After another round of healing, Ace was feeling much better.

It appeared that after waking up after fainting from fatigue, Milianna’s abilities had taken another step forward.

Although he wasn’t 100%, he felt strong enough for some light sparring.

Thinking about the competition, Ace couldn’t help but be interested to see how strong everyone was now.

Ever since their training exercise in the mountain range of magical beasts, it had been one thing after the next. As a result, it had been over a year since he’d seen the majority of his classmates fight, with the exceptions being Killian, whom he’d been travelling with this last year, Amira, who fought alongside him against the O’Brien Empire and Julius, who was a member of his team during their former training exercise.

After a quick breakfast, Ace and Killian lead the way, with Milianna, Leo, and Lance following behind as the group made their way back to the Pavilion.

“Looks like everyone’s anxious to begin,” Ace said as they made it to the Yin-Yang mountain’s peak, only to find Alissa and the other students already there waiting.

“Ace, you’re okay!” Faye said with relief. “You had us all worried.”

“Are you completely healed?” Kannal asked as he sized up his dark-haired classmate curiously.

“Not completely,” Ace replied honestly. “But im good enough for some light sparring.”

“Well, there goes our chance at snatching first place,” Joel sighed after seeing the confidence in Ace’s eyes.

Even with all the improvements he had made over the last year, he didn’t believe for even a second that he or anyone else in their cohort would be able to defeat Ace, even if he couldn’t go all out.

Forget the Ace of today; they’d be hard-pressed to defeat the Ace who defeated Wharton a year ago, even if they all fought together.

Their only chance would be if Ace were too injured to take part.

Still, as much as he wanted a better ranking today, he wouldn’t want it if it came at the expense of his classmate’s well-being.

“Looks like the rest of us can only fight it out for third place and below,” Joel continued, glancing helplessly at the overweight teen stroking Leo’s silky dark mane.

Even though Julius had no interest in taking part, no one could say anything about his ranking as even if he was to take part, there more than likely wasn’t anyone able to defeat him.

He was already a mage at the middle stages of the seventh rank, and according to Lauriella, his comprehension of the laws of fire was half a step away from reaching the profound level.

At the same time, Milianna and Lance, who had separated from Ace and the others to allow the teens to talk among themselves, approached Arianna and the other instructors.

“Sixth sister, you look…

Better,” Mathias greeted, inwardly surprised by Milianna’s enormous change.

Though there were no physical changes, Mathias and the others could all see a giant difference in how she carried herself. She was like a completely new woman.

“I feel better,” Milianna replied calmly before an abnormally sombre expression appeared on her face as her eyes fell on her master.

All the other instructors tensed up when they saw that. They could all remember how harsh their master had been on this junior sister of theirs last night. Even though everything worked out in the end, they all knew that as Ace’s mother, Milianna had every right to be upset, but they never would’ve guessed the following words to come out of Milianna’s mouth.

“I’m going with Ace to the O’Brien Empire,” Milianna stated directly, her tone calm but firm, leaving no room for discussion.

Other than Cesar and Cirulus, who didn’t know the truth about Ace and Milianna’s past, the others all looked at Milianna in disbelief, even Arianna.

“Sixth sister, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Lazerim interjected when Arianna remained silent. “If you get recognised again, word might get back to O’Brien, and who knows what will happen after that.”

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“Third Brother’s right,” Kimika added. “You going could put both yours and Ace’s lives at risk.”

“We’ve already made our mind up,” Milianna replied, her eyes never leaving her master’s as she patiently waited for her response.

“We?” Lauriella asked as he glanced at Ace in surprise, knowing exactly how protective he was of his mother. “You mean that brat of yours actually agreed as well.”

“Like I told him,” Milianna explained slowly. “I can’t continue to sit on the sidelines whilst my son puts himself in danger to save me.”

As they heard that, everyone stared at Milianna in amazement. They still couldn’t believe that this was their same meek junior sister. This was the first time they’d ever seen someone’s mentality change so significantly after just one night.

“HAHAHA! Well said!” Wukong nodded appreciatively. “Master, let me go with them. As long as that old bastard O’Brien doesn’t step out of his cave, I can protect sixth sister and the brat.”

“I’ll go with him!” Lauriella added.

“Me too,” Lazerim and Kimika declared simultaneously.

“No,” Mathias shook his head. “As the most senior of us, I should be the one to go.”

Infected by Milianna’s display of bravery, each of her senior martial brothers and sisters unhesitantly volunteered to dive headfirst into what may well be a one-way trip to hell.

‘Interesting,’ Cesar thought to himself. ‘I might finally get to learn how strong you are exactly,’

He didn’t know the details, but from this conversation, it was obvious that the Pavilion would soon be directly opposing the war god and, by extension, the O’Brien Empire.

Other than Alissa, he didn’t particularly care about the future of the Yin-Yang Pavilion one way or another, so as long as he kept Alissa safe, he would be free to watch as things played out.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to show strength in the face of adversity, despite fear…” Arianna said as she looked appreciatively at this disciple of hers. “And you, Milianna, may well be the bravest person I have ever met!”

Like Ace, Arianna could also feel the fear Milianna was emitting, but she saw none of it in her eyes. In her eyes, all she saw was a woman who was ready to stand on her own two feet and fight for what she believed in.

“The rest of you can accompany the other students; I’ll be taking Ace and Milianna,” Arianna said, putting the discussion to bed.

Wukong and the others said nothing else on the matter; they all knew that as the strongest of them, this way was for the best.

“One more thing,” Milianna said suddenly, her tone becoming especially sombre, recapturing the focus of her senior brothers and sisters. “If something does happen, I want you to prioritise the safety of Ace over me,”

“You don’t have to worry, child,” Arianna smiled confidently. “Not even O’Brien is capable of laying a finger on either of you with me around!”

Though he didn’t say anything, Cesar looked suspiciously at Arianna. He knew her strength had long since surpassed the realms of saints, but he assumed she could, at most, fight on par with the average low-ranking deity, but from Arianna’s tone, she didn’t put deities like O’Brien in her sights at all.

At first, he believed that she was just bravado to put Milianna’s mind at ease, but the more he looked at the casual expressions of her other disciples, as though her words were obvious, the more he began to doubt himself.

“Anyway, that’s enough of that,” Arianna said as she turned her head towards the distance. “It looks like it’s almost time for the competition to begin.”

“What are they looking at?” Kannal asked as he looked over at the instructors in confusion.

“She’s back,” Ace said with a gentle smile as he sensed two familiar auras approaching from the distance.

Before long, the lazy figure of Aiden strolling through the air, emptying an all too familiar gourd of wine down his throat, could be seen approaching.

‘I never knew impose could be used like that,’ Cesar thought to himself as his eyes stayed on Aiden, watching as Aiden mysteriously travelled 10s of meters with each seemingly casual step. ‘Interesting…’

Beside him was an enchanting light-skinned girl leaping through the air to keep up, but it was this girl that had Ace’s undivided attention. At least until…

“Oww!” Ace exclaimed, rubbing his head as an empty wine gourd fell to the floor beside him. “What was that for, you old bastard?!”

“Why is it that me and little Mira come back together, but you only pay attention to one of us?” Aiden asked as he suddenly appeared by Ace’s side to pick up his wine gourd and carry on drinking from it as if nothing had happened.

“Who wants to pay attention to your wrinkly old face?” Ace snorted disdainfully.

“Hmm, what did you do to your body?” Aiden asked as he scanned his disciple’s body, paying no attention to being called old.

“Ahh! Stop that already!” Ace shouted after his master began poking and prodding him without permission.

“Ooh, you ignored the notes and went overboard when using [Imposing Devourment],” Aiden said, ignoring Ace’s plea. “You couldn’t even break through to the sixth rank before causing your body to break down?

Idiot!”

“Whatever,” Ace replied, too lazy to get into a war with words with his wannabe-drunkard master, his attention returning to Amira. “You’re finally back.”

“Did you miss me?” Amira teased.

“Yes!” Ace replied straightforwardly, catching Amira off guard as he took her in his embrace.

Ace’s honesty filled Amira with warmth as she silently returned his hug.

“When did this happen?” Alissa asked curiously as her eyes travelled back and forth between the two love birds. “No one mentioned this over the last couple of months.”

“I don’t know,” Julius replied, just as taken aback by the closeness of his two classmates. “They weren’t this close when we were still in the mountain range.”

“Did this happen when you guys went to the Rohault Empire?” Faye asked as she turned to the person who’d spent the most time with Ace since the end of the training exercise. “Are they finally together?”

“Not yet,” Killian shrugged indifferently.

Amira had been so captivated by the intensity of Ace’s sincerity that she had forgotten there were other people around, but hearing them speak about them so intently…

She couldn’t help but blush furiously as she wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

It was only when Mathias cleared his throat, taking the attention off her, that she could calm down – albeit only slightly.

“Now that we’re all here, the ranking competition can finally begin,” Mathias announced.