Near the center of the Belmont Holy Land, Dyon, Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu walked through the fields of grass.
The closer they got to the hand, the less even Patriarch Ragnor and Elder Daiyu were able to keep their composure. It had been a long time since Elder Daiyu lost his nonchalance as it became more and more difficult to walk and breathe. However, their goal wasn't to reach the hand itself – that would be nothing short of suicide.
Their destination had been purposefully placed. It had to be close enough to the entity to mean something, but it also had to be far enough that they could play their part without dying.
Swirls of red and blue flames danced on Elder Daiyu's palms, seemingly acting like guides. They only pointed in the same direction simultaneously when they faced the correct direction.
Everything about this was odd to Dyon. If this was truly meant to be a prison, why were Belmont family flames capable of leading the way?
For one, Dyon had a certain degree of certainty that this was a prison. Not only was the hand clearly chained, the entrance was sealed within a land that could usually only be accessed by a single family – a single family whose king was clearly opposed to this.
Dyon considered the idea of King Belmont being a traitor, but King Acacia wasn't Jade. His True Empathy was the true-blue form of the technique. He couldn't be tricked like Dyon tricked Jade. For them to have worked so close all of this time, King Acacia would have without a doubt been able to tell.
It was true that King Acacia disappeared eleven years ago, but they had clearly been close friends long before then. In addition, King Acacia's True Empathy was restored fully, although his cultivation wasn't. That meant if King Belmont was a part of this plan, King Acacia would have known as late as today! That's something important enough that he would have found a way to tell Dyon – because that would mean having to be wary of the entire Belmont family!
However, the problem was that the place they were leading Dyon had to be related to the seal on his world.
The seal should be of benefit to the entity while the prison was a detriment… So why would the flames of the people who wished to harm the entity, lead to a place that would help him?...
Before Dyon could finish his thoughts, Elder Daiyu stopped walking as the flames in his hand flew out of his control.
They slammed into seemingly empty space, once again combining into a beautiful violet light.
The temperature raised rapidly, burning away the large portions of the grass field and revealing a stone array hundreds of meters wide and so complex that Dyon couldn't see through it… The array theory was far beyond anything he had ever seen before… Even his master's memories didn't have a match for it!
Violet flames embedded themselves into the array, gently lighting it.
The shifting parts of the array began to spin violently, changing the conformation again and again as the stone platform raised a meter from the ground before stopping abruptly.
An ancient bell rang, but the deep reverberation was something much more profound than heaven's chimes. It felt as though that its every sound resonated with the very world, causing the laws of the universe to sing along with it.
And yet, just as quickly as everything seemed happy, an eerie darkness shattered the holy chimes.
The stone platform cracked open, sliding apart as tremendous earth quakes filled the inner world.
In an instant, the world shifted from a resounding happiness to an anger so deep and foreboding that it matched the feeling welling up in Dyon's heart. Everything screamed that this shouldn't exist, that it had no place in world, and here it was.
Down in the stone opening, lay three semi spheres radiating a power to vast and unimaginable that the hand in the far distance was completely forgotten…
In two of these semi spheres lay two blinding bulbs of light, pulsating with such speed that they almost looked at though they weren't moving at all.
Within one, Dyon's 6th sense felt a striking physical prowess. It was a path of dominating the universe with little else than one's body – the epitome of what it meant to be a body cultivator. However, there was no imbalance like what Dyon felt…
With the Demon Sage's blood running through him, Dyon constantly felt an unparalleled thirst for anger and revenge, but he also felt an unbridled lust – something he, himself could hardly control. If it wasn't for his overwhelming will power, and the love he held for his wives, it would have long broken him. This problem had followed him long since the Elvin Kingdom, however, he had continually suppressed the feeling…
However, this bulb reached a balance of pure perfection. It wasn't a prowess of just power and strength. It was also fluidity, and gentleness. It wasn't just overwhelming weight, capable of shattering space itself. It was also as light as a feather and as free as the wind..
The other bulb of light held a connection to the universe Dyon had never felt before. He could see that it was there with his eyes, but the level of energies it contained was so far beyond his comprehension that his 6th sense screamed to him that nothing was there at all…
'This… This is everything that was stolen from us…' Flames of black crackled in his eyes.
As Dyon peered into what the stone platform revealed, he couldn't help but recall words Elder Daiyu had spoken to him when last they met…
Dyon memory was unparalleled. He could remember the words exactly as they were said, even to the most minute of details and voice inflections.
"You're from the mortal realm of this planet," He had said… "Yet you protect those of the martial realm… I wonder if you'll do the same once you know the truth…"
Heat pumped off of Dyon's body as the burned the image of the sacrifice of his home into his memory, knowing that the people he had called allies… The person that he called father in law… And mother in law… The person he called master… We're all guilty of the same evil of the person he hated most in this world…
These two orbs... They were the Body Kernel and the Energy Kernel...
