Ace, Killian, and Leo had been travelling non-stop for almost a day by the time they finally arrived at Wyning City on the back of an enormous eighth-rank cloud falcon that Ace had conquered.

“Looks like they called in the cavalry for this one,” Ace noted casually as he looked down at the army on the ground from the back of the giant snow-white falcon.

Beneath them were an army of two ninth-rank warriors, almost a dozen experts at the eighth rank, and tens of experts at the seventh rank.

It was clear they had no intention of underestimating the demonic trio and allowing them to sully their image any further. Still, Killian merely glanced at them before ignoring them entirely and turning back to Ace. “Can you sense Alissa?”

“Mmh,” Ace nodded calmly, his eyes focused on the young man leading the army below. “She’s here, and she doesn’t seem injured either, but she’s being held underground, and the only way to get to her is through them.”

Ever since finding out about Alissa’s capture, Killian had been unbelievably anxious this whole time. He had no way of knowing if Cesar had already executed her or if she was being tortured, so upon hearing Ace’s words, a sigh of relief escaped the dark-skinned teen’s thick bow-shaped lips.

Still, as his eyes fell back on the assassins below, the temperature in the surrounding area seemed to plummet as a dense killing intent wafted out of him.

Without a word, Killian flipped his wrist, summoning his trusted battle-axe before leaping off the falcon and skipping through the air, whizzing towards his enemies.

“Leo, stay with him,” Ace said softly, his eyes still trained on the white-haired Silas. “And leave him to me!”

“Be careful,” Leo transmitted back mentally via their connection. “He smells dangerous.”

And just like that, the battle began. Despite the fact that Leo and Killian were so heavily outnumbered, they were able to show incredible skill and teamwork to hold their own.

The explosive sounds of weapons clashing and the cries of the falling assassins rang through the air, but Ace and Silas didn’t so much bat an eyelid, both calmly eyeing each other up as if to size up their soon-to-be opponent.

“When I first read the reports about you, I thought they had to be greatly exaggerated,” Silas said calmly as he stepped forward, somehow able to walk on air as if it were solid ground. “But just looking at you now, I can see it’s the opposite.”

“You’re not bad either,” Ace said as he, too, walked through the air as though it were solid.

Seeing that, Silas’ eyes flickered with surprise. He already knew that all three of the Demonic Trio were able to use a movement technique of some sort that allowed them to move freely in the air, but according to the reports, they had to use a substantial amount of strength, but this…

With his vision, he could see that Ace was using Impose to turn the air beneath his foot into a solid, but not only had he never seen anyone use impose with such mastery, the strength of the ‘impose’ needed for such a feat wasn’t something he could even dream about at his level.

Still, he wasn’t the only one taken aback. Ace could clearly sense that Silas was a warrior at the early stages of the ninth rank and a rank seven wind mage. So him being able to use the spells [Supersonic] and [The Soaring Technique] was a given, but the ease in which he did it…

Not only did he not have to say a word, but Ace could also sense that the power of both was enhanced to the ninth rank. Upon coming to that realisation, Ace instantly understood that his opponent’s comprehension of the laws of wind had also reached the ‘profound’ stage.

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“Ever since the founding of ‘Saber’, there has only ever been two times when people have actively taken the fight to us,” Silas said softly, allowing the wind to carry his voice directly into Ace’s ear as he came to a stop only 20 meters away from his target. “First was that shitty little ape over a decade ago, and now you.”

“Kong did it too?” Ace asked, slightly surprised, before that surprise turned into a soft chuckle as he remembered exactly who they were talking about. “Never mind. That does sound like something he’d do.”

“I’m guessing you got beaten by him too,” Ace smirked when he sensed the shame and embarrassment Silas was trying to hide.

Silas glared threateningly at the young teen as the veins on the side of his head bulged.

It took almost ten seconds for the young assassin to calm his nerves. If it wasn’t before, it was now painfully obvious how much his defeat to Wukong weighed on him.

As the number one genius of the continent’s number one assassin organisation, Silas had extremely high standards for himself. Still, as the number one student in the number one institute for warriors, he could accept losing to Olivier, but Wukong was different. He was a complete unknown at the time.

And to add insult to injury, the ape-like young man didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised by the outcome; in fact, he didn’t even pay him any further attention after defeating him.

“Since that day, I’ve been training behind closed doors just so that I could challenge and crush him, just like he did me back then. Unfortunately, even with ‘Sabers’ intelligence, there was absolutely no news on that shitty little Ape.” Silas said softly as he slowly drew his sword. “So you can imagine my delight when I heard about you and your connection to Wukong.

Since he’s still cooped up under a rock somewhere, I’ll defeat and capture his junior brother forcing him to come out of hiding!”

As Ace looked at Silas, he couldn’t help feeling pity for the young man. He had no idea just how strong Wukong had gotten in that time.

As powerful as Ace had become, he was under no delusions. If Kong were to fight seriously, he would be hard-pressed to take a single strike.

He was able to challenge and defeat early saints over six years ago whilst still only being at the eighth rank. Now…

Not even Ace knew precisely how strong Wukong had become. But what he was sure of was that whether it was Olivier, Silas, or even both of them together, they were far from his match.

Still, he wasn’t Wukong. Silas would undoubtedly prove to be his strongest opponent to date. He knew that even if he were to win, it would be far from easy, and yet, he was filled with nothing but anticipation and excitement as the glaive which had unknowingly appeared in his hand was coated with haki.

It was at that moment that the ‘battle-qi’ of both men coated their bodies before they simultaneously disappeared from their positions, shooting towards each other at unbelievable speeds, especially when considering they were both still just mortals.

‘Fast.’ Ace noted to himself as, for the first time since his fight with Bebe back in the mountain range of magical beasts, he found himself being overwhelmed by the speed of an opponent.

Silas’ body seemed to flicker in and out of existence at speeds that the mortal eye couldn’t follow, his sword piercing and arcing through the air, each strike fast, precise, and deadly.

But just like in the fight against Bebe, he was able to use his incredible weapon handling and superior senses to create a flawless defence.

Despite his superiority, Silas stared at his younger opponent in shock.

The reports mentioned Ace’s incredible spearmanship, but it was only when going up against him that he was able to really appreciate how great it was.

Each technique flowed perfectly into the next with incredible fluidity and certainty, leaving no openings for him to take advantage of.

It had to be remembered that Silas was by far the faster of the two, so despite Ace having less distance to travel to block or parry, he still needed to know precisely where Silas would strike, and yet, not only was Ace right each and every time, Silas almost felt as though Ace knew where he would strike before him.

Fortunately, he was an extremely well-trained assassin with a wealth of experience that would put even some of the strongest assassins to shame. As such, his patience was second to none.

He carried on calmly suppressing the young Ace whilst patiently waiting for his opening.

Ace, on the other hand, wasn’t able to stay so patient. Even though they appeared to be at an impasse, he was well aware that if things carried on like this, it would be he who faltered first.

To fight those at the ninth rank, Ace was forced to go all out. Unfortunately, that meant a constant use of [Observation & Armament Haki], which put significant strain on his spirit and body and his ‘pseudo-battle-qi’ which drained his mage force.

At this rate, he would only be able to last another 20 minutes at most before he was bottomed out. If he wanted to win, he knew he couldn’t afford to be patient like his opponent; he had to take a few risks.