At that moment, whether it was the instructors or the students, there wasn’t a single person who could believe what they had just seen – not even Talore!
‘That must be the mysterious ability he used to knock out over half our army a year ago,’ Talore thought to himself as his eyes remained firmly trained on Ace, a hint of a frown appearing on his face as he replayed the scene of Blumer almost losing consciousness over and over in his mind. ‘Was it really not a spiritual attack?’
According to the reports, Ace’s soul had already reached the saint level, which would explain why he, as a warrior of the ninth rank, would fail to feel the spiritual attack of someone at that level, but he also knew that not even Lanke – the saint who went with them at the time – was able to detect the presence of spiritual essence at the time.
‘Lord Lanke’s a peak saint. The only way he would fail to sense the soul attack of another being is if they were at or nearing the deity realm,’ Talore noted mentally. ‘And if the soul of this Ace kid had reached such a level, the power of his spells would’ve easily been able to reach the saint level even if he had been at the fourth rank at the time…’
The more Talore thought about it, the less it made sense. He had never heard of such a mystical ability!
Still, he knew that if not even a saint like Lanke could figure out the truth behind it, then he stood no chance. As such, a calm sigh escaped his mouth as he steadily summoned a large jet-black sabre, the blade of which was almost 6 feet.
“Come!” The headmaster said, his voice booming like the roars of thunder, despite having spoken so softly.
“Looks like I’m gonna have to get a little serious after all,” Ace sighed, not seeming to realise the corners of his mouth had arced up in excitement.
“His arrogance is infuriating,” One of the students growled.
“C’mon, headmaster Talore,” Another of the students cheered. “Show him the invincible might of our O’Brien Empire!”
One by one, all the spectators, including some civilians who had snuck in to see what was happening after hearing all the ruckus from outside, began cheering for Talore, wanting him to hurry up and win this fight.
What they didn’t realise was that despite their good intentions, it made Talore feel more shame than anything else.
He was the headmaster of the most prestigious institution for young warriors, but not one of his students nor his staff could face this young teen.
The last time anything like this happened in the empire, it was that mysterious Wukong who challenged and defeated all the students of the War God’s College, himself included, but this was the first time the Academy had suffered such a fate, and it just had to be under his watch.
For the reputation of the Academy, for the glory of his Empire, and most importantly, for his own pride, he couldn’t afford to lose this!
Talore entered his battle stance, allowing a flickering purple battle-qi to cover his body and weapon, ignoring the fact that Ace still hadn’t taken out his weapon, refusing to let the arrogance of his opponent interfere with his state of mind.
The truth was, Ace wasn’t trying to be arrogant. It was just that although he had more or less recovered from his earlier use of [Imposing Devourment], his body still wasn’t quite 100%. So, unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to clash directly with such a powerful warrior. Plus, there were still a few things he wanted to try out.
“I’m ready whenever y…”
Ace didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Talore shot forth at a speed that made Blumer look like a sloth. The man’s lightning-coated blade appeared before Ace in the blink of an eye, but before he could finish his attack, his eyes widened, and he hurriedly shifted from attack to evasion, jumping back as fast as he could.
“[Blazing Ring of Fire]!” Ace exclaimed as a crimson ring of highly condensed flames expanded out of him like a ripple of water with him at the epicentre.
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Seeing that he was coming to the end of the ring and that his students and subordinates were behind him, Talore forcibly came to a halt and slashed his sabre at the ring of fire, cutting it apart and dispersing it before it could do damage, but before he could relax, he felt another incoming attack, this one significantly more powerful than the last.
“[Fire Fist!” Ace called out as he thrust his fire-coated fist forward, allowing a large pillar of flames to jet forth, aiming to incinerate everything in its path.
“EVERYONE GET BACK!” Talore roared as he moved to meet the incoming giant blazing fist fast approaching. “NOW!”
Talore clicked his teeth in frustration as he was forced to meet another attack head-on that he would’ve preferred to dodge.
Still, although these attacks had been powerful, their might was only at the early stages of the ninth rank. Infusing his attacks with [Impose], he was calmly able to cut the fiery pillar in two, giving him a clear path towards his opponent.
Ace could clearly see the man’s intentions from the expression on his face. Still, his expression remained light as he flicked his wrist up, simultaneously calling out the name of his next attack. “[Dance of the Fire Serpent!]”
The headmaster’s eyes turned to pinholes as he watched the flames he thought he had dealt with instantly morph into ten, ten-meter-long, incredibly life-like fiery serpents.
“The rumours…” A member of the audience mumbled in disbelief. “The rumours about ‘Gol D. Ace’… They’re really true.”
“How is this possible?” Another asked, rubbing his eyes as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “How could a teenager possibly be so strong?”
Blumer, who was currently being held on the shoulder of the head of the discipline committee, just woke up in time to see his headmaster, a being who was one of the most powerful mortals he had ever met, moving like lightning, barely evading almost a dozen fiery snakes.
Looking back at the youth who had handed him his first-ever defeat from someone in their generation, he couldn’t help but clench his fists and grit his teeth in silent indignation as he felt his world was being turned upside down.
As far as he was concerned, his brother wasn’t simply the most talented person of his generation; he was the most talented person the world had ever seen. In his eyes, Olivier would soon break through to the saint realm and then, in time, become their Empire’s second deity and even surpass O’Brien himself, becoming the most powerful man on the continent.
The belief he held in his ‘peerless’ older brother could be imagined, but now… As much as he hated to admit it, he had never met or heard of anyone with such heaven-defying talent.
At that moment, there was nothing he wanted more than for Ace to suffer a temporary lapse in concentration for just enough time so that headmaster Talore could defeat and kill Gol D. Ace so that nothing could stand in the way of his brother and family’s future. Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed!
Ace calmly stood in the middle of the ring, seemingly have not moved a single step since their fight, casually flicking his hands to control the fiery constructs as they encircled his headmaster.
Talore couldn’t get anywhere near Ace; he was too focused on avoiding these giant flaming snakes, hoping Ace would run out of mageforce soon.
Evading was the only thing he could do; he had already tried to destroy them, but every time he cut one of them in two, they would reform into two perfectly formed fire serpents, just as strong as the others.
It was frustrating beyond belief, but there was nothing he could do. Still, although powerful, these flame constructs weren’t particularly fast, and as a warrior of the ninth rank, he could keep this up all day, and as much of a monster as Ace was, he refused to believe that his mageforce was limitless.
Talore was right in his assessment of his juvenile opponent. Ace’s one drawback was his realm. Because of his ability, he tended to fight those whose realm far surpassed his, meaning whether it was mageforce, battle-qi, or stamina, Ace couldn’t compare.
But after completely comprehending the profound mystery of the essence of fire, his manipulation of fire reached a whole new level allowing him to control more fire using less mageforce.
Still, at this rate, Ace would definitely be the one to tire first, but thankfully he had done enough testing to feel satisfied.
“Time to finish this,” Ace voiced as he controlled the snakes to merge and transform.
The moment Talore found his pursuers had stopped chasing him, he made a B-line straight for the teen in control of them.
He could feel the former constructs merging into something far bigger and multiple times more powerful above his head, but he knew he didn’t have time to care about that; the only thing on his mind was putting an end to the fight before Ace finished whatever he was preparing.
As a lightning-based warrior, his speed, especially when travelling in a straight line, was incredible.
Ace watched as the man broke the speed barrier in his attempt to close him down, but he didn’t panic. Though not quite as fast, Ace’s movements were no less explosive as he shot into the sky, leaving a trail of fire in his wake just before Talore’s blade could reach him.
Talore’s thigh bulged as he prepared to leap into the sky to chase after him, but as he looked up, he saw a sight he and everyone present and probably all those who lived in the capital, would never forget.
Hovering above was a singular giant crimson snake that’s body stretched for over 200 meters, blotting out the skies above the capital and casually standing just in front of it was a dark-haired youth who looked more like a young god of fire.
“Shall we continue?”