Book 9: Chapter 36: First Line 3
Book 9: Chapter 36: First Line 3
Dyon stood in the void of space, a deep, stoic expression on his face. There wasn’t a single soul around him. In fact, even the stars were so distant that Dyon couldn’t register their lights. There was nothing but endless darkness.
The past month represented the easiest this campaign would be. From this moment forward, the true challenge would begin.
Because of Dyon’s manipulation, Celestial Quadrant was embroiled in war. As a result, most of the Five Clan Beast Alliance’s forces, especially their elites, were concentrated to their Northeast, having combined with the Ragnors to wage war on the Pakals and Uidah.
Quadrants weren’t perfectly formed circles, instead, they were often amoebas-like in shape. As a result, without a clear plan of action and a holistic understanding of the map, conquering became far more difficult. Luckily, that was exactly the understanding Dyon had.
The North of the Beast Alliance Territory had the Ragnors while the Northeast had the Uidah. However, the quadrant was shaped such that Uidah territory only touched upon the beast clan territories with two universes with a single universe, but the Ragnors touched upon three universes with five of their own.
This odd shape made the Ragnors the far more lethal threat. But this matter was irrelevant due to the fact the Ragnors and Five Clan Beast Alliance had signed a treaty to face the Pakals and Uidah together.
Each of these five total universes that touched upon Ragnor and Uidah territory acted as the sovereign core territories Five Beast Clans. This was exactly why Dyon left them for last.
However, Dyon wasn’t planning on attacking just yet. Though the Five Beast Clans had likely realized that something was wrong by now, there was nothing they could do. There were still seven more months before the gates opened once more, and Dyon had already systematically taken control of what few teleportation formations the beast clans had. They were, in effect, completely in the dark about the happenings of their territory.
In addition, because the last campaign had just ended, the Five Beast Clans were likely entirely focused on healing up and preparing for their next assault on the Uidah. Dyon’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
So, what was Dyon doing in the void of space, seemingly doing nothing while staring at endless blackness?
Amphorae had told Dyon long ago about the true method to conquering a universe. It wasn’t just about taking control of its people, one had to take the core of the universe for itself.
The trouble was that this core of the universe wasn’t so easy to find either. Depending on the universe, and its unique growth pattern, the core could be found practically anywhere from the surface of a planet, to an endless black space just like where Dyon stood now.
Dyon had yet to truly conquer any of the universes, but now, things were about to change. It was time. Before, he refrained from doing so because the Clan Patriarchs would be incredibly sensitive to dips in their Clan’s Faith. But, now that Dyon’s fist ruled these 13 universes, there was nothing holding him back.
His first target? This very Universe Thirteen. It acted as a choke point connected to all five of the Five Beast Clan Core Universes. As a result, it was the territory of the most powerful of the five Clans, the Golden Crown Ravens. This made it a uniquely perfect place for Dyon’s first true conquering. Once he had the advantage of Faith, defending this territory would become far easier.
So many culmination of events had led Dyon to this point, even with his unique calm, he couldn’t help but feel that gravity of this moment.
Even with the darkness around him, he closed his eyes, calming his inner turmoil until it reached the serenity of a smooth, but still rushing river.
“Will you continue to hide?” Dyon spoke into the nothingness. “Or will you make your presence known?!”
Dyon’s Presence bloomed outward in full force. He knew with absolute certainty that Universe Thirteen’s Core was located here. After all, he had a perfect map of this universe thanks to Researcher Ton.
In that moment, hidden strings of Gama Qi wafted into existence as the spirit of the universe slowly awakened.
[Leave! I’d never allow a man who used such cowardly means to control my universe!]
Dyon snorted at these words.
A Universe Spirit didn’t have any sort of magical ability. Its only task was to decide who could wield the Faith of its universe. Still, some of them had eccentric personalities.
This one was quite savage. It was likely because of this that it had attracted such a population of beasts under its charge. Seeing Dyon force its people to kneel with means it believed were underhanded, it was no wonder it acted like this.
However, it was still incredibly weak. Dyon didn’t dare to face the spirit of Soul Universe yet as it had accumulated an ungodly amount of Faith during its existence, but this puny Universe Spirit wasn’t even worth of tenth of that one.
“Unfortunately for you, this isn’t your choice.”
The spirit seethed in anger. [You dare speak this way to me?!]
“If you don’t give me your trial immediately, I’ll be sure to feed you to another Universe Spirit when I get the chance. Or, I could just corrupt you like the Chaos Universe spirit.”
[Y-y-y-y-y-YOU!] Dyon could almost here the grinding of the spirit’s teeth. But as an existence bound by the rules of the Heavens, it had no ability to do anything untoward. [I’LL GIVE YOU A TRIAL YOU’LL NEVER PASS.]
In a flash, Dyon found himself in a land filled with charging beasts as far as the eye could see. He could only shake his head at the scene.
In not even an hour, Dyon faced the Universe Spirit once more. The so-called trial was nothing more than a joke.
[AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH]
Dyon chuckled at the Universe Spirit’s tantrum, he couldn’t help but find it cute. Maybe he would have it cannibalized after all.
In that moment, a stream of Faith surged toward Dyon’s body. Blinding golden lights illuminated the endless space.
The first line of Dyon’s lineage had been forged.