When Ace arrived back outside, he found his Killian and Leonel having a stare-off against their eammate – Chukaya – with Amira standing in the middle, trying to act as a peacemaker.

  "Little Mira, you don't o protect your friends," Chukaya voiced, believing that Amira khat he was strong enough to hah Killian and Leo. "As long as your cssmates stop being pointlessly stubborn and agree to make me team leader, I won't treat them unfairly."

  Whilst Chukaya believed that Amira was stopping her cssmates from embarrassing themselves, the truth was that she was stopping Leonel from tearing Chukaya limb from limb.

  Since arriving at the Pavilion, Leonel hadn't made a move, so there weren't many, even in the Pavilion, that uood precisely how monstrous of a beast he was, but Amira didn't fall into that category.

  When she arrived bae from the pavilion, she told her 'mother' about Leo, Bebe, and the divine Azure Dragon they met in the wilderness half a year ago.

  Even her mother, who in her eyes, whilst not the most powerful saint she'd met, was without a doubt the most experienced and knowledgeable – even in parison to Arianna – was rendered speechless when she heard there were three divis of such stature in the Yun ti, let alohe fact that Amira ran into all of them in the space of a couple of months.

  She expihat although they too were Divis like the Suanni Lion and the Ba Serpent, Divis that could jump across three realms to fight as mortals relying on nothing but their natural abilities are referred to as Apex Divis, and they're sidered to be invincible to all other creatures at the same level.

  Whilst it was true that Chukaya was a realm above and ae-level talent who could challehose above his realm, the differeween him and Leo was too big.

  It wouldn't be a big deal if Ace were here because, as a Lion type beast, Leo had an innate pride (pack) mentality, and as the leader of their 'pride' Leo would always do exactly as Astructed, but because he was the sed stro of their group, Leo saw himself as the sed in and of the group when Ace wasn't around.

  Not only would he do anything to protect the rest of those he saart of his pride, but he also would hesitate to kill anyone who dared to insult the dignity of his leader.

  "You? Lead us?" Killian snorted disdainfully. "You're not qualified."

  "What did you say?" Chukaya asked coldly as he took a step forward as if he repared to make a move.

  "I agree with Killian," Ebeze added from the side. "You're not qualified to lead this team."

  "And who is?" Chukaya asked, his frosty eyes falling on his fellow tryman as if he were daring him to tio oppose him.

  "Ace," Ebeze, Amira, and Killian all voiced at ohout a moment's hesitation.

  "What, just because he's prehended Impose?" Chukaya asked disdainfully, his attention focused on Amira and Ebeze, believing they would be the easiest to reason with as his patriots. "The leader of our team should be the stro, the one who's able to protect us best from all potential threats, and whilst it's truly impressive that he was able to prehend impose at his age and cultivation, he's still not a mate. I am the only one who's qualified."

  "Look, even his beast partner agrees with me," Chukaya stated wheiced that Leonel, who had previously been growling threateningly, had calmed down all of a sudden.

  At the same time, Amira also no longer bothered with Chukaya, having seemed to have figured something out from Leo's passive state.

  Ebeze was just about to respond to Chukaya's boastful cims when a calm yet imposing voice cut through the tension in the air.

  "Enough," Ace voiced as he calmly strode towards them from the pace gates. "Everyo on board now. We're leaving."

  As soon as his words came out, both Ebeze and Killian got on the carriage as instructed.

  Amira gave Ace a sweet smile and a nod, but she too got on board, leaving Leo, who was too big to fit ihe carriage, and Chukaya, who was too busy gring at Ace, who didn't seem to eveer his presence as he made his way to the carriage.

  Chukaya had already felt on edge around Ace since he arrived as he saw his desired future slowly slipping out from under him, then for the emperor to have him stay behind to have a private versation – something that had never happeo him in all his time as a citizen of the Rohault Empire – Chukaya felt his grasp over the situation slipping further and further away from him.

  As far as he was ed, if he wao begin to rectify the situation, he had to take leadership of the team. That way, if they were to perform well enough otlefield, he would be able to impress Emperor Jordon and Amira in one fell swoop.

  But how could he have imagihat not only would every single member of the team ht oppose him, but they would obey Ace's instru as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  His eyes reddened with rage and unwillingness, and the popping of his knuckles rang in the air as he gred at the dark-haired youth who tio ignore him entirely, but just as he opened his mouth to say something, the invioble voiperor Jord through the air, making him swallow his words.

  "Ace is the leader of the team, and that's final!"

  Looking up in the sky, Chukaya saw his Emperor casually floating, looking down at them from above.

  By the time he regained his posure enough to look away from his leader, Chukaya had found that Ace had already passed him by aered the carriage.

  "As you wish, my lord," Chukaya bowed respectfully as he forcibly suppressed his anger before he too ehe carriage.

  He couldn't help but feel awkward as he entered, but as if to make matters worse, whether it was Ace, Killian, Leonel, or Amira, none seemed to pay him the slightest bit of attention. It was a strange feeling, but subsciously, he would've preferred if they looked at him gloatingly like the look he was receiving from Ebeze.

  After all the fuss he made wanting to be team leader, the plete ck of aowledgement he received from them, as though this was the only possible oute, made him feel so much worse thahought possible. Still, with the Emperor firming Ace's position as leader, he didn't dare to say anything else oter.

  Chukaya watched calmly as Ace, Amira and the others left for the battlefield. He would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about Amira's safety. After all, even though she wasn't his blood daughter, he had still raised her since she was a baby. He had long since seen her as his own. But other than worry, he also felt a sense of anticipation aement.

  He knew better than ahat there was er pce for a warrior to temper themselves than otlefield. Even though she would be called ba a couple of months for the birth of her baby 'siblings', Jordon believed that the ime he saw Amira, he would be pleasantly surprised by her transformation.

  "I hope this is the right decision," Sharanthia said as she appeared beside her husband in mid-air, as she watched her niece heading to the battlefield.

  "Don't worry," Jordon said reassuringly as he took her hands in his. "Nothing will happen to them. Kaymin's following them from the shadows, and I've also instructed Ejiro to oversee the battlefield, just in case their identity's blown, and a saint from the O'Brien Empire appears."

  She was still worried, but her husband's words did mao reassure her, albeit only slightly. Chukaya's master, Elder Ejiro, was amongst the stro saints in the Rohault empire. The only orohan him were Jordon, Sharanthia, and of course, Aiden.

  The ces of the O'Brien having a saint that strong anywhere he battlefield was unlikely; after all, it ubliowledge that whilst the Rohault Empire was fighting for their home, the O'Brien Empire saw the battlefield as a pce to hoheir warriors.

  .

  .

  .

  At the same time, all five of the youths were sat in the back of the carriage heading towards the battlefield with Leo leisurely running beside them.

  "I know you all heard Emperor Jordon's words just now, so I'm only going to say this once," Ace said, his tone grave as his eyes swept all of his team individually. "For the duration of our stay otlefield, I expect ead every one of you to obey my ands as team leader. I won't tolerate the as of any one individual put the lives of the others in harms way.

  If you 't accept those terms, then you're free to join one of the regur regiments. If you have a problem with that and wish to join a regur regiment, say so now."

  Even though Ace didn't mention a didn't take a genius to uand he was talking mainly to Chukaya. Still, the teen iion simply snorted, before looking in the opposite dire.

  It was clear that as unwilling as he was to follow the orders of Ace, he was even more unwilling to be separated from Amira.

  "Good," Ace tinued, his voice taking a more warm tone. "Now that we've gotten that out the way let's look forward to a productive training experience."

  Even though there was nothing wrong with his words as such, the others could sehe faint bloodlust radiating from the dark-haired team leader.

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  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 5: Chapter 50 – Lord Beirut (Finale)