Elder Er's replacement, Elder Den Cavositas, was weary about how his predecessor was replaced. But, that feeling was overrun with disdain and anger when he heard about what happened.
"In true form," He began. "The Sapientia family has been magnanimous and have performed their role as peacemakers. Understanding that sometimes the young make mistakes, Patriarch Sapientia has allowed for the youthful demon sage to bow out of his engagements."
The crowd was stunned for but an instant before they started raining down boos. But, when they noticed that Dyon simply waved his hand and disappeared from view, their anger only increased. He dared use his array alchemy to escape their ire? Their booing only grew louder, naively trying to bypass Dyon's silencing array.
"The young Sapientia first in line genius is likely making a mistake of her own by choosing this coward as her partner. This caused the anger of her master, leading to an characteristically un-Sapientia like act. But, please understand that she acted out of love, and not hate. She only wanted the best for her disciple."
The crowd nodded in acknowledgement, siding with the elder immediately – much too easily swayed.
"In the end, Patriarch Sapientia has decided to allow their first in line genius to make her own decisions. He cares for her like he would a daughter and hates to see her make such mistakes. But, he also wants her to be happy. As such, under the strict requirements that she maintain a close guard on her virginity, he has decided to allow this."
Boos rained down toward the direction of where many assumed Dyon was walking.
They saw him as a manipulator. Someone who stole the heart of two of their six beauties. A man who was highly undeserving.
"As you can tell, because of this event, it is no longer possible to keep names anonymous. So, we are doing away with this system.
"However, fear not. This coward hasn't earned his spot in the top ten again. Instead, he will be forced to fight and earn his spot in the final round, where I have no doubt that the anger of our final contestants will expose him as the fraud he is!"
Cheers shook the arena, threatening to crack the very earth. They wanted blood, guts and gore.
The remaining participants turned sharp gazes toward Dyon's hiding figure. They each had had their own reactions to the idea of Dyon cheating, but maybe none more violent than the response of the current number eleven ranker, Femi Geb.
He was a member of Eboni and Uta's Geb clan, and a master of Earth will. Not only did he have to watch a member of his clan suffer defeat to Dyon, in Uta. He also then found out that this same person he already had a burning rage for had been the reason he wasn't in the top ten.
He wasn't the only one who felt that way. Many of the participants were from small families who had worked half their lives to earn their rankings and make their way to the world tournament. And yet, some child had done it with little to no effort? And worse yet, he had made himself number one?
No one thought about how difficult array alchemy was. Many found the soul to be completely useless. It was too impractical. Many saw the elves as an anomaly, and even more pointed to the strength of Elvin bodies as the true source of their power. After all, even Ri had said the body of an ordinary elf was already comparable to an Earth level constitution.
The ire of 2300 participants turned on Dyon. They were determined to not allow him to pass. But even worse? Those rankers that had already made it passed all each placed their own target on Dyon's back. He was public enemy number one.
"Take a good rest, noble warriors! The final round starts in but an hour!"
Dyon however, refused to lose the massive grin on his face even as he made his way to his Demon Sage exclusive area.
Removing his concealment array, he took a good look at the massive sign and scanned through the broken area.
Seeing Dyon reveal himself, the ire of the crowd came down in full swing. But, he couldn't be bothered.
Ri and Madeleine looked at Dyon oddly almost as if to ask why he had led them here. But, Dyon only gave them each a wink before his eyes flashed a deep purple gold color.
Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, Dyon seemed to work an act of magic.
The farm animals were lifted up and taken away to the center of the arena where Dyon didn't bother with them anymore. But then, something even more unreasonable happened.
Dyon's sword will cut through the air with sharp precision, cutting into the ground and the sitting area.
The crowd couldn't help but stifle a laugh as those close enough noticed that Dyon's sword will was only of the 1st level. But, those intelligent enough saw that 1st level sword will shouldn't have been able to cut into the arena's tough exterior so easily – if at all. Just what was going on?
The crowd could only watch in shock as Dyon's wind will tore up a tempest of gales, tearing the part of the stadium that housed his seating area out of the ground.
A 15 meter by 15-meter area, weighing tens of thousands of pounds… lifted with first level wind will?...
Dyon smiled, "I assume you don't want this back. So, I'll just burn it."
A blaze of flames erupted before the eyes of everyone. Those paying attention, immediately noticed that Dyon had used three wills. This was already more than at least half of those present… And that was just the contestants. Those in the crowd were on average much worse than that.
But, what was more surprising was how powerful his wills were…. That wasn't normal…
Even worse? The blaze of red flames turned the large area to ashes in a mere moment, leaving a massive pile of ash directly in the center of the stadium – again leaving it for others to deal with.
Seeing the now empty area, many didn't know what Dyon's plan was. Did he want to sit in the dirt? However, that idea didn't last long.
The purple-gold in Dyon's eyes became stronger and stronger as an area much more luxurious than any of the other prepared areas, sprang to life.
Couches of lush reds and purple, cushions and plants of lavender. Lavishly arranged food and a glass cage that held flying golden birds and butterflies. It was simply a paradise.
But, what upset the crowd was the sign above it.
Boos rained down as Dyon winked at the crowd, enjoying the result of his labor.
"Number One in the Universe: Demon Sage AKA Dyon Sacharro."
