King Acacia touched down onto the Ice Belt.

It looked like nothing more than a sheet of endless white. Blizzards carried all sorts of frozen precipitation, from large hail stones, to soft snow-flakes.

The canvas of whites and sharp blues chilled even King Acacia to the bone. He, himself, was a highly lauded water will expert, but even this part of the Ice Belt was too much for him to handle being thousands of miles deeper than the area Patia-Neva took Delia.

And yet, he did the unthinkable. Without any hesitation, he removed all protection from his wife, laying her bloodied and fragile body on a transparent sheet of ice.

The bed she lay on was so large and so clear that one could through to space itself on the other end.

King Acacia's eyes glistened, but threatened to ice over in an instant as he watched his wife's beautiful figure morph into a majestic white fox.

Anger shook his heart as he blamed himself.

Kawa's tails had been completely ripped away. Her pride as a Kitsune spit on by the vicious and disgusting actions of Patriarch Ragnor.

She was only about three hand lengths long, and her small frame was trembling. But, King Acacia could tell that she was slowly healing as a blue gently wafted above her once flawless white fur.

The small fox coughed, causing red crystals to fly from its tiny mouth. A small smile spread across King Acacia's lips as he watched his wife's adorable nose twitch with her sigh of relief.

However, there was a hidden pain within King Acacia's eyes

Kawa had once forgone her beast path to tread along the human path so that she could birth their little Alex. But, with that decision, went her ability to use the cold to heal as she was doing now

So, one might wonder, just how was she benefitting from an ability she had lost?

The simple answer was that she had regained those abilities

The complicated answer was that nothing in the universe came free of charge One couldn't just switch between disciplines with such ease and not expect repercussions

No one knew this more than King Acacia, and because of that, he didn't know if he would ever be able to see his wife's human form again

**

Dyon stood in the skies with his metallic wings flapping slowly, and yet, their every minute movement caused even Elder Daiyu to feel pressure to take a step back.

The reason was simple. When others burned their soul as a final result, they would pour the excess energy into their body or energy cultivation. However, Dyon was different. In fact, he only diverted the slightest bit of energy to reconstruct the largest breaks in his bones, completely ignoring the near infinite amount of fractures.

Unlike everyone else, Dyon poured all of his power into his soul! He knew fully well that if he fueled his body or energy cultivation it would do next to nothing. If he boosted his energy cultivation, he would trigger [Inner World: Sanctuary], and if he boosted his body cultivation, at most he would reach mid celestial levels. That wasn't enough, not with the time constraints he had.

Flames of blazing white danced along his black knight's armor as his soul strength tore through stage after stage.

Lower Celestial Stage... Higher Celestial Stage... Peak Celestial Stage...!

Lower Dao Formation Stage.... Middle Dao Formation Stage... Higher Dao Formation Stage... Peak Dao Formation Stage!!!

Dyon's soul climbed all the way to a stage only matched by dao formation experts!

His breath was ragged, and his body was already bursting at the seams. He knew very well that he couldn't last long in this form. If his soul didn't crumble, his body would!

'10 seconds'

"Dragon King!" Dyon roared.

Seals burst from Dyon's armor, causing its grade to reach untold levels. But, what truly caused Elder Daiyu and Patriarch Ragnor to tremble was the overbearing domain that covered them an instant later!

With Dyon burning his soul, the Dragon King's weapon had a near endless amount of energy to fuel it at its peak and Dyon took full advantage.

The surroundings became filled with a pressure so domineering that Patriarch Ragnor immediately lost control of his wills. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't summon lightning to attack Dyon in the air.

As for Elder Daiyu, he was already feeling the ill effects of forcefully using portions of his cultivation he had sealed away. He knew very well that his life would be coming to end soon whether it was under Dyon's hands or the universes. Even worse, considering the situation, Dyon had no reason to continue lying about being the Dragon King, and yet he did Through all of this, Elder Daiyu couldn't help but think that he had been in the wrong

The aurora steps flashed into the air. Without a shred of hesitation, Dyon unleashed his soul pressure onto Elder Daiyu and Patriarch Ragnor.

With the increase in his soul strength, his target no longer had to be directly below the steps. In fact, Dyon felt like he could cover hundreds of kilometers if he wanted to!

9 seconds

Dyon's mind raced. He could feel with his added sensory abilities that Elder Daiyu was on the last legs of his life. By logic, it would make sense for Dyon to then ignore him, and attack Patriarch Ragnor because Elder Daiyu would be dying anyway.

But, Dyon couldn't underestimate celestials. Especially one who was formally a dao formation expert. There was no telling how long he could last. And, Dyon would be completely helpless in less than ten seconds.

If Dyon went after Patriarch Ragnor and failed, then he'd have two injured celestials to deal with while being completely incapacitated. But, if he went after the sure kill, then he might be able to injure Patriarch Ragnor just enough before he ran out of time.

Thinking that far, Dyon immediately moved, no longer second guessing himself. He was dancing on the edge of a blade, and he knew it. But, the determination in his eyes had flared to all new levels.

He had too many people counting on him Too many people he couldn't let down

As for what would happen after these ten seconds? Dyon didn't know

What he did know, though, was that no matter what, he would only have thoughts of victory.