Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Seeing the devilish young man floating in the distance, Cesar’s body involuntarily trembled. Even Aiden’s eyes narrowed slightly before going back to the drink in his hand.

“Lord Dylin,” Alissa uttered absentmindedly.

The last time she saw the young-looking man was on apocalypse day. Back then, his casual attack had left Cesar on death’s door. If it weren’t for Aiden managing to strike a deal with him somehow, their whole group would’ve lost their life.

Still, this time, things were different. Cesar was now a Demi-God, Aiden had also made a breakthrough of his own, and most importantly, Arianna was also here. Even though Dylin was a Full God, Alissa believed that as long as all three of them were together, they would be able to hold their own against the mysterious king of the mountain range of magical beasts.

But, the most important thing was that with Beirut present, no one believed that Dylin would dare to take action, even if he wanted to. It was clear from the cautious and hesitant expression on Dylin’s face that even he was petrified of offending the mysterious lord of the Forest of Darkness.

“It’s been close to 5,000 years since I last saw you, Dylin,” Beirut smiled. “Congratulations on getting out.”

“Lo… Lord Beirut,” Dylin bowed respectfully, trying his best to suppress his fear.

“Don’t worry,” Beirut chuckled. “Since you managed to escape on your own, I have no intention of sending you back, as long as you don’t make the same mistakes you had in the past.”

“Thank you, Milord,” Dylin hurriedly said. “And don’t worry, I’ve learnt my lesson.”

“Good,” Beirut Chortled. “Now, bring your children and come; let us stop stealing all the spotlight. We’re merely here as spectators for today’s festivities.”

Before then, everyone had been so focused on Dylin himself that they didn’t even notice the three seemingly harmless kittens on his shoulders, but with Beirut bringing them into the spotlight, the surrounding experts couldn’t help but take a deep breath as all three had the aura of a prime saint.

The Pavilion may have been the strongest of the human factions, but overall, they could only rank third.

Nothing needed to be said about The Forest of Darkness. With Lord Beirut around, the status of the Forest of Darkness was virtually unshakeable.

And now, with Dylin having popped out of seemingly nowhere, the mountain range of magical beasts was also faintly superior.

If it were merely a battle of saints, they likely wouldn’t be able to compare. Between Aiden, Mathias, and Lauriella – post-transformation – the saints of the mountain range were a level or two inferior. However, with Dylin being a Full God, ultimately, the mountain range of magical beasts was still superior.

“Of course,” Dylin nodded hurriedly before turning to Arianna and the others with a respectful yet forced smile. “Please continue; I didn’t mean to ruin the mood.”

Everyone could only sigh in amazement at the power Beirut held. Even though this was the first time most had ever seen Dylin in person, they’d all heard the stories about the way he forced the Radiant Church out so the beasts that fell under his rule had more space. It was clear that he was a haughty and tyrannical expert who held human life with little regard, yet with just a few words, Beirut had forced him to hide his arrogance deep within.

Beirut didn’t seem to care about any of that. Instead, he looked down at Ace with a faint, knowing smile on his face, causing the dark-haired teen to smile apologetically.

Since Beirut arrived, Ace had been studying the man fervently. The aura he gave off was too enigmatic. Unable to make heads or tails of it through normal means, Ace, without thinking, used his [Observation]. The results of which left him beyond shocked and also scared beyond belief.

Even though the power of Ace’s soul could only be described as pitiful to most deities, his [Observation] allowed him to see things that the ordinairy spirit of others couldn’t.

As it spread over Dylin, he sensed that Dylin, who, although was suppressing his aura, hadn’t gone so far as to hide it appeared like the sun – an overwhelming and oppressive aura that almost no one present could even begin to compare to, but Beirut was different.

Ace could sense that Beirut also wasn’t actively hiding his aura. Still, it was too hard to get a firm sense of it. It was almost like it belonged to a higher form of life. One that he was too weak to understand.

Though he had never sensed the aura of a High God, he very much doubted it was as mysterious as that. ‘Is he a Paragon? Or maybe…’

It was then that he noticed Beirut’s smile, letting him know the very unsurprising fact that he had been caught red-handed.

It wasn’t only Beirut either; Dylin’s brows narrowed slightly upon being scanned like that. Still, with Beirut present, he could only swallow his displeasure.

“You, brat, are too brazen!” Aiden sighed as he took another swig.

“Do you have a death wish, boy?” Cesar said, slapping his face with his palm.

Even Arianna could only shake her head helplessly at Ace’s action.

With the current power of his soul, it was only the three of them in the pavilion who could sense his [Observation].

Ace could only smile wryly, knowing he had indeed gone overboard. Still, he couldn’t help but steal another glance at Beirut, wondering just how strong he really was.

As for Beirut himself, he simply floated there with an amused smile on his face, looking back at Ace. “How interesting.”

Over the next hour or so, one expert after the next arrived. Each one had a status more impressive than the last, including the human domain’s true five prime saints:

Including the former spiritual leader of the Ascetics of the Radiant Church, Desri, the prime saint of Light. The War Saint Tulily a prime saint who focused on the Edict of Destruction. The leader of the Frost Goddess’ Shrine, Frost Queen Rosarie, who focused on the Laws of Water. And the strongest expert of the Arctic Ice Cap, the prime saint Rutherford, who also focused on the Laws of Water.

Even Ace’s former opponent, the sword prodigy – Olivier Akerlund – turned up with his little brother Blumer.

Still, no matter who it was, as soon as they noticed the presence of Catherine, Dylin, and most importantly, Beirut, all of them obediently and silently floated off to a corner, waiting patiently.

That awkward atmosphere persisted until midday, when several powerful auras made their way over from the distance, with one whose faintly surpassed that of the other four prime saints, Desri.

Sensing the unrestrained aura of the Dragon King Ignus, a faint smile filled with anticipation took shape on Ace’s face. “They’re here.”

As the sound of his voice waned, all the powerhouses of the Baruch Duchy valiantly appeared in eyeshot.

Ace slowly rose to his feet before using the air as solid ground, calmly striding towards them.

Seeing the smile on his face, Amira and the others knew that he was too excited to pay them any more attention. As such, they didn’t even wish him good luck. Simply choosing to retreat out of the way.

Seeing that, Linley’s group of family and friends similarly retreated, understanding that the fight was about to begin.

“Remember our deal, boy,” Ignus growled. “Win or lose, I won’t join you unless your comprehension of the laws reaches the profound stage.”

“Don’t worry,” Linley grinned, his battle intent surging out of him like a ceaseless tide, his eyes fixed on his soon-to-be opponent. “Just sit back and enjoy the show.”

Ace came to a stop as he reached a distance of 20 meters away from the young Azure Dragonblood Warrior, a provocative smirk appearing on his face as he looked at the little black rat on Linley’s shoulder. “Will I be fighting both of you this time as well?”

“Bebe, go down and wait with my parents,” Linley said, ignoring Ace’s blatant provocation.

Before leaving, Bebe gave Ace a threatening glare. At the same time, an unconcealed look of shock appeared on Beirut’s face as he looked at the small black rat on Wharton’s shoulder. Thankfully, everyone was too busy studying the two young men in the centre of the plain to notice.

“I was just asking,” Ace teased. “You didn’t have to get rid of him. After all, as a mage, it’s well within your rights to fight alongside your familiar.”

After these last few months, having spent almost every day together in the pocket dimension, Linley had gotten to know Ace very well. As such, he knew better than to get into a war of words with the dark-haired troublemaker.

“It’s been four years since our last fight,” Linley sighed as he summoned his weapons from his storage ring. “Last time, I lost miserably, but I’m no longer that same ignorant boy.”

Looking at the pair of swords in his hands, the eyes of many couldn’t help but flash with greed.

Linley wasn’t using his High God Artifact – Bloodviolet. Nor was he using his specially made adamantium heavy sword – Bladeless.

No, now he was wielding a pair of Jian swords, the blades of which were a little longer than usual, at just under a meter in length, but its true uniqueness lay in its width, being twice as thick as a typical Jian sword.

Looking at the sword’s crystal white handles that perfectly merged with the golden hilts separating it from the faintly transparent jade/cyan blades that looked sharp enough to split the very fabric of space, there was no one here who couldn’t tell that the twin swords were a supreme treasure.

They assumed Linley had been lucky enough to find these blades during his travels. After all, which expert here hadn’t had their own fortuitous encounter? Still, they were only half right.

The materials had come from a fortuitous encounter; only it wasn’t his, but Ace’s. Linley ended up having to spend a fortune purchasing the materials needed from Ace and then another slightly inferior but still substantial fortune to get Lauriella to forge them.

As he wasn’t particularly interested in the art of forging, there were many materials and ores Ace and the others had never heard of, but Lauriella was different; she was able to identify each of the ores at a glance. Each of which left her salivating, desperate to try her hand at forging with them.

After choosing the materials perfect for him and the rest of his group, he allowed Linley to purchase some from him with Lauriella’s assistance. As for the remainder, they were given directly to Lauriella as payment for forging his and his friend’s weapons.

Ultimately, Linley chose three materials to forge his swords. The first was Cloud Sky Metal, a metal from the Divine Wind Realm known for its lightweight and, more importantly, ability to absorb all types of energy with minimal leakage.

The second metal was Adamantium. As a Dragonblood Warrior, one of his greatest abilities was his raw power, and although Adamantium was indeed heavy, it would allow him to show off his strength with his swordsmanship.

The third and final metal was high-class Thorium. A highly elastic ore that bonds exceptionally well with other materials, but more importantly, similar to Cloud Sky Metal, it’s highly conductive. Only instead of simply allowing elemental energy to run through it, it also adapts to take on the properties of said energy.

For someone like Linley, who has exceptionally high affinities to multiple elements, Lauriella told Linley that these three would merge together perfectly without taking a hit on power or ability, regardless of which element he used them with in the future.

As for his decision to use twin swords, although his soul wasn’t as powerful as Ace’s, it was still extremely powerful.

He had long since learnt to divide his mind in two. In his eyes, choosing not to dual-wield would be foolish. This way, in the future, as his concepts into the various elements he had an affinity for improved, he would be able to utilise two different styles of swordsmanship at once, increasing his unpredictability and lethality.

“Their name is ‘Twin Union’,” Linley uttered lightly as he looked down at the swords in his hands; a pure-hearted smile appeared on his face. “And today will mark their first appearance in the world.”