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Book 3: Chapter 3: Jester (2)

Elwing’s lip twitched at Dyon’s words, but, he still calmed himself. If this was the game Dyon wanted to play, he could play.

At first, he had come thinking this would be a simple affair. In fact, he hadn’t even hidden his animosity, to the point of blatantly insulting Little Black. But, Dyon’s demeanor had made him realize something, ‘This Dyon isn’t so simple…’

With that, Elwing’s entire demeanor changed. His arrogance went up in a puff of smoke and his smile became decidedly less fake.

Noticing this, Akash’s and Dyon’s eyes narrowed, both thinking the same thing: ‘I guess he’s a prince after all.’

A small smile played on Dyon’s lips, ‘Let’s play then. I wonder what it is you think you have on me.’

“Since it seems as though everyone else has already presented their gifts,” Elwing’s eyes swept over Ri’s necklace, “I, of course, have no issue with going now.”

Elwing’s hands flashed as an elegantly embroidered box appeared in his hands. He let it go, letting it float in the air.

“Not many know the story of the Belmont family. It’s not that it’s a big secret, it’s more so that it’s been such a long time since then and much of it has been lost in the stream of time. At the same time, we’re a family that progresses into future… looking into the past only stifles progress. This was the famous doctrine of one of our most senior ancestors,” Elwing smiled that though he was reminiscing about the past. Many almost forgot his previously arrogant air.

“However,” Elwing continued with a sigh, “today is a special occasion very much worth the retelling of this story… because only with this story can the magnitude of this gift be understood.”

At this point, even Dyon was intrigued. A gift closely tied to the history of the Belmont family? This might truly be a gift worth having.

‘The legacy of a Royal God Clan?… interesting,’ Dyon looked at the box with curiosity.

“To understand, a bit of history about this universe should be told… Many don’t know, but much of the martial clans that are here didn’t originate from this universe. In fact, there’s a distinct possibility from what my brother and I have deduced, that there are no martial clans in existence currently that do.”

Dyon felt his heart beat quicken, ‘This seems oddly important, but I can’t put my finger on why…’

“It’s not particularly important why that is, it’s very possible that whatever clans that were here have just eroded with the passage of time. What you should focus on is the fact this means the Belmont clan didn’t originate from this universe either. In fact, we entered at a time where this universe used to be much higher ranked. That being said, our story is a bit… unique.”

Elwing’s blue and red eyes flashed with something imperceptible.

“I’m sure you’ve all at some point or another heard of the legendary phoenix. A bird that has reigned among supreme beasts since time immemorial.”

Many nodded it was indeed true. Of the beasts, phoenixes were among the greatest.

To Dyon, at least with his limited western human world knowledge, only dragons could match up to the phoenix. However, the martial world had changed his perspective on a few things.

Although the Celestial Deer wasn’t a supreme level being, it was infinitesimally close to that barrier. That made Dyon think, ‘What if there were other creatures out there of that level?’

Truthfully, Dyon was correct, there were many creatures within the supreme ranking of beasts. However, the difference between dragons and phoenixes was in their variety.

Dragons, being promiscuous creatures with robust reproduction, had offspring even falling down to the earth level. Although offspring between two powerful dragons were rare, males among the species had the ability to lower themselves to the point of mating with lower ranking creatures.

However, phoenixes were different. There wasn’t a single Phoenix in existence that wasn’t among the supreme beasts.

“What you all probably don’t know, however, is that there has always been intense conflict between the species of phoenixes… namely between their three kinds: the ice phoenix, the fire phoenix, and the dark phoenix.

Many confound the legend of the phoenix as just being an undying deity… However, it’s far more complex than that. In our reality, the phoenix is the arbitrator of life… death… and reincarnation.”

Elwing gently stroked the box in front of him.

“The nine cycles of reincarnation of the fire phoenix is about all the legends get right. Most completely ignore the life path of the ice phoenix and the death path of dark phoenix.

The truth of the matter is that the flames of reincarnation, the flames of life, and the flames of death, guide some of the most powerful wills in existence.

Maybe the phoenix wasn’t the first… in fact, no one know who the first was, but, what’s clear is they are now rivaled by very few.”

A pained expression appeared of Elwing’s face as he sought to continue.

“Sometimes in life, balance is possible. The dichotomy of life and death… how reincarnation brings those two together… it should be perfect. However, as ironic as it may seem, nature doesn’t allow good things to last forever, even its own balance…

With every passing second, we are brought closer to our deaths. The air that breathes life into us may as well also be our executioner.”

For just that instant, Dyon got the faint feeling Elwing had stopped an act, ‘There’s more than just a little truth in what he’s saying…’

“And unfortunately, in typical fashion, nature didn’t allow the balance of the phoenixes to continue either. The death path grew too strong…

Because the universes of our reality are constantly moving toward an impending destruction, time was all that was needed for the balance to irreparably shift. It’s simple logic… as death is spread, so too did the dark phoenixes become more powerful… and with that, came conflict.”

Dyon immediately connected this to the campaigns, ‘Ri told me the campaigns were fought partly for glory, but mostly because the universes were ageing toward death… But, the way this Elwin character is explaining it, it seems like the phoenixes were simply along for the ride just like anyone else. It just happened that the dark phoenixes benefitted.’

Elwing sighed, “What’s was most tragic about this was the fact that there were few who cared about the growing power of the dark phoenixes.

For one, the phoenixes weren’t almighty existences. Not only could they die, they were also susceptible to defeat – although you’d have to be among the most powerful to do that.

However, the main issue was that the phoenixes were prideful and arrogant. Each – the ice and fire phoenix clans – believed they could handle the situation on their own. In fact, they hated each other as much as they hated the dark phoenixes.

Because of this, the dark phoenixes went on a tear. Destroying universe after universe and increasing their wills because of it. Because they destroyed indiscriminately, they had no need to defend their gates. This gave them the advantage of concentrating all of their forces in singular areas, resulting in only 10,000 universes remaining.

In the end, the ice and fire phoenixes still couldn’t settle their differences…”

Everyone seemed interested in how this would come to an end. Is the war still ongoing? Did the dark phoenixes stop having saturated their power? Did someone stop them?

“However, two of their kind did come together. It wasn’t for any greater purpose or anything like that… they simply fell in love,” Elwing smiled, gently unlatching the box.

“Imagine that, an ice phoenix and a fire phoenix coming together. It’s nature’s beauty at its epitome.

But… As you might guess, their clans didn’t approve of this. So, they ran. Sometimes hand in hand. Sometimes wing by wing. Sometimes in anguish. And yet still other times in happiness.

They spent thousands of years on the run from their very own families… until one day, a miracle happened,” Elwing undid yet another latch on the box.

“The miracle of a child… Half ice phoenix. Half fire phoenix. A new species entered the world… The very first Violet Phoenix: Amethyst.

As you all know, beasts have rankings of their own. An earth beast is among the weakest, akin to a human with a common body.

Then, there’s a heaven beast, which is ironically the equivalent of a human with an earth level constitution.

Then, there’s the transcendent beast… a beast with what we’d equate to a god level constitution. The highest rankings among these beasts would compare to the top three of both male and female god level constitutions.

And then, there’s the legendary supreme beasts. Beasts that are comparable only to humans with faith seeds A.K.A True Deity constitutions. However, even among faith seeds and supreme beasts there are three rankings. Elementary faith seeds and supreme beasts, Nascent ones, and finally… Divine ones.

For many years, no one understood why there was a need for the divine ranking. All of the most powerful faith seeds and supreme beasts of the world topped out at the peak of the nascent ranking… beasts like almighty dragons, the strongest of the qilin, nine-tailed kitsune, and even the phoenixes.”

Dyon’s lip twitched at the mention of the kitsune, but he didn’t glance at Ri. He felt the prince would only become more annoying if he found out something like that right now.

Suddenly Dyon froze, ‘He said faith seeds and supreme beasts were different… but just of the same rank… So, why did Ri’s kitsune attributes appear to me as a faith seed?…’

Dyon’s thought were interrupted by Elwing. “However, with the birth of this child… the first recorded supreme beast of the divine ranking was birthed. And it wasn’t just that… the child was at the very peak of that rank!

However, with the birth of such a miracle, tragedy came right along with it… The process of such a powerful beast giving birth is more domineering than any cultivation break through. The heaven’s open up, the chimes ring, stars collapse and destruction rains down…

While this is usually a great sign, it also acted as a beacon for the enemies of the ice-fire phoenix pair,” Elwing’s face noticeably saddened.

“The father, a noble amongst fire phoenixes, battled with his everything. It’s told that of his nine reincarnations, he used all of them in that very battle, protecting his wife with his life itself.

Watching her husband die again and again in the face of so many enemies, the ice phoenix could barely use the last of her strength to birth Amethyst into the world, sending the child away with her last breath.

With that… the stream of time flowed. To the phoenix clans, the child was dead. And, even if it had survived the initial birth, whatever technique the ice phoenix would have had to use to send it away would have most likely killed it as well…

However, they couldn’t have been more wrong.

One day Amethyst came back. She stood tall, reliving the one memory her mother implanted in her mind… the deaths of her father… the tears of her mother…

She channeled all of it. Her anger raged through the universes.

In the end, the phoenixes were forced to come together once again.”

Dyon brows had long since furrowed in disgust. They couldn’t come together to defeat the dark phoenixes, but they did to stop their children from being together? Even to the point of killing them? And now they wanted to kill their child?

“The penultimate battle was so large it raged across two universes. One became known as Chaos. And the other… was this very universe!

Although the details are unknown, the result was clear. The phoenixes practically disappeared from this world. The dark, ice and fire phoenixes vanishing out of the public eye. The last remaining ones have been dormant for a long time… leaving the only one standing as Amethyst…”

Dyon suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve. Looking down he noticed Little Lyla shaking her head quietly before she went back to playing with Little Black in his lap.

Dyon’s eyes narrowed, ‘He just lied about something…’

“However, the reason Amethyst won this battle against so many was because she had been suppressing her transcendence… Now, with her purpose complete, there was nothing tying her to this world anymore. But, before she left, she felt the need to protect her body… As such, she gifted my Belmont family with the task, handing us an imperfect form of her blood essence to boost our abilities.”

Suddenly, a faint flash of anger appeared in Elwing’s eyes, but, it was gone just as fast. However, it hadn’t escaped Dyon’s notice.

“However, to us this was more of a branding than anything else… the power boost was minimal, and the only clear effect was the oddity of our eyes.

 Usually, when a person or beast transcends, their body becomes a faith seed to be passed down among their kin… However, there were some that were very selfish and chose to seal or destroy their worldly bodies instead… That being said, can anyone blame Amethyst for not wanting to see her hard work passed on to a species of beasts she hated to her core?

So, she sealed hers. Tasking us with its protection. Unfortunately, she made the decision of leaving it within a gate, saying that she one day hoped her body would be swallowed into the stream of space and time to wander forever… and in the end, she got her wish.

As such, with nothing left to protect, the Belmont family settled in as Earth’s Royal God Clan. However, without Amethyst’s temple to meditate in, our bloodlines are doomed to decline as we age…

Luckily! We’ve learned to stimulate our bloodlines with the remains of the ice and fire phoenixes. The more talented you are, the more ice and fire phoenix blood you can handle…”

Dyon suddenly felt a very familiar tugging on his sleeve that made his frown deepen.

“So, today I gift to you, Princess Alexandria Acacia…”

Elwing finally opened the box, spinning it to allow every to see.

A collective breath was taken as everyone was suddenly invaded with the feeling of a bone chilling cold and a skin searing heat.

Beautiful flaming feathers lay in the box… one had dancing red flames, crackling in the air. And the other, was its exact opposite. A feather coated in ice blue flames, the dancing of its blaze sounding more like a quiet mist.

“The feathers of an ice and fire phoenix!”

Dyon suddenly felt like stifling a laugh. This poor soul. He took up half an hour of everyone’s time telling an epic story, just to end by trying to gift someone with a faith seed the impure blood of dead phoenixes? Was he joking?

However, Dyon said nothing. He instead smiled toward Ri to see how she’d handle this.

Ri couldn’t help but roll her eyes, causing Primrose to giggle at the couple’s interaction.

Suddenly, Ri sighed, “You just told us all something I assume the Belmont family hold dear and now you want to give me something clearly only your family should have access to? What are you trying to do exactly?”

Elwing smiled, ‘It seems she’s more than a foul-mouthed air-head.’

However, his words were nothing like his thoughts, “Of course. For the benefit of better relations with the Elvin Kingdom now and into the future, this is but a small price to pay.

As a princess, I’m sure you can understand the troubles of your kingdom as my family has with theirs. We use phoenix blood to make up for our short comings, maybe you can use a sturdier alliance with us to make up for yours.”

It seemed Elwing was oblivious to the atmosphere. He was not only the only person who didn’t know how useless these feathers were to Ri, he was also oblivious to the fact she had quite practically spent the better part of the last four months sitting in a chair by Dyon.

Anyone could tell Elwing’s meaning. Not only did he want to use these phoenix feathers as a ploy for an alliance, his thoughts on what he wanted for the ‘future’ were clear.

To Elwing, the choice was simple. He had spent his life with his closest friend being his elder brother, a cold and calculating young man. He saw everything in absolutes and relationships as means to an end. Logic dictated that he was the proper choice.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know enough about Ri or Dyon… because if he had, he’d re-evaluate whether even pure logic won out here.

But, he didn’t, so he instead continued in his role as a jester, much to Dyon’s amusement.

“These feathers are but a token. They only contain enough essence blood to be about the equivalent of an earth level constitution, but I believe that is still quite valuable. An earth level constitution runs the price of several million saint stones. In fact, the amount is usually astronomical enough to be worth dao stones. I’m sure you can see the value of this gift.”

Suddenly, a snicker came from the side of the room. Two younger generation members of one of a sub-family couldn’t hold it in any longer. The mention of the earth level constitution and its value was too much for them to handle.

Dyon turned his gaze to find the mischievous Cormyth family twins trying to pretend as though the giggling hadn’t come from them.

Ri turned an eye towards Dyon, gripping his hand tightly as though she too was holding back a laugh. By now, she was fully aware of what Dyon had done to become the alchemy and formation guild leader. In fact, everyone here knew. The prince trying to gift something of equivalent value to something Dyon could manifest from thin air must have been the greatest joke in existence.

Elwing finally began to notice something was wrong. But, he couldn’t fathom the reason. So, he did his best to maintain his calm demeanor as he continued.

“In the past year, there’ve only been a little over a hundred materials auctioned able to provide this level of boost to the body. One of which was actually provided by what seemed like an alchemy genius who calls himself the Demon Sage.”

The eyes of almost everyone in the hall turned to Dyon, but, he just sat there with a small smile playing his features. But, he wasn’t even looking at Elwing anymore.

“How could I forget about food?!” Dyon muttered to himself, looking at the grand feast laid out on the table. He was suddenly painfully aware that his only sustenance for the past 4 months was Ri and the medicines he was fed.

Suddenly Dyon looked at Ri, grinning, “Very few things can make me forget about food.”

Elwing felt like he was going insane as he watched Ri pause at Dyon’s words before blushing.

Primrose laughed at Ri’s reaction, nudging her, “So they worked, hm? Mithrandir and I picked them out just for you!”

Dyon laughed at Primrose’s words, “Just look at how beautiful my little feu glace is, how could she need such things to keep my attention?”

Primrose pouted at Dyon’s words, “I’m still not talking to you. How could you make a fragile lady such as myself think she was going to die.”

Dyon was stunned silent by Primrose’s words, so he immediately scanned the room for help.

Landing on Aeson who was quietly observing from a corner, he grinned, “Why don’t you talk that out with Aeson? Maybe you can tell him why you almost let him die.”

Primrose’s eyes glistened as though she was going to cry, suddenly searching for her own help, “Ri, can’t you tell your fiancé that it’s sometimes a man’s duty to let a woman win?”

Ri sent a side glance at Dyon, making it clear she was on Ri’s side.

Dyon couldn’t help but bow his head in defeat. It was technically his fault. His last note to Primrose was intentionally vague so that she would think she was going to die. It was a cruel trick, but he needed her death to seem realistic and it was punishment for not listening to him.

In all of this, Elwing was stunned. His mouth was nearly gaping as he stood with the open box in his hand.

“F-fiancé?” He stuttered, “Aren’t you aware that he’s promised such a thing to Madeleine Sapientia as well?!”

Elwing felt like he was back into a corner, he had no choice but to use his last trump card. But, his words only made Ri angry.

“Why would I not be aware of something so important? Is your purpose here to give a gift? Or ruin my relationship?”

Ri wasn’t in the mood for joking around anymore, Elwing was clearly a sore spot in what would have otherwise been a great day.

Elwing was stunned, ‘she knew?…’

“Ha,” Elwing laughed at himself a bit, closing the box, “It seems I’m not needed here.”

The box flashed, disappearing in his ring as he turned to walk away.

However, before he left he turned back to leave some final words for Dyon.

“My elder brother has already spent the last four months with Madeleine. They campaign together. Plan together. Fight together. Share life and death together. I don’t believe my brother to be inferior to a boy years his younger.

Come four months from now, Madeleine may be the one to decide to no longer be with you. In fact, she may have already decided that. You’re not worthy.”

However, to these words, Dyon only eagerly continued filling his plate. “That’s nice.”

And with the conversation left like that, Elwing Belmont left.