Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Hearing Wukong’s words, though surprised, everyone understood Ace’s fearlessness. As it stood, Wukong could be considered to have the strength of a powerful peak saint.

If he really were to completely comprehend a profound mystery and break through to the saint realm, with the might of his fused mysteries, his power would instantly jump to the prime saint realm. At that point, other than deity-level experts, the Gol Clan’s territories would have nothing to fear.

“What do you wanna do about the remainder of the unclaimed cities in the Anarchic Lands?” Alissa asked curiously as her eyes travelled back and forth between Ace and Linley with an amused light. “With everyone else having pulled out, only our Gol Duchy and the Baruch Duchy are left with any real ability.”

Hearing that, everyone understood what Alissa was saying. They also knew she was trying to instigate a battle between the two sides, but it didn’t make her words any less accurate.

Linley, Bebe, and Wharton were the only ones present from the Baruch Duchy in the pocket dimension. As they had only been given two seats, Linley had to make a decision on who would be allowed to enter.

Still, as it stood, it wasn’t much of a decision. As supreme warriors were known for their poor affinities, the five Armand brothers were instantly dismissed.

Although Barker was an early saint when transforming, in terms of comprehension, he had only comprehended one with the axe. He was a long way from even touching the ‘Impose’ boundary, which was when the pocket dimension would really become useful. As for the rest of his brothers, they were even worse than him.

With them dismissed, all that was left was Wharton, Zassler, and Hogg. In terms of comprehension, Hogg, having already comprehended ‘Impose’, was the closest to comprehending a profound mystery. Still, both he and Zassler decided to step back and allow Wharton to use it.

Both Hogg and Zassler were old already, especially Zassler, who had been alive for close to a thousand years. As such, both parties decided to let Wharton – who had shown talent surpassing both of theirs – use the final seat the majority of the time, with them only using it every once in a while.

Wharton had long since fused both states of wielding. The next step was ‘Impose’. Unfortunately, it was a step that managed to halt many geniuses. He previously had no idea when he would take that step. But ever since he entered the pocket dimension, he was able to sense the laws of nature with a lot more clarity than ever before. His progress in these last few months was astonishing.

Although he still hadn’t comprehended ‘Impose’, he felt it would take him no more than a year to take that step at worst.

This last year or so had been pivotal for his growth. With him being back around his family all the time, especially with his mother’s soul having healed and her going back to her true pure and gentle-natured self, the demons eating away at him had slowly been resolving themselves. Although he still hadn’t gotten rid of the heart demons left by Killian and Ace, they no longer ate away at him, allowing him to focus wholeheartedly on his training.

Still, when he heard Alissa’s words, his heart instantly tightened, thinking that his Baruch Clan would have to face the Gol Clan and their army.

Linley, on the other hand, was able to stay calm as he patiently waited to hear what Ace and the others would decide.

He knew that although his side had a lot more top-quality generals, his own father had recently broken through to the ninth rank in his human form, making him a saint when transformed.

If both sides were to fight now, although he had more Generals, it would take all of them fighting together to stop Killian. At this point, the rest of Ace’s classmates would be able to move freely, making quick work of the rest of his force.

In his eyes, since he didn’t have the strength to oppose Ace’s Gol Clan, there was no point worrying about the things he couldn’t control. All he could do was let nature take its course and act accordingly. Still, Ace’s response took him by surprise.

“Just split them equally between us and the Lizards,” Ace said dismissively.

As far as he was concerned, the size of his territory mattered very little. What was really important was the strength of him and their experts.

“There are 11 territories remaining,” Alissa immediately replied, seemingly having guessed that Ace would respond as he had. “Which side should take the six, and which side takes five?”

Even though Alissa’s intentions were all too obvious, everyone merely listened in amusement.

It may seem like an inconsequential decision, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Right now, everyone knew that Ace and Linley were allies. Although Ace had been dubbed the leader of this next generation, Linley’s rising fame was starting to near that of Ace’s, with him being named ‘The Little Dragon King’.

His talent as a mage was ‘viewed’ as second only to Ace’s, not losing out to the other disciples of the Pavilion. Add that to the purity of his bloodline, which had evidently surpassed that of even his ancestors; most believed that in terms of talent and potentially even ability, he was in no way inferior to the ‘Son of Heaven’.

Even though they were allies, the side that took six cities would be publicly and officially seen as the leader. Similar to O’Brien’s empire being absorbed into the Yulan Empire after his presumed loss to Catherine – the high priest.

But before Ace could open his mouth to respond, Linley’s words shocked and excited everyone.

“Let’s fight for it?” Linley said provocatively.

“Hmm?” Ace looked at Linley as though he wanted to confirm he hadn’t misheard.

Although Linley’s progress these last few years could only be called monstrous, Ace’s could only be described as heaven-defying. Still, Linley didn’t back down.

“It’s been years since we last fought,” Linley snorted when he saw the shock on Ace’s face. “If you think you’ll be able to beat me as easily as you did in the past, you’re in for a rude awakening!”

“I see,” Ace’s battle intent suddenly exploded as he looked at the unyielding light in Linley’s eyes. “When?”

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Linley quipped back as he stood up, his excitement and battle intent not one whit inferior to his soon-to-be opponent’s.

Ace stood up, preparing to head out there and then, but before he could respond, Joel spoke out, forcing both young men to temporarily suppress their impulses.

“If you are determined to do this, then you should do it right,” Joel said. “This is a big event that could and would generate a lot of excitement throughout the whole continent.

You two are seen as the brightest stars of this generation; a battle between you would be huge! If done right, it could bring in a sizeable profit for both of our territories.”

“He’s right,” Arianna nodded, glancing lightly at Ace. “It would likely draw in even more eyes than your challenge against the War God’s College.”

“Fine,” Ace acquiesced. “When should we do it?”

“How about one month?” Lauriella suggested. “It would give all the experts who are interested in the spectacle more than enough time to hurry over. I can even bring those twerps from the Pavilion and allow them to see the difference between them and their senior brother.”

“One month’s fine with me,” Ace nodded, looking back at Linley. “How about you?”

“That’s fine with me as well,” Linley nodded as he led Wharton and Bebe out, his steps poised and measured. “I’ll see you back where we had our first fight in a month.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Ace grinned excitedly as he followed Linley out with his eyes.

“Where you first fought?” Amira asked, with a smile as she thought back to that day a few years ago. “Looks like we’ll be heading back to the mountain range of magical beasts.”

In these last few months, with the assistance of the pocket dimension, everyone had made at least some improvements, but the one who’d improved the fastest, at least in terms of comprehension of profound mysteries, was undoubtedly Amira.

As a battle-thirsty warrior, she’d put little effort into her healing spells, but after being poisoned by the Princess of the Cult, that quickly changed, and between her awakened bloodline boosting her affinities, as well as the pocket dimension increasing the purity of the elemental essences, her improvements could only be described as blazing.

After three months, Amira had finally gained insight into the Law of Light’s Profound Mystery of Purity, allowing her to easily heal herself. Just like that, Amira had begun comprehending her third profound mystery – two of light and one of wind.

“Mmh,” Ace nodded as he thought back to their time there, a fond smile taking shape. “It has been a while.”

“How do you feel about your battle with that Linley fellow?” Lazerim asked with a curious smile. “Are you confident?”

“I won’t lose!” Ace stated matter-of-factly.

“That’s good,” Lance nodded, an almost imperceptible smile appearing on his face. “Because as long as you win this, we’ll finally have all the cities required to formally go from a Duchy to a Kingdom.

“Since when do you care about the state of our territory?” Ace asked, knowing Lance all too well. “My mother had to basically force you to take up your position as Duke and leader.”

Hearing that, a slight blush began to creep up Lance’s neck towards his face as he looked at Milianna.

“What’s going on?” Ace asked as he watched his mother and Lance hold hands lovingly.

Since Ace’s awakening from his coma, Lance and Milianna’s relationship was finally back on track. In fact, it was going better than ever. Still, the way they were acting was definitely out of the ordinairy.

“Mom,” Ace pressed. “What are you two hiding.”

“Well, we didn’t expect it to happen so soon,” Milianna said as she turned to face her son and the others. “But, some time ago, Lance and I decided that as soon as our Gol Territory becomes a kingdom, that would be the day we got married so we could stand together as husband and wife – as king and queen!”