Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Like Ace said, their group was surrounded and severely outmatched. There was no way for them to escape; as such, Joleon didn't hesitate to release Alissa, allowing her to hurry back to Killian's side.

Seeing that, Ace undid his connection with Amira, allowing his power to drop back to its normal levels as he slowly floated to face Joleon.

At the same time, one of the other commander-level experts turned to face Druelle as they prepared to watch the fight.

His name was Curno, the only other member of the Boleyn Clan who came to assist the Fate Seekers with their hunting of the Golden Sun Pirates.

He turned to Druelle to ask her if she was really okay with him letting the other members of Ace's group go.

He understood there was nothing they could do to Killian with him having the protection of a sovereign, but the others were fair game.

Still, even if Joleon was determined to let the others go, as far as Curno was concerned, the one person they couldn't afford to let go so simply was none other than Alissa. She may not have grown up a member of the Four Divine Beast Clan, but she still had the blood of the Divine White Tiger coursing through her veins, and by the looks of it, it was incredibly pure.

Add that to the fact that, like Joleon, she also appeared to be following the path of a supreme genius and trying to fuse as many mysteries as possible before becoming a High God; she could very well go on to be an incredible threat to their Boleyn Clan in the future especially if she manages to return back to her homeland and accept her family's ancestral baptism.

If that were to happen and she was one day able to reach Joleon's level of comprehension, then based solely on her bloodline ability, she would inevitably surpass Joleon. And if, by some disastrous turn of events, she was able to truly become a paragon, then that would mark the beginning of the end for their Boleyn Clan.

Even though the chances of such scenarios actually playing out were slim to none, Curno refused to underestimate any supreme genius who was able to successfully follow that path, especially ones who were descendants of their enemies – the Four Divine Beast Clans.

Still, in response, all he received back from Druelle was a cold glance before she coolly asked him if he was trying to say her son would lose.

Hearing that, Curno's back was quickly drenched in sweat as he remembered how overprotective Druelle was over her son and, even more than that, just how insane she was.

He knew full well that if he overstepped his bounds, even in a public setting like this, Druelle wouldn't hesitate to kill him where he stood.

There were only three people alive who could force Druelle to see reason. Her son, her husband, and the Sovereign she served.

Realising just how close he was to death, Curno quickly shut his mouth.

As devastating as the future he had imagined was when he really stopped to think about it, it was unlikely.

Forget the minuscule chances of Alissa ever reaching such a level that in and of itself was predicated on Ace being able to defeat Joleon here now. Something that was, in his eyes, virtually impossible.

Ace's talent was undeniable, and his Visual Manifestation was truly incredible. Still, even with those advantages, he could see from the power Ace displayed earlier that he was far from a match for Joleon, and as long as Joleon won, they would be free to kill not only Ace and Amira but everyone in their little pirate crew, aside from Killian.

As the fight began, Joleon, who wanted to prove his superiority in every possible way, attempted to use his short sword to suppress Ace in close quarters.

It had to be understood that not only was Joleon a supreme genius who was a step away from being a paragon, but he also had incredibly high combat IQ and a wealth of experience that dwarfed that of even Ace and his whole crew combined, but most importantly was the fact that his short sword was actually a Sovereign Artifact – a weapon he had received directly from his mother's Sovereign the day he initially fused his sixth mystery a few thousand years ago.

In Joleon's eyes, all things considered, Ace's glaive shouldn't last more than three or four clashes, and he should be able to defeat him in no more than ten strikes. Unfortunately, things didn't play out quite so simply.

Not only did Ace's glaive suffer absolutely no damage, it was actually he who found himself suppressed by Ace's glaivesmanship.

Over the last hundred or so years, Ace's glaivesmanship had reached a level of profundity that left even Druelle and the others watching in awe, having never seen such an enchanting level of weapon mastery.

It was to the point where Joleon found himself completely and utterly unable to fight back. If not for his overwhelming experience and combat intelligence, Joleon would've long since lost his life ten times over.

Whether it was Druelle, Curno, Yizar, or any of the other six or seven-star Fate Seekers, all of them were experts who stood at or right near the top of deities after living for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years already and yet none of them had ever seen such an impressive display of weapon-wielding.

They could all see and sense there was a secret behind it, unfortunately, they couldn't tell what it was, not just from looking.

This was even more true for Joleon, who had to face it firsthand.

Eventually, realising he wouldn't be able to win as convincingly as he would've liked, Joleon stopped holding back and chose to use the power of his Divine Energy, at which point the tables quickly turned.

The moment Ace sensed what Joleon was about to do, he quickly summoned his Golden Sun manifestation, attempting to meet fire with fire, or in this case, fire with darkness. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Ace instantly found himself blown away!

When they first arrived in the Celestial Realm, Ace's comprehension of the 6-way fusion of all profound mysteries of fire was still only at 1%. After his ten-year seclusion, just prior to his battle with Lord Violet-Cloud, his comprehension had only increased to a mere 2%. Even now, after over 100 years of training and constant battles, his grasp of the 6-way fusion has only increased by 5%, reaching a grand total of 7%.

Although Ace hadn't run into a bottleneck, he realised that the higher his comprehension became, the slower his progress became in return. At this rate, it would be at least several thousand years before he reached the bottleneck separating him from becoming a paragon.

Unfortunately, whilst Ace's comprehension of True Fire (*True Element* is the name I've decided to give the 6-way fusion of an element's mysteries) was yet to reach double digits, Ace could tell that Joleon's comprehension of True Darkness had surpassed 90%.

The difference was such that, even when using his Golden Sun manifestation to boost the power of his flames several times over, Ace was still wholly inferior.

Still, no trace of panic or anxiety could be seen on Ace's face. On the other hand, both Joleon and his mother, Druelle, had a clear frown on their respective faces.

Other than Druelle, Joleon, and Ace, no one else had begun comprehending a true element; as such, they couldn't sense the true intricacies of the battle taking place.

Looking at Ace, who was being suppressed at every turn, a trace of fear crept into the depths of Druelle's heart as she sensed the power of Ace's flames improving steadily. It wasn't by much; in fact, it was barely noticeable unless you were paying close attention, but as long as you knew what you were looking at, it was hard to miss.

Ace's body was battered, bruised, and torn to pieces, and yet the fire in his eyes burned brighter than ever as his comprehension of his true flames had reached 10% in the space of 15 minutes. The benefits of facing someone whose comprehension had surpassed his by so much was clear as day.

Although Ace's strength had seen a definitive improvement, the gap between him and his opponent felt no closer than it had at the beginning and yet Druelle found herself shouting at her son, ordering him to put an end to their fight now.

Her reaction seemed uncalled for to everyone else, but having sensed the same thing she had, Joleon didn't hesitate in using his ultimate technique whilst simultaneously secretly using a portion of Sovereign's Might to strengthen his attack in an attempt to kill Ace once and for all.

Unfortunately for him, though Joleon's comprehension was far superior to Ace's, in terms of spiritual power, the two couldn't be compared, and with the infusion of Ace's [Observation Haki], Joleon's every move was clear as day to him.

Ace's eyes flashed with resolve as he, too, absorbed his final portion of Sovereign's Might, using his Willpower to control it without waste.

Realising that he was out of options, Ace's body turned obsidian in colour as he revealed his own [Armament Haki] and prepared to use the full force of his Willpower – including the use of his Gol Clan's Divine Ability to double his Willpower – to kill not only Joleon, but also Druelle and everyone else present, and pray to whichever higher power would listen that no Sovereign would sense it.

But just before he did, a trace of hesitation appeared in his eyes before he decided to do something that left Joleon and Druelle confused. Instead of fighting back like he appeared ready to do, he dove towards the ground, all but ignoring the incoming strike of his opponent.

As if that wasn't confusing enough, before any of the others could react, Amira, Killian, and all the other Golden Sun Pirates followed Ace's odd decision, deciding to nose-dive towards the ground.

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Story Complete!

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