After the jubilation of Vice Master Evangeline’s words died down, Dyon found himself standing at the edge of a platform, standing in line with nine other individuals.
They had been split into 256 groups of about 9 or 10 each. The goal was to end with a single winner while the only rule was that any victor had to have been, in whole or in part, responsible for the disqualification of at least three other participants.
The reasoning was fairly obvious. They wanted an easily usable elimination pool. After the first elimination of the fourth round, the round following this one, those 128 eliminated participants would fight it out for the 72 remaining outer disciple spots.
Because of Evangeline’s rule change, it was no longer possible to have all groups occurring at once. So, for the sake of entertainment, the happened in groups of ten. Whether by coincidence or design, Dyon’s group wouldn’t be going until the final 6 remained.
At some time, Violet had made her way to the group of core disciples behind Evangeline and the three beauties. Much to the added anger of those disciples, her eyes, along with Asyna’s, seemed to never leave Dyon, as though they were determined to examine his every movement.
What made things worse was that Evangeline would often look over as well. If it wasn’t for RolRol’s shyness and Lilith’s aloofness, they would probably be looking too. Neither the participants, nor the crowd, nor the disciples understood just what was so great about Dyon character.
Of course, that was only the men. The women could very clearly understand. Although many of them were disappointed after Dyon’s 7th grade talent reveal – since a weak handsome man meant nothing in the martial world – after seeing his title potential, the matter had changed entirely. Suddenly, Dyon’s appearance and his future prospects perfectly aligned with one another.
That said, this had nothing to do with why Lilith and Evangeline were interested in Dyon. Lilith was only concerned about the threat Dyon posed, and although he was among the most handsome men she had ever seen, that had no effect on her heart at all. As for Evangeline, although her thoughts were unknown, it was certain that an elder of her stature, especially after living so long, would never see a junior in such a light.
The only exceptions were Asyna and Violet, who very clearly had something that made Dyon’s lust light on fire in their eyes. However, he tried his best to temper it down. He didn’t like the idea of his body ruling his mind… But, without his soul, it was becoming more and more difficult to rein himself in.
When Dyon thought back to the pain he put Ri in just to satisfy his own lust, he became pissed off with himself again. Coupled with how angry he was about that girl who got taken away for her soul talent, and no one was too eager to stand within his vicinity.
As the crowd and Dyon thought about these various things, the battles had already gotten underway.
Group battles, without needing to say much, were quite chaotic. Often times, there would be a single most powerful participant that would either be avoided, or attacked all at once. It wasn’t too rare for participants to either lament their luck or bask in their good fortune.
As for Dyon’s group, most of them were 7th stage essence gatherers with two of the 8th stage and one of the 9th. His group wasn’t overly powerful, or overly weak. It seemed the golden robed elder no longer dared to make things too difficult for him.
In the distance, the Legatees of the Branch Peaks gathered, leisurely talking and commenting while mingling with the disciples of the Unseen Peak. As Legatees, they, of course, had enough status to warrant the respect of those disciples. After all, even the Legatees of branch sects had high status – all of them were Marquis.
“Nikolaos, what’s the deal with this Dyon character? Is he truly from your Unseen Peak?” The Legatee of Gliding Peak casually asked.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Nikolaos sent a quick glance toward Dyon before turning back. “I’m not sure. He shouldn’t be underestimated, but I have no idea how powerful he is. I would have never guessed his talent was so poor.”
“You mean that you’ve seen evidence that should say otherwise?”
At this point, many of the disciples around perked their ears up to listen in, Lilith the three beauties were no exception.
Nikolaos truly didn’t know how to answer. Many here were already eager to cut Dyon down a peg because of the attention their goddess gave him, but Nikolaos knew that dealing with Dyon wasn’t a simple matter. However, he was struggling with his own pride as well.
If he lied, he would keep his prestige as a Legatee for the time being. But, once Dyon proved him wrong, wouldn’t he be slapping his own face?
Seeing Nikolaos’ struggle, many were confused. What was so complicated about the questions they were asking?
In the end, Nikolaos sighed. “He’s a member of the Jafari family. Their younger generation was never weak. Judging him based on what you see is a mistake. There’s a reason why even the little devil of the Caedes family, the very same boy who doesn’t even care to anger his family head, is so docile before him.”