Book 4: Chapter 37 – Mira & Ace’s Bond

It had been three days since the war ended. As soon as Aiden made an appearance, the O'Brien Empire had no choice but to take a step back.

This had been the biggest loss their empire had ever suffered since its formation, and yet, despite Lanke – one of the War God's genuine disciples – taking action, they could do nothing to change the outcome.

Not only had Aiden casually defeated the peak saint, as he was clearly a mortal, there was nothing stopping him from taking part in the main war and helping the Rohault Army slaughtering every single soldier on the opposing side.

And although that was what many of the lower-ranking soldiers on the side of the Rohault empire hoped would happen, the higher-ups all understood Aiden's decision when he let them leave.

Had they really slaughtered such a large contingent of the O'Brien's army, with several of them being vital to the defence of the empire, there was no way the O'Brien would let things slide so easily.

The battlefield would inevitably end up becoming a battleground for saint-level experts, and although the Rohault Empire had more than their fair share of saints, it definitely couldn't compare to the saints of the O'Brien Empire, and that obviously didn't include the intervention of the War God himself!

In the end, Aiden even promised that the Rohault Empire wouldn't advance past this point, allowing the O'Brien Empire to retain possession of Redwin Town, despite the fact that they could very easily conquer it and force those present to turn tail and run without a single complaint.

Unfortunately, this was the furthest the Rohault Empire could afford to push their long-standing enemy back without touching their bottom line.

Lanke had just returned to his residence on the War God mountaintop when he bumped into one of his martial brothers.

"Lanke, what happened to you?" The man asked, unable to hide his surprise when he saw his junior brother's dishevelled appearance.

He knew that this junior brother of his had been tasked with providing support to the O'Brien's main army in case the Rohault Empire was breaking the unwritten rule and secretly allowing saints to partake in the battles. Still, even if they were, as far as he was concerned, it still should've been a fairly straightforward assignment.

After all, though Lanke wasn't the strongest amongst the War God's disciples, he was still a fairly powerful peak saint-level warrior. There weren't many on the Yulan continent that could stand against him.

"Were the suspicions true? Were the Rohault Empire really allowing saints to battle pretending to be mortals?"

"Not exactly," Lanke bitterly replied as he turned to face his seventh brother. "But I did run into an old friend of yours…"

Lanke's seventh brother listened with rapt attention, and despite being a saint that had over 1000 years of life experience, not even he could hide his shock when he heard the description of Ace and his prowess.

Though he wasn't the strongest on the continent, purely in terms of talent, he could be considered among the very best the continent has ever produced, and yet, if what Lanke was saying was the truth, the difference in talent between him and this Ace boy was like the difference between heaven and earth. They couldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

He didn't say anything to interrupt his junior brother's summary of events, but his eyes narrowed as he thought about the implications of a child so talented being on the side of their enemies but when he heard who it was who singlehandedly ended the war, a cold and bloodthirsty smile suffused his lips.

"It looks like my old rival hasn't wasted these last few hundred years since I saw him last after all," Byrius O'Brien said coldly, not at all surprised by his junior brother's loss at the hands of his old rival. "Tell the current emperor not to pursue things with the Rohault Empire until I come down."

"You intend to take action personally, seventh brother?" Lanke asked in surprise.

It had to be understood that although Byrius was the War God's seventh disciple, he was second only to their eldest brother. And it was also common knowledge among the disciples that, even including their eldest disciple, he was regarded as the most talented.

He rarely ever left War God's mountain as he was more focused on training to become a deity than getting involved in worldly affairs.

Even if the Emperor, one of his descendants, was assassinated, the chances of him leaving his residence were slim to none at best, but Aiden was a different story.

Since he was a child, he'd only ever suffered a loss to one man and that man was precisely Aiden.

After losing to him once as a youth, he didn't see him again until some time after he broke through to become a saint several hundred years ago. At that point, Aiden was just a warrior at the early stages of the ninth rank.

He quite rightly believed that he'd be able to easily defeat his former rival. Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed.

It was during that fight that the legend of Aiden began!

Although the fight ultimately ended in a draw, it didn't make it any less shocking. Especially as although he had only just broken through, Byrius was a genius known for defeating experts at higher ranks than him.

Byrius' desire to defeat Aiden and wash away his past shame could be understood. Still, he refused to allow his frustrations to cloud his better judgement.

From the apparent ease with which Aiden dispatched Lanke, it was clear that he wasn't much weaker than himself, if at all. If he wanted to be sure of his win against his old rival, he had to break through to the same level as his eldest martial brother, the prime saint level.

Fortunately, he had felt that he was near. That was the reason he had left seclusion in the first place. But now that he knew how much stronger Aiden had become in this time, he knew he couldn't afford to waste any more time.

"I do!" Byrius replied matter-of-factly before turning away and heading back to his abode.

Lanke felt a hint of excitement well up inside of him. Even though he'd heard of the prowess of this seventh martial brother of his, he'd never gotten the chance to witness it in person.

A part of him couldn't help but feel sorry for Aiden, as he knew that with their history, this battle wasn't likely to end until only one man was left standing. Still, as soon as he remembered the embarrassing defeat he suffered at Aiden's hands, any pity he had once been feeling all but disappeared.

.

.

.

At the same time, back in the Rohault Empire, the former Duke turned Elder Kaymin was giving his report to Emperor Jordon of the final battle, but unlike what one would expect, he didn't seem that interested in how the O'Brien Empire would react.

Although the O'Brien Empire were, without a doubt, the stronger of the two sides, they couldn't afford to start an all-out war against their Rohault Empire.

For starters, unless the War God himself descended, the O'Brien Empire couldn't defeat his Empire without paying a steep price in blood.

Forgetting himself and the multitude of other saints of the Rohault Empire, the number of saints from the O'Brien Empire who could actually fight his brother to a standstill could be counted on one hand.

But even though Emperor Jordon had unwavering faith in his brother's abilities, he wasn't delusional, he knew that the War God's eldest disciple was still superior to Aiden, but he still wasn't worried.

The truth was that although individually, Aiden was the strongest expert in the Rohault Empire, his wife had a divine treasure she'd gotten from her family, which allowed her to fight on par with Prime Saints despite only being a warrior and mage of the middle stages of the saint realm.

If an all-out war began between the two empires, the Rohault Empire would eventually be defeated, but not before making their bitter rivals suffer unimaginable losses. The sort of losses that would make them vulnerable to the other major forces on the continent.

Although at the end of the day, it wouldn't matter as the War God's presence ensured their survival, it would take god knows how long to recover back to their current strength.

The only thing they truly had to worry about was the War God, but with the covenant created by the ruler of the forest of darkness, no deity was allowed to act against non-deities without just cause. So unless they directly provoked O'Brien, the War God couldn't intervene directly.

The thing that really caught the Emperor's attention in the report was Ace's performance.

"You really got yourself one hell of a disciple!" Jordon sighed as he turned to the man at the back of the throne room, casually sipping from his gourd, which was making the whole room stink of alcohol.

"You mean that brat's got himself one hell of a master!" Aiden snorted, taking another large gulp of his booze, causing his brother to roll his eyes helplessly.

"He had to be capable of at least this much if he wants to be worthy of my little Mira!" The pregnant Empress Sharanthia stated.

"Ooh, so you don't have a problem with Ace and Amira being together?" Aiden asked his sister-in-law teasingly. "I was sure you, of all people, would be against it."

"Their relationship isn't something I can intervene in," Sharanthia sighed.

"You know something about the bond those two have?" Aiden asked, his interest piquing all of a sudden.

Aiden's question stirred something in the pregnant Empress.

"Other than Aiden, the rest of you may leave!" Sharanthia commanded indifferently.

Although technically it was Jordon who was the ruler of the Empire, all the elders were aware that it was his wife who stood at the top of the pecking order, so when she spoke, both elders Kaymin and Ejiro took their leave.

"Ooh, and don't worry about your arm, brat," Aiden voiced just as Elder Kaymin was halfway out the door. "When my wife returns, I'll ask her to heal your stump!"

"Thank you!" Kaymin respectfully replied, doing his best to hide his excitement, not minding the offensive nature of Aiden's words.

He had just broken through to the saint realm, and he'd already lost an arm.

Although Saints were powerful immortal experts, they were incapable of recovering lost limbs. The only ones capable of such a feat were deities, and as the chances of him reaching such a stage was virtually non-existent, he couldn't help but feel deeply saddened by the loss of his arm, but now…

Even though he didn't know much about Aiden's wife, he, like all the other higher-ups of their Empire, trusted Aiden implicitly. If he said his wife was capable of healing his arm, then she was!

After Kaymin and Ejiro left, Aiden eagerly turned his attention back to his sister-in-law. "So, what do you know about those brats?"

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Book 6: Chapter 34 – Alliance With The Baruch Duchy