He didn't like the idea of the imbalance of force bringing in so many jaguars would cause. Maybe he wouldn't have minded if Lina could guarantee control of them, but it was clear that she couldn't since she said as much. Bringing them would cause more trouble than good. Dyon would think about it again in the future.
It was at this moment that the flashing lights of the teleportation formation dimmed and Dyon found himself within Soul Palace.
He tried to stand but almost stumbled and fell, only to be by Ri.
"You need to rest." Ri said sternly as Lina quickly entered her human form. "And you, you need to dress yourself."
"Ah, yes." Lina said hurriedly, not wanting to anger her Master's wife. Lina didn't have any 'modest' clothing, so he could only conjure up some thin branches to weave into a dress.
Lina's Clan might be called the Earth Jaguar Clan, but they might more accurately be known as Forest or Wood Jaguars. Though her earth will was incredibly strong, she had a rare wood will that was far stronger, allowing the dress she formed to have a natural soothing smell while also giving herself a modest appearance.
Luckily, Dyon had already had Ri's help in wiping himself clean of whale fat and in finding himself a pair of pants.
"I can't rest now... Clara..."
"I'm worried about Clara too." Ri said with a slight tremble in her stern voice. "But, you must know that Aritzia definitely barred the use of teleportation formations. Even if I wanted to let you go to Sapientia City, it would take you at least ten years, likely more to get there."
Dyon's tired eyes flickered with rage, but he knew that Ri was right. The reason Little Yin was able to get there so quickly was because time and space was something she could manipulate easily if the subject was only herself. She could cross a universe and its void in the blink of an eye if she was alone. But Dyon... He didn't have this ability.
Clara had a fail safe, the very same fail safe Dyon gave Amphorae: a relay station. However, for one, the Sapientia had likely laid a sealing formation to prevent teleportation, and secondly, Dyon would need Clara's say so for the relay station to be activated. Knowing Clara's personality, she would never give that permission. She would rather die.
Ri propped Dyon's body upward, using her shoulders to keep him up by his underarm. She hated seeing Dyon feel this way, and she hated even more that Clara was in such a position, but there was nothing they could do. Even if they could go, was Dyon really in a position to do much of anything? Would Lina alone be enough to deal with whatever trump cards the Sapientia had?
"Rest first." Ri said without room for discussion. "I have to check on Palace Master Jasmine. It's likely that she's been under a lot of pressure in the last few weeks. We can only thank her for the fact we only had to deal with six dao experts and not any more..."
As Ri was talking, the teleportation formation behind them lit once more.
Dyon was so shocked that his head snapped backward, immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario. But, what he saw hit him with such a violent wave of relief that he directly blacked out. The last pillar of worry keeping him up shattered.
There were two individuals who appeared at that moment.
One was a valiant red-gold haired beauty with once fiery emerald eyes that had been flooded with a sharp crimson light. This valiant woman held another, unconscious woman in her arms, one that seemed to be sleeping soundly.
Dyon didn't know what happened, nor did he care. The only thing that mattered to him was that Amphorae and Clara were here, and they were both alive.
It seemed however that good and bad things always came in pairs. As Dyon fell into a world of black, various activities were taking place all over Soul Planet.
In the distance, one could hear the reverberating sounds of an intense sparring match. The citizens of Soul Planet were quite used to this. Little Princesses Aoife and Stella seemed to have a battle like this everyday. Thanks to the Life Stone, whatever damage they caused would repaired in just a few minutes, so no one minded.
However, this day seemed different. As the pair of beauties battled in Soul Rending Peak's surrounding forest, they noticed that their surroundings weren't repairing themselves as quickly as they once did.
"Hold on a second." Stella called out.
"What, want to give up? Good. I'm our official key wielder now!" Aoife said proudly.
"Shut up, horns for brains, look over there."
"You talk a lot of nonsense for someone whose brain cells went to an overinflated chest –" As Aoife was about to say more, she suddenly saw it.
Instead of healing, the battle ground began to waft an eerie black fog emanating an uncomfortable scent... The scent of blood and roses... The scent of death.
**
~Hours earlier
Little Yin's body shivered. The distance from her to Dyon was too far, making it impossible for her to rely on him to sustain her strength.
The guild guards seemed to have some sort of death wish. It had already been several days since Little Yin had sent out her first warning, yet they kept coming.
At first, there was great hesitation. Five guild guard, 20 battle suits and 20 operators dead and gone in just a few moments, how could they not hesitate?
However, after more than a day of no movement, they began to question a few things. If there was such a powerful expert protecting Clara, why did he or she just leave her lying there unconscious? Why hadn't this person swept forward and taken Clara away yet? Didn't that mean there were obviously some limitations to this person's abilities?
This made sense, of course. They couldn't think of any other reasons why Little Yin hadn't taken Clara away yet. They concluded that it must be some sort of treasure, and if this was true, then it had its limits for sure.
Little Yin had never even felt anger before these events, but watching how these people began to use Clara's life as some sort of experiment pissed her off.
Little by little, they began to realize that whatever it was protecting Clara only took action when there was something directly trying to interfere with Clara herself. It ignored things they threw over, but if what was thrown over would hit Clara, its existence would be wiped from reality.
Then they noticed a range limitation. No one ever died from greater than ten meters away, so the guild guards began to use that range as a reference for the distance they should maintain.
After this was found out, they began to pepper Little Yin and Clara with ranged attacks. Little Yin could feel her ancient aura being whittled away with every passing moment. She was beginning to think that she truly had no choice but to risk Clara's life by entering the void.