Madeleine's master looked down at her disciple even as the golden eagle took off into the air. But, in the end, she said nothing – choosing to sit and turn her attention elsewhere.
**
Away from the Sapientia city and toward the Belmont holy land, a gathering of princes and princesses was taking place.
King Belmont had many children and he treated them all well, not neglecting any one of them. Or, more accurately, maybe neglecting them all equally.
That said, as the royal family and the technical hosts of this tournament, it was their obligation to be presentable even though only two of their own were participating today – the only Belmont's of this generation: Elwing and Lionel.
"Big Red! You shouldn't be so angry, this is a grand event!" King Belmont happily chatted with Head Sicarius who seemed to be in a very bad mood.
He was nothing like a king right now. He had an adorable little baby girl dressed in a purple dress that matched her hair, hanging from his cheek and shoulder as he walked along with everyone else toward their flying ship – something that looked a lot like a solid metal blimp.
"Louis, I've never been so angry. When did I raise such a useless son!" Big Red's voice boomed. He wasn't a quiet man, but considering Arios, his elder brother Riley and Ava were following directly behind them, he didn't need to yell so loudly for the person his anger was aimed toward to hear.
Arios could only bitterly smile. Weeks ago, Arios had already been allowed by Dyon to come back and spend time with his family. After seeing how powerful he had become, Head Sicarius became more excited about that than the fact his son was alive! But, when his father began eagerly asking him to take part in the world tournament and make the Sicarius name shine, Arios kept declining! And in the end, he finally told his father about Dyon and how he was sworn to serve under him for the rest of his life.
Hearing the name Dyon, Big Red hadn't known how to feel. He had of course seen this child from afar before. At the time, he hadn't liked the influence he had had on his daughter, although that feeling was quite hypocritical considering how many wives he had. It was something he was quite proud of too, considering. In the human world, red hair was a recessive gene, but Sicarius liked to think his seed was so dominant that it didn't matter who his wife was, his child would always come out with flaming red hair.
But, not only had Arios come back with white hair, he had agreed to serve under someone! And even worse, he had reminded his own father, his own father! That he too served under someone – namely King Belmont.
"Ah, don't be like that. Your son finally came back! And better yet, look at how he's grown. He's already far more powerful than you were at his age and you placed second at that world tournament, no? Maybe that means your son would place first!" King Belmont laughed happily as he took his first wife, Queen Belmont, both Elwing and Lionel's mother, by the hand to lead her up the stairs of the ship.
Seeing this intimate action, Ava and Arios' mother, Big Red's first wife, glared at her loud husband before turning away and grabbing onto her returning son's arm.
"Come, little Arios. Let mommy spoil you. I don't want you fighting in this stupid tournament."
Arios could only chuckle. His mother had probably dealt with the most pain aside from Ava. He was happy to do her bidding even if his father was angry. In reality, this was the true reason he wasn't participating. He knew that in the future, he would be going off to do more dangerous things, so he wanted to give his mother some comfort for now.
Seeing this, though, Ava pouted. "Why don't you ever treat me so nicely, mom?"
"Ah, come here." Mistress Sicarius was a loving lady, even bringing along Riley with the three of them and completely ignoring Big Red – much to his disgruntlement.
In the end, Big Red could only sigh and board the ship.
**
Off on the distant ice belt, cold winds viciously blew – but, they were far from the normal winds. After all, being on an asteroid in the middle of space, with only distance blackness and the faint round spheres of planets to look out to, there shouldn't have been an atmosphere to produce winds. But, the ice belt had near limitless uniqueness.
The winds were produced from kernels of pure ice will. With every bit of biting cold that Delia suffered, the stronger she felt she became. In the end, her constitution was being awakened more and more.
The constitution awakening pill was but a catalyst. It was meant to be a blanket and artificial solution to awakening one's constitution. However, as Dyon's grand teacher had made clear, array alchemy was not always around and as such, neither were pill formulas.
In the time before Dyon's grand teacher's first disciple, and Dyon's senior brother, had broken into his peak and created array alchemy, this was the way to awaken a constitution. It required time, patience, and grueling amount of pain in addition to nature's favor. And, that was exactly what Delia had now.
She had spent the past two months, weathering the storm of ice wills and now, her constitution had shaken off its shackles.
Her hair was a striking and blinding white that seemed to glow with undertones of the lightest shades of blue. Her eyes were such a cold and solid blue that they seemed to pierce everything she look at as though she was looking through it as opposed to at it.
She experienced cultivation breakthrough after cultivation breakthrough. In the end, she was almost unrecognizable as her beauty reached new heights with every barrier her constitution released.
Seeing his daughter's transformation complete, Patia-Neva could only sigh, covering her in a barrier and allowing her skin to return to its normal healthy olive. But, something had remained changed. Her hazel green eyes were decidedly colder and the improvement in her beauty was permanent.
"Remember," Patia-Neva whispered as he prepared to send Delia back to Earth. "Our family's namesake is something you should hold dear. The day you understand what it means, is the day you'll have surpassed my understanding…
"You're a Patia-Neva… A leaf covered with snow…"
