After getting over the shock of the pocket dimension, Ace, Linley, and Jordon agreed that as well as splitting the gems equally between the three forces, Linley’s Baruch Clan would be permanently awarded two spaces in the pocket dimension, whilst Jordon’s Rohault Empire would be given three seats.
It may have seemed unfair, especially as the pocket dimension could quite comfortably fit 20 people, but Linley didn’t argue. Ace didn’t have to tell him about the pocket dimension, neither did his master have to let him in on the secrets of ‘Concepts’.
Plus, with the brewing relationship between Ace and Amira, it was only fitting that Ace give what would undoubtedly be his future in-laws more benefits.
As for the other 15 spaces, five were for the Yin-Yang Pavilion. As his alma mater, Ace wouldn’t be Ace if he didn’t save a few spaces for them. Still, he would obviously leave the remaining ten spaces for his own people.
Unfortunately, Aiden was the only actual expert who couldn’t benefit from the pocket dimension. As such, as soon as he finished with Ace and the others, he immediately left to return to the Pavilion, where he told his wife and the rest of the Pavilion’s higher-ups about the pocket dimension.
Within a day, Arianna led Cesar and her disciples straight over to Ace’s territory. The only disciple who didn’t arrive was Mathias, who unfortunately drew the short straw and was forced to stay in the Pavilion, along with Julius, to look after the younger disciples of the sect.
At the same time, word was spreading like wildfire about the results of the battle between the two alliances.
Not only did it serve to elevate the already ridiculously high profiles of the Pavilion’s Acolytes – especially Killian, who was now regarded as the continent’s most powerful general. – It also highlighted the power of Linley’s Baruch Duchy.
As it stood, in terms of all the mortal armies on the continent, everyone saw the Baruch Army as the strongest. They may not have had the biggest – far from it, in fact – but they did have the best lineup of top-quality generals.
After all, although not quite as strong as Killian himself, Hogg had also reached the level of a peerless general – a general who could stand on par with the likes of Olivier and Kaymin before they broke through to the saint realm, a general who could fight multiple generals on his own without losing – and they also had five other experts who had reached the level of a general, four of whom were supreme warrior descendants with the last being Zassler, a peak rank nine necromancer.
Still, everyone knew that was only temporary. Within the next few years, as Ace’s classmates made a few more breakthroughs, each of them would inevitably reach the standards of a ‘peerless general’, easily surpassing those supreme warriors.
But, the true focus of everyone’s discussion was Aiden Rohault. It had to be understood that after the incident between the Pavilion and the O’Brien Empire a couple of years ago, the world had come to understand that Haydson – the man formerly regarded as the most powerful saint in the world – was anything but, with the likes of Fain, Desri, and even Byrius, simply too lazy to fight over such a meaningless title.
It was at that point that everyone understood, aside from the monstrous exception that was Arianna Qingya, who was considered a deity because of her ridiculous power, the most powerful saints were the various prime saints, plus Mathias and his wife – Lauriella Hyde – whom, because of their comprehension of the Edict of Destruction and Violetflame Warrior Bloodline could easily fight on par with prime saints.
But now, not only did Aiden kill Byrius with a single and effortless strike, but he also went on to easily suppress O’Brien’s eldest and most powerful disciple – Fain. At that point, everyone understood that despite only being a mortal, the most powerful man under the deities was, in fact, Aiden Rohault.
The rest of the world could only sigh in amazement. It was at that point that the standing of the Yin-Yang Pavilion became thoroughly unshakeable. With two “deities” standing at the helm as well as three “prime saints” – one of whom appeared to be invincible among saints – there was simply nothing the other major forces could do to stop them.
The only good news was that the Pavilion seemed to hold no ambition with regard to fighting for territory or resources.
.
.
.
Over the next few months, the whole continent seemed oddly peaceful, with none of the major forces making any movements.
Still, even the ordinairy residents of the continent could feel the tense and fragile current state of affairs, allowing them to understand that this was merely the calm before the inevitable storm.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
That being said, those in the newly and formally established Gol Duchy, as well as those forces allied with them, seemed to be oblivious.
Ace and the others were training calmly within the pocket dimension, but that peace had to come to an end at some point, and today appeared to be that day.
“Ace,” Cirulus called out as he hurriedly entered the pocket dimension.
“Cirulus,” Ace laughed. “I didn’t expect to see you back so soon – you just broke through to the saint realm yesterday. I thought you’d want to relax outside for a little longer before returning.”
That’s right, with the help of the pocket dimension, Cirulus had finally broken through to become a saint. That was how he was able to enter the pocket dimension so easily without help from anyone else.
“I wouldn’t have, if not for the information that just ended up on my lap,” Cirulus explained, a surprisingly dignified expression on his face.
“What is it?” Ace asked.
“Please say that those bastards have tried encroaching on our territory again,” Wukong smirked. “This king has long been looking forward to finding a reason to stretch his legs.”
“It’s not that,” Cirulus shook his head as he explained. “All the major forces have pulled out of the Anarchic region completely.”
Hearing that, shock could be seen on the faces of all those present in the pocket dimension, including the ever-calm Arianna.
“Haha, isn’t that good news,” Faye asked jubilantly. “Now we can finally expand and turn our Duchy into a Kingdom. So, why aren’t you smiling?”
“Because, whilst what you said is true, I’m more concerned about the reasoning behind their pulling out of the region,” Cirulus sighed.
“The reason?” Wukong sneered. “Isn’t it because they know they’re too scared of us to stay here and risk being forcefully pushed out?”
“Not quite,” Cirulus shook his head. “I imagine that this was done in response to the pressure placed upon them by the Pavilion’s current power and the potential you all have displayed, but according to the intelligence report I’ve received, the alliance between the O’Brien Empire, the Yulan Empire, the Radiant Church, and the Cult of Darkness, has become permanent – all four forces have merged together under the banner of the New Yulan Empire.”
“I’m surprised the Radiant and Church and Cult of Darkness were willing to put down their differences and obediently amalgamate,” Osiris sneered.
“I’m more surprised O’Brien was actually willing to submit to Catherine,” Linley uttered after taking a few seconds to get over his surprise.
After reaching his current level, Linley’s viewpoint of the world had changed, as had his views on those so-called supreme experts that had ruled over their Continent these last few thousand years.
He knew that all deities were currently stronger than him, but aside from a select few, he no longer held the average deity in any regard. In his eyes, it was only a matter of time till he reached their level and even went on to surpass them.
“According to the intelligence, there were reports of cataclysmic disturbances in the skies above the O’Brien Empire a few days before this news was released,” Cirulus revealed. “If I had to guess, the higher-ups of the four forces had long since decided to band together; the only thing they couldn’t decide on was who would lead – O’Brien or Catherine.
Those disturbances everyone heard and felt were likely caused by Catherine and O’Brien fighting for command.”
“I guess we finally know who’s the stronger of the two,” Alissa nodded.
“It makes sense,” Arianna uttered lightly. “Unlike O’Brien, Catherine became a deity by herself over a thousand years ago. For her to do so in a place like the Yulan Plane speaks to her talent. After over a thousand years, it would be all but impossible for her strength not to have taken a single step forward.”
Despite saying that, it was clear by her tranquil expression that Arianna didn’t put either of the two Demi-Gods in her sights.
“What does that mean for us?” Joel frowned. “Will they use their newly combined force to go to war with us?”
“Hopefully,” Ace grinned.
“Hopefully?” Lauriella asked with a raised brow. “You sound a lot more confident than you should, considering the circumstances.”
“I’ve reached a bit of a bottleneck with my training,” Ace admitted. “Who knows how long it will take me to break through whilst staying in seclusion like this? Plus, since deities can’t get involved in the battles between saints and mortals because of Lord Beirut’s rule, we only have to worry about their saints.”
“You say that as though you’re strong enough to deal with their powerful saints,” Kimika replied.
“I’m not,” Ace smirked as he glanced at Wukong and Carter. “But I won’t be the one fighting those peak and prime saints.”
Carter merely snorted before reclosing his eyes and going back to his meditation. As for Wukong, he raised a brow as he responded. “Why does it sound like you intend on using this king?”
“Why does it sound like you’re not excited about seeing some action?” Ace quipped back.
Like Carter previously, Wukong merely snorted. Still, there was a light of excitement and anticipation flickering in the depths of his eyes.
“Kong? You completely comprehended your first mystery?” Lauriella and the others asked in disbelief.
Nothing needed to be said about Carter. When using his pseudo-Godrealm, his power had long been at the prime saint realm. But Wukong was different. Even though he had started fusing two mysteries, as he was still a mortal, his power could only be reluctantly considered to have reached the peak of the saint realm. But for both Ace and Wukong to be so confident now, Lauriella could only guess that this fifth brother of hers had finally comprehended his first mystery; after all, he had already said he would only break through to the saint realm after doing so.
At which point, it was very possible for him to fight against a prime saint, despite only being an early saint himself.
“Not yet,” Wukong shook his head helplessly. “This king’s still half a step from doing so.”
“Then why are you and Ace so confident?” Lazerim asked curiously.
“Because the comprehension of this king’s fused mystery has deepened,” Wukong revealed with a pride-filled grin. “Still, the brat’s right. If this king is going to make another breakthrough any time soon, this king will need some external pressure.”