Kapitel 201: Book 6: Chapter 24 – Princess Maria

Over the next nine months, everyone who was anyone had their eyes focused on Ace, or rather, the territory of the Gol Family.

Unfortunately, they were destined to be disappointed. Whilst everyone had expected and even hoped that Ace would capitalise on his recent success to continue his expansion, Ace and his group did the opposite.

Choosing to implement their Grand Marshall's plans, the Gol territory focused on stabilising its current foundations.

But it was in that time that something else happened, catching everyone by surprise.

On the opposite side of the Anarchic Lands, a new and unignorable city took form – the Baruch City.

After arriving in the O'Brien Empire, Linley and his group quickly found Wharton and Lina, where they gave her the finished potion, finally allowing her to restore the sanctity of her soul – minus her innate talent.

The moment it happened, Lina almost had a breakdown after remembering all the horrible acts she had committed over the years.

From her treatment of Ace and his family to the way she treated her beloved husband, and worse yet, her attempted pollution of her dear son's mind.

Linley and Hogg both explained that it wasn't her fault, that she wasn't in her right mind, and she knew it was true, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow.

Oddly, the one who managed to get through to her in the end wasn't her husband, nor was it either her children. Instead, it was the words of her eldest son's master, Doehring Cowart.

He reminded her that she couldn't change the past; all she could do was control her actions from this point on; Lina decided to spend the rest of her life atoning for her sins by being the best mother and wife she could be.

Aside from Lina herself, the most shocked by the sudden revelation of her condition was undoubtedly Wharton.

The young Dragonblood warrior was now and had always been a mother's boy. As such, how could he be any less than enraged by the actions of the Radiant Church?

Similar to Linley, he too had a heart that desired nothing but vengeance. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near strong enough, and after watching Ace's performance last year at the War God's College, he found his drive to get stronger waning.

A feeling which was only made worse when he found that his older brother had also awakened their family's bloodline, and the purity of which was far beyond his, to the point where it wasn't even comparable.

It should be noted that Wharton had always loved and greatly respected his brother; even now, after all these years apart, that hadn't changed. But subconsciously, as the only one of his Clan to awaken the Dragonwarrior bloodline, he always felt that he would be the one to lead their Clan into prosperity, or at the very least, he thought he would be their Clan's greatest warrior of this generation, but now…

First Ace, then Killian, now his own brother. It felt like he was destined to be continuously surpassed by everyone. Even his father had awakened their family's bloodline.

Still, when he heard his brother's plans for their family's future, he couldn't help but feel his blood start to boil in excitement.

The thought of their family competing with Ace's Gol family, a feat which, after seeing Ace's strength a year ago, seemed all but impossible, now became a genuine possibility with Linley's current strength.

The thought of he and his older brother standing side by side, overcoming one tribulation after the next to slowly climb to the peak of their continent, competing against Ace and his group…

As demoralised as he had been, Wharton was still a Dragonblood warrior at the end of the day. Each and every one of them had this burning desire to be number one; it was that drive which led them to be the number one clan for such a long period of time.

From that moment on, Linley now led a group with one necromancer, three Dragonblood warriors, and five Undying warriors, all of whom had strength at or above the seventh rank, with the strongest – Linley – having the strength of a weaker saint.

It was a terrifying force, so it should've come as no surprise that they quickly took over a small city in the Anarchic Lands before quickly expanding to the point where, within a couple of months, they had completely caught up and even surpassed Ace's territory, being the first of the two to form their own Duchy, and yet the rest of the continent couldn't have been any more surprised had they tried.

It had been almost eight months since Ace's group began their reconsolidation project, and in that time, they hadn't paid any attention to the happenings of the rest of the world, or at least Ace and the rest of his classmates hadn't.

"So you mean to tell me that Linley has gone from forming a city to forming the Baruch Duchy in these last eight months?" Ace asked, a competitive light flickering within the depths of his eyes as Cirulus lay on the floor fighting to catch his breath, unable to move his body freely after the hellish training session he was forced to endure.

"Yeah," Cirulus voiced between breaths as he shakily sat up. "The Baruch Duchy was officially formed as of last night."

"I see," Ace said before pausing momentarily. "That lizard may have formed a Duchy before us, but I refuse to let him be the first to create an empire as well.

Are we…"

"Yes," Cirulus answered before Ace could finish his question. "We're ready to begin our next phase as well."

"Good!" Ace grinned. "Have Killian and the others prepare to set off; we move out tomorrow."

Just like that, Killian and the other 'generals' led their forces on round two of Operation Gol Duchy, and as Cirulus predicted, the other major forces had secretly armed each of their targets with top-quality equipment and resources. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough!

Not only were Lance and Ace's classmates just as invincible as ever, sweeping through their respective battlefields with incredible momentum, but with the incredible tactics Cirulus taught the rest of the army, the Gol Army showed incredible prowess, destroying their enemies with minimal losses, but that was just the beginning.

"Are we going to have to wait another nine months to consolidate these forces?" Ace asked Cirulus as he watched Kannal and Osiris successfully conquer their second City.

"No, not this time," Cirulus replied. "With the strength of our foundation, we can march straight on to the next city as soon as you give the word. We'll stop to consolidate after the formation of our Duchy."

"In that case," Ace grinned. "You tell Osiris and Kannal, I'll go and let the other divisions know – we move out in a week!"

Just like that, Ace stepped off against the compressed space beneath his feet, causing an explosive sonic boom as he shot off into the distance like a bullet.

"Is it just me, or has he gotten faster?" Cirulus muttered to himself as he stared in awe at Ace's speed.

Over the last nine months, he had spent most nights training with this young master of his. Although, it was probably more accurate to call it a beating rather than training.

That being said, because of the difference in strength between the two, Cirulus had no idea how much Ace had improved, if at all.

Still, he had seen Ace go all out in the past, and even though Ace had always looked like nothing more than a blur in those moments, he could always barely follow him with his senses, but in that moment, as Ace moved, in Cirulus' eyes, it was genuinely as though Ace had teleported.

It didn't take more than a few hours for Ace to reach each of his territory's four divisions and pass on word of the plans moving forward, and without fail, everyone was excited about their new orders, including each division's new additions.

After getting to experience the infamous Gol Army's power first-hand, most, if not all, were excited about fighting alongside this incredible army.

Unfortunately, because Ace's side didn't plan on making time to properly stabilise their force, a few spies finally made it into their ranks; as such, word of Ace's plans got back to several of their enemies.

A few days later, near the centre of the Anarchic Lands, a team of six extremely powerful experts could be seen sitting around a table, one of whom was an enchanting beauty who looked like an almost identical version of the Dark Empress, Shelia, only younger.

Maria was the only child of Gediah, the commander of the Demoniacs, and his wife Shelia, the reigning Empress of the Dark Alliance and leader of the infamous Cult of Darkness. The same young woman Shelia offered to Ace to join her side all those years ago.

Like Olivier, Silas, and Wukong, she too was one of the peak geniuses of the previous generation, and judging by the powerful, yet somewhat unstable energy she was radiating, she had entered the saint realm not too long ago.

"Princess, this is the first time we have received word of that boy Ace's plans in advance," a little giant who was clearly over seven feet tall when standing, dressed in obsidian armour, voiced with respect as he looked at the dark-haired young woman sat beside him. "We would be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity."

Had Ace been here, he would have recognised the tyrannical man speaking. It was Sulturn, an Archbishop of the Cult. The same man who called Ace insolent for turning down his Empress's offer of an arranged marriage.

At the time, the man was no different to the Shelia today, a newly promoted saint, but now, his aura was far more stable and more powerful than it had been back then, and judging by the cold glint in his eyes and unrestrained killing intent, it was clear he hadn't forgotten or forgiven Ace for his previous rudeness back then.

"Her Highness already said not to take action against Ace lightly," A handsome middle-aged man with four long jet-black wings extending from his back retorted. "Not unless we're 100% sure to take down Ace."

"Don't be such a pussy, Dendrel! This is the first and only time we've been able to be one step ahead of him. This is our chance to take him down once and for all; who knows if and when we'll get another chance like this," Sulturn snorted before turning back to the princess. "Our side has a dozen two-winged fallen angels with the power of ninth-rank warriors, and aside from you and I, we even have four saint-level fallen angels, one of whom is a six-winged angel with the power of a mid-staged saint."

"You wish for us to be the first side to break the unwritten rule and send saints to take part in the wars of mortals?" Maria asked lightly, her opinion virtually impossible to read from her almost emotionless face.

"Yes, princess," Sulturn nodded solemnly. "Since we don't know which battlefield Ace is likely to appear on, we would have to split the six of us evenly among the four battlefields, but if done correctly, one of our groups will undoubtedly run into Ace; at that point, we can easily kill him!

After all is said and done, who will dare say anything about our tactics, especially with Ace and his group provoking so many of the other major forces?"

Maria didn't respond immediately. Instead, she looked at the old woman with black wings sitting with her eyes closed beside her, radiating a power far surpassing the other saints in the room. "What do you think, Granny Harriet?"

The old woman didn't even open her eyes as she indifferently replied. "It doesn't matter to me one way or the other; my only job is keeping you safe."

Maria didn't take the old woman's blunt words to heart, clearly used to this old woman's chilling indifference. Instead, she closed her eyes to ponder the options.

"Fine," Princess Maria said after thinking things through properly. "We'll do it your way, Sulturn!"

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Book 13: Part 15 – Can't Wait