This was a world where above all else, strength was respected and even worshipped. With enough strength, rules and laws meant nothing.

As a result, it unfortunately meant that sexual assault was a common occurrence in the martial world.

The moment it was confirmed that Ace was O’Brien’s biological son, most were able to guess what O’Brien had done to Milianna. Still, most didn’t even bat an eyelid, and for those that did, there was no shock or outrage, only a hint of pity which they forcibly suppressed for fear of what the War God would do if he sensed it.

But the moment Arianna mentioned the word “rape”, the audience couldn’t help but react, but instead of shock or anything like that, it was fear they felt overwhelmed with.

The killing intent that Arianna radiated was so dreadful it made Ace’s feel like a spring breeze. In fact, not even a prime saint-level warrior like Cesar, who had dedicated the majority of his life to the art of killing, could even begin to compare.

It was so potent that some of the weaker mortals present, like Wharton, found themselves losing consciousness, and even the more powerful ones struggled to catch their breaths, and none of them was actually the target of her anger, so it could be imagined how uncomfortable O’Brien was feeling.

Despite being a supposedly ‘all-powerful’ deity, the moment the War God felt Arianna’s killing intent, his eyes immediately constricted as his hairs stood on edge.

There were four deities on the continent, but there was only one capable of making him feel genuine fear.

As far as he was concerned, the mysterious deity who ruled the forest of Darkness was an unfathomable being that could take his life with a mere thought. But that was Lord Beirut, and this was Arianna.

Forget deities; Arianna wasn’t even at the peak of the saint realm! How could he possibly fear a trivial saint?

That fear quickly morphed into all-out anger as he glared at Arianna, allowing his own killing intent to erupt like a volcano.

Though not as potent as Arianna’s, it was more than most present were able to bear.

The moment he sensed that, Carter shot off into the distance. He had already been warned by Arianna that if O’Brien appeared and things took a serious turn for the worst that he shouldn’t hesitate in taking Ace and the others and escaping.

His actions caused a chain reaction, with everyone immediately turning to escape as far away as possible as quickly as physically possible.

Olivier, who had only woken up upon sensing Arianna’s fearful killing intent, was still greatly confused as to what had happened during his slumber, but at that moment, he didn’t dare to waste time.

He was still far from 100%, with his internal organs still severely damaged, but he unhesitantly grabbed his unconscious little brother and Talore, wrapping them both in his newly enhanced battle-qi, before ignoring the doctor who had treated his wounds and escaping at a speed far surpassing many of the saints around.

Still, even as he was escaping, he found himself subconsciously hoping Ace would make it out alive. Though he didn’t know what was happening, he could guess it had something to do with his former opponent, but even after his loss, he found that instead of shame or anger, the only thing he felt for Ace was respect.

Other than Arianna and O’Brien, the only one who hadn’t left was Fain.

Although far more powerful than him, Fain and Desri were still barely strong enough to stay and watch from a safe distance.

Unfortunately for Desri, he still had his wife to care for, so like the others, he took his wife and left at a speed everyone else could only watch in envy.

“Fain,” O’Brien voiced coldly as he continued to glare at Arianna. “Bring me, my child and woman!”

“Yes, master!” Fain nodded respectfully as his body turned into a bolt of lightning.

Unfortunately, before he could take off, at a speed that caught even O’Brien by surprise, Arianna’s body moved like a flash of light appearing directly in front of the blue-haired expert, her sword gracefully arcing through the air aiming to cut him in two from top to bottom.

As a warrior who focused on the laws of lightning, Fain prided himself on his speed. Still, as the cold hard blade of Arianna’s sword descended, he could only watch in horror, unable to do a thing to stop it.

Thankfully, though apparently not as fast as Arianna, his master had been a lot closer.

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Before she could complete her attack, Arianna’s sword was interrupted mid-slash mere inches from Fain’s sweat-covered forehead.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Arianna said as she looked at the cyan-haired prime saint, the corners of her cherry lips arcing up slightly as she completely ignored O’Brien. “It’s been a while since I really got to stretch my legs, and your master on his own won’t be enough.”

Like most of the others in the Pavilion, Arianna was also something of a battle-fiend, but with her current strength, there was hardly anyone who could give her a good battle. So finally, having found opponents who could last more than one attack, she felt her blood starting to boil.

It had been over 10,000 years since Arianna disappeared from the world, but today was the day she would remind everyone why she was once called ‘The Valkyrie’!

.

.

.

At the same time, a giant ball of fire could be seen streaking through the air like a meteor, rapidly approaching the borders of the O’Brien Empire.

Inside the ball of fire was Carter, who was carrying Ace and the others on his back.

Though it hadn’t even been a minute since everyone scattered from the top of the mountain, Carter had travelled hundreds of miles, going to show precisely how terrifyingly fast a magical beast at the peak of the saint realm was.

Ordinarily, forget Milianna; it would be impossible for Ace to withstand the wind resistance whilst travelling at such a speed, but the giant sphere of fire encapsulating them was actually working as a barrier preventing any resistance from touching them – the inside of the ring was almost like a separate dimension.

This was one of the Pavilion’s few saint-level techniques reserved for those whose comprehension had reached the peak of the saint realm, called the [Pseudo Godrealm].

Like the majority of the other techniques the Pavilion had in its libraries, this was part of Arianna’s family’s teachings.

It was an ingenious technique that somewhat imitated the Godrealm of a deity. Unfortunately, as it was only an imitation, it didn’t have a suppression effect on enemies inside, but it did allow the user to create an almost separate world where they could not only use their elemental techniques with far better energy efficiency but also increased might.

Anticipating the possibility of such a scenario unfolding, Arianna had granted Carter the opportunity to learn it.

Unfortunately, even though Carter was able to fly at his top speed without worrying about his passengers, speed had never been his forte. As a result, there were close to a dozen peak-level saints slowly gaining on them, all of whom were O’Brien’s disciples, and leading the pack was Byrius, who was doing nothing to hide his killing intent.

“We’re here to capture the boy and his mother,” A burly axe-wielding woman said as she glanced over her shoulder at her crimson-haired junior brother. “Don’t go overboard, Byrius!”

“I don’t answer to you, Talana!” Byrius growled back as he gave his second sister a threatening glare.

Talana didn’t back down from the intense stare-off, clearly displeased with the attitude of this junior brother of hers.

“Both of you need to knock it off!” Magnar, O’Brien’s 3rd disciple, said indifferently. “Now isn’t the time for infighting; we’ve got a job to do.”

Byrius may have been the most talented of O’Brien’s 20+ disciples and considered by many of the junior brothers to be the strongest besides Fain, but each of O’Brien’s five eldest disciples, was at the very peak of the saint realm, and like Byrius, each of them was a mere step away from becoming prime saints, as such none of them feared Byrius in the slightest.

It was rare that all of them would gather like this, but when they did, tensions would rise. Still, they all knew that if they allowed their infighting to be the reason Ace and Milianna were allowed to escape, disciple or not, there would be nothing that could save them from their master’s fiery temper.

Back inside Carter’s [Pseudo-Godrealm], anxiety was starting to rise as, by now, everyone could feel that it wouldn’t be long before they were caught up to.

Still, Ace didn’t seem to care in the slightest. His whole attention was on his mother, whom he could see was desperately and valiantly fighting to suppress her obviously overwhelming fear.

“I’m…

Okay…

Stop…

Worrying…” Milianna stammered between forced breaths as she lay back against Lance’s chest with her son’s hand in hers.

Though she said that, her whole body was drenched in sweat, and her face had paled drastically, but the worst part was that Ace could sense that the condition of her soul was worsening by the second.

He didn’t mind what happened to him, but if anything happened to his mother, despite her being the one to choose to come today, he would never be able to live with himself.

Quite frankly, Ace’s condition wasn’t much better. Not only were the bones in his right arm shattered, every fibre of his being was screaming at him to rest. He was quite literally running on fumes just staying awake, but as he looked at his mother suffering before him, he couldn’t feel anything.

Be it physical or emotional, Ace was unable to feel anything. Subconsciously he had suppressed all sense of feelings so as not to let himself be overwhelmed.

Even as Carter’s [Pseudo-Godrealm] dissipated – with him unable to maintain the consumption any longer – Ace remained utterly emotionless.

Without his domain to protect Ace and the others, Carter was forced to slow down drastically.

The moment they saw that, the eyes of Byrius and his fellow martial brothers and sisters lit up in anticipation.

Their group was only a little over a kilometer away, which may sound like a lot, but to experts at that level, it may as well have been on top of them.

The quickest to react was a white-haired middle-aged man. He was O’Brien’s fifth disciple, Rana – a warrior who specialised in the laws of wind.

In a selfish attempt to garner the favour of his master, Rana shot forward like a bullet leaving his fellow brothers and sisters in the dust.

Byrius glared at Rana unwillingly. He knew that as soon as Ace fell into Rana’s hand, there would be no chance of him being able to orchestrate an accident, but there was nothing he could do – Rana was simply too fast.

“Why don’t you two come with me?” Rana laughed as his hands neared Ace and Milianna, preparing to capture them both.

Had he paid more attention to his surroundings, he would’ve noticed that, aside from Ace and Milianna, the expressions of anxiety had all but vanished; taking their place was one of relief – an odd expression considering their current situation.

It was only when Rana was virtually right on top of them that Ace reacted.

It was at that moment that Rana finally sensed something was off.

One word… One word coming from his master’s emotionless son was all Rana heard before his vision went dark.

“Die!”