Though caught by surprise by the actions of the Golden Sun Pirates, everyone present was an expert.
They hesitated for barely a fraction of a fraction of a second before launching attacks of their own, aiming to kill every member of the pirate crew.
At that moment, the sky was lit by countless shades of various colours.
Whether it was Leona, Killian, Amira, or even Ace himself, all of their hearts jumped with fright, subconsciously thinking this was the end for them.
Ace had been the one to tell them all to tell Amira and Leona, using their spiritual bonds to tell the others to follow his lead. So now, seeing all of his friends and family about to die because of his decision, Ace’s emotions could be imagined.
But just as he was ready to lose himself to his turbulent emotions, the ground moved as though it had a mind of its own, opening itself up just wide enough for Ace and the others to jump in.
At the same time, in the skies behind Ace and the others, an enormous, sky-covering phantom of a Divine Black Tortoise appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
As it opened its giant maw, the space in the area surrounding Druelle and the other High Gods attacking Ace’s group suddenly constricted.
The effect wasn’t too dissimilar from [Impose], only this was countless times stronger.
Whilst impose could be used to constrict the space around mortals, saints, and in the case of Ace and Aiden, some weaker Demi-Gods, it would do next to nothing in the face of even the weakest of Full-Gods, let alone High Gods like those present. But as the mouth of the Black Tortoise opened its mouth, space warped and constricted with such ferocity that almost every deity attacking Ace was turned to paste.
The only ones able to survive that terrifying attack in the end were Druelle, Joleon, Curno, and Yizar. And even Joleon. Still, whether it was Joleon, Curno, or Yizar, all of them had only barely managed to survive thanks to the quick actions of Druelle.
The moment she saw the giant phantom of the Black Tortoise appear in the skies, her body trembled subconsciously.
The Divine Black Tortoise conjured signified the utilisation of the Divine Ability of the four Divine Beast’s Clans Bowen Clan, also known as the Black Tortoise Clan. Still, that in and of itself wasn’t enough to surprise her, but the size, power, and aura generated when this one was used was nothing like the used by the other members of the Bowen Clan she had run into the last few thousand years.
It had to be remembered that over time, the bloodline purity of each of the descendants of the four divine beasts of ancient had begun to dwindle more and more. Even the sons and daughters of the original Four Divine Beasts, despite them being first-generation descendants with very pure bloodlines, their respective Divine Abilities paled in comparison to their parents, even when ignoring the massive difference in power due to the difference in cultivation realm.
But the Divine Black Tortoise conjured just then was incredibly realistic, far more realistic than any first-generation descendant.
As an ancient powerhouse, Druelle knew all the powerhouses of the current four divine beast clans, and although powerful, with a few even having reached the level of a commander, none were worth much in front of her. Well, all except one.
The moment she sensed the appearance of this particular Divine Ability, Druelle sprung to action, immediately using a portion of Sovereign’s Might whilst using her full power to resist the spatial compression targeting her, her son, and by extension, Curno and Yizar, who happened to be nearby at the time.
As the conjured phantom of the giant Black Tortoise slowly faded from the skies and space returned to its normal relaxed state, dozens of divine sparks and storage rings fell from the skies.
Still, Druelle had no time to care for the deaths of those that followed her. Instead, her somewhat fearful but still stern gaze was staring at the ground. In particular, the faint markings of a formation that seemed to be suppressing something or someone.
Then, as if having sensed her gaze, the almost ghost-like projection of a burly yet handsome middle-aged man appeared before her and what was left of her group.
He smiled amiably as he addressed Druelle, stating it had been a while since she had come to visit him.
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Druelle suppressed her fear just enough for her to appear calm as she replied that he, Garot, was a long way from his original prison.
To which Garot shrugged and said searching for an escape from his little vacation home is a never-ending journey.
Druelle then went on to say that she guessed that the brats from just now had survived with his help.
In response, Garot shrugged and said he wasn’t sure, but she was free to come in and find out for herself.
Druelle told him that it was okay even if they had, his holiday home, as he called it, was somewhere that could only be entered but never exited.
Garot smiled and reminded her that wasn’t quite right, to which she smirked and said he was right; as long as one became a paragon and was able to use their Willpower, breaking free was simplicity in and of itself. It was just unfortunate that he was a Divine Beast, an apex Divine Beast no less, meaning that the chances of his comprehension reaching that level were slim to none.
Having said everything she wanted to say, she told him to enjoy the rest of his miserable existence before taking her three companions away.
When they were finally out of earshot of Garot, Joleon asked who that man was.
Druelle explained that he was Garot Bowen, the strongest living expert of the Four Divine Beast Clans.
Although technically, he was also a first-generation descendant of the Bowen, the Ancestor of the Four Divine Beast Clan’s Bowen Clan, unlike the other children of the Four Divine Beasts, Bowen was a genuine Apex Divine Beast like his father.
The chances of an Apex Divine Beast giving birth to another Apex Divine Beast were lower than infinitely small; unfortunately, for their eight great clans, there was still a chance.
Because of his status in the Four Divine Beast Clans being second only to the four ancestors themselves, Garot was able to walk virtually unhindered through the universe. And as one could imagine, he’d amassed no small number of enemies over time, none of whom dared to do anything to him.
Mainly because he was the son and heavily doted on the successor of the Bowen Clan Ancestor, but also because he was a monster himself.
Even before the death of the four ancestors, purely based on the power of his body as a High God level Apex Divine Beast, Garot’s power had reached that of a seven-star Fate Seeker, and that wasn’t including his heaven-defying Divine Ability, or the fact that he had just begun fusing five of the six profound mysteries of the laws of earth.
As a result, unless one was a paragon or a sovereign, no one was a match for Garot. In fact, even Sovereigns were hard-pressed to put a crack in that impenetrably thick tortoise shell of his.
After the death of the four ancestors, there were many who wanted Garot dead, but because of his own individual power, the number of those who could do such a thing was infinitely small.
Still, we couldn’t allow Garot to return to his family. If they had, although not to the level of the four ancestors, his presence alone would’ve been able to stabilise their position and prevent anyone from suppressing them.
As a result, the eight great clans, as well as several other lesser clans who also hated the four divine beast clans, paid a great price to hire two experts to prevent that scenario.
The first expert hired was your father. As a paragon who was married to a member of the Boleyn Clan, he agreed to do it for free. Unfortunately, Garot’s abilities allowed him to escape from a paragon with his life intact, which was why we were forced to spend a great sum hiring a second expert.
That second expert is a man called Verano. Verano is one of the Celestial Realm’s two presumed Paragons and, more importantly, an incredibly gifted master in the art of formations.
Verano isn’t like most experts. Though he isn’t a pacifist, he doesn’t like to fight much either; as such, even with everything we paid him, the most he agreed to do was create a seal that would prevent him from escaping the depths of the Celestial Realm’s core.
She then went on to explain that according to Verano, his formation was one that drew its power from the world around it, allowing it to last infinitely. There were apparently only two ways to break out. First was for someone with the ability to access their Willpower to forcibly erase his Willpower, part of the power that kept the formation operating. Or two, for someone whose insight into the art of formations to approach that of his own to break the formation.
Thankfully, as previously mentioned, as an Apex Divine Beast, the chances of him becoming a paragon and awakening his will were infinitely small.
Back when they sealed him, he had only just begun to fuse five profound mysteries, and even now, after thousands of years, Druelle could tell from the divine energy he used to open the ground to swallow Ace and the others that his comprehension hadn’t improved by much at all.
As for him being an expert in the art of formations and reaching a level near enough to Verano – The Celestial Realm’s leading Formation expert – that was even more unlikely.
Turning her head to Yizar, the only remaining expert from the Fate Seekers Association of those sent out, she told him to have his people remain here indefinitely and keep an eye on things.
Even though the chances of Garot breaking out by himself were virtually non-existent, the level of talent Ace displayed was a different beast altogether.
If Ace had experienced a bout of sudden enlightenment which allowed his insight into True Fire to increase by so much so quickly, she wouldn’t have thought so much of it; after all, everyone knew that epiphanies and sudden enlightenments were things one could experience but never had on command, but Ace’s growth in insight was completely natural.
Granted, she understood that a big part of it was that Ace was fighting against the perfect opponent, someone substantially stronger than him with greater comprehension, but not to the point where he could be killed instantly. Still, the level of talent required to improve so much so quickly…
She had seen and heard of a lot of supreme-level geniuses, some of whom had even gone on to become paragons themselves, but in terms of raw talent, the only person she had ever heard of reaching such a level, there was only one, and like Ace, that man was also a member of the Vis Clan.
She didn’t believe that Garot would be able to become a Paragon, but Ace… she refused to put it past him!