Feeling the trembling Dyon sighed. He was already at half mast, but it seemed he wouldn’t get the chance to do anything this time. Planting a soft kiss on Ri’s lips, he set her down.
“I don’t think we have time to change, they definitely need us now.”
Ri nodded at Dyon’s words, a serious expression coloring her face as they flashed out of the world.
They immediately appeared inside a shaking vessel. It was meant to be a luxurious cabin pulled along by Grimbold family beasts, but right now, it couldn’t have been further from that.
The roof was completely torn off, revealing a dark and still darkening sky. Endless cyclones whipped about, kicking up the dust of the grey roads and drowning out the roars of the white tigers.
Dyon’s lips twitched as he listened to Akash yell out orders from her position in the middle of the pack, ‘She’s quite ruthless…’
Hundreds of beasts were pulling vessels were crossing what looked like plains, except for the fact there was no tall grass to be seen. Endless grey flatlands stretched out and in the far distance, you could see what looked like a massive lotus.
‘That must be Lotus Tower.’ Although Dyon had been prepared for the landscape, he was still a bit off put by the fact a lotus wasn’t surrounded by lush greenery, but instead what smelt and looked like death.
Ri raised her eyebrows, looking up in the sky, “Even with the Tree of Life and Death manifestation, I can’t sense any normal energies…”
Nodding, Dyon leapt up to stand on the edge of the torn roof, “Nothing but Death qi…”
This wasn’t Dyon’s first run-in with death qi. Back at Focus Academy, the pools of energy they sacrificed their students to form was laced with it. If Dyon was forced to absorb this energy, he’d end up in an even worse situation than he was back then, even with his aurora being much stronger.
“It must be Lotus Tower,” said Ri from the floor of the vessel. She looked off to the distance tower, shaken by how similar it was to Ice Petal’s Dance and even the present Dyon had given her for her birthday.
“It’s either Lotus Tower absorbed all the energy but death qi, or it’s quite literally turning all of the energy it absorbed into death qi.”
Although Dyon rarely referred to his wills as qi, that was what they were. When wills manifested themselves as a sword blade, or a wind cyclone, or Dyon’s dripping demonic will, as some examples, they took the form of energies of their own that you could call qi.
The fact the ground was so filled to the brim with such qi meant that, ‘This place might have a perfect catalyst for death will…’
Dyon shook his head, now wasn’t the time to be thinking of gaining catalysts for the Florence family technique. He had to help make sure the casualties were kept to a minimum, especially when it came to his army.
Snapping his head to get a good look around, it seemed they weren’t doing too badly. Members of the Nodin major family were being directed by Akash, their main specialty? Wind will.
Much like Dyon’s humanoid manifestation, their souls manifested themselves as wings. Although, theirs looked much different from Dyon’s.
Almost illusory in make, the Nodin family manifestation was actually wings made of wind. The only sign that they actually appeared was the swirling air behind them and the vicious fluttering of their long light green hair.
Much like every other major family, their tier of talent decided the power their manifestation would hold. Therefore, the weakest among them had one pair of wings, whereas the strongest had three.
Dyon watched with interest as the major family worked in tandem to deviate the path of the cyclones.
‘This isn’t how you should do it…’ Dyon’s brows scrunched together. The Nodin family was trying to, for lack of a better explanation, ‘untwirl’ the cyclones… but that was borderline idiotic.
Trying to spin the wind in the opposite direction would just waste unnecessary energy. A fact that was being proven because it took hundreds of Nodin family members to tackle a single cyclone before they moved on to the next, ‘Fuck. Don’t these people read books?’
“I can’t let this continue.” Not wanting to overstep his bounds, Dyon began to secretly send messages to Akash. This way should could maintain her air as a commander.
The plan was simple. Cyclones, and formations of the like, were usually the most powerful above warm water. In addition, they were formed by low pressure systems. However, it was obvious that there was no water here, and yet the cyclone was still raging, therefore what was driving it was either death qi or the low pressure. In the end, Dyon decided that it was likely both.
Hearing Dyon’s advice, Akash looked over to him and nodded in appreciation. “Hear my command!”
Akash immediately began repeating Dyon’s words.
The first to move was the Aedre family. They specialized in water will, and as such, the souls manifested as rivers – which, of course, meant that the length of the river denoted their talent.
Those that specialized in ice type wills as a branch of their techniques stepped forward, joining hands to create a gush of ice water that coated the ground. Beads of sweat poured down their faces as they pushed themselves to limit. Although they didn’t lower the temperature nearly as much as Dyon had against the scaled elephants, they did their job.
Then came the Sigebryht family. Dyon had long since studied their manifestation, but this was the first time he was seeing it in action. And it was truly a sight to behold…
Akash and Zaltarish leapt to the grey ground along with their family members, spreading out their arms in unison as they began to flow a deep red.
‘The Sigebryht family manifestation… An ultimate defense.’ Thought Dyon.
Blood red seals appeared above the head of each and every Sigebryht, tainting the dark the sky with an eerie glow.
Their manifestation was special – they were experts in a martial path Dyon knew little about: Sealing.
Depending on talent, the Sigebryht could form these blood red seals over their life time and slowly learn to control more. They looked almost like complex arrays, blotting out the skies domineeringly.
And then, they did something that made the very earth shake. “SEAL!”
Almost immediately, the grey ground changed to a healthier brown – if you looked closely, you could even see the faint hints of green as well. The Sigebryht family had sealed the death qi!
‘I don’t know if they can keep this up for long… The next phase needs to be executed quickly.’ Dyon stood tall, his brows creased in concentration, ready to step in should it not work out.
Luckily, there didn’t end up being a need. The Nodin family played their parts perfectly.
Instead of trying to change the direction of the winds, they instead flew high into the sky to begin sending compact bursts of air into the eye of the storm.
As Dyon had thought, low pressure was a massive problem with storms like these. So, how would you fix them? Simple. Increase the pressure.
And that was that. With the stifling of the death qi, the storm had little else to sustain itself when the cold ground and high pressure bursts of wind were taken into account. The plan and execution were quite simply perfect.
Soon, the storm was completely and cleanly eliminated. Aside from a few injured beasts and bruised foot soldiers, the problems were miniscule.
Dyon sighed in relief, settling back down into the vessel. They’d be at Lotus Tower soon, so it was unlikely to matter that he and Ri had lost their roof.
**
Hours later, the Elvin troops had made it to the base of Lotus Tower.
Unlike the Earth Tower, the surroundings of this area were completely barren except for defensive structures that took the form of ditches, walls, and spikes. This of course made sense, although there were a few lookout stations in the distance, the idea of keeping large amounts of people outside when there was no battle was much too dangerous.
In fact, the death qi was a lot of what dealt with the defense of the tower. The only reason the Elvin Troops made it here safely was because of the laws of the tower, or, more specifically, the laws the tower allowed you to control when you gained ownership of it.
When he had read about this, Dyon couldn’t help but shake his head. This really was too much like a game.
The possessors of the Lotus Tower, although they were subject to the same dangerous storms as everyone else, also had the ability to ignore the death qi and the troubles brought along with it. Which meant that although the territory was flat, ownership of the tower itself was like an ultimate defense in and of itself.
In the end, attackers would have to spend undo energy constantly purging themselves of death qi while they attacked. All while the defenders only had to hold out for longer. The only real problem for the defenders were the storms. But, they had learned a new method of dealing with that thanks to Dyon.
Entering the ground floor of the Lotus Tower, they were greeted with a completely different scene than what they had seen outside.
Lush gardens filled the space as green grasses coated the entirety of the floor. It was more like entering a new world as opposed to entering a building.
Dyon walked in beside Ri, Delia, Akash and Zaltarish. The two siblings were in high spirits after so easily dealing with the storm.
“Tell me, Dyon. Is there a human world profession that specializes in storms?” Akash asked eagerly, hoping to pick Dyon’s brain about a few things.
Dyon smiled, “There is now that I think about it. A lot of their job is about predicting storms and the weather based on patterns and data. You could say that a lot of what I know about storms is because their profession exists, yes.”
Akash nodded enthusiastically, listening as Dyon spoke about the human world. But then she froze, suddenly thinking of something. “We all need to be aware that the Elves aren’t the only ones who defend this tower.” She said seriously.
Dyon nodded. It made sense. After all, there were so many clans and sects yet only 3 towers worth defending. It was a truly rare case that the earth tower was ever attacked, and much the same went for the Guatama Tower. Why? Because you could see attacks toward them coming from a mile away. If you didn’t have all of your forces trained on the attack, it simply didn’t make sense to attack at all. This was a large part of the reason the Phantus clan’s attack was so surprising. Not only did they bring their beasts across the unpredictable lands of the gates, they had also decided to attack with such a small group!
As a result, the defense of Lotus Tower was shared.
The Royal God Clan and Sicarius family usually remained posted at Earth Tower unless they leveraged an attack. The Ragnor Clan took hold of Rod Tower along with the Cavositas clan. The Pakal clan held onto the Looming Tower along with the Sapientia clan. And the Elves had Lotus Tower along with the Niveus sect…
And unfortunately, almost as soon as Dyon thought of this, the familiar sound of a not so friendly person entered his ears.
Soon, the elves sat across from the Niveus sect members in an uncomfortable silence. Oddly enough, some miscellaneous sects were also in attendance, after all, it wasn’t just the god clans who participated in the campaigns.
But, maybe not so fortunately, those miscellaneous sect members were part of the big sects Dyon despised so much. Although Hashim and Lehabim didn’t dare look Dyon in the eyes anymore, much to Orbis’ amusement, their presence was still a stain on an already annoying situation.
Dyon had tried to see if Eli’s older sister, Venus, was here. But, it seemed like she decided to forego the experience. Also, Dyon hadn’t even bothered to search for Eli because he was very clear on the fact that he was much too weak to join the campaigns just yet. He was probably focused on his gardening right about now – the thought of which brought a smile to Dyon’s face, much to Evelyn’s irritation.
‘Mocking me? We’ll see how you mock me when you learn who my future husband is.’ Evelyn snorted in her heart. She was a cold and calculating individual despite the warm outer appearance she displayed most of the time. To her, her virginity was only a card to play to gain power. What she lost initially would be given back to her many fold. All she needed to do was be patient. ‘When he comes back, you’re dead. Enjoy walking around with that hypocritical smile for now.’
Despite Evelyn’s silent warning, Dyon didn’t seem aware of any changes. In fact, he was quite busy quietly chatting away with Ri, letting Akash take the reigns.
“We should speak about what our tactics will be for this campaign. Who will defend. Who will attack. And when we’ll do each.” Akash, finally finished gathering her thoughts, began to speak.
And yet, Evelyn’s gaze seemed transfixed on a Delia that didn’t seem too intent to look back.
But suddenly, a voice snapped her out of any ill-intentions she had.
“I thought I told you to tread lightly when it came to my little sister? Did you not take enough notes? Do you need a repeat lesson?” Dyon looked up from his conversation with Ri, staring daggers at a now flustered Evelyn.
And yet, just as Evelyn was about to respond, the loud booming sounds of a commotion filled the senses of everyone in attendance.
Akash stood up, “There shouldn’t be anything going on right now. We haven’t gotten any reports!”
Dyon’s brows furrowed before a thought crossed his mind, causing his eyes to narrow, ‘The Saeclum clan.’
It was no secret that the Saeclum clan, due to their soul cultivation speciality and their unique techniques, were the prime scouters for not just Rod Tower, but every tower. The fact there were no reports, and yet something was clearly happening now could only mean one thing: they hadn’t reported it on purpose.
Evelyn turned an angry gaze toward Dyon. After her interaction with him, she had done her due diligence in delving into his background. As such, his run-ins with the Saeclum and Ragnor clans weren’t secrets to her now.
“How fantastic. Now we can’t trust our intelligence because you think you can go around being arrogant wherever you want. Didn’t you think of your actions ever having consequences?” Evelyn said angrily. Although she hated Dyon to the core, her reasons for being angry, at least right now, seemed valid to her and the Niveus sect members.
Dyon ignored Evelyn. After all, if he hadn’t killed Saeclum he would have died. Was he supposed to just allow that?
“Let’s go.” Dyon flashed out of the room. What he needed was speed now, every second counted.
Ri ran right along with Dyon as they flashed to the absolute peak of Lotus Tower to look out at the situation.
“This…”
Dyon’s brow furrowed in agitation. There were too many!
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers raged toward Lotus Tower. But, it shouldn’t be possible to move such large amounts of troops all together. Even without the Saeclum clan they should have detected this. And aside from that, there was no explanation for how all of them survived!
“This is the same method they used with the scaled elephants… I knew this was a possibility… But I was really hoping… Dammit!”
Dyon took a deep breath feeling Ri’s hand slip into his. This Alidor had been planning this for a long time, Dyon had only just stepped into the mix. Although he had thwarted the first part of Alidor’s plan, a true genius wouldn’t crumble after one setback. It seemed a great battle was about to begin.
**
In the distance, the army of hundreds of thousands continued to charge forward, getting closer with every passing second.
The rumbling of their footsteps, the clouds of grey and black dust, even the raging noise of their war drums and bestial cries were like a cacophonic prelude to a bloody battle.
Soon, they were close enough for Dyon to see two familiar figures floating above them in the skies, ‘Bas and Liska…’ Does that mean he’s here? Why would he be here? ‘No. That’s not it.’
Dyon’s mind was working on overdrive. The Elvin and Niveus armies were still scrambling within the tower to get ready, and even Dyon’s army was caught unaware. ‘What a nice game you’ve played Saeclum clan. I’ll remember this.’
“Ri, I’m about to test out something really dangerous. I need you to remember that as long as you feel my celestial will in you, I’m alive. Alright?”
Ri furrowed her brows while looking at Dyon’s determined profile. “You idiot. What happened to my half?”
Dyon looked over to Ri. Right now, it was just the two of them in front of an army of almost a million. And yet, on their side, they may have amounted to twenty thousand. Twenty thousand who weren’t even properly prepared.
“This is just something I have to do alone. It’s too dangerous.”
Ri looked up at Dyon’s gentle smile, feeling her heart break.
The armies inside the Lotus Tower were starting to rush out, but could twenty thousand really fight against this many? Even with the advantage of the death qi?
Bas and Liska stood proudly in the air, looking down at Dyon and Ri with disdain. It was finally time for their revenge. Few in their lives had ever disrespected them as much as Dyon and Ri had, so, it was about time they died.
Dyon sighed, patting Ri’s head and leaning forward to plant a kiss on her forehead.
“Remember what I said, little feu glace. Your man won’t die so easily. The demon generals will protect you. Command them well. I’ll be back before you know it.”
Before Ri could reach out to stop Dyon, he had already flashed away from her, his footsteps carrying him to a position right between the approaching army and the scrambling Lotus alliance.
‘Alright. Apparently, you think it’s cool to play games with people’s lives… So, let me break in your game for you.’
Dyon’s aurora blazed around him, a raging tempest of golden flames erupting into life.
Slowly, the flames turned a purple gold as Dyon pushed it harder toward its peak.
The aurora flames grew larger and larger. Fifty meters. One hundred meters. Two hundred meters.
BOOM!
Dyon’s humanoid manifestation burst into being, looming over the approaching army with malice as Dyon’s soul stage raged into the peak of the sixth stage.
‘Since you’re an ancient game, you’re built on an array, aren’t you?’
BOOM!
A massive tree made of obsidian appeared behind Dyon’s humanoid manifestation, spreading out its roots hundreds of meters outward before digging into the ground.
Dyon was in a world of his own. The approaching army continued to charge forward, their bestial natures not in the least afraid of Dyon’s display of power.
Behind him, Ri watched with tears in her eyes as more and more of the Lotus alliance armies rushed out of the tower an into awkward formations. The only relatively organized army was Dyon and Ri’s, and that was only because the demon generals had instinctively followed Dyon’s orders and were already thinking of Ri as their commander.
Dyon grit his teeth as he spread the roots of the tree to the max, “You’re supposed to be good at finding energy sources, right? WELL FIND ME A WEAK POINT! NOW!”
Blood spilled from Dyon as wounds began to open up on his body. The strain of pushing his manifestations so far was getting to him. The roots had already passed the kilometer mark!
Suddenly Dyon’s eyes flashed, ‘There!’
Wings burst from Dyon’s back as wind will careened him toward a spot in the ground a few hundred meters from himself.
And then… he aimed his everything toward that point…
BOOM!
Dyon’s aurora flames burst into the grey ground, cracking it in a blaze of golden light.
The earth shook violently, even the sky looked like it was falling as booming thunder seemed to want to strike Dyon down for blaspheming the gate.
‘Kiss my ass.’ Dyon looked at the sky defiantly, not regretting his actions in the least as the ground split apart, raging toward the coming army.
Just as he had expected, the space around towers were special and had added protection. As a result, the cracks didn’t even reach within half a kilometer of them, but, that didn’t stop the cracks from engulfing portions of the oncoming army.
Death qi erupted from the ground, instantly burning hundreds at a time to ashes.
Screams that seemed to come straight from the depths of hell itself filled the battle field. Skin cracked and blistered, eyes bulged and popped, bones crumbled under their own weight… Death qi was truly menacing.
Dyon watched in the sky, panting heavily. It was impossible for him to escape these death qi surges, a wall of death qi had already surrounded him… he could only vaguely see Ri’s worried expression through the endless black. Worst part was, he could tell that the game was already repairing itself, clearly prepared for cases like this – meaning he couldn’t take the whole enemy army with him.
‘I can’t just stand still and wait.’ Thought Dyon. ‘I need to take advantage of this crack and hide in space…’ The only way to deal with a flaw in this game was to use the flaw to his advantage.
Almost as if on que, a raging tempest of death qi stormed toward Dyon, intent on killing him.
Dyon flashed to the side, the twinkling silver and black of his space will coating him as he did something inexplicable.
“NO!” Ri shook violently as she watched Dyon dive down into the crack. She wanted to break down, but she suddenly felt Arios’ strong hand squeeze her shoulder.
Ri looked back with tears twinkling in her eyes. A hundred demon generals. Nine hundred Elvin orphans. Each and every one with determined expressions on their faces as they watched Dyon take out half of an army of nearly a million by himself.
“Our commander has done well. Now it’s our turn.” Arios said stoically, looking out at the slowly closing crack.
Aeson watched from a distance as Ri wiped her tears. He could only clench his fists in anger. Anger at himself being so useless. He felt it should be him sacrificing for Ri. And yet, Dyon did it so easily – without even a second thought. ‘You have my respect…’ Aeson thought quietly. Steeling himself in preparation for the battle ahead.
In the distance, Bas and Liska could only watch as half of their army disappeared. Once standing at almost a million, they had less than four hundred thousand now. How would they even explain such a loss? Could they blame it on the death qi? Many of those they lost were part of their very own beast clans!
Bas grit his teeth, watching as the crack Dyon dove into slowly closed, ‘Stay dead. You absolute eyesore.’
Liska suddenly giggled, causing Bas to look toward her. “Husband, why are you so agitated. Sure, we lost many. But, isn’t four hundred thousand still twenty times more than twenty thousand? We’ll crush them just the same. And, if we follow Master Guatama’s plan, the death qi won’t even affect us anymore! What is there to be worried about.”
Seeing Bas still had a worried expression, Liska gently stroked his crotch, tippy toeing to coo in his ear. “I’ll even let you have me and the fox girl at the same time. Doesn’t that sound like something my king would want?”
Bas’ eyes snapped toward Ri who was standing in the distance, a terrible grin appearing on his face.