57 Book 2: Chapter 27 – Ace Reveals His Haki

The remaining students who were yet to fight looked at Faye, then turned their attention back to Ace, their gazes burning with envy and desire, yet none stepped forward. It was obvious that they were all waiting for the others to make the next move. After all, the later you challenged, the better your chances were.

However, Ace was completely unfazed as he confidently scanned each of them from the top of the stage, his eyes eventually stopping on Julius – the highest-ranked combatant of all of them.

"Don't look at me," The overweight boy said as he raised his arms as though he were surrendering. "I don't like fighting; I just like cooking and eating."

His words left Ace speechless, but when Ace saw Lauriella's frustrated expression, he understood, shocking as it may be, it was the truth.

Next, Ace turned his attention to Osiris – the indifferent dark-haired boy he passed on the climb up.

"Not interested?" Osiris stated directly.

"What? Why not?" Ace asked back. "Don't tell me you're a food-loving pacifist as well."

Osiris glared at Ace as if he'd taken his words as an insult before snorting coldly. "I'm an archer."

Though his words were few, Ace instantly understood what he was trying to say. Not only could Ace not see a bow or arrow on him, even if he did have them stored in the ring on his left middle finger, but a ring like this was also the worst arena possible for an archer, especially when going up against someone like Ace who could use a movement technique.

Before Ace could respond, the indifferent immature voice of one of the other students sounded. "Yulana, you go."

"Yes, young master," Yulana responded before elegantly jumping on stage.

Ace calmly glanced at the boy who gave the order to fight him. He was a tall, blonde-haired boy with electric blue eyes named Joel Dawson. According to Aiden, he was a nine-year-old late-rank two warrior and early-rank two lightning mage with a spiritual essence 49x higher than average.

Not only was he one of the oldest among the group, but he was also the highest in terms of realm when taking both his warrior and mage cultivation into account, minus Julius, the overweight pacifist.

Turning his attention back to Yulana, he saw the brown-haired girl standing there, her crystal blue eyes looking at him with clear disdain.

It wasn't hard to understand her contempt. Judging by her lavish attire, she obviously came from a powerful force, but she also had impressive talent being a ten-year-old late rank two warrior and peak rank one mage with a spiritual essence 22x above average.

"Everyone here is among the most talented children of this generation. Each and every one of us stands a good chance of becoming a saint in the future – and then there's you." Yulana vehemently mocked. "Honestly, I don't know what the instructors were thinking making an exception for you when you have no elemental affinity."

Her words were harsh, but in Ace's mind, they were ravings of a little girl. Instead of replying, he simply strolled towards her.

"What? Nothing to say?" Yulana said as she flipped her hand, summoning an azure whip made of what looked like barbed wire. "Fine, then take this!"

The whip whistled through the air at a speed that most present couldn't follow with their eyes, but Ace, who had immediately begun using his compressed [Observation] as soon she had summoned her whip, calmly evaded the strike with little effort, continuing his leisurely stroll towards her.

Even when he heard her begin chanting, he didn't speed up his approach.

"…[Water Bullet]!" Yulana roared.

A fist-sized tore through the air like a bullet aiming straight for his face, but Ace merely leant his head to the side, easily evading the ball of water.

Ace had to admit, she was definitely the strongest of the opponents he'd faced so far today, but it didn't matter. With his [Observation], he could easily follow each attack as if they were moving in slow motion, preventing them from even coming close to touching him.

The closer he got, the more frantic Yulana's attacks became. She kept on edging away, but it didn't seem to help. At some point, without her realising, her disdain had turned into fear.

The way he walked towards her whilst casually dodging her attacks, Yulana felt like she was facing a monster.

She went to take another step back when her foot touched nothing but air. She took a quick glance back only to realise that she was right at the edge of the arena.

By the time she had turned back to face her opponent, Ace was right in front of her.

"Do…

Don't hurt me…" Yulana cried as Ace gave her a gentle tap making her fall on her rear just outside of the ring.

"Hahaha, well pushed!" Faye roared with laughter.

Yulana glared at the club-wielding girl only to be met with a louder laugh. Then, scanning the rest of the audience, she noticed that her fellow students were either indifferent or trying to hold back their laughter, and the instructors…

Forget taking her as a disciple; they didn't so much as look her way.

When she looked back towards the stage, she saw Ace calmly walking back to the centre of the stage, not paying her even the slightest bit of attention.

Never in her life had she felt so embarrassed. She desperately wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole, unfortunately, she was destined to be disappointed.

"Yulana, come back," Joel called as he began walking towards the ring. "I'll take it from here."

"Yes, young master," Yulana replied dejectedly. "I understand."

"Let me guess. You're here to avenge your girlfriend's loss?" Ace asked lazily as he watched Joel step on stage.

"I don't actually have anything against you. In fact, even though it's impossible for you to become a saint in the future, I admire your ability. As far as warriors go, you are among the most talented I've seen." The young master of the Dawson family said as he calmly unsheathed the sabre by his side. "Still, as my personal guard, Yulana is a reflection of me. By embarrassing her, you've embarrassed me.

I advise you to step down now because I won't be holdi-"

"Stop with the pointless chitchat. Either jump off or fight!" Ace interrupted his next opponent, too lazy to listen to his arrogant rambling.

After being interrupted, Joel's eyes frosted over, but ultimately, he didn't say anything further. Instead, he darted towards his opponent.

Ace may have seemed leisurely from his attention, but as they could still sense his [Observation], they knew he wasn't underestimating his opponent. Still, as their weapons met, Ace was the one on the losing side for the first time today.

"It looks like he might struggle with this one," Lazerim said as he continued to watch the two boys clash.

Though he knew Wukong's bar in terms of talent was extremely high, and he would never make a claim like the one he made about Ace for no reason, they also knew that Joel Dawson wasn't your average talent.

The Dawson Conglomerate was one of the, if not the biggest and most powerful trading companies in the Yulan Plane. Although they weren't a family who were particularly well known for their abilities with regards to the mage or warrior paths, their nigh-infinite wealth ensured their young never lacked for anything.

So when a talent like Joel is born into a family like that, one could imagine the training he would've received from early. In fact, it was evident from his skill with the sabre. Each strike was fast, powerful, deadly, and accurate.

Still, Wukong's expression hadn't faltered in the slightest as he watched Ace seemingly get dominated.

"This Ace, he's incredible!" Kimika said, her eyes glowing as she stared at the fight, refusing to even blink. "It may look like Joel is in control, but the truth is, Ace is the one controlling the flow of the battle."

"Huh, what are you…" Lazerim said, stopping mid-sentence as he began to pay closer attention.

He may be a better mage than warrior, but he was still a very talented warrior. As he focused more, he noticed that although Ace was the one dodging, blocking, and parrying most, it was Joel who was using the most energy.

It was as though Ace could see each strike coming from a mile away, giving him enough time to use the least amount of energy to deal with Joel's attacks. Not only that, but as time went on, Ace was finding it easier and easier.

"Is he using his opponent as a whetstone to refine his glaivesmanship?" Lazerim asked in shock, to which all he got was a telling smirk from his junior brother.

By now, Joel had just started to realise something was off. Whilst his breathing was getting heavier, Ace seemed just as calm as ever.

He originally wanted to win the fight without using magic to prove himself superior in every way, but unfortunately, that didn't seem possible anymore.

As his blade clashed against the shaft of Ace's glaive, Joel pointed his left index finger towards Ace's shoulder. "[Piercing Bolt]!"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, a bolt of lightning shot out of his finger. But Ace already had his [Observation] spread.

It was impressive that Joel could insta-cast a rank one spell with the power of a rank two spell, but Ace could literally see the mageforce building around his finger. By the time he had fired it, Ace had already used [Soru] to dodge.

"I have to admit, as far as warriors go, you really are the most talented I've ever seen," Joel said as electricity gathered around the palm of his hand. "To show my respects, I'll stop holding back."

As his voice waned, the lightning travelled across his sabre, creating a blade of flickering electricity.

He didn't know how Joel was able to do it, but just looking at the lightning-coated sabre, Ace knew that his glaive wouldn't be able to go against it.

Turning over his shoulder, he looked helplessly towards Wukong.

Understanding the meaning behind Ace's expression Wukong replied, "You don't need to hide your abilities here; this is your home."

Hearing that left Joel and most of the other students confused, but as they turned back towards Ace, they shockingly saw the blade of his glaive turn jet black.

"What is that? Some sort of battle-qi?" Kimika asked in shock, having never seen or heard of anything like it in the past.

"That?" Wukong asked with a smirk. "That's his bloodline ability!"

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P.atreon.com/AceInCoilingDragon: Book 3 - Chapter 14