There in the sky, the ordinary lower level practitioner weapon's hell arrays were evolving. Their lines became more complex, their spinning became more vigorous, and they were even starting to pick up a faint purple characteristic that was exclusive to master level arrays.
'He can improve arrays in this state?!'
Suddenly, Dyon couldn't handle it anymore.
His wings disappeared in a flash of light and his arrays crumbled.
Ri jumped to her feet, rushing to catch Dyon before he hit the ground.
BOOM!
Ri slid along the ground with Dyon in her arms, trying to stop their momentum. "Oof, you're so heavy… a human shouldn't be this heavy…"
After they finally stopped, Ri looked at the now peacefully sleeping Dyon in her arms. The smile on his face almost made you forget that he was pale beyond belief. Blood seeped out of the corners of his mouth and his manifestation had long since disappeared. And to make things even worse, a profuse amount of blood was pouring out of his back from where the wings had been.
"AH!"
Ri pulled back startled as the hand she was using to hold Dyon's back seared with a heated pain.
"What the hell…" she whispered.
She, as gently as possible, propped Dyon up to look at his back in case there was something she needed to do to stop the heat.
But, what she saw only made her shake her head.
There, flames of black and gold were carving through the blood and Dyon's skin with no remorse. Line after line was drawn, continuously cutting deeply into the skin.
Time passed slowly as Ri could only watch what must have been a ridiculously painful process.
In the end, the blood dried and the flames finally stopped.
There, left on Dyon's back were two deeply etched tattoos. Each equally massive and majestic.
On his right, was a magnificently drawn black wing. And on the left was a magnificently drawn white wing.
Ri finally sighed in relief, setting the passed out Dyon down.
She could only shake her head. "Who asked you to have such a ridiculous manifestation…"
Ri sighed. Dyon's manifestations were indeed ridiculous… usually, in addition to special abilities, manifestations had the passive ability to directly boost your will, much like how Ores had summoned his flaming ax and boosted his flame and battle ax will. And yet, one of Dyon's manifestations was a human… something Ri had never seen before… which meant… there was no will Dyon couldn't boost…
**
Far away from the spatial ring, outside of the Elvin City's inner forest, and well out of the range of the Elvin City outskirts, Aeson Acacia sweated profusely.
His light blue eyes and his bare torso glistened under the full moon as he pierced forward with his spear again and again.
The grass tore beneath his feet as the only sounds that rang out were his faint grunting.
Hours passed as he repeated the same motions again and again. Unwilling to allow himself any rest until he reached the peak of perfection.
Soon, Aeson's muscles ached to the point where he could barely lift his spear any longer.
He stood in the small clearing in front of a nearby lake, breathing heavily.
"I promise you… one day I'll shoulder all of your burdens."
Taking a last breath, Aeson slowly walked to the lake, stripping down and jumping in. He slowly meditated on his essence gathering technique, allowing faint spots of light to accumulate around him.
Suddenly, he heard the faint sounds of water separating, causing him to turn around violently.
"Who's there!"
But, the sight he was greeted with was beyond words.
Like a fairy, a girl with blue-silver hair gently wadded into the water. Her clothes were nowhere to be found, making sure that the only sight reflected in the water was her fair and flawless skin.
Her eyes held a deep purity to them, and despite the truth of the matter, she was like the most beautiful woman in existence…
Aeson audibly gulped, having no idea what to do with himself.
"You – h – here … why?"
The girl reached Aeson, shyly blushing under the moonlight as she pressed her exposed body against him.
Her gentle voice rang out. "Need you really ask?"
Aeson trembled feeling endless softness invade his arms.
But, his voice rang out resolutely. "I need to know… I've loved you for a long time… but you've never shown any interest…"
A faint voice rang out as the girl shyly buried her head into Aeson's chest.
"It's simple… you're brave… strong… you have a story… and I want nothing more than to see you at your happiest…"
The girl paused, seemingly struggling with her next words. But, Aeson had heard all he needed to hear.
He titled the girl's chin up, looking her in her beautiful and calm eyes. He smiled gently.
"There's nothing you need to be nervous about telling me…" he said softly.
The girl adorably nodded, still struggling with her words, she blushed profusely before continuing, "I want nothing more than to see you at your happiest…
"Before I send you into endless despair…"
Aeson had no time to react as a dagger appeared in his chest.
He looked down in disbelief, unwilling to believe what just happened.
Blood spilled out of his mouth as he choked his last words out.
"You're not Ri… the Sigebryht family sent you…"
Aeson's eyes dimmed… the last thing he heard was something that sent him to the next world full of grievances.
"Love… what a useless emotion… maybe if you paid attention, you would have realized my chest is much bigger than that Ri girl of yours."
'Ri' laughed. "I made that mistake on purpose just to see if you'd notice… but you're just like every other man… thinking with your dick and not with your head."
The woman laughed madly, her cadence without rhyme or reason, crossing from a shrill screech to a hollow cackle. Just listening to her made one's blood curdle. This was a person who had lost their mind.
