"KENYON! COME BACK!" Haydson roared, worried about how Lauriella and the others would react if Kenyon were able to successfully kidnap the boy.
The middle-aged looking saint could hear his friend, and he understood that he was basically putting the lives of himself, Haydson and the rest of their group in danger with his actions, but he couldn't leave here today without Ace.
As far as he was concerned, there were likely only two people present who were capable of stopping him, one was Wukong, who proved that his speed was no less than his own, but as he could fly, as long as he grabbed Ace and escaped into the clouds, he would be safe.
The only other person he had to worry about was Lauriella, but as he glanced in her direction, he realised she hadn't even moved.
Even though he was a saint who specialised in the laws of wind, he knew he wasn't so fast that he could act before she was able to react, so when he saw her do nothing to stop him, a bad feeling began to well up inside him, but it was too late to turn back now. He had already committed. "As long as I grab the boy and get passed Haydson, I should be able to…'
Kenyon had an arm outstretched, only inches away from Ace's shoulder, when he felt his soul shudder and his consciousness tremble.
"AHHHH!" Kenyon roared as he grabbed the top of his shoulder.
"What do you think, brat?" Aiden said leisurely as he stood over the one-armed Kenyon, holding a gourd of wine in one hand and a glaive dripping with fresh blood in the other. "Not bad for an old man, aye?"
Haydson, who was just about to charge in after his 'friend' to try and stop him from making a mistake that could cost them their lives, suddenly came to a halt as he looked at Kenyon's severed arm on the ground before looking back up at Aiden in disbelief, unable to wrap his mind around what just happened.
In his eyes, Kenyon was inches away from grabbing Ace when he suddenly seemed to trip. Of course, such a thing should be impossible for a saint-level warrior with near-perfect control of his body. And if that wasn't shocking enough, a warrior at the peak of the ninth rank moved with speed that was no slower than his own to appear between Ace and Kenyon and cut off his arm.
The only thing that made sense was if some sort of spiritual attack had hit Kenyon's soul, but as the only natural peak saint present, he should have the most powerful soul, meaning he should've been able to sense the spiritual attacks of anyone else around, but he didn't feel a single thing.
'Just who are these people?' Haydson asked himself as he looked up at Aiden, who was smiling without a care in the world, still drinking alcohol as if he hadn't done anything special.
"Wait!" Haydson commanded when he noticed Aiden preparing to finish the job.
Although it was true that Kenyon was the one to act first, he was still the disciple of the War God. If he were to die in front of him, it would likely bring all sorts of trouble his way.
He knew full well that although people referred to him as the most powerful saint in the world, it was far from true. Ignoring the War God himself, there were still several of his disciples that were at least his strength, and that didn't include the monster that was Kenyon's first brother.
"I said stay your hand!" Haydson bellowed when he saw Aiden completely disregard his command.
Using the profound mystery of world walking, Haydson's body flashed, appearing directly in front of Aiden just in time for him to block Aiden's Glaive from piercing Kenyon's head with his sword.
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"Calm down," Haydson voiced sombrely as he met Aiden's gaze. "I know Kenyon acted impulsively, but he's still a direct disciple of the War God O'Brien. Killing him will do you more harm than good."
"I've already offended the War God by taking the arm of his idiot disciple," Aiden said as the corners of his mouth curled upwards, forming a fiendish grin. "The only way to keep this a secret is to kill him."
"I can't let you do that," Haydson declared.
"Then I guess I'll just have to kill you as well," Aiden casually replied.
As he said that, Haydson's eyes suddenly bulged as he sensed the power behind Aiden's glaive pressing against his sword multiply.
Ace's eyebrows rose in surprise as he saw the glistening silver battle-qi coating his master's body and weapon. In all their time together, this was the first time he'd ever seen his master use battle-qi.
As surprised as Ace was, though, how could his surprise even begin to compare to Haydson's?
He, a powerful peak-stage saint, was being forced back by a mere mortal. Although it was true that he wasn't trying particularly hard, unless you were a saint yourself, you should forget about forcing him back.
"How are you, a mere mortal, able to use the strength of a mid-stage saint just by using 'impose' and battle-qi?" Haydson asked in disbelief as he slid back, holding his sword in one hand and dragging the one-armed Kenyon with his other.
"Who knows?" Aiden replied with a teasing smile before moving like a flash in Haydson's direction.
This was the first time Ace had ever seen his master take action seriously, and although at his level, his perception could barely keep up, what he could tell was that Aiden was winning.
"Who are you?" Haydson asked as both men continued to clash in mid-air.
It was true that Haydson was having to fight with only one hand as he had to keep hold of Kenyon for fear of what Aiden would do if he didn't, but still. Aiden was at the peak of the ninth stage, and he was at the peak of the saint stage.
"The master of the boy your friend attempted to kidnap," Aiden replied as he suddenly upped the tempo.
Before, whether it was speed or power, Haydson was superior, albeit only slightly, but Aiden's masterful combat style allowed him to hold his own, but now…
As a saint, Haydson obviously understood that the power that one was able to channel when using 'impose' depended on two things. First, the level of the user's comprehension of their chosen law(s).
But it was extremely rare for those who'd begun to comprehend the laws to still use impose in a genuine battle, which was why Haydson believed that his opponent hadn't begun to comprehend the laws as yet, but that meant that there was only one possible explanation, but that explanation was even harder to believe.
"Just how powerful is your soul?!" Haydson asked as the weapons of the two men clashed once again.
The concept of 'impose' was to use your soul to become one with nature, which in turn meant that the more powerful your soul, the more powerful your use of 'impose', but as far as Haydson was concerned, forget mortals, the only ones with a soul powerful enough to see this much of an improvement when using impose were deities.
The moment Haydson voiced his question, Aiden gave him the answer to his question. His spiritual essence surged forth like a boundless tide bombarding the soul of the Monolithic Sword Saint.
Aiden's soul had yet to reach the levels of a deity, but it was definitely more powerful than any saint. Still, as someone at the peak of the saint level, Haydson's soul was far from weak. As such, he was able to shrug off the soul attack just in time to dodge the glaive arcing towards his neck.
Unfortunately for him, though Haydson's consciousness only blurred for a split second, a split second at their level may as well have been ten for an ordinairy person.
"What have you done?!" Haydson growled after looking down, only to find that Kenyon had been decapitated.
"Did you really think I'd allow someone threatening the safety of my disciple to go free?" Aiden asked leisurely as he went back to sipping on his wine.
"What is it?" Aiden asked when he saw Haydson floating in mid-air, glaring at him. "Did you wish to continue?"
"I hope you can bear the consequences of your actions here today," Haydson snorted as he took one final look at all the members of the pavilion as if to etch each of their faces into his memory before dropping Kenyon's body so it landed in the middle of the mountain top and flying to Wharton and Lina. "C'mon, we're going!"
Ace emotionlessly watched them fly away as his master landed beside him. "Are you sure it was okay to let him go?"
"Haydson isn't stupid," Aiden explained. "He knows O'Brien and his other disciples would have his head if he was to go back and tell them the truth.
The fact that he left Kenyon's body here instead of taking it back with him says it all. It means he wants as little to do with all of this as possible."