222 I See Through You 1 (1/2)

Over a year ago, Madeleine had told Dyon about the ancient games. To many in the martial world, they were simply a form of entertainment. Three enigmatic games, with admittedly odd origins, but also seemingly harmless.

However, was that true? Were they truly harmless? And why didn't they think more about the kind of power it took to lord over the rules of these games? The mere fact it was impossible to speak about the rules amongst each other should have been a cause to pause.

The worst part was that Dyon had yet to come into contact with these games without his life being on the line. In dead kings valley, if it wasn't for the stone puppet, he would have never had enough time to learn the game's rules. And now here, his most potent rival seemed to be taking advantage of the game's mechanics to pin Earth into a corner.

”Truth be told.” Dyon continued. ”This information is relatively useless to you all as it stands.”

Many eyes looked up from their thoughts and focused toward Dyon at this point. Everyone was thinking the same thing: 'Why?'

But, before Dyon could answer, Airic stepped in. ”The ancient games have always been dominated by elves because of the Eostre family. And now its being used to deal with us in the hands of an innate aurora wielder. The deduction is quite simple. We don't have the insight necessary to compete.”

Agitation and competitive spirits blazed at these words. Who were they? They were among the best geniuses this entire universe had to offer. Three of them, namely Vidar, Caedlum and Thor, had faith seeds. And yet they were being told there was something they simply wouldn't get?

”There's a solution to that, of course.” Dyon interjected. ”If you can awaken your auroras to larger percentages, you'll have a chance. But, for now, I've only given you this information so as not to be a hypocrite. I, for one, hate it the most when people tell me there are things I can and can't do based on the way I was born. So, I'm giving you a chance to do something.

Secondly, I'm not as selfish as the whole of you. Half of this planet belongs to my home. I was raised here too. I'm not a stranger or an alien to this place. Take this information. Learn from it. Prove that you're the so-called geniuses you claim to be.”

Flames lit in the eyes of the campaign heads as they watched a hobbled Dyon be brought out under Ri's strength. And yet, despite his seemingly weak state, his back was wider than any of them had realized.

**

Many kilometers away, three familiar figures were making their way through the Earthen Passage under the dark shadows of the mountain range.

Bas and Liska leaned against each other for support, clearly severely injured.

The sword wound in Liska's shoulder was very much still there. She didn't have medicines potent enough to deal with Dyon's sword will, which was exceedingly odd to them. From every angle you analyzed it, it seemed as though Dyon hadn't used anymore than a first level sword will… And yet, it was so potent?

Near by, but not bothering to do much to help the massive couple, was the young man with the oil-paper umbrella. He twirled what looked like a long silver sword in his hand, and if one looked closely, it was the very sword that had been in Liska's shoulder. It was odd, but he seemed strangely infatuated with it.

Suddenly, the young man spoke, ”Do you know why I decided to attack the Earth Tower as opposed to one of the closer towers?”

The couple looked to the young man before shaking their heads. After all, it didn't make much sense. If the goal was to conquer a tower, choosing one that was not so easy to scout out would have made it easier to keep their action covert.

”Do you know my goal?” The young man extended the sword from himself point it forward.

”To replace our universe's King God Clan.” The couple responded without hesitation.