Dyon stood looking down at the crowd, gently holding onto Ri’s small hand.
He smiled to himself looking at her shy reaction, ‘I didn’t think you could get embarrassed. My little feu glace is so adorable.’
However, not everyone was so enamoured by Dyon’s appearance. And they definitely weren’t happy that he had shown up hand in hand with a woman… and who else could be simmering in rage over this other than Wyn Eostre.
He knew exactly how badly this made his daughter look, and yet all anyone around her saw was a relieved smile. As though all she cared about was Dyon’s safety.
The pang of pity made Wyn almost erupt. But, Jade only turned to him with a small smile, “he never forced me to do anything father… you can’t be angry at him for this…”
But… the more understanding Jade was, the more furious the Eostre family became.
And they weren’t the only ones. Opal and Celine felt their hearts trembling with rage looking at Dyon’s calm countenance… as if Jade’s feelings meant nothing to him at all.
Yet still, Kymil Nodin and Darcassan Fletcher snickered to the side, standing near each other in a far corner.
“Who else could the human end up with but the ugly duckling?”
“Shh, don’t speak so loudly, you’ll hurt her feelings. Her Uncle is quite powerful you know, Kymil.”
Kymil chuckled, “what Uncle? What king? I seem to see neither?”
Dyon turned a calm gaze in their direction, “it seems all elves have a problem with controlling themselves… maybe a little discipline is needed…” he said faintly.
Before Kymil and Darcassan could even snicker in response, Dyon’s manifestation flashed so quickly that only a select few could even grasp what it was…
His soul raged, wildly increasing in strength.
“Advanced weapon’s hell array…” Dyon said softly.
Blinding purple-gold formations roared to life, spinning viciously in the air… kicking up the wind and the table dressings.
BOOM!
Four spears sped forward with blinding acceleration…
“AAGHH!”
The crowd was stunned… Kymil and Darcassan… two of their best geniuses… wasted.
Each grit their teeth in clear pain…
Not only had Dyon defeated them in an instant… but he had humiliated them.
The four spears had served a very specific purpose… one pierced directly through their thigh… and the other pierced directly into their foot…
In a manner of seconds… Dyon had forced them to kneel.
Dyon chuckled lightly, “speak out of turn again, especially if it’s about my Ri, and I’ll kill the both of you.”
A cold sweat appeared on the backs of the two young men, but when they turned to their families, all they saw were endless looks of disappointment. Their kingdom had fallen so far that a human boy alone was enough to deal with them. Regardless of whether it was a surprise attack or not, the skill to manifest one’s soul so quickly was the mark of a genius… they had nothing to complain about…
They could only grit their teeth in silence, their leg forcefully bent in a position of endless shame and pain…
Sinaht Sigebryht looked on at this scene with interest. He had heard about Dyon before, and especially about how his son had lost a debate to him… but, he wasn’t aware that Dyon was also so powerful.
According to his sources, Ores had vastly underestimated Dyon which resulted in his loss… so, the only explanation was that either Dyon never let Ores use his full potential, or Dyon had gotten significantly stronger in the more than a month since then.
Zaltarish, though, was nowhere near as calm, “is there a reason you’re here? Since when did humans have the right to speak at an Elvin gathering? This banquet concerns the future of the Elvin Kingdom… you don’t have a say.”
Oddly enough, Dyon only smiled at Zaltarish’s antagonistic statement, “hm… Maybe a normal human wouldn’t… but, I’m a little bit of a special case.”
The eyes of everyone in attendance but a distinct group furrowed their brows. They had no idea what Dyon was talking about.
Zaltarish, was of course, not pleased, “being the boyfriend of the cousin of the daughter of a missing king isn’t exactly what you’d call a firm connection… Even if you were the boyfriend of the princess herself, since she has no power, what would make you think you did?”
“Ah, yes. Indeed…
Say, Zaltarish. You’re an elf yourself and understand far more about your kingdom than I do, correct?”
“That is obvious,” Zaltarish said proudly.
“Mm,” Dyon continued, “then what do you say is the main reason the grand elders were given their positions?…”
Zaltarish’s frown deepened, “it’s because they head guilds that are of unprecedented importance to the kingdom… their say is without a doubt among the most important because of this…”
Dyon smiled lightly, “ai… that’s what I thought too…”
Dyon’s words were confusing… what was he going on about?
But, his next actions caused something that made even Sinaht’s calm demeanor shatter.
Dyon waved his hand, and suddenly, thousands of arrays appeared above the heads of thousands of elves… elves that happened to correspond to a very specific set of 14 sub families.
*twinkle
The soft sounds of shattering arrays filled the square, raining down particles of purple-gold light.
Grand Elder Cormyth and Kroak smiled as a sudden look of realization flashed across Grand Elder Deryth’s old features.
Suddenly, the sounds of thousands of elves standing was all that anyone could hear… and then… they all bowed. 𝘪𝑎.
“Guild members greet Guild Head Sacharro.”
Silence.
Dyon waved his hand nonchalantly, sending a wink towards the surprised Ri, “no need to be so polite. I’m simply here to have my say in a kingdom I clearly have a lot invested in…”
Dyon turned towards Zaltarish, “this is enough, no?”
Zaltarish trembled. Time and time again Dyon foiled and blocked him… just when would it end?
But, what made everything worse was that when he looked towards the Grand Elders, he only found them calmly taking the rings off of their fingers, floating them up to Dyon.
Dyon smiled, finally accepting the Alchemy and Formation Guild rings.
Suddenly, he turned his attention towards Sinaht, completely ignoring Zaltarish, “I believe we have some things to discuss, no?”
𝑖𝘦𝑎.𝗇t