Book 4: Chapter 17 – Aiden’s Past

Hearing the question of his brother's disciple, Jordon and the mound of earth-carrying Ace came to a sudden halt.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised he never told you anything," Jordon sighed. "He hasn't spoken about it much at all since it happened, even with me."

A myriad of emotions flickered through Jordon's eyes, but using his [Observation], the ones that appeared to be the strongest were rage, unwillingness, and regret.

"I don't know how much you know about my Rohault Empire, but when Aiden and I were still children, the Rohault territory started and stopped with a small village located here in the capital.

Our parents were the village leaders at the time and were beloved by all of their citizens.

Our childhood was great, we were showered with love by our parents and everyone else in the village, and that love only improved when Aiden began to show his incredible talents as a warrior.

He quickly became unrivalled within our generation inside the village and even challenged and defeated the kids of other neighbouring villages.

When our parents paid to have his talents as a mage tested, they were once again over the moon when he was shown to have an exceptional affinity to the laws of the wind and spiritual essence 90x stronger than average.

Though they didn't exactly have the money, they still invested in hiring a wind elemental mage of the eighth rank to personally train him in the ways of a mage, and as you can imagine, with his talent Aiden shot through the ranks showing remarkable progress. Unfortunately, those good times couldn't last forever.

When Aiden was only a little older than you, he had reached the peak of the fifth rank as both a warrior and mage, a feat which was virtually unheard of, especially for a country bumpkin.

His tutor, proud to be the instructor of such a talent, started showing off the feats of his student to all his peers, many of whom didn't believe him. As a result, Aiden started receiving challenge after challenge from the students of his instructor's peers.

Aiden remained undefeated, and word of his talent and strength really started to spread at that point, and eventually, it reached the youths of the O'Brien Empire. Still, Aiden was too strong for anyone of our generation to beat him.

Eventually, he was challenged by the crowned prince at the time. Byrius O'Brien was nicknamed the little War God because of his overwhelming talent. It was said that he had inherited his talent directly from his ancestor – the War God – and to be fair, the rumours of his talent weren't exaggerated.

At 16, he had reached the seventh rank as a warrior. Unfortunately for him, my brother was even more monstrous. Though only 15, he had just broken through to the sixth rank as a mage and a warrior and had comprehended the fused states of wielding.

The fight was close, incredibly close in fact, but with the support of his magic, Aiden was just able to top his opponent.

But as you can probably imagine, a noble like Byrius O'Brien losing to a country bumpkin like my brother was unacceptable.

From the looks the prince's entourage gave us before leaving, my family understood that things wouldn't end so simply, so they paid a hefty sum to have my brother and I protected by elite guards, two of whom were ninth-rank mercenaries. Unfortunately, I was only ten, so I didn't really understand what was going on; all I knew was that I was no longer to go out to play anymore and had to spend my days locked at home.

When it became too much for the me of back then, I begged Aiden to sneak me out so we could play.

Aiden had always doted on me, so when I asked, he naturally agreed."

As he said to there, the feelings of guilt and regret Jordon radiated only became stronger.

"Whilst playing in the empty fields near the back of our residence, we were approached by Aiden's tutor, a man for whom Aiden had the utmost trust and respect.

When he first approached, nothing seemed to be wrong, but as soon as Aiden dropped his guard, the man took action, trying to assassinate him, but Aiden was able to react quickly enough to barely keep his life.

He was severely injured, up against a mage of the eighth rank, and had to protect me, but still, Aiden has always been one to thrive under pressure. It was a bitter battle, but Aiden still managed to win in the end; but as I said, his tutor was a man he had the utmost trust and respect in.

He couldn't bear to kill him without knowing why. Why he would betray him after all their time together.

Apparently, the crowned prince threatened to kill his family if he didn't kill Aiden. Aiden was so distraught when he heard that, that he didn't notice his former tutor draw for the poison-covered knife by his side until it was too late.

Seeing that, Aiden also went for the kill. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Although the knife only managed to pierce the fleshy part of his thigh, the poison it was coated in was something called Hadean Spirit juice.

It's a very potent poison which aims to destroy the soul of all infected. By all intents and purposes, Aiden should've been a goner, but Aiden being Aiden, managed to turn disaster into fortune, or as close to fortune as possible, all things considered.

He made another breakthrough in his warrior comprehension comprehending impose. His soul merging with nature at that moment allowed his soul to effectively mutate. It basically multiplied in strength, but unfortunately, it also lost its connection to nature.

After that, everyone believed Aiden's future was over. Everyone but Aiden himself. He focused purely on his soul and the path of the warrior till he became the monster he is now."

"So it was the O'Briens again?" Ace murmured, a dense killing intent seeping out with him.

It really seemed that he was destined to be mortal enemies with the O'Brien Empire. First, finding out what his 'biological father' had done to the only real parent he had ever known, and now finding out the truth about what happened to his master. A man he had grown to respect and care for just as deeply as Whitebeard.

"That Byrius…" Ace said, his voice ice cold. "Is he still alive?"

It wasn't hard to guess what was going through Ace's mind. He had just found out that his master had his future all but ruined because of the jealous actions of an entitled noble. Still, Jordon had no intention of lying to Ace.

"He is," Jordon replied. "When Byrius reached 20 and was just about to inherit the throne, O'Brien personally descended to recruit him as his fifth disciple."

"I see," Ace voiced indifferently.

"Before you decide to set your sights on him, you should know that although he's the fifth-ranked disciple in terms of seniority, in terms of strength, he ranks second of all O'Brien's disciples," Jordon explained solemnly.

It was weird for a man of Jordon's stature to say so much to a boy who'd barely entered his teens, but whenever he looked at Ace, Jordon couldn't help but see the shadow of his invincible older brother before his poisoning.

Till now, Byrius had always been something of a heart demon for him, for him even more than Aiden.

In his mind, his older brother wouldn't have been poisoned that day if it weren't for him getting him to agree to take him out to play.

Over the last millennia, Jordon had pushed himself to the limits hoping to avenge his brother. Unfortunately, though he was quite the talent himself, unlike Aiden and his daughter, his talent had limitations.

If it weren't for Aiden training him and getting him the best resources available, forget the peak of the saint rank; just reaching the saint rank might've proved impossible, but Ace was different.

Ace appeared to be even more talented than Amira and Aiden. If anyone could get revenge for his brother, it may well be him.

Still, that was just a dream for the future. The Ace of today was nowhere near ready for that.

"Alright, that's enough of that," Jordon stated after clearing his head of all distracting thoughts. "My wife's never been the patient type. If we keep my wife waiting much longer, neither one of us will be safe from her fury."

As he said that, he flew them back to his and his wife's private residence.

Even as they landed, Ace was still distracted. His mind was focused on suppressing his wrath. Even though both incidents were before he was reborn into this world, the O'Brien Empire had now crossed his bottom line on two occasions.

At that moment, he felt like the only way to quell his anger was to watch the whole of the O'Brien Empire and everyone in it burn until there was nothing left.

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Book 5: Chapter 44 – Ace & Milianna's Identities Revealed