Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Over the next few days, the whole continent could only watch in disbelief as they received report after report of Ace and his Lion-type Divine Beast travelling around the whole of the Anarchic Lands, destroying each and every one of the Cult of Darkness’s bases there.

What was even more shocking was that the Cult seemed to have no intention of responding.

They had all heard about the Cult’s attempted attack on Ace and his forces, and even the fact that both Wukong and Amira were apparently severely wounded. And although many of them would outwardly take the side of the City of Gol, admonishing the Cult for sending saints to enter the battlefield of mortals, the vast majority were secretly cursing them for failing to take Ace out.

“Mother, Father,” Amira muttered weakly when she the worried expression on the faces of her ‘parents’. “You didn’t have to come all th…”

“Quiet,” Empress Sharanthia interrupted whilst holding one of two chubby-cheeked toddlers in her arms. “What’s this I hear of you refusing to be treated? That’s enough of this nonscience; you will be treated now; I don’t care if I have to hold you down my…”

“That’s enough, Mother,” Amira forcibly raised her voice, ignoring the pain it put her in. “Like I told Ace, I’ve made my mind up already.”

Looking into her niece’s eyes, Sharanthia couldn’t help but see the shadow of her beloved older brother. Despite knowing she was supposed to be the parent in this situation, seeing that firm glint in her eyes made her subconsciously back down almost immediately, something that made Emperor Jordon raise his eyes.

“Tell me why?” Sharanthia said back finally after having regained her bearings.

“Because if I can comprehend the profound mystery of purity now, it’ll mean that in the future, I’ll be able to better heal myself and those around me,” Amira explained calmly, her tone respectful yet still firm, showing she wasn’t willing to back down.

A helpless sigh escaped the Rohault Empress’ lips when she heard that. “Fine, I won’t fight you on this, on one condition!”

“What’s that?” Amira smiled sweetly, seeing her mother back down.

“We’ll try it your way for three months,” Sharanthia said, her firmness matching her nieces. “Ace’s mother, Milianna, said that at this rate, you have at most three months before the poison in your body starts to do irreversible damage to your body.

After three months, if you’re still unable to comprehend the profound mystery of purity, you have to accept treatment from either Milianna or your master – are we clear?”

Amira smiled helplessly when she heard that, but she knew when to quit whilst she was ahead. “Deal.”

“Good!” Sharanthia snorted. “Now, where’s that boy Ace? I need to interrogate him on why he allowed my precious little girl to get injured under his watch.”

“Moom,” Amira complained.

“Where is he?” Sharanthia repeated, her voice becoming firmer as she ignored Mira’s complaints.

“I haven’t seen him in a few days,” Amira explained, a warm feeling enveloping her chest. “But I think he’s still out attacking the Cult’s bases.”

“He’s what?” Jordon asked in shock. “Is he crazy?”

“Very,” Amira nodded without hesitation as a sweet smile enveloped her face. “But he wouldn’t listen to reason on this matter.”

She didn’t need to say any more; both Jordon and Sharanthia, who knew the truth behind Ace and Amira’s bond, understood that as angry as they were, Ace’s rage was likely no less, if not more than theirs.

“Hmph!” Sharanthia snorted. “At least he knows to get revenge for you.”

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At the same time, deep within the central region of the Anarchic Lands, Ace had just destroyed the last known base of the Cult when he received word from Leo that he had destroyed all the bases on his list as well.

A lot of the rage he’d been holding on to had finally dispersed. A part of him wished the Cult had sent a few of their saints to greet him; in fact, he was surprised that neither they nor the O’Brien Empire took the chance to intercept him. After all, it wasn’t like he had hidden his presence.

But what he didn’t know was that both the O’Brien Empire and the Cult somewhat believed Ace was trying to bait them into attacking him so he could catch them in a trap of some kind.

After all, even though it wasn’t quite the same, the Cult had been the first to break a rule – albeit an unwritten one. In their opinion, if the Pavilion chose to act now, they could do it under the guise that one of them had been the first to break the rules.

And to make matters worse, one of the people they had almost killed was Amira, the little princess of the Rohault Empire.

Although the Rohault Empire was by no means stronger than the Cult, let alone the O’Brien Empire, they still had more than enough power to put no small amount of pressure on either side.

Still, Ace didn’t care enough to ponder over these matters. If they were too scared to take advantage of his recent activities, then he’d just carry on with his day.

He was just making his way back to his territory when…

“Hmm?” Ace’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked down at the ground beneath him. “Is that…”

Not wanting to be caught off guard by any powerful enemies hoping to catch him in a trap, Ace constantly had his [Observation] spread to its limits, and he finally found something. Only, it wasn’t an enemy. In fact, it wasn’t even a person.

His body flickered as he moved like a blur, appearing directly over the site he had locked on to.

‘That energy,’ Ace mused as he looked down at the seemingly ordinairy plains beneath him. ’It feels like magicite gems. But how could there be so much in one place?’

A curious expression hung on Ace’s face as he calmly descended from the skies above what appeared to be an unexcavated magicite mine.

If he was right, although it wouldn’t mean much to him personally, he knew this would be a game changer for his budding territory.

As there didn’t appear to be anyone around for miles, he unhesitantly balled his fists and hammered down on the ground creating a large crater.

The might of his punches now were absolutely monstrous, but instead of admiring the might of his blows, his eyes were fixed on the multi-coloured sparkling gems fixed into place.

Lifting one from its place in the earth, Ace’s eyes widened slightly. “This…

Are all of these high-ranking magicite gems?”

Like cultivation, magicite gems could be broken down into nine ranks depending on its quality, and it went without saying that the higher the quality, the more the gem was worth. And just from a quick scan, the lowest quality gem he could sense was of the fifth rank.

“How did such a place form?” Ace couldn’t help but mutter.

But before he could do that, he needed to take the necessary precautions to ensure his territory was the one to capitalize on this windfall.

“Looks like our plans will need to be altered again,” Ace mused as he quickly covered the crater up, making it look almost as good as new.

Within a couple of hours, Ace had hurried back to the City of Gol to inform the others, but before he could, he was surprised to find two familiar auras in the confides of the palace by Amira’s side.

“Aunty, Uncle,” Ace greeted as he entered the main hall where everyone was residing comfortably by the side of Amira and Wukong, who, though still injured, was able to walk about on his own. “It’s been a long time.”

“Ace,” Jordon smiled amiably. “I was worried about you after I heard what happened in the O’Brien Empire, but I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

“Thank you for your concern,” Ace smiled back. “What about you, Aunty? How are you doing?”

“Hmph,” Sharanthia snorted coldly. “Maybe you should concern yourself less with me and focus more on the safety of my little girl.”

“Mom,” Amira called out hurriedly. “It wasn’t Ace’s fault!”

“No, Mira,” Ace voiced calmly. “Your mother’s right.”

“You trusted me to keep your daughter free from harm, and I failed,” Ace voiced sincerely as he bowed his head slightly towards the beautiful woman who sat by Mira’s side. “For that, I’m sincerely sorry.”

Seeing that, all those in the room who understood how prideful Ace was looked at the teen in shock. Still, they said nothing; they knew this was between Ace and his future in-laws.

They weren’t the only ones taken aback. Amira’s biological aunt was also taken aback, not because of the actions in and of itself but more because of the overwhelming sincerity she could feel from him.

She could see from the look in his eyes that he was already beating himself up about Amira’s accident far more than she could. And having witnessed the bond of another pair of soulmates in the past, she could somewhat understand how he felt.

“Mom,” Amira urged softly, unable to bear seeing Ace like that.

“Hmph, whatever!” Empress Sharanthia snorted, not wanting to seem like she had forgiven him so easily. “Just tell me one thing…

Did you make those bastards from the Cult suffer?”

“I did,” Ace nodded slowly. “Leo and I destroyed every single known stronghold of the Cult of Darkness within the Anarchic Lands.”

“Did you not run into any of their saints?” Lance asked.

“None,” Ace voiced, a hint of regret in his tone.

“They probably worried it was a trap and recalled all their saint-level experts,” Cirulus guessed correctly based on the facts provided.

“Well, seeing as neither they nor the rest of our enemies are likely to send any more saints to intervene in the battle between mortals in the near future, what’s our next plan of action, Mr Grand Marshall?” Alissa asked curiously.

“Ooh, right, that reminds me,” Ace suddenly voiced. “When I was out, I found an undiscovered magicite mine filled with gems of at least the fifth rank.”

Ace’s words came as a shock to everyone, as the worth of such a mine was practically incalculable in terms of mortal wealth. They all understood that for a new force like theirs, such a goldmine was invaluable.

“Cirulus, whatever your plans were in the past, we need to change them so we can ensure that territory is under our control as soon as possible!”