Book 10: Part 9 – Druelle’s Furious Return

Tens of thousands of miles away, in a large metallic lifeform that was speeding through the skies, Druelle and a handsome young man were sitting across from each other.

The young man had an amused and playful smile on his face as he looked at the enchanting face of the woman sitting across from him, whose expression was plagued with worry.

The young man was the publicly recognised number one expert of the Celestial Realm – Fu'Raz. Not only was Fu'Raz the Celestial Realm's strongest deity – being that he was the Celestial Realm's only confirmed Paragon – he was also the leader and founder of the Knowledge Seeking Corporation. But most importantly, as a paragon of the Edict of Fate, he specialised in all things regarding the soul.

Druelle had just finished paying a hefty sum to get him to agree to the terms of her request to scour the souls of the two siblings so she could get her hands on the [Dual Battle Tactics] when Fu'Raz got word from one of his subordinates that the Golden Sun Pirates had somehow escaped the seal and were making their way towards the Boleyn Clan's HQ.

Hearing that, Druelle couldn't help but fear for the worst. She didn't care much for the rest of her clan, but her son was a different story altogether.

Sensing her obvious worry, Fu'Raz agreed to hurry back with her. In part because of the terms of their deal, in part because he was curious about Ace and the other Golden Sun Pirates, but mainly because he was interested to find out if Garot really had taken that step, finally becoming like him, a genuine Paragon.

During their flight back, Fu'Raz got word from his subordinates that Garot had been spotted at a teleportation station after having paid to go to the Infernal Realm. The odd thing was that when Garot was spotted, his cultivation seemed to be perfectly hidden. No one seemed to be able to sense the slightest fluctuation from him.

Others may not understand the significance of such a thing, but as a paragon himself, he understood that if a paragon (or sovereign) used their Willpower to hide their cultivation, only those at the paragon realm or above would be able to sense their presence.

Hearing that, Druelle sighed in relief. As long as Ace didn't have a paragon with him, she refused to believe that after only 1000 years, he and his crew would've reached a level where they'd be able to truly cause a fuss at her Boleyn Clan.

Still, something didn't sit quite right. As a result, they never stopped hurrying along.

At the same time, back at the Boleyn Clan's estate, Ace and Joleon floated in the air, facing each other, ignoring the battles that were going on around them. When Joleon slowly stepped forward as he told Ace that he should go all out if he wanted to survive this time.

Ace knew exactly what Joleon was referring to. Back towards the end of their last fight, when Ace was preparing to truly go all out in an attempt to kill all their enemies as quickly as possible, right before Garot had revealed himself to Ace and told him to enter the seal, even though Ace hadn't revealed his ability to use Willpower, he had coated his whole body in [Armament Haki].

When Joleon realised that someone he thought of as so much weaker than himself had actually dared to hold back, it had understandably rubbed him the wrong way.

Unfortunately for him, Ace didn't seem to care one bit for his feelings as he replied, maybe if his mother was there, but for him, there's no need.

In a fit of rage, Joleon was no longer able to remain calm. Summoning his Sovereign Artifact, he attacked Ace with everything he had, only to find that Ace was far from the same man he fought a thousand years ago.

Forget using his [Armament Haki]. Ace didn't even use his Golden Sun Visual Manifestation, and yet he was able to hold his own perfectly against Joleon. A feat that brought no small shock to the supreme genius of the Boleyn Clan.

It had to be remembered that the last time they met, Ace had only comprehended 10% of *True Fire* as opposed to Joleon, who had already comprehended over 90% of the six-way fusion of the mysteries of the Laws of Darkness.

And now, even though Ace's comprehension of his *True Law* was still significantly lower than Joleon's, because his long list of new techniques had more than filled in the gaps in his fighting style as well as the fact that his [Blazing Glaive Art] had reached the peak of the Full God realm, there was nothing for Joleon to take advantage of anymore.

It also had to be mentioned that each law had an attribute of combat that they specialised in. Fire, for example, tended to focus on explosive and powerful material attacks. As for the Laws of Darkness, it focused on its deceptiveness and unpredictability.

Unfortunately for Joleon, Ace was precisely the worst kind of opponent he could have gone up against. Not only was his soul exceedingly powerful, even amongst High Gods, with the addition of [Observation Haki], it could be said that Ace could read Joleon's intentions like a book.

As the fight continued, Ace slowly but surely suppressed him more and more until Joleon went from shock to unbridled rage to genuine fear. No matter what he tried, Ace was able to perfectly counter him, not even allowing him space to breathe.

He asked how Ace could've possibly surpassed him in only a thousand years, which, to experts at their level, was effectively only the blink of an eye.

In response, Ace snorted and told him that back when they first fought, Ace and his crew were each only a little over 300 years old. One thousand years may not have been a long time for Joleon, but to each of them, it was more than enough time for drastic improvements.

Hearing that, Joleon couldn't help but look up at Ace in complete and utter fear. He had always thought of himself as a genius, but compared to each of the Golden Sun Pirates, he was truly nothing.

Any thoughts of fighting back at this point had long since faded away. Upon realising that he never really stood a chance, Joleon threw his pride to the side and outright begged Ace to spare him. Unfortunately, in Ace's eyes, Joleon had crossed his bottom line too many times.

Ace was just about to put an end to the battle when the amulet Joleon wore across his chest lit up, and the ethereal projection of a cyan-robed, fiery-haired man appeared in front of the terrified Joleon.

The man's name was Ballmer, a paragon of the laws of Fire, but more importantly, he was none other than Joleon's father.

He warned Ace that if he dared to kill his son's most powerful Divine Clone, he would spare no expense at hunting him down and killing him and everyone he held dear. A threat that clearly didn't go down well with Ace as he no longer hesitated.

He indifferently incinerated Ballmer's projection, which didn't even have the strength of a six-star fate seeker, before killing Joleon's Divine Clone of Darkness.

It was right then when a frightful killing intent erupted from the distance as a truly powerful Godrealm swept over them, causing all the battles to stop in their tracks.

Druelle, who had left the clan to invite an expert in the ways of the soul, had just returned in time to see her husband's projection being destroyed and her son's most talented Divine Clone.

Even though she knew her son's true body was safe and sound by her husband's side, she also knew his future was now ruined. She knew better than anyone how hard it had been for her son to reach that level, and that was with his most talented clone. The chances of him being able to do so again with another element or edict were virtually impossible.

Her killing intent pressed down on the hearts of everyone in the vicinity. Unable to wait any longer, she blew a hole in the side of her own metallic lifeform before shooting straight for Ace at a speed that most present couldn't even follow.

Ace wasn't particularly worried about her. The person he was worried about was the young man who leisurely hopped out of the metallic lifeform. As someone capable of using Willpower, Ace could sense that he was using Willpower to hide his cultivation, which told Ace everything necessary. That seemingly ordinary, handsome young man was actually a paragon!

Then, he sensed Druelle take an obsidian orb out of her spatial ring. An orb that radiated a terrifying aura. An aura he had only sensed from sovereigns in the past.

He was just about to hurry out of Druelle's range, not wanting to find out the hard way what it did when she suddenly activated it.

A jet-black energy that radiated the overwhelming power of a Sovereign escaped from the orb that proceeded to close around her and Ace.

As the orb was activated, Alissa, Joel, and the others didn't hesitate to hurry towards Ace, wanting to help him. Unfortunately, they were all too slow. Not even Killian or Leona were able to make it in time.

Surprisingly, though, Amira, despite being the furthest away, moved at a speed that had even surpassed Druelle previously, allowing her to enter the field of darkness before it solidified.

It should be mentioned that Leona wasn't the only soul mutate to begin fusing mysteries from separate laws. Though she was technically only a soul mutate when she fused with her Visual Manifestation, during her time in the seal, she had actually completely fused the Law of Light's Profound Mystery of Lightspeed and the Law of Wind's Profound Mystery of Velocity.

The moment she sensed the appearance of that mysterious obsidian orb, she didn't think twice about revealing her Vis Clan bloodline and transforming into her angel form. Then, utilising her inter-law fused mysteries, her speed reached a level that even shocked Fu'Raz – the only other person present who was fast enough to enter the field of darkness before it solidified.

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Story Complete!

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