But, how could Glorianice expect for her suggestion to not only fail, but for Dyon to see completely through it? It was a jarring experience that shook her to her core.
'But if there's a next time...' Glorianice's heartbeat refused to settle down.
Glorianice could only watch as Dyon disappeared along with Ri and Lina. She felt uncomfortable and spent longer than she'd like to admit standing in silence, but in the end, she sighed.
'Is this a good thing for my Dream Panther Clan or is it a bad thing?'
After numbered warriors began falling one after another, Glorianice had never expected to go back to BPA. She was too useless in the grand scheme and would definitely be used to send a message and set a precedent.
It was then that Dyon offered her an olive branch. But, as an individual who had lived thousands of years, she was too set in the ways of the martial world. Simply believing in and trusting Dyon wasn't in her DNA. So, she tried to set up some potential counter measures to protect herself.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm One had to remember that Dyon Martial Alliance system was highly reliant on Clans building themselves up. The issue that Glorianice faced was that her authority in the Alliance would never be great because her Clan's population was too small. Even to become a 2nd Tier Clan, you needed 100 separate individual to contribute 10 000 merit points and accumulate 10 000 000 merit points total...
Her Dream Panther Clan didn't even have 10 people, where would they get 100 from? It was only because Dyon understood this that he let Glorianice off the hook. But he would never allow her a second chance.
Dyon had taken this approach on purpose. Within the rules of the Martial Alliance, if someone wanted to become influential without the backing of a great Clan, it was necessary to contribute in other ways, namely militarily, though there were other paths.
Dyon was forcing Glorianice's hand. If she wanted her Dream Panther Clan to live a good life in the Mortal Alliance, she would have to sweat blood on the battlefield for Dyon's goals. When he said he would work her to death, he meant it!
'Jaws... No, Dyon...' Glorianice sighed once more. 'No. Lord Sacharro said that I need the blood essence of a Dream Panther in order to evolve the Barrier Breaking Pill into the Fate Breaking Pill... It seems I will have to awaken Ancestors for this... Your descendant has found us a ray of hope...'
In those moments, Glorianice finally truly bent her knee to Dyon.
Dyon had misjudged Aritzia. No, it was more accurate to say that he misjudged how important she viewed the tower quadrants. To Dyon, the tower quadrants were everything he had known, these individuals were his opponents, his enemies and his friends. However, Aritzia only saw these tower quadrants as a game board. She didn't hesitate to take risks not because she didn't care if she lost, but because it didn't matter even if she did.
It was as though Aritzia and Dyon had been playing a game of chess, but while Aritzia could see all 64 squares, Dyon's view was held to a small two by two corner. This was his biggest mistake.
He refused to make that mistake again. If he couldn't trust the people around him to act as he would expect, he would slash their game board apart so that they shared the same view as him.
Dyon wasn't in a position yet to do this to Aritzia. But, when it came to Glorianice, it far simpler to cut off her paths of retreat.
As Dyon's conscious flickered weakly, his resolute gaze never changed. These events weren't something he saw as a victory. In fact, he saw it as a devastating loss. No matter what he did, he would never be able to affect Aritzia to the same extent she affected him. However... There would come a day when he could. That, he was certain of.
For now, he would crush her in his small 2x2 square. When the time was ripe, he'd make sure Aritzia and the Sapientia didn't have a spot even if they tried to play another game.
'Sapientia Clan... I'll rip that mask off and let the whole world see you for the trash you are.'
...
"No, Master, I don't have the same control over my Earth Jaguar Clan as Glorianice does with her Dream Panther Clan. Usually, Panthers and Jaguars are quite anti-social and only come together for mating season. The only reason the Dream Panther Clan comes together is because of their reproduction troubles. Their population is so low to begin with that they wouldn't have any chance at mating at all if they went off on their own.
"But, it isn't impossible for me to gather them together. Though, we're just Heaven Grade beasts, so you shouldn't expect too much from us... In all likelihood, I'm the only dao expert of my species currently."
Dyon gained a new appreciation for just how difficult it was for heaven grade beasts to become dao experts. It was already difficult for transcendent and supreme grade beasts to do so, so it was no wonder there was such a cap on heaven grade beasts.
"That said, Master, if I understand correctly, our Martial Alliance has a problem with forming a reliable foundation. As far as I see it, Master should worry less about top tier experts and more about finding a reliable group of saints and celestials, or building one, at the very least.
"If faced with a billion celestials, even a dao expert must run. Though it is true that no number of celestials could ever kill a dao expert, that's only because they don't have the means of stopping said dao expert from running, not because of a dao expert is so undefeatable.
"My Earth Jaguar Clan and Jaguar Clans in general, are ranked low within the cat beast Kingdoms, but our numbers are pretty decent."
Dyon thought about it for a while before shaking his head. "Let's forget about this for now."