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. 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮

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.

𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝑚