The silence caused by Merton’s abrupt loss was deafening. No one foresaw such a result, but Ace’s words ma them back to reality.

  It was only as they took another look at the youngster on the ring that they began to take his words seriously.

  After losing to Kalia, Merton was currently ranked fifth in the academy, but the mysterious teen had mao not only defeat him, he did it with a single move – with no on at that!

  As surprised as the others were, Kalia was by far the most shocked. She had stood closer than anyone, a she hadn’t noticed Ace move until it was too te.

  The moment he moved, she could sehat he, like them was at the peak of the fifth rank, but that made it all the more fusing.

  The fact that he had reached such a level despite being even youhan her was nothing short of astonishing, but for him to also have the ability to defeat Merton with such ease… It was simply unbelievable!

  ‘Only those iop three stand a ce against him,’ Kalia noted, aowledging that she really wasn’t his match.

  “So, who’s gon a higher-ranked lizard?” Ace asked mogly.

  Everyone wao skin Ace alive for his insolence, but it was clear that none present was his match, so all they could do was gre at him in silence.

  “That’s enough of your arrogahe instructor said as he drew the heavy sword on his back. “e with me before I make you!”

  Truth be told, at this point, the instructor desperately wanted one of the students to defeat him. Otherwise, it would tarnish the reputation of the academy, but like Kalia, he also uood that outside the top three, there was likely hat could even hope to match him.

  Still, he couldn’t just allow the boy to remain standing on stage with his head held high. All he could do was forcibly drag him off the stage and imprison him until his superiors devised a pn of how to move forward.

  “What was it you said to me earlier?” Ace asked as he scratched the side of his face, pretending as though he couldn’t remember. “Ahh, right. That was it. You’re unqualified!”

  “Your insoleruly knows no bounds!” The instructor yelled as he lunged for Ace, ung about the fact that Ace was unarmed as he swung his sword.

  Unlike Kalia aon, the instructor’s prehension was wholly underwhelming, having only prehended ‘oh the sword’, but as he was at the early stages of the seventh rank, the power of his attack was far superior to anythiher Merton or even Kalia was capable of. Still, his target remained unimpressed.

  Ace casually raised his right hand to meet the bde causing all the onlookers to look at him as though he were an idiot. From his earlier performahey knew he was ae, but still, attempting to block a sword from a high-ranking warrior with his bare hands was nothing short of suicidal.

  But they were left speechless when they saw the sword slow enough for Ace’s index finger and thumb to cmp it in pce. A few of them even began to wonder if this was all staged.

  “Why does no one ever listen to me?” Ace sighed to himself, ign the shock of the audience. “Now… About calling those higher-ranked lizards.”

  The students might not uand what happened, but as it happeo him, how could the crimson-armoured instructor not uand?

  “Im… Impo… Impose,” the man stammered in disbelief. “You’ve prehended impose?”

  Ace directly ighe man’s question, too zy to answer something so obvious, but the other students were shocked speechless by their instructor’s revetion.

  As students of the ti’s leading warrior school, they were all well aware of the different realms of prehension for warriors. They kly what it meant to have prehended ‘Impose’, but that’s what made it so shog.

  “How is that even possible?” One of the students asked aloud.

  “He doesn’t look any older than 15?” Another said.

  “If instructor Cameron is right, wouldn’t that mean he’s equal to Young Master Blumer?”

  “No, even if he has prehended ‘Impose’ like Blumer, Blumer’s already bee a warrior at the early stages of the seventh rank,” audent interjected, reminding everyo to uimate their first-ranked young dragon.

  “Still, Blumer’s almost 19 and only just prehe retly,” another of the students said, uo take his eyes off the little monster on stage. “At this rate, it’ll only be a couple of years before he surpasses Blumer.”

  “Maybe, but don’t fet about Wharton. He may not have prehended Impose, but with the support of his Dragonwarrior transformation, he’s only a little worse than Blumer, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that he’s still youhan Blumer and this Ace kid.”

  “That’s right, and with the strength shown so far, it might not even take Blumer to defeat him,” Audent added. “Wharton might be able to beat him as well.

  When they heard that, many of the listening students couldn’t help but sigh in relief. The thought that a random unknown student from some unheard-of school had surpassed all of their most powerful students was deeply uling.

  “Don’t get too ahead of yourself, kid,” Cameron shouted as he leapt back, putting some space between him and his young oppo after finally getting over his shock. “Since you insist oing, don’t bme me for what happe.”

  As the instructor said that, ahy brown aura coated his body and sword, letting everyone know he was going all out from now on.

  “Looks like I’ll have to be a little more direct with my approach,” Ace muttered to himself as he watched Cameron shoot towards him like a onball.

  Cameron had barely covered half the distance when he felt as though all of his internal ans had just exploded.

  Before he could even figure out what had happehe senior warrior had already colpsed on both knees, violently struggling to breathe only to cough more and more blood.

  The st thiiced before losing sciousness was the image of Ace’s body fading into the wind as his afterimage disappeared.

  Ace could no longer be bothered to waste time. As such, he decided to make a show of this instructor. Using his mastery of his [Armament Hak, Ace used [Internal Destru] to ighe man’s battle-qi and pletely ravage the man’s insides.

  But that wasn’t all; in that brief exge, Ace showed that his speed was no less impressive than his prehension.

  Although Amira was defihe fastest among the pavilion disciples, Ace was a close sed. Even without using his fmes to increase his speed when using [Soru], his mastery of the movement teique more than eclipsed the rest of his cssmates. If it wasn’t for Amira’s ability to use multiple wind-based spells to increase her speed, not even she would be able to keep up with Ace.

  Ace’s jet-bck eyes had gone from pyful and zy to cold and indifferent as he sed the crowd who didn’t dare to make eye tact with him.

  “I, GOL D. ACE, OF THE YIN-YANG PAVILLION, CHALLENGES ANY MEMBER OF THE WAR GOD’S ACADEMY,” Ace bellowed so loud that even those outside the campus could hear. “BE IT STUDENT OR TEACHER!”

  ‘That ought to do it,’ Ace thought to himself as he waited for newers to arrive.

  He didn’t think it’d take long, but even he was surprised when he saw such a rge group arrive within seds of his challenge decration, but when he saw the familiar face of one of the guards that had been outside earlier with them, he put two and two together.

  The man in the front, Falner, was the head of the discipline ittee and at the te stages of the eighth rank.

  When he heard that an intruder had so brazeered their grounds, he decided to personally head the search party, not g that they were just a teen; he was determio make an example of them for the rest of the world to see to prevent anything like this from happening again iure, but when he heard the teen’s shout just moments ago, he couldn’t help but falter.

  After the war against the Rohault Empire almost a year ago, the name Gol D. Ace had been all anyone could talk about for the few months that followed.

  Many believed that the rumours had beely embellished by their enemies in the Rohault Empire to make themselves seem more imposing than they actually were. Aween the fact that the current emperor had ordered all the soldiers who had made it home from that battle to keep quiet about the events that took pce that day so as not to add to the boy’s fame, and that Sabre had also done everything possible to keep a lid on the fact that so many of their bases had beeroyed by two teens, it allowed the name Ace to bee a distant memory.

  But Falner was different. As a warrior at the peak of the eighth rank, he was a member of the Empire’s upper echelon. He knew for a fact that the rumours weren’t exaggerated in the slightest.

  As his eyes met the deep, abyss-like eyes of the youth in the ring, he couldn’t help but shudder.

  Still, as a loyal member of the O’Brien Empire, and a devoted member of the War God’s Academy, he knew he couldn’t afford to show fear here.

  “Young man,” Falner voiced stoically as he steadily made his way to the ring, with the students around him parting to make way for the fearful head of the discipline ittee. “There’s a way to do things; if you wish to make a challenge on behalf of your institution, then you should gh the proper els.”

  Many were surprised by how Falner was addressing the teen on stage. It had to be uood that as the head of the discipline ittee, he was in charge of dealing out punishment for all who broke the academy’s rules. Ihe Academy’s grounds, his words were w!

  Even though he hadly lowered his head and taken a subservient approach, the fact that he was addressing a teen as though they were equals was still enough to shock the other students.

  Still, there were a few that remembered the myths of “Gol D. Ace”. Even though they didn’t believe it, they uood there was no smoke without fire, and just from the talent he had exhibited so far, it was clear that, at the very least, Ace being a prodigy was undeniable.

  “Are all of you idiots from the O’Brien Empire all bark and no bite?” Ace asked zily. “Let me put it in a way that you uaher accept my challenge or scram!”

  Falner had been more than polite with his words; he had expected Ace to take the olive branch id out for him. Instead, he had been scolded so publicly. He couldn’t remember the st time anyone had ever dared to address him in such a manner.

  “Since you insist on c death, allow me to help you,” Falner decred as he summoned a seven-foot halberd from his ste ring, coating it and him in a bzing crimson battle-qi. “I have long since wao verify the rumours about you for myself!”

  “Sir Falner,” A handsome young man dressed in a blue warrior outfit, carrying a long sword on his back, called out. “Allow me to be the oo accept the challenge of the unruly child.”

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  Book 8 Plot: Part 5 – The Truth About queror’s Haki