When Amphorae's words reached Jabari's ears, he suddenly froze. Maybe it was because he lived too frivolous of a life style, or maybe he had forcefully forgotten the traumatic experience of losing his prestige and his to-be fiancée all in the same day, but it wasn't until this moment that he melded together the image of the young man he lost to all those years ago along with the one before him right now.
The truth of the matter was closer to the latter. Or else, why would Jabari not connect the fact Luna was married off to someone with the man he lost to? After all, the prize for beating him was her. Thinking back on it, it was actually quite stupid of him.
All these years, he had consoled himself, thinking that his future would be far brighter than the country bumpkin he lost to. Since he came from an Emperor God Clan, how could his resources match up to that of a crown prince? As the years passed, the gap between them should only increase.
However, no matter how much the top Ahpuch brass wanted to hide things from him, he realized how much work they had put in to ensuring the take over of this seemingly small and insignificant clan. To the point where they didn't hesitate to send him, their crown prince, to see to the deed personally.
On top of all of this, Jabari had long since heard that the former king of this Angel Clan was the reason even his own Clan didn't dare to lay a hand on them. Didn't that mean that this bumpkin's father was far stronger than his own?!
The more Jabari thought about it, the angrier he got. His skin reddened and a dense killing intent permeated the air.
"Good. Good. Good." His voice dropped 3 octaves along with the thickening of his bulging neck as his muscles began to squirm and grow. "Before, I was far too bored to be bothered with the battle. But, since the woman I want has spoken, I can only oblige.
"YOU!" Jabari's piercing red eyes landed on Dyon's calm ones. "COME HERE!" Jabari flashed from his position, immediately appearing in the no-man's land between the two armies.
Dyon looked at Jabari's angered expression feeling nothing but endless disgust in his heart. This fool stood before him trying to steal his wife as though she was some sort of poachable client, then had the audacity to be the one angered.
However, Dyon didn't act rashly. In the last 30 or so years, Jabari had broken through the peak saint stage, and although he wasn't a first grade warrior, he was at the mid-peak of the second grade which put him above many geniuses. That said, this wasn't what made Dyon apprehensive.
It was well known that the threshold for 'normal' geniuses began at the third grade, usually those capable of this feat at the essence level were guaranteed to become celestials, while those who did it at the saint level were guaranteed to become at least low level dao formation experts. But, a second grade warrior was far from enough to impress Dyon. The problem lied in the fact Jabari was the crown prince of an Emperor God Clan. Dyon had no doubt that he was a legatee as a result of that fact!
If Dyon had his energy and soul cultivation at his finger tips, there would be nothing to worry about. But, currently, Dyon didn't even have any wills he could use. On top of that, although his body had broken into the lower celestial level and was about the equivalent of a 2nd stage celestial who had broken through the celestial stage as a first grade saint, that was if and only if that warrior didn't use anything but their energy cultivation.
To explain things simple, because of Dyon's body cultivation talent and the potency of the demon sage blood essence, his body cultivation would always be the equivalent of a person who had broken through their previous stage at the peak of the first grade. And as a side note, this was also the same for his soul. The problem was that, that only remained true as far as the raw power given by the cultivation level itself, and not other supplementary sources of power!
If Dyon fought a first grade 2nd stage celestial right now who didn't use any wills, soul power, and somehow sealed away the prowess of their body or made it negligible, he would win without a doubt! However, the moment that opponent began using wills or other power supplements, Dyon would be placed on his back foot immediately!
The reason Dyon was able to defeat the saints he had since he awoke from his coma was because none of those warriors matched up to him in talent even remotely. They were at most 5th or 4th grade experts, with the occasional 3rd grade. They stood no chance and were completely unable to …
However, Jabari was different. Even though he was a mid-peak 2nd grade celestial warrior which corresponded to about 95 of 108 filled meridians at the saint level. Although he was only currently at the first stage of the celestial level, he was without a doubt capable of closing the gap between both his grade and stage with the use of his body cultivation and wills!
Even worse, none of this accounted for the faith he could wield as the crown prince of the Ahpuch clan!
Simply put, if Dyon were to fight Jabari now as he was… Victory was completely uncertain…
All of this aside, even if Dyon's soul and energy cultivation were unsealed, he wouldn't want to fight Jabari in such a situation. All Jabari cared about was his own pride, however, Dyon had an entire clan to worry about. His formation worked most effectively while he was heading it, for one. Secondly, the dao formation experts sent to protect Jabari would never let him die, so what was the point? Although Dyon had methods to make sure Jabari died, he didn't want to reveal them just yet.
However, there were some things that even someone as rational and intelligent as Dyon would ignore. To challenge him for his own woman wasn't something he would take lying down. Since Jabari wanted to embarrass himself, Dyon would happily oblige.
Dyon slowly descended from the skies, landing beside an unassuming teenage boy with fiery eyes. His battle intent was clearly flickering, but Dyon could see a tinge of nervousness in his eyes when he looked over to his left to a girl that was about his age.
Although Dyon refused to add essence gatherers to his army because of their youth, he unfortunately couldn't afford to give up saints. Because of the talent of the Angel Clan, essence gatherers were aplenty even in children as young as 10 years old. Unfortunately, that meant that some saints were barely 16 or 17 years old. Here, that was both a gift and a curse.
The boy here was clearly not afraid to fight for his clan, but with the addition of who Dyon assumed was his crush into the mix, he couldn't seem to focus. Dyon knew that this was likely a problem many were facing, however, the benefits of adding 50,000 warriors outweighed the drop in battle prowess the original army would suffer while worrying about their significant others, daughters and mothers.
Dyon understood this more than almost anyone. There was a point in his life where he felt the need to be beside his wives every step of the way, making sure not even the tiniest mosquitoes bothered them. However, he too needed to learn how to let go. Women were delicate flowers every man wanted to protect with their lives, but often times that blinded these very men from understanding that each of those women who had a place in their hearts had prowess of their own… And… They wanted to give their life for you just as much as you wanted to for them.
Dyon lightly smiled, ignoring the fuming Jabari in the air. "Do you love her?"
The boy was startled. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed his King approach him. By the time he processed the words Dyon said, his ears immediately went red as he inadvertently glanced at the delicate beauty who was a few rows from him. Because of their arrangements, Dyon had purposefully given those with strong relationships battle radii near each other.
When Dyon's words spread across the battle field, the girl suddenly noticed the boy's gaze and she too immediately went red. The innocent moment lightened up the tense atmosphere that permeated the Angel Clan army, even causing some more of the shameless older men to laugh and jeer.
Dyon ruffled the boy's hair, "There's no greater sign of love than to fight beside one other. Always remember, she wants to protect you as much as you want to protect her. Only when you're side by side can you both be worry free."
