703 No One.
There were many faces Dyon would recognize, but even more that he wouldn't.
A shirtless woman that was beginning to bloom into true maturity followed in the second row of five, because second from the right.
This was Silvyr Uidah, the second daughter of the meridian formation rankings and the leader of the army Dyon handed a demeaning loss to.
To her left was another familiar face, clearly wielding what looked like a discolored hand.
This was, of course, Kaeghan Uidah. The first son of the Uidah King God clan and a man that was forced to grow an artificial hand after losing his.
In the front five row of sons and daughters, stood another two familiar figures, both of whom, ironically, had been fought against by Lionel Belmont – and both of whom lost.
One was Mekhi Uidah, the fourth son of the essence gathering ranking. And the other was Lilith Uidah, a woman whose once delicate face held a scar that was still fading. It was clear that she diligently treated it every day to once again match her complexion, but it seemed the enemy that gifted her the scar was a tricky one to deal with, even with their status.
Of course, the person who scarred such a beauty like this was Lionel Belmont. She was the wind will and blade specialist that Lionel defeated in hopes of obtaining Amethyst's legacy, only for him to lose out to Madeleine.
However, despite all of the geniuses present, there was one man that stood out among the rest. Even within his row of five, he walked a half step ahead, and yet no one complained even a bit. This was the first son of the essence gathering ranking, Dravil Uidah.
This was no normal young man. Even within the stringent competition between siblings, no one dared to challenge him. This wasn't only because of his genius, but also because of his special status: along with the first son of sainthood, only Dravil had a faith seed!
When Alidor left a trail of clues to lure an important member of the Uidah to the Epistemic Tower, the one he had hoped would bite the bait was Dravil. This was because Alidor wanted to steal his faith seed for himself in order to grow more powerful for the future. This would be undetectable because they were technically of the same clan. In fact, Dravil's faith seed was actually from Alidor's Guatama family, originally.
Unfortunately for Alidor, not only did he end up alerting the Uidah about the possible special nature of the tower, he had also lured the wrong person and lost out on the tower entirely.
Aside from the main ten characters, there was one more person that was of important note. In fact, although to the Uidah, first son Dravil was the most important of all, if Dyon was there, Dravil would not have been the first person he noticed… It would have been Tau Aumen!
Many questions would have resulted from this…
How did Tau contact the Uidah even though the dao formation couple monitored the Aumens during campaign months? Even regardless of that, how did the Uidah know to contact the Aumens in the first place instead of some other clan? Or was it possible the Aumens were the ones to contact the Uidah? If that was the case, why would the Uidah have listened? Or more accurately… What did the Aumens know to make the Uidah listen?...
However, those questions remained unanswered even as Tau silently followed behind the ten sons and daughters, completely forgetting his dignity as a supposed genius to lower his presence.
In reality, Tau would have been weaker than Lionel two years ago, which mean he was about strong enough to be the fifth or fourth son of the Uidah – just about. However, he didn't dare to voice such an opinion in order to get better treatment.
In front of a King God Clan… His measly Royal God Clan lineage meant nothing.
**
Back on the other side of the gate, Dyon had stopped walking, silently looking at the tongue of flames hovering in front of his face and threatening to sear off the top layer of his skin completely.
Tense moments passed. It was as though time was completely frozen, but as each second ticked by, Elwing became more and more aware of a formless presence raging over him. He had just threatened the life of someone who was practically a legend now.
"What did you say?" Dyon suddenly broke the silence. He didn't retaliate. He didn't lash out. He only asked for a simple reiteration of what he had just heard.
Dyon's words seemed to have snapped the entourage that had followed Elwing out of their fear. Since they had chosen a side, they couldn't half ass it or else they would just offend everyone.
A fiery young lady of a well-off sword clan spoke up. In fact, she had managed to place decently well onto the meridian formation rankings just two years prior.
"A prince shouldn't have to repeat himself. The Belmonts are the rightful rulers of this planet and none of that has changed. In fact, they've solidified themselves after being the ones to fend off a joint attack of three planets! Show some respe –"
BOOM!
Barely anyone saw how it happened, especially not the mediocre so-called geniuses that followed Elwing who somehow thought that their massive number's advantage meant anything to Dyon. However, in one swift motion, Dyon's hand became like a claw, shooting up its position to slam into Elwing's face, completely crushing his nose.
Moments later, the back of Elwing's head slammed into the ground, grinding even further downward as Dyon clamped down on his face, only leaving the space between his fingers so that Elwing could look him directly in the eye.
The boldness of Elwing's entourage complete dissipated. Looks of horror surfaced on their features as they involuntarily inched backward. This Dyon person had done this to a prince! What would he do if his gaze landed on them?!
"No one rules me." Dyon said, almost tearing Elwing's soul out with his glare. "Least of all your pitiful Belmont Clan."