Book 11: Part 11 – Disaster Falls

When asked, neither Killian nor Leona hurried to respond.

For starters, even though it had been several days since her battle with Mosi, Leona was still unconscious – digesting the comprehension of Mosi's Divine Spark.

As for Killian, because Shinji was now effectively a Sovereign on their side, especially being the father of Wukong, he'd be lying if he said he was against the idea.

The only reason he was hesitating was because Ace would be entering the Planar War in the not-too-distant future. As his sworn brother, Killian wanted to spend as much time with Ace as possible between now and then.

Ace, easily able to see through Killian's hesitation, told him to jump at the opportunity. He also accepted the offer on Leona's behalf.

With a backer like Shinji, he likely wouldn't have to worry about either of their safety whilst he was away from them in the future. Plus, Shinji would probably be able to help them progress far more than he could. It really was a win-win.

Still, as much as he loved and respected Ace's opinion and judgement as his big brother, he had long since grown into his own man who was capable of making his own decisions.

He resolutely turned to Shinji and said he'd agree to his offer on three conditions. First, that Mosi was killed. Although Killian wasn't extraordinarily close to Cesar, his wife was. For daring to target a member of his wife's family, Mosi had signed his own death warrant.

Second, was that he wouldn't leave until after his wife had been to visit her ancestral clan – the Divine White Tiger Branch of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

Before leaving for the Celestial Realm, Beirut had told all of them not only where they were but that by visiting them, as descendants, they would be eligible to partake in the clan's Ancestral Baptism, which would not only strengthen their bloodline – albeit only slightly – but most importantly, it would allow them to awaken their Divine Ability.

The final and most important condition was that he be allowed to enter the Planar Wars when Ace did – albeit on the opposing side.

When his words came out, Wukong also said that he'd also be entering. He didn't care that Shinji was his father, nor that he was a Sovereign; he left him no room for debate. For Ace, there was nothing he wouldn't do!

Shinji sighed helplessly. Although Killian, Wukong, and even Leona were all at the commander level, and Killian could even be considered an invincible commander, he knew better than anyone how brutal the Planar Wars were. In the past, even paragons died while inside. And with everything he had learned from Ace, he knew this one would likely end up being the most dangerous.

Still, he also understood that he had no right to decide the fate of anyone else, even his son. Plus, with the three of them together, the chances that anything would happen to them were slim; as such, he agreed to their terms – albeit reluctantly.

Because of Killian's request to wait till after Alissa finished with her ancestral baptism, Shinji decided to wait for them at Beirut's residence; as for Ace and the others, Beirut explained that they had actually just missed Linley and his group.

Because of Bebe, Linley and the others would come to Beirut's manor semi-regularly, and although they had just missed them by a few hours if they hurried, they could probably catch them.

With that said, Ace and the others, not caring much for the rule of no flying within the city walls, made a beeline straight for the direction in which Linley had supposedly left.

As they approached the location Linley was supposed to be leaving from, the eyes of Ace and the others widened in surprise. Linley wasn't there, neither was his wife, Yunaia. But Olivier, Bebe, Wharton, and Gates all were.

Still, the reason for their visible surprise was because of the state of the terrain. A devastating battle had clearly taken place here, and judging by the state of the corpse, the injuries on Linley's group, as well as the remnant energy pervading the atmosphere, it clearly concluded fairly recently.

As Ace and the others landed, Olivier, Bebe, and the other two, all of whom were injured to varying levels, were all rendered speechless.

Even though both groups had been in the Infernal Realm this whole time, and both had entered at near enough the same time, neither Linley's nor Wukong's group had run into each other, say less for Ace's team, so seeing both teams together, their shock could be imagined, but what no one expected was for Wharton, Linley's little brother, to rush straight to Ace and grab him by the collar and roar in his face asking why he came late, why he couldn't have come an hour earlier.

Killian and the others reacted instinctively, all preparing to intercept Wharton and remind him of his place, but Ace, who could sense the underlying feeling of inadequacy, helplessness, and weakness, raised his hand to stop them, allowing Wharton to slam him into the ground creating a small crater.

He watched in silence as Wharton's tears poured down his face endlessly. It was only when Wharton's grip loosened that Ace asked him what happened, not taking any offence to Wharton's outburst, understanding his need to vent better than most.

Olivier, understanding that Wharton was in no place to speak, explained that they had left the city and formed up here, waiting to head back to Skyrite Mountain, when they were suddenly caught in the middle of an ambush led by the Eight Great Clans – the enemy of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

Olivier explained that after arriving at the clan and going through his ancestral baptism, Linley was seen as the clan's chance at restoring at least a portion of their former glory.

Not only was he a Full God following the path of a Supreme Genius who, at the time, was over halfway through the process of fusing his fifth mystery of the law of water, but more importantly, his bloodline was the purest they had ever seen.

Even before his baptism, his bloodline had far surpassed those first-generation descendants – the direct sons and daughters of the four ancestors. In fact, it was said that it was only a trace inferior to the Azure Dragon ancestor in the first place and that trace of impurities was filled in during his baptism.

Not only did the ridiculous strength of his body and his already incredible affinity to the laws of water increase slightly, but most importantly, he finally managed to awaken the Divine Ability of the Azure Dragon, and it wasn't the watered-down version of the other descendants, it was the true Azure Dragon's Roar that allowed him to actually freeze time temporarily for his opponents.

As news spread through the clan, all the various descendants, regardless of which branch they were from, felt excited beyond belief at the prospect of such a talented descendant returning to the clan.

It was to the point where even the various leaders of each branch decided that regardless of whether Linley was able to make it to the end of the Supreme Genius path and become a paragon the moment he became a High God or he chose to become a High God in advance, the day he became a High God was the day that he would become the official Clan Leader of the who Four Divine Beast Clans.

Of course, there were a few who didn't agree, believing that such a privilege should only be afforded to a first-generation descendant. Still, they were in the minority and, as such, weren't able to overturn the decision.

Especially as Linley's growth rate over the last few hundred years since arriving at the clan was nothing short of mind-blowing.

As it stood, although he hadn't begun fusing the sixth mystery of water, he had completed the five-way fusion. Not only that, but he had also completed a four-way fusion of the mysteries of the laws of earth and was in the process of working on a four-way fusion of the laws of wind.

And with every campaign he went out on, he would take the heads of several seven-star fiends of the Eight Great Clans.

It got to the point where, every time they learnt Linley was being sent out, one of the few commander-level experts they had among their ranks would be sent out to battle him.

And as if that wasn't enough, Linley wasn't the only heaven-defying expert in his group. Although their comprehension was nowhere near the level of Linley, both Wharton and Gates fused three and two mysteries, respectively. And thanks to Beirut gifting all the descendants of the Four Supreme Warriors on the Yulan Plane with their ancestral blood, both had the bloodline purity of a first-generation descendant.

Even though neither could compare to Linley, they both had the strength of six-star fiends and could be considered top-tier experts in the clan.

Then there was Bebe and Oscar (Yunaia's crow-type beast partner). As both were genuine Apex Divine Beasts, also following the path of a Supreme Genius, they had both reached the level of a seven-star fiend – albeit reluctantly. And that was without the use of their Divine Abilities. At which point, they were capable of killing some commander-level experts.

Still, the most terrifying of the group, aside from Linley himself, was Yunaia and Olivier.

Not only had both fused multiple mysteries for each of their respective laws but most importantly, both were two-way soul mutates.

As it stood, Yunaia could be considered invincible among seven-star fiends. And Olivier, although he hadn't fused as many mysteries as Yunaia because he had successfully fused mysteries from light and darkness, his strength made him fairly formidable, even among those at the Commander level.

Olivier guessed that it was probably a combination of all of those reasons that the Eight Great Clans had set an ambush today, which ended up being led by 5 of their 12 commander-level experts.

Thankfully, Phusro, another commander-level expert they had made friends with during their journey through the Infernal Realm, was with them at the time.

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