It was early the next morning, and Ri had of course not slept. She was torn between checking the progress of the demon generals on their mastering the Florence family technique and staying by Dyon's side to see if she could slow the progression of the technique and come up with some new ideas.
Eventually, even Alidor and his younger sister Kaeara came out. Ever since Dyon had brought them into the ring, he had treated them well by providing Heaven's Wine food, cultivation materials, and their own space for living. He hadn't asked anything of Alidor and let him be.
Alidor had seen Dyon's near cultivation deviation from a distance, but he had immediately realized there was nothing he could do, and therefore decided to stay back. Alidor didn't like wasted movements or illogical actions, and he felt his presence would have been illogical then.
But, this situation was a bit odd and he was quite interested in it. That said, he also didn't want to disrupt anything because he too didn't have a solution.
Ethereal Permeation was much too domineering to be used as a cure in a situation like this. He would only end up shattering Dyon.
This didn't mean that Alidor's intelligence lost out to Dyon's, of course. For all intents and purposes, the differences in the intellect between Dyon and Alidor was minor in terms of many things. Dyon's perfect innate aurora might allow him to reach a conclusion quicker than Alidor, but when given time, there was no reason for Alidor to not be able to reach the same conclusion.
However, the fact that Alidor hadn't come up with a solution even after a day had passed while Dyon had come up with a solution long ago only meant one thing: Dyon knew something Alidor didn't. And luckily for the situation at hand, Ri too figured this out.
Sparing a glance at Alidor and a head rub for Kaeara, Ri refocused her attention on Dyon who laid on the grass of the inner world. Ri was too scared to move him any more than they already had. "What do you think about this situation?"
"I think that if he dies, I'd be free." Alidor's words caused a faint snorting sound to be heart from Dyon before he instantly regretted it. He had such an urge to laugh at that instant that he accidentally made a sound. But, that only greeted him with a wave of pain worse than before.
Ri found this significantly less funny though, causing her to glare at the deadpan Alidor. "Answer the question."
"If I knew, I would have told you. Your husband's curse on me binds me not only to not act against him, but to also do my best for him. I would have no choice but to tell you if I knew something because if I didn't, even should that second stipulation not be there, I'd be indirectly causing his death. Which, again, would cause mine." Alidor explained slowly.
Ri turned away, having expected an answer much like this. "Do you think he has the solution?"
Ri felt a bit awkward talking about Dyon as though he wasn't there, but there was no way to communicate with him.
"I think that since I don't, he's the only person who would." Alidor's answer was short and concise. It even held an odd and reserved praise for Dyon that Ri found very interesting. "But, more accurately. Because of the master to slave connection we have, I can feel much of his will. Right now, he hasn't given up hope. But, that hope isn't abstract – it's holding onto something real. That either means he's a fool who only has blind faith. Or, he already knows there's a solution. And, if it's the latter…"
Ri nodded. "That means it's something he knows, that you don't. Which also means I'm more likely to figure it out than you are…"
After Ri came to that conclusion, Alidor took his little sister's hand and left. He had the obligation to do his best for Dyon, which in that situation meant letting Ri find this clue. With his job done, he could leave the rest up to her.
"Big brother, are you really okay with being a slave?" Kaeara had been pouting about this ever since her brother had told her what happened. Alidor hadn't wanted to, but Kaeara was too intelligent to not have picked it up on her own eventually. After all, Alidor had gone from being enemies with Dyon, to living in his spatial ring. It was a bit odd.
"Who would be okay with being a slave?" Alidor responded in his usual fashion.
"Then why don't you break the seal, you're super good at that, aren't you?"
Alidor paused at this question. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it, he had just never put it into action. For one, it was too dangerous. The act of removing the seal was technically going against Dyon. And secondly, his little sister saw him is the greatest, but that simply wasn't the case this time. Alidor didn't fully understand how a teenage boy a few years younger than him had such a powerful soul, but, it was undeniable. The truth he didn't want to admit was that even if he had thoughts of trying, there was a 0% chance he'd succeed.
Alidor sighed, expressing the most emotion he had since he hugged his little sister that day.
"Right now, he's useful. He allows us to train and provides a certain level of safety the gates didn't have. If we were in the gates right now, as we usually are, we would be in constant danger.
"Logically speaking, this is the best move for us moving forward. As long as he doesn't touch you and his goal remains to conquer universes, I'll have everything I want. Your safety and the destruction of the Uidah."
Despite Alidor's words, Kaeara still remained disappointed and saddened. She knew her brother only had those two goals in life… But, sometimes, she wanted him to live for himself. How could he possibly do something like that as a slave?
