575 Easy
Watching his mother in law dangle from the sky, another layer snapped within Dyon. He didn’t have to rely on his emotional connection to his wife to feel something seeing this scene… In the short time he had known Kawa, she had treated him with nothing but love and respect. In many ways, she reminded Dyon of his own mother.
Ri, who had been trying to comfort Clara just moments earlier, suddenly felt her world crumbling apart. The tears had long since stopped, but a dense hatred started to fester in her heart. How long had she waited to see her mother again? To hear her voice? To finally be able to feel her embrace? She couldn’t fathom those feelings being taken away again so soon.
The torrent of emotions they had all gone through just seemed to never end.
‘Just an endless stream of bullshit.’ The flames of black within Dyon’s eyes only seemed to grow deeper with each passing moment.
In the skies, King Acacia’s jaw tightened. He wanted to move and do something, but he knew very well that his wife’s life hung in the balance. Kawa’s soul strength hadn’t reached the celestial stage yet, unlike his. If her body was killed… There was no chance…
He had thrown away the wellbeing of his kingdom, disappearing for ten years and traveling across dimensions to save his wife. Words could not describe the place she and Ri held in his heart. And yet that beautiful woman in his memories, that lively fire spark to his life, had hers hanging by a thread just before him.
“I’m glad I don’t need to explain the situation.” Patriarch Ragnor suddenly spoke, tearing across the rumbling thunder in the sky. “This was meant to be quite a leisurely exercise honestly.” He sighed as though he was really lamenting something he had lost. “A martial exchange between clans, if you will. Things weren’t meant to get bloody.”
A burning heat threatened to tear Dyon’s chest apart as he watched Patriarch Ragnor wave Kawa around by her neck as though she was nothing more than a prop.
“Ai.” He continued, shaking his head in mock sadness. “Alas. A good friend of mine has died! Our friendly competition has crumbled and now an entire sect, of women no less, mourns her loss. Does that sound fair to you?”
Patriarch Ragnor scanned the crowd before his gaze found the remnants of the Niveus God Sect. “So pitiful. A Clan is lost without their leader.
“Tell me, Evelyn is it? What would alleviate the anger in your heart? Technically, you are the leader of the Niveus God Sect now, right? So, you are my ally and as such, I should take your interests into account, don’t you think?”
Evelyn’s white eyes flashed at these words. Anyone intelligent enough could tell that this supposed devastated first in line genius hardly felt a thing from her master’s death. However, when she heard of an opportunity to exact revenge, a blaze lit in her eyes.
“An eye for an eye. A death for a death.” She spoke dark, narrowing her eyes at the woman in Patriarch Ragnor’s hand.
“Ai.” Patriarch Ragnor nodded. “That’s what I was thinking as well. It’s only fair, no?”
The hazel in Dyon’s eyes had completely disappeared. He hadn’t entered such a state since the destruction of the Elvin Orphanage. But… This time was different…
He had been trying to control himself all this time. Even when he saw his entire world destroyed, he tried to maintain his sanity. When he saw his mother in law dangling with her life barely a whisper, he tried to control his emotions. But, sitting here listening to this bullshit back and forth, listening to the play cat and mouse with his wife’s mother right in front of him, Dyon nearly lost his hold on everything.
In the Elvin world, he had entered this state on purpose so he could hide his true thoughts from Jade. However… There was nothing voluntary about this time.
This man stood in the air, talking about fairness and an eye for an eye like an entire population of people hadn’t just been eradicated. Did their lives mean nothing? Was their weakness enough for their deaths to be a footnote in history? Did the mortal world just not matter?
The place he had been raised in. The place he grew up and became his own man. The place where his two uncles had lived as the few supporting systems he had left. It was all gone now, and yet these people pretended as though that meant nothing?
Patriarch Ragnor sighed. “I do feel a bit hypocritical though. The reason we had sent Matriarch Niveus down from the battle was so that we could give one of you the opportunity to sacrifice their life for the greater good.
“I was worried before about how we would justify things to maintain absolute fairness. Originally, I was going to make this elaborate pitch. Tell you all about how this universe would once again reach its former glory, and how the expert you were aiding with your life was one that would repay his debts, but now that seems unnecessary.
“Since things have gone so far into the realm of misunderstandings, I think this volunteer of ours would be more than willing now, hm?”
The rumbling of the skies was the only thing that that broke the pregnant silence. No one had any idea what Patriarch Ragnor was talking about…
That said… Dyon had a pretty good idea…
The eyes of the man in the sky pierced downward, finding Dyon’s gaze of dense darkness. And yet, he seemed completely unaffected by Dyon’s anger. In fact, he found it quite amusing. An ant would always be an ant in his eyes. What was the anger of one worth?
“What do you say, volunteer?” Patriarch Ragnor waved Kawa around by her neck. “I’ll give her back, you just have to take her place. Easy, right?”