It wasn’t till the sky darkened all of a sudden that Ace snapped out of his daze. Looking up, he noticed a gigantic creature covering half the sky. ‘Is that a…’
“ROOAAAARRRRRR!”
That roar alone was enough to bring half of the warriors present to their knees. The aura it radiated was like nothing they’d ever felt before. Even Ace could only look up in horror. ‘That dragon is the strongest creature I’ve ever seen.’
He didn’t even need to use his haki to realise it was far stronger than either of those two saints who fought above Wushan Town all those years ago. In fact, he didn’t dare use his haki for fear of attracting its attention.
“You humans have really crossed the line this time.” The dragon’s voice boomed through the city. Just the sound of his voice forced some of the weaker humans to cover their ears to resist. And even the stronger ones felt their legs shake as they realised what a talking magical beast meant.
“Sss…
Saint…
Saint-level Black Dragon!” One of Venerin’s men muttered, barely able to spit his words out under the pressure of the enraged dragon.
“What happened?” Wukong asked as he fearlessly stepped forward, seemingly unphased by the dragon’s presence.
“Hmmm.” At first, the dragon was surprised that a human was able to talk to him so calmly as he was certain that there were no saints on the human’s side, but when he laid eyes on the ant that had dared to talk back to him, a hint of shock flashed across his cold reptilian eyes. “What are you?”
Ace was slightly surprised by the dragon’s question, but he was also curious as it was clear that Wukong wasn’t wholly human. But after finding out about Wukong’s unique bloodline, he assumed it was just a permanent mutation caused by said bloodline, unlike the Baruch family’s controlled ability to transform into dragon warriors.
Wukong didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at the dragon’s question, almost as if he’d expected it. “This king is Wukong!”
“I said what, not who.” The dragon said icily.
“This king heard what you said, and my answer remains the same,” Wukong replied fearlessly.
The dragon didn’t respond for what felt like an eternity to everyone else, and every second that ticked by seemed to add to the ridiculous pressure they were already facing.
“Interesting!” The dragon said.
Ace couldn’t tell because he couldn’t see all of its face but from the look in the dragon’s visible eye, it looked almost as if he was smiling.
“Seeing how I’m in a good mood, I’ll give your people a chance to give back what was taken, and I promise no saint-level magical beast will get involved in the tide.” The dragon said in a somewhat magnanimous tone.
“Do you have any idea as to who it was and what they took?” Wukong asked, fully aware that even if it were one of the residents of Silverlight City, they wouldn’t fess up with a saint-level black dragon looming overhead.
“I don’t know who, but they dropped this as they escaped.” A colossal black scaly claw descended from the sky and flung its arm in Wukong’s direction. “You don’t need to worry about what they stole; you just need to know that we dragons will do whatever it takes to get it back!”
Wukong caught the bloody arm with one hand, not seeming to mind the goriness as he examined it.
“What, do you know who it is?” The dragon asked, excited by the thought of getting what was stolen when he saw the interesting ape-man’s eyes focus on the arms bicep.
“This tattoo is the insignia of the cult of shadows.” Wukong honestly replied. “This king doesn’t know where the man is now, but this king knows he isn’t here.”
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The dragon paused at the name of the ‘Cult of Shadows.’ As an almighty saint-level beast, he, of course, knew all the major human powers, but when he thought of what they stole, all hesitation vanished. “I know he’s not here now, or I would’ve smelt him, but I can smell that he definitely came through this way.”
“Can’t you go around this city? The residents had nothing to do with all this?” Wukong pleaded, not wanting a senseless massacre to take place.
“Since the thief was human, all humans must suffer. Either you deliver us the human thief, or we crush every human we find that happens to be on the path of that man’s escape.” The dragon said arrogantly.
Wukong didn’t know what to say at this point, he knew full well that he couldn’t force the Cult of Shadows to do anything, especially not hand over a treasure so valuable that it had the dragons willing to go so far, but he also didn’t want to just let so many innocent civilians die.
Glancing at Ace, Wukong seemed to have thought of something as his eyes flashed with cunningness.
“Which would you say are the superior race, magical beasts or humans?” Wukong asked as if he was genuinely unsure.
“Us magical beasts are superior in every way!” The dragon replied, almost insulted by the fact that he even had to answer.
“How about we make a bet?” Wukong said mockingly. “We have three different battles. The first is for those between ranks one and three. The second is for those between ranks four and six. And the last for ranks seven to nine.
If your magical beasts can win on at least two or more battles, what happens next is up to you, but if we win at least two battles, you go around the city before you carry on.”
“Hmph! Why would I even need to make a bet when I can destroy you and the city in the blink of an eye?” The dragon said with unconcealed disdain.
“This king was always told that dragons were creatures with pride like no other…” Wukong shook his head with disappointment.
“Hmph! A DRAGON’S PRIDE IS NOT SOMETHING THE LIKES OF YOU IS QUALIFIED TO UNDERSTAND!” The dragon roared. “Fine, I’ll play your meaningless game. I’m sure the boss will find that human thief anyway, so I can afford to play around with you a bit.”
“The King of the Dragon’s pit is involved as well?” Wukong said in shock with a hint of horror, having understood the only creature this saint-level dragon would refer to as boss is the ruler of all the dragon’s living in the forest of darkness.
“Hmph! Whether it’s the Cult of Shadows or the O’Brien Empire, we will get back what was taken from us!” The black dragon growled, showing the stance of the Dragons on the matter.
“Ooh, and just so you know, you’ll be the first I eat when you lose!" It said, eyeing Wukong as if he was looking at his dinner.
Wukong paid no more attention to the dragon. Instead, he turned to Ace with a confident smile. “You make sure to win this round one, and we get to leave with our lives.”
Ace knew that Wukong was likely confident in his ability to win the final battle but held no such faith in the warriors of Silverlight city to win the second battle, which meant…
‘He’s betting it all on me!’ Ace thought to himself as he flashed a confident smile and walked to the edge of the wall. “Leave it to me!”
“What are…” Before Venerin could finish his sentence, Ace had jumped off the wall landing behind the human troops.
“Kong, are you mad? He’s just a child; this battle is too much for him!” Venerin shouted, enraged at Wukong’s irresponsible behaviour.
“That child’s talent surpasses that of even this king. He’s the ONLY reason this king could afford to make such a bet!” Wukong calmly explained. “And us winning this bet is the ONLY way we make it out of this alive!”
Venerin was shocked by Wukong’s statement. He more than most understood how deep Wukong’s arrogance ran. For him to admit his inferiority, to a child no less, Ace must genuinely be a genius the likes of which he can’t even imagine. But even so, the thought of putting so much pressure on a child didn’t sit right with him.
He was about to try and convince him to call Ace back when he noticed the blood trickling from the palm of Wukong’s furry fist. Looking up at the titan-sized dragon covering the skies above, he understood that Wukong likely didn’t want to do this, but he saw no other choice. “I understand.”
On the ground, as Ace made his way towards the clearing between the two forces, the Silverlight city soldiers stared at him with varying emotions. They had all heard Wukong’s voice when he was talking to the black dragon in the sky.
None of them could believe that a kid was being chosen to fight on their behalf against a bloodthirsty magical beast. Looking at his age, they knew he was, at most, a warrior of the second rank, and even that was unlikely. They also knew that the beasts would likely pick a magical beast of the third rank.
Forget defeating a magical beast of a higher rank; everyone knew that magical beasts were usually superior to humans at the same rank. In their eyes, this little child was being sent to his death.
The guilt they felt was palpable, but none could find the strength to speak out against the decision, not with a saint-rank black dragon looming overhead. They could only pray that this brave boy didn’t suffer before death.
Ace, on the other hand, didn’t seem the slightest bit nervous. His gait was steady, and a calm, confident smile hung on his lips as he deftly spun his glaive – that was taller than him – in his hands.
“So, which one of you is my opponent?” Ace asked as he came to a stop 20 meters in front of the front line of the Silverlight army. An excited glint in his pitch-black eyes as his jet-black hair swayed in the wind.