Much later that day, Dyon had found a place for everyone to stay. He had wanted to be lowkey before, but since practically the whole city knew of his existence now, he decided to rent out an entire home.
Many of the Viridi were in too bad of a state to walk out under their own power, so Dyon had put them to sleep. It was likely even they hadn't been aware that they were saved.
Surprisingly, after his family was saved, Eli stopped all thoughts of crying. He immediately moved to doing everything in his power to have them rest comfortably, impressing Dyon with his knowledge of plants again.
From the day Dyon had met Eli, he had already noted his excellent gardening skills, but, he was ashamed to say that back then, he hadn't truly grasped the scale Eli worked under. But now, with Dyon's alchemy knowledge having increased manifold, it was quite shocking to see that Eli could still impress him like this. In fact, it seemed quite abnormal.
As a wielder of an innate aurora, Dyon usually picked up on things others didn't. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that often times, those small things were what set Dyon apart from those who plotted against him. So, when Dyon realized just how impressive Eli's knowledge of alchemy was despite not having an innate aurora, he immediately thought of the words Voron had said…
Voron had mentioned how Eli was seen as useless as a pill slave. He had no reaction to the pills given to him and his deterioration in health had to do with his worry for his family as opposed to anything else.
He was eventually released, but he kept coming back to the point where he was sent off to the Chaos Arena.
Although the connection seemed somewhat convoluted and flimsy, Dyon immediately wanted to see if this somehow had some sort of connection with his sensitivity to plants. But, now didn't seem like the time to find out. Eli was much too focused on taking care of his family to worry about anything else.
Dyon sighed as his eyes scanned over Uncle Ail and Venus, two other members of the Viridi family he had good connections with.
Uncle Ail's hair was decidedly less spherical. In fact, he ironically looked as young as he was meant to now, despite the fact his skin was pale and sunken.
As for Venus, her lips were cracked, and her sandy blond hair seemed to have greyed. She looked almost nothing like the teen she should. She should have at most been a few years older than Dyon, and yet here she was struggling to hold onto her life.
The first thing Dyon had done for each and every one of the Viridi was purge their system of all pill effects. But, maybe the harder part was to remove the pill impurities.
In all of the pills Dyon had ever created, he never worried about impurities. Because of his innate aurora, his process, within reason, could be seen as the peak of perfection. But, other alchemists didn't have such a luxury and often had the effectiveness of their pills restricted by impurities. Unfortunately, these impurities were harder to deal with than even the pills themselves. The only saving grace was that the level of alchemy, and therefore the level of materials used, were all low grade – this made it easier to deal with.
After Dyon helped to the best of his abilities, he let Eli know that he should mind his rest, pointing out that there were tens of open rooms in this house for him to sleep in before leaving Eli in the large bed filled room.
On his way upstairs to where Ri was likely waiting, Dyon once again thought of Madeleine. He had been diligently checking his device, but there was still no message. That likely meant that Madeleine hadn't arrive yet, unless she for some reason ran out of dao stones again. Either way, Dyon could only wait. Regardless, in just a few weeks, he should be able to see her – a thought that brought a smile to his face.
'It's been a long time…' Dyon thought to himself.
Almost two years. In fact, the start of the world tournament would make two years exactly. Dyon didn't even care that his nineteenth birthday was coming up soon, he was more eager to see his first love. This time, she wouldn't be going anywhere without him by her side.
This Connery Sapientia character seemed intent on marrying Madeleine to someone else.
'As if,' Dyon snorted to himself, 'you won't even get as far as the ceremony planning. Let alone the actual ceremony. I'm not letting my Madeleine go through that again.'
Just as Dyon was about to go up the stairs, his ears twitched with the sound of light footsteps approaching the door of the mansion. With his improved body constitution, all of his senses had been improved wildly such that he could immediately pick up on such things.
'Maybe?' Dyon smiled. He didn't think anyone else would come and bother him but one person. After all, with the display the demon generals had put on, any enemies would be foolhardy to even attempt it unless they bothered the heads of the Royal God Clans – something ridiculously unlikely.
Dyon walked toward the door. Or, more accurately, he did something that looked half like walking and half like running. His body seemed to flash from where it stood to the door. His soul was fatigued after spending so long curing the Viridi, but he did a quick sweep anyway. It was just one person, it had to be her, right?
Dyon's hand reached for the doorknob just as the chimes of the doorbell rang through the large and most hollow house.
A bright grin spread across Dyon's face as he saw a sight he hadn't seen in years. A girl with beauty beyond words. He almost didn't take note of her now purple hair and eyes.
"Madeleine…" Dyon didn't let her respond. His arms immediately shot forward, pulling her into a tight hug and burying her head into his chest.
Madeleine's purple qipao clung tightly to her curves as she lay silently in Dyon's arms.
"I missed you." Dyon whispered.
"Thank you." Madeleine's words were muffled with her head being held so tightly against Dyon. He didn't even have the chance to register what she said before the feeling of a cold blade stabbed into his rib cage and toward his heart. "For making this so easy."
Dyon was stunned to silence. He stumbled backward, as he felt something slowly crystalizing inside of him.
Short and shallow breaths escaped and retreated with Dyon's pained movements. Confusion colored his features, but he couldn't divert his attention from what was going on inside of his body. Something was wrong. This wasn't a simple dagger, this was a technique.
His senses were slipping from him, he had no time to think. His organs slowed, and the beating of his heart hardened.
'What's going on?'
Dyon's body continued to harden uncontrollably as Madeleine watched. She didn't seem to move an inch, as though she was waiting for something.
Sure enough, the sounds of light footsteps coming from upstairs soon caught Dyon's attention. But, he couldn't turn around to warn Ri. The next best thing was to fall. He had to let her know something was wrong in case she didn't notice.
Ri's eyes widened as she watched Dyon fall.
"Who are you?!" Ri didn't think twice, she didn't know who this person was. But, to be powerful enough to hurt Dyon in the time span it took for her to hear the doorbell and come to see what was going on, she had to be powerful.
Dyon had given her the ring while he was dealing with his saint energy influx, so she still had it.
Ri immediately called upon Thadius, not having time to mind the fact he was half naked.
But, before either had a chance to do anything, Madeleine turned away, disappearing. Even Thadius' features furrowed at this sight. He didn't specialize in sensing techniques, and he definitely didn't have an innate aurora or talented soul. He simply couldn't find this disappearing girl.
Dyon's senses continued to dull even as Thadius and Ri rushed over to him. It seemed Eli was too preoccupied to come. But, how could he be blamed for such a thing? It had only been a doorbell after all…
'Well, this isn't too good…' Dyon's brain was slowing down. The speed of thought his innate aurora gave him becoming useless. The more possible solutions he thought of, the slower the next thought came. Soon, he would be at a dead end…
