Chapter 120: Book 4: Chapter 32 – Final Battle (1)
"Gol D.?" Fuscor muttered to himself with a frown.
A name like that was extremely unique. He, along with his colleagues, would've instantly remembered if they had heard it before. It just meant this 'Gol D. Ace' likely came from a weak family in a small and remote territory none of them had ever heard of or been to.
Alas, it didn't matter who his family were or where he came from. All that mattered now was eliminating a future threat.
If he was really as old as he looked, there was no doubt in any of their minds that once he grew up, he would truly be unrivalled.
Even Olivier understood this, which was why he was the first to take action.
'Fast!' Ace noted to himself as he foresaw Olivier's golden qi-coated sword appear at his throat at a speed too fast for him to evade even with his [Observation Haki].
Still, his face showed no panic. In fact, he was still smiling calmly as he also foresaw General Kaymin take action at the exact same time.
"Well done, Ace!" The unrivalled general announced calmly as his crimson battle-qi-coated great sword clashed with the young prodigy of the opposing side, his voice projecting so both sides could hear. "Your efforts today will be the reason we hand the O'Brien Empire their first official defeat since the start of their rise.
Now, you go back and help the others. Leave him to me!"
"General Kaymin," Olivier said as he stared into his opponent's eyes, his battle intent soaring like never before as his blood boiled in excitement. "I've looked forward to this meeting for a long time now."
"Ooh, and why's that?" Kaymin asked calmly.
"Because after I take your head today, you will no longer have the title of the Unbeaten General!" Olivier exclaimed as his sword flickered around the general, trying to reap the life of the most powerful man he'd fought to date.
General Kaymin's previous statement had the effect of rousing his troop's morale whilst suppressing his enemies even more than it already was after Ace mysteriously knocked over half of them out, but Ace barely registered any of it. Instead, his attention was on the streak of fire left from when the General moved to stop Olivier from attacking him.
'Interesting,' Ace thought before he was once again brought back out of his daze by the true eruption of the battle between the titans of the battlefield.
"KILL ACE!" Lyrin roared as he and all the ninth-rank warriors shot forward as quickly as possible, hoping to stop their target from escaping.
Unfortunately for them, as soon as they made a move, so too did the top experts of the Rohault Empire.
Still, with their reinforcements, there was a slight gap in the number of top experts between both sides, and whilst it didn't make much of a difference in the fights between generals as it required at least two to keep Kaymin tied up, there was still an ordinairy rank nine and several rank eight warriors that the higher-ups of the Rohault Army couldn't keep occupied.
"LEO!" Ace shouted as he skilfully weaved in and out of the various battles leading the remaining ninth-rank warrior away. "KILL THE RANK EIGHTS. LEAVE THIS ONE TO ME!
THE REST OF YOU, WORK TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE REST!"
As his voice waned, both Killian and Amira stared in the direction he was running away unwillingly with their fists clenched tightly. They knew that as it stood, Ace still wasn't strong enough to fight against rank nine experts, but he had to because they were still too weak to interfere in a battle of that level.
Ace wasn't the only person to make a breakthrough the day before. During yesterday's battle, Amira had finally stepped into the fifth rank as a warrior, allowing her to hold her own against experts at the seventh rank like Killian and Chukaya. But, unfortunately, warriors of the eighth rank were still too much for the current them.
If they were only a little stronger, they would be able to deal with the enemy's rank eight experts allowing Leo to support Ace against the warrior of the ninth rank.
Although on their own, neither was quite as powerful as a rank nine warrior, fighting together was a different matter altogether.
Killian roared in anger at his own weakness as he clapped his hands together. As his palms separated, a jet-black spear made of pure destructive mageforce formed. "[Spear of Destruction]!"
At the same time, Amira's eyes frosted over as she raised leapt towards one of the warriors of the seventh rank, both of her swords emitting a blinding light as they sped towards the head and neck of her target.
Though they didn't remove their hoods, Killian and Amira had had enough of holding back. Today they would reveal their full strength so that they could do whatever they could to ease the burden on Ace.
Killian's [Spear of Destruction] was a spell of the fifth rank that his master, Mathias, had created, and although the element of destruction was by far the strongest in terms of pure offence, it should be easily dealt with by a warrior of the seventh rank. But those with an affinity to any of the edicts were too rare, so when Killian's target saw the jet-black spear flying towards him, he was momentarily taken aback, stopping him from reacting as quickly and efficiently as he usually would have.
Still, as an experienced warrior of the seventh rank, his reaction speed was anything but slow. Unfortunately for him, by the time he made a move to dodge, not daring to take on a spell of the edict of Destruction head-on, Killian had insta-cast his [Supergravity Field] and [Earth Tremor], slowing his target down even further and preventing him from regaining his footing.
Just as the spear made contact, the man covered his body in a sea blue battle-qi before it exploded. His battle-qi managed to protect the rest of his body from damage, but it was too late for his arm. The explosion vaporised everything from the shoulder down, but before he could even release a pained cry, a giant twin-sided battle-axe appeared in front of him, mercilessly descending, cleaving him in two from the head down.
Killian's show of force was so brutal that it made several of the other soldiers on both sides stare at him like he was some sort of monster.
That lapse in concentration proved fatal for the soldiers of the O'Brien Army as Amira, who had already cleanly dealt with her opponent, flickered, appearing in the middle of the O'Brien ranks, her blade dancing through the air, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
"KILL THOSE TWO FIRST!" One of the peak seventh-rank warriors shouted, forcing his comrades out of their daze.
"KIL, NOW!" Amira shouted back.
After a month of fighting together and having trained alongside each other for five years prior, the teamwork of the two pavilion disciples was virtually seamless.
Killian didn't need his classmate to say anything else as he immediately leapt towards her, once again insta-casting the [Supergravity Field] to slow down their enemies.
At the same time, Amira insta-cast [Supersonic] on him, giving him a sharp increase in speed.
Though earth and wind were what the duo were best at and also the best elements in terms of support, with neither of them holding back their other elements, it allowed them to tap increase their arsenal, giving them access to a variety of spells for different any potential scenario.
Ebeze and Chukaya watched what was effectively a light show, with their mouths agape as the duo slaughtered their enemies at a speed that made the efforts from the day before look almost snail-like.
"HAHAHA! NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Ebeze shouted as he too jumped head-first into the thick of things.
Though he was nowhere near as strong as either of them, he didn't let his jealousy hinder him. In fact, he used it as motivation.
It was that attitude that allowed him to improve so much in such a short space of time.
Though he hadn't made a breakthrough as such, in Ace's eyes, he was the one who had seen the biggest and arguably most important improvement. Whether it was his combat intelligence or battlefield IQ, it was constantly climbing.
He didn't know if it was because of who his father was and the way he was raised or if it was completely innate, but in Ace's eyes, Ebeze was literally born for warfare.
He went from a complete amateur on day one to the battlefield leader he was today.
Even though his blood was boiling with excitement, he didn't let it cloud his judgement. On the contrary, he constantly did what he could to save the lives of his fellow soldiers whilst taking command of those around him, giving them even more of a tactical advantage than they already had.
Despite being the oldest of the group, Chukaya could only look at his peers dejectedly.
He came here with such grand aspirations, only to perform the absolute worst. Even Ebeze, someone he always viewed with complete disdain, had accomplished far more than he had, despite being significantly weaker.
As time went on, the edge he'd developed from being the strongest of all his peers and thought of in such high regard by his seniors began to dull. Now he could barely bring himself to lift his sword as feelings of inferiority began to overwhelm him.
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Book 6: Chapter 24 – Princess Maria
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