Dyon didn’t even watch as the armies retreated. He slowly touched down to the ground with Ri in his arms as the demon generals returned to their normal states. Although they were a bit disappointed the Uidah hadn’t attacked them, after months of fighting, maybe a break was something even they needed.

Dyon’s eyes flashed golden, causing the Gorilla’s Den formation to disappear in an instant.

By the looks of it, it was clear this formation had been rebuilt and restructured many times. With the oddities of the gates, the cyclones and storms probably did more damage than the Uidah universe did. But, it was good that Dyon had managed to create enough array plates.

Looking down at Ri, Dyon lit a gentle halo of flames around her to ward of the falling snow before he walked toward Akash and the elves.

“Commander.” Dyon gave Akash an apologetic smile as he noticed her injuries were quite severe as well. Her black armor was terribly torn in many places, her singular shoulder guard had disappeared, and even her eye was closed in an attempt to ward off the blood from a gash above it.

Despite that, Akash sighed, “I don’t know if I have the right to be called that anymore.” Looking back toward the tired and injured elves, Akash felt a dull pain in her heart. If it hadn’t been for Dyon, who knows what would have happened.

Having run out of medicinal pills long ago, many had been depleting their essence energy in a feeble attempt to heal themselves for months now. However, essence energy wasn’t meant to directly heal. It had healing properties in so far as it purified, cleansed and improved normal bodily functions, but it worked better to amplify healing as opposed to being a healer itself. This was why Dyon’s healing worked better with his energy cultivation.

Dyon had thought that maybe the elves might have auxiliary groups from the alchemists guild be responsible for supplying additional pills. But, the problem with that was that not everyone could become a top tier alchemist at such a young age. In fact, many who were still able to enter this gate were still common level alchemists. The pills they could make would not only be a waste due to their margin of error, even completed ones wouldn’t be of much help.

And as for those of the older generation who were just slow cultivators, because they were slow cultivators, their soul strength also lagged behind. This meant it was rare for any of them to even have the soul strength necessary to reach upper levels of alchemist mastery.

Dyon could only sigh. He had to slowly change his perspective on things and be more self-aware. As nice and flowery as it sounded to say that everyone should be able to succeed as he did if they persevered enough, the truth was that that was only the case if you allowed for differing amounts of time per person. Dyon couldn’t expect everyone to improve as quickly as he did.

Whenever Dyon jumped into situations and acted frivolously, he had to be aware that he could very much be making things worse.

At Focus Academy, he had naively believed that simply revealing the truth of things would be a win. He had somehow believed that the martial world still had some semblance of the mortal realm. If a scandal like the sacrifice of thousands of students had been made public in Dyon’s home country, then there would be hell to pay. But, Dyon had to stop applying his own philosophies to the martial world.

From this time onwards, Dyon knew that if he wanted to get involved in something, he had to be sure that he could see it through to the end.

He couldn’t rely on the power or the justice of those stronger than himself. He couldn’t hope that all of the anger he brewed would only be aimed toward himself and not others. And, he had to be mindful of the connections he formed and what they meant to him.

“Don’t say that commander. This campaign was already coming to a close before I got here. There’s no doubt in my mind that you all would have lived to fight another day.” Dyon smiled. Although his words had seemed hollow, there was still a semblance of truth to it.

They had held out for nearly four months and were still here. Had they not held out for so long, Dyon wouldn’t have been able to train and gain his meridians. Even if Dyon were here from beginning to end, there’s no telling whether his strength would have been able to sway the battle.

Before his advancement, he had only been comparable to Ri before she fully awakened to her faith seed. Which meant it was likely that Ri’s impact on the battlefield strength wise would have been much better than Dyon’s had he stayed. They didn’t know it, but their contribution was equal to if not more so than Dyon’s. What would have been the use of getting stronger if he came back with no one left to protect?

Akash looked Dyon in the eye. At first, she had assumed that he was just saying things to be polite. But, there was something decidedly sure and pure about his eyes that made Akash feel compelled to believe in him. Dyon just had an allure to him that made others believe in the words he spoke.

Withholding her disbelief, Akash nodded. “We should get moving. There are still a few weeks until the gates close, but this we’re already in a period where attacks on the lotus tower should stop. An army coming in any later than now would be hard-pressed to return to Gautama Tower by closing.”

Dyon nodded in agreement, content to wait. At least, that was until he noticed Delia was nowhere to be seen.

Scanning around the area, a faint worry built up in Dyon until he noticed blood staining the grey ground where the center of the maze would have been.

Anger steeled Dyon features as his eyes froze over, boring holes into the group of slowly retreating big sect members.

Because of the nature of the maze, the top had obviously also consisted of concealment and defensive plates in order to defend against aerial attacks. This meant that the snow hadn’t impacted the area. And yet, there was slowly reddening snow in a place where there should have been no fighting to begin with.

Dyon’s first thought had been that maybe someone had teleported to the central station and that was the cause of the blood. However, there were no severely injured people in the area and the blood was too fresh.

But, that wasn’t the deciding factor. The blood was much too spread out. An injured person wouldn’t have the need to move so erratically. And, even if they did move at all, it would have been in a straight line toward lotus tower.

That meant there had been a fight there… But, why would there be a fight at the center of an intact maze?

Noticing Dyon’s expression, Akash looked toward the big sect members as well. But, her vision wasn’t as good as Dyon’s, so she didn’t immediately catch that something was amiss. With the sense boost that an innate aurora brought, along with Dyon’s newly formed body and energy cultivation, not many around his cultivation level could match his vision.

“Is something wrong, Dyon?” Zaltarish walked up to help prop up his stumbling sister. Akash had been trying to pretend as though she was perfectly fine, but Zaltarish could tell that she was barely holding it together.

Noticing Akash’s weaknesses, Dyon turned back to the pile of energy fruits behind him. He had piled a lot from killing the basilisks but had never had a need for them. “Commander, we should distribute these fruits. They’re excellent for healing and should give us enough strength to make it back to the gates.”

Nodding appreciatively, Akash slowly replenished herself as Dyon handed her a few for herself.

Turning to Zaltarish who was in a much better state, Dyon asked a question that had been weighing on his mind. “What happened in the maze?”

Zaltarish looked at Dyon in confusion. He had no idea what Dyon was talking about. The elves hadn’t been in the maze at the time Delia was fighting. They had only retreated after Dyon appeared.

Seeing Zaltarish’s confusion, Dyon changed his question. “Did anything happen that would have caused people to turn on each other?”

A flash of realization crossed Zaltarish’s features. “The female leader of the King God Clan did say at one point that if the warriors in the maze stopped us from teleporting back, that she’d leave and let them go.”

Dyon’s jaw tightened. So that was why they were in such a horrible situation. It wasn’t just the army pressuring them into not being able to teleport, it was also the faint pressure of internal tension. It seems he would have to be even more careful when dealing with the Uidah in the future. They had the first semblance of tactics Dyon had seen in the martial world.

“I have something to deal with. I’ll have to leave this to you, Commander.” Dyon turned to walk toward the big sect members as they nursed their wounds.

Seemingly have finally pieced something together, Akash’s features flashed with worry. “Dyon, wait. You should hold back until we leave the gate. There’s a massive penalty for infighting. They’ve likely been punished severely already.”

Dyon shook his head, “It’s deeper than that.” His steps flashed as he immediately appeared among the big sect seeded geniuses as they nursed their wounds.

Jessica, Orbis, Hashim and Lehabim all looked mortified by Dyon’s appearance. He had been hundreds of meters away and yet he had somehow appeared directly before them as though he wasn’t holding a woman in his arms at all.

Dyon scanned them silently, taking in their injuries. ‘Sword slashes. Frost bite.’

“Where’s Delia.” A faint rage was building up in Dyon’s heart. He didn’t need much more evidence to know they had fought with Delia. But, he needed to make sure Delia was safe first before he acted.

“W-we…” Jessica’s lips trembled.

“I don’t need your bull** stuttering. I need an answer. If you have time to regret your actions now, you should have regretted them then.” Dyon’s eyes were lit with black flames. He was having trouble holding himself back from attacking. If it was up to him, they’d be dead already.

Anger rose in the hearts of the seeded geniuses. They were lauded and praised when they were at home. In fact, there was once a time where they saw Dyon as nothing more than an ant. And yet here, they were nothing – relegated to nothing but foot soldiers.

“You!” Lehabim’s red hair trembled as he grit his teeth. The members of the flame blade sect were essentially watching as he was being emasculated, how could he face them in the future?

Dyon didn’t respond with words. A massive black of sword will whipped out from himself, immediately slicing off Lehabim’s dominant arm.

“AGH!” Lehabim screamed out in agony, watching in horror as his favored arm fell to the ground. He almost couldn’t believe that it was once his.

Hashim bit back his remarks. He had wanted to explode like Lehabim had, but seeing the consequences, he threw all thoughts of retaliation out the window.

Their pride was being stomped on and shattered. Dyon had no sympathy or remorse for such pathetic characters. He almost felt that it was beneath himself to even kill them at all.

“Now. I’ll give you all one more chance. Where is Delia?”

Orbis finally spoke up. Lehabim was in too much pain. Hashim was trembling in anger at having his pride crushed. And Jessica was much too scared. It was up to him, it seemed.

“She headed toward lotus tower…” He said, softly.

“What happened here?” Dyon didn’t express thanks. All he needed to know was that Delia was alive. But, now, there had to be a punishment. And depending on their answer, that punishment might very well be death.

“Kill us if you must. But, we did what we had to, to survive.” Orbis wasn’t in the mood to beg for anything. He had found out the love of his life was promised to another man. He didn’t have the will to do much of anything anymore.

The only reason he had even fought with the other seeded geniuses before was in order to help make sure Jessica survived. But, now? In the face of Dyon? There was nothing he could do to stop him from killing Jessica. There was just no point. Maybe dying with Jessica was his best-case scenario.

Dyon looked toward the round Orbis. He didn’t have much of an impression of him because neither Orbis nor Jessica participated in fighting Dyon at the Legacy World Opening. However, he didn’t have sympathy for such a pathetic mind state either.

“Did you think that saying that would make you justified? Vindicated? Righteous? Is this the way of your world? You have no principles. You have no real goals. You have no ambition. Any semblance of anything you have is nothing but a façade because you’re willing to throw it away whenever you come up against an insurmountable mountain. You all deserve death and I’ll bring it to you.”

Dyon twitched, ready to end the four of their lives where they kneeled. However, Jessica suddenly thought of something that made her kowtow. “Wait! Please! You can’t kill us! I’m the fiancée of Oliver. I am the wife of your brother in law!”

Dyon’s brows furrowed, ‘Oliver’s fiancée? What the hell?’

Dyon hesitated. Before this, he was worried about the consequences of his actions. He wanted to change and not act so impulsively, but this was a lot harder than he thought…

If he killed Jessica, and Oliver really did love her, then that would put a huge strain on Oliver’s relationship with Madeleine… Something that was already fragile to begin with.

Dyon had no idea that Oliver’s true feelings were for Venus. How would he have known something like that? He had barely interacted with Oliver at all. In fact, he had never even interacted with Madeleine’s parents. But, what kind of stress would this action put on them?…

Seeing Dyon’s hesitation, a faint hope bloomed in the hearts of the seeded geniuses.

However, Dyon only put the thought of killing them away for the moment. He had something else to ask them that was as important to him as Delia.

“What happened to the Viridi family?” Dyon’s eyes scanned the reactions of seeded geniuses. But, his words only caused them to tremble all the more so… Because they were not only aware of Dyon’s connection to the Viridi family… Much of the reason the Viridi family was punished was because of them.

“Speak.” Dyon was running out of patience. He had to go and help Delia. He was sure that she wouldn’t leave the battlefield unless it was severe. Any time wasted here only made her situation worse.

“I – I can tell you. But, you have to know that Orbis and I had nothing to do with it!” Jessica trembled from her kneeling position, hoping that Dyon would believe her.

Lehabim and Hashim looked over at Jessica with anger coloring their features. But, they knew she was right…

“Tell me.”

Jessica nodded. It was clear if she tried to negotiate with Dyon any more, it would only end badly for her and maybe Orbis as well. Although she didn’t share Orbis’ feelings for her, she could still appreciate his effort. It was just that Oliver was a better option for her future. This wasn’t a mentality that Dyon could respect, but, to Jessica, this was just reality.

“A-after you escaped, there was still Madeleine and Ava who remained. So, they of course did their best to protect the Viridi family members who were at Focus Academy. Venus, and I believe her brother’s name was Eli…” Jessica took a deep breath, trying to stabilize her trembling.

Dyon said nothing. He knew much of this already. It was part of the reason he had left as he did. Eli had been sent back to Focus Academy and Venus was on the yacht with Ava. There shouldn’t have been much to do to them in the short term.

“However, after everything calmed down, Ava was forced to go home with her father and Madeleine was taken away by her master… They must have thought that there was no reason for a God Clan to come back to deal with such a small family… But..”

“But?” Dyon’s jaw clenched as he waited.

“But… Lehabim and Hashim were bent on revenge – “

“Shut up!” Boomed Hashim, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Don’t pretend as though your sects were completely blameless! It was all of our masters who insisted on trying to gain our quotas back by giving the Ragnor God Clan a way to save face for their failures!”

A light flashed in Dyon’s eyes had a blinding sword qi fell from the sky.

“No! NO! AGHHH!”

Hashim trembled on the ground.

By now, everyone had their attention trained on Dyon and his conversation with the seeded geniuses. But, they remained silent.

The Niveus sect members had been told by Evelyn to not interfere with anything anymore. The elves trusted that Dyon wouldn’t act without rhyme or reason. And the big sect disciples were simply too weak to help their seeded geniuses…

And now, they could only watch as Hashim’s legs were cut from his knees.

The worst part was that as he was threatening to bleed out, a trail of black flames charred his wound closed.

The whites of Hashim’s eyes rolled back as he passed out from the pain. But, a slap of wind will woke him up before he even had any chance to rest.

‘Cruel… Too cruel…’ The thought ran through everyone’s minds but Dyon wasn’t done and no where near satisfied.

“Finish.” Dyon said plainly.

“O-our, w-w-we…” Jessica’s lips trembled as she took deep breaths to try and calm herself.

“Our masters sold the Viridi family to the Ragnor God Clan as a scape goat for the scandal in order to earn a larger quota.” Orbis spoke out for Jessica, seeing that she was clearly not

Dyon’s breathing became shallow as he tried to stabilize his beating heart.

His gaze shifted to the writing Lehabim and Hashim.

The pale look on Lehabim’s face was becoming closer and closer to a sheet of white as his arm lost blood.

Hashim couldn’t even look up properly. He was crying, his tears melting the snow that fell to the ground.

“Before I kill you. I want you both to know that your sects are gone and dead now. This isn’t a matter of if. It’s a matter of when. Die knowing there’s nothing you can do about it.”

With that final thought, Dyon’s sword will fell from the skies, ending both of their lives before he began walking to lotus tower.

“You two survive only for now. Any information about your involvement means death. I don’t care who it is you’re meant to marry.”

Jessica and Orbis could only watch as Dyon figure disappeared into the distance.

They finally knew what it felt like to have your lives toyed with. They knew their sects were as good as done now. With Dyon’s power, even their patriarchs were no match for him… How could 7th and 6th grade essence gathering experts do anything to a man who ended a war by himself?…

And the worst part was that if Dyon ever decided that Orbis and Jessica played a part in Eli and Venus being thrown into slavery… They were dead…