Dyon’s heart pounded. He was quickly reaching the limit of his stamina. If he let up on distorting space around him for even a second, he would lose consciousness and likely be torn apart.
Without thinking much, he took out the damaged stone puppet. He had been so distracted by this decision he hadn’t even stopped to think that he could make use of his puppets since he was outside the confines of the ancient game now.
But, the relief on Dyon’s stamina did little to ease the endless tension he was feeling… He didn’t even take notice of the drastic changes the stone puppet had undergone.
All he could see was the pain of his fiancées. He could only watch as Ri’s beautiful blue silver tails became dyed in red. He could only watch as Madeleine’s lips dripped in blood as she pushed her stamina beyond her breaking point. He could only watch… Too distraught to make a choice…
‘WHAT DO I DO?!’
**
Away from Dyon’s mental struggle, two groups were approaching the enigmatic Epistemic Tower.
The first was led by a very familiar figure – Alidor Gautama.
“Brother, are you sure you want to do this?”
Alidor sat atop a scaled elephant silently as they crushed their way through a dense green forest. His sister was beside him, and about ten warriors sat behind them. But, he was completely focused. His eyes were in a perpetual state of gold as he constantly scanned their surroundings, changing the direction of the beast seemingly without rhyme or reason.
Noticing her elder brother’s lack of a response, Keara sighed. “I know you’re not satisfied with being an auxiliary branch family to the Uidah family, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s okay for you to risk your life like that.”
The truth was that Alidor had been hiding his abilities as an innate aurora wielder since his birth as he secretly accumulated allies. He always used Bas and Liska as his proxies because he had no intention of revealing his plans until he was powerful enough. But, the more he studied the gates, the more his mind brightened to another possibility.
Alidor ignored his younger sister’s words. “I received a report earlier that said it’s likely Earth’s innate aurora wielder died. This works to our advantage.”
Keara, being used to her brother’s antics, listened silently. Whether she could understand what he meant was one thing but asking Alidor for a full explanation was about the most difficult thing in the world.
But, in typical Alidor fashion, Keara got no explanation. Alidor simply raised his hand to his face, causing a flash of gold to appear. An instant later, it was as though he was a completely different person… a person that was the exact copy of Dyon.
Keara giggled, “Oh? Is this the poor boy who died? It’s a shame he had you as an enemy, he’s quite handsome.”
Alidor didn’t seem to get the joke. “I don’t know whether he’s alive or dead. All that matters is that he’s no longer on the battlefield, so his appearance is useful to me.”
A teasing expression colored Keara’s features. “I heard from Bas and Liska that you insulted him. You never care enough to insult people. Did he get under your skin?” Keara playfully poked at Alidor’s shoulder, a bit happy to see her brother display an emotion other than cold determination.
Although Alidor was inwardly stunned by his sister’s question, he didn’t show it. But, that didn’t mean he didn’t have a moment of self-reflection.
What Keara didn’t know was that that moment wasn’t the only time he acted out of character that day. Not only did he insult Dyon, he had done so twice. And that was on top of injuring Bas and Liska. Did he get angry because the first step of his plan had failed? Was it because Dyon might very well be his match? Was it because something was telling him that there was no way Dyon died so easily?
Moments of confusion for Alidor had always been rare. And moments of losing control of himself were even rarer. Ruling with fear was completely idiotic by his calculations. He’d never do something so stupid. Bas and Liska followed him willingly, not because he forced them.
Keara grinned. Alidor may have thought his face remained neutral, but Keara was quite adept at reading her elder brother. “Maybe if he’s alive you should be friends.”
“Don’t be stupid. I attacked his woman and insulted. And even if I hadn’t, I don’t need friends. I need subordinates. If he’s willing to do that, then he can call himself whatever he wants.”
Keara giggled. “This is the most amount of words you’ve ever spent on a single thing, let along a single person. And plus, you attacked his woman as a distraction. Also, this is war. No one is safe just because they’re a woman.”
“You’re naïve. People aren’t rational when it comes to love.”
Sighing, Keara grabbed onto her elder brother’s arm. Truthfully, she was much too young to be in the gates right now. She was only about twelve, but Alidor was convinced that this was the safest place for them. They had been using the gate’s cultivation cap to their advantage for years now. Often, the only people Keara had to talk to were her brother or Bas and Liska.
“So, you understand what it means to not be rational? Interesting.” Keara pondered a bit. “Make me a tall blond with a massive chest and plump butt, oki?” Keara giggled lightly to herself as her brother completely ignored her, instead only slightly changing her features.
“Remember Keara. I’m only taking you with me this time because we’re attack their towers now.”
“Yea, yea, I get it. No one’s left to protect the poor defenseless little girl.” Keara pouted.
“It’s good that you understand. Don’t speak unless you have to and definitely don’t act foolishly. The Epistemic Tower will be dangerous.”
Keara nodded silently, gripping her brother’s arm tightly as they finally burst out of the endless forest.
She gasped as she took in the sight.
The Epistemic Tower was so tall that she had no way of seeing its peak. In fact, it was almost like a black rod stabbed into the ground. The outside was completely smooth and without blemish – even to the point that Keara could see no doors, windows or openings.
But, that wasn’t the most shocking thing. The forest ended not in a plain leading to the tower, but instead a sheer cliff! The ground around the Epistemic Tower was a deep depression that continued at least half a mile down.
That’s right. The Epistemic Tower was in a pit with a diameter that was at least fifty kilometers. There was no opening, no obvious way to reach it… and the worst part? The spatial fluctuations were so violent that you could hear loud tearing noises rip apart the air. Seemingly innocent twinkles of silver and black appeared covered almost every inch of the pit. And it was clear to any observer that even the slightest touch from such a thing would only end in death…
On another side of the forest, another group was making their way through. And, their atmosphere was much less adorable…
A young man with bronze skin sat with massive buddha prayer beads hanging around his neck. He wore loose and baggy pants with twisted rope a foot thick wrapped around his waist and ending as a bow to his back. Dyon would have recognized these as the ceremonial ropes of sumo wrestlers in the human world, known as shimenawa.
A faint dark gold energy emanated off of him as he was carried on a throne by four bald monks. And yet, despite monk-like attire, the young man had a long head of golden hair.
Every so often on their journey, one of the throne bearers would fall victim to a fluctuation in space, having them instantly be replaced by another among the hundreds trekking through the dense forest. Yet, the changes in space seemed to have absolutely no effect on the young man as he continued to sit completely oblivious to the deaths of his men.
“First Son, we’ll be reaching the Epistemic Tower soon.”
The first son silently nodded.
Over the past few months, a lot of odd occurrences had been happening at this gate. Usually, he didn’t even bother attacking this weak universe.
As a King God Clan lead universe, they had many more universes to deal with than just this one. And those universes had much more glory involved in their conquering. So, why would he as a first son, come here to play? This universe was something best left to their inferior clans and sects.
But, that didn’t mean he didn’t pay attention to the happenings of this universe. The odd movements of the Basilisks and Phantus were especially eye-catching. In fact, it had become so obvious recently that the first son was almost sure that someone was leading him here on purpose.
‘Ha. You want to play games with me? Do you qualify?’
The Uidah family was truly a special one. They had rules over their universe for millennia and weren’t far from becoming an Emperor God Clan. Because of this, the first son decided to play this little game. After all, if this ended in their family winning this gate, wouldn’t they be able to invade the last universe they need to reach an all new level?
The scale of such a clan wasn’t something Dyon could imagine as of now. Where as the Royal God Clan of Earth had their most powerful experts peak at the third to fourth level of the celestial, a King God Clan so close to becoming an Emperor God Clan without a doubt had a lower dao formation expert! They were simply incomparable!
Because of the way gates were designed, especially with their cultivation caps, the sons of the Uidah King God Clan were ranked based on their cultivation. Beginning with the meridian formation stage, five sons were chosen. The first son here today, was the first son of the meridian formation stage – Kaeghan Uidah.
The simple fact was a ranked son of the essence gathering level would never waste their time on such a shit universe. In Kaeghan’s view, even a peak essence gathering expert from this place was no match for him.
“I hear this universe has a few faith seeds?” Kaeghan asked absentmindedly.
“Ai, first son. It’s quite shocking, they have three that we’re aware of.”
Kaeghan looked up and into the distance although the thick green canopy was too dense to see through. “Why?”
This was truly confusing to Kaeghan. Even within the Uidah family, there were only two faith seeds currently since the others had yet to be reincarnated into their chosen geniuses. In fact, Kaeghan wasn’t one of them. Only the Essence Gathering and Saint first sons had faith seeds, much to his irritation. The idea of such a weak universe having three, even to the point of them being concentrated on the same planet, was grating of Kaeghan’s nerves. So, his first thought was to steal them.
But, he wasn’t stupid. A family capable of fostering a faith seed to be passed on was definitely not one the Uidah family could take lightly. It was likely that the families had sent branch families to this universe for one reason or another, and it just so happened that the offspring of the branch families manifested their faith seeds. This meant that although the Uidah family could hinder those branch family members from making their way back to their main clans, stealing the faith seeds would lead to a concerted effort for war… Much more focused and poignant than normal campaigns.
If such a high-ranking clan, or clans, decided to focus all of their best talents on the Uidah gates instead of spreading them out as they usually did… It would be trouble.
“From my understanding, they are from branches of two Emperor God Clans…”
Kaeghan’s head snapped toward his subordinate. In reality, it was the fifth son of the meridian formation stage, but he was little else than an ant in front of Kaeghan. “From our quadrant?…”
The fifth son nodded solemnly, a faint golden energy emanating off of him as well. “According to second daughter’s information, we should be careful. They are the faith seeds of the Ragnor and Pakal clans…”
Kaeghan nodded solemnly. Because there were ten thousand remaining universes, they were split into quadrants which were made of a hundred universes each. In this quadrant, aside from the obvious Sapientia clans and the Uidah family, the other powerhouses were the Ragnor and Pakal Emperor God Clans…
Maybe if the faith seeds had been from a fellow King God Clan, it might have been worth the risk. After all, using the methods of the Uidah clan, there was always the possibility of tricking a clan of similar power. But, against clans with as much power and influence as the Ragnor and Pakal Clans? It was impossible.
In fact, the power disparity was to the point that the Uidah’s information on those clans were severely outdated by several ten thousand years… There was the possibility that the range of those clans had surpassed that of an Emperor God Clan. It was much like the scope of information Earth had… If you don’t have enough power, how could you afford to know such information? In fact, would knowing the information even matter to you?
Kaeghan immediately erased all thoughts of stealing their faith seeds. But, preventing them from reaching their main branches by boxing them off in this universe? Even kill them? Was no issue at all.
“Make a note, fifth son. In the future we’ll be focusing on this universe a bit more. Not enough to alert anyone, but there’s definitely a reason so many powerhouses are concentrated here. The Ragnor and Pakal clan didn’t even bother to plant branch families in our universe, so why would they care about this one so much? There’s something going on…”
Fifth son nodded. “If we can grasp this secret, elder brother, we can assure our places as sons for the rest of our lives.”
Kaeghan nodded. Competition amongst sons never ended. Although he could be comfortable around fifth son because he was ranked so far below him, he still needed to be wary of third son and second daughter. Ranking directly correlated to resources, he had to ensure that he became the fifth son of the essence gathering level, and for that, he needed momentum, legacies, and power.
And with that last thought, Kaeghan and his entourage reached the edge of the deep pit that held the Epistemic Tower.
Kaeghan’s blood boiled looking at the sleek black surface of the tower. “All signs point toward this place as what you’re aiming for, right? Let’s find out what you led me here for…”
**
Up until now, it had been half a day of Dyon relying on the celestial puppet to watch Madeleine and Ri battle. He had almost floated away from the portals many times, but he always forcefully stabilized himself. He felt the need to burn these images into his mind.
He had watched as Ri fought for hours at a time, not caring for her own wellbeing. In fact, there had been a few times that if it wasn’t for the demon generals forcibly teleporting her away, she would have collapsed.
Then there was Madeleine. The temple had finally opened, but the battle raging for those who had the right to enter was just as fierce, leaving the Sapientia clan in an even tighter corner.
Dyon’s heart wrenched with every cut and bruise his fiancées sustained, with every twist of pain that appeared on their beautiful faces… with every near-death experience they dodged…
At this point, patches of blood had dried over them both. Ri’s blue-silver tails and armor were completely ruined. It wasn’t even clear how often she had forcibly healed their breaks… Madeleine was fairing much better injury wise, but her fatigue had clearly reached its breaking point many times. If it wasn’t for many of the Sapientia family using themselves as shields, it was likely her injuries would be even worse than Ri’s
And yet, Dyon sat there and thought… it was even to the point where he questioned whether he should have even opened his heart up as much as he had. If he had closed it off and conformed to human world ideals, would this decision be so difficult?
But then he thought, even if he closed himself off to feelings fostering for Ri, would they really not appear? If Ri was just his friend instead of his fiancée, would the decision really be any easier?
Dyon had just spent the last more than half year of his life with Ri. They shared tears, pain, and victories. When he was in a coma, she took care of him everyday for months on end. Although she never brought it up, Dyon’s heart broke thinking of all endless nights she must have spent wondering if he would ever wake up.
And then there was Madeleine, his first love. He had been attracted to her strength and beauty almost immediately. Imagine the level of will power someone had to have to believe their death was inevitable, and still remain kind and caring? And then the strength she displayed in choosing to live, in a martial world that told her there was honor in death, just so she could repay Dyon for his sacrifice.
These thoughts ran through Dyon’s head again and again before he finally settled on a choice.
The first thing Dyon did was take off his last wrist band, diligently crafting it to a necklace identical to Ri’s before carefully placing it into a spatial ring.
Then, sitting on the shoulder of the puppet, he spread out thousands of profound stones before himself. Using the ability of the Tree of Life and Death, he proceeded to refine the stones into an easily usable form, perfect for replenishing stamina. Fruits of energy began forming on the branches of the obsidian tree, glowing in a dim gold before breaking off.
Dyon repeated this again and again until he had completely filled two common level spatial rings with hundreds of these fruits.
Then, the last thing he did was create two communication arrays. He poured his thoughts and feelings into both. In the end, he held both rings silently, knowing that this was the right thing to do.
Dyon’s hands flashed as he coated both rings with celestial will. Circulating the Florence family technique, his winged humanoid figure appeared. Golden tattoos spread across his shirtless torso, boosting Dyon’s celestial will to its peak.
Then… Dyon threw the rings away from himself. One tore through the void toward Madeleine. And the other? Tore toward Ri.
Dyon nodded to himself, his main spatial ring flashing as an adorable little girl appeared in his arms.
“Big brother?” Little Lyla blinked, looking around confused. The dark space was something she had never experienced before. Suddenly, Little Lyla felt something was off, causing her to frown before a look of realization crossed her features.
Lyla patted Dyon’s cheeks happily. “You did the right thing Big Brother.”
Dyon smiled bitterly, ‘I really can’t hide anything from this little girl…’
Sighing, Dyon spoke, rubbing Little Lyla’s head, “Big Brother is useless, can you help me?”
Lyla giggled, “Okay Big Brother, I’ll help.” Pointing out her small hand toward a seemingly random direction, Lyla spoke again. “That way.”
**
On the battle field, Ri winced as she felt another blade slice at her tail. She was losing her stamina faster and faster with every rest session she took. What had surprised her though, was the fact none of the demon generals had even felt a need to rest. Maybe it was because they were more experienced with long, drawn out battles, or maybe their demon will made their bodies more robust in combination with their cultivation. Regardless, it was truly impressive.
Ri sighed, ‘Will I really never see you again?…’ Her heart ached for what seemed like the millionth time as the same thought resurfaced in her head.
“Commander!” Arios’ voice boomed, snapping Ri out of her stupor to find a blade headed for her head.
‘Shit.’ Ri dodged to the side, leaping forward to stab a snakeman through the ribcage before dodging a mace that swung in her direction.
Suddenly, a blinding flash of light swept through the sky, appearing before Ri and not giving her a choice but to accept it slipping onto her finger.
Everyone looked stunned. Even the beast army leaped backward from Ri. The gates were too unpredictable to just ignore a random flash of light like that.
Ri shook violently, ‘Wha – ‘ Ri froze as a message entered her ears, tears spilling over as she listened.
Watching such a she-devil cry in the middle of such a situation only caused everyone to pause all the more so. Even the demon generals had to surge forward to surround Ri and ensure she wouldn’t be attacked in this state.
Away from that battle field, a similar scene was occurring in the midst of the Sapientia family. Tears streaked down Madeleine’s cheeks as her hand lightly traced an elegant necklace that now graced her neck.
Both women had listened to the same simple message… and that told them everything they needed to know.
Dyon’s voice was strong and unwavering, leaving no room for debate.
Ri and Madeleine nodded heavily from begin to end…
Following the directions of the little girl in his arms, Dyon absentmindedly mumbled to himself. “The Sacharro family doesn’t lose. Take them for everything they have.”
**
Ri stepped forward, a bright smile spreading across her face. “My name is Alexandria Sacharro.”
In much the same way, Madeleine’s hand flashed as an energy fruit appeared in her hand. “My name is Madeleine Sacharro.”
‘We’ll do you proud.’