It had been 48 hours since Ace’s st appeara the War God’s Academy, and right now, the War God Mountain may well be the busiest area in the whole of the O’Brien Empire.

  What seemed like tens of thousands of people were gathered at the base of the mountain. They khey weren’t able to get seats to watch su event. Still, they hoped that they might be able to see some of the excitement from down there.

  That was just the ordinairy civilians of the Empire; all the VIPs had long siaken their seats surrounding the ring.

  Calling them VIPs didn’t do it justice. The audience was filled with many of the ti’s true movers and shakers.

  Whether it was representatives of the Dawson glomerate, the delegates of the Radiant Churd the Cult of Darkness, or even the Imperial family of the O’Brien Empire, their seats were extraordinarily ordinary.

  All the best seats were taken by the various saints who resided in the Empire, including all 20-plus saint-level disciples of the War God himself.

  It was quite the show of force O’Brien had id out for Ace today. For many, it would seem a little extreme, but when remembering Ace’s fame, heaven-defying talent, and the momentum he had gained over his feats thus far, them going so far seemed only right. After all, they couldn’t afford to show any weakness at this point.

  “It’s been a while, Fain,” a middle-aged man with long bck hair wearing a moon-white long robe said amiably as he led a beautiful woman with long jade hair to a pair of seats beside the War God’s disciples.

  “Desri,” Fain excimed warmly. “I didn’t expect to see you here today!”

  “My wife and I were merely passing by when we heard of the challenge of this Ace boy,” Desri expined casually. “Are the rumours of his strength true? Has he really prehended a portion of the profound ws at such a young age?”

  “Apparently so,” Fain sighed. “Master asked me to see for myself to decide if he’s worthy of being the addition of us direct disciples.”

  “I see,” Desri calmly nodded. “Well, allow me to gratute you in adva appears that very soon, your Empire will give birth to another expert on our level or maybe even superior.”

  When he said that, all the other saints sat near enough to overhear their versation couldn’t help but look over in shock.

  It had to be uood that, like Cesar, Desri and Fain were both prime saints, merely oep away from beiies on the level of O’Brien himself. Unfortunately, that final step was ohat stopped even the most peerless of geniuses from asding.

  Still, when they remembered the rumours of Ace’s age and current level of prehension and strength, they had to admit that Desri’s words were more than reasonable.

  “That may not be the case,” a crimson-haired middle-aged man with pale skin sat directly beside Fain snorted dismissively. “Fet being a deity; just going from a peak to a prime saint is a watershed that halts the steps of some of the most talented experts.

  This child may be the most talented person our Yun ti has ever produced, but oh to the peak, sometimes talent alone isn’t enough.”

  “You’re n,” Desri nodded, not seeming to mind the interje. “Still, the talent required for the prehension of a youth so young to reach such a level isn’t something the likes you or even I is truly qualified to specute on.”

  The man who disagreed with Desri’s words was Aiden’s long-time rival and direct desdant of the War God – Byrius O’Brien.

  Even though a versatioween prime saints wasn’t ohat most saints would dare get involved in, Byrius wasn’t ‘most saints’. Not only was he a valued direct desdent of O’Brien, but he was also the most talented of the War God’s disciples, even more so than Fain.

  Despite being a fra of their age, he was only oep away from reag the level of Fain and Desri.

  Still, although talent was important, it paled in parison to your strength, and the differeween a peak and prime saint wasn’t small.

  Despite his standing among the War God’s disciples, Desri felt no way about putting the obviously petty and jealous peak saint ba his pce.

  Byrius wao respond, but there was nothing he could say – he knew Desri was right! The talent Ace had dispyed thus far went beyond the realms of logic. It was at a level he didn’t believe was even possible.

  Even though the rumours had been firmed by multiple reliable people – one of whom was a junior brother of his – he still refused to believe them until he saw it for himself.

  He didn’t show it, but Fain couldn’t help but be inwardly disappointed by Byrius’ btant and public dispy of envy. It wasn’t just him; it painted each of their fellow martial brothers, and even their master, in a bad light.

  Still, knowing he couldn’t admonish his seventh brother in a public setting, he opened his mouth to try a rid of the growing tension, but before he could get a word out, both his and Desri’s head snapped over their shoulders as they seemed to sense something that caught them both off guard.

  Although the two prime saints were the first to sense something off, the other saints began to sehe same thing within a few seds.

  “It seems recruiting the child may prove more difficult than you had inally believed,” Desri voiced with an amused smile when he sehe group flying towards them.

  ing from the distance, Ace, Leonel, Milianna, Lance, Arianna, and Cirulus were all sitting on the back of Leo’s father, Carter, the Bloody Eyed Mane Lion, who, with the help of the resources of the Pavilion, had retly broken through to the peak of the saint rank.

  Ace, who had been sat with his legs crossed whilst travelling towards them, peacefully meditating beside his mother, slowly opened his eyes to calmly s the group of experts that were awaiting his arrival on top of the War God’s Mountain before turning to Milianna who was sat wearing the shadow robes he had gotten as a gift during his time at the Rohault Empire.

  With the shadow robe c her body, it prevehe perception of all those beh the deity realm from sing her with their spiritual esseill, Ace could feel her body tense beside him the closer they got.

  Ace didn’t say a word; he simply grabbed her hand and fshed her a calm and fident smile as Carter came to a stop just above the mountain peak.

  With so many saint-level experts present, hardly any mortals were present at the mountain's peak. Aside from the young experts of the War-God’s College, the members of the royal family, and the officials of the ti’s other major forces, the only mortals allowed at the peak of the mountain peak were Olivier, Blumer, and Talore.

  The moment Blumer’s eyes nded on Ace, a myriad of emotions fshed across his eyes. Although he couldn’t tell exactly how strong they were, he could sehat Ace had at least two saint-level experts standing behind him.

  Right then, the st trace of hope he had for himself and his brother to catch up to him was snuffed out.

  For his mysterious fa to be able to send out two saints as his bag meant that whomever this Yin-Yang Pavilion was, they were willing to spare no expense in training him.

  Now, he could only hope that Ace would die here today instead of being allowed to mature.

  Oher hand, Olivier’s battle i began to rise. He was far more ied in seeily how strong Ace had bee since he st saw him.

  It wasn’t just them. Both Wharton, who had beereating under his master’s guida the time of Ace’s st challenge, as well as his master, Haydson, were both in attendance.

  For many reasons, both Haydson and Wharto like they couldn’t afford to miss today’s festivities. Still, the moment they saw Ad his group, Haydson couldn’t help but shudder.

  Out of everyone present, he was the one who best uood the true strength of the Yin-Yang Pavilion, having cshed against them the st time he saw them, and still, not even he reised either of the two saints that had e with this time.

  He couldn’t help but wonder exactly how strong the Pavilion really was.

  Wharton though, could only look up iion when he felt Ace’s presence. As Ace hadn’t bothered to hide it, everyone could clearly sehat Ace was at the peak of the fifth rank as both a warrior and mage.

  Although he hadn’t been able to pletely get over his loss to Killian, with his master’s help, he had been able to turn that humiliation into motivation. Still, as much as he knew his master was right, that paring himself to someone like Ace was a recipe for disaster, a small part of him still aimed to surpass him one day.

  Because of that, he had bee even more diligent in his training. He was only 13 now, but he had already prehended both states of wielding and broken through to the te stages of the fifth rank.

  If it weren’t for the fact that Blumer’s prehension had eclipsed his, having prehended impose, he would’ve beeop-ranking student of the academy. Still, with the age differeweewo, it was clear to everyohat it was only a matter of time before the young Dragonblood warrior surpassed Blumer.

  Unfortunately, despite all of his hard work, the gap between him and Aly seemed to be widening.

  He didn’t know how much Ace’s prehension had improved since he st saw them, but the simple fact that Ace had already reached the fifth rank as both a mage and a warrior told him all he o know about the differeween them in strength.

  P.S. Support me oreon listed below to read ahead - Release rate is at least 2x as many chapters every week! XD

  Currently 119 chapters ahead

  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 9: Part 6 – Ace & Amira Vs. Lord Violet-Cloud