[A special thanks to troth1203 for gifting a Dragon :) This bonus chapter is courtesy of them]
The crowd could only watch as Dyon leisurely waited for all of his winnings to be pooled into a spatial ring. As one might imagine, the equivalent of a hundred billion dao stones takes a while to teleport, especially when much of it will be made up of saint and profound stones.
After what seemed like forever, Dyon tossed the bidding array back to Elder Den's stunned figure and headed back toward his area, walking by Clarice and Fiora as though they weren't there.
"Arios, would you like to go back to your family? Technically speaking, I don't have any plans of leaving Earth until the gates open again. And that's not for at least another half year. I don't mind you spending all of that time with them."
"I'll take you up on that offer," Arios nodded, "But, I was also wondering if we could bring my little sister as well. My elder brother Riley is in line to head the Sicarius family, so he can't leave – even if we asked, he'd be unwilling to. But, Ava's potential is being stifled here. She has a Heaven level constitution, and yet not only has she not put any effort into awakening it properly, she even ruined much of her cultivation for my sake."
Dyon smiled. "I owe Ava a lot and she's been a good friend to me. Even if you said nothing I would have asked her."
Their mission come the next campaign had nothing to do with rankings anymore. After this world tournament, they would no longer care about such things for a while. What mattered would be climbing the Epistemic Tower and that was an opportunity very few ever got. The fact Dyon was willing to share it warmed Arios' heart.
"Are you leaving?" Zaltarish looked up from forming yet another plate of food from Mithrandir.
The truth was that Martial Artists had no need for sleep. As long as there were healthy warriors to fight, the tournament should technically go on. But, the problem was that the Cavositas elders were having issues getting the remaining 2298 participants to stop kneeling.
Dyon chuckled, looking back at the situation. "It's going to take them a while for them to get over my demonic will. In fact, it'll take them a while to realize that's even the problem to begin with. Plus, I don't feel the need to watch the foundation stage and meridian formation competitions.
"You guys can stay here and invite whoever else you'd like to invite. I don't mind."
With those final words, Dyon extended both of his hands. One toward Ri and the other toward Madeleine.
"Wanna go home?"
Although Dyon didn't imply anything, the giggling of the Elvin girls and Venus sent Madeleine and Ri into a furious blush.
"I think you should spend some time with Big Sister Madeleine alone." Ri protested. She didn't want to be selfish. She had had Dyon to herself for a year now, but Madeleine hadn't seen him in two.
But, Madeleine shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous. Everything we do, we do together from now on, right?" A radiant smile spread across Madeleine's face as she took Ri's hand and walked toward Dyon.
Grinning wildly, Dyon laughed before taking his wives by the waist. He was so large compared to their petite figures that he nearly engulfed them in his embrace.
Madeleine and Ri let out a started screech before Dyon flashed away with speeds he himself didn't think he had ever reached before. An excitement bubbled up within him as he felt nothing but a towering anticipation. These feelings only seem to spur him on faster and faster.
Dyon wanted to show him his home, his real home. It had been too long since he returned to the Mortal World.
**
In the depths of space, a powerful collection of people were gathering. But, they seemed more filled with anticipation than anything else.
"Husband, it's been ten years. Can we really finally go back?" A beautiful Japanese woman spoke lovingly to a tall Elvin man. Her Kimono clung tightly to her curves, embroidered in beautiful flowers and intricate swirls of gold, but there was something decidedly bestial about her aura.
"Compared to others of our cause, we've had it easy. Amell and Nora haven't seen their child since birth. Patia-Neva even lost his entire clan. We have to remain focused." The tall Elvin man responded.
The beautiful woman pouted. "There are also those of us who've been lucky enough to sacrifice nothing at all."
The Elvin man could only sigh. "You know someone had to remain on Earth. It only makes sense for Little Belmont and Little Red to do so. After all, they're the heart of a Royal God Clan."
"I didn't mean Big Red. He's even lost his sons before. That said, don't let him hear you call him Little Red. I can smell that fight coming from a mile away." She giggled.
Suddenly, a saddened expression colored her features. "Speaking of Amell and Nora, do you think they'll make it? The day of the world tournament was the day we set to come back, but even we were late, and we were the closest. They've been gone for so long and are so far away… Is it possible?"
"Travel without the gates is…" The Elvin man frowned. "It's nothing short of a suicide mission. But, if anyone could do it, it would be those two. If it wasn't for them, none of this would be possible and our universe would never rise up again."
"Our universe? I like the sound of that." The Japanese woman smiled.
Her clan had originated from this universe, before their migration away, when it was the undisputed most powerful in this quadrant. However, a close rival to this universe had always been the old Elvin universe, now known as the Chaos Universe after the Elvin Kingdom's destruction. Because of that, it had always been the goal of the Elves to make their way back to their universe. So, hearing her husband give up on such a ridiculous and sentimental goal made her happy. Him accepting this meant he finally released the burdens his ancestors had placed on him… He finally wanted to move on.
That aside, traveling through the universes without the gates was a highly dangerous affair. However, what Dyon had realized in his talks with his grand teacher was that the gates had not always existed, nor were they natural. And yet, the very premise that creating the gates allowed meant that people knew there were more than one universe before their creation. After all, why would you create gates if you didn't know there were two or more things to connect?
So, what did this mean? It meant that before the gates existed, some highly intelligent people had calculated, prepared and schemed their way to break dimensional barriers to explore the unknown.
"Let's go. Considering they're there, there's no need for us to rush. But, I too would like to see the talent Little Belmont and Red will choose to lead the conquering of our dormant Epistemic Tower."
If Dyon had been here, he wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. These experts had spent years, no, decades planning. Their goal was obviously the rise of this universe to its former glory. But, there was also a deeper purpose. If there wasn't, they would never sever ties from their families. There were shadows lurking in their former glorious universe… Shadows that destroyed the Celestial Deer Sect and led to the downfall of their universe as they knew it.
But, the irony wasn't this… One of the most important steps in their plan was raising geniuses capable of conquering the Epistemic Tower as a first step to their rise. They had sacrificed so much not only for retrieving the knowledge of the existence of such a tower, but also in scouring and researching legacies to gift these geniuses, all while also warily avoiding and compiling information on their enemies…
And yet, they were soon to comeback to find that all their hard work was for naught. Why? Because a eighteen-year-old, now nineteen-year-old boy, had done what they couldn't. Their years of planning had all been meaningless as the drums of fate began to beat wildly.
