Seeing all his men colpse so suddenly, the branch manager immediately turail a away from Killian in an attempt to escape. Unfortunately for him, Ad Leo weren’t the only monsters present.

  “[Earth Tremor!]” Killian muttered indifferently.

  Throughout the war, Killian had made a lot ress as far as his earth magic was ed, but his most signifit improvement came in the form of his battle IQ.

  Killian timed his spell perfectly so that the moment the branch manager kicked off the ground, he would be thrown off bance by the miniature earthquake.

  Not only was Kil’s spell timed to perfe, it was also powerful enough t the building down on itself.

  Ace, Killian, and Leo were able to easily get out before the building fell on them, as was the branch manager – albeit with a little more difficulty. His subordinates, oher hand, weren’t so lucky.

  Their being unsade it all but impossible to evade the sudden colpse of their building. Luckily they were all warriors at or above the third rank, meaning that with the strength of their bodies, at most, they’d wake up with a few broken bones and bruises, not that Killian seemed to care one way or the other – his sole focus was on his oppo.

  The moment the branch manager realised his building was ing down, he used his shaky footing to unch his body outside before he was crushed beh the rubble.

  He had every iion of quickly rolling to his feet and tinuing his escape, but before he could get back to his feet, he felt the cold, sharp bde of Killian’s axe resting against his neck, and judging by the killing i radiating from the axe-wielding teen; he wouldn’t hesitate in killing him if he tried anything funny.

  Realising he was out of options, the man turned his head to look at the little moanding in the middle of the road ign the shocked looks he was getting from the passing civilians. “You’re that Ace kid, aren’t you?”

  “So you do know me?” Ace asked calmly.

  “I was just in the middle of reading the report about you when you showed up,” the man said in a surprisingly calm tone sidering his current situation.

  His ability to stay calm was in part due to his training, but mainly, it was because Ad his group didn’t seem to have any attention to kill.

  When he first read the reports on the aplishments of Ad his group in the war, he didn’t think that his achievements must’ve beely embellished, but after watg the trio in a, he uood that Ace was every bit as strong as the report made him seem.

  As such, if Ace really wao kill them, he could’ve do iack.

  His assessment of Ace ot on; Ace truly had no iion of killing them. Until he had firmed the current status of Alissa’s retionship with them, he would give them the be of the doubt.

  But if he found they’d done anything to so much as harm his cssmate, someone he had genuinely grown to think of as a friend, he would show them absolutely no mercy. Still, at that moment, Ace’s thoughts were on something else entirely.

  ‘I guess their intelligehering isn’t too bad after all,” Ace thought to himself.

  “We’re looking for someone,” Killian said, bringing the topic of versation ba track.

  “I ’t help you,” the branch manager replied indifferently. “I’ve never heard of an assassin by the name of Alissa, but even if I did, Saber has strict rules prohibiting us from giving out information on our fellow assassins.”

  “I see,” Ace said before he turned around to leave.

  Both Killian and Leo looked at Ace strangely, but they still decided to follow him. It was only when they left the town that Killian couldn’t hold back his uainty any longer. “Why did you just take him at his word so easily? He might be lying.”

  “He wasn’t,” Ace stated matter-of-factly. “You know how my [Observation] works. No matter how good of a liar he is, if he were lying, I would’ve been able to se.”

  It was only then that Killian remembered how Ace was able to sehe emotions of everyohin the range of his [Observation].

  Killian had allowed his worry over Alissa to cloud his judgement, making him fet about the extent of Ace’s abilities.

  “So what now?” Killian asked, anxious to find their former cssmate and travel panion as soon as possible.

  “Now we tio ruffle the feathers of ‘Saber’, either until we find someoh information on Alissa or until Alissa hears about are activities and chooses to e find us herself,” Ace replied casually.

  .

  .

  .

  Over the six months, news of Ace’s exploits in the war between the Rohault and O’Brien Empires trickled down to the ordinairy civilians, as did rumours of two teens and a lion-type magical beast devastating the various branches of Saber.

  Saber had always been something of an untouchable for the ti. It was extremely rare for them to be on the receiving end of a targeted attack which hen wot out of Ad his group’s activities, it wasn’t long before they were dubbed the ‘Demonic Trio’.

  This geion was said to be the most talented geion i millennia, with the likes of Lihe genius mage of the Baruch Family. His younger brother Wharton, ‘the st Dragonblood Warrior’. Blumer Akerlund, the little brother of the Prodigy Sword Saint, and Dixie Leon, the genius dual-element mage of the Ernst Institute.

  Still, as it currently stood, the oanding at the top were thought to be Ad Killian.

  Ace’s accodes spoke for themselves, but after their most ret attacks on Saber, people started to piece together Killian’s achievements. From the youth who shocked many with his incredible talent as a mage and warrior in the sele tests almost a decade ago to his dispy of power in the war, and now him defeating the heads of several Saber branches.

  It had made the world curious about this Yin-Yang Pavilion, which had supposedly traihe two leaders of this new geion. Unfortunately, other than rumours and specutions, there wasn’t mu terms of facts.

  But none of that ed the ‘Demonic Trio’. At that moment, Ace was sat cross-legged on top of a building, with his body coated in flickering fmes, as he meditated on the profound mysteries of the ws of fire.

  Over the st 6 months, Ace barely got the ce to take a with Killian dealing with most of the fighting and Leoepping in when necessary. As a result, Killian’s strength tio skyrocket. He had retly broken through to the peak of the fifth rank as a mage and the te stages as a warrior.

  His strength had increased by so much that now he could even fight against the weaker experts at the eighth rank, as could be seen in the fight on the grouh Ace.

  Leonel, oher hand, had broken through to bee a Divi at the sixth rank.

  As for Ace, though he hadn’t fought at all sihe war, it was he who’d seen the biggest increase in strength. First of all, he had now bee a mage at the early stages of the fifth rank, and a warrior at the te stages. But his most impressive improvement came from his prehension.

  In rge part due to his abilities as a fire logia in his previous life, he had now reached the peak of prehension of the profound mystery of the essence of fire, meaning that the day he takes aep forward with that specific profound mystery, his prehension would reach the levels of deities.

  As it stood, Ace felt like if he was back at the war, he’d have little to no problem defeating el Lorhe ninth rank warrior he struggled sainst.

  ‘Even after all this time, I ’t seem to make any progress with [queror’s Haki: Infusion].’ Ace sighed to himself, ign the raging battle below.

  “Hmm… Ooh, it looks like Kil’s about done,” Ace muttered to himself as he and Leo got up and hopped off the roof walking over the parade of unscious bodies on the floor.

  “You brats really are tant, provoking a force like Saber as though you’re invincible.” The bloodied branch head said as he gred resentfully at Killian and Ace. “Your as have started to alert the upper echelon. As soon as any of them make a move, yonna wish you…”

  “Yeah, yeah, we get it. Yonna make us pay, bh bh bh,” Ace rolled his eyes not wanting to listen to the man’s spiel. “Enough of that, just answer our question and we’ll be on our way.”

  “I won’t tell you anything!” The branch manager spat.

  “Ooh, but you do know something?” Ace said, a fiendish smile appearing on his face.

  In that moment a heavy and intimidating pressure erupted from Ace, crashing onto the psyche of the obstinate branch manager.

  Although Ace hadn’t mastered the more advaeiques of [queror’s Hak, it didn’t mean he hadn’t made any progress. He was now able to trol it to the point where instead of simply attag the target’s psyche, he intimidate them, f them to submit – or in this case, be too scared of him to even attempt to lie to him.

  As he felt Ace’s aura suddenly envelope him, the dark robe of the branch manager was suddenly drenched in cold sweat as his eyes lowered, not daring to meet the eyes of the little devil.

  “Tell me everything you know about our friend, Alissa!” Ace said indifferently.

  Although havirained as an assassin, the branch head would’ve had exteraining iing interrogation, including t, ae the fact that, fet toug him, Ace hadn’t even threatened him, veins were protruding out of the side of the man’s head as he fought to resist Ace’s coer.

  “Now!” Ace said coldly, his final and being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  “Alissa…

  She…

  She’s being imprisoned,” The branch head stammered under Ace’s pressure, scared of the repercussions of his answer.

  “WHERE IS SHE?!” Killian roared, his axe pressing harder against the man’s neck as blood started falling down his bde.

  “She’s being held at the bran Wyning City in the Rhine Empire,” The man hurriedly answered.

  “Calm down Kil,” Ace said softly when he saw the trembling of his brother’s axe.

  “Why is she being imprisoned?” Ace asked, his voice several notches cooler than when f Killian. “I thought she was supposed to be one of your own.”

  “I don’t know everything, but apparently she was found to be a member of the Prey ,” The man expined slowly, his body trembling in fear, his nerves never been wound so tight in his life.

  “What does her family have to do with anything?” Ace asked in response.

  “Lord Cesar, our boss and the founder of Saber is said to have had a profound grudge against the Tigerstriped warriors.” The man expined out of fear. “So when she was found to be a desdant, she was imprisoned so she could be delivered to the boss when he exits his training.”

  “I see,” Ace replied, before the sharp bde of Killian’s axe ed straight through the man’s neck like a khrough butter.

  A sigh escaped Ace’s mouth as he watched Killian sughter every member of Saber in a rage as he could uand how Killian was feeling. Ultimately, he said nothing.

  As his axe came down one final time, Killian looked up at the skies a out a mournful roar, only to find that nothing he did in that moment could vent the frustration he felt in his heart.

  “Let’s go,” Ace said softly. “We have a cssmate to save!”

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  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 6: Chapter 42 – Aiden Vs. Fain