Upon leaving his wife with his mother, Ace was instantly approached by Bluefire and the others.
After making sure that Amira was, at the very least, stable, Bluefire couldn't help but sigh at his grandson and ask him if he was sure he wanted to go through with these challenges.
It wasn't that he didn't believe in his grandson; it was just that, in his eyes, there was no reason to put himself in harm's way. After all, with Ace's last few moves, those on the side of the Overgods of the four Edicts had been cornered.
In response, Ace simply said that he had to make sure that the world his child was going to be born into was as safe as possible.
He didn't need to say much else; just from the look in his eyes, they were all capable of seeing his resolve; as such, instead of questioning him further, they asked what they could do to help. In response, Ace calmly told them that he just needed space – no one should approach his Pure Yang Realm for the foreseeable future; aside from that, everyone should just go back to their own respective training.
Those present at that moment were Ace's closest friends and family. He didn't usually keep things from them; as such, Ace's request for space was odd, but seeing that he wasn't in much of a mood for speaking, they didn't ask anything else; they just cleared the planet.
When he was alone, Ace's body flickered before appearing in the very centre of his Pure Yang Realm.
Whilst it was true that Ace rarely kept secrets from his closest loved ones, he also knew how crazy his current intentions were. If he told them what he planned to do, they would inevitably attempt to persuade him not to go through with it, and convincing them wasn't something he had time to do. Ten thousand years may sound like a long time, and to him, considering that he hadn't even been alive that long, it truly was, but he also knew that he was stepping into uncharted territory here – although he was confident that he would be successful, he had no idea how long it might take.
Everyone assumed that Ace had finally affirmed the method to become a Sovereign without a Sovereign Spark and that he was preparing to finally take that step, but whilst it was true that he, or rather Amira, had comprehended the method of breaking through, he had no intention of breaking through, at least not yet.
No, his current plan stemmed from his battle with the former Overgod of Water. During that battle, because of the power of an Overgod, his Pure Yang Realm received an unprecedented amount of damage, to the point where, even now, it was littered with spatial rifts and tears that it was struggling to recover from.
It would take close to a thousand years to recover naturally, but as long as Ace was willing to feed it his Yang Divine Power, it would take no more than a year at most, but Ace had another idea.
As the one who effectively created it, since its formation, Ace had always had an innate connection to the Realm – that was clear from how he was able to speed his comprehension along by so much when inside. Still, it had never called out to him the way it was calling out to him now. Well, to be precise, it was more like it was calling out to his Golden Sun Spark.
It had to be remembered that, after his first loss at the hands of Muyan – Phueus' former soul-mutated clone – his original fire divine spark ended up merging with his Golden Sun Visual Manifestation, as well as the Amethyst Soul Stone given by Reisgem. Since then, instead of taking the shape and form of a jewel, like other Divine Sparks, his took the shape of a Golden Sun. But now that Golden Sun was pulsating incessantly as if to communicate with Ace.
Although it wasn't communicating with words, Ace could still sense what it was trying to tell him – that it wanted to refine the Pure Yang Realm.
Ace knew that although Sovereigns were capable of creating their own Divine Planes, only Overgods were capable of refining a realm, turning it into their personal dimension.
Still, that in and of itself wasn't a problem. The problem lay in how exactly it wanted to do that.
It would require Ace to utilise a fusion of all ten of his True Yang Mandates, with a focus on the Mandate of Gravity, to create a blackhole with him, or rather his Golden Sun Spark, at the centre to effectively devour his entire Pure Yang Realm.
The problem was, as powerful as Ace had become, his Pure Yang Realm still had the power of two Sovereigns, one of whom was a Chief Sovereign – his Willpower may have surpassed theirs, but purely in terms of energy, the Pure Yang Realm held far more than his Golden Sun Spark did and, by extension was capable of storing. If he tried to take it and refine it all, it was more likely that his Golden Sun Spark would explode.
Even so, Ace didn't hesitate to proceed with his crazy plan. The only thing he did was, via their respective soul bonds, he passed Amira and Leona a message telling them not to worry and just trust him as he knew what he was doing. Still, he made sure to do it when it was too late to stop him.
While Killian and the others were back on the Yulan Plane, deciding on their next plan of action and how they could best support Ace, they sensed a massive disturbance coming from the Pure Yang Realm.
Without hesitation, they all tore through space, appearing just outside the Pure Yang Realm in time to see it gradually warping beyond recognition.
In the very centre, they saw Ace sitting cross-legged with his eyes shut and his soul-self hovering behind him.
They had no idea what he was doing, but judging from how pale his face had become, as well as the energy coming from his plan, they knew that whatever it was, it was incomparably dangerous.
Bluefire was just about to make a move to stop him when Leona passed on Ace's message. Still, Bluefire couldn't just watch his grandson continue with this madness. If things carried on at this rate, he may well die before his battle with Phueus began.
Bluefire was just about to forcibly stop Ace when he was stopped by Orloff. Of the four Overgods currently on their side, Orloff was the one with the least emotional ties to Ace, and he found it easiest to remain objective. Plus, as someone obsessed with training and reaching the apex, more than anything else, he was curious to see how far Ace could go.
Bluefire was just about to attack Orloff so he could save his grandson when Aiden stopped them and told him that, at this point, it was too late to stop Ace. Doing so forcibly could have dire, unforeseen results. All they could do was trust that he knew what he was doing.
It was right then that another change happened. When the last part of the Pure Yang Realm was devoured by the blackhole coming from Ace's Golden Sun Spark, Ace's body was also devoured. Ultimately, all that was left was the Golden Sun Spark, hovering in place.
Seeing that, as one could imagine, Bluefire was shocked, terrified for his grandson, and infuriated at Orloff for stopping him. Without thinking, he lashed out, sending Orloff flying into the void as he roared that it was his fault. If he hadn't stopped him, then at the very least, Ace would still be with them.
He was just about to continue beating on Orloff when Leona's words took them all by surprised. She told them that although she couldn't sense Ace's location or even communicate with him, he could sense his presence, and for now, it remained strong.
Hearing that, Bluefire stopped paying attention to Orloff and sighed in relief. Although his worry was far from gone, at the very least, he knew that Ace was alive.
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