Right in the tre of the Anarchids, floating leisurely above peared to be a newly structed campus of sorts, was Fain, Byrius, and their junior brother – Lanke.

  “I see,” Fain nodded as he listeo Lanke’s update. “So Ace didn’t take to the battlefield personally?”

  “No, apparently not,” Lanke shook his head. “Acc to our scouts, her he nor his Divi partner did. None of those who took part itles had strength surpassing that of a mortal.”

  “So he really does appear to be abiding by the unwritten ws of our ti,” Fain said ptively. “Even though he’s teically not a sai, his strength has clearly reached that level. Had he taken part, we would’ve had a reason to send saints of our own, but as things are now…

  Difficult, very difficult!”

  Though he hadn’t said it in so many words, Byrius and Lanke uood what he was referring to.

  Although their empire easily had hundreds of warriors of the ninth rank and even a few dozen general-level warriors, if they were to send their top mortal powerhouses to attack Ace’s infantile ford stop them from expanding, it would make them look bad, and if they didn’t, they doubted whether their limited force currently stationed in the Anarchids would be able to stop Ace’s so-called ‘Gold Force’.

  With each division being personally led by the young geniuses of the pavilion, they were a pretty unstoppable force here in the Anarchids.

  “I don’t see why you’re being such a pansy,” Byrius snorted. “The experts in the Yin-Yang Pavilion have already said they don’t intend on involving themselves in Ace’s business. We should just go and grab him now.

  He may be strong, but he’s not strong enough to oppose any of us!”

  Fain gnced back at this seventh brother of his before sighing. Ever sihe i a year ago, where he was the lone survivor ieam that went to capture Ad his mother, Byrius’ personality had seen a drastic ge.

  He had always been arrogant and overbearing, but now, whereas before, he had always thought first before taking a, now, it was like he was determio a ead every one of his impulses, especially the ones ing Ace.

  It was like Ace had bee his greatest heart demon, even more than his former rival – Aiden Rohault.

  It was the reason his master had sent him to oversee the stru of the new school instead of simply entrusting it to Byrius.

  Fain rime saint, meaning he was only oremely small step away from being a deity. Even though this was a bottlehat prevehe vast majority of saints from beiies, he should still be fog on his training, a because of Byrius’ ge in demeanour, he was forced to take charge.

  Still, instead of simply ign what could be sidered a foolish question, Fain still took the time to answer.

  “Firstly, although the Pavilion has e out and said it, it doesn’t mean we trust them at their word. It’s uhat they’re lying, but just in case they are, and they’re just waiting for us to attack so they catch us off guard, it’s better that we take the sloroach.

  But most importantly, we o make sure that the momeake a, we’re able to kill Ad all of his group, including Wukong, his Divi, and all of his cssmates.

  The fact that all of them were willing to bee Acolytes to support Ace speaks volumes about the strength of their bond, and although not on the level of Ace, all of them are geniuses. Even the worst of them appears to be a level above even you.

  If we kill Ace today, and any of them escape and then go into hiding until they bee a deity, aside from Master, all of us will have to spend the rest of our days simply waiting for death.”

  Byrius snorted but ultimately said nothing. He had heard the same reports detailing the power of Ace’s cssmates. Yuna appeared to be the weakest, and even though she was only a teenager, she had already broken through to the sixth rank as a mage and a warrior, fused both states of wielding and was able to insta-cast all water-based spells up to the sixth rank.

  Had they grown up in the same era, Byrius knew he would only be abused by such a talent, even more than he was against Aiden.

  For most geniuses, Byrius included, being a deity was a dream that they spent every day aspiring to make a reality, but ultimately uanding there was a better-than-good ce it would never happen.

  But to those in the pavilion, it genuinely seemed like they were looking far past the Demi-God realm. Whether it was Mathias, or his master Arianna, both had prehension of a deity, but for some reason, both appeared happy to stay as saints for as long as possible.

  They didn’t uand why, but it had bee fair to assume that somehow, the Pavilion had found a way to assure that each of their own would one day bee deities.

  Seeing that Byrius no longer had anything to say, Fain turned his attention back to Lanke. “For now, don’t do anything to actively target Ad his group. Focus on providier equipment to the more powerful cities surrounding Ace.

  It won’t halt their expansion, but it will slow them down and weaken their force.”

  .

  .

  .

  At the same time, ba the city lord’s residen the City of Gol, a meeting was taking pce between Ad all the higher-ups of their city.

  “The first stage of Operation Duchy was a resounding success,” Cirulus beamed.

  Not only had they won all four battles with lightning speed, they had miraculously not suffered a single casualty. It was a feat he never would’ve imagined previously.

  He could only look to his young but miracle-creating leader, waiting to hear what he had in store .

  “Why are you looking at me?” Ace asked back. “I’m only good at fighting; you’re rand Marshall – you tell me!”

  “Grand Marshall?” Cirulus asked ba amazement.

  It osition Ace came up with on the spot, but it didn’t make it any less fitting. Cirulus had gone above and beyond, proving his loyalty and capabilities. He was the only persorusted to take up the role of overseeing their military.

  Ace seemed unphased by what he said, but Cirulus khe youngster well enough by now to uand that he wouldn’t say something like that lightly. Si came out of his mouth, he meant it.

  Having someone like Ace hold so much faith in him was like a double-edged sword. It felt incredible, but he also uood the weight of his decisions. Still, he refused to succumb to the pressure.

  Cirulus closed his eyes as he focused on sifting through all the information he had at his disposal, slowly formuting a pn of attack.

  Ad the others didn’t say anything to disturb the Marshall; they all just waited patiently.

  “With our ret success, all our enemies will likely expect us to take advantage and make a move immediately and strike whilst the iron’s hot, but the smartest thing to dht now is to take a beat and stabilise our foundations before making our move,” Cirulus expined slowly. “That means slowly getting rid of any spies that may be in our ranks and reshuffling our armies.”

  As he said that, everyone subsciously turo Killian and Alissa.

  After their battle, the army of the city they quered had been all but decimated. They were the ones in desperate need of reinforts.

  “Aside from that, I would also like to make sure that each divisiohrough a training cycle where they’re taught battlefield tactid both standard and special operating procedures,” Cirulus tinued.

  “How long will that take?” Wukong yawned zily.

  “At least six months, potentially a year,” Cirulus estimated. “But we ’t afford to take our enemies lightly anymore.

  If I were them, after seeing our incredible results, I would start arming the forces of the cities surrounding us to slow us down and also weaken our forces. If we want to stay ahead, we must ehat we’re superior tactically.”

  “Nine months,” Ace voiced suddenly. “ you get it done in nine months?”

  Cirulus hesitated. He knew how important this phase was; as such, he wao take his time and make sure he did a thh job. But when he looked into Ace’s calm but fident eyes, he couldn’t help but be ied. “I’ll get it done!”

  “Do you need Killian and the others in that time?” Ace asked.

  “Not really,” Cirulus shook his head. “Although they’re teically the anders of each division, they don’t really fall into the ranks of the regur army. Trying to involve them in tactics to be implemented by the rest of the army will only affect their battlefield effectiveness.”

  “Perfect,” Aodded as he turned back to Killian and the others. “You have nine months to train as you see fit.”

  “As for you,” Ace looked back to Cirulus. “Whenever you have free time during these nine months, I want you to e and find me. If yoing to be rand Marshall, we o hurry up and make you a saint!”

  -----------------------------------------

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

  Currently 157 chapters ahead!

  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 13: Part 13 – Enjoying Every Sed