Book 4: Chapter 35 – Final Battle (4) 

As soon as Ace's sky-covering flames appeared, everyone, including General Kaymin and his two opponents, looked up in disbelief. Not because it was overwhelmingly powerful but because they could all sense whom it belonged to and understood what it meant.

It had to be remembered that Ace's spells were equal to that of a mage at the eighth rank despite him only being at the third.

Initially, they believed that even if Ace broke through to the fourth rank, his spells would still be in or around the eighth rank because the difference between the eighth and ninth ranks was like the difference between heaven and earth, but the fiery polearm in the sky clearly radiated the might of a ninth rank spell.

How could they possibly know that because of his bloodline, Ace's breakthroughs as a mage were far more impressive than others in the same realm?

Upon breaking through to the fourth rank, not only did his mageforce become purer and bigger, but because of his [Observation] being so closely linked to his soul, the strength of his soul also improved, meaning that he was able to borrow even more of nature's essence to strengthen his spells.

Like the fight between Generals Kaymin, Olivier, and Metria, there was no one in the vicinity of Ace's fight, but that scarlet glaive was over 100 meters long, allowing those well over a mile away to see it clear as day as it descended.

But unlike the others who were left speechless and or in awe, the eyes of the unbeaten general glazed over as he witnessed the explosion created by the impact.

"DIE!" General Metria hissed as she charged in, her short sword making a perfect arc directed at Kaymin's neck, aiming to take full advantage of the general's dazed state.

At that moment, the pain of her injuries all but vanished as the thought of being the one to slay the unbeaten general brought her no small sense of excitement. She would be hailed a hero for generations to come, rewarded with riches and treasures that may even be able to help her become a saint in the future, but that was all provided she was successful in her endeavour…

"That explosion," Kaymin muttered absentmindedly, completely ignoring the blade that hadn't even managed to pierce the crimson battle-qi coating his body. "Fire is explosive."

"You… How… Did you… Saint!" Metria stuttered as she stared at the unbeaten general in horror.

"METRIA, RUN!" Olivier bellowed when he saw General Kaymin's battle-qi suddenly brighten and expand.

Unfortunately, before Metria could make her escape, Kaymin's overbearing hands wrapped around her neck, holding her firmly in place.

"You can die now," Kaymin said softly as another explosion went off, with the unbeaten general himself being the epicentre.

This explosion was by far the biggest of the day, so big in fact that despite being further away and much faster than his colleague, Olivier barely managed to escape unscathed.

For the third time that day, everyone stopped what they were doing as they turned their heads toward General Kaymin.

They had been so distracted by Ace's final attack that they hadn't realised what had happened with Kaymin, Metria, and Olivier until they heard the prodigy sword saint's shout.

They didn't know what had happened, but judging by Olivier's pensive and unwilling look as he stared, waiting for the smoke to fade, they could guess that it was nothing good, at least not for those from the O'Brien Empire.

Without fail, everyone present on both sides stopped fighting to watch with bated breaths as the smoke cleared, and as it did, not a single person wasn't shocked when the results of the explosion became visible.

"Dad…" Ebeze called out, unable to contain his excitement as he looked up at the dark-skinned warrior hovering in the sky. "HAHAHA, YOU REALLY DID IT… YOU BROKE THROUGH TO THE SAINT REALM!"

That's right, the explosion caused by Ace's last attack triggered an epiphany for General Kaymin, allowing him to finally comprehend a trace amount of the profound mystery of explosions, which in turn allowed him to finally accomplish his lifelong dream of becoming a saint.

"This war is over," General Kaymin calmly announced, his voice calm and steady but still emitting a subtle pressure that made it hard to refuse, especially for the weaker soldiers.

Still, whilst the weaker soldiers looked at the unbeaten general in fear and awe, the colonels and generals present had differing expressions.

Those from the Rohault Empire wore dignified expressions as their grips around their weapons tightened as though they were preparing themselves for a bitter battle.

The colonels and generals from the O'Brien Empire, on the other hand, wore relaxed and almost excited expressions as Olivier took a step forward.

"Congratulations on becoming a saint, general, or should I say, Elder Kaymin," Olivier voiced calmly, suppressing his envy. "But you know the rules of war better than anyone. Saints are forbidden from intervening in the battles of mortals.

If you choose to intervene in this battle, none of us are strong enough to stop you, but my O'Brien Empire will definitely retaliate by sending saints of our own to crush you and your Empire."

"Are you threatening me?" Kaymin asked coldly, his aura rising steadily as he locked eyes with the young swordsman.

Olivier didn't reply, but neither did he break eye contact. He knew the newly ascended saint could kill him with a single attack, but his pride wouldn't let him back down.

Luckily, the O'Brien had come prepared for any situation that may arise.

"He may not be," A blonde man immaculately dressed in a billowing blue robe flying towards them from the distance said calmly as he came to a stop between the O'Brien army and General Kaymin. "But I am! The war will continue, and if you intend on intervening, I don't mind entertaining you."

The blonde-haired saint was Lanke – the 22nd disciple of the War God O'Brien. He was far from the strongest of the War God's Disciples, but he was still a peak saint; as such, he was more than capable of dealing with a newly promoted saint, even one as talented as Kaymin, who had become a saint as both a warrior and mage.

Kaymin knew he wasn't a match for Lanke, but he didn't bat an eyelid when he arrived, as the O'Brien Empire weren't the only one to make contingency plans.

Before Lanke could continue, a tall, middle-aged dark-skinned man with long curly black hair tied in a ponytail and a long sword sheathed on his back appeared in the sky with the other two saints too fast for any of the mortals below to follow.

"Ejiro," Lanke said, his voice becoming colder as he looked at the lanky elder before him. "It's been a while."

"Over 100 years," Elder Ejiro replied indifferently.

A little over a century ago, Lanke and Ejiro met on the battlefield, and back then, Ejiro had forced him to retreat, but back then, he had only just broken through to become a peak saint. For the average peak saint, 100 years wasn't enough to make any significant improvements, but like the rest of the War God's disciples, Lanke was an elite among geniuses not much worse than Olivier.

Ever since then, Lanke had been silently hoping for a chance to return the favour, and it looked like they would get their chance today.

He didn't even care that Ejiro would have the support of another saint. As far as he was concerned, forget Kaymin, who had just broken through; even an established saint at the early stages would only be courting death if they got involved in a fight between peak saints.

"I'm guessing you two really intend on getting involved?" Lanke asked with a hint of anticipation as he summoned his straight sword from his storage ring.

"So what if I do?" Ejiro replied icily as he, too, drew his sword from his back.

"So I'll just have to stop you!" Lanke replied as his body suddenly multiplied, creating ten identical clones that surrounded his two opponents.

"EVERYONE, GET BACK!" Kaymin roared to his subordinates, understanding what was going to happen.

Even though the area he had used to fight Olivier and Metria had already been cleared for fear of getting caught in the backlash, how could a battle between three mortals even begin to compare to the fight between saints of this level?

Though he was speaking to the Rohault soldiers, the soldiers from the O'Brien Empire also followed his commands, not wanting to get caught up in the shockwaves of the battle.

At the same time, Ace, who was now running on fumes, looked up to see the rest of his group coming to check on him.

Be it Amira, Killian, or Leo, they were all covered in blood, but thankfully it didn't appear to belong to them.

"How badly are you hurt?" Amira asked softly as she carefully helped Ace to his feet.

"I'm okay," Ace said as he forcibly popped his shoulder back into his socket before giving it a twist to make sure it was in properly. "I'm mostly just tired, but we need to get a little further back before we get caught up in the upcoming battle… or worse."

"Or worse?" Amira asked, following her classmate's line of sight only to see that Olivier and the other generals of the O'Brien army were still glancing their way as they too retreated.

Even though Ace defeated a genuine warrior of the ninth rank, Lorne was still only in the early stages, making him one of the weakest. Plus, not only were the generals all at the peak of the ninth rank, they had all comprehended 'Impose'. Even if Ace had been at his best, he still wouldn't be a match for any of them.

"Hmph, those brain-dead idiots," Ebeze snorted. "Can't they see that the saint their all relying on is going up against two of our saints?"

"I don't think it's that simple," Ace frowned as he spread his observation over the saints staring each other down.

"You think Elder Ejiro and Kaymin might…"

Before Amira could finish her question, she was interrupted by the deafening shockwaves of the beginning of the saint's battles.

Thankfully, Ace had been positioned pretty far away already. Though they could feel the ground shake each time their weapons met, that was it. Still, the fact that the shockwaves could reach them from this far away just went to show how powerful saints really were.

But as the fight went on, the frown on Ace's face only deepened.

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Book 6: Chapter 30 – Amira's Plan