Dyon knew well that Emytheus’ abilities weren’t so simple as copying his ancestors. Or rather, he had been prepared for this to be the case.

Emytheus used these abilities too freely and without reserve. To now, he had already tapped into the strength of all 12 Olympus Clan Gods with the exception of Artemis. And, maybe the only reason he hadn’t was very likely because Artemis’ abilities were probably related to beast taming.

Creation. It was a concept that ironically introduced Dyon to concepts. His first true interaction with it was within the Golden Flame Mystical World where he found a book of Creation kept by Orcus during the second phase. .

Back then, he had given the book to Madeleine since she relied on some abilities of the concept Creation in order to compose the pieces she used in her music. The deeper her comprehension of creation, the better her music would become, and thus the greater her battle prowess would be.

However, this was only the short of it. During his time in the Golden Flame Mystical World, Dyon had also concluded that his flames didn’t have many Characteristics, but rather each had only one… That of creation. Knowing this, Dyon had unlocked many abilities of his chaos and purity flames over the years.

So, hearing Emytheus’ words, he immediately understood why it was that Emytheus could use the abilities of his Ancestors. It wasn’t that he was born with them… But rathe that he could manifest them at will. He could create them from thin air.

But this only made Dyon’s intent blaze fiercer because he realized that Emytheus had just made a very foolish mistake.

He could have never imagined that his singular cocky line had revealed so much to Dyon. Or maybe, he simply didn’t know how deep Dyon’s comprehension of Creation already was.

Knowing that Emytheus’ true ability, Dyon could also see through his limitations with ease. It was very likely that Emytheus’ 12 Ancestor abilities weren’t as strong as they were when his Ancestors wielded them. He could also see that Emytheus very obviously needed a reference for his Creations, or else he wouldn’t have been limiting himself to his 12 Ancestors all this time either.

Maybe if Emytheus was like Dyon, Dyon wouldn’t be sneering at this realization.

For a person like Dyon, it simply didn’t matter to him whether his enemy knew his true abilities or not. However, for Emytheus, things were different.

With how arrogant Emytheus had been from the start… Wasn’t he trying just a little too hard? If he was so confident in his own strength, why did he go through all the trouble of using Kaori to round up the Overlords? Obviously it was so that Dyon’s strength would fall at a faster rate.

The more Dyon impacted this timeline by killing its most powerful experts, the harder the Heavens would fight back against him, and thus the more his strength would plummet.

Did this sound like something an overly confident person would do?

Dyon knew the truth. Since Emytheus knew the truth behind these dual timelines, that mean he knew that he died before reaching his full potential in that timeline.

And this reality… filled him with fear!

This was the difference between Emytheus and Dyon. To Dyon, the matters of the previous timeline had nothing to do with him. He had a one-track mind aimed toward victory. Yet, Emytheus continued to think about a failure he hadn’t even personally witnessed.

In Dyon’s eyes, no matter how strong Emytheus was… He was weak!

A flash of rage filled Emytheus’ heart as though he could feel Dyon’s disdain.

Under his anger, the world trembled, the already collapsing skies imploding in on themselves to reveal a sea of black. It was no longer a world of red soil, skies and sun. It had become a land that existed between reality and illusory, a world built by the hands of Emytheus himself.

Dyon’s laughter played a backdrop to Emytheus’ surging aura. It felt that no matter what Emytheus did, his momentum was being stifled again and again.

Dyon flashed forward, attacking from the front as his clones continued to bombard Emytheus’ ever-growing abyss of the dead. However, his gaze turned serious when he realized that Emytheus, who he had thought was before him, was actually to his back.

The cycle seemed to flip and continue. Time inexplicably ran backward at times while strikes Dyon believed were levied to his left went to his right and vice versa.

The world turned upside down and inside out. Like a house of mirrors, Dyon’s Immortal Sense bounced and reflected off of surfaces, sending images that were almost impossible to interpret in his mind.

“Why don’t you attack personally, Emytheus, the great Olympian?” Dyon’s expression remained calm, his calculative mind spinning at ungodly speeds. “Isn’t it because you know that this world is meaningless to me? You’re nothing but a dog of the Heavens, do you really expect me to believe that you can disregard its rules as you see fit? All you can do is…”

Dyon’s muscles tensed, his bare back rippling with strength as he sent a strike backward. The reverberating impact of his scythe meeting Emytheus’ palms travelled across worlds.

“… work within the confines of your little hamster wheel.”

Dyon had already seen through Emytheus’ weakness, wasn’t it too foolish for the latter to believe he could trick him in this way?

Dyon realized in these recent months that no matter what kind of strength you gained, as long as it was handed to you by the Heavens, you would forever be in its grasp. The reality was that they were all Heaven’s Children, wiggling around in the chains placed around their necks.

Emytheus seemed big and powerful, but he could only play within the confines the Heavens allowed him to. He seemed to be ‘bending’ reality and creating worlds as he pleased, but the truth was that he was only shifting around puzzle pieces the Heavens themselves had already built.

Updated from 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚