At the same time, Ace and the others had finally made it out of the territory of the Dark Alliance, travelling on Carter's back.
It was only after Carter returned to the depths of the mountain range that the saint-level lion finally came to a stop, confident they weren't being followed.
"Thank you for saving me," Ace said sincerely to everyone present.
Even though it turned out that Ace was able to resist the Divine Boom without them, whether or not he would've been able to escape before the saints regained their bearings was a mystery Ace was glad he didn't have to find out for himself.
"Are you okay?" Amira asked as she worriedly scanned Ace for any injuries, only to find him without so much as a cut or bruise.
Ironically, despite being the person captured, he was the only one of all of them to escape unscathed. The Divine Boon ended up being more of a blessing than a curse as it allowed him to not only break the barrier preventing him from sensing the natural laws but also allowed him to step straight into the peak of the third rank as a mage.
Still, whilst under normal circumstances, such a development would've been something to celebrate, seeing the injuries on the bodies of his group Ace was anything but happy, especially when he saw the lacklustre light in Julius' eyes.
Though he wasn't there to witness it, he could guess that Julius was forced to take a life when fighting to rescue him.
Knowing how opposed to violence and understanding the reason why, how could Ace possibly still feel like celebrating?
But Carter's booming voice entered his ears before he could say anything. "Now that your little friend has been saved, Leonel, you can come with us."
Leonel began roaring unwillingly as he turned to face his father.
As humans, Amira and Julius weren't able to understand what the black-furred lion was saying, but with their mental link, Ace was able to understand him perfectly.
"Thank you for helping us, but I will be staying with Ace," Leonel roared.
"Absolutely not!" Carter shouted. "Staying by the side of a human would only harm your future. You need to be surrounded by your own so that you can reach your full potential."
"I'm not leaving Ace!" Leonel roared defiantly, having long since made up his mind.
Carter stepped forward, preparing to take his son, even if it was against his will, but Ace suddenly appeared in his way.
"What do you want, brat?!" Carter asked coldly.
Though he was shocked that Ace was able to not only escape the clutches of the Dark Empress on his own but also take her hostage, he was 100% sure that it wasn't with the use of his own strength, so he had no reason to see Ace as anything but a slightly talented human youth, but it was this human boy that caused his beloved son to put himself in harms way in the first place.
In his eyes, Ace should be counting his blessings that he didn't slap him to death, but instead, he was choosing to intervene in a matter that had nothing to do with him.
"First, I wanted to say thank you for helping us," Ace said sincerely.
Carter simply snorted in response, but his anger waned slightly. 'At least the boy knows to show appreciation.'
"Secondly, I wanted to say that you're right. Leo should be around family to really maximise his potential."
Ace's words stunned everyone present, Leo included, who growled unwillingly. Ace was the first being he actually considered part of his family. He couldn't bare to separate from him, even if it was to be with his biological family.
"But, I don't think it's necessary for him to separate from me either. In fact, I think that would also do more harm than good," Ace explained calmly, despite the fact he was standing in front of a genuine saint-level beast that could kill him with virtually no effort.
"What are you talking about?" Carter growled.
"After the Cult of Darkness failed when trying to tamper with my soul, a slight mutation seemed to take place," Ace explained as he maintained eye contact with his partner's biological father. "Not only did it grant me an affinity to the laws of fire, seeing as mine and Leo's souls are linked, he also seems to have received my affinity."
Although Leonel could feel that something had changed within him ever since Ace re-emerged, he didn't know the meaning nor did he understand the reason why, but whilst they were escaping, Ace continued to spread his [Observation] to see if they were being followed.
Whilst doing so, he noticed the fire essence in the world gathering around Leonel just as much as it gathered around him.
"And?" Carter asked back.
Though such a change was surprising, the saint-level magical beast didn't understand why Leonel leaving Ace's side would be detrimental to his future. After all, not only was he a saint, he specialised in the laws of fire. Who better to guide his son than Carter himself?
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"And, through our mutated mental link, I can share my insights into the laws of fire with Leo. Though it will still take some effort on his part, it's faster than him training by himself." Ace explained casually.
Hearing Ace's words, not only was Carter taken aback, but so too was Amira. Everyone who knew about the bond of equals understood that although it created a magical link between both individuals, it didn't allow them to share insights in the way that Ace described.
But after getting over his initial shock, an enraged laugh escaped Carter's mouth as his cold feline eyes fell on Ace, believing he was attempting to take advantage of his son.
"Do you think I'm stupid? Don't think I can't see straight through you," Carter snarled threateningly. "If you and my son really are able to share insights as you said, then the only reason you want to stay by his side is to learn the insights he gets from being taught by me to speed your comprehension along.
All of you humans are the same, greedy and selfish!"
"First of all, one of the instructors of the faction I belong to is a saint of the fire element whose insights likely surpass yours," Ace said indifferently as he thought back to five years ago when Lauriella was able to use a forbidden spell of the fire element, meant only for saints, with ease, despite only being of the 9th rank. "But most importantly, my own insights into the laws of fire surpass yours."
Carter stared at Ace in astonishment when he said that before bursting out in uncontrollable laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA! Never in all my years have I met anyone as arrogant as you! You're a mere mage of the third rank, yet you genuinely believe your insights into the natural laws can actually compare to mine?"
It wasn't just him. Even the despondent Julius looked at Ace as if he had lost his mind. Whilst Carter believed that he was just your average third-rank human mage, they knew that up until a few hours ago, Ace wasn't a mage at all.
It was incredible enough that he managed to step straight into the third rank, but now he was claiming his insights into the natural laws could compete with a saint.
The only ones who still had faith in Ace were Leonel, who could sense the confidence Ace was and had already developed a profound confidence in his human partner and Amira, who, for reasons not even she understood, had an unwavering faith in Ace.
"How about a bet," Ace suggested with a faint smile. "We'll have a little competition using nothing but the laws of fire. If I win, Leo stays with me, and you have to lead your family to relocate near my Yin-Yang Pavilion.
If you win, you can kill me so that Carter's connection with me disappears, and he's free to live the rest of his life without being bonded to a human."
As he said that, there wasn't a soul not caught off guard by the contents of the bet proposed by Ace, but the person who showed the biggest reaction was Julius.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Julius roared as he grabbed Ace by the collar of his t-shirt. "WE JUST RISKED OUR LIVES TO SAVE YOU, AND NOW YOU'RE THROWING YOUR LIFE AWAY?!
DAMMIT, ACE! I TOOK A LIFE TO SAVE YOU. I ACTUALLY BROKE THE VOW I MADE TO MY DEAD MOTHER FOR YOU, AND THIS IS HOW YOU ACT?!"
Ace's heart ached as he watched the tears streaming down his friend's face uncontrollably.
"Fatty. No, Julius. Look at me," Ace commanded solemnly. "I'm not going to thank you for what you did for me as I know there are no words that are able to show just how thankful I am for what you did for me.
But what I will say is that I now owe you my life, so you need to know, I would never risk my life like this if I weren't absolutely certain…
Trust me!"
As the most talented mage of the Pavilion, Julius knew better than anyone just how insane Ace's proposal was. Still, as he looked into Ace's big black eyes, he saw nothing but unwavering resolve, the type of resolve so infectious that he couldn't help but believe in him, despite knowing how foolish it sounded.
"So, how about it?" Ace asked confidently. "Do you dare accept this bet?"
"Name the rules!" Carter snorted, his confidence not losing out to Ace's in the slightest.
"We'll both attack once and defend once. The winner will be the one who demonstrates the higher comprehension of the laws of fire," Ace explained. "But of course, since I'm only at the third rank as a mage, you can't use any more power than that of a 3rd rank."
"Deal," Carter replied. "You can go first."
"Happy to," Ace smirked as he clenched his right fist, coating it in flames. "[Fire Fist]!"
Despite being affected by his confidence, the moment they saw the fist-shaped flames shooting towards Carter, there wasn't a single person present who wasn't shocked.
All of them were capable of sensing the mage force used to create the spell was clearly of the third rank, yet it was so much more powerful than any spell of the third or even fourth rank.
"You… You really did it?!" Carter asked in shock as he watched the flame hit his golden mane.
Though it did absolutely no damage to him, he was still shocked beyond words as he tried his best to wrap his head around what he was witnessing.
It had to be remembered that in his last life, Ace had eaten the fire devil fruit. His strength may not have been able to compare to the powerhouses in this world, but when it came to his control of fire… He was easily able to compare to that of a saint!
"What do you think?" Ace asked with a teasing smile. "That's my very own self-created technique."
"Hmph! Don't get ahead of yourself," Carter snorted after regaining his calm. "I'll admit that I was shocked your comprehension has stepped into the profound realm' it's still a little lacking when compared to mine."
Carter didn't even realise it, but after Ace showed off his incredible comprehension, he, a mid-stage saint-level magical beast, stopped talking to Ace as if he were a boy and started viewing him as something of a peer.
Still, even as he watched a long fiery spear take shape outside the mouth of the colossal lion, Ace didn't seem too worried. Instead, much to the shock and worry of the rest of his group, he calmly watched as the fire spear tore through the air as if it wanted to pierce his heart.
Even Amira and Carter, who held the most confidence in Ace, couldn't help but feel their hearts stop as it successfully tore through Ace's chest and out of his back.
Ace could sense the lion's insights into the laws of fire fused into its attack was faintly superior to his last attack, but the reason he was so confident could be explained in one word – Logia!
Whilst it was true that as a logia, the user learned to control their 'element' with ease, the most fearsome ability of logias was their ability to turn their body into their respective element, allowing them to become intangible.
The moment Ace had officially become a mage, he realised that not only could he use all his old techniques at the expense of his limited mage force, by using everything he'd learnt in his last life about fire in this life, it allowed him to step into a boundary of comprehension usually only reserved for saints.
Amira, Leonel, Julius, and even Carter stared at Ace as his body turned back from fire into his ordinairy body in complete and utter disbelief.
"You…
How…
What are you?" Carter asked in shock, unable to process what he had just witnessed.
"Me? I'm your son's partner," Ace said with a proud smirk. "But you call me Fire Fist Ace!"
Whilst Carter could only speechlessly stare at his son's partner, Amira and Leonel had proud smiles on their face as they stared at Ace's back in awe.
"He really is a freak," Julius muttered to himself with a relieved smile.
"I give up," Carter announced helplessly, realising that Ace's insights into the laws of fire really had surpassed his own. "I agree to follow your terms."