About a day or so later, Dyon and the two Flaming Lily Sect disciples heard a disturbance at the first set of doors. Unfortunately for those geniuses on the outside, it seemed that their first attempt ended in failure.
"Seems like we should head forward now and retrieve the keys for the third phase." Dyon suddenly said. "If we wait any longer, we'll have more competition."
Yandevere, who had finally gotten her whip, nodded. Now that they were all in peak condition, it was best that they moved on quickly.
Soon, the group of seven made their way to the doors on the other side of the marble platform. After opening them, they were greeted with another set of rising stairs that seemed to go up forever. Dyon found this eerily reminiscent of the first phase. In fact, it led to a throne room with a ceiling several dozen meters high, lined with massive pillars and armored statues just like before. The only difference was that instead of silver armor, all of these knights wore black armor with a flickering flame of silver coming out of the top of their helmets.
On the throne, a similarly dressed guardian sat, however, its aura was more imposing. Not only was its flame golden instead, its black armor had accents of this gold, making it seem like its entire body was breathing fire.
"This is the first time I've seen such an amusing method of entering my sky castle…" A deep, baritone voice shook the room. "… Although I'm not a fan of tricks, I cannot say that you've broken any rules. However, you'll find out soon why it was in your best interest to work with others. There's no such thing as a dead genius, and there's also no shortcuts in cultivation. You've failed to understand both of these concepts, and you even have the audacity to steal from the Lord Creator. I have to say, you're quite bold, quite bold indeed."
Dyon's eyes narrowed. He felt far more pressure from this guardian than he felt from Red and Green. In fact, the weight on his chest was even heavier than when he just managed to slip by the attack of the pseudo-dao puppet. It can't be that this guardian is even stronger than the golden armored puppet, could it?
Unfortunately, Dyon's senses were too sharp to make such a mistake. Since he thought it, it was true.
"It's been a long time since I've gone all out." Dyon mumbled to himself quietly. Although he had fought the diamond skinned apes just a few months ago, he had mostly used that experience to improve his coordination with the beast babies. Plus, since then, his strength had grown explosively. No matter how powerful this guardian was, its aura couldn't pressure him.
Stretching lightly, Dyon looked toward Sabona and Yandevere. "It's best that you two re-enter my tower. We have no experience fighting together, so doing so now would make things inconvenient."
The two disciples looked toward Dyon, trying to force down their doubts.
"What did he mean you stole from the Lord Creator?" Yandevere suddenly asked a question that hit the nail on the head.
Dyon shrugged. "I took some thing that probably made the old ghost angry. But, he can only blame himself for being inadequate."
At Dyon's words, the hoarse laughter of the black-armored guardian shook the massive throne room. To still display such arrogance before him, it seemed that his trial taker was insistent on death.
"To blame one's self for being inadequate. Good words! I'll make you regret them."
Yandevere gave Dyon a deep look. Which one of these Dyon's was the real one? The kind one that didn't speak a word of complaint even when she delayed them for days trying to retrieve her whip? Or the one that stood before her now, turning his nose up at the world? She couldn't understand it.
"Be careful." Yandevere said softly. "Remember that I'm still a Peak Celestial, I can help you at a crucial time."
Dyon smiled, sending both Sabona and Yandevere into the demon sage tower.
He looked toward the still reclining black-armored guardian, a calm smile on his face.
"My fists are itching." Sen said with a massive grin on his face, despite the immaturity in his voice, there was no mistaking his battle intent.
'Even after so long, I still have cultivated an Undefeatable Spirit or even Battle Intent.' Dyon thought to himself absentmindedly, 'How odd.'
Dyon was truly an unfortunate soul. In order to forge Battle Intent and then evolve it into an Undefeatable Spirit, one needed to first find challenging opponents you then overcame despite the odds. He had done this multiple times already, the issue was that he was missing one key component: Not once did he ever believe he was going to lose.
Because Dyon never spared a thought toward defeat, his Spirit never grew through being tempered since to him, there was no challenge whatsoever. He never needed to forge an Undefeatable Spirit because he never considered the word defeat to begin with.
It was an irony of all ironies. To be unable to form an Undefeatable Spirit because you already felt that you were undefeatable. The Heavens must be laughing at his plight from above.
Dyon removed his crisp white shirt, revealing a body tempered to the absolute extreme. Every line of muscle was refined and even their individual fibers moved about beneath his bronzed skin like steel cords intertwining one another.
The beast babies exploded to their true forms, facing forward as 13 keys appeared to float above the black-armored guardian's head.
In that moment, the one dormant silver flame knights shook awake, each taking a step forward until 50 Peak Celestials stood before Dyon and his four celestial beasts.
Wings of black bloomed from Dyon's back, giving him a demonic aura that was unmistakable. His presence was whole and suffocating, oppressing all corners with an undeniable, pervasive momentum.
'I guess we'll see which of us is inadequate.'
