“Are you ready?” Arianna asked, turning her attention from her husband’s disciple to her own.
“Why do I need to be the one to heal Ace from his injuries if you’re here, Master?” Milianna asked, her worried eyes never leaving the body of her dear son for even a second. “I know you said the Edict of Life is better suited for healing than the laws of life, but as a saint, you’re much better at healing than I am.”
“Even though you’ve mastered all the spells for your current level, you’ve never had to use it on a real target,” Arianna explained softly. “Even though I’m still better than you at healing right now, there will eventually come a day when I won’t be by your side, and you’ll need to use it for real. I need to ensure you don’t freeze up when that day comes.
Even though the injuries Ace is about to get will be self-inflicted and aren’t life-threatening, they could still affect his future if not healed properly, making this the perfect opportunity to get some experience handling these sorts of situations.”
Milianna didn’t respond; instead, she just clenched her fists tighter as her eyes were filled with worry and hesitation.
Seeing that, a flicker of unwillingness flickered in Arianna’s eyes as she knew what she was doing was a double-edged sword. Putting her disciple in this situation with her tainted soul in its current would either break her or pave the way for a brighter future.
It had to be remembered that the only reason she was still able to retain her pure-hearted nature despite her tainted soul was because of Ace. Should something happen to him, especially if she’s made to feel responsible, she would inevitably lose herself in an abyss of pity and misery, but if she’s successful, her soul would stabilise and likely take a step forward on the path to recovery.
Arianna was hesitant when Ace came to her with this idea, but when she saw the unwavering confidence in Ace’s eyes, she decided to bet on him.
The plan was definitely far riskier than anything Ace would ordinarily be willing to do when it came to the safety of those he cared about, but Ace’s confidence wasn’t exactly unwarranted.
It had to be remembered that Milianna had already demonstrated that she was born with [Conqueror’s Haki].
He knew that he was in a new world, so there was no guarantee that only those born with the qualities of a king – and his bloodline – were able to awaken [Conqueror’s Haki], but since learning to control it, he could feel the pride and confidence coursing through his body.
It wasn’t arrogance; it was just an unwavering confidence he had in himself. It was the same confidence he had seen in those like Whitebeard and Garp from his previous world.
As far as he was concerned, since his mother had it too, there was no way she would allow herself to fail this little tribulation.
Even though she had decided to trust Ace’s judgement this time, she had already brewed the potion to heal her tainted soul; if she felt for even a second that her disciple would fail, she wouldn’t hesitate to force it down her throat, even if it meant that Milianna would lose her talent.
Still, since she had decided to go along with this crazy plan, she would give her all to ensure success.
“Remember what I said, Milianna,” Arianna said with a calm indifference Milianna wasn’t used to hearing from her master. “No matter what happens, I won’t be getting involved; either you heal Ace, or you bear responsibility for ruining his future.”
Milianna’s body shuddered, causing a pang of guilt and pain in Arianna’s body, but before either could say anything further, they heard a grunt of pain coming from Ace’s direction.
Looking over, they could see Ace’s body trembling as he forcibly suppressed his pain and clenched his teeth to continue.
Aiden had devised many innovative ways to utilise Impose, but this had to be, by far, his most ingenious.
As most know, Impose effectively allows a warrior to become one with nature. Many years ago, when looking for a way to enhance his strength further, Aiden realised that whilst using Impose, he could sense the essence of nature in the world around him and with his powerful soul, he could even control them similar to a mage.
At the time, he was just at the peak of the sixth rank, and unless you were born with a special bloodline or physique, that was the highest level an ordinairy human could reach without cultivating battle-qi.
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One day over 1000 years ago now, he came up with the crazy idea of forcefully absorbing the essence of nature into his body to continue to strengthen it.
His plan had worked; in fact, it had worked better than he ever could’ve hoped for, but what he didn’t foresee was that the human body was too fragile to absorb so much pure energy in one go.
If it weren’t for Arianna being there to heal him, he likely would’ve killed himself. Still, the pros were definitely worth it.
Not only did he successfully break through to the seventh rank as an ordinairy human, but it had also reforged his body, further increasing his talent, allowing him to cultivate all the way to the peak of the seventh rank as an ordinairy human.
At which point, he had to use his crazy method once again to break through the shackles of his talent.
Upon reaching the peak of the ninth rank as a warrior, he realised it was impossible to break through to the saint realm, even with this masochistic cultivation technique. But instead of giving up in his pursuit of strength, he decided to continue absorbing the essence of nature, but this time, instead of absorbing it into his body, he used it to refine his soul.
He was successful, but the pain of refining the soul was infinitely more painful than refining the body. What made it worse was that the laws of life, light, and water could only be used to heal physical injuries, not spiritual ones.
Fortunately, his control of Impose had increased drastically in that time, as had his control of his spiritual essence, so he never went past the point of no return. Still, it was only with the help of alcohol dulling the pains to his soul that he was able to bear it.
The name of the crazy technique was [Imposing Devourment]!
His master was still in the Rohault Empire, but not only had the notes Aiden left him explained the pain Ace could expect, Arianna, who had also used the technique to refine her soul, had also explicitly warned him. Still, the pain was far more excruciating than he had expected, but so too were the results.
He watched as his mageforce skyrocketed, breaking through to the mid and then the late stages.
It was only when his cultivation as a mage caught up to his warrior cultivation that he allowed the absorbed essence to impact his body and dantian.
‘Peak of the fifth rank,’ Ace noted to himself in glee. ‘Just a bit more, and I’ll…’
Ace didn’t even get the chance to finish his thought before he let out a heart-wrenching scream that resounded right through the territory of the Yin-Yang Pavilion.
As soon as they heard it, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t drop what they were doing to speed towards the source of the scream.
Ace had already been warned about the potential dangers of using this method, including the risk of crippling himself if he went too far, but with the power of his soul and his current ability to control it, he didn’t give it much thought.
Unfortunately, the feeling of growing in strength so quickly was too infatuating!
He had come dangerously close to going too far, stopping just short of incurable injuries. Still, if he didn’t get treatment immediately, he would be left with hidden injuries that would impact his future.
“AACCEEE!” Milianna screamed as she hurried to her son’s side, the fear of losing her pride and joy threatening to break her.
Blood was pouring from each of Ace’s orifices, and his body was covered in wriggling veins as his body trembled from the pain.
“Master, heal him. Please heal Ace!” Milianna exclaimed in a panic, only to find Arianna staring back at her in total indifference.
“I already told you; you heal him yourself or live with the consequences,” Arianna calmly said whilst cursing Ace’s recklessness.
It was at that point that people started turning up and looking at Ace’s gruesome body in disbelief, with only the other instructors, who not only knew about Milianna’s condition but also Aiden’s insane cultivation technique, able to piece things together. Still, they looked at their master speechlessly.
Ace’s condition didn’t allow for hesitation and wasting time. It was clear that he had gone overboard, but with the faith they had in their master, none said anything.
As true as that was for Mathias and his Junior brothers and sisters, the same couldn’t be said for Killian and the other disciples of the Pavilion. All they knew was that Ace was grievously injured, and if he didn’t receive any treatment, he could die.
“ACE!” Killian shouted with worry.
After everything they’d been through together, there was no way he could just sit back and watch him die. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do personally. None of his affinities were suited to healing.
“HEAL HIM!” Killian roared, turning to glare at his master’s master as he summoned his battle-axe as though he were ready to attack if she said no.
“If you don’t make a move now, Ace could die,” Arianna said indifferently, ignoring Killian’s threatening posture.
“I said…
Ugh!”
Before Killian could make a move, his body crumpled onto the soft bed of grass beneath his feet.
‘So fast!’ Cesar noted to himself in shock.
He was the strongest person present besides Arianna, and even he could only barely see that she had moved before returning to her previous position as though she had never left.
“Kil!” Alissa exclaimed as she hurried to his side, only to glare threateningly at Arianna.
“Calm down,” Cesar hurriedly said, not wanting his ‘granddaughter’ to provoke the demoness in front of them. “He’s just unconscious; he’ll be fine as soon as he wakes up.”
Like Cesar, Carter was worried his son – Leo – would act impulsively out of worry for his partner, but although he could see worry and fear, he was strangely calm.
Looking back at Ace, he realised there was definitely more to the current situation than meets the eye. The only way Leo wouldn’t have made a move like Killian was if Ace had told him not to.
“HELP HIM! YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM!
HELP HIM…
ANYBODY…
PLEASE!” Milianna screamed frantically, her emotions becoming more and more chaotic as she begged for someone to save her son.