Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Whilst everyone found themselves mesmerised by Aiden’s glaivesmanship, Fain, as the one facing it, was too busy fighting for his life to really get the chance to take in the true profundities of Aiden’s glaivesmanship in all its glory.

Still, aside from Ace and Aiden himself, he better than anyone understood just how frightening each strike was. Although only subtle, he had this feeling that going against Aiden was like going against the wind in all its might.

Gentle yet swift, elegant yet sharp, everywhere yet nowhere, but above all, unrestrained and unfettered.

‘HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!’ The blue-haired prime saint roared in his mind.

His boundless fury had long since been doused by the ever-nearing feeling of death. Right now, like his junior brother, all he wanted to do was flee with his tail between his legs, but with how deadly each of Aiden’s strikes was, he knew that the moment he turned his back to try and flee, he would suffer a potentially life-threatening injury.

The worst part was that he felt that, although Aiden’s strength remained at the peak of the saint realm, his glaivesmanship actually seemed to be improving at a slow but still noticeable pace. A fact that only served to make him more and more restless.

It wasn’t long before wounds started accumulating on the formerly overconfident swordsman.

‘If I stay here any longer, I’ll die,’ Fain thought to himself franticly as a deep gash appeared across his chest. “FUCK OFFF!”

Fain roared as he willed a torrent of lightning to surge out of his sword, trying to force Aiden back long enough for him to escape. Unfortunately, as incredibly quick as he was, Aiden’s glaive seemed to be twice as fast.

“ARGGGHHHH!” Fain howled in agony as his body turned into a streamer, fleeing faster than most could follow.

“Haha, he fled pretty quickly.” Wukong laughed, taking no small amount of pleasure in the man’s pain. “He even left an arm as a parting gift.”

That’s right, by Aiden’s feet was Fain’s arm, cleanly severed from the shoulder down. Lucky for him, it was his non-sword-wielding arm.

Still, unless he were to find a saint-level healer who specialised in the laws of light or Edict of Life or broke through to the deity realm, he would remain a one-armed swordsman for the rest of his life.

Aiden didn’t seem that phased by the severed limb, or the fact that his opponent had gotten away. He merely rubbed his temples as his eyes scanned the remaining saints.

His eyes had lost their former sharpness, nor was he emitting any killing intent, but as the High Priest’s second disciple – Felicia – and the others saw him looking over, their bodies involuntarily trembled.

“We’ll be on our way then, Lord Aiden,” Felecia said mildly, trying her best to suppress her fear.

In response, all she got was a dismissive grunt, but that grunt was like music to their ears. None of them hesitated for a second as all of the enemy saints turned into streamers as they flew into the distance at breakneck speeds.

Seeing their leaders leaving, what was left of the enemy’s army desperately wanted to flee, but they didn’t dare move. As ridiculous as it sounded, they all hoped that if they simply stayed still and quiet, the group of monsters in front of them would forget about their existence. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way.

Ace’s eyes swept over them, causing their legs to weaken suddenly. With his current level of strength, Ace was very much capable of destroying this battalion with a mere wave of his hand. Fortunately for them, he had no interest in mindless slaughter, especially of those who were so much weaker than him.

Still, he wouldn’t just let them go without making his enemies suffer slightly.

“All of you,” Ace addressed the special battalion from the Yulan Empire. “Drop your weapons and remove your armour, then you may go.”

Some of those soldiers, namely the commanders, were equipped with top-tier weapons and armours, something they’d be heartbroken to lose on any other day, but today, as they heard Ace’s words, they couldn’t be any happier.

Under the circumstances, despite losing their belongings, they felt as though they had just gotten their hands on a supreme treasure, and in a sense, they weren’t wrong; after all, what was more valuable than life itself?

But when they heard Aiden’s voice, they couldn’t help but feel as though the grim reaper was standing right behind them, the cold, hard blade of his merciless scythe pressed against their necks.

“Hold on,” Aiden said slowly, his voice causing each of them to pale. “Before you go, I need you to pass on a message to your leaders.”

“Uh… Ye… Yes, milord… An… Anything…” The general leading this group muttered fearfully, not daring to meet the gaze of the man who just bullied one of the most powerful saints on the continent.

“Tell them they are free to continue fighting against this foolish disciple of mine,” Aiden explained casually, paying no attention to the glare he was receiving from Ace. “Even if he were to die at their hands, they would face no retaliation from either myself or anyone at the Pavilion.”

His words came as a shock to almost everyone listening, including Linley and Bebe. The only ones not shocked by his words were those who knew him.

This was just how he was. Even if the Pavilion were ten times stronger and had the power to completely suppress every single force on the continent several times over, Aiden would still make the same decision.

He better than anyone knew that for a young talent to truly turn into a peerless expert, they needed copious amounts of pressure, and for a talent on the level of this disciple of his to really excavate his potential, a mere O’Brien Empire and Dark Alliance was far from enough. It would take the combined might of all the major forces to put enough pressure on him.

Aside from when he was referred to as foolish, Ace didn’t so much as bat an eyelid at his master’s words. His train of thought aligned perfectly with his master. In fact, after discovering the secret pocket dimension, he doubted whether even all of them combined would be able to create enough pressure for him, considering his rate of growth.

“Okay,” Aiden said, waking the Yulan General from his daze. “Now you can go.”

“Than… Thank you, Milord,” The general said, scurrying away in nothing but his underwear. “I’ll make sure my leaders receive your message.”

“Mmh,” Aiden grunted dismissively before turning to his disciple with a smirk on his face. “What do you think? Not bad, right?”

“It’s incredible!” Ace agreed unhesitantly, his eyes shining with anticipation.

Ace’s words were what everyone else was thinking as they looked at the monstrous existence that was the invincible mortal – Aiden Rohault. Still, it made Aiden laugh boisterously, as he had never seen such an expression of pure-hearted admiration on Ace.

“Alright, come with me. I’ll explain the method of utilising concepts,” Aiden chortled, clearly in a great mood. “Wukong, you come too. In fact, Jordy, go collect the rest of the brats and bring them. I’ll explain it to all of them at once.

Even if they’re not ready to begin comprehending concepts, at their rate of improvement, it’s only a matter of time.”

As he said to there, he noticed the azure-coloured Dragonblood Warrior standing in the sky, looking down at him with a mix of longing and a hint of reverence.

Thinking back to the talent of his disciple, like Ace, he knew it was only a matter of time before this continent lacked the ability to provide him with any sort of pressure. The only one who had a chance at continuing to pressure him would be Linley.

He had seen and met a multitude of experts from the families of the four supreme warriors, including the four supreme warriors themselves; still, none of theirs could even begin to compare to the purity of Linley’s bloodline.

But the most impressive point about the young Patriarch of the Baruch Clan was that, unlike the rest of his clan, who all had mediocre affinities to the elements, Linley’s were simply exceptional.

Aside from his average affinity to the laws of fire, he had exceptional affinities to the laws of wind, earth, and Water. The last of which had actually surpassed the exceptional grade, matching that of Ace’s affinity to the laws of fire, his niece’s affinities to the laws of light and wind – when she wasn’t using her newly awakened bloodline – and Killian’s affinity to the laws of earth after eating that Earth Root Fruit.

He even had a slight affinity to the Edict of Destruction, though it was poor at best.

Still, all things considered, Linley’s talent was no weaker than Ace and Amira’s in the slightest. In the future, he may well be the only person capable of rivalling Ace.

As such, when he saw the look of longing on Linley’s face, he laughed calmly before nodding. “Brat, you can come too.”

“Errm, Lord Aiden,” Kaymin voiced hesitantly, unable to hide his hope and anticipation. The allure of Aiden’s display was too much for him to stay quiet in the face of such an opportunity. “May I come as well?”

“You?” Aiden asked as he looked at the former duke before glancing towards his brother, who also looked at him in anticipation.

“You may both listen in,” Aiden sighed. “But I suggest you don’t.”

“But brother…”

“Listen to me first,” Aiden said, cutting off his dejected younger brother. “Both of you can be considered geniuses in your own right; if you weren’t, you never would’ve reached your current heights. Still, in terms of your affinities, neither of you can compare to these brats, all of whom have at least an exceptional affinity to at least one of the elements.”

“You need to understand, this path I’ve recently unearthed is still in its embryonic stages. For these brats, walking down both paths at the same time would likely help them, but if the two of you, with your limited talents, were to become distracted from comprehending the profound mysteries of your respective laws, chances are, you wouldn’t walk very far on either path.”

Aiden’s words were blunt and direct, but he had no intention of mincing words. He was being honest for their own good. As his brother, and a talented expert of his home, he didn’t want either of them to walk down the wrong path because they were blinded by greed. Still, at the end of the day, the decision was theirs to make.

Thankfully, though he wasn’t around much, the position Aiden held in the hearts of the Rohault Empire’s experts was above all and second to none, even more so after his recent display.

“I understand,” Emperor Jordon said helplessly, understanding his brother would never do anything that wasn’t for his own benefit. “I’ll follow your advice.”

“Me too,” Kaymin sighed, unable to hide his disappointment.