To most, it would seem that Ace gained insight into the Law of Fire’s Profound Mystery of the Essence of Fire the easiest and quickest, but that wasn’t the truth.
Ace had spent so long focusing on learning to control and manipulate his flames in his last life that the moment he gained access to his affinity, his comprehension of said profound mystery had already reached the level of a prime saint, meaning he was only half a step away from completion.
In actuality, the profound mystery he found the easiest to comprehend was actually the profound mystery of explosions. He didn’t understand how or why, but to him, it was as easy as breathing.
The hardest parts about comprehending a profound mystery were getting started, and taking that final step taking it to true completion.
The profound mysteries of essence and fire-body were both mysteries he had gained insights into as a result of his last life.
As for the profound mystery of heat, it was something he had initially gained insight into after Arianna showed him the list of profound mysteries in this life. Still, his suddenly gaining insight into it stemmed from the impacts of his death of his last life.
Him being burnt to death by Akainu, despite being the holder of the fire logia-based devil fruit… How could he be reconciled?
Still, since then, his progress had been minimal. Granted, he hadn’t been focusing much on it, but still, it couldn’t even begin to compare to his progress into the mystery of explosion.
It had only been around a year since he first gained insight into this profound mystery, but his insights into said mystery had already reached that of a mid-staged saint. His speed was simply blazing, but now…
“I was wrong…
This is how it should be.
It’s like this…
No, like this…
Hahaha, so this is how I do it!” Ace laughed hysterically to himself as he continuously reflected on the laws of fire, all but forgetting about the existence of the rest of the world.
.
.
.
“Where is that brat?” Wukong asked as he glanced down at the war going on beneath him.
It had been six hours since Ace had disappeared, and the war had long since gotten underway.
“Do you think there’s a problem?” Linley frowned.
He didn’t for one second believe Ace would run away, but still, he couldn’t help but be slightly worried that something had happened.
Before any of the others could respond though, Leona, the only one with the ability to communicate with Ace, began roaring and growling at them, trying to explain. Unfortunately, none of them could understand what she was trying to say. Well, almost none of them…
As a magical beast himself, Bebe was able to translate for Linley what Leona was trying to say.
Linley’s eyes widened in disbelief before a helpless smile appeared on his face. “Apparently, Ace is currently experiencing a bout of sudden enlightenment.”
As soon as his words left his mouth, the faces of Jordon and Kaymin showed nothing but shock. Sudden enlightenment was something very few got to experience in their lifetimes. Even they, with their extensive life experiences, had never experienced it.
Their shock quickly turned to envy before finally transforming into helplessness.
“Maybe he really is the son of heaven,” Kaymin sighed.
Hearing that, even Linley had to agree. What incredible luck did one need to have to experience sudden enlightenment right before a big fight where losing could very well mean death?
The only ones not surprised by this sudden development were Wukong and Leona, both of whom had long since gotten used to Ace’s heaven-defying acts.
“Son of Heaven this King’s arse!” Wukong snorted. “Couldn’t he have picked a better time to sit back and relax?”
Those around him couldn’t help but look at Wukong helplessly. Who didn’t know that you couldn’t choose when you would be enlightened?
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Still, they didn’t say anything as they all understood his concern. Although it had only been a few hours since the battle began, and till now, it would appear that they were the ones who had a slight advantage with their side having taken out more of their enemies than their enemies had of their soldiers, it did nothing but put a slight dent in their opponent’s numbers.
Still, there were two things that they had to admit that they were impressed by. The first was the battlefield being held down by Killian and Hogg.
Though they were facing the smallest force of the four battlefronts, with an opposing force of no more than 10,000. Those 10,000 were led by six of the Church’s two-winged angels and six of the Cult’s two-winged fallen angels.
That was 12 experts with the power of a general, and yet, Killian and Hogg, on their own, had managed to whittle their enemy’s numbers down by a third.
Hogg’s power was simply unreasonable. With the war blade in his hand, he was like a one-man army. Every slash of his sword would kill at least ten soldiers.
But Killian was the one who really shocked everyone. Six of the church’s angels moved to surround him to trap him in their angel battle-formation, and yet Killian appeared wholly unbothered.
It had to be remembered that Killian, along with Leona and Alissa, had already been trapped in the battle formation of the church’s fallen angels, and had it not been for Ace’s arrival at that time, things could’ve ended horribly.
Still, even though it had only been a little over a month since then, the progress Killian had made since then could only be described as heaven-defying.
Since getting Alissa back, that was the first time Killian had come close to losing her, and it was that which made him vow to himself to never let it get that bad again. That vow spurred Killian along, allowing his comprehension to take another giant step forward.
Originally, Killian believed that the Earth’s Throbbing Pulse of the World was a profound mystery that simply allowed him to borrow the infinite might of the world by merging his pulse with its pulse, but then he remembered the oscillatory effect it granted his attacks.
By focusing on those vibrations, Killian’s might had almost doubled. If before, in terms of raw power, Killian could be said to be knocking on the door of the saint realm, now, he was standing firmly above some weaker saints.
The moment he had been trapped in the formation, before Hogg had even gotten the chance to attempt to save him, Killian casually smashed his battle-axe into the walls of the formation.
The result of which brought no small amount of shock to those watching as the angel closest to him collapsed on the ground, his insides turning into bloody mush.
Unfortunately, his comprehension did nothing to increase his speed or defence, making him something of a glass cannon. Or at least he would be to saints or those few mortals fast enough to force him into a corner.
Unfortunately, although each of the two-winged angels and fallen angels had the power of a general, their abilities were pretty balanced, meaning that whether it was raw power, endurance, or, most importantly, speed, they were all very balanced.
They were significantly faster than Killian, but not to the point where they could suppress him with their speed, especially when they all knew they couldn’t afford to take a single attack from Killian’s battle axe without forfeiting their lives.
As powerful saints themselves, Fain and the others were easily able to recognise Killian’s weakness, which was why, as much as they hated to admit it, Killian couldn’t be considered a saint-level expert.
Unfortunately for them, it also meant that, just like Kaymin and Olivier in the past, and even Hogg now, Killian could be considered invincible amongst mortals.
Thankfully, Killian and Hogg could only be in one place at a time. This battlefield was, without a shadow of a doubt, one that they stood no chance of conquering. The only positive was that their ordinairy subordinates knew that as well, and instead of trying to win, they were now solely focusing on delaying Killian and Hogg by as much as possible.
If either of them were allowed to leave to go and support one of the other battlefields, that one would inevitably end up with the exact same result as this one.
The second thing that had managed to impress Emperor Jordon and the others was the battlefield with Cirulus.
As previously mentioned, Cirulus had reached the peak of the ninth rank and comprehended impose, making him easily as strong as any general, but that was only the beginning. Ace had also taught him how to use each of the six techniques of Rokushiki, making him an especially powerful general, but his biggest improvement was in his swordsmanship.
Compared to his former self, he could be said to be a completely new warrior. Since training with Ace, Cirulus basically went to Ace to be abused. Till now, Cirulus barely felt his improvements, but that was only because the gulf between Ace and him was so big that even with all his improvements, the gap had barely been closed, if at all.
Still, these other generals weren’t Ace. He single-handedly managed to kill one and injure another when fighting two-on-one without suffering so much as a single injury.
Still, as impressive a feat as that was, that wasn’t what impressed Linley and the others. Especially as their battlefield had an army of over 100,000, eight of whom were generals. No, the thing that impressed them was the tactics that he employed.
Despite being severely outnumbered by over five to one, Cirulus used a combination of brawn and wit to whittle his opponent’s numbers down by over a third.
Granted, a big part of that was thanks to the magicite cannons. Still, the tactics he used to employ them forced the enemies into a corner, with them not daring to approach easily for fear of being blown away.
Unfortunately, Cirulus knew that this wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, their enemies would undoubtedly resort to using their superior numbers to overrun them. He just hoped he could reduce their numbers so that, at that point, it would be more of a fair fight.
To make things worse, the other two battlefields didn’t have a commander with Cirulus’ intelligence or the raw power of Killian and Hogg. As such, it was only a matter of time before they were forced to retreat.
Unless Hogg and Killian managed to win their war and make it to these battlefields.
All the saints watching from their front-row seats understood it was a race. If Killian and Hogg could win their battles and get to the other two battlefields in time, then it would be a win for Ace’s side; if not, it was their loss.