Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

“Well said,” Jordon coldly voiced as he slowly floated towards Ace, his expression particularly frigid, this time not because of the presence of the O’Brien Empire. “Your Dark Alliance has some nerve, daring to appear before me after what you did to my daughter.”

“Do you think I don’t dare kill you where you stand, Gediah?” The furious Emperor asked as he summoned his weapon from his storage ring.

The moment he did so, the eyes of all those flying in the skies focused on the weapon in the man’s hand, including those of his allies.

Unlike the twin hammers he summoned when he attempted to chase down Lanke, this was a single two-handed war hammer, earthy-green in colour with golden runes running along its body.

Though impressive in design, what really captured everyone’s attention was the overwhelming aura it emitted.

Without a doubt, this was the most impressive weapon Ace had ever seen, to the point where it caused waves of envy and greed in his enemies.

It was a Divine Artifact, meaning it was a weapon created by and for a deity.

And even though, as a mere saint, Jordon wasn’t able to draw out its true power, the trace amount of its power he was able to call upon was enough for him to stand on par with a prime saint like Fain. It was a big part of the reason the Rohault Empire had been able to stand tall for all these years.

The moment the Rohault Emperor summoned his weapon, Fain knew fighting it out like this would be a bad idea. Especially as he knew full well that if Jordon was here, then so too was his wife, Sharanthia, who also had a Divine Artifact of her own that allowed her to fight on par with peak saints like Byrius, whom, in terms of power, stood on a level just beneath his own.

Although he was confident his side wouldn’t lose, he knew it would be a bitter battle, and that was only on the condition that Ace’s side didn’t have anyone or anything else to rely on.

“Easy there, boys,” an exquisite young woman wearing a glistening, tight-fitted white robe that clung to her body, showing off her alluring curves, said softly. “We came here today hoping not for war but to find a peaceful solution.”

“Peaceful?” Ace snorted as he looked down at the army their four sides had brought with them.

“Right, peaceful,” the woman nodded with an enchanting, almost seductive smile. “First, allow me to introduce myself to you. My name’s Felicia Wonnerin, second disciple of the High Priest.”

Ace didn’t need her to introduce herself. Before leaving, Cesar had given Ace an intelligence report noting all the powerful saints of the continent. As such, he knew that Felicia was a mage at the peak of the saint realm who was a light-style mage.

According to Cesar, she wasn’t quite at the level of a prime saint, but what made her so impressive was that although not fused, she had extremely high attainments in two of the profound mysteries of light: The Profound Mysteries of the Essence of Light and Purity.

An impressive achievement indeed. Still, Ace’s eyes didn’t so much as flicker as he looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

Understanding Ace’s intention, Felicia calmly continued. “We came here today hoping to negotiate a deal splitting ownership of the magicite mine.”

“I don’t negotiate with my enemies,” Ace stated categorically.

“Why must we be enemies?” Felicia chortled as she winked at the dark-haired teen before her. “I think we could be good friends, handsome.”

“Don’t smile like that,” Wukong spat out. “It makes this king feel sick!”

Felicia’s eyebrows twitched slightly as she looked at Wukong, fake retching. Still, she didn’t lose her composure. Instead, she turned back to Ace, waiting for his response. After all, although her Yulan Empire had entered an alliance with the O’Brien Empire, that was only for the sake of rivalling the Yin-Yang Pavilion.

It had nothing to do with Ace. Her Yulan Empire had no grievances with the Ace or his family. Unfortunately, if she thought she’d be able to get Ace on her side by merely batting her lashes his way, she was sorely mistaken.

“If you stand on their side, you can only be my enemy,” Ace replied indifferently, pointing to the experts from the O’Brien Empire and Cult of Darkness.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Felicia sighed helplessly. “It looks like this battle is unavoidable.”

“I told you that wouldn’t work,” snorted a powerful-looking middle-aged man dressed in a loose, long white robe, standing at an astonishing height of over eight feet.

His long white robe gently fluttered in the wind as he stood in mid-air with his arms crossed, his piercing emerald-green eyes coldly staring at Linley as his oppressive aura attempted to oppress his enemies.

He was the commander of the Radiant Churches Zealots, and according to Cesar’s reports, aside from the leader of the Church, Zealot Commander Lehman was the most frightening man in the Church’s ranks.

“Stop wasting time, Felicia,” Lehman snorted. “It’s clear these brats have no understanding of their place!”

Despite knowing he was inferior to the Zealot Commander in front of him, Linley appeared unwilling to back down. His azure draconian eyes coldly meeting the glare of his enemy’s as he too, summoned his weapon – a violet, flexible longsword.

Whilst most present were focused on Linley daring to draw his sword in the face of a saint like Lehman, Ace was focused on the sword itself.

On the surface, although the aura it emitted was impressive, it was nothing in comparison to Jordon’s two-handed war hammer, but that was only on the surface. Ace’s [Observation] sensed that the sword appeared to be hiding an astonishing amount of power. Or, more accurately, it was limited by the power it could display, by the weakness of its current owner.

Unfortunately, his [Haki] was too weak to truly pierce the veil and understand the secrets of the sword. Still, the one thing he was sure of was that in terms of quality, Jordon’s hammer couldn’t even begin to compare with Linley’s sword.

Though intrigued, Ace didn’t feel the slightest bit of temptation towards Linley’s sword.

For starters, he wasn’t a swordsman. Nor did he have any interest in becoming one. But more importantly, he had never been the type who was tempted to steal from others for no reason. Not even during his days as a pirate in his last life.

The only thing he was envious of was the fact that his draconian rival had a good quality weapon, whilst he was forced to use inferior quality glaives that he stole from enemies, as his former glaive – Newgate – was broken, and weapons of that quality didn’t just grow on trees.

Still, that was neither here nor there. After a moment of curiosity, Ace focused back on the matter at hand, realising that tensions were rapidly rising and a battle could break out at any moment.

“Enough!” Fain said, glancing back at Lehman.

Although the Church didn’t have a formal alliance with the O’Brien Empire, as their side’s only prime saint, it was tacitly agreed that Fain would be the leader of their makeshift four-way alliance.

As such, the moment he saw Fain looking his way, Lehman coldly snorted but promptly turned away.

“Since you have no intention of negotiating, we’ll decide ownership through a war of mortals,” Fain announced. “No saint-level experts are allowed to take part. That includes mortals with the power of a saint.”

It didn’t take a genius to understand that he was referring to Ace, Leona, and Linley’s monstrous rat-type Divine Beast – Bebe.

Still, Ace merely smirked before accepting their terms.

“Fine,” Ace nodded indifferently. “But if you break the agreement, don’t blame me for what happens next.”

With nothing more to say, both sides returned to the rear of their camps.

“Why do you seem so okay with a fight between our saints against theirs?” Linley asked Ace curiously when they were out of earshot. “Their side has eight peak saints, whereas ours only has two experts whose strength has reached that level.”

“Don’t forget the dozen saint-level angels and fallen angels they tried to hide,” Ace added casually.

“You know that, and yet you seemed almost hopeful that a fight breaks out,” Linley continued. “Please tell me you have a plan, and you’re not just trying to bluff your way through.”

“Why? Are you scared?” Ace smirked.

“I’m serious!” Linley barked back, clearly not amused by Ace’s apparent lack of willingness to take the situation seriously.

Ace sighed. “Don’t worry, if it really turns into a battle between saints, our side has nothing to fear from them.”

Linley still had more questions, but before he could give voice to them, the sound of fireworks originating from their rear grabbed their attention.

“I’ll be right back,” Ace said before shooting off in that direction, leaving Linley and the others in a state of confusion.

Linley’s concerns were far from put to rest, but seeing how at ease the others all appeared to be allowed him to suppress his concerns.

After all, he very much doubted the Emperor of one of their continent’s leading nations would be so confident without having adequate countermeasures in place.