550 Struggle 1

The look in Dyon's eyes had completely changed. A dense black flame still remained, however, there was an intelligent flicker that hadn't been there just moments before. Dyon's motives had completely changed from mutual destruction, to seeking victory at all costs.

'You've trampled over my home, killed my family, and then dared to say that everything was rightfully yours to begin with…' A deep seeded anger sprung from the deepest recesses of Dyon's being. 'The loss you'll suffer today is one I'll make sure you never forget.'

To anyone else, the idea of a meridian formation expert facing off against two celestials and an entity of unknown power was ridiculous – nothing short of seeking death. However, Dyon's mind only allowed him to see paths to victory.

One way or another, he'd grasp it.

A moment later, the blinding pillar of light that encased Dyon began to slowly fade, revealing his still kneeling figure.

Elder Daiyu and Patriarch Ragnor still had not dared to move, but the entity's shadow was clearly still giving off an amused air. He didn't seem to care about what did or didn't happen within the sealed world.

"Oh?" The shadow chuckled. "It seems you've learned to block your mind using The Seal."

Dyon stood, not being able to stand the idea of kneeling to anyone. The oppressive energy that had locked down on him thanks to Patriarch Ragnor, was easily ignored by making use of The Seal. Because his soul was already a single step from the celestial level, and The Seal provided an added boost, something like this was well within his power.

The range of abilities of this treasure was something even Dyon's master hadn't fully grasped, but if lower level seals from the Sigebryht could do away with even death qi, how could the emperor of all seals not deal with mere celestial energy?

The only down fall of the treasures of the 33 heavens was the amount of stamina they took to use. However, with Dyon's soul talent and accumulated prowess, he could already passively use The Seal in this fashion with negligible consumption. Quite simply put, the soul type 33 heaven weapons would all dream to have Dyon as their master even more so than normal treasures would!

Patriarch Ragnor immediately noticed the uselessness of his energy. "Kneel! How dare you!?" He couldn't help but tremble nervously. No matter how amicable the entity seemed, he and Elder Daiyu knew the truth. Dyon's rebellion wouldn't only cause punishment for Dyon, but him as well!

Dyon took a deep breath, looking into the sky. Even with The Seal greatly helping him, the pressure of the entity still bore down on him just as heavily as it did before. It was clear his soul wasn't powerful to negate that level of effect. He could only thank his master… In her final moments, not only had she cleared his mind, she helped him regain his soul stamina.

No one understood just the amount of fatigue Dyon's soul had been under until this moment. If he wasn't tired beyond belief, how could he only be capable of attacking a single time with his puppet? Remember, Dyon was someone who had taken control of that very puppet at dead kings valley, with vastly inferior soul strength, for months before collapsing. And yet that same Dyon, with vastly improved soul strength, could only attack once? Even if attacking and simply controlling movement required a large disparity in energy – attacking obviously needing much more – the difference was much too exaggerated.

That is why putting things into perspective is so important.

Even before Dyon had a massive hole blown through his chest by Zabia, he had been making full use of his death will form. The use of a supreme law for an extended period of time, especially by someone who wasn't yet an essence gathering expert, was taxing to the extreme on not just the soul, but also the body.

And yet, directly after that, Dyon had to struggle in a time locked zone to keep his body alive.

For six whole months, Dyon did nothing but stretch his soul out to the extreme, trying to comprehend higher and higher levels of death intent. All that time, he spent stubbornly avoiding the easy path of cultivation, instead wanting to forge his own.

To make things worse, Dyon's soul continually improved during those 6 months. He had started off at the peak of the 7th stage when he entered, but when he exited, his soul had already stretched itself to the peak of the 8th stage. That was like going from the 6th saint stage all the way to the 12th!

This would normally be a great thing, but in a time locked zone where there was no flow of energy, this was devastating. It was like Dyon was continually exercising a muscle, and that muscle wanted to get stronger and grow, and yet it got no rest or nutrients!

Although Dyon stepped out with a peak 8th stage soul, his true soul battle prowess was likely more accurately around the 2nd or 3rd soul stage. At that point, you could imagine his peak 8th stage soul like a massive body of land you should find a refreshing lake in, and yet all you saw were dried and cracked patches of land with sprinkles of moist soul here and there.

And yet, that body of land kept getting larger and larger, stretching out the few moist patches until they too became dried out beyond repair…

That's what Dyon's soul was like when he tried to use his puppet and that wasn't even mentioning the amount of soul stamina he had to divert to save Zabia's life and stop his soul from dissipating. No wonder he felt so fatigued. Madeleine had used a supreme level intent for a few moments, and yet that had left her completely incapacitated. The fact Dyon was even standing right now was a testament to his will power and domineering soul talent.

Everyone wanted to talk about how Dyon took a power that didn't belong to himself… What they should be talking about was what kind of monster would it take to shatter a seal placed by The Seal itself!

They were about to find out.