Reaper of the Martial World

Book 2: Chapter 65: Across the World

Ri sat cross-legged on the shoulder of the statue as it walked out of the array.

It had been almost 3 days since Dyon had fallen asleep, but they had finally made it out to find the true test of talent.

In front stood a stair case spanning what looked like 99 steps.

Subdivided into 9 parts, reaching the end of each section meant obtaining a key to each of the 9 corresponding palaces at the very top.

Floating above these 9 palaces was yet another palace that Ri recognized immediately, ‘that’s the tomb for the wills who rest here…’

Everything still had vague amount of grey-blue fog floating around endlessly… but, the most striking feature was the pressure Ri could feel even from the first step. Pressure she could feel without even having stepped onto it.

In Ri’s lap, Dyon still slept soundly, a faint smile on his face. His arms were still wrapped around Ri’s waist as he occasionally nuzzled his nose into her torso.

Ri could only sigh, ‘you take advantage of me even in your sleep… you have pervert written into your veins… you would rather sleep in such an awkward position than let me go.’

Despite what she thought, Ri had a faint smile on her face. She didn’t notice when, but she had been stroking Dyon’s cheek softly for hours absentmindedly.

After a few hours, Dyon groaned himself awake. But, when Ri thought carefully, she almost burst into a fit of laughter.

“your stomach growls louder than your voice,” she said lightly.

Dyon blinked awake at the sound of Ri’s voice, but his senses were immediately filled with a sweet scent and a bare torso, causing him to grin, nuzzling his nose again, “so soft…”

Ri flicked Dyon’s ear, “focus, we have half the time we did when we got here. I’m sure considering your actions something big is happening outside…”

Dyon nodded, reluctantly getting up and stretching. Rubbing his stomach, Dyon grinned, “food first though… you guys said I sent you too much food, right?”

Ri rolled her eyes, waiting patiently while Dyon ate more than should be possible for even a beast, let alone a human.

Ri sighed, “eating so much spiritual food is going to make you burst…”

Dyon nodded vaguely, seemingly too interested in eating to pay much attention to anything else. His strong body made it okay for him to stay awake for long periods of time, and even stay extended periods of time without food… but that didn’t mean he was willing to.

Soon, Dyon sighed with satisfaction, taking in his surroundings.

Because of Dyon’s manifestation and the stress it placed on him, Dyon’s soul had firmly stepped into the 5^th middle stage. But, that was more bad news than anything else…

The truth was that his body still wasn’t strong enough to handle it when he boosted his soul to the middle 6^th stage… He had pushed himself hard, so even now his body ached…. So much so that he had easily just eaten 3x more than he usually did, just so his body would have the nutrients to repair itself.

Dyon sighed with satisfaction having taken everything in, “this’ll be simple… the puppet is seen as an extension of myself and I can easily use it to protect you.

Normally in situations like this, protecting more than yourself from the onslaught of energies and auras would be suicide… but if I’m taking a talent test for a 15-year-old with no cultivation… using a celestial stage puppet… wouldn’t that be too easy already?”

Hearing Dyon’s explanation, Ri nodded, “let’s go then… but I want to see how far I can walk on my own first,” she said faintly.

Dyon looked at Ri’s side profile quietly. Noticing her resoluteness, he nodded, urging the puppet to place her at the bottom of the first set of steps.

Ri stood at the end of the steps resolutely, her sword appearing in her hand… it wasn’t that it was help, but she felt comfortable holding something that used to belong to her mother.

It wasn’t powerful… in fact, it was a common level weapon… but she refused to change it.

Dyon watched silently as Ri’s energy spiked. Her blue-silver hair fluttered wildly as she took a step forward.

Watching Ri so casually walk up the first tier of steps, Dyon smiled lightly… but the reaction of the bobbing old wills was nothing remotely similar to Dyon’s nonchalant attitude.

‘I thought at first the girl was just a useless lover the child brought along… but it seems that had she had a proper guide, she’d be among the best to ever step foot in our special legacy world… should we really allow a half elf and human to take the things that were built by us?…’

Silence was the only answer this will received for a long time.

In some form or fashion, it was right. Even considering how it was likely that Dyon was prophesied to be of great help to their race… if he took everything important to them, would they really be okay with a human solving all of their problems?…

And that wasn’t even considering the fact that the prophecies themselves were subject to interpretation. There was no telling how the words themselves should be understood… for example, if the rise of the Elvin Kingdom was due to a love bond, how could they tell whether it would be Dyon himself who succeeded, or a child within his lineage with the True Empath that did… what if the rising up the prophecy spoke of just meant enlightenment through death?…

Although the bobbing wills felt ridiculous thinking of all of the possibilities… whether that be interpreting what was meant by love bond or interpreting what was meant by ‘rising up’… they had no tangible proof for refuting any one of these possibilities.

But, the problem was, the more they thought about it, the more time passed… And the more time that passed… the further Ri walked up the stairs.

Dyon watched as Ri seemed to be casually strolling through endless pressure.

The fog raged wildly around her feet and her long blue-silver hair seemed to have a life of its own.

Yet, despite the protesting of the stairs, Ri had already reached the 5^th tier of steps!

The bobbing wills could only watch bitterly.

‘in our history… the furthest a genius has traveled is the 10^th step of the 9^th tier… but, was it really this easy back then?’

The old bob sighed as Ri almost instantly reached the 1^st step of the 8^th tier, ‘you all need to remember that this world wasn’t originally ours to begin with… we gained much benefit from it and now it’s brought us two youths that will only help us further… they should at least be questioned before we make a decision.’

Many could only keep their bitterness to themselves. There was no refuting the words of such an old will, especially when they were words of logic.

So, they could only watch as Ri’s steps gradually slowed… as her face paled… as the grip on her sword intensified under the pressure.

She could no longer lift her arms as she tried to lift her foot to the 11^th and last step of the 8^th tier… the corners of her mouth seeped with blood. Her hand had wrapped around her sword so tightly that even her palms began to be cut apart.

‘I can do this… for dad… for mom… I can do this.’

Dyon watched with a dull pain in his heart. But, he didn’t step forward to help her. This was something Ri wanted to do on her own and helping her right now would be nothing less than a slap in the face.

Dyon knew how complex Ri’s past was. In fact, he had only truly just figured it out.

The level of respect he had gained for Ri… for her intelligence, her foresight, her strength… he could hardly put into words.

He had resigned himself in the beginning to seek revenge against those who had harmed the orphans and Ms. Everdeen… but now he had another thing he found just as important: to alleviate the burden a little girl had been holding on to all on her own.

But, despite this. Dyon knew that there were some fights Ri had to fight for herself. And this was on of them.

So, when Ri stabilized herself on the 10^th step of the 9^th tier, Dyon held his breath in anticipation. The 9^th palace… a palace none of the elves had ever been to… what would be in there?

Ri took a deep breath.

Her bones cracked under the pressure.

Her sword weighed hundreds of pounds now, but she still refused to let go.

Her hair no longer fluttered… it was as though it was being steam pressed into her… there was no room for comfort.

Yet, she still lifted her foot for the last step.

Suddenly, it was  like there was no sound left in the world. The whooshing of the fog had stopped. The gentle grating of the stone puppet had stopped. Ri’s delicate grunting could no longer be heard either…

It was as though everything watched in anticipation as Ri took her last step…

BOOM!

A raging tempest of wind swept violently through the 99 steps, each one glowing successively.

Dyon’s eyes widened, ‘this… it feels like the aurora awakening pill on a whole other level… does this mean?…’

Almost as if to answer Dyon’s question, Ri’s aurora raged as a violent blue flame, reaching higher and higher as her body shook on the final step.

Dyon grit his teeth, ‘I can’t stop this… if I do… she’ll miss her opportunity…’

“AAGGGHHH!!”

Dyon winced, listening to Ri’s screams of agony, ‘is this what it’s like opening the last percentages of an aurora?…’

Ri keeled over, landing so heavily on all fours that she felt the bones in her hands and knees shatter almost beyond repair.

Tears streamed down her face as her glowing aurora only intensified in strength. It was as though the pressure of the last step was crushing her without remorse.

Dyon dug his nails into his palms, trying to calm himself. Watching a friend he held dearly suffer like this wasn’t something he was willing to see… but he kept his eyes focused.

‘93%… 94%… hold on Ri… I’ll come get you soon.’

Ri tried to stop her body from trembling, but she couldn’t…

Every shift of her body sent waves of pain through her cracked bones, endlessly.

‘97%… 99%…’

“GO!” boomed Dyon.

The stone puppet launched itself into action, immediately storming up the steps in the blink of an eye. It was almost as though the pressure didn’t exist for it as it reached RI’s side.

Dyon wasn’t in the right frame of mind to think properly… so he jumped from the puppet, landing on the 99^th step.

And yet, he didn’t have the time or patience to take notice that the steps did nothing to him as he rushed towards Ri.

But, if he spared the time to think about it, wouldn’t the reason why be obvious? Why would stairs meant to fully awaken auroras effect someone with a perfect innate aurora?

“Barrier!” he barked at the puppet.

The pressure was gone in an instant, causing Ri to collapse.

Dyon bit his lip as he gently flipped Ri over, pouring his aurora into her.

‘fucking hell… I knew her body was special but this?…’

Dyon’s aurora was having no effect on healing Ri. He felt just like he had back when he first integrated the demon sage’s blood… her body was of too high quality for him to do much of anything.

‘let me see if I can stimulate her aurora to help…’

Dyon’s aurora melded slowly with Ri’s. It was a difficult process that had to be done delicately, or else one of their souls would definitely suffer.

‘it’s not enough…’ Dyon frowned deeply, ‘what kind of body can’t be healed with two fully awakened auroras?’

Dyon could only grit his teeth, releasing his manifestation.

He knew it wasn’t a good idea to do this now. His body had just barely recovered from the time he used it for the stone puppet, and yet, despite being sure that this task would take even longer than the 30 minutes he had used before, Dyon still felt he had to do this.

BOOM!

Majestic wings tore their way into existence as Dyon’s manifestation loomed menacingly.

Dyon felt his skin redden and his muscles tear as his soul climbed rapidly toward the 6^th middle stage. But, he suffered through it as he watched Ri’s pale face redden with color.

Dyon felt as though when his simulated his manifestation, the change in his aurora was more than just a quantity change… it was a quality one as well. It was like his aurora was now complete… and this was the feeling that made him think back his thoughts on how odd it was for his innate soul to be the equivalent of a mid meridian formation stage expert.

However… this change was something his body wasn’t ready to handle… and he wondered if it would ever be…

By Dyon’s calculations, 2% of the demon sages blood and about 12% of the celestial deer and demon qilin blood should be enough to sustain a peak 6^th stage soul… and yet his body was having difficulty dealing with a mid 6^th stage one… this was why he was clear on the fact this ‘powerup’ was more than just an added power output.

But, Dyon could only set this aside for now because his body was trembling under the pressure.

Soon, Dyon was knocked out as well, collapsing beside Ri on the final step… the stone puppet their only guard.

**

Many miles away from the Elvin Kingdom, a banquet was taking place for the young elites of the universe.

Sitting elegantly beside a beautiful olive-skinned girl, a beauty of unparalleled elegance and tranquility sat at a large table, sipping a drink leisurely and she typed away on an odd-looking device.

This olive-skinned girl was of course Delia.

Over the past year, she had grown into her god level constitution perfectly. Her features were still full and inviting. Her greenish hazel eyes shone with a new sharpness, but there were clearly specks of a cold blue within them.

The dress she wore was very modern, reminiscent of a western world creation.

A short black skirt with tight stockings and comfortable flats graced her lower half. Above it was a nice white blouse with elegantly arranged fabric folds. She looked like a top-class beauty… and yet, she still paled in comparison to the girl sitting beside her.

Madeleine wore a tight fitting purple qipao that ran a single slit down her left leg. Her hair was up in its usual bun, holding a familiar hair-piece treasure in it. Although it looked lazy, it couldn’t hide her beauty even a little.

Her crystal framed glasses now had a distinct purple-ish tint to them, accenting her golden eyes. And although she was the center of attention to everyone attending this banquet, she seemed to only have eyes for the device in her hand.

The smile she had on her face was so mesmerizing the banquet hall was silent, not a single pair of eyes not on her as she giggled, oblivious to the attention she was drawing.

Delia nudged her covertly, whispering in her ear as she leaned forward, “big sister… people are looking at you…”

Madeleine snapped her head up, immediately noticing Delia was right. But, what could she do? She was just trying to mind her own business.

This wasn’t even something she wanted to come to. Her master had forced her to under the guise of ‘how good it was for her future.’ How ridiculous was that?

But, the constant nagging was only getting annoying. Her master had seemingly forgotten about Dyon, and even worse, had most definitely forgotten about the warning he had given her.

To Madeleine’s master, the only thing that mattered was Madeleine and her wellbeing. Despite what she had told Madeleine a year ago, she still believed within her that this was a passing phase Madeleine would soon get over. And yet, even had the first 7 months of worrying about Dyon, Madeleine’s master found her typing on that odd device for hours a day, never stopping.

At that time, Madeleine’s master had hoped that Dyon was just dead, having succumbed to his wounds. Maybe he would just never respond and disappear forever. But, that didn’t happen… because 7 months later, Dyon finally responded to Madeleine and it was like an already endlessly burning flame had raged to all new heights.

Madeleine’s master was known as Ester Sapientia. She was born and raised in a Sapientia lower branch of the planet Earth and had been a genius since birth. However, much like Madeleine, she displayed talent beyond her station, causing her to rise rapidly and eventually earn a place as the elder of the main branch.

However, all along, she relied on herself. She refused marriage proposals, love letters, and even friends much of the time just to further herself. As such, she felt like she was stuck now… with years of accumulated bitter feelings, Ester believed that maybe her disciple should take a new route and form the relationships she didn’t…

But, much to her dismay, Madeleine was only interested in forming one relationship… and it was a dangerous one.

Although Ester hadn’t said it at the time as a form of a thank you to the boy for saving Madeleine, she was very much aware of how dangerous it was to be the Celestial Deer Sect’s last disciple… the secret behind their destruction was as profound as the origin of this world itself… and yet Madeleine’s love insisted on being at the very center of it all. And to make things worse! He was from the human mortal realm! An absolute taboo amongst the highest-ranking clans and sects of the universe.

The only reason large clans even allowed recruitment from the human world was in respect to an olden treaty… a treaty many felt was nothing but a formality… but now that flimsy treaty was the only thing blocking Dyon from absolute destruction.

Madeleine’s eyes snapped back to the device as she continued to type, “what does that have to do with me?…” she said faintly.

Ester could only sigh at her disciple’s reply.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from a handsome young man with long blond hair and striking blue eyes, “Lady Madeleine, would it be rude of me to ask what has grabbed the attention of such an outstanding lady as yourself? Maybe it’s something that could liven the discussion here?”

The young man smiled gently. If one looked closely, you could see he bared a faint resemblance to Elof, but his aura was much sharper and more refined. His name was Vidar Ragnor.

Madeleine nodded without looking up, “I’m speaking with my fiancé. Whether that’s something you would all like to discuss… I don’t know.”

Vidar’s face froze at Madeleine’s words.

In the corner of the room, Caedlum Pakal chuckled almost silently at Vidar’s plight. His laughter caused someone to nudge him.

“younger brother, what’s so funny? Do you know this fiancé of her?”

Caedlum’s elder brother stood beside him… but his red skin as compared to Caedlum’s was much more fierce and robust, whereas Caedlum’s was much subtler.

Despite the oddities of their skin, they both maintained handsome appearances.

Caedlum nodded, “he’s quite the interesting man… his talent surpasses even mine…”

Caedlum’s elder brother furrowed his eyebrows, “surpasses?… even with your faith seed?…”

Caedlum shook his head, “well… I don’t know if he’s improved since I last saw him. But, when last we met, I had yet to tap into my faith seed… regardless, he was much better than me then. Whether he is now is something we’ll have to see…”

Caedlum’s brother nodded, “if he was able to match up to you then, regardless of whether he can now… he’s definitely a genius…”

While the Pakal brothers were having their talk, Vidar was trying to salvage the situation. But, the fact Tammy was near her elder brother Thor clearly trying to withhold her laughter was something that was only making him angrier.

Yet, despite what he felt on the inside, his outer appearance was the picture of tranquility as he smiled amiably, “the fiancé of the first in line genius of the Sapientia God Clan must be a might existence, no? This must have been a recent engagement, or else how would we clans not know of this? Is he here right now?”

Madeleine shook her head, still not looking up as she typed away, “it’s not recent,” she said faintly, “we’ve been engaged for more than a year now… and no, he’s not here, he’s in the Elvin Kingdom.”

Vidar furrowed his eyebrows. Engaged for more than a year? The Elvin Kingdom?

Originally, the young elites of the Elvin Kingdom were meant to come to, but, due to the inner strife of their kingdom, they had ended their campaigns prematurely to help stabilize the situation. As such, although being comparable to the geniuses here, none of them were attending.

Was Madeleine’s fiancé an elf?

Madeleine sighed, she wasn’t ashamed of Dyon, not in the least, so she explained further, “my fiancé isn’t an elf. He’s a human from the mortal realm. And he happens to be the only one in our universe with an innate aurora…

If you don’t know him now… you’ll know him soon.”

With that, Madeleine put the device in her hand away in her hair-piece spatial realm. Then smiled at Delia before grabbing her arm to leave the banquet. Leaving the shocking revelation for the geniuses to figure out themselves.

Before they reached the exit though, one more question came from the youths in the banquet. But this time, it wasn’t Vidar.

“Lady Madeleine, before you go, I, Voron Cavositas would like to ask a question… you may have had an interaction with my younger brother Ace?”

Madeleine turned back with an odd expression on her face, “I think what you meant to say was that your younger brother, despite being part of a clan that holds honor in fighting so highly, teamed up with 10 other geniuses, including Elof Ragnor, to fight my fiancé and still lost…”

The atmosphere of the hall suddenly turned heavy. Elof and Ace had no choice but to lower their heads in shame. How could they have known that this would ever come back to bite them in such a way?

Tammy’s head snapped towards her elder brother, but only received a nod. She hadn’t been there to see the events transpire, so she had no idea this had happened. In fact, all this time she had been avoiding the glare of Ava who stood at another corner of the room surrounded by redheaded members of the Sicarius clan that included some of her elder brothers.

Ava had long since confronted her about the fact the come the world tournament… she would have her revenge.

Aside from this, Voron Cavositas could only sigh, “when this event was learned through our information channels, Ace was not only severely punished, he has been campaigning diligently to improve himself. And yet, I’ve never seen your fiancé’s name on any rankings? Why would that be? And also, should he be defeated by us during the world tournament, or be outshone by us on the rankings, would lady Madeleine consider someone else?”

Madeleine laughed at the question, “did you think my fiancé was as old as your brother or you? My fiancé turned 15 just a couple months ago, how many 15-year-olds do you see on the rankings?”

Voron’s face froze. This was something he hadn’t been aware of. In fact, this was something practically no one here had been aware of.

Madeleine was a year older than Dyon, and an unprecedented genius, and even she hadn’t been campaigning for long enough to make any headway in the rankings… let alone Dyon who spent 7 months incapacitated, had no backing, and was literally a decade or more behind most of those present here in terms of cultivation experience and resource absorption.

 “Be sure to remember this.

I’m not sure what name my fiancé will campaign under. But I know he will campaign. I’m not sure when he will show up to the world tournament. But I know he will show up. So, I want you all to remember very clearly that when he decides to reveal his name as Dyon Sacharro. That that is the one man I will have in this life and the next.”

Without so much as another word or sound, Madeleine left the banquet holding onto Delia, a radiant smile playing on her face.