168 It's Not Like...
Hours later, Little Lyla was still happily playing with Little Black and it was already well past midday. However, since there was still much daylight left, Dyon still chose to bring Little Lyla with him and Ri to the cave.
Dyon stretched as they walked out of Heaven’s Wine. His muscles and bones cracked and groaned. Or, at least that what people guessed should be happening. Because, it sounded nothing like that.
Dyon’s simple stretch sounded like muffled thunder to those near him. Even Ri couldn’t help but look at him weirdly.
When he noticed Ri’s glance, all Dyon did was grin, pretending as though a wink explained everything.
Ri rolled her eyes as she stepped onto Dyon’s array platform. She had secrets of her own, so she naturally didn’t think Dyon had to tell her anything.
Soon, they reached a familiar cave in the depths of the forest. Leisurely walking in, Dyon took a good long look at the pool of ethereal water. But, his mind became distracted when he thought about how Ri had bathed in it, so he decided to focus his mind on the task at hand.
“Little Lyla, you have to make sure not to touch the water, okay? It’s dangerous,” Ri kneeled lovingly in front of Lyla and told her what she could and couldn’t do.
Little Lyla obediently nodded her head before jumping to Dyon’s side.
“Big brother, are you going to use the pretty flashing light again?”
Dyon chuckled, rubbing the little girl’s head. “Yes. It’ll be a big help to your big sister. You should tell her to thank me.”
Lyla’s head bobbed up and down adorably. “She’s very thankful big brother.”
Dyon laughed, sitting Lyla beside him looking up eagerly. Little Black seemed to have taken a liking to the little girl, so he curled up beside her as she clapped happily.
The ground of the cave was surprisingly comfortable, but Dyon still made cushions for them to sit on, not wanting Little Lyla to ever feel any discomfort.
Ri, sitting across from Dyon looked at him intently.
“What exactly are you planning on doing? I did tell you how hard it is to open an aurora past 30%, right? You innate aurora folk are too much,” she said bitterly.
Dyon looked up with interest, “oh? Is there more than just me? How many people with innate auroras do you know?”
Ri shook her head, “like I said, an innate aurora hasn’t appeared in this universe for millennia… but the same can’t be said of other universes. There have been 2 that I know of who appeared during campaigns… there may be more, I don’t know.”
Dyon’s eyebrows arched up. “What are they like?”
Ri rolled her eyes, “you sound like a gossipy teenage girl asking me about my crush.”
“Ooo, do you have a crush?”
Little Lyla giggled when she saw Dyon teasing Ri.
Ri, being unwilling to punish Little Lyla, instead settled for flicking Dyon’s forehead. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Stop talking such nonsense. Who has time for something so ridiculous?”
Little Lyla looked up at Dyon with her large watery eyes, “big brother, can you believe that big sister has never liked a boy? She told me when she came to visit,” she giggled adorably.
Dyon smirked. “Didn’t you say you shouldn’t lie to a little girl? Look at you now. Hypocrite.”
Ri furrowed her eyebrows, “who’s lying?!”
Dyon gave Ri a devious smile but stopped teasing her.
Ri could only take a deep breath, trying to forget how annoying Dyon was.
“Campaign leaders with innate auroras are on a whole other level…” She said softly. “They see so much of the battlefield because of their 6th sense, they lend the best support imaginable with their speed at creating arrays, and their intelligence can normally scale vastly higher than the average leader.”
Dyon’s gaze turned serious. “So the other universe, our most immediate enemy, has at least 2, maybe more leaders on that level… while we have none?”
Ri smiled bitterly. “You see why my father was willing to pair you up with me now? It isn’t just about the Elvin Kingdom, it’s about the whole universe.”
Dyon contemplated this quietly. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the utmost confidence in himself, but he was also a realistic person. He knew when it was appropriate to back off, and when it was necessary to step forward.
He could be arrogant and even disdainful here because he was very clear on the fact that the amount of people his age who could rival him could be counted on a single hand. But, even if he had an utmost confidence in defeating one innate aurora holder alone, what about two? What if the two that had appeared weren’t even all the rival universe had access to?
Ri, noticing Dyon’s deep contemplation let a playful smile spread across her face. “So the arrogant Dyon is finally doubting himself, hm?”
Looking up, Dyon chuckled at Ri’s words.
“Quite the opposite,” Dyon’s devilish aura started seeping out from within him, “I was just thinking that I finally found some worthy rivals.”
Ri looked at Dyon, shaking her head. ‘This guy…’
Suddenly a clap awakened her from her thoughts. Dyon had reverted back to his normal pure appearance and was preparing to help Ri.
“Alright, let’s open up your aurora a bit more. Shall we?”
Ri looked on in interest and 10s of medicinal pills flew out of Dyon’s spatial ring. A look of confusion cropped up onto her features.
“These pills… they’re not potent enough to do anything.”
Dyon chuckled, “just watch, beautiful.”
Ri, for some inexplicable reason, blushed when she heard Dyon say those words. Her head violently turned towards Dyon to see if he had noticed, but she let out a sigh of relief as she realized he had closed his eyes and clasp his hands in concentrated meditation.
‘It’s not like he hasn’t said that before…’
Little Lyla giggled when she saw Ri’s reaction, but was immediately distracted by the tens of tiny gold arrays that appeared around each pill.