Luckily, the trial grounds held one just enough for those seconds to only transfer over as a few months, or else who knew what could have happened in such a time span.
"I didn't expect the time dilation to be so severe." Dyon said apologetically. "Did I miss anything important?"
Ri huffed. Then, her expression took a complete 180 as she smiled sweetly toward Alauna, intertwining their arms as she all but ignored Dyon.
"There's been a battle going on for two months already. We've been taking turns waiting for you to come back so you'd understand the situation as quickly as possible."
Dyon's brows raised in curiosity. He knew the kind of talents he had under him. A battle raging for two months meant the enemy couldn't be taken lightly.
"What's going on?"
"Another attack was launched against the dwarves in the east. But when we split our armies to help them since you hadn't been back yet, there was a sudden attack to the south as well."
"Oh?" Dyon's gaze turned a bit dull. It wasn't that he was uninterested, but rather that his thoughts were churning. "Did someone expose a connection between us as my elvin persona?"
Dyon hadn't appeared before the dwarves in a while, mostly because he no longer had access to his elvin form after rebuilding Ri's body.
"We thought so as well. It's too much of a coincidence. But who would possibly know?"
"It's not that mysterious." Dyon said calmly. "There's only one. Kaori.
"It wouldn't be impossible for him to find out that I have the ability to change my race. After all, that's what I relied on to defeat Oshire. We broadcasted that battle for the Mortal Empire to see. Finding someone who would divulge this information is easy. With his intelligence, he could easily deduce that it was me. Maybe they even know the truth behind all of my identities by now."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Not necessarily. I didn't expect to keep it hidden forever. I only used those identities to feed the insecurities of the Failed Clans. Whether or not this is exposed doesn't matter. It's already bought us enough time. On top of this, simply saying that one man was responsible wouldn't calm them either. In fact, the idea that I did all of this alone might strike even more fear in them.
"Kaori knows this. But what he likely didn't expect was that I'd take so long to appear even with this much pressure.
"This is definitely only the surface of his plans… The real show starts now."
Dyon grinned, the skies trembling with every slight change in his emotions.
"I happen to have a few things to test that require some lab rats. I don't mind crushing another genius in the process."
**
The southern region battlefield was chaotic. Seemingly to avoid revealing all of their cards, Dyon's wives had decided against using the World Serpents. Back when they were used to eradicate the Deity Clan, their use obviously wasn't divulged since anyone who could have this information was either killed, or shipped off to the mortal plane by Dyon.
Instead, this battle was much less systematic. This wasn't due to Dyon's people being unorganized without him, but rather because the tactics of the enemy simply wasn't conducive to such a result.
The warriors of the Failed Clans were wild and unhinged. They charged into organized formations as though to take a page from suicide bombers. With neglect for even their own lives, their first and foremost goal seemed to disrupt and stoke chaos.
Dyon stood above the battlefield with a cold expression. With his Immortal Sense no longer suppressed, he grasped all of the important aspects of the battlefield in a near instant. It was just that he now had a choice to make. Should he stay here? Or should he head to help the Dwarves?
He wasn't entirely certain how the Dwarves would react to his true identity. In addition, he wasn't sure how he felt maintaining an alliance with them now that he knew the reality behind the World Tree and its existence.
For now, the Dwarves were disconnected from the World Tree. But, once they re-entered the mortal plane, would the reality continue to be like this? Even if no one in this generation dared to re-establish this connection, who was to say that they wouldn't do so after Dyon transcended? It would be impossible for Dyon to monitor their actions from an entirely new plane.
Of course, Dyon had no idea that the World Tree no longer dared to be involved in these matters. How could he know something so ridiculous?
Throwing these things to the back of his mind, Dyon focused on exactly who the enemies he was facing was. Who could force his people into a battle for over two months? He didn't believe a normal force was capable of such a thing.
'Griffon Clan, Phoenix Clan, Orc Clan…'
Dyon had expected this. These three Clans were none other than the true Overlord Clans of the southern region. Still, he couldn't help but be silently impressed. Even though these Clans were obviously not attacking in full force, he was still curious about how a mere Kaori goaded them into attacking.
Between these three Clans, Dyon knew that there were six three facet Overlords. If they had been attacking in full force, this situation wouldn't be as 'good' as it was currently. His Mortal Empire currently only had four experts capable of holding their own. Himself, his daughter, Madeleine and Ri. However, both he and Alauna had been gone, so one could imagine the potential devastation that could have occurred here.
Of course, Dyon could have added his father-in-law, Sargeras, to this count. But he was currently holding down the fort on the mortal plane. And, Dyon didn't include the recently acquired underwater city Overlords to this count either. Obviously, they were the true reason he wasn't worried about his absence.
