As Olivier stepped onto the ring, the whole of War God’s mountain was deathly silent as they anxiously waited for what would inevitably be the final fight of today’s challenge – at least between the mortals anyway.
At the start of the day, everyone would’ve unhesitantly put all their money on Olivier, but now…
“Who do you think will win this?” A middle-aged man dressed in lavish garms and an extravagant crown sat upon his head asked as he tilted his head slightly towards a familiar-looking general who stood like a loyal guard to his right.
“Honestly, I’m not sure, your majesty,” General Fuscor replied. “The strength that boy Ace displayed before…
Zaron wasn’t much weaker than me, but he had been able to kill him in only two moves.
I’ve sparred with Olivier a few times, and even though the difference between us is substantial, Olivier would never be able to defeat me in less than at least five, probably even ten moves.”
“So you think Olivier doesn’t stand a chance?” Johann O’Brien, the reigning Emperor of the O’Brien Empire, asked with an undisguised frown as he thought about the implications of such a loss – not for Olivier and the devastation it would have on his little brother, but the negative connotations it would have on the O’Brien Empire as a whole.
It was bad enough for the strongest warrior of their strongest school for warriors losing to the teen, but if Olivier did too, it meant that Gol D. Ace, a young teen, was stronger than every single warrior in their empire – an empire which prided themselves on having the strongest warriors on the continent.
“I didn’t mean it like that, your majesty,” General Fuscor shook his head as he looked at Olivier’s back. “I admit that in terms of talent and potential, Ace is without peer, but Olivier is still a genius, the likes of which is only normally seen once every thousand years.
Ace’s strength has definitely skyrocketed since the war against the Rohault Empire a year ago, but I very much doubt Olivier’s just sat back and did nothing. Even though I haven’t seen him in action since we returned in defeat, I can see from his eyes that Olivier’s not the same warrior he was back then.
As for if he can win this, it all depends on exactly how much he managed to improve!”
As he said that, bursts of gasps could be heard from the audience as they looked at Olivier’s body.
Everyone was well aware by now that Olivier had managed to cultivate battle-qi of both light and darkness, but what he was doing now was a first. With deft control, Olivier had somehow managed to layer his darkness battle-qi on top of his light one.
Although they hadn’t fused, they had truly stacked together to give him more power.
“The day this sword was handed to me, and I found out about my family’s demise, I promised myself I wouldn’t use it until I was worthy,” Olivier said as he summoned an enchanting pale blue long sword that looked like it was forged of pure ice. “And today I intend to prove my worth to the world whilst I wield my family's heirloom – Icedream,”
Hearing that, Ace resummoned his own weapon before gently running his fingers up its shaft. He had never thought to introduce his weapon in the past, but today, he would make an exception.
“This glaive was forged for me by the greatest forger on the continent, Lauriella Hyde, using materials gathered by the number one genius of your generation and my senior, Wukong,” Ace explained slowly, paying no attention to the slight flicker of emotion on Olivier’s face. “It’s named after the man who inspired me to choose the glaive – Newgate!”
As he said that, Ace willed his crimson mageforce to coat his whole body and weapon as he focused his haki on his weapon and arms – as he was still only in the fifth rank, he remained unable to coat his entire body with it, but for now, it would have to do.
Then, without another word, both warriors moved in unison as they shot towards each other at breakneck speeds.
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Smiles of relief appeared on the faces of those on the side of the O’Brien Empire – who were able to keep up – as they noticed the difference in speed.
Olivier’s movement technique was one that Ace had already seen once before. At that time, it was utilised by Blumer, and although impressive, it was nothing in comparison to Olivier’s usage. It had little to do with the fact that Olivier was over two full ranks superior to his little brother and everything to do with the fact that, as the creator, his skill with it was leagues above.
Ace, as fast as he was, had only moved a tenth of the distance before Olivier was already on top of him, his blade gracefully arcing through the air, leaving a trail of black and gold in its wake as it slashed towards Ace’s neck.
‘I really hate the speedy ones,’ Ace thought to himself as he knew they were the types of opponents who gave him the most trouble.
Still, with the use of [Foresight], Ace had long since seen through his opponent’s intention.
Like before, the butt of his glaive jetted out flames that dramatically increased the speed and power of his [Thrust]. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
Whilst Olivier was forced to stop in his tracks, Ace was forced over a dozen heavy steps back before he could finally stabilize himself.
A wave of cheers erupted from the side of the O’Brien Empire, with the loudest of them being from Blumer, as he watched Ace suffer his first setback – albeit only a minor one.
Still, the O’Brien Empire needed this. Over the last two days, they had suffered loss after loss, each more humiliating than the last. Without even realising it, they had begun to see Ace as their greatest nemesis.
Even Fain and Byrius smiled subtly as they saw the results of the opening clash.
“Looks like your little trick won’t work on me,” Olivier said indifferently as his eyes remained trained on his young opponent.
Others may not have understood what Olivier meant, but Ace sure did. The moment they clashed, Ace had attempted to use [Internal Destruction] to try and ignore Olivier’s defence of layered battle-qi and ravage the man’s arm from the inside.
Unfortunately, the moment he expertly controlled his haki to try and phase through his opponent’s defence, Olivier’s shadowy aura seemed to swallow the vast majority of Ace’s haki, and what was left was barely more than enough to be noticed.
“It looks like I’m gonna have to go all out after all,” Ace said softly with a hint of admiration as he studied the stacking method used by the older of the Akerlund brothers whilst shaking off the numbness of his arm.
His words sounded arrogant, and many there refused to believe that Ace had still been holding back, but when the saints saw the slight but definitive change to Ace’s mageforce, there wasn’t a single one of them who could remain seated.
“IMPOSSIBLE!” Byrius exclaimed, unable to believe what he was witnessing.
“How’s that even possible?!” Fain asked, his shock no less than his junior brothers.
“His comprehension…” Desri muttered. “It’s actually reached that of a deity!”
Desri may have whispered it, but the weakest warrior in the audience was Wharton, a warrior of the fifth rank. As such, they had all heard his words clear as day.
Although most of the mortals didn’t understand the true intricacies of such a thing, they were all able to put understand the meaning behind it. It meant that purely in terms of comprehension, Ace had reached the same level as their very own spiritual pillar – The War God, O’Brien!
When Ace was forced to retreat, no one, not even his mother, batted an eyelid. They already knew that Ace was still holding back.
If it was put as a percentage, a prime saint had at most comprehended 99% of a profound mystery, whilst deities had comprehended 100%. Although the difference was a single percent, the actual difference in output was unimaginable.
As such, Ace’s party weren’t worried about Ace in the slightest.
“Now,” Ace said with an excited grin. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”
This time, as Ace moved, although he still wasn’t as fast as his opponent, the gap was nowhere near as exaggerated, but even though he was very fast, speed was never the attribute Ace prided himself on – that was his power.
As their weapons approached, Ace swiftly and expertly controlled his blazing mageforce turning it into a cone shape that began rotating at speed. This was one of the new techniques that Ace had come up with – “[Blazing Drill]!”
Ace’s spinning lance-shaped fiery mageforce tore through the outer layer of Olivier’s darkness battle-qi, but before he could capitalise on it, Olivier showed off the wonder of his self-created [Lightshadow Sword Art].
Blinding speed was only one aspect of this particular sword art; the other was its ability to evade detection – something that, if not for Ace’s [Observation], would’ve made this fight even more difficult.
The two exchanged hundreds of moves per second, leaving nothing but flashing lights and fireworks as they moved.
For a while, those watching forgot that the pride of their empire hinged on the outcome of this battle. All they could think about was how incredible both warriors were.
“Both of them have surpassed the strength of General Kaymin,” the burly general Fuscor sighed from beside Emperor Johann. “Before he broke through to the saint realm anyway.”
“This is the true peak of mortal prowess,” One of the other Generals stood behind Johann added.
“Maybe if you don’t include that freak, Aiden Rohault,” Fuscor replied as he remembered the air of invincibility the dark-skinned glaive-wielding warrior emitted as he defeated Lanke – the War God’s 22nd disciple – and singlehandedly ended the war. “But it’s true that if either Ace or Olivier’s strength were to take so much as half a step forward, they too would be able to display the power of a saint.”