"Mathias," The dragon king growled coldly. "How is Arianna these days?"

Despite being the same size as the dragon's eyes, Mathias was completely calm as he looked at the colossal crimson dragon hovering above him.

"Master's good. She's been busy with her training recently, so she hasn't had the time to visit you," Mathias replied indifferently as he looked back at Wukong. "But I'm sure she'd be more than happy to take some time away from her training to show her appreciation for the kindness your subjects have shown her youngest disciple."

"How long has it been since anyone has dared threaten me, Ignus, the king of the dragons?!" Ignus snarled as his red reptilian eyes focused on the man in front of him. "Don't think you can talk to me like an equal because of your master.

If I wish to kill you and all those other ants you wish to protect, no one should even think about stopping me."

"You might be right," Mathias shrugged, completely unphased by the dragon's threat. "But you and I both know that Dragons would become extinct by the end of the month if you did that."

Yasha, who was barely conscious at that point, believed the dark-haired man was speaking out of his arse.

Ignus was the king of the dragons for a reason; he was a prime saint. Meaning he was one step away from becoming a deity. Even amongst the other prime saints, he stood at the top due to his being a mighty dragon.

There were only four beings capable of exterminating the dragons as Mathias claimed, and this Arianna woman wasn't one of them.

Yasha fully expected his leader to kill this foolish human for his blasphemy, but for some reason, he could feel his king's growing hesitation. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought Ignus was scared, but that should be impossible.

"Your subordinate hurt one of my juniors, and I punished him for it. As far as I'm concerned, we're even. As long as you promise that no saint-level beasts from your Dragon's pit step foot in Silverlight in the future, I give you my word; we won't make any attempts to retaliate for your actions here today." Mathias said, seemingly willing to take a step back.

Ignus hated the feeling of having his back against a wall, but he really didn't have much of a choice in this regard.

As a prime saint-level dragon, the only individuals he should be weary of were the four known deities of the Yulan continent. One was completely neutral and rarely ever even interacted with others. Then there were the two human deities, each leading the two largest empires in the human domains, and the last was the true ruler of the forest of darkness and the only known deity-level magical beast.

Thanks to the presence of the ruler of the forest of darkness, no deity-level human was allowed to act directly against a non-deity-level beast unless they were provoked first, which meant that as long as he didn't do anything to provoke those two monsters, Ignus shouldn't theoretically have anyone to fear. But that couldn't have been any further from the truth.

Though he was widely regarded amongst the other saints as the most powerful being under the deities, he knew that as long as that woman was alive, he could only be second.

A few decades ago, he had secluded himself in another failed attempt at breaking through to the deity level when Mathias, who had yet to break through to the saint level, somehow stumbled into his private lair.

He decided to vent some of his frustration with a game of cat and mouse, chasing him halfway across the forest. He'd been surprised by the strength and speed the man had shown, but as a powerful prime saint, he'd seen more than his fair share of talented humans.

When he'd had enough playing around, he went in for the kill, but when his jaw slammed shut, instead of the crunch of human bones being crushed by his razor-sharp teeth, he tasted nothing but air.

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When he looked up, he saw a blonde-haired woman with two katanas strapped to her back looking down at him indifferently.

He could sense she was a saint, but as he'd never heard of her before, he assumed she couldn't have been anyone worth paying attention to.

Just as he had prepared to snack on both humans, she indifferently pointed her index finger at him, and before he could even react, a beam of light pierced straight through the top of his mouth and exited the bottom, moving at a speed that he couldn't even begin to follow.

She had no intention of finishing the job as she indifferently led Mathias away, but her parting words were ones that stuck with him to this day.

"Think of this as a warning, if you ever harm any of my disciples, I, Arianna Qingya, will personally hunt and kill every dragon on the Continent."

That name has haunted him ever since. And even though he never saw her again, he understood that although she might be a saint like him, they were on two different levels.

Ignus stared deeply at Mathias and Wukong before looking in the direction of Silverlight City. Though there were a couple of miles separating them, with his vision, he could see the violet-haired fire mage incinerating the army of beasts that desperately wanted to escape, not sparing a single one.

"That woman who came with you. Is she another of Arianna's disciples?" Ignus asked, his tone void of any emotion.

"She is," Mathias admitted calmly.

"I see," Ignus replied as he casually lifted the large black dragon on the ground, not paying any attention to his injuries. "As long as none of you enters the dragon pit in the future or impedes our investigation, neither this city nor your people will be harmed. Not by the dragons, anyway."

"It's a deal." Mathias declared as he watched the dragon king take his leave.

With the dragons gone, Mathias gently picked Wukong up, trying not to worsen his injuries, before flying in the direction of the city.

As he neared, a regretful sigh escaped his lips upon seeing the corpses of all the city's soldiers spread across the ground. He knew there was nothing he could've done differently, but he still wished he had gotten there sooner.

"Wukong?!" Ace blurted out in worry when he saw his condition whilst being carried by who he guessed was the senior brother Venerin mentioned. "Is he gonna be alright?"

Mathias turned his head towards the young boy in surprise. This was the last place he expected to find a child so young.

His surprise only seemed to grow as he realised the boy was actually a warrior of the second rank. He couldn't help but look to the bloodied City lord questioningly. He understood that Silverlight was facing a calamity of epic proportions. Still, he never thought Venerin, of all people, would resort to enlisting children, no matter how talented they may be.

"It wasn't Venerin's idea to have young Ace here participate in the war," Lauriella explained, seeing the doubt on Mathias' face. "Apparently, little Kong recruited him from Fenlai and decided that the beast tide would be the perfect place for Ace to try and take that final step in becoming one with the glaive."

Mathias' eyes widened when he heard that. It wasn't that Wukong decided to bring him to an environment like this to train that shocked him. He knew Wukong could be more than a little reckless when it came to training. Bringing a talented child to train in a beast tide sounded precisely like something his junior brother would do.

What shocked him was that a child who didn't even look to be ten years old was even close to comprehending one with a weapon. Not even Wukong, who was easily the most talented of Arianna's disciples, became one with his staff till he was ten…

"Did you do it?" Mathias asked, unable to hide his excitement. "Did you manage to become one with the glaive?!"

That was when he noticed that Ace seemed more interested in Wukong's condition than in answering any unrelated questions.

The fact that Mathias was floating in mid-air without any assistance was a clear indicator that he was a saint.

Almost any other child, when spoken to by a lofty saint, would be stumbling over themselves in an attempt to leave the best possible impression. So for Ace to not only retain his composure but also focus his attention on worrying for someone else spoke volumes about his character.

An amused smile suffused Mathias' lips as he looked at the boy in front of him. "Don't worry. Little Kong'll be just fine in a week or two."

"That's good," Ace replied in relief.

It'd been a long time since he'd seen anyone suffer burns that bad – normally as a result of his ability. Though in his old world, it'd take more than a few weeks to heal from wounds that bad, he knew better than to underestimate the abilities of his new one.

"In answer to your earlier question," Lauriella said as she floated towards Mathias, lovingly taking his hand in hers. "I can personally confirm that he has comprehended one with the glaive. It was one of the first things I noticed when I arrived on the scene."

Hearing that, even Venerin, who had been too preoccupied dealing with the Wyrm to keep an eye on Ace, was in shock. He knew Ace was talented, but this…