The throne room was silent. Or, it would have been if it wasn't for the screams of the Minister Brodaya. This only managed to send yet another cold sweat down the backs of those Dyon had singled out. Who had ever heard of a mere saint causing a dao formation expert to scream like this?
The truth was the aurora flames were very volatile and dangerous. It wasn't until Dyon's grand teacher that they were managed to be reigned in. However, that only worked when the power they flames wielded was closely tied to your soul – this was, of course, something that old man learned after hundreds of thousands of years of experimentation.
As you might expect, this was also one of the requirements for creating a technique that fused with the will of the universe and could be passed down. Dyon's grand teacher had taken a natural substance, and tamed it, thus making it docile.
That said, it was no wonder why the old man said his technique was imperfect. His technique was the equivalent of domesticating a wild animal. On the surface, it seems like a great idea, but if you toss that animal back into the wilds, they'd be at a severe disadvantage. Although you gained something, it was an inferior and much weaker product. This was why Dyon's grand teacher said that, in many ways, the aurora was actually holding back Dyon's soul.
However, Dyon didn't have any thoughts of improving the aurora despite having deduced this. How could he not figure it out after having seen the original form of the flames? The problem was that it was truly much too dangerous and the soul was much too fragile. One couldn't even attack directly with their soul, even when facing a much weaker opponent, without fear of being severely injured. How could you then, in good conscious, place a combustible and violent flame near it? Wouldn't you be asking to die?
Acknowledging this, Dyon placed the idea at the back of his mind. Maybe in the future he'd find a way. But, for now, his grand teacher was right in taming these flames.
"Why is it you…" Dyon's brow furrowed as he held Minister Brodaya's neck.
Suddenly, in the midst of his screams, a dangerous light flashed within Minister Brodaya's eyes. Hate, anger, regret – all of it swirled within.
Amphorae's heart clenched, she knew it was much too dangerous for Dyon to get so close. How could she be fast enough to help him now?
Dyon's Perception immediately caught onto the killing intent. However, he didn't panic. Hadn't he faced odds like this before? Except this time, it was different. This time… He was in control.
His Presence dampened his heart and forced him to remain cool headed. It had only been fractions of a second since he detected this traitorous Minister's intentions, but he had more time to work with than most. As Dyon had decided during the first trial, if his body wasn't fast enough to react, what he needed wasn't just faster reaction, but Prediction!
"Husband!" Amphorae's voice sounded out, but Dyon had already made his move. Minister Brodaya's first mistake was pretending to be weak and allowing the aurora flames into his body. Now that he had, he would bend to Dyon's will now.
In an instant, the aurora flames diverted from the blood in Minister Brodaya's veins and propelled themselves toward his meridians. Minister Brodaya's eyes widened when he realized what was happening, but it was already too late… He had let a tiger into his home.
Raging gold flames stormed through the once enigmatic energy filled meridians, completely disrupting the flow of energy. It stalled Minister Brodaya for half a second, and that was all Dyon needed.
A majestic twin pair of black and white wings erupted from Dyon's back as he shot backwards. Moments later, three ministers sprang forward and restrained the raging Brodaya. From start to finish, he never got the opportunity to attack.
Dyon smirked to himself when he realized all three of the ministers who moved were three he had called out. It seemed they were eager to prove their loyalty.
Although Dyon seemed focused on saving himself, he had actually been inspecting the room. Those who were traitors would likely know that Brodaya was also one, no? In that case, why would they move to help? If the King died, that was even better for them.
After his inspections, Dyon pretended not to notice anything. It seemed this round of noble games was getting interesting.
"You have a lot of nerve attacking the King in our presence!"
Punches and kicks flew toward Minster Brodaya. They were restrained, of course. That said, it wasn't to a great extent. After all, as a dao formation expert, he was quite resilient.
Amphorae placed her small hand on her chest, taking a deep breath to steady her breathing. That was much too dangerous.
However, at this point in time, the hall was eerily quiet. When Amphorae noticed it, she too had her eyes widen in shock. Without exception, every single one in this room couldn't take their eyes off of Dyon.
Inwardly, Dyon raised an eyebrow. 'Is there something on my face? Or is it because they're surprised that I evaded a dao formation expert's attempted attack?'
Just as he thought that, Dyon's Perception picked up something odd. They weren't looking at him… Or, more accurately, they were looking at his wings?...
If Dyon thought about it, this was indeed the first time he had used his wings in public. The last time he did, was in the dead of night in his and Luna's private garden. At the time, even Luna hadn't seen him take off since she was in the room. Her field of vision wouldn't have picked up on it.
Amphorae's heartbeat quickened. The sheen of her husband's wings were so holy, yet somehow also so devilish. She felt her bloodline trembling under his presence. But, the problem was that her senses were sharp. This suppression wasn't coming from Dyon's bloodline, it was coming from something else.
All of the experts were thinking the same thing. If they hadn't been here to witness Dyon grow up themselves, they would almost not believe that he was a member of their clan at all. Somehow, the moment that the golden lightning dragon struck down, the boundaries of reality and fantasy were becoming blurred.
Just yesterday, Dyon was known as a prodigy of the Angel bloodline and one with the purist inheritance of it in hundreds of thousands of years. However, in that moment, the story changed, it was a completely imperceptible change…. To those of this time, things had always been this way. Unfortunately, it caused more trouble for Dyon.
The reason was simple. They hadn't felt bloodline power from Dyon, so how could they accept a King with such a weakness? At that point, it was not only Dyon's leadership that came under question, but also his right to lead at all. It was suffice to say that those two Ministers that bowed to him were doing so in respect to his Presence, but also the legacy of the Angel Clan.
This was something Dyon had not a single clue about. To him, this was just an adaptation of the trial. It made sense that anyone who entered the trial would have troubles, and he just assumed that this was one of them.
But, none of that mattered. Dyon had seemingly grasped yet another advantage.
"King!"
The Ministers stood. Angelic wings burst from their backs, filling the room with a pressure that made traitors tremble.
Minister Brodaya finally saw this and an unwillingness and regret filled his eyes. He felt to the ground, unwilling to support his own self to look up.
The loud thumping of kneeling filled the room. Even Amphorae felt the need to do so, but Dyon's words reverberated in her ears, so she refrained from doing so. She understood that it wasn't proper to do so.
Dyon silently landed on the floor, retracting his wings before looking around.
It was quite the majestic scene. Some elders had white wings. Others had black wings. Some more powerful ministers even had slight mutations. For example, Amphorae's father's black wings faded to red at their tips, giving them a sinister feel.
It was definitely a surprise to see even that man kneeling. Were his wings truly so compelling?
When Dyon thought back, he knew that his soul was responsible for his wings, not his bloodline. However, what he also understood was that the Martial World wasn't so simple. For example, the Ancient Elvin Tomes technically resulted in specific soul manifestations, however, they weren't so simple, right?
The Ancient Elvin Tomes required Dyon to body cultivate in order to manifest a particular Ancient Manifestation. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact Dyon realized that doing this was silly when he had such an overwhelming blood essence within his, he would already have foster an Elvin body.
Using this line of logic, it was clear that bloodlines could lead to manifestations… So, why wouldn't the opposite also be possible?
The moment Dyon manifested his humanoid manifestation, it caused him endless pain, but it also etched tattoos of white, black and gold into his back. Of those colors, his wings had already very clearly manifested the first two, but there were no signs of any gold currently.
Dyon knew little about Angels. His knowledge was limited to what his master knew, and even she was only aware that they were the limit of evolution for humans. If a created human universe had great potential, then after a few tens of billion years, they would begin to birth Angels. Obviously, not every universe was destined for this, but those that had relatively higher purity in Gama energy would eventually accrue enough Heaven's Blessings for such a thing.
But… The problem was that the universe Dyon was from was much too young to have produced an Angel…
