Reaper of the Martial World

Book 4: Chapter 35: Scarlet Witch

After returning to his section, Dyon greeted everyone with smiles. He sighed in relief seeing that Clara was doing well and even winked at Eli – he wouldn’t mistake his good friend’s glow as having anything to do with something not Delia related.

But, when he saw that Ri wasn’t having so good of a time, he couldn’t help but check on her. After all, they had a full day until the real World Tournament began.

“Ri?” Seeing Ri look up with a dead look in her eyes, Dyon felt his heart lurch. With a wave of his hand, the two of them disappeared from sight.

Clara seemed to have noticed this and looked over to Madeleine to find her smiling. Clara could tell that something had happened, but she had removed herself from the situation and didn’t feel that it was right to ask. That said, she knew fully well that Dyon’s personality was quite abrasive when it came to dealing with authority, so she had a pretty good idea of what had happened.

That said, her mind was easily distracted by the fighting she could see on the monitors. With her lack of cultivation, it was impossible to see what was going on from so far away. But, she was very thankful that the World Tournament organizers took this into account.

“Amazing…” She breathed out that word for what seemed like the millionth time.

“If you can believe it,” Madeleine said while giggling, “This is about as weak as it gets.”

Clara blinked, “Then what about you, Dyon and Ri, why aren’t you three fighting?”

“Oh, that’s because we’ve already qualified for the main round.”

A sudden realization hit Clara, “My dad was always worried about how Dyon would take being at the bottom of the ladder for once… It seems he didn’t spend a lot of time there.” Clara pouted, she had wanted to make fun of him.

“Not many believe in him though…” Madeleine said softly, looking in the direction Ri and Dyon had disappeared.

“What happened?” Clara asked. But, the explanation she heard only made her angry. “Dyon is a lot of things but he never cheats!” Clara’s cheeks puffed, clearly agitated.

Madeleine smiled, “Dyon is the type of person that would rather lose or die than to let someone think he didn’t think he was better than they were… He would never cheat.” Madeleine confirmed Clara’s thoughts. “But, they’ve made a mistake.”

Clara gave glance, understanding what she meant clearly. “They’ve made him angry…”

**

Ri sat facing Dyon, her head laying on his chest as tears streamed from her eyes. “I’m sorry Dyon. You shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

Dyon smiled, patting Ri’s head. “What do you mean? Didn’t you see how beautiful my mother in law is? I’m so lucky!”

Despite Ri’s current state, she couldn’t help but giggle at Dyon’s words. “You know what I meant.”

“Ah, don’t think about that too much. Your dad loves you too much to get between me and you. And, regardless of what I say, I know he wouldn’t have left without saying anything to you without a good reason. Just like he knows his daughter would never fall for a man who could cheat.”

“Really?” Ri wiped her tears with her forearm, trying to compose herself before looking up.

“Of course,” Dyon smiled, “It’s definitely not a coincidence that they came back for the world tournament. This wasn’t on a whim. Everything is planned. I just don’t know what that plan is just yet. That said, I’m sure they’ll tell us when the time is right.

But, I’m still kicking the first prince’s ass. He still thinks he’s entitled to my Madeleine. Imagine thinking you could flirt with my woman in front of me.” Dyon harrumphed, pulling Ri into his arms.

Ri giggled, kissing Dyon’s cheek and enjoying the feeling of being in his arms until she fully calmed down.

“I know you’ll prove them all wrong.” Ri said softly.

**

About half an hour later, Ri’s emotions had finally settled. But, in that time, she had thought of something odd about her father’s actions. “Dyon?”

“Mm?”

“Shouldn’t my father be able to tell whether you’re lying about cheating or not? Why would he say something he should know is clearly false?”

Dyon smiled. “I remember that there was a point in time where I thought your father’s disappearance had to do with the destruction of the Celestial Deer Sect. After seeing how being a True Empath could burden a person’s psyche with Jade as a prime example, I thought your father might have left because he had lost the ability to cleanse his thoughts and protect his mental health.”

Ri nodded. She remembered talking to Dyon about this too. But, the reason he wasn’t a hundred percent sure about the theory was because of her mother. She too had disappeared.

“At that point in time, the large stone tome hadn’t been used to cleanse True Empaths in millennia because its purpose had been forgotten.”

“And because the Celestial Deer Sect was gone, there was no celestial energy to cure my father of his ailments.”

“Right. But, you know what my grand teacher told me when I asked him why he didn’t just read my mind at certain times?”

Ri shook her head.

Dyon laughed, “The old bastard said he was insulted to be put on the same level as those other True Empaths and he could turn his on and off at will.”

A sudden realization hit Ri, “You mean?”

“I can’t say for sure. But, I think your father likely reached a level of mastery that he unlocked the ability to turn his on and off. That said, it isn’t a level of mastery that matches my grand teacher, so he likely keeps it off so that he can maintain his sanity for as long as possible. If he didn’t do this, he would be at a loss for how to handle the influx of bad emotions.”

Ri giggled, “You’re so bad.”

“I have no idea what you mean.” Dyon grinned, lifting Ri’s petite body up by her ass and gracing his lips with hers.

Ri’s laughter, though, hadn’t stopped. Lifting a finger, she placed it between her lips and Dyon’s. “How long are you going to make my father suffer?”

“I dunno. My head is cloudy. I think I need a few more kisses from his daughter to clear my mind.”

The truth was that during Uncle Acacia’s recounting of the Elvin story, for the sake of brevity, he had skimmed over a lot of the details knowing that Queen Acacia was eager to see Ri. But, right now, with time on their side, he had just begun going into the full details of the matter.

The more King Acacia listened, the more his blood boiled. His face turned such a dense shade of red that Queen Acacia and King Belmont nearly had their sides splitting laughing at him.

The Son in Law he just dismissed as a cheater and commoner was the last disciple of his long-time allies?

He found their kingdom’s next True Empath?

He had cleared out their ancient tomb?

He earned the three ancient texts?

He made their sentinels his body guards?

And worst yet…

He could cleanse True Empaths?

Queen Acacia rolled over on the couch laughing hysterically, clearly un-lady like. It was clear where Ri got much of her personality from. “It seems,” She wiped tears from her eyes, trying to catch her breath, “You’re going to need to apologize to your son in law if you want his help.”

Even Big Red was losing his serious demeanor, trying his best to withhold his laughter.

“You!” King Acacia turned his anger on his younger brother, “Why didn’t you tell me about these things before!”

Uncle Acacia scratched the back of his head, “I told you that he had proved himself worthy. You should have believed in me.”

King Belmont took a deep breath, finally stopping his laughing fit. “I warned you too, old friend. Didn’t I say you’d come out on the losing end?”

King Acacia was a very prideful man. In fact, judging by his entrance, anyone could tell that his arrogance reached the same heights as Dyon. Even in his youth, when he had yet to awaken his manifestation, he had a confidence many made fun of until he proved himself. So, it was no surprise to anyone that the day came and left without him apologizing.

Dyon, though, wasn’t worried. He had spent a day of leisure with his wives. Laughing, joking and eating like he hadn’t seen a meal in years. But, those who knew him could see the fire in his eyes. He was impatient for the day to end.

**

“You seem to be having a grand time.” Ava plopped down next to her elder brother, Arios.

Arios smiled, rubbing his little sister’s head, “How’d you do? Top 5?”

Ava snorted, “With all the truly powerful meridian experts competing for the overall rankings, why wouldn’t I be top 1? Thanks for not watching me.”

Dyon, who was laying down on a couch with his head resting on Madeleine’s lap waved, “I was watching, I swear.”

“Liar.” Ava pouted. “I went to the skybox first. Why aren’t you spending time with your in laws? You can’t kidnap poor Ri from her parents!”

Ri giggled, looking up from sitting on a table with Clara, Venus, Delia and the Elvin girls. “How much did my dad pay you to say that?”

Ava coughed, seeing that she had been caught red handed. Although she had a very small impression of King Acacia, he was technically still one of her dad’s best friends. And, she absolutely adored Queen Acacia. So, they were like an adoptive aunt and uncle to her. As such, when she saw how red King Acacia’s face still was, and found out the situation from her elder brother, Riley, she thought she would try to help.

“Dyon, you’re too overbearing.” Ava harrumphed.

Dyon grinned, nestling his cheek into Madeleine’s soft thigh, clearly content with himself as she lightly played with his hair.

“It’ll be time to go soon.” Dyon said suddenly. “Have they explained the format yet?”

“Normally the way it’s set up,” Arios began to explain, “Is that the remaining thousand are split into ten brackets, one bracket for each of the top ten. Unfortunately, this year, they’ve been talking about the ‘true top ten’, so it probably won’t be a surprise to you that they mean ranked two through to eleven.”

Dyon sat up, nodding. He had expected as much. As soon as he participated in the final selection round, he had already renounced his right to the top ten.

“Essentially, everyone has practically already decided that the final round robin tournament will be amongst the top ten. But, in the essence of fairness to younger campaigners who might be just as powerful, these first sets of rounds are to gain the right to challenge a top ten ranker for their spot in that penultimate battle.

The idea is that as long as you manage to make it into the top nine of your bracket, you get to challenge any one of the top ten rankers. This is also for the sake of balance.”

Dyon nodded, “This way the top ten will have to fight a lot of battles as well because there will be 90 challengers for 10 people.”

“Right. But, that’s only in the case where none of the top ten are replaced. In very rare cases, some actually do beat out top ten rankers. But, in those cases, the replacement can also be challenged.”

Dyon’s eyes flashed, “So that places people outside of the top ten at a severe disadvantage.”

Arios nodded. “Imagine having just fought a top ten ranker. If you beat them, it’s likely that it was not easy by any measure. Because, if it had been, you likely would be in the top ten yourself.”

“With little to no rest, you could be challenged immediately after that battle…”

Arios sighed, “This is why, in year’s past, the amount who chose to challenge the top ten rankers were very few. Unless you have supreme confidence in your abilities, it’s just not worth it. Those who manage to earn the right to challenge instead decide to save their stamina so they can fight for a better position in the top 100.”

It all made sense. If you managed to be among the 90 who gained challenge rights, you were already crowned as among the top 100 talents in the universe. Why risk death or crippling injury? It was better to make a safer bet.

However, this realization only made Dyon’s blood boil. He was only now starting to fully understand the gravity of what it meant to have his top ten title stripped from him.

Dyon smiled, chuckling a bit. “If I didn’t give them a handicap, would it be any fun?”

“I can’t wait to see you get your ass kicked.” Clara laughed.

“Someone sounds mad she can’t do it herself anymore.” Dyon grinned.

“Hmph. Just wait on it. But then what’s the format for deciding the top nine of each bracket?” Clara suddenly asked. It was clear that despite her words, she was still worried.

“Essentially, it’s a battle for points.” Arios explained. “Everyone starts with a set amount depending on cumulative ranking.

Top 20, of course excluding the top 10 who aren’t participating, are given 10 points. Then, it works its way down by 1 until those who aren’t ranked start with a single point. So, top 30, or ranks 20-29 in this case, would start with 9 points and top 100, or 90-100, would have 2 points. Everyone from 101 and below will start with a single point.

As you might guess, hitting 0 points means that you’ve lost and can no longer gain points.

Fighting can be done in two ways. You can either use stock rules or betting rules.

Stock rules are used almost every time. Basically, the warriors with the lower number of points dictate what is being bet – this is to ensure that those with a higher number of points aren’t always being challenged because the penalties are set to hurt the lower points holder much more.

If you have a single point, you can only fight to gain a single point. But, should you lose, you also lose a single point and are therefore out of the running. If you have two points, you can only gain up to two additional points, but, if you do this, you must also lose two points should you lose. Basically, you can only choose to gain, and therefore lose, points within your range.

In the end though, this is capped at 5 points. Only a maximum of 5 points can be exchanged in a single match when using stock rules. Betting rules, however… There is no such limit.

But, this isn’t as simple as it seems. Betting rules are named as such because instead of the lower point holder dictating the amount, it must be agreed upon by both parties.”

“So then how does all of this come to an end?” Dyon asked.

“Simple, really. In a single bracket, since you can only challenge warriors in the same bracket as you, there’s a set amount of points. When a pre-decided amount of those points is held among nine individuals, the contest is stopped. If there are any ties, then those who have tied have a final battle to decide.

There are 990 people participating. There will be 10 brackets, so 99 to a bracket. The brackets will split the cumulative rankers up evenly – or, try its best to. Meaning each bracket will only have a single top 30 ranker, or a person ranked between 20 and 29. And so on.

Rankers 11-19 only have 9 people total. But, rankers 90-100 obviously have 11. This means that there’ll be one bracket with no top 20 members at all and yet another with two 90-100 members. This could be a good or bad thing depending on how it shakes out.

That aside though, a normal group will have 54 points accumulated by 9 rankers, and an addition 90 points accumulated by 90 miscellaneous warriors.

Once the top 9 hold 108 points combined, or 75% of the total points, the bracket will be closed.”

Just as Arios finished his explanation, the booming voice of Elder Den rang through the massive stadium.

“This what we’ve all been waiting for! Would our final 1000 warriors people make there way out! It’s time for the final stages to begin!”

Dyon stood and stretched. “One last thing Arios.”

“Mhm?”

“How do the challenges work?”

“Ah, almost forgot. To stop the top nine from avoiding competition and picking on the weakest and avoiding the strongest, nine people from the non-rankers take up nine spots on nine stages. Then, people can begin to challenge them.

Those people can choose to stay on the stage the entire time and accumulate wins from challenges, or they can step down. Because you are only obligated to accept a single challenge in a row, you don’t have to stay on the stage.

Those people can also choose to send out challenges. But, the difference is that if you’re ruling a stage, your challenge can never be ignored, or it becomes a victory by default. The only exception is a person who just stepped off of the stage.”

“Got it.”

Dyon didn’t even have to say anything. Before he even finished his last sentence, Ri and Madeleine were already by his side. He found the faint flicker of anger on their features adorable, but he didn’t say anything.

“Good luck.” Clara called out. She could only sigh back into her seat when all she got was a wink and wave from Dyon. ‘That guy never shows his true emotions, tch.’

Zaltarish followed them out. He had made it into the top 1000 as well along with a few other elves. But, Dyon couldn’t be bothered with the likes of Clarice Grimbold.

“Be careful.” Eli said softly, realizing that Delia would also be a part of this fight.

Delia smiled. She was a head and a half shorter than Eli who was practically as tall as Dyon, but Eli never seemed to act his size.

With speed too fast for anyone present to see, Delia stretched to the tips of her toes and planted a kiss of Eli’s cheek before flashing away. It wasn’t until she had already caught up to the group that Eli finally registered the faint wetness on his cheek. And it probably wasn’t until the battles were underway that he moved.

**

Elder Den looked down from the skies at the remain thousand contestants. Aside from the top ten, they had all gathered at the center of the stadium, prepared for their final fights.

Anger flashed in his eyes when he noticed Dyon smiling and carefree, speaking to his wives as though nothing else of importance was occurring.

In the Clyte Royal God Clan section, though, their king was focused on something else entirely. “It seems your bastard child is a lot luckier than I gave her credit for.”

The voice reverberated in Queen Clyte’s ears, causing blood to drip from her nose again. But, she had learned her lesson. After witnessing her daughter almost die, she cut off her emotions entirely. They were only a detriment to her now.

“As you all know, there will be ten total brackets and only the top nine from each of these brackets will earn a right to challenge the top ten rankers and fight for spots in the top 100. This will be on full display for all to watch and there will be possibilities for cheaters to prosper.” The monitors focused on Dyon, hoping to embarrass him. But, all they found was a handsome young man happily laughing with his wives.

The ire of the crowd seemed to be drudged up again. They didn’t seem to want to allow Dyon’s powerful display to change their hate for him.

King Acacia’s eyes burrowed into Dyon’s back, “If you can’t make it to the top hundred, you aren’t worthy of my daughter.”

“He technically already has, big brother.” Uncle Acacia chimed in.

“Don’t give me that nonsense.” A stubborn light flashed in King Acacia’s eye.

Kawa giggled. “Maybe if you were nicer, your son in law could have cleansed you. Then you could check for yourself.”

King Acacia grit his teeth, focusing his attention on the battle below.

In the Sapientia sections, Madeleine’s parents were having a reaction not too far from King Acacia’s. But, no one wanted to see Dyon fail more than Connery Sapientia.

He couldn’t confirm it because his 6^th sense was nowhere near as powerful as Dyon’s, but he had little doubt in his mind that Madeleine was no longer a virgin. He wanted nothing more than to see Dyon killed.

“Kill him.” Connery sent a message covertly, his voice seething in anger. “You’ve already failed once. I won’t accept failure again.”

The voice of a woman soon responded. “I think you have something misconstrued, Patriarch Sapientia. Regardless of the agreement we had before, I am still a genius of a Ragnor auxiliary clan. I hope that in your threat, you’re willing to provoke the Ragnors. I’m sure with the information the Sapientia have access to, you understand how foolish that would be.

That said, I don’t need your motivational threats to have enough incentive to kill him. For what he did to my little sister, he’s already signed away his life.”

In the crowd of 990, a beautiful woman with striking red eyes and long jet-black hair. Anyone who paid attention knew who she was. The undisputed genius of the Ipsum clan and top 4 ranker of Planet Earth. What did that mean? It meant she held a spot amongst the cumulative top 20. She was without a doubt among the most powerful experts taking part in this round and she only had one goal in mind – Kill Dyon.

“Everyone please turn your attention to the monitor before you. Soon, 99 names will appear. These will represent the members of our first bracket. If you pay attention to the number that will appear beside the name, these represent your starting points and over the course of the match, will represent your accumulated points.” Elder Den spoke.

In an instant, the names appeared. It was clear immediately that this would be a normal bracket because there was only a single member of each tier.

At the very top of the list sat a name everyone recognized. The number 14 on the cumulative rankings, number 13 on the true cumulative rankings, and a beauty that fell just shy of the 6 known throughout the universe. That said, she was still among the four junior royals of Earth, widely known as the second most powerful after Prince Lionel Belmont.

Iris Ipsum – 10pts

However, before Elder Den could even allow volunteers to take the spots on the nine stages, a very familiar figure had already flashed onto the one at the very center.

He yawned, stretching his neck as he heard satisfying popping resound through his spine.

There, a boy in sweat pants rolled to his calves and a crisp white T-Shirt stood, his smile having disappeared.

There was not a soul in this stadium or even out in the universe watching that didn’t know who this young man was.

The Cowardly Demon – 1pt

“I don’t think any of you mind if I take this spot, right?”

The crowd didn’t know how to feel about Dyon being so eager and knew how to handle his lack of a smile even less.

Ri and Madeleine looked at each before shaking their heads. He hadn’t even said goodbye. In fact, no one should have been able to go through a list of 99 people so quickly, even as cultivators. It was clear that no one had anticipated these final matches more than Dyon.

Elder Den laughed uneasily. It seemed Dyon’s actions had frozen the non-ranking contestants to the point where none seemed apt to volunteer. Well, that was until Dyon turned his gaze toward the crowd of them.

“It’s best you all don’t waste my time. If you volunteer quickly, there’ll at least be 8 of you I don’t challenge.”

Dyon’s words seemed to jolt the non-rankers into a sudden realization. In a near instant, 8 more warriors appeared. They hadn’t even had time to think about how embarrassing it was for them to fold to Dyon’s words so easily. But, there was an air to Dyon that made them feel as though he shouldn’t be disobeyed… His demonic will was becoming tougher and tougher for him to reign in.

Elder Den cleared his throat. “Challenges work based on –“

“You.” Dyon pointed out and into the crowd.

Without a shred of hesitation, Dyon had already picked his first opponent. He felt no need to wait for an explanation and his anger was definitely not going to allow him to do that. He had waited too long already.

King Belmont’s lip twitched as he looked of at his long-time friend, King Acacia. “Did I say he was just as arrogant as you? I apologize, old friend.”

When everyone saw who Dyon had challenged, a collective breath escaped the stadium. Not even the most ignorant found any room to laugh and everyone had only one thought: ‘If you truly believed you were number one, isn’t this how you’d act?’

Iris Ipsum’s lip twitched. The crowd of warriors had separated from her, there was no doubt that Dyon had pointed toward her. Everyone understood what it meant.

For a person with only a single point to challenge a person with 10pts immediately was unheard of. Even if you had a grudge against a person, it was of little benefit to you. Even if you won, you would only take a single point from that person. But, if you lost, you would be out. That’s not to mention how powerful a person with 10pt would be in the early game. Dyon’s choice simply didn’t make any sense.

It was clear he only had one purpose: to prove a point.

“Are you going to get up here? Or are you only good at sneak attacking people?” Dense black flames danced in Dyon’s eyes as he looked down at Iris.

‘He knows…’ Iris’ features barely fluctuated as she made her way to the stage, gently and gracefully landing.

It didn’t seem as though anyone was intent on challenging anyone else. Everyone’s focus was on this one fight.

“Do you know why I’m going to kill you today?” Iris’ sweet voice rang through the stadium, pushing everyone to the edges of their seats.

Clara’s heart seized when she heard these words. It suddenly dawned her just the kind of place this martial world was. Dyon’s life was on the line here, she couldn’t forget something like that.

The Elvin girls felt bad for Clara. They had gotten to know her well over the past day, and despite her cold eyes, she seemed to have a bubbly sense of humor to her that completely contrasted the feeling you got from looking at her. But, that personality was never more prominent than when she was interacting with Dyon… It was clear that she cared for him deeply.

So, to then have to hear someone so blatantly threaten his life, it didn’t take a genius to understand what she must be feeling right now.

Dyon, though, said nothing in response. Instead choosing to stand there and observe quietly.

“There are a few reasons actually.” Iris spoke faintly.

“First is my sister. You had the audacity to cause her pain. Who gave a commoner piece of shit like you the right to kill my sister’s love?”

Clara gripped her fists at her knees. Although she had been aware that it was likely that Dyon had killed before. But, hearing it stated so clearly… She didn’t know how to feel.

“The second reason though, is much more personal.”

Iris’ eyes began to glow a dense read, her jet-black hair flaring outwards and fluttering in the wind. Dense red crystal veins began to appear in the air, as though they were living vines of themselves.

“Because of your senseless deeds, I missed a campaign year two years ago, tending to my sister. You are directly responsible for my not being in the top ten right now.”

Rage built in Iris’ heart. She too understood the importance of having a top ten spot when it came to the final rounds. To her, it was because of Dyon that she had basically lost her ability to compete for the spot. All she could do now was aim for eleventh place.

The crowd was shocked into a realization. Did that mean that Iris was the equal to the top ten rankers?

“And lastly.” Iris’ veins of red crystals reached a tempest, blooming into roses that aimed their ire toward Dyon.

“You’ve disrespected me in challenging me first. You don’t deserve to be in the top ten, so you think you can trick others into thinking you’re more than you are by using me? How dare you.”

Iris’ cultivation released the full brunt of its force, a dense red aura cracked the arena beneath her face as features of pure rage colored her once delicate appearance.

The screech of a witch resounded through the arena as a forest of red trees sprung along the arena floor.

 Everyone had their eyes on a single event. What would happen?

Dyon remained completely unmoved by Iris’ display.

A dense and opaque white flooded Dyon’s general vicinity, cutting off the forest of red from reaching him.

King Acacia’s eyes flashed. Many didn’t recognize this will, but he did immediately. “Celestial Will…”

Dyon though, still didn’t move. Instead, his ring flashed as a familiar friend appeared. One he hadn’t used in years.

A six-foot-long sword colored a completely light-immune jet-black appeared. Draconic cries of happiness rang through the stadium as a blood red aura began to drip from the sword.

Dyon’s eyes flashed with gold, ‘You’ve been supressed for too long.’ The array he had placed on the sword so long ago shattered.

The cries of happiness increased, beating against the ears of everyone in attendance. The spirit of Dyon’s transcendent sword roared into the skies, cutting through the air itself as a black dragon spanning hundreds of meters manifested.

But then, Dyon did something that no one could make heads or tails of.

With one swift motion, Dyon stabbed his sword into the ground, leaving it to his side. “She’s not worthy of you.”

The dragon in the skies seemed to nod in acknowledgement of Dyon’s words before curling in on itself in a napping position before disappearing.

“You must be wondering why I bothered taking this sword out.” Dyon stared into Iris’ eyes, completely unperturbed by her output of cultivation. “I think I’ll make a list of my own then.”

Dyon took a step forward, his skin searing in red as he pushed his Demon Emperor’s will to the first level of perfection.

“For one, your bullshit speech was so long that my mind wondered, and I just so happened to remember this sword of mine. At least you managed to jog my memory of the last time I needed to use it.”

Dyon took another step, a dense fog escaping from his lips as he pushed his Demon Emperor’s will to the second level of perfection.

“Secondly. Your cultivation is at the 6^th essence gathering level. And you also happen to be an upper 4^th grade expert. So, to save your pride, I was going to go all out.”

Dyon took yet another step. His veins bulged, coursing a dense gold blood through his body. Lines of gold began lining his skin as though they were tattoos etched just below.

“But then that leads us to the third thing on our list. After I had decided to be the good guy and spare your feelings, I then heard nonsense about me not being worthy of being in the top ten?”

Dyon flashed forward, rings of red gold being left in his wake. He didn’t use his movement technique, his body was just too overbearing.

Iris’ eyes flashed. Veins of red crystals lashed outwards, sending spikes of red careening toward Dyon.

Brilliant purple gold formations blossomed in Dyon’s path, crashing violently in the crystal arrows.

Showered of red, purple and gold rained down on the arena. But, the beauty was lost on the crowd. They sat at the edge of their seats, intent to see the clash of geniuses.

Iris didn’t remain idle. Her arms spread from her recognizing the threat Dyon posed, “Ipsum Tales, Witch’s Forest!”

The forest of red convened, sending branches with a sharp killing intent toward Dyon.

There was nothing more familiar to Dyon than these crystals. He had spent months struggling under the pain they brought. But, that had given him an intimate understanding of just what this will was all about.

It was an Earth type crystal will. However, unlike Dyon’s version which had the goal of amplification, this had the role of preservation.

As nice as that sounded. It wasn’t.

These red crystals wouldn’t stop until its target was completely encased. Even the smallest bit was like a parasite that would latch on and grow.

There was only one reason why it was red. It was a blood sucking leech.

Wings burst from Dyon’s back as he clashed with Iris.

Crystal roses appeared at her palms, leeching away the power in Dyon’s strike.

Iris flew backwards violently, her eyes widening in shock as her arms shook violently under the power of Dyon’s fists.

Shock colored the faces of the crowd. Iris. The undisputed number two of Earth. Had lost in the first exchange.

But, Dyon couldn’t be bothered to let her have time to rest.

His wings flapped a single stroke, sending a tempest of wind will crashing into the stadium below and shattering the stage.

In an instant, he appeared above Iris’ flying figure.

The golden veins in his arms bulged as he clasped his fists above his head, a dense red gold aura dripping from him as he slammed downwards.

Blood flew from Iris’ mouth, her body caving inwards under the pressure. Her vision went blurry as the sickening sounds of her ribs giving way reverberated through the arena.

Dyon’s wings flapped again, sending hundreds of participants watching below flying.

Iris could do nothing. Her problem was lack of versatility. As much as she liked to boast, she only knew a single will. But, Dyon’s celestial will was cutting through it as though it didn’t exist. Why? Because Dyon had spent two months with this will living inside of him. No one knew its weaknesses more than he did.

Iris hadn’t even hit the arena floor before Dyon’s knee found its way to her face, sending her flying upward just as violently as she had crashed downward.

“NO!” Rose Ipsum, Iris’ little sister cried from a distance. How could she have known her sister, someone who was so respected and feared would ever be on the side of a loss like this?

Dyon showed not a shred of mercy, flying upward and catching Iris by her long jet-black hair. Dense flames of black colored his eyes as a deep rage steadily built in his heart. This wasn’t enough.

Iris pulled a curved dagger from her hip, slicing her wrists before slicing off the hair Dyon held onto in one swift motion.

Blood flew from her hands. But, it didn’t fall far. Instead, it crystallized into two sacrificial blades she held in either one of her hands.

The screech the resounded from Iris’ techniques could no longer count as that of a Witch’s. It was without a doubt a banshee.

Iris stabbed both blades into her chest under the shocked gazes of the crowd, slicing downward violently and tearing her clothes away. She was naked for but a moment before blood coated her so quickly that she became like a different person entirely.

Robes of red crystals graced her as her jet-black hair became a dark maroon.

A long staff appeared in her hand, seemingly made of wood but holding a large red diamond at the front end of it as its body curled to the natural whims of the branches of a tree.

The sound of Iris’ screech increased as her crystal will burst through to the level of an intent. But, it didn’t stop there.

One with mind. One with heart…

One with body!

Blood seeped from Iris’ mouth, but it seemed to sparkle into the air as crystals before anything else.

“Ipsum’s Tale. Scarlet Witch.”