Madeleine and Ri's actions showed little hesitation. They, along with Dyon, had long since come up with the best solution to this problem. Dyon didn't have to say a word, he knew how intelligent his wives were and that they too would understand.
That said, there was another reason he had said nothing, and that was because of Madeleine.
Madeleine's personality wasn't one conducive to a killing spirit. In fact, she very much avoided such things. This was why much of Dyon's anger had to do with Madeleine being forced to do something she didn't like. This was Madeleine's very first kill!
During her campaigns, it was often her job to protect her comrades and weaken the enemy, but any of the killing was done by her supporting cast. It was why she heavily emphasized her celestial will to the point where it became an intent long before her music will. But now, there was no choice.
Ri and Madeleine didn't have ambitions of spreading their names far and wide like Dyon did. But, what they did have was a drive to stay by Dyon's side and to do him proud. They understood that Dyon didn't care about such things, though. Dyon didn't care for how powerful or well looked upon his wives were, he just wanted to be with them and protect them. However, that wasn't how they looked at things. To Ri and Madeleine, they wanted to reach the peak of perfection so that everyone knew how special their husband was. Why? Because only he had been able to grasp their hearts.
The line of challengers froze.
Before this, everything had been laid out before them. Simply challenge the weakest rankers in hopes of continuing onward. But now what were they meant to do? Was risking their lives worth it?
The truth was that only a small percentage of the challengers were lining up with malicious intent. After all, Planet Deimos only made up a fifth of the participants and Femi Geb wasn't even their undisputed leader – that title was left for Tau Aumen, a man Dyon had a run-in with at the Chaos Tower.
With all of these factors considered, the only people who were staunch supports of Femi were members of the Geb God Clan. The other – the Horus God Clan members of the Aumen Royal God Clan members – were mostly acting as normal participants: it just made sense for them to challenge the weakest rankers.
In fact, anyone who understood anything about Planet Deimos knew that the Horus and Geb God clans were always butting heads. This was because the Geb specialized in Earth and the Horus specialized in the skies – they had deep and fundamental philosophy differences that didn't foster a good relationship. This was why Ode Horus and Eboni Geb were always at each other's throats despite both being in the top 30 for their Planet.
So, why would the Horus God Clan ever go out of its way to save Femi's reputation? They would never waste their time doing such a thing.
However, that was only under normal circumstances. There was one clan capable of keeping the Horus and Geb in check. And that was none other than the Aumen Royal God Clan.
Tau Aumen, a man with fiery golden hair that looked more like the reincarnation of the sun than a human, was a young master that was constantly mediating the interaction between these two clans. In fact, in Dyon's short talk with him at the Chaos Tower, he had warned Dyon that attacking Eboni wouldn't be as easy as it had been to attack Ulu. Implying he had no intention of allowing Dyon to hurt his underlings.
Under the pressure of Tau Aumen pressing for unity, the Horus had no choice but to fold to protecting Femi's reputation.
Elder Den watched awkwardly from the skies as all of the challengers stopped moving. This was supposed to be their ultimate death match, but they had overlooked one thing: with the rankers taking their place on the stage, why would weaker non-rankers risk their lives when they knew very well that they didn't deserve to be in the top 100?
In reality, this was exactly why the past rules dictated that stage rulers had priority challenges. It was to stop this stall tactic. But, they had deliberately changed those rules to pressure Ri and Madeleine. Now it was back firing!
Suddenly, two figures flashed onto the stages. One to face Madeleine and the other to face Ri.
A surprised look flashed on Ri's features before anger set in.
"What are you so angry for? It's unbecoming of a supposed beauty." A woman with caramel skin had stepped onto the stage. By every measure, she was like an Egyptian Goddess descending from the skies. She was without a doubt a beauty beyond words and among the six peak-most beauties of the Universe. Eboni Geb.
Madeleine immediately noticed Ri's anger and sent a glance toward her before looking toward her own opponent.
This was another beauty, although a tier below Eboni. She had flowing silver hair and there was something decidedly holy about her. This was Ode Horus.
Ri, though, had every reason to be angry. This Eboni Geb was nothing short of a snake disguised as a beauty. From the very first moment she met Ri and Dyon, she antagonized and attempted to lord over them as though she was great. When, in reality, her greatest feat was sneak attacking Ri and causing her womb to be sealed.
Ri still remembered that helpless feeling of her feet being fused to the floor as a dense black array was shoved into her. There was little doubt in her mind that had it not been for Eboni, Ulu's seal would have never touched her.
Eboni didn't seem to care for Ri's gaze and she leisurely took out an Egyptian sceptre. It was a mere two and half feet long, but it had twin cobras wrapping along its length.
"I just thought I'd make it clear that I'm not here to please my elder brother," Eboni spoke, clearly referring to Femi, "I'm here to make sure that fake rankers don't make it into the top 100." Eboni snorted, "Your husband thinks he's a match for the top ten because he beat that old bat pretending to be part of the younger generation? Well, let me tell you and everybody else something."
Eboni's black eyes set in and sharpened as a crystalline will rained around her. "While everyone's distracted by the fact your husband ranked first in his very first campaign. I'm more interested in how his wives magically ranked so high after so few attempts too.
I dare to say that you two are just as fake as he is. And I don't mind proving it."