As the princess of the Rohault Kingdom, Amira had been briefed on all of the movers and shakers on the ti, so even before he formally introduced himself, she had reised the handsome man as the Emperor of Darkness and the ander of the Demoniacs.

  “Emperediah, my name is Amira Rohault,” The light-skieen introduced calmly. “I have e because it has e to our attention that a member of my empire has been taken by one of your bishops.”

  ‘Looks like that brat really was a member of the Rohault Empire after all. How troublesome,’ Gediah thought to himself whilst keeping a perfect poker fa front of Amira and her party. “Ooh, is that right? I haven’t heard anything about that, but if you give me his name, I ask around for you a back to you immediately.”

  It was obvious that Gediah ying games at this point, but knowing how sticky a situation this was, Amira knew she couldn’t afford to be too demanding. “His name’s Ace.”

  “Ace?” Gediah asked back with a raised eyebrow. ‘So that’s the boy’s real name? Why does that name sound so familiar?’

  Just as Gediah was going to tinue speaking, his attention was grabbed by the gentle roars of a jet-bck lion standing beside Amira. It wasn’t a magical beast that he reised, but it gave off an impressive aura, especially when it was clearly only at the fifth rank.

  “Ace is his name,” Carter said, his voidifferent as his scarlet eyes remairained on the peak saint in front of him. “But the name he gave to you should’ve been Luffy, and acc to my son, he’s currently being escorted to your main hall against his will.”

  When he heard that, Gediah instantly uood that the divi Garoa and his team had sensed earlier wasn’t the Divine Dragon they had initially been assigo recapture but this lion, who was Ace’s true beast partner.

  “Gediah, I suggest you not bother trying to lie anymore,” Carter snorted coldly. “I’m sure you’ve already realised that my son here is a Divi, which means that upon reag adulthood, he will naturally reach the Deity realm, meaning that if anythio happen to his human partner now, iure, when he bees a Deity, it would be simplicity in and of itself to e bad get revenge.

  And before you even think about making a move now, you should know that you may be a peak saint, but the only person I fear in the Cult of Darkness is your wife, and not even she could make me stay if I wish to leave.”

  Upon hearing Carter’s not-so-veiled threat, Gediah’s calm expression receded as a frown took its pce.

  He inally believed that as the Azure Dragon wasn’t here with them, he might be able to easily stall for time without them using the boy and the Dragon’s e to see through him, but things wouldn’t be that easy now. Especially since everything that Carter said was true, when Leonel became a Demi-God iure, if he wished to sughter every single one of them, the Cult would be powerless to stop him uhey had a deity of their own…

  .

  .

  .

  On the castle’s top floor, Ace had been tossed into the very tre of peared to be an octagonal magical formation of some sort.

  Stood on each point of the octagon was one of the various saints of the Cult. Ace didn’t know what they were pnning to do, but he couldn’t help but get a bad feeling. A hopeless smile suffused Ace’s lips as he realised that whatever the cult had pnned for him, they were determio finish regardless of what happened outside.

  “Leo,” Ace seally via their e. “I know we didn’t get to spend that long together, but I need you to do me a favet your father to take you, Amira, and Julius out of here. It looks like there’s ing out of this one for me.”

  When he heard that, Leonel let out a heart-wreng roar as he uantly leapt from his father’s back towards Ace.

  Having grown up having to fend for himself since birth, Leonel had led a lonely life. But since meeting Ad the others, he finally felt a sense of belonging. He would rather die tha anything or aake that away from him. Especially as the only reason Ace was in this predit at all was to protect him.

  He would never be able to live with himself if anything happeo his partner as a result.

  “Leonel, no, e back!” Carter shouted hurriedly, but when he saw the vicious glint in Gediah’s eyes as the man’s hand reached for his sword, he couldn’t help but be reminded of how he had been too weak to protect his son in the past. “DON’T YOU DARE!”

  As soon as Gediah saw Leonel leap in his dire in an attempt to go after Ace, he saw it as a blessing. Carter was right earlier; if Leonel left with his life today, although there was a good ce that Leonel might join them after they had finished ‘ving’ Ace to joihere was still a ce that Leonel would rejeowing Ace wasn’t ag of his own free will.

  And as talented as Ace was, there was no guarantee he would bee a deity. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Leonel, who was guarao bee one iure unless he died prematurely.

  So as Leonel jumped in his dire, he saw it as the best opportunity to protect the Cult. But, unfortunately, with Carter so close, he’d never be allowed to kill the young Divi so easily.

  As soon as Leonel had jumped off, Amira, uanding what was about to happen, quickly grabbed Julius and hopped off Carter’s back, but she wasn’t done. As soon as Leonel had made his move, she had guessed the reason.

  Whilst in mid-air, with a flick of her wrist, she summoned a crystal-like on and a giant purple magicite core almost twice the size of her head. Without a sed thought, she hurriedly ied the core into the on and watched as the on began to glow furiously.

  As the on crashed into the ground, Amira quickly and calmly aimed its tip at the top of the castle in the dire where Leonel had tried to chase after Ace.

  The magicite on was like a miniature on of mass destru. The higher the level of magicite core used to fuel it, the more power it would be able to output. With her having just used a saint-level core, the force of the bst would be no weaker than the forbidden spell of a saint.

  Gediah’s face darkened as soon as he noticed what Amira nning. His sword was just inches from pierg the skull of the young divine lion. Still, if he did, he would be too slow to block the iable violealiation of Carter, who, despite being one sub-rah him, wasn’t much weaker than him being a saint-level magical beast.

  Ordinarily, such a risk would’ve been worth it if it meant taking out a potential future threat like Leonel. Still, from the sudden emergence of the bck light h over the castle, he khe ritual his wife and the others wao use on Ace had begun, and the backsh of failing would be disastrous for them.

  As such, Gediah suddenly disappeared from his inal position, only to reappear in the way of the purple beam tearing through the air. His bde, coated in a pitch-bck battle-qi, easily tore through the lightning elemental beam as he gred at the young princess, a hint of killing i arising.

  Unfortunately for him, Amira wasn’t the slightest bit phased by his presehe time for talking had passed, now was the time for a. She quickly loaded another saint-level magicite core into the on, aiming straight through the man and at the top of the castle.

  The Demoniac’s ander wao hurry down and kill the nuisance, but after catg his son before he got himself killed, Carter appeared above Gediah’s head, his colossal paw spping down at the man’s head as he let out a furious rnalling the beasts oskirts of the city to begin their attack.

  Uo dodge for fear of the harm it would cause to his wife, he was forced to grit his teeth and block both blows simultaneously.

  In the hall on the castle’s top floor, Ad his captors could hear the bsts of the battle going on outside, but it only spurred Shelia to hurry up. “As your humble servant, Lord Sn, I call upon you here today to do your bidding.”

  As she said that, a bck aura appeared above the grimoire in her hand. An energy so dark in colour that it seemed to want to devour the light of the world around it.

  But as Ace felt the fear and unwillingness from not only Leonel but also Amira and Julius with his [Observation], he stared at the Dark Empress, his face void of aion, but it was that same emotionless gre that made her shudder.

  “You had better kill me,” Ace said, his tone just as emotionless as his face. “If you don’t, iure, I will sughter every single one of you!”

  Although the skirmish outside was far smaller, knowing that there were those outside risking their lives to rescue him… Ace couldn’t help but think back to the ‘War of the Best’. It was something he never wao experience again, a, here he was… again!

  Shelia didn’t uand how she had just been intimidated by a child, but when her eyes fell on the bergy h before her, her heart was filled with awe and worship. ‘Unfortunately, you won’t have that ce after being hit by the Divine Boon of Darkness!’

  It may have just been a hint of divine power, but it was still the power of a sn. As the energy maed, even the fighting outside seemed to e to a standstill. The power of a sn was invioble.

  Still, even as the light shot peed his insides, causing his body to glow with a dark radiand float in the air, Ace’s emotionless eyes remairained on the Empress.

  As the bck ball of divine power entered him, all the fatigue and injuries he’d suffered over the st few days seemed to be washed away almost instantly, but that was just the side effect. The energy’s real target was Ace’s soul.

  Theoretically, ohis energy merged with one’s soul, they would forever be a loyal follower of the sns of darkness, but Ace’s soul was anything but normal.

  As soon as the sn’s power neared his soul, the barrier that protected it acted like it had a will of its own, taking the initiative to meet the divine energy.

  As the two inparably powerful energies met, Ace’s ‘soul body’ once again opes eyes.

  -----------------------------------------

  P.S. Support me oreon listed below to read ahead - Release rate is at least 2x as many chapters every week! XD

  Currently 43 chapters ahead

  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 4 - Chapter 38 (Book 4 Finale)