Smoke and dust billowed around the battlefield as the aftermath of their epic csh settled. Ace stood in the air panting heavily, his body still tingling from the residual cold of Linley’s [Frost Wave].

  Linley, oher hand, y motionless within the crater, battered and stunned by the sheer power of Ace’s ultimate teique.

  Though Dragonblood Warriors were typically inferior to the Undying Warriors of the Armand , there likely had never been an Undying Warrior whose defence could pete with Linley’s at the same level.

  This had allowed Lio focus solely on offence, believing the defence of his azure dragon scales would remain strong, even in the face of Ace’s stroeiques…

  Looking down at his chest, Linley could only smile helplessly as he saw the charred mess that was once his chest. Those azure scales he had been so proud of had been all but ied, allowing him to get a clear view of his insides.

  Still, with the magnitude of his current vitality as a humanoid Divi, he wasn’t quite at death’s door, but tinuing with the battle was impossible.

  “I admit my loss,” Linley smiled weakly, sincerely vinced of his loss but still proud of his progress.

  A cheerful smile suffused Ace’s lips as he put his give away, moving to Linley’s side.

  “It was a good fight,” Ace chuckled as he stretched his hand out to help his rival up. “I had fun,”

  “Mmh,” Linley nodded weakly as he accepted Ace’s help up. “Me too.”

  The wastend around them bore the scars of their intetle, a testament to their incredible power. Still, the eyes of all those present were focused owo young men.

  This would be a battle that would go down in history as one of the most prolific battles of this geion, potentially even this era, and whilst most were merely happy they were there to bear wito such a terrific battle, there were a select few whose emotions could be described as plicated, to say the least.Top of Form

  Catherine’s beautiful jade eyes narrowed into slits as she stared at the two young men. What was going through her mind, only she knew.

  On the opposite side of the battlefield, Olivier was staring no less intensely, his fists crag uhe pressure of having them balled so tight. But uherine, whose thoughts could be presumed to be nefarious, Olivier’s were more simple and pure. After losing to Wukong and Ace already, he simply didn’t want to lose to anyone else of his geion or the one below for that matter.

  “Marvelous. Truly marvellous,” Beirut cpped, causing others to follow suit. “I uand why yours is referred to as the golden geion.

  I have been alive a long time, but never in all my years have I seen as many talents in one geion. Tex Divis. A dozen apex gehe worst of whom would easily be able to dominate almost any eion, and then there are the two of you.

  Whether it’s your potential, current power, or ability to lead others, you are sed to none.

  As my way of giving a helping hand to this uping geion, I’ve decided to open the lower levels of the Necropolis of the Gods a little early!”

  Hearing that, be they saint or deity, all were shocked. Who here wasn’t an expert, and, as such, didn’t know of the secrets of their Yun Pne?

  They khat the Necropolis of the Gods held a myriad of heaven-defying treasures, including Diviifacts and the highly-coveted Divine Sparks.

  “Lord Beirut,” Desri asked respectfully but still hurriedly, uo tain his excitement. “Will it be opeo all saints?”

  Lord Beirut’s words indicated that he was only opening it due to the talent shown by the younger geion. Like Desri, most of the older spectators couldn’t help but wonder if, since he ening it due to them, he would also put an age restri on it.

  “o worry; since I’m opening the lower levels, all saints will be allowed entry,” Beirut chortled, uanding the s Desri and the other saints had. “But I will be making a slight ge to the rules for this opening – two to be precise.

  For starters, where normally the lower Necropolis of the Gods is only open to saints, this time, mortals will be allowed entry. The only prerequisite is that said mortal must have the power of a saint.”

  As he said that, he waved his hand, summoning peared to be a humanoid puppet. “All mortals who wish to enter will have to prove their power by defeating this Deathgod Golem.

  It has the power of a weaker early-stage saint. As long as you defeat it, you will be allowed entry.”

  Seeing that, all the spectator’s eyes fshed with amazement. In a pne like the Yun Pne, where aside from the select few deities, saints were the ones who stood at the top of the world. Still, how hard was it to bee a saint?

  There were billions of creatures on the ti, but there weren’t even a thousand saints. If a family were able to get hold of such a puppet, even if it was just a weaker early-stage saint, it would still allow a family to bee a high-css family.

  Still, as much as many wished they were able to get their hands on such a treasure, no oempted by greed; after all, the owner of said golem was their world’s foremost expert.

  “The sed ge to the rules is that, whereas before, the gates to the Necropolis would only be opened o the start and again at the end, now the gates will remain open for the whole ten-year period, meaning that you don’t have to rush to enter on day one,” Beirut expined slowly. “With that being said, it’s important to hat although you enter anytime you wish withien-year period, once you enter, you ’t leave until the ten-year period is up.

  Also, those with the power of a deity will be forbidden from entering the lower levels.”

  Hearing that, everyone uood Beirut was making these rules for the sake of the younger geion. Ace’s geion were only teenagers right now, and acc to the st intelligence reports, even the weakest of their group already had the power of an expert at the eighth rank.

  Within five years, it was very possible that they would all have the power required to gairy.

  Even if they had to wait five years to gairy, they would still have five years to explore. Still, no one had any pints. As far as they were ed, as talented as Ad his group were, aside from Ad Linley, no one else would be able to pete with them for the treasures in the Necropolis.

  They were also gd Beirut made sure to prohibit those with the power of a deity instead of limiting it to those at the deity level.

  It was clear that although he favoured the young geniuses of the Yin-Yang Pavilion, he wasn’t being biased in his as.

  If Arianna Qingya was allowed to enter with them, all those saints could fet about peting for treasures. With her power, it’d be a simple matter for her to sweep through the ey of the lower levels, g all those incredible treasures for herself and her sect.

  Still, as happy as the saints were about the ret developments, there were two present who had s of their own – namely Catherine and Dylin.

  “Lord Beirut,” Catherine spoke, her voice just as gentle and hypnotic as ever. “Since you’ll be opening the lower levels, does that mean you’ll be opening the upper levels after that?”

  Though she did her best to ceal it, many could still sehe feelings of hope and expectation she held.

  “Of course,” Beirut nodded. “Directly after closing the gates to the lower levels in ten years, I will immediately opees to the upper levels for you deities, or rather those with the power of a deity.

  That also goes for those of you entering the lower levels in the en years. If you mao increase your power by enough to carry on into the deity levels of the Necropolis of the Gods, you are free to do so.

  With that being said, the differen danger levels betweeh level – which is the st level for the saint floors – and the 12th level – the first level of the deity floors – is immense.

  If the average prime saio run across even the weakest creature on there, they’d end up forfeiting their lives within a breath’s time. So, even if you do get the ce to go up, I’d advise you to think long and hard before making a decision that could end up g your lives.”

  “On behalf of myself and those of my Yun Empire, thank you, Milord,” Catherine said, her tone ced with thick excitement.

  “Six months from today will mark the day the Necropolis of the Gods opens its gates, so all those who wish to enter should e to the tral region of my Forest of Darkness at that time,” Beirut stated, ign Catherine’s attempts at fttery before turning around. “Well, that’s everything from me. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave.”

  “There is one more thing,” Ace said, stoppi and all the other experts from directly taking their leave now that today’s festivities had e to an end.

  “Ooh?” Beirut turned curious as his beady eyes fell ba the young genius. “Go on,”

  “Lance,” Ace smiled encingly towards his mother’s fiancé.

  Hearing that, Laook a deep breath before stepping forward, fighting against the immense pressure he was under with the eyes of so many of his ti’s experts eyeing him – each of whom could take his life with a mere wave of his hands.

  Still, when remembering the reason behind what he nning, resolve welled up from deep within as he gently took his fiancé’s hand in his. “For those of you who don’t know, my name is Lance – I am the fiancé of Gol D. Milianna.

  In a month’s time, ol territory will be celebrating its promotion to the status of a kingdom. After careful deliberations, Milianna and I have decided te that special day with our own wedding, and we would like to invite each of you to e to our special day.”

  Lance’s words caused no small amount of sho the spectators, especially as they uood the hidden implications and meanings behind this annou.

  Ace was the love child of O’Brien and Milianna. It was that Ace’s attitude towards the former O’Brien Empire was because of what O’Brien did to his mother. Still, even if maly despised O’Brien for his as, that was how it remained a secret. At the end of the day, O’Brien was still a Demi-God who could kill the majority of them with a thought!

  But with Laning out and publicly deg that Milianna was his woman and that he would be marrying her. He, a mortal with no signifit standing, was effectively spping the face of the War God.

  Even the High Priest herself simply stared silently at the seemingly ordinairy man, her frigid eyes narrowing.

  His inviting everyone obviously included her, which wasn’t only spping O’Brien in the face. As his ally, Lance’s words and as were spping her in the face as well.

  Catherine had a strong urge to sp Lao death where he stood, but she could see from the expressions on the faces of Cesar and Arianna that if she tried anything here, they wouldn’t hesitate to act against her.

  Because of the plexity of the situation, no one dared to e out and accept the invitation for fear of angering the crimson-haired Demi-God. Well, almost no one.

  “gratutions in advance,” Beirut chortled, the sound of his voice easily cutting through the tension. “Allow me to be the first to RSVP. I shall see you in a month.”

  Without waiting for Lao respond, Beirut’s body disappeared.

  Not even a sed ter, the devilish-looking youth – Dylin also spoke out. “It would be my pleasure to attend your special day. I, too, will see you in a month.”

  With both the ti’s most powerful deities speaking out, Catherine could only leave with a snort. She didn’t dare to attack, but nor did she have any iions of hum this btant provocation any further either.

  But with her now gone, many of the saints who couldn’t afford to be as brazen as Lord Beirut and Dylin could now go forward and accept Lance’s invitation.

  Many of the saints used that opportunity to form a better and more personal retionship with Ace, the Pavilion and Even Linley, but unfortunately, Ace paid them all little attention.

  Slowly, the crowd thinned until it was only those from the Gol and Baruch Duchy and the members of the Pavilio.

  “Haha, you breathe now, Lance,” Ace teased. “Everyone’s gone now.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Lance sighed as he fell backwards on one of the few patches of grass ued by the devastation caused by Ad Linley’s battle. “I gehought my heart was going to beat a hole straight out of my chest!”

  Hogg and his fuard aurned family aide – Hilton – couldn’t help but sigh as they silently watched the se unfold, especially Hilton.

  A decade ago, Lance was nothing more than an ordinairy guard who worked directly for him. Back then, Lance was merely a warrior of the third rank. A warrior Hilton barely took any notice of, but now…

  Not only was he engaged and about to marry one of the most famous aiful women on the ti, Lance himself was also an expert who could be said to be standihe apex of mortals.

  Realising that, Hilton could only smile self-depregly as he remembered the look of despise and dession he gave his former subordinate back when he decided to leave the Baru to stay beside Ad his mother.

  “You did well,” Milianna smiled sweetly. “Now all that’s left to do is prepare for the big day in a month.”

  “Mmh,” Lanodded, a big goofy grin appearing on his face. “Just one month!”

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