Within a dark palace room, the groans of a large man caused the eyes of those around to brighten.
"Father? Father!" Aoife's heartbroken voice steadily filled with excitement as she leaped onto her father's body. She had been certain that she would have to watch her father slowly die before her, but now she could only thank Dyon profusely.
King Mino blinked in confusion. His first sight was the canopy that overlooked his massive bed, but the next were the white horns of his daughter almost poking his eyes out.
To the side, Dyon grinned. "You're quite tenacious, old man. I had thought that I would be too late."
After speaking his mind with the remnants of the Earth's Clans, the second thing Dyon did was come to Planet Mino at his fastest possible speed. He left in such a hurry that he could only leave the 36 geniuses with Ri and Clara, he didn't even have time to wonder why the rest of the elves hadn't come out.
When he arrived on Planet Mino, he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the embers of life still flickering within the King. He hadn't known him for long, but Dyon had a sweet spot for overgrown men that turned out to be nothing but large teddy bears. Zabia and Sarid were other examples of this. Eli too if you considered that he towered at over 7ft tall.
"Who are you calling old man?!" King Mino coughed while holding his daughter's trembling body. "I'm not even 300 years old yet, watch your mouth, kid!"
"Oh?" Dyon laughed. "You are younger than I thought you were. No wonder you weren't a part of King Belmont, King Acacia and Head Sicarius' fight for first place in the World Tournament."
King Mino snorted. "If I had been born, I would have slaughtered those bastards!"
After consoling his still sniffling daughter, King Mino turned a serious expression toward Dyon, "What happened?"
"Well, in terms of how you survived so long without a heart, it's because you have two of them."
King Mino rolled his eyes, "You think I need you to tell me this? I mean what happened to the bastards that made my daughter cry?"
Dyon chuckled. The Mino Clan had two hearts simply because of evolution. They were technically humans, but the Demon Bull blood within them caused them to grow to crazy heights. Aoife was only so delicate and dainty because he mother's bloodline counteracted the effects.
This said, the human body's construction is too frail to grow to these heights without some changes.
For example, Zabia and Sarid can grow so large because their Jafari bloodline increased the thickness and density of their bones and muscles. Dyon can grow so large when he uses his techniques because his body has been reconstructed to the standards of Titan, not a normal human. And, before that, he could rely of demonic will to strengthen his body, and thus grow larger.
However, the Mino Clan needed a different approach. Their two hearts is just one example. Since their muscles aren't sturdy enough to pump their heart at a high enough rate to sustain their size, they evolved to have two hearts to counteract this problem. It was this that saved King Mino's life.
"They're dead." A slight killing intent flashed in Dyon's eye, causing Aoife to shiver. "Their Clan will have to bear the brunt of my anger."
"I don't know what methods you used to kill them…" King Mino said seriously. "But I know it couldn't have been easy or else you would have been here much earlier. I'm well aware of the strength of the Kitsune Clan and we definitely aren't ready to face them yet…"
"Oh? You know about Kitsune?" Dyon asked, slightly surprised.
"Of course." King Mino said proudly. "My wife and Aoife's mother is Princess Saru Shruti's Death Guard."
Aoife snorted, climbing down from her father's arms to display her dissatisfaction.
Dyon, though, was legitimately surprised. He knew very well about the purpose of a Death Guard. They could, quite literally, never leave the side of their charge. For a clan like the Shruti, a Death Guard for their Princess… No, not only Princess, but most talented young mistress in decades, would mean at least being a Peak Celestial.
If Dyon had to bet, Aoife's mother was, at worst, a Pseudo-Dao formation expert.
Suddenly, Dyon grinned. "You sly dog. You bedded such a great a woman? I'll have to ask you for some pointers sometime."
King Mino's uproarious laughter shook the Mino Palace, clearly feeling an unending level of pride.
Aoife snorted once more. "Why don't you ask him who wore the pants in that relationship? It's more accurate to say that she bedded him."
King Mino's laugh caught a snag and devolved into a violent cough filled with embarrassment. In the end, he sighed.
"Princess Saru is a kind heart and would never punish Elinor for her deeds, but if the Shruti higher ups ever found out…"
Dyon nodded seriously. A Death Guard becoming pregnant during their line of duty and even giving birth? It was grounds for execution.
"You don't have to worry." Dyon looked toward King Mino with a fire in his eye. "When I hand the Shruti an entire quadrant to call their own, I doubt there's any request I could give that they'd say no to.
"Your wife will be by your side within 50 years, I promise."
**
The entirety of Dyon's home universe was undergoing a massive change.
Family's quickly packed their valuable into storage treasures, large sects mined their energy stone reserves to the best of their ability, and ancient clans wracked their brains attempting to figure out the best way to protect the valuables they couldn't take with them.
The Belmont Clan, especially, was faced with this harsh reality. The treasure of the Belmonts had always been the catacombs beneath their feet. Not only was it filled with spatial will, making it a prime abyssal core for many, but it always provided access to numerous Legacy Worlds left over from the war that took place thousands of years ago.
Still… They could only force themselves to come to terms with the idea of leaving all of this behind.
Of course, Dyon promised easy back and forth travel, but those more astute individuals understood his meaning. The resources that were once monopolized by individual families would now become the basis for Dyon's empire as a whole.
**
"This is it?" Dyon frowned as he stood in the basement floor of Mino Palace, staring at their ancient ruin.
"Mm. Long ago, my Demon Bull ancestors were chased out of the beast quadrants and ended up here.
"Without the Celestial Deer Sect to maintain order in the quadrant, everything fell into chaos and Beast Kings and Emperors wanted to assert their dominance. Unfortunately, my Mino Clan lost out because we were too humane."
"Beast quadrants?" Dyon asked.
"Yes. Back then, the Ragnor and Pakal clans had just started to rise up, the Uidah hadn't even conquered a single universe yet and most the quadrants were controlled by Beast Clans."
"I see…"
"In truth, it was because of this treasure that my Mino Clan was able to escape. But it was also because of this treasure that we were chased out to begin with."
"You said that this was only half of it? How do you know that?"
"Everything I know was written in the ancient texts left behind by our ancestors. Every time I use it, I can also sense the other half, which is why I know that it also happens to be here as well…"
"Once controlled by the elves, right?..."
"Mm. According to the ancient texts, the Elves once had both halves, but one of their sages gave this half to my clan, believing that if they stayed together in the Elvin Kingdom, it would bring about disaster."
"Why your clan?"
"You may not know this, but the Elves are the greatest species of a Beast Masters to ever exist. The only examples of dragons being subdued to serve a master in history was accomplished by the Elves."
Dyon's eyes flashed. He suddenly thought back to the vision of a world that Ri described to him…
She had said that she saw a beautiful landscape, filled with ancient trees and beloved by creatures of all kinds. She had even said that baby dragons followed by their parents flew happily in the skies… Dyon would be stupid to believe that these things were unrelated.
