Killian's display filled the spectators of the Four Divine Beasts Clan with a truly unparalleled level of shock and a slight hint of fear. It was clear from that last attack that even if all four branch leaders attacked together, chances were, they would, at best, be able to flee with their lives, and even that was debatable.
In their eyes, there was no difference between Killian and a genuine paragon. Amongst deities, he was virtually invincible.
Still, it was the battle between Ace and Linley that gripped them the most.
After going through his Ancestral Baptism, not only did Linley gain the use of his Divine Ability, but his bloodline was also rid of the trace amounts of impurity. Right now, Linley could truly be considered a genuine Apex Divine Beast in every sense of the word. He could even transform into a genuine sky-covering Azure Dragon if he wanted.
Even without the use of his comprehension, solely by relying on his body, Linley could defeat those weaker High Gods who hadn't begun fusing separate profound mysteries. But as impressive as it was, it was only when you added his incredible level of comprehension that you got to appreciate how much of a monster Linley had become.
Although he wasn't a soul mutate, Linley was still an expert following the path of a Supreme Genius for three Laws, and by extension, had created the [Serenity Sword Art], which had three separate stances for each of those three elements. Although none had reached the High God Realm, they were all at the Full God Realm, and his [Rippling Tide Stance] had even reached the very peak of the Full God Realm.
Still, the aspect Ace was most impressed with wasn't merely Linley's ability to fluidly switch between stances as though they were one to begin with, but his ability to use two different stances at once, one with each sword. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was no less monstrous.
Although his body wasn't quite as powerful, because of his [Armament Haki], Ace's body was no weaker than a Full God Armament, and with his [Blazing Glaive Art] having reached the High God Realm, he was simply terrifying in close quarters. Especially when complemented by his [Observation Haki] enhanced Divine Sense. Ace's ability to read and control the flow of battle slowly made Linley feel suffocated.
Eventually, Linley was forced to use his Divine Energy and his comprehension of the Laws to try and gain an advantage.
It had to be remembered that Linley was 50% of the way to completing a four-way fusion of the Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Wind and had completely fused four of the mysteries of the Laws of the Earth. He had somehow even gained the ability to control the direction of gravity, an ability that Ace knew shouldn't be possible.
It gave him a level of control over his sphere of influence that not even Ace could ignore, especially when combined with the fact that Linley had recently made a breakthrough of his own and begun fusing all six mysteries of the laws of water. It was still very much in the beginning stages, not much better than Killian's, but the significance was all that mattered.
It meant that Linley wouldn't see another bottleneck until his comprehension of the six-way fusion of the Mysteries of Water reached 99%. It meant that his chances of one day becoming a paragon had improved significantly.
Because he had only made the breakthrough when he and his family and friends were ambushed on the way back to the Clan, none of the higher-ups of the Four Divine Beasts Clan had any idea, but now that they did, Linley's importance in the Clan just improved drastically.
Right now, Gisalson was the only member of the Clan that had begun fusing all six mysteries of an element, but as a High God, especially as a Divine Beast, it made improving that much harder. He had begun fusing all six mysteries over a million years ago, but even after all that time, he was still only faintly approaching the halfway point.
As for Linley, he had the purest bloodline of any of them and was only a little over 1000 years old. Gisalson knew it was only a matter of time before Linley's comprehension caught up and even surpassed his. Still, he didn't find himself feeling envious or unwilling, only excited! He made the decision there and then that regardless of whether he was only a Full God, the day Linley's comprehension caught up to his was the day he would give his throne to Linley.
Unfortunately, their excitement was short-lived. The moment Linley started going all out, Ace did the same, unwilling to be outdone by his oldest rival.
It was immediately clear that the difference in comprehension between the two wasn't even remotely close. Whilst Linley was just getting started, Ace was nearing the end. Should he take one more step forward, Ace would become a genuine paragon.
When it looked like Linley was done, Linley reminded everyone why Apex Divine Beasts were held in such high regard – he revealed his Divine Ability!
As the phantom of an enormous Azure Dragon manifested behind Linley, Ace's eyes constricted as he felt the world slow to a crawl, including his own movements.
Ace had already heard that the Divine Ability of the Azure Dragons allowed them to slow time, but he didn't expect it to be so powerful.
Forced to watch the blades of Linley's twin swords near, every fibre of Ace's body seemed to roar with unwillingness. They may be friends, but Linley was the one person Ace could never allow himself to lose to!
As if responding to his unwillingness, the golden sun that hung to Ace's back suddenly shone with even more vigour than ever before. As it did, the heat in the surrounding area skyrocketed to the point where even the weaker experts present found it somewhat unbearable, but that was just the beginning.
Ace felt that the power of his flames which were already strengthened five times over by his Visual Manifestation, had once again multiplied in power.
It was right then that Linley's expression warped. His swords were mere inches from Ace's chest, but as he felt the power of Ace's flames, he didn't hesitate to attempt to put some distance between them as he felt his control over the temporal laws rapidly dissipate.
Ace merely smirked before he and Linley were swallowed by flames that looked almost completely golden in colour.
The explosion was terrifying. Just the shockwave caused everyone below the seven-star fiend level to go flying.
Seeing that, Yunaia was the first to react as worry coated her otherwise perfect features. Thankfully, Olivier was close enough to stop her from charging headfirst into those residual Golden Flames that seemed to melt even the surrounding space.
It was only when she heard Linley's pain-filled grunts that she calmed down enough to assess the situation before acting.
As the flames finally receded, the crowd saw Ace hovering in mid-air, looking down at Linley's charred body with a teasing smirk.
As much as those from the Four Divine Beasts Clan hated to admit it, It was obvious that Ace was the winner, proving that the rumours of the Viz Clan's being the undisputed number one weren't exaggerated after all.
Looking up at Ace's frustrating smirk, Linley could only roll his eyes helplessly. As Ace's oldest rival and, more importantly, the person on the receiving end of Ace's last attack, how could Linley not have sensed the sudden burst of Willpower?
It was impressive that Ace had somehow managed to fuse the abilities of his two Bloodlines like that, but it definitely wasn't Ace's Viz Bloodline that had given the power needed to break free of Linley Divine Ability but his "Gol D. Bloodline."
Ace had only used his Willpower for the briefest of moments; as such, most understandably believed that Ace's sudden burst of power originated from his Viz Bloodline, and they weren't wrong, at least not completely.
Still, what Ace had accomplished wasn't just as straightforward as Linley believed. Ace hadn't simply fuelled his Golden Sun Manifestation with Willpower; it was more appropriate to say that he had subconsciously used his Willpower to suppress the restrictions on his Manifestation due in part to his low realm but mainly because of his decision when becoming a deity.
His choice to merge with his Divine Spark of Fire and forgo the chance to comprehend the Laws of Light meant that he would never be able to use his Visual Manifestation in all its true glory.
Still, it was bittersweet. Although he couldn't go back and redo his decision, at least he had found a workaround. Unfortunately, as it required him to use his Willpower, it was yet another ability he had to hide for now.
As previously mentioned, because the spectators had very little interaction with those at the paragon and sovereign level and because it had only been a split second, none other than those familiar with Ace and his abilities sensed the brief use of Willpower… well, almost no one.
In the skies, thousands of miles above Skyrite mountains, a lone figure could be seen staring down at the battle, visible shock colouring his aged features.
The man was none other than Garot – the pure-blooded Divine Black Tortoise who escaped the seal in the Celestial Realm with Ace and the rest of the Golden Sun Pirates.
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