Book 11: Part 23 – Awakening (Finale)

With the four unsuccessful Sovereigns now gone, the next to take their leave was Gitara.

Looking at Faye, she said they should go too. The sooner they got back, the sooner she could have Faye undergo a test to decide if she would be just her Emissary or if she would become her genuine disciple.

Hearing that, Faye would be lying if she said she wasn't tempted, but at the same time, like Killian, she didn't want to part from Ace and the others before it was absolutely necessary.

Understanding what was going through her mind, Ace smiled and told her to go. They would meet again in the Planar Battlefield.

Once Gitara and Faye left, Garott had Gisalson take the rest of the Four Divine Beasts Clan to Miluo Island ahead of him so that he, Ace, Beirut, and the others could have some privacy.

Once alone, Ace looked to Beirut for answers. Although he trusted Beirut implicitly, it didn't mean he wasn't curious as to why Beirut was so reluctant to let Kannal and the others become Emissaries of one of the various Sovereigns.

It was then that Beirut explained that after hearing Shinji's story, he thought it was best to keep a safe amount of distance between their group and the other Sovereigns of Destructions, especially Wodred.

Shinji nodded and added that since Wodred was willing to make an appearance to protect Phueus from Augusta all those years ago, their relationship was far from simple and until they knew exactly how close the two Chief Sovereigns were, it only made sense to keep their distance.

Hearing that, Ace and the other Golden Sun Pirates frowned. Ace asked if Faye was going to be alright with Gitara.

In response, Shinji said that if there was one Sovereign of Destruction, they didn't have to worry about following Wodred; it was Gitara.

Wodred then explained that even though the Four Divine Beasts were all Lesser Sovereigns of their respective elements when fighting together, they were even stronger than the average Chief Sovereign, and the main reason for that is because, for some reason, when used in unison, they were able to fuse their four Divine Abilities together to create one supreme attack – it was for that reason that the four ancestors grew so close and went so far as to even fuse their individual clans together.

Sometime before their deaths, though, Wodred had approached them and asked for their blood. Although he never came out and said it, all of us Sovereigns knew that it was so that he could study their bloodlines and grasp the secret behind their ability.

As one would expect, the four ancestors readily rejected him, but Wodred didn't stop there. Realising he wouldn't get what he wanted via the direct approach, he asked Gitara to use her connection to help him.

It had to be understood that although we Lesser and Intermediate Sovereigns aren't officially subordinates of our respective Chiefs, we normally do what they ask of us so as not to rock the boat.

Still, Wodred had underestimated Gitara's feelings for the former Divine Black Tortoise. Gitara not only told her former love interest what Wodred wanted, she even told Wodred that she hoped it wouldn't come to this, but if one day there were a battle between Wodred and the Four Divine Beasts, she would stand on the side of the four ancestors.

Since then, although the relationship of the two couldn't be described as oppositional, they were far from friendly.

Garott nodded and added that Aunty Gitara could definitely be trusted, especially when it comes to looking after her own. His father once described Gitara as the most fiercely loyal of all the Sovereigns he had ever met.

Hearing that, Ace and the others sighed with relief, believing that Faye was truly safe – they just prayed that she would be able to take advantage of this opportunity.

Ace just opened his mouth to say something when he saw the odd looks on the faces of Killian and Beirut.

Beirut looked at Ace and told him that it was his master. Not letting Beirut finish his sentence, Ace hurriedly asked if his Aiden was alright.

It had to be remembered that long before they had left the Yulan Plane, Aiden had entered into an odd trance-like state – it had been almost 1500 years since then, but it was only now that there had finally been a change.

Since coming to this world, Ace had made friends with a lot of different people, several of whom he loved dearly, but without a doubt, Aiden was the man he respected most – he was the closest thing to a father he had had since his reincarnation; as such, his mood could be understood.

Killian, whose divine fire clone had returned to the Yulan Plane back when they all left the Celestial Realm, explained that Ace should calm down as Aiden wasn't in danger. In fact, he appeared to finally be waking up from his trance.

Hearing that, an excited grin appeared on Ace's face as he prepared to set off. Killian, Leona, and even Wukong were about to head off with him when Ace told them that they should stay here. There would be time for them to go home in the future; the most important thing for each of them to do right now was to grow stronger as he may well need to rely on them during the Planar Wars.

As reluctant as they were, they knew Ace was right. In the end, Ace left with Kannal and Osiris, the only two from their group who hadn't found an opportunity yet.

As they were leaving, Shinji couldn't help but ask who Aiden was, and Wukong explained that he was Ace's master and the man who invented the path of Concepts.

At the same time, back on the Yulan Plane, every single being in the whole plane had turned to face the Forest of Darkness, having felt the powerful disturbance emanating from there.

As an ordinary Material Plane, the various elemental essences were ordinarily equal in quantity, but as Aiden opened his eyes, the amount of wind essence suddenly skyrocketed to the point where all the others were completely drowned out and almost unable to be sensed.

In the middle of the Forest of Darkness, Aiden, who had just opened his eyes, smiled gently as his trusted glaive suddenly flew into his palm. It even hummed in excitement as its owner used it for the first time in over a thousand years.

Arianna, Aiden's wife, had taken up residence by her husband during his trance. Even if she couldn't touch or speak to him, she refused to be separated from him; as such, she was the very first to notice his change.

Still, she didn't do anything to interrupt him; she merely watched as he practised his glaivesmanship, similar to how she had tens of thousands of times in the past, but this time tears fell down her face as she did – she was unable to contain her excitement at the site of her husband finally waking up after all this time.

She didn't even realise when other experts of their Yulan Plane started arriving one by one.

The first to arrive were the three Sovereigns of their Yulan Plane, followed by the experts of the Gol Empire and Yin-Yang Pavilion. Still, regardless of who it was, they all watched in silence, seemingly unable to extricate themselves from the beauty of Aiden's glaivesmanship.

After 1000 years, the path of Concepts had become widely spread, with several experts having become deities – two of whom had even become Full Gods – still, no one had ever seen anyone even remotely capable of wielding a weapon with such grace and finesse – he was on a level all to himself.

When he finally came to a stop, Aiden closed his eyes, a warm and gentle smile still gracing his face as the natural laws descended.

When the natural laws descended, it usually signified one breaking through one of the deity realms. Still, even when breaking through to become a Paragon, the intensity wasn't so intense.

Everyone present could see that this was no ordinary breakthrough; the Sovereigns could sense the power of Will emanating from Aiden and understood he had miraculously broken through to become a paragon. Still, as a Lesser Sovereign of Wind, the one with the most intense reaction was Beirut – he could sense something else… a power so pure and intense that even he, a genuine Sovereign, had the sudden urge to kneel down and prostrate.

As far as he knew, there was only one level of being that had the power to make even Sovereigns feel inferior, but before he could come to terms with what he was sensing, the natural laws dissipated, leaving Aiden hovering in the skies alone.

What was even more strange was that Aiden could be seen speaking, seemingly with himself, and even though there was no Godrealm keeping others from eavesdropping with their own, no one – not even the three Sovereigns – could hear what Aiden was saying. Furthermore, when one tried to focus on Aiden's mouth to lipread, they would find their vision start to blur, and their head start to pound as the space surrounding Aiden seemed to distort.

As a Sovereign of the Laws of Wind, it took Beirut all of one second to understand that these distortions were due to the Wind's Profound Mysteries of the Essence of Wind, Sound, and Spatial Winds. Still, couldn't sense the energy of anyone else; it was as if nature itself was preventing others from spying on Aiden, a feat that no one, not even a Chief Sovereign of Wind, should be capable of doing.

It was then, as Beirut and the others were coming to terms with what was happening, that Aiden's "conversation" finally seemed to come to an end. His eyes calmly passed over the audience that had gathered around him before landing on his wife as he told her, "I'm Back!"

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