Clara's piercing red eyes seemed to radiate the air with a hidden heat. Her silver weapon's smith robes lightly clung to her curves, shimmering with multi-colored moons that could represent only a single thing. The confidence she exuded was unlike anything before, and the gentle glow of her caramel skin filled Dyon with warmth.
And finally, there was the recently awoken Madeleine. Her violet eyes glowed with a gentle loving expression as her gaze met Dyon's. The white gown, embroidered with gold and silver that had once been his master's dawned her gorgeous curves, complementing her cascading violet hair.
"Daddy!"
Alauna dropped down from Shere's neck, rushing toward Dyon, only to be followed by the toddlers and the beast babies.
Dyon swept his little girl into his arms. "What do you think?"
"Daddy looks super cool!"
Dyon grinned as a hearty laughter filled Soul Palace's Grand Hall.
Mia and Bella climbed up to Dyon's shoulders, the mischievous twins grasping for his affection as well. Dyon, of course, had no choice but to oblige.
Dyon looked around the room, he felt a particular happiness seeing Delia and Eli side by side, as they should be.
Everyone here were among his most trusted aids, with their help, he believed he could accomplish anything.
"Let's go." Dyon nodded.
Like this, the foundation of the Mortal Empire followed Dyon out and into a large square, filled with millions of warriors prepared to fight for their own glory.
To the front, 3000 individuals stood as straight as javelins, black armor coating their bodies from head to toe as a sinister demonic aura wafted out from them.
The sudden deafening sound of cheering threatened to drown everything out. And finally, the fated war drums began to beat.
Dyon overlooked the cheering crowd. Though the warriors that would head into battle were dead silent, the citizens of the Mortal Alliance had come to see them off.
After living here for so long, no one could deny that their quality of life was completely unlike how it had been before. And, with the advent of the Mortal Network, Dyon's feats became known to them all. It gave them a sense of security and pride in knowing the type of man that led them.
Seeing this man they so greatly idolized stand before an army of millions with his daughter in his arms and a light calm smile on his face, their hearts palpitated. Dyon hadn't even said a word, but they uncontrollably erupted into a tsunami of cheers, looking on with blazing passion. They only finally managed to calm down when Dyon raised his hand.
As though commanding their voices with a single gesture, the whole of Soul Planet, not to mention the remaining ten planets watching from their homes, all fell into silence.
"This will be our Mortal Alliance's first campaign." Dyon's eyes swept over those who stood before him, his mountain-like Presence wafting through the air, filling those below with an immovable confidence.
"I don't have many words to say because there isn't much to say at all. When a child takes their first steps, it's an emotional affair, but that is all it is… A first step.
"Feel this moment in your hearts, bask in it, enjoy it, but also understand that this is exactly that, just a first step. There's a lifetime of happiness laid out before us all."
Dyon lightly smiled, falling into silence. But, it didn't feel awkward in the slightest. Instead, it felt as though he was sitting before each and every one of the individuals who watched him now, as though he was a long-time friend of them all.
"I want you all to watch these first steps of our Mortal Alliance together. You will all bear witness to our glory.
"These here are the warriors that will fight with you at their backs. They're fathers, mothers. They're sons and daughters. They will watch over you, so I hope that you will watch over them."
Dyon's words were shocking to say the least. Who had ever heard of a war being broadcasted for regular citizens to see?
But, at the same time, this made Dyon's unbridled confidence clear for all. He wasn't just saying they would win because it was the right thing to say… He had no doubt they would win!
Dyon's head spread out once more.
One after another, large scale teleportation formations shone with gentle lights. Their destinations had long been decided, diligently planned out by Dyon and Nixie the Pathfinder.
"To Victory!" Dyon's roar shook the whole of Soul Planet. And finally, the ever-silent warriors answered in unison, their voices seemingly tearing a hole through the high blue skies.
"To Victory!"
Dyon disappeared under the rekindled cheers of his people, only a single word in mind: Conquest.
**
The destination of the army was none other than the outer edges of Chaos Universe.
After consulting with the Clan heads once more, they decided on the perfect fusion of three universes: Chaos Universe, Celestial Universe and Soul Universe.
By the coordinate system of the cosmos, these three universes had already been side by side, with Chaos and Celestial Universe – Dyon's home universe – being of the same quadrant, while Soul Universe was of the 99th quadrant, or Soul Quadrant.
This choice led to the abandonment of the Gates connecting the 99 universes, but it was a worthy tradeoff, especially since the 99 universes had the remaining Master Key arrays.
Those very Master Key arrays were the formations that Dyon had long since deactivated. Meaning, with a simple reactivation, Dyon could infiltrate the 99 universes once more.
However, there were also some more blatant cons with this choice, that being Chaos Universe itself.
Because the universes were now connected, there was nothing stopping the Infernal Beasts from crossing into Celestial Universe, and subsequently into Soul Universe where the bulk of Dyon's citizens resided.
Still, even this wasn't too worrying. Chaos Universe had a special energy signature that attracted Infernal Beasts, and considering Celestial Universe was lacking in energy density, the more powerful beasts would definitely avoid it.
