Ri’s lay under Dyon in shock as her transformation slowly disappeared.
“Dyon? Dyon!” Ri pushed herself up, rolling Dyon off of her back.
She wanted to chase after the young man to get him back for what he did to Dyon, but a sudden coughing snapped her out of her thoughts.
Ri looked down to find a wincing Dyon, “You idiot! I should knock you out again!”
Dyon chuckled. He could clearly see that despite her words, her hands were trembling as she held onto him.
“Help me circulate some celestial will… He left some odd energy in me and its effecting my control.”
Ri nodded, immediately grabbing onto Dyon’s hand and trying to circulate her celestial will. Because of her affinity for purity given by her faith seed and god constitution, she had already reached the 3rd level, enough for Dyon to get a grip on himself and take over.
However, even has the energy was slowly purified, Dyon’s frown became deeper and deeper. He felt his organs slicing apart.
The energy was heavy and permeating, it was as though it had a will of its own, ‘Just what is this…’
The crowd of campaign armies watched this scene speaking amongst themselves.
Akash was completely disgusted with herself. She was supposed to be the campaign head of the elves and yet Dyon had done all the work so far, and all she had done was lose a prisoner. In fact, she hadn’t even realized what was going on, or even why Dyon was running toward Ri until he was suddenly heavily injured and Commander Draven was no longer breathing.
How could non-innate aurora wielders, especially when matched up against someone with a higher cultivation than them who also happens to wield an innate aurora, possibly detect them? Even those with cultivations higher or comparable to the young man weren’t focusing on finding a hiding entity. After all, they were only aware of the opposing universe having two innate aurora wielders… They had never seen that young man before!
Delia and Ava had been near the edge of the army, tending to the wounded foot soldiers, but with Dyon’s injury, they immediately sprinted to his aid.
Dyon sat up slowly as the last of the energy was purified. Although he was worried it taking so long, he had prepared exactly for this instance. He was getting quite tired of taking months of time to recuperate, so, he had used his pill condensation technique to combine grandmaster level healing pills into their original potent form. And luckily, since healing pills were more ubiquitous than constitution awakening pills, he had formed many more than just three.
Dyon’s hand flashed with a pill he immediately swallowed, circulating it slowly.
The campaign heads felt they had no reason to stay, whether Dyon survived or not was something they cared about, but, a sudden voice stopped them.
“It’s best you all stay and listen to me carefully. Well, that’s if you want our planet to survive. Because if I’m correct, and I most likely am, there will be no negotiation this time.”
Delia and Ava reached Dyon’s meditating figure, looking down at him with as much confusion as everyone else.
The brows of the campaign heads twitched. Didn’t you just lose? What could you have possible learned from that? That you’re weak?
The only one who seemed to react differently was Airic. Although the other campaign heads couldn’t be bothered to realize the genius of Dyon’s tactics, he could. “What did you learn?”
Dyon looked up toward Airic and smiled, feeling his aching muscles slowly mend themselves. “I learned about why they came here, of course.”
Ace’s lip curled with disdain, “Was what you learned written in the ground? It doesn’t seem like your eyes could have been facing anywhere else.”
“You guys don’t have to worry so much, I’m fine.” Dyon turned his gaze toward Ri, Delia and Ava. “Do I look like the type of person to take losses so easily?”
Ava and Delia thought for a moment before nodding. “Yes.” They said simultaneously.
“Uh –“ Dyon laughed, not knowing how to respond. Maybe they were right, he did do reckless things for apparently no reason sometimes.
Ri giggled, flicking Dyon’s forehead, “Idiot.”
Dyon sighed, “Didn’t anyone ever tell you explaining a joke ruins it?” Dyon’s eyes bore into Ace. This Ace character was getting annoying.
Ace’s lip twitched, feeling an odd pressure coming from Dyon, ‘Isn’t he supposed to be injured?’
Ace was very much correct about that point, although Dyon was healing much faster than usual, he still needed time. But, what he was about to say was wholly needed.
However, despite his injuries, Dyon’s words had caught the attention of the campaign leaders, something was indeed strange about this attack.
Suddenly, Dyon turned to Ri who was on her knees, helping to prop him up, “This isn’t the best place to speak about this… I think I might need some help.”
Ri nodded, happily helping Dyon stand. She swung Dyon’s arm over her should while wrapping her arm around his waist.
Dyon looked into the army, “Well? We can’t very well speak about this in front of everyone. It’s best this remain as lowkey as possible.”
**
Soon, the campaign leaders were gathered atop Earth Tower.
Dyon sat at the large round table along with the rest of the campaign heads, still pale and clearly so weak he had to lean on Ri. “Ri, what did you find odd about the ones they called Bas and Liska?”
Everyone seemed surprised by Dyon’s question, but they quickly recovered. Although this woman was by Dyon’s side all of the time, it was probably time they recognized her as the princess of the Elvin Kingdom.
“For one, most glaringly, although they pretend to be innate aurora wielders… they aren’t.”
Silence reigned the room…
Many here recognized Bas and Liska. In fact, this wasn’t by any means their first encounter with them. Their level of array alchemy was so out of the realm of their understanding that many here had just assumed they were born with innate auroras. Weren’t they?
This assumption seemed to be backed up as well. For example, Bas’ aurora blazed red while Liska was a pale shade of blue. Didn’t that deviate from the white a regular aurora should have?
However, if they had seen Ri’s aurora turn blue, would they really think this? Ri’s aurora hadn’t even been at 100% when it changed color, it had only just passed the 30% threshold.
At first, Dyon hadn’t known what this meant. He could guess that it was connected to Ri’s special soul, but there was no other information he had on it. In fact, even his master’s memories had nothing, which is what made him think that it was a secret related to the destruction of the Celestial Deer Sect.
But, when he saw Bas’ red array, something suddenly clicked in his mind. Bas was a beast! Ri was part beast! It all made sense.
Ri’s aurora likely started off as white because she was part Elvin. After all, Grand Elders Cormyth and Kroak, despite being Elvin, both had white auroras despite being past the 40% mark.
However, Bas and Liska likely had their own unique aurora colors from the very beginning. After all, they had no other bloodlines mixing in with their souls.
That being said, this wasn’t the most important part. The fact those memories weren’t in Dyon’s master’s memories meant yet another thing. The destruction of the Celestial Deer Sect involved beasts… and it without a doubt involved beasts who used their auroras to do something very important. Something so important that the 25th White Mother left it as a clue for Dyon.
“If they aren’t innate aurora wielders, then what are they?” Evelyn spoke up, clearly not in the mood to side with anything these two had to say.
Ri turned sharp eyes toward her, “What a stupid question. If they aren’t innate aurora wielders, they’re simply formation experts.”
Evelyn scrunched her eyebrows in anger, “Do you think I need a cheap Elvin princess who relies on humans talking down to me?”
Ri laughed, “I see. Cheap, hmm? You must have had many grand battles against Bas and Liska since you know them so well, right? Why don’t you regale us with the tale of how the mighty Niveus first in line genius did something other than steal from her innocent junior sisters.”
Evelyn’s jaw clenched shut. Whether Ri decided to bring up Delia or not, she still would have lost the exchange. When had she ever done anything like fight Bas one on one? In fact, even if she had, would she have been on the verge of winning like Ri?
Elwing stepped up to mediate the situation. “Have some respect Evelyn. I think it’s quite clear she’s earned a seat amongst us.”
Dyon was a bit surprised by Elwing’s shift in demeanor. He didn’t buy it, not one bit. He was planning something, or at the very least trying to get them to lower their guard. But, Dyon still very much remembered his antagonistic words and his threatening Little Black – or Zaire now, Dyon supposed.
But, in response, Evelyn could only grit her teeth in silence.
Ri didn’t seem phased by Elwing’s words, it was as though she was quite used to the two-faced nature of nobles. That probably came with years of building up her alliance and whatever time she spent being shunned by the Elvin major families.
“But.” Ri continued. “The young man with the oil-paper umbrella… Is very much the real deal.”
Dyon nodded. There was a reason why he could draw arrays so quickly and conceal himself so well from Dyon. His array mastery wasn’t too far off from Dyon’s, even with Dyon’s human world experience. Although, that was also as a result of age and time spent studying. After all, of Dyon’s year and three quarters in the martial world, he spent eleven months completely incapacitated.
This young man probably began learning formations as soon as his innate aurora was discovered. Without having to spend time awakening it, he could have begun as early as five years old should he have been so inclined. With him being about twenty-five now, the age of some of the older campaign heads like Voron, Vidar and Akash, his time spent studying was not to be questioned.
“Essentially,” Dyon picked up where Ri left off, “Their whole act was a sham. A quite ridiculous one at that, honestly.”
Dyon thought for a moment before proceeding, “From the beginning, everything felt off. They seemed overly confident for being two people with no cultivation among a crowd of hundreds of thousands. They spoke about nonsensical things. Bas even sniffed the air with his nose, it was a very poor showing honestly.”
Confusion colored the faces of many. What did sniffing the air with his nose have to do with anything?
Dyon shook his head, “If you all knew more about beasts, a lot of your problems would have already been solved,” Dyon said offhandedly thinking back to the scaled elephants, “Bas and Liska are Basilisks, essentially the king of serpents. Snakes have nostrils, but their most sensitive smelling is done with their tongues. It doesn’t make sense for a Basilisk to use their nose to pick up something important, he was either putting on a meaningless act, or sending a signal.”
Airic’s eyes glowed while looking at Dyon… His thoughts toward Dyon were steadily speeding toward infatuation. ‘This man is exactly what a Sapientia should be…’
“This Bas even said nonsense about him knowing that my javelin was meant to complete a purification type array and that the only reason he didn’t tell Commander Draven about it was because he deserved death.
Although he was correct about the purification type array,” Dyon said, thinking back to the time he had used the exact same array on the demon generals to try and wake them up, “It was only a guess. And it was a guess he only made after flying over the battle field and feeling my residual celestial will.”
“Then, what did they do all of this for?” Asked Voron. Voron was actually the more reserved of himself and his brother. However, that didn’t mean his battle spirit didn’t blaze like a Cavositas’ should watching Dyon’s battle.
“All of it was an act centered around one thing: Killing Commander Draven and his men… Because they held secret they didn’t want any of us to know.”
“But if they held this secret, and they’re all dead now, ten of which you killed by the way, why are we having this meeting?” Vidar spoke up, questioning Dyon’s purpose.
“Well, even if there was no remaining information left to be told, the mere fact Bas and Liska are innate aurora wielders is important enough. That not only raised morale, it makes you less apprehensive in dealing with them.
They draw arrays significantly slower, the range of the sixth sense is nearly non-existence before surpassing the 50% mark, and their array alchemy stamina drains faster. That completely shifts everything.”
Many nodded, that piece of information was quite important. But, it didn’t change the fact they struggled with them. If they were so useless, why were they so good on the battle field?
As if reading their minds, Dyon continued, “The only reason you probably struggled with them is because the real innate aurora wielder was in the background. But, his cultivation doesn’t far outstrip any of yours, which is why he chose to remain hidden, controlling everything from behind the scenes.
However, he was forced to come out today because he underestimated me and Ri.
I didn’t make use of my aurora for the entirety of the battle and neither did Ri. Because of that, what he saw was something ranging between two possibilities. It was either we had no aurora or had auroras comparable to himself. And, being the only innate aurora wielder he had ever known. in his and our universe, which do you think he assumed was more likely?”
What Dyon said was correct. When auroras and souls were of similar level, it was difficult to read each other. This was why Ri was able to automatically see through Meiying’s aurora awakening, while the young man couldn’t see through Dyon’s and Ri’s. After all, all three of them were at 100%.
“Because he assumed we had no aurora, it was a logical leap to him to also assume our souls were weak since the two usually went hand in hand. So, why would he think that his geniuses would lose to us who had no energy or soul cultivation?”
The campaign heads nodded, this logic was indeed foolproof.
“That aside, there’s the matter of why I really called you all here. Don’t you find it odd that the Phantus were chosen specifically?” Dyon paused, letting it sink in for a moment.
“Airic, what are the Phantus to you?”
“They are the best defenders the opposing universe have in defending Gautama Tower. There is no doubt that their scaled elephants and robust body cultivation lead to explosive defending, if that makes sense, and outrageous stamina.”
Dyon nodded, “And yet, they were not only sent here, but also sent here under the supervision of 3 supposed innate aurora wielders? Even if the opposing universe had a system like ours, where attacking was unregulated and only defending was as a collective, that wouldn’t make sense. Because, even if the Phantus decided to attack on their own, why would they be followed by such important people?”
“Just what point are you trying to get at? We’re all aware that there’s something odd going on, we just don’t know what it is.” Ace was beginning to get impatient, it felt like they were waiting forever.
“It’s simple really,” Dyon said looking unperturbed, “He made a mistake and I won.”
Everyone looked at Dyon as though he was delusion. What do you mean you won? Is lying faced down, pale skinned with fractured bones, a victory now?
Dyon shrugged, “You don’t understand how my devour technique works, and clearly they didn’t either. If they had, they would have done whatever was necessary to kill me, unfortunately they didn’t. And I was already prepared.”
Dyon paused, “They for some reason went out of their way to attack the Earth tower when there were at least 3 other towers out there to test on.
On top of that, do you see many campaign leaders missing from you all at all?”
The story was more rhetorical, of course. The Ragnor clan was here, the Pakal clan, although silent, was here, the Sapientia clan… No one was missing.
And they had all come here to defend against the attacking Scaled Elephants… So, who was defending the other three towers?
A sudden dreaded realization hit the campaign leaders. But, their response only made Dyon shake his head in disappointment.
“You all likely have your other brothers and sisters guarding the other towers, which is fine… for now. But, how long do you think that would last? Think about how long ago you got the report that they would be attacking, and yet it took until now for them to show up?
That’s the second point of this meeting: The other three towers are in danger. And it’s best that even after I tell you what I have to tell you, that you all leave to protect your respective towers.”
The campaign leaders nodded. Truthfully speaking, they had still made the right decision. Hind sight was always 20/20, but, how could they have possibly known a 15-year-old would show up and deal with all of their problems for them? The scaled elephants required at least the numbers they had brought to deal with. If it wasn’t for Dyon, the battle would still be raging right now.
In fact, the scaled elephants were such a problem, that Dyon had order them be killed in their hibernation. Using Phantus bred animals to attack the Phantus was much too risky.
Suddenly, Elwing’s voice cut through the stoic atmosphere, “Then what is special about your devour technique?”
“Devour is first and foremost a defensive type technique. It acts as a shield against soul attacks. However, it also has facets of attack, and… memory absorption.”
The eyes of everyone in the room widened, a sudden realization hitting them. All this time, the young man with the umbrella thought he was playing around with Dyon, when really, Dyon already had what the young man wanted to keep hidden!
“Before I absorbed the souls of the Vice Commanders, I had already seen through Bas and Liska. So, I homed in on keeping their relevant memories. In addition, when I had Liska pinned down, I took opportune times to absorb bits and pieces of her memories as well.
Because of the nature of the secrets I now know, there’s little I can tell you all.” Dyon raised his hand expecting the agitation that spread through the room. “Once I say it, you’ll understand why.
I always felt that the gates felt much too much like a game…” Dyon voice was faint, thinking back to the first time he learned about the gates from Ri. That was his exact first impression. The gates were like an area control game where controlling certain towers gave you certain benefits and you only unlocked everything by holding all the towers.
Dyon sighed, “Sometimes I hate being right.
The gates don’t just seem like one. They are one. This gate is the largest scale Ancient Game you’ll ever play.”