Ri laid on the grass by Dyon, her head on his chest and her mind racing.
The feeling Dyon gave her was completely different now. There was nothing comfortable about his heart beat – it wasn't steady. It was instead strained and sounded nothing like the calm and booming thump it usually was.
Even worse, his flesh was too cool to the touch… It felt like lying on a flesh covered metal table. Yet, Ri continued to lay there, still finding her place here more inviting than any other place in the world.
"Something you know that Alidor doesn't…" Ri said softly. Alidor had only left moments ago, in fact, not even five minutes had passed.
Suddenly, Ri thought of something that made her jump up. Dyon chuckled inwardly at this reaction, 'It's about time… I'll have to punish you after I'm cured.' However, by the time Dyon had finished this thought, Ri had already flashed away with only a single goal in mind.
Soon, Ri reached a special area of the spatial ring.
Because this spatial world housed living beings, it wasn't always convenient to also use it to store inanimate objects like weapons. However, Dyon preferred to have a single ring, only using others in special cases like with Ms. Everdeen's burial. This meant that Dyon had to leave a cornered off area in the spatial world for all things he deemed important.
Technically speaking, Dyon only need focus on something or someone to bring it out of the ring. However, the problem would be where to find those things if he left them just anywhere. So, Dyon had begun utilizing the Celestial Deer Sect's library to house these things so he could quickly send his mind to a particular location.
Ignoring the pile of books and papers, Ri immediately headed for the furthest corner of the large library to find a diligently organized section of books and weapons. But, her focus was on one in particular. A book that any elf would notice immediately – the Elvin Tome.
Ri trembled in anticipation. She knew this had to be the answer.
The Elvin Tome was known as the ultimate cleanser. This Tome not only ranked manifestations, it was also responsible for cleansing the accumulated evil a True Empath had to deal with. That said, although this latter function would have been enough for Ri to give it a try, it wasn't enough for her to feel as confident as she did. What truly gave Ri this confidence was another anecdote entirely…
Back when the demon generals were still incapacitated, Dyon had used a celestial array in combination with energy stones to facilitate their recovery. Ri remembered very clearly that Dyon had once told her that the demon generals were under the influence of a technique that robbed them of their minds and their bodies. This technique, though, wasn't malicious. The demon sage wanted to extend the lives of his demon generals, and as such, had no choice but to do this.
That said, more than a year passed under this array and yet the demon generals showed no sign of waking up. Although they had lost their demonic forms and looked like humans, the effects of the technique were very much still there.
Dyon didn't know it at the time, but on the pace that his celestial array was working on, it would have taken another decade, maybe more, to awaken the demon generals.
However, something happened to change all of that.
While Dyon slept for three days and three nights after awakening his manifestation, the Elvin Tome he had gained ownership of flashed in his sleep.
The light swept through his spatial ring, and immediately effected the demon generals. Causing them to twitch and then later on, awaken.
In the end, it was because of this event that Dyon was able to connect the Elvin Tome to True Empaths – thus coming to understand the cleansing role it played.
Now, Ri was sure that the Elvin Tome would come in handy. The only problem was how long it would take…
There was no question that the demon sage's technique was more powerful. If it had to be ranked, it would without a doubt be a peak divinity technique if not a legendary technique that surpassed that level. However, it wasn't malicious to begin with. The demon general had made it a point to allow his technique the possibility of being undone. After all, what would have been the point if one was never able to undo it?
This meant that while the demon sage's technique was fully willing to work alongside Dyon's celestial will, and the Elvin Tome's cleansing, whatever this technique was would definitely not be so amiable.
The second problem was something much more nuanced. Something Ri didn't pick up on because she didn't have enough knowledge of the original Demon Sage's technique.
The Elvin Tome wasn't an all-cleanser. Meaning, it could only cleanse one specific thing: The Soul. This was because, as the Elvin ancestors had said, the Elvin Tome was among the 33 heavenly weapons and part of the 11 in the soul category along with the aurora awakening steps.
What Dyon knew, that Ri didn't, was that his celestial will had been enough to cleanse the bodies of the demon generals. After all, they had already been in their human forms when Dyon took them out of the legacy world. What the Elvin Tome was needed for was not to cleanse their bodies, but to cleanse their souls. This was why they looked perfectly healthy but hadn't awakened – it was because they hadn't fully regained their minds yet.
Knowing this, the problem was clear. This technique, although it was also affecting Dyon's aurora and slowing down his thoughts, and thereby effecting his soul, it was also affecting Dyon's body – something the Elvin Tome had no ability to cleanse. That meant that, effecitvely, only a portion of the problem would be solved...
If Dyon's soul was saved, what would save his body?...
