Dyon froze. He immediately sensed a large beast coming toward him with blinding speeds. He couldn't help but shiver at the thought of this sort of beast appearing in modern times. If it could be so fast here, how fast would it be there?
'Goddammit.' No matter how much Dyon struggled, he couldn't move an inch. To make matters worse, he had no idea how to leave this place. Could he even go back?
'Sorry master, I'm gonna need to break your rules. If I don't, your precious disciple really will die here…'
Dyon's thoughts immediately went toward Demon Emperor's Will, planning to jump directly to the peak of the second act. He had to be able to move if he multiplied his body's strength by a factor of 64, right?
However, the moment Dyon thought of it, he froze. His Demon Emperor's Will wasn't responding, no matter how hard he tried. It was at that moment that he remembered his Demonic Will was gone…
'No, no, no, no, no!' Dyon raged in his mind. 'This doesn't make any sense! I could use Demon Emperor's Will while my wills were sealed, so why can't I use it now?! I'll take the penalty, just let me move dammit!'
Unfortunately, Dyon was pleading to nothing but empty air. There was no one to hear his righteous indignation, and no matter how good his arguments were, no one was listening.
Dyon didn't even have a moment to think because before he could finish his next slew of curses, the beast was already upon him.
Even though Dyon couldn't see it with his own eyes, he could most definitely sense it with his divine sense.
It was a ghastly beast. Its head was far too large for its body, making its speed make even less sense. It had small wings barely a foot across on its back, but judging by the fact its body was more than ten meters tall, they were very much useless.
Its body was scaled, but the skin on its head was reminiscent to that of a hairless cat. Yet, despite that description, its face was identical to a bull's while its body and legs looked just like an ostrich's.
In maybe any other context, Dyon would die laughing looking at this ridiculous creature. The only explanation for its existence seemed to be that God or a god fell asleep on the job or challenged himself to create the ugliest thing known to man.
However, with his face firmly lodged in shit and his life currently on the line, laughing was the furthest thing from his mind.
The creature blazed through the forest with an agility completely unlike its appearance, bounding toward Dyon as though it had already sensed something in its territory.
In that moment, Dyon slipped into his first selfless state. His emotions weren't doing him any good here.
Yet, the moment Dyon's eyes lost focus, they refocused once more as sweat fell from his brow and into dung covered soil. It was only then that Dyon remembered his mental energy had been almost completely drained due to the fusion of the silver mirror constitutions then the subsequent titan diamond bodies.
He should have been able to last at least a few minutes more, but for some reason it was far more difficult to maintain a selfless state here. It was as though the atmosphere was far to chaotic and wild to allow a person to be calm.
Dyon frowned. 'Is that why I've been so out of character? This bullshit world wants to change me?'
There he went again, cussing for next to no reason. He almost didn't catch himself that time. It wasn't as though Dyon was saint, but he never swore so frequently.
By the time Dyon realized what was happening to him, the beast that had been tens of kilometers away had already shrunk the distance to less than a hundred meters.
'Calm down!' Dyon roared in his own mind.
In the critical moment of life and death, Dyon decided to rely on the one thing he thought he could: his soul.
The disgusting creature ran wildly, its large head shaking from side to side as its bloody tongue hung from its lips. It was clearly far too stupid to realize that it was its own teeth causing its tongue to be so bloody.
Still, what it was smart enough to realize was that the treasure it had laid this morning was no longer the masterpiece it remembered. It couldn't help but think how ugly the naked mole rat who had ruined its pride and joy was. Why was it glistening with such an odd color? Shouldn't it decide whether it wants to be metal or rat?
Hmph. Since this naked mole rat wanted to mess with its stuff, it would eat it. It had dealt with a whole ten years of constipation to create its treasure. It had already dreamed about its soon to be born children getting a whiff of their mother's hard work the moment they were born. But now everything was ruined! Ruined!
KKKUUUUAAAAHHHHHHH!
The weird bull/bird/scaled creature opened its large mouth to emit what could only be described as an ear shattering call. It no longer cared, even if this naked mole rat really did taste like metal, it would eat it anyway!
Its large jaws widened as its powerful legs pushed off the ground. In the next moment, it was airborne, falling headfirst to bite at Dyon's body.
Dyon's mind cleared of all things. Death loomed over him, but he had sunk back into a place of happiness, a place that filled with a feeling that hardly anything else could match.
Dyon remembered clearly the moment his soul was unlocked. He had laughed so grandly and smiled so wildly that he almost couldn't believe that it was himself.
At that moment, he was actually in the middle of a fight that would decide his life or death, yet he laughed. He simply loved array alchemy that much.
They say you never truly appreciated something until it was gone, and it could be said that Dyon understood that concept completely. After decades with his soul sealed, he almost didn't realize that an important part of who he was, was missing. And it wasn't until he heard those heavenly chimes months that he came to understand just what he was feeling.
Currently, his body may have seemed as new as a babies, but the truth was there was a glaring problem with it: it had no energy whatsoever.
Because of his fusion of the silver mirror constitutions, Dyon had been forced to pull all of the energy from within himself out. Although all of that energy was still within the Energy Core, just because he could pull it out quickly, didn't mean he could refill himself just as quickly.
The Energy Core was capable of dealing with the strain many times over, but could Dyon's meridians? The truth was Dyon didn't know. In the past, the answer was definitely no. However, at the moment, he didn't fully understand the limits of his body. Therefore, he immediately threw out the possibility of taking that risk.
The second possible solution Dyon thought of was using his spatial will. Back in his world, Dyon could already move hundreds of meters with a single thought. In fact, his upward limit touched the barrier of one kilometer.
Technically, that should be more than enough to buy him some time, but he threw this possibility out as well.
During his second trial, celestials were able to fight on the surface of a planet without it taking any real damage. Yet, in Dyon's era, even high-level saints could destroy a planet.
Why? The solidity of creation was far more robust in ancient times. Whether it be the earth or space itself, everything was stronger in a place with this much primordial energy. For all Dyon knew, he might not even move a single centimeter if he tried to use his spatial will now.
So, Dyon could only turn to the one thing he could always rely on. The thing he loved the most in the world. The soul path.
It was difficult to split his mind here for the same reason it was difficult to stay in a selfless state, but Dyon just managed to split it two ways, straining his already drained mental energy.
A brilliant array appeared in the air as the ghastly bull-bird fell from the skies.
Its stupidity played right into Dyon's hands. It had jumped far higher than it needed to, causing it to be hundreds of meters in the air. Since it could only rely on gravity now considering how useless its wings were, it was actually approaching at a much slower pace than before despite how great the gravity was.
