of domineering aura through the island.
The cracks slowly began to grow, flakes of white slowly falling from the soul manifestation.
Soon, a shocking sight graced the Elvin Kingdom.
There, stood a man of incomparable handsomeness. He was like a celestial being with the domineering aura of a demon emperor.
Majestic Wings graced his back. One was a sharp and crisp black. No light could be gleaned from it. It was like an endless abyss of nothingness. The other, was a blinding white. Shining with incomparable brightness. Reigning with absolute purity.
Six circles of flickering gold and black hovered behind the being. In the center of each, vague pictures that flickered in and out of existence could be seen. The only one that was clear was the one hovering just behind the figures head: a sharp eye that seemed like it could pierce through anything. The other circles formed a hexagonal pattern behind the transcendent being, flickering in golds and blacks that complimented the black and red pagoda that loomed over everything.
The pillar of light the figure had been holding became a sword. Domineering and dark, it flickered with lights of black and gold. An eerie fog dripping from it.
The figure itself was naked, but slowly, lights of black and red stormed out of the pagoda, wrapping the figure in a flaming darkness.
If Ri had seen this manifestation… she’d immediately know that this figure… the one threatening to destroy everything with his mere aura… Was Dyon.
**
At the center of the city, the commotion didn’t go unnoticed.
An untainted castle stood tall, covered in white marbles and green jades. Another forest seemed to be left to surround it, almost as though the castle itself was too great to be a part of the Elvin City.
Inside, a fiery discussion was taking place in a large hall filled with elders. But, only 3 men seemed to be speaking.
“Elder Kroak, the commotion is too much, even for a genius’ soul manifestation. I’m sure you felt the pressure, it was intent on making everyone kneel! If we don’t find the king soon, it’s best if we consider changing the rules of the kingdom. A new tide is coming.”
Elder Kroak was stoic man. His ears were sharp, and his aura was stifling. His hair was such a bright shade of white, it almost hurt to look at him directly. Yet, despite his old age, a booming vitality could be seen, as though he was still a youth.
“I’m sure your Mathilde Academy would love that, Elder Cormyth. However, Acacia Academy will always stand by the king and the proper traditions.”
This Elder Cormyth was decidedly less sharp than Elder Kroak. However, his strength lost out in no way.
Elder Cormyth seemed to expect this answer, so he was unbothered, “not only has the king not been seen in nearly a decade, we wouldn’t be able to follow the proper traditions even if we wanted to. With the unrest in the kingdom, and the underhanded deeds of the major families, it would be impossible to test for possible successors to the throne.”
Elder Kroak smiled. They had had this very same argument so often that he knew all of his peer’s points, “if that is the case, then why do you insist on the throne switching families. If it was about easing into things and following the new trends of other kingdoms, why would we switch ruling families? Wouldn’t it be the best for the kingdom if the throne remained in the Acacia family?”
Elder Cormyth’s expression darkened, “the Acacia family had never had the throne before the late king. They’re not even a part of the 9 major families. Why would they get the throne? Just because they happened to be the most recent rulers?”
Elder Kroak’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t missed the wording of the elder. “Late king”, as though insinuating the king was already dead.
An Elder that had been watching their argument this entire time sighed, “Florence Academy has been on the fence for too long… Maybe it’s time we made a decision. Whether you like to admit it or not Elder Kroak, 10 years is too long for a king to be gone. When you consider the traditions that choose our king, and the destruction of Celestial Deer Sect, it’s impossible for the previous order to be sustained. You know as well as I why the alliance with the Celestial Deer Sect was necessary. With them now gone, how could we possibly continue with traditions? That would be like us running ourselves into the ground.”
Elder Kroak sighed. Although Elder Cormyth was clearly biased due to the backing of the families that resided in his school, he couldn’t think the same of Elder Deryth. Elder Deryth was even older than he was and had seen many things. In fact, he was alive for thousands of years before King Acacia was chosen for power.
Seeing Elder Kroak’s resignation, Elder Deryth continued to hone in on a point, “remember, even if we did manage to find a True Empath to succeed the throne, the ending would be just the same as it was this time and all those millennia ago before the alliance with the Celestial Deer Sect,” Elder Deryth seemed sad as his old and wrinkled face seemed to age even further, “I will never forget the reason for this tradition. However, even while following this tradition, it has only led to tragedy and not the result our ancestors wanted. It may be time for us to consider the idea that maybe… they were wrong…”
The hall fell into silence.
Just as soon as Elder Deryth’s speech finished, a massive stone tablet standing hundreds of meters into the air began to vibrate in the great hall.
The elders gasped, watching with bated breath.
“A change in the upper regions Manifestation Tome?” Elder Cormyth’s voice seemed to eek out, forcing its way out of his throat. His fists clenched, he thought that he was absolutely certain of who was making this change, ‘it must be him,’ he thought with a smile, ‘the Mathilde Academy will flourish!’
A blinding light stormed up the tome, quickly reaching the upper portions.
“How about this,” said Elder Cormyth with a smirk, “if this soul manifestation reaches the first quadrant, that family will gain the support of you two elders in their bid for the throne.”
Elder Kroak and Deryth looked over at Cormyth with suspicion. The first quadrant was not something to be taken lightly. The Manifestation Tome was split into quadrants, not rankings. It would be impossible to make a ranking of every manifestation ever, thus, the manifestations were instead split into tiers.
“Don’t be ridiculous Elder Cormyth. The first quadrant might be rare, but, it isn’t unprecedented. Many youths will reach that level in this generation. Many do in every generation,” Elder Kroak reprimanded.
Elder Cormyth’s smile didn’t fade, “just a joke. Just a joke.”
Soon, the blinding light reached the peak of the tome, forcing its way to the top.
“it really is a first quadrant manifestation…” Elder Kroak said softly. He was slightly bitter. Given Cormyth’s reaction, it was likely this manifestation came from his school.
But, what really shocked the elders was that this light didn’t seem intent to stop. Normally, once a manifestation reached its peak tier, it would stop and solidify. This would result in heaven’s chosen name for the manifestation to appear on the tome. In addition, the aura of the words would make it obvious which family the manifestation belongs to since the bloodlines of the major and sub families were so distinct. If there was no way of knowing who it was from, often, it wouldn’t matter. However, in special cases, like the current king, his talent would link him to his ranking once he displayed his manifestation before the tome. Doing such a thing would result in the name of your manifestation being lit.
However, this light seemed too arrogant. It wasn’t content with being a manifestation of the first quadrant. It was ramming against the top of the tome as though there was another ranking. And shockingly, the tome kept growing taller and taller in response, giving way to the manifestation.
ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR
This was the time that Dyon’s humanoid manifestation roared arrogantly at the sky. The manifestation shone brightly on the tome, covering the entire tome in a blinding light.
“this…” the elders shook.
The manifestation wasn’t happy with the height of the tome was reaching. Or, maybe, the increase in height was too slow for it.
The manifestation began erasing everything from the tome in its fit, almost to stare down in disdain at even past Elvin Emperors and Kings. Not even sparing unparalleled geniuses. Intent on wiping the entire history for the elves for the simple fact it didn’t think they were worthy of being named with it.
The stone tome began to shatter.
“NO!” The elders boomed. But it was too late.
The blinding light of the tome began to intensify as the Manifestation formed itself into words, burning its name into the sky and bursting through the canopy of the castle.
Near the center of the castle, in a locked vault no one dared to enter, two statues stood on either side of a swirling portal. An eerie fog occasionally rolled from it, partially covering the sign the hung above: Dead King’s Valley.
Despite the majesty of the statues that seemed to stand guard, the slowly kneeled down and kowtowed. No one knew who their respect was for and no one knew it had even happened, because in the blink of an eye, it was almost as though they had never moved at all.
Back within the grand hall, the elders were shivering as they looked at the words left by the manifestation through the massive hole in the castle canopy. The tome had disappeared…
“this is just too much…” the elders all said at once.
In the city, everyone looked up at the words that hung above the castle. Despite their 2D nature, it seemed like it could be read in any directly. Almost as though the manifestation disdained the idea of anyone not understanding its arrogance. Almost as though it wanted everyone to know its name.
There, in fiery letters, marking the Elvin Sky, read the words:
‘You Don’t Qualify to Name Me.’