In terms of comprehension, Ace was swiftly approaching perfection, but it was his mastery of the Profound Mystery of Spiritual Fire or rather its fusions with the other mysteries, that lagged behind, but when using the ingenious technique on Yunaia's soul, Ace suddenly found himself hit by a wave of insights.
Ace managed to completely reverse the damage done to Yunaia's soul in only a couple of hours, at which point he slipped out of his enlightenment.
After taking a quick glance to make sure he had completely healed Yunaia's soul, Ace focused on his own comprehension.
As he did, he couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. His comprehension of the six-way fusion of the mysteries of fire had finally reached 99%. Meaning he could finally say he was truly only one step away from becoming a paragon.
He knew this was a step that halted some of the universe's most incredible talents, but as an expert who was barely over a thousand years old, the faith he had in himself was simply unwavering.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the time for him to indulge in his distractions. As he opened his eyes, he saw the looks of shock of those of the Four Divine Beasts Clan. Still, he turned his attention to Linley and confirmed that he had finished.
As though to confirm his statement, Yunaia suddenly woke from her coma.
Linley, unable to control his excitement, dove threw himself to his wife's side, pulling her body into his as she fought to regain her bearings.
Wanting to give the married couple their space, Gisalson, Ace, and the others headed out of the hall, but not before both Linley and Yunaia sincerely thanked Ace one more time.
When outside, Gisalson couldn't help but question who Ace was and how he knew Linley.
Although he didn't go into too much detail, Ace told them the truth, how everyone from both his and Linley's group originated from the same Material Plane and how he and Linley started off as enemies before turning into rivals and friends.
When asked who was stronger, Wharton instinctively answered that it was his brother, causing Ace to smirk but not say anything else, too lazy to argue. Still, Killian snorted and reminded Bebe that Ace and Linley had fought a good handful of times, but Linley hadn't won once.
Killian's words caused no small level of shock for those spectating. Linley was already a once-in-an-era talent; it was hard to believe that there could be another from the same generation that was even on his level, let alone stronger, and yet, judging by the looks on the face of Wharton, Olivier, and the others, it was clear that Killian hadn't lied.
Still, as his younger brother and most faithful supporter, Wharton argued that it had been over 1000 years since then. They had no idea how monstrous Linley had become in that time. His words generated a wave of nods from the by-standing members of the Four Divine Beast Clan.
Even if by some miracle Ace truly was the more talented of the two, it shouldn't be by much, and whilst Linley had their Four Divine Beasts Clan to provide the best environment for his growth, Ace's Viz Clan was no longer around, as such, he wouldn't have the same level of support.
Still, in response, Ace merely smiled as his body subconsciously radiated a fiercely competitive aura as he said he hoped Linley was really as strong as he made out so he wouldn't let him down.
It was then that Ace remembered the other reason they were here. Looking at the fierce-looking man by Gisalson, Ace pointed at Alyssa and explained that she also had the bloodline of the Divine White Tiger, and aside from helping Linley, the other reason they came was to have her go through her ancestral baptism and help her fully awaken her bloodline.
Looking at Alyssa, Verdel Laius – the Patriarch of the White Tiger Clan – felt his eyes widen.
It had to be remembered that even when you didn't include a monster like Linley, even Wharton and Gates could be considered elite-level geniuses in their own right, if for no other reason than the purity of their bloodlines.
Though incomparable to Linley's, theirs had actually somehow reached the level of first-generation descendants like his and the other sons and daughters of the four ancestors.
He had no idea how pure Alyssa's bloodline was, but he couldn't help but feel hopeful that it was no weaker than Wharton and Gates; as such, he immediately agreed.
He explained that there was a batch of youngsters due to go through their baptism tomorrow and that Alyssa could join them.
It was right then that Linley led Yunaia and their child out. Looking at Ace with a grin filled with anticipation, he said that before the Ancestral Baptism, he wanted a little spar for old time's sake.
In response, Ace's aura flared wildly as he followed Linley outside.
Realising what was about to happen, everyone felt a rising anticipation as two supreme geniuses prepared to battle it out.
But it wasn't just Ace and Linley who suddenly felt itchy. Olivier glanced at Killian. He knew Killian was even more of a freak than him after having become a three-way soul mutate. Still, he couldn't help but want to see just how strong he'd become in the last thousand years.
In the end, Linley faced off against Ace, whilst Olivier took on Killian, Yulana fought Alyssa, and Oscar faced off against Leona. As for Wharton and Gates, it was Faye who took them both on by herself.
The bystanders knew how monstrous Linley and his group were; as such, even though they now believed Ace was a monster no weaker than Olivier, they didn't believe the same would be true about the rest of his group, but they were quickly shown how wrong they were.
Wharton and Gates were without a doubt the weakest of their group, but even still, they had both had the bloodline purity of first-generation descendants, fused at least two mysteries each, and had even awakened their respective Divine Abilities.
All things considered, they were invincible among five-star fiends and could even go up against your average six-star fiend without forfeiting their lives, and yet they could only be savagely beaten by Faye.
Still, of all the fights, that one was by far the least shocking. In the fight between the two Apex Divine Beasts, Oscar, a genuine Apex-level Divine Beast, like the original four ancestors, found himself being trampled by Leona.
It should have come as no surprise, especially as, after Leona awoke on the flight back to Skyrite Mountains, she managed to break through to become a High God. Still, the experts of the Four Divine Beasts Clan knew Oscar was an Apex Divine Beast who, despite only being a Full God, had the strength of a seven-star fiend.
Leona, wanting to test her body's new limits, allowed Oscar to attack her freely, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't even penetrate the obsidian fur that coated her body.
It was incredibly frustrating, to say the least, but he knew how much of a freak Leona was, even amongst Apex Divine Beasts. Even so, he still had his pride. If he was going to be defeated, he wanted to at least see how far the gap between them was now; as such, he asked Leona to show him her true power.
Leona, not wanting to hit Oscar's pride more than she already had, did precisely that. Unfortunately, because her fire and destruction clones were now at two different levels, she couldn't fuse their power without taking a dip in power.
Even though Mosi was an incomparably powerful commander-level expert of the Edict of Destruction who was only half a step away from becoming a paragon, when absorbing his comprehension after devouring his Divine Spark, she couldn't absorb all of his comprehension. Even so, just the fact that she was able to leap all the way from the peak of the Full God realm to the comprehension of a six-star fiend was enough to show how heaven-defying her Divine Ability was.
Still, the power of her High God Destruction clone paled in comparison to her Full God Divine Fire Clone, which had completely fused five mysteries.
When using her flames, one attack was all it took for Leona to completely defeat Oscar. Still, even the shock of that fight paled in comparison to the one between Yunaia and Alyssa.
It was definitely one of the closest battles of the day as Yunaia was a genuine soul-mutate, while Alyssa had yet to complete her baptism.
Although she hadn't begun fusing mysteries of separate Laws, Yunaia had completely fused three of the mysteries of the laws of darkness and had completed around 80% of the fusion of five mysteries of the Laws of Water. Add that to the fact that her [Sword of the Flowing River Art], which focused on the concept of water, was at the Full God Realm, and Yunaia could be considered a commander-level expert.
Still, it was Alyssa who shocked them all. She may not be a soul-mutate, and she may not have awakened her Divine Ability, but as Verdel had hoped, Alyssa's bloodline had reached the purity of a first-generation descendant. As for her comprehension, she had completely fused five mysteries of the laws of wind, and her [Void Ripping Blade Art] was at the peak of the Full God level, only half a step away from the High God level. Thanks to that, though it was close, Alyssa was able to barely defeat Yunaia.
Still, the most one-sided of all the fights had to be between Olivier and Killian.
Olivier was far from weak. In fact, even amongst commanders, there were very few who could defeat him.
Not only was he also a two-way soul mutate, but he had also completely fused three mysteries of the laws of darkness and was around 50% through fusing four mysteries of the laws of light. But what made him so impressive was the fact that he had actually completed two inter-law fusions. He had successfully fused the Essence of Light with the Essence of Darkness, as well as the Doppelgangers of Light and the Doppelgangers of Darkness.
That in and of itself was impressive enough, but what made Killian stare in surprise was that Olivier had even begun fusing the concepts of Light and Darkness.
Even though it was still only in its embryonic stages, Ace had to admit that Olivier's [Yin-Yang Sword Art] was truly a work of art.
Till now, Ace had believed that there were no distinct differences in power between two concept-based weapon arts, but despite Olivier's still only being at the Demi-God level, its might had reached that of an ordinary peak Full God weapon art. Unfortunately, his opponent this time was simply too monstrous!
Killian knew Olivier was a true warrior in every sense of the word. If he held back to spare his feelings, Olivier would take it as an insult, so he didn't.
Everyone watched in complete and utter disbelief as Killian revealed that he wasn't just a three-way soul mutate; he was also a Supreme Genius who had begun fusing six mysteries of the laws of Earth.
It was only one attack. Killian completely crushed Olivier in one simple attack. One attack that made each and every one of the leaders of the Four Divine Beasts Clan realise that, even if it was them, they likely wouldn't be able to do much better than Olivier.
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