Late that night, Dyon sat up cross-legged at the head of the large bed, not having bothering to find clothes.
Dyon smiled at Ri laying naked beside him, laying her head on his lap. Dyon gently stroked her hair before focusing on the task at hand, holding a ring in his hand and projecting his mind into it.
‘The stone puppets are at the first celestial level right now, but that’s not good enough…’
Dyon was painfully aware that he didn’t have the ability to bring the stone puppets back to their peak, but he had to do something.
From his understanding, puppets had two main facets to them, in terms of the arrays. The first dealt with their power source, while the second dealt with special abilities outside of weapons.
In terms of the first aspect, it referred to what would basically be the puppets energy cultivation. Some of the best puppets had the ability to replenish themselves using pseudo-cultivation techniques that pretty much amounted to energy collecting arrays.
As for their special abilities, this often had to do with the wills or intents they could wield. This heavily relied on the abilities of the crafter, making a puppet creation inextricably linked to the skill of its creator. The best of crafters could even infuse their puppets with daos of their own… but that was a level Dyon couldn’t even fathom.
‘It’s impossible for me to repair the daos of these puppets. I wouldn’t even be able to infuse an intent to them unless I wanted to pay a heavy price. But, since they still have a power level at the Celestial Stage, would they have access to a rudimentary domain?’
Dyon quickly analyzed the puppets using his master’s memories.
In terms of energy cultivation, there were varying types of energy one needed to learn to sense in order to step into the next level. After mastering the ability to sense that energy, you would only need to flood your meridians with said energy type.
For example, essence gathering, the step after meridian formation, required the mastering of essence energy. This was probably the most abundant energy form in the universe and what was found within common and profound stones.
The next form of energy was saint energy. However, to learn to sense this energy, stepping up at least one of your wills to the level of an intent was necessary.
After that was the energy that resided in the puppets right now: celestial energy. This energy type was reserved for those of the celestial stage and could only be grasped if you mastered what was called a rudimentary domain. This was also known as an aura.
Auras were called rudimentary domains because they were a step down from a true domain. Auras allowed you to project your will out into the world, essentially forming reality to your will… However, this was at a severely handicapped level as compared to a true domain. This cap includes range of effect as well as power.
This memory intrigued Dyon about the idea of true domains, but it seemed even Dyon’s master didn’t have much knowledge of them… which either meant they were rare even within the dao formation stage, or you needed to be at an even higher cultivation level in order to learn one.
Regardless, the mere fact the puppets had celestial energy might not necessarily mean that they had access to an aura…
‘A human might need to understand an aura in order to master celestial energy… But, a puppet only needs a puppet master to have an aura in order to inscribe a celestial energy gathering array…’
Dyon’s meaning was simple. A puppet didn’t need an aura. But, in order for a puppet master to inscribe an array with the ability to collect celestial energy, they themselves needed an aura.
Dyon pondered on this, ‘This means there are a few possibilities for why this puppet is at the first celestial level instead of being at the ninth…
The first possibility is that the celestial energy gathering array is damaged. As such, it can’t hold more energy than what’s required for the first level…
The second possibility is that the array is still damaged, but it does affect it’s ability to hold energy… rather, it’s lost the ability to actively gather energy.
The third possibility is that the array was still perfectly intact, but this universe has such a lack of celestial energy that it was impossible for the puppets to accumulate energy faster than they lost it…’
Dyon thought of many other possibilities, but, it seemed like these were the most likely.
In terms of energy stones, they started from the common level, before going to the profound, to saint, to celestial, before ending in dao stones. As such, since dead kings valley had had dao stones, how could it have not had celestial stones?
This meant that if there was no issue with the array, Dyon could use the celestial stones in his possession to make up for this universe’s lack of celestial energy density. But, if there was a problem with the array… the puppets were doomed to continue dropping in level until Dyon mastered an aura.
‘I don’t have a god level constitution so my body matures much slower than them. Madeleine has already started energy cultivating, and Ri can start whenever she wants to now. But, I have to wait until I’m 18…’
Dyon was the most frustrated of anyone about this. In fact, he was confused about it at the beginning too. What exactly matured when you turned 18?
Over time, he had learned it was your meridians. Starting cultivation earlier, for those of lesser talent, was a viable choice. This was because they maintained enough plasticity in their thoughts to cultivate and gain understanding. This ‘plasticity’ could essentially be considered your talent for cultivating, understanding wills, intents, auras and so on. By starting earlier, they could take advantage of their prime cultivation years, however, this was with a trade off of weaker meridians… This meant that it was unlikely they’d open much more than 54 meridians.
However, those who were of higher talent didn’t have to worry about this loss in plasticity. Therefore, they could wait until their meridians fully matured before cultivating…
That being said, those with god level constitutions and faith seeds were different. Their powerful bodies matured their meridians much quicker than average, which gave them a competitive advantage.
Those who didn’t have such bodies, like Zaltarish and Dyon, had to wait until they were 18 to begin. The interesting part was that Thor had waited until he was 18 as well, despite having a faith seed… However, this was a special case. Because he was born to a lower branch, he didn’t find out he had a faith seed until it awakened itself.
‘If I want to energy cultivate faster, I need to find a way to forcefully mature my meridians…’
Dyon sighed. Because of his ancestry, he knew that even when his meridians matured, his energy cultivation talent would be lacking…
‘Now is not the time to worry about this. I’ll find a way. First, let’s see if I can increase the strength of these puppets.’
Dyon furrowed his eyebrows as he scanned the puppets within the ring.
‘Well… It’s not as bad as it could be?’
The good news was that one puppet had an intact array. The mild news was that the intact puppet happened to be the one he hadn’t claimed full ownership yet. But… the news that mad him stomach green with regret was the fact that from the damage he could see in his owned puppet, it was likely that the ancient game within dead kings valley was responsible.
‘Fucking hell, I could have had two perfect puppets, but I went and practically destroyed one of them.’
Dyon was beyond frustrated. It would be years before he could master an aura to fix this puppet. But, he could only sigh, there wasn’t much he could do.
The truth was that if Dyon had had access to celestial stones, the puppet would have had enough power to resist the ancient game for much longer, which would have meant it wouldn’t have been damaged. But, Dyon hadn’t had any celestial stones at that time, so he would have had no choice but to do exactly as he did anyway…
‘Maybe it’s better this way,’ Dyon thought to himself, ‘One weaker puppet and a stronger one. That way, I may be able to catch them by surprise twice?…’
Dyon knew this didn’t make sense, but he had to try to find something to comfort himself.
With that thought in mind, Dyon piled half of the celestial stones he had into the spatial ring along with the puppets. It would take time to properly absorb the energy, but by his calculations, the amount of celestial stones would be enough to raise the intact puppet to at least the 4th or 5th celestial stage.
Also, although the other puppet had a damaged array, it still had the ability to absorb energy to repair itself. It wouldn’t make it stronger, per se, but, it would at least improve its defenses to withstand a 4th to 5th stage celestial expert…
Dyon didn’t want to add anymore celestial stones because that would only marginally increase their power… the requirements to increase strength via energy stones increased exponentially with every passing level. So, it was better to keep the remaining stones to himself. Maybe they would be useful in the future…
‘Alright. After a few days, the puppets should be set back at around the lower levels of the middle of the celestial stage. But, there’s still the matter of the second facet…’
Dyon knew he couldn’t infuse any useful wills into the puppet, let alone intents or auras, but there were other low level things he could inscribe into the puppets to increase the effectiveness when in battle… And what Dyon wanted to mainly do was increase their abilities to work together.
So, he focused on two arrays.
One was called ‘Instant Transference.’ This allowed the puppets to instantaneously switch places with each other in battle if they were within a hundred meters of each other.
The second was ‘Energy Link.’ This allowed the puppets to string energy between each other. With this, the puppet master could control the thickness of the energy to near imperceptible levels. Or, the puppet master could increase the energy output to the max to connect a stream of energy between the two.
Both of these abilities were seemingly weak, but Dyon had already thought of a myriad of applications for them. And, the best part, was that they were low level.
So, Dyon spent the next few hours diligently inscribing the needed arrays.
His body had become much more powerful, thanks to Ri. In fact, he had recently noticed that because of the melding of their auroras during their dual cultivation, his soul had reached the peak of the 5th stage. As such, with his manifestation, he boosted his soul to the peak of the 6th stage.
Suddenly, Dyon froze, ‘If dual cultivating with Ri improved my body cultivation and my soul cultivation… did it help my energy cultivating as well? Did my meridians mature?’
However, Dyon was severely disappointed when he inspected himself. His meridians were completely dormant, no change whatsoever, ‘What’s going on?…’
Dyon could only sigh, ‘I guess only time will work?…’
Although Dyon told himself this in comfort, something was telling him that it wasn’t so simple…
**
A long time later, Dyon was covered in a sheen of sweat.
It had taken him a while to perfectly understand the two arrays. Although they were ‘simple’, that was only relative to the level of the stone puppet. In the end, they were still master level arrays.
Finally, Dyon laid back. He could see the sun shining through the window, but he felt he had too much left to do. He had to go to the alchemy guild to stock up on pills for his demon generals. He to structure and specialize military formations for them as well. And lastly, he had to set in motion his plan for conquering the Epistemic Tower… Because make no mistake about it, that was his goal!
But, Dyon’s mind suddenly calmed as he remembered the woman by his side, his hands running along her naked body.
Suddenly Ri spoke, “It’s not healthy to stay awake like that if you aren’t meditating you know…”
Ri’s alluring body stretched under the small streams of sunlight. Dyon couldn’t help but gulp.
Ri giggled, “Pervert.” She reached up, pulling Dyon down to lay beside her so she could wrap herself around him, “When are we leaving?”
Dyon grinned, “If you keep doing this? Never.”
Ri smiled, reaching her hand down to play with something she thought of as her new favorite toy, “You know, if this thing keeps releasing inside of me so much, even with low birth rates we may have little ones running around soon.”
Dyon laughed. He knew Ri could tell he used an array on himself to filter out anything procreative. She was just having too much fun teasing him.
“If you want me to put a baby inside you, you only have to ask.”
“I think we have enough kids for now… Maybe when Little Lyla and Little Black grow up.”
Dyon kissed Ri’s forehead, “Okay, whenever you want.”
Despite his words, Dyon inwardly sighed. He knew quite well that having children with Ri right now was a bad idea. For one, they were still young. Secondly, the situation wasn’t exactly safe… Although Dyon doubted it would be anytime soon, it had to be at the very least safer than this.
Ri’s father was still missing. Madeleine was still not here. In fact, Dyon and Ri both knew, but never spoke about, how Ri’s mother was alive too. What could make a beast as powerful as a Kitsune leave her daughter behind?
It essentially boiled down to Dyon not being strong enough. ‘One day… One day I will be.’
“Let’s aim to leave a week from now. I need to check on which demon generals managed to learn music will, and form teams from there. Then I need to prepare some supplies, and probably have a few meetings with Akash and the other campaign leaders.”
Ri nodded, “You know you aren’t leaving me behind right? Try and treat me as a trophy wife and I’ll be exactly that. Sitting in a cabinet you can’t open.”
Dyon laughed, “Are you threatening me with sex?”
“Oh?” Ri smiled deviously, climbing on top of Dyon, “You don’t like sex? You’re okay with losing it forever?”
Dyon winced as he felt a softness touch down on him below.
Ri grinned, seemingly quite pleased with herself before she lowered herself to kiss Dyon.
“You win…” Dyon said almost in a grunt.
“Ah!” Ri gasped as Dyon flipped her over.
Dyon grinned, “My turn.”
Just like that, a week passed. It was the early morning of their planned departure and Dyon and Ri stood in front of a thousand men and women.
Nine hundred of them were Ri’s army. She had spent years of her life diligently training them. In the end, she felt most satisfied with these ones in particular. Their cultivation levels had all stepped into meridian formation of at least the fifth level, and they were a good baseline.
The other hundred, were of course Dyon’s demon generals. Their long white hair waved in the wind, the aura stifling.
Dyon nodded with satisfaction, addressing them directly, “This is Princess Alexandria Acacia. Her words are as much of your law as mine are. Our thoughts are one and our actions are one. If I am ever not there for any reason, you listen to her commands.”
Although Dyon’s father had never taught him much about the military, the one thing Dyon knew was how important seniority and hierarchy was within an army.
Dyon could always tell that his father disliked his disregard for authority. In fact, it often led to arguments, something Dyon unfortunately felt were among his few interactions with his father.
He could never understand why he had to respect people just because they were older than him. Dyon had always thought respect should be earned, not given. And yet, his father always had a different perspective on things.
So, Dyon thought in respect for his father’s memory, he would hold sacred the art form he had tried to master his whole life – the art of war.
This was much of the reason why Dyon went out of his way to form a good relationship with Akash. He hoped his actions were pleasing to his dad, even in death…
“AI!”
A synchronized affirmation vibrated through the spatial world, causing shivers to go down the spines of Ri’s army… it was clear they weren’t used to this.
“Those who’ve grasped music will to the 3rd level, step forward.”
Immediately, ten demon generals stepped forward. Six females, most fit, but also of varying heights. Four males – strong robust and determined.
“You ten will be our Vice Commanders.”
Many were stunned by Dyon’s decision. Choosing Vice Commanders based on music will? How odd.
Dyon didn’t bother explaining. Actions spoke louder than words.
He immediately got to work separating the remaining nine hundred ninety into ten groups. Naming them companies. They essentially amounted to one hundred people each if the Vice Commanders were included.
He then further split the companies in half, naming them platoons. Each pair of platoons was overlooked by the Vice Commander. However, Dyon also chose a lieutenant to pair with them. And, much to everyone’s surprise, these lieutenants were also music will users, although they hadn’t reached the third level.
Afterward, he split each platoon in ten more groups he called squads. These he didn’t choose leaders for. Instead, he emphasized the idea of teamwork and building. Vice Commander and lieutenants were responsible for properly rewarding squads that performed well. If a squad lost a member, they would all be punished. If one of them succeeded, they would all be rewarded.
However, Dyon did add one extra layer of protection for the squads. By ensuring that for every two squads of five soldiers there was at least one demon general, he felt good about the distribution of power.
“I bet you’re all wondering why I chose you Vice Commanders based on music will?”
The army was silent. Dyon smiled at this. Questioning your Commander was taboo, especially for foot soldiers. It seemed Ri trained them well.
Suddenly, Dyon’s voice boomed, laced with a powerful compelling aura.
His crystal will bloomed before him, amplifying his words to the extreme.
“This is your home now. This is you, and you are it. You die by our collective will. You fight not for yourselves, but for each other. You are an army of demons. Your only goal is victory. Defeat only means death.
VICE COMMANDERS. SOUND OFF!”
“AI!”
“DEMON GENERAL GAYLIA, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL KAEDA, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL JASSIN, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL HALAENA, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL ITHIRAE, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL GRAEYA, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL MAALESHIIRA, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL AREDHEL, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL CELEBORN, HERE!”
“DEMON GENERAL KUORNOS, HERE!”
The blood of the army raged.
When Dyon’s voice started, it was almost as though they had entered the pits of hell – and yet, they had no regrets. They wanted to fight and die with honor. There was no fear, no hesitation – there was only victory and death in defeat.
But, when the Vice Commanders amplified their wills out as well, the feeling resonated. It became more personal. It felt like they were brothers and sisters in arms. This was their family and they were willing to protect it with their everything.
Suddenly, Ri’s faith seed raged. Her ten tails whipping violently in the air as her pupils narrowed into slits.
Her hair darkened, as she unsheathed her sword from her back.
The atmosphere reached its peak, the army looked forward at their pair of commanders with unmatched fervor evident in their eyes.
Dyon stood tall with his hand clasped behind his back, finally wearing his battle changpao. A sleek tight fit, its long white and gold tunic nearly touched the ground. It was hard, yet flexible – patterned as a robust leather instead of a soft fabric.
Ri stood right beside Dyon. Her blue-silver tails were long, whipping out at least five meters from her. She wore a white and gold armor, kilted chains of crystals gracing her as a skirt.
Only death in defeat? It felt like there never need be such a thing. With them, there was only victory.
The Demon Sage. The Demon Fox. A truly heavenly couple.