Primrose could only sigh. She, Mithrandir, Celine and Opal remained near Ri, but they were hard-pressed to comfort her. It seemed like Ri was very much prepared to throttle whatever enemy she saw first.
They were angry too. Dyon was the savior of their Kingdom and their Prince Consort. This was no less than a slap to the face of the elves as well.
That, however, didn't stop other elves from using this as an I told you so, moment.
Clarice's red hair bobbed, her face an odd mix of sneering anger.
"Clearly our so-called princess needs to do a better job of choosing her men. Imagine selling yourself off to a little boy who'll do nothing more than stain our race."
"It must be that mixed blood of hers. At first I thought she was half human, which is bad enough. But, come to find out she's half beast? No wonder." Fiora chimed in.
Ri's gaze snapped to the two Elvin girls that were supposedly her seniors. Her eyes were so dark and piercing that it silenced even them. But, before Ri could do anything else, the elder continued his ridiculous preamble.
"Cowards aside! We still have room for a lot of fun. And, I promise you that this cheater is being searched for as we speak! Once he's caught, we'll hang him up for all to see his pathetic existence!"
Cheers erupted through the stands. Tens of millions of voices united as though they had one will. Unfortunately, this was how mob mentality worked. Crowds like this didn't feel the need to think for themselves, and those that did? Were few and far between. They were all too easily spoon fed lies by powerful experts like Er Cavositas.
Away from the Sapientia higher seating arrangements, Sapientia Branch families were a few tiers below. Here, Madeleine's mother, father and brothers sat.
"Honey isn't that?..." Madeleine's mother, Alice Sapientia, didn't know how to feel about seeing Dyon in a situation like this.
The truth was that a small piece of her heart disliked Dyon for never having approached them. In martial world etiquette, it shouldn't be up to seniors to admit their mistakes. In fact, it should be youths who took responsibility whether they were at fault or not. And yet, Dyon had never done such a thing – even to the point where he ignored their existence entirely.
Alice knew that this was because Dyon detested them. The only reason he hadn't treated them like the Kami family was for Madeleine's sake. Dyon's words of forgiveness to Oliver told her that much. But, that didn't mean she liked it.
That said, Dyon was still the person that their daughter had chosen. After the events of the Kami wedding, Madeleine didn't even contact them for the entire following week. It was clear that Madeleine had made her choice and was making her hate of their decision known.
Although Alice had told Madeleine that she had nothing to do with the decision to go after Dyon, that was only to give Madeleine someone in her corner and hopefully make her feel better. But, the truth was that Alice was very much part of that decision, a secret she kept between her and her husband. However, it was clear that Madeleine hadn't taken her words very seriously. After all, why should they as the parents of a first in line genius, be seated amongst the other branch families as opposed to with the main clan?
Family Head Sapientia nodded at his wife's question, looking toward Oliver and his soon to be daughter-in-law Jessica.
After seeing that Madeleine really had no intention of using her status to help her family, Oli Sapientia decided to focus on raising up his family himself. That was why he had arranged this marriage between Oliver and Jessica, hoping to use the big sects to improve their standing.
"You two have to perform well today… At least the top 60%..." Oli changed the subject, instead telling his son and daughter in law what he expected.
Top 60% was only a mediocre grade. This wasn't anything big, especially since Oli meant top 60% of meridian formation experts and not overall. But, that didn't stop Oliver and Jessica from paling under the pressure.
Seeing their reaction, Oli Sapientia could only sigh and turn his attention away looking off into the distance and toward the sky box he assumed Madeleine was in. 'Won't you ever forgive your father?... It's clear I was right this time, no?...'
**
Away from the arena, Arios was blazing his way through the skies, still angry.
Because of Dyon's communication arrays, the demon generals still had the means of locating each other within a reasonable range. So, Arios was flying around in set patterns trying to see if he could pick up the communication signal of one of these arrays.
He didn't think there was a high chance of this, though. This was because if the Demon Generals were all in Dyon's spatial ring as they usually were, the communication would definitely be cut off. A distance through dimensions couldn't even be measured with normal logic.
The barren city only served to make Arios angrier. There were no people here because everyone was watching that bullshit tournament.
Suddenly Arios froze, snapping his head in a seemingly random direction. "Yes!"
In what seemed like an instant, Arios had made his way to a large mansion and stormed up the long pathway. But, before he could make his way to the door, a massive pressure engulfed him.
Arios started, trying to leap backward to avoid the attack, but it was futile.
In an instant, his legs were dangling in the skies as a strong hold gripped his neck.
"Arios?" A low rumbling voice asked in confusion.
A shallow cough escaped Arios' throat as he struggled to breathe. "Hey, Thadius… You mind putting me down?..."
"Ah, right," Thadius' robust laughter erupted as he set Arios down and led him into the house.
Arios immediately asked what happened and after getting the information he needed, he could only sigh. Their leader was too smart and talented for this to be a normal occurrence. This person had some ulterior motive…
Thadius had been told to protect the ring by Ri, but unfortunately, they hadn't had a protector for Dyon before then. This was a lesson to learn from.
"Alright, Thadius. You can stay here and protect the outside, then. I guess since Mistress Ri isn't here we can't enter the ring…"
Thadius nodded. All they could do was wait.
However, just as Arios was about to settle down and wait, he felt a mind pulling him into the ring and much to Thadius' confusion, he disappeared.
