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Book 4: Chapter 21: Last Act

It was early the next morning, and Ri had of course not slept. She was torn between checking the progress of the demon generals on their mastering the Florence family technique and staying by Dyon’s side to see if she could slow the progression of the technique and come up with some new ideas.

Eventually, even Alidor and his younger sister Kaeara came out. Ever since Dyon had brought them into the ring, he had treated them well by providing Heaven’s Wine food, cultivation materials, and their own space for living. He hadn’t asked anything of Alidor and let him be.

Alidor had seen Dyon’s near cultivation deviation from a distance, but he had immediately realized there was nothing he could do, and therefore decided to stay back. Alidor didn’t like wasted movements or illogical actions, and he felt his presence would have been illogical then.

But, this situation was a bit odd and he was quite interested in it. That said, he also didn’t want to disrupt anything because he too didn’t have a solution.

Ethereal Permeation was much too domineering to be used as a cure in a situation like this. He would only end up shattering Dyon.

This didn’t mean that Alidor’s intelligence lost out to Dyon’s, of course. For all intents and purposes, the differences in the intellect between Dyon and Alidor was minor in terms of many things. Dyon’s perfect innate aurora might allow him to reach a conclusion quicker than Alidor, but when given time, there was no reason for Alidor to not be able to reach the same conclusion.

However, the fact that Alidor hadn’t come up with a solution even after a day had passed while Dyon had come up with a solution long ago only meant one thing: Dyon knew something Alidor didn’t. And luckily for the situation at hand, Ri too figured this out.

Sparing a glance at Alidor and a head rub for Kaeara, Ri refocused her attention on Dyon who laid on the grass of the inner world. Ri was too scared to move him any more than they already had. “What do you think about this situation?”

“I think that if he dies, I’d be free.” Alidor’s words caused a faint snorting sound to be heart from Dyon before he instantly regretted it. He had such an urge to laugh at that instant that he accidentally made a sound. But, that only greeted him with a wave of pain worse than before.

Ri found this significantly less funny though, causing her to glare at the deadpan Alidor. “Answer the question.”

“If I knew, I would have told you. Your husband’s curse on me binds me not only to not act against him, but to also do my best for him. I would have no choice but to tell you if I knew something because if I didn’t, even should that second stipulation not be there, I’d be indirectly causing his death. Which, again, would cause mine.” Alidor explained slowly.

Ri turned away, having expected an answer much like this. “Do you think he has the solution?”

Ri felt a bit awkward talking about Dyon as though he wasn’t there, but there was no way to communicate with him.

“I think that since I don’t, he’s the only person who would.” Alidor’s answer was short and concise. It even held an odd and reserved praise for Dyon that Ri found very interesting. “But, more accurately. Because of the master to slave connection we have, I can feel much of his will. Right now, he hasn’t given up hope. But, that hope isn’t abstract – it’s holding onto something real. That either means he’s a fool who only has blind faith. Or, he already knows there’s a solution. And, if it’s the latter…”

Ri nodded, “That means it’s something he knows, that you don’t. Which also means I’m more likely to figure it out than you are…”

After Ri came to that conclusion, Alidor took his little sister’s hand and left. He had the obligation to do his best for Dyon, which in that situation meant letting Ri find this clue. With his job done, he could leave the rest up to her.

“Big brother, are you really okay with being a slave?” Kaeara had been pouting about this ever since her brother had told her what happened. Alidor hadn’t wanted to, but Kaeara was too intelligent to not have picked it up on her own eventually. After all, Alidor had gone from being enemies with Dyon, to living in his spatial ring. It was a bit odd.

“Who would be okay with being a slave?” Alidor responded in his usual fashion.

“Then why don’t you break the seal, you’re super good at that, aren’t you?”

Alidor paused at this question. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about it, he had just never put it into action. For one, it was too dangerous. The act of removing the seal was technically going against Dyon. And secondly, his little sister saw him is the greatest, but that simply wasn’t the case this time. Alidor didn’t fully understand how a teenage boy a few years younger than him had such a powerful soul, but, it was undeniable. The truth he didn’t want to admit was that even if he had thoughts of trying, there was a 0% chance he’d succeed.

Alidor sighed, expressing the most emotion he had since he hugged his little sister that day, “Right now, he’s useful. He allows us to train and provides a certain level of safety the gates didn’t have. If we were in the gates right now, as we usually are, we would be in constant danger.

Logically speaking, this is the best move for us moving forward. As long as he doesn’t touch you and his goal remains to conquer universes, I’ll have everything I want. Your safety and the destruction of the Uidah.”

Despite Alidor’s words, Kaeara still remained disappointed and saddened. She knew her brother only had those two goals in life… But, sometimes, she wanted him to live for himself. How could he possibly do something like that as a slave?

Ri laid on the grass by Dyon, her head on his chest and her mind racing.

The feeling Dyon gave her was completely different now. There was nothing comfortable about his heart beat – it wasn’t steady. It was instead strained and sounded nothing like calm and booming thump it usually was.

Even worse, his flesh was too cool to the touch… It felt like lying on a flesh covered metal table. Yet, Ri continued to lay there, still finding her place here more inviting than any other place in the world.

“Something you know that Alidor doesn’t…” Ri said softly. Alidor had only left moments ago, in fact, not even five minutes had passed.

Suddenly, Ri thought of something that made her jump up. Dyon chuckled inwardly at this reaction, ‘It’s about time… I’ll have to punish you after I’m cured.’ However, by the time Dyon had finished this thought, Ri had already flashed away with only a single goal in mind.

Soon, Ri reached a special area of the spatial ring.

Because this spatial world housed living beings, it wasn’t always convenient to also use it to store inanimate objects like weapons. However, Dyon preferred to have a single ring, only using others in special cases like with Ms. Everdeen’s burial. This meant that Dyon had to leave a cornered off area in the spatial world for all things he deemed important.

Technically speaking, Dyon only need focus on something or someone to bring it out of the ring. However, the problem would be where to find those things if he left them just anywhere. So, Dyon had begun utilizing the Celestial Deer Sect’s library to house these things so he could quickly send his mind to a particular location.

Ignoring the pile of books and papers, Ri immediately headed for the furthest corner of the large library to find a diligently organized section of books and weapons. But, her focus was on one in particular. A book that any elf would notice immediately – the Elvin Tome.

Ri trembled in anticipation. She knew this had to be the answer.

The Elvin Tome was known as the ultimate cleanser. This Tome not only ranked manifestations, it was also responsible for cleansing the accumulated evil a True Empath had to deal with. That said, although this latter function would have been enough for Ri to give it a try, it wasn’t enough for her to feel as confident as she did. What truly gave Ri this confidence was another anecdote entirely…

Back when the demon generals were still incapacitated, Dyon had used a celestial array in combination with energy stones to facilitate their recovery. Ri remembered very clearly that Dyon had once told her that the demon generals were under the influence of a technique that robbed them of their minds and their bodies. This technique, though, wasn’t malicious. The demon sage wanted to extend the lives of his demon generals, and as such, had no choice but to do this.

That said, more than a year passed under this array and yet the demon generals showed no sign of waking up. Although they had lost their demonic forms and looked like humans, the effects of the technique were very much still there.

Dyon didn’t know it at the time, but on the pace that his celestial array was working on, it would have taken another decade, maybe more, to awaken the demon generals.

However, something happened to change all of that.

While Dyon slept for three days and three nights after awakening his manifestation, the Elvin Tome he had gained ownership of flashed in his sleep.

The light swept through his spatial ring, and immediately effected the demon generals. Causing them to twitch and then later on, awaken.

In the end, it was because of this event that Dyon was able to connect the Elvin Tome to True Empaths – thus coming to understand the cleansing role it played.

Now, Ri was sure that the Elvin Tome would come in handy. The only problem was how long it would take…

There was no question that the demon sage’s technique was more powerful. If it had to be ranked, it would without a doubt be a peak divinity technique if not a legendary technique that surpassed that level. However, it wasn’t malicious to begin with. The demon general had made it a point to allow his technique the possibility of being undone. After all, what would have been the point if one was never able to undo it?

This meant that while the demon sage’s technique was fully willing to work alongside Dyon’s celestial will, and the Elvin Tome’s cleansing, whatever this technique was would definitely not be so amiable.

The second problem was something much more nuanced. Something Ri didn’t pick up on because she didn’t have enough knowledge of the original demon sage’s technique.

The Elvin Tome wasn’t an all-cleanser. Meaning, it could only cleanse one specific thing: The Soul. This was because, as the Elvin ancestors had said, the Elvin Tome was among the 33 heavenly weapons and part of the 11 in the soul category along with the aurora awakening steps.

What Dyon knew, that Ri didn’t, was that his celestial will had been enough to cleanse the bodies of the demon generals. After all, they had already been in their human forms when Dyon took them out of the legacy world. What the Elvin Tome was needed for was not to cleanse their bodies, but to cleanse their souls. This was why they looked perfectly healthy but hadn’t awakened – it was because they hadn’t fully regained their minds yet.

Knowing this, the problem was clear. This technique, although it was also affecting Dyon’s aurora and slowing down his thoughts, and thereby effecting his soul, it was also affecting Dyon’s body – something the Elvin Tome had no ability to cleanse.

So… If Dyon’s soul was saved, what would save his body?…

Ri didn’t have time to think through something like this, she had to trust that even if something went wrong, Dyon would have a solution.

Seeing that Ri returned with the Elvin Tome, Dyon wanted to smile but, of course, couldn’t. He was slowly losing even his vision, but he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. As long as he freed his soul, he’d be able to communicate. Maybe not with his original body, but, he could create a clone with the Florence family technique and communicate. Since that technique relied on his soul, with those shackles removed, he’d be free to do this.

Ri froze when she reached Dyon, a bit hesitant. Although she had been confident just moments ago, right now, she was very much scared that this wasn’t the solution. But, seeing Dyon’s resolute gaze nearly crystallizing over, she knew she couldn’t delay any longer.

As soon as the tome touched Dyon’s chest, the effects were immediate. After but a moment of pain, Dyon’s thoughts began to reach their top speed.

His aurora lit itself again from its dimming light and Dyon could feel everything around him again. In less than ten seconds, Dyon’s soul was completely cleansed of all signs of the technique.

Ri, however, couldn’t see this change. She saw somber flashing lights, but aside from that, she saw that Dyon still couldn’t move. The disappointment on her face was clear and she felt like screaming. Why was it that everything in the martial world seemed intent on destroying everything important to her? However, she only closed her eyes and focused. If this didn’t work, something else would have to.

‘What else could it –‘

Suddenly, Ri’s thoughts were interrupted by a pat on her head.

Her eyes snapped open, “Dyon?” Tears streamed down Ri’s face as she found Dyon’s form right in front of her. But, when she noticed that there was another Dyon lying on the ground with the tome still lying on his chest, she didn’t know how to feel.

“This…” Ri stuttered.

“Ah, don’t worry about. I can’t come out for long because I need my full focus on curing the rest of this. In fact, every second I spend out here is another second the technique is violently reacting.”

As Ri had thought, the technique was a malicious one. When it felt its power being encroached on, it began to react violently. If Dyon continued to diverge his soul power, the situation would only get worse much faster.

Ri nodded, wiping her cheeks so she could listen to Dyon’s words.

“I need the Elvin Tome to stay on me so that my soul doesn’t relapse, so make sure that it stays there. Other than that, with my soul freed, I have access to my wills again.”

“But… Celestial will didn’t work…”

“About that, I have another idea. Don’t worry about it. I want you to focus and use these 7-8 weeks to cultivate – don’t miss the world tournament. I know it’s important to you. I’ll be fine. With that much time, as long as you use that array room I made for you, your improvement should be insane.

Last thing, about the person who attacked m –“ Dyon’s clone winced, shattering in space in an instant.

Ri looked toward Dyon’s form worried. If his soul disappeared so abruptly, then the situation must be serious. She didn’t even have time to think about what Dyon had wanted to tell her about who attacked him. It seemed unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

Despite Dyon’s words, Ri spent the rest of the day sitting beside Dyon worriedly.

She was doing everything she could to check for any minute changes, but even Dyon’s eyes had become completely glazed over with red crystals.

However, on the morning of the third day, Ri found a faint ray of hope. Dyon’s heart beat had finally gained a semblance of normalcy.

Seeing that, Ri nodded. ‘I’ll go cultivate then…’ She thought silently, ‘Then, I’ll make them pay.’

**

“Father?” Delia started, feeling a familiar presence in her hotel room.

She had spent the past weeks locked in here, cultivating. In fact, it had become a complete ice land as she tried her best to understand just what the absolute path was.

A familiar figure flashed into existence – middle-aged man with dark olive skin and a full beard and well-kept head of hair.

Tears threatened to spill out of Delia’s eyes, but there seemed to be a barrier between her and her emotions that had been growing in the past few days. The path of the absolute was unforgiving and cruel and it was beginning to encroach of Delia’s personality more and more.

Patia-Neva looked at his daughter silently. If one paid attention, his murky brown eyes held a faint pain in them… as though he knew exactly what his daughter was going through.

“I didn’t wish for this path for you.” Patia-Neva said faintly, “I wanted nothing more than to avoid this. You shouldn’t have to make the same decisions I did just for the sake of power or for some greater good. You should be allowed to grow up without such burdens, and yet, my mistakes have driven you to this end.”

Delia didn’t know what her father was talking about. Did he know about the absolute path too? Was this the reason for the change Delia had seen in her father?

But, Patia-Neva didn’t explain. “Is this the path you’ve chosen?”

Delia nodded. Despite her confusion, she knew this was her path to power. She didn’t know what her father had gone through, but this was her choice.

“Very soon, you’ll find out about things that will never allow you to look at me the same way again. But, for now, let me perform my last act as your father.” Patia-Neva spoke faintly.

A sudden aura coated the room before Delia and Patia-Neva disappeared in an instant.

Although Delia didn’t know it at the time, she would come to know one day in the distant future.

That aura that coated the room, was no normal aura. It was without a doubt the presence of a Celestial Expert.