Word quickly spread about the uping battle between the “Son of Heaven” and the “Little Dragon King”. And as expected, there wasn’t a soul, be they ally or enemy, who wasn’t ied in watg.

  In the tre of the Capital of the New Yun Empire was a rge but simple and elegant temple. It was the Temple of Serenity – home of the Empire’s High Priest.

  As busy as the Yun Empire was, the Temple of Serenity usually remained free of traffic, with Catherine preferring to speime in solitude, but today was different.

  Today, the main hall of the temple was filled with people – each of whom eak expert, the weakest being a peak-stage saint, but strangely enough, each of those peak saints was k down, not daring to raise their heads in the slightest.

  In front of them were two thrones; one was sat on by the Yun’s Empire’s newly ed God of War – O’Brien. The other was sat on by a woman with long, gracefully flowing blonde hair, who wore an emerald green mask and a long and simple white robe.

  It was clear from her appearahat this woman wao hide her appearance as much as possible, but try as she may, she still remained a nation-toppliy. The only thing that kept others from daring to even think about outwardly admiring her beauty was her overwhelming power.

  She was Catherihe ruler and spiritual guardian of the Yun Empire and one of the ti’s foremost experts.

  Standing before oy would be taxing for most saints, so one could imagihe pressure felt when standing before two of them, but funnily enough, that wasn’t the reason for the sombre mood in the hall.

  No, the real reason was because of the news of the uping battle between Ad Linley. As one of the most powerful nations in the world, of course, they wao watch, if for no other reason than to see the might of the two youngsters who were on track to bee their greatest adversary. Unfortunately, they were troubled by what most would sider a simple matter – who to send.

  They khat for an occasion such as this, all the experts of the Pavilion would undoubtedly be there. And even though Aiden had already repeated that the Pavilion wouldn’t take a against them, they’d be lying if they said they weren’t worried.

  After all, the Yin-Yang Pavilion were simply too powerful. Two experts with the power of a deity, and three at the prime saint level…

  Even though with the amalgamation of four Empires, the current Yun Empire could only be described as a behemoth, with far more saints than any other side, if it really came down to it, they had no fidence when it came down to going up against the Pavilion.

  And even if they were able to triumph in the end by using their superior numbers. What cost would it e at? How many of their experts – saint or deity – would have to sacrifice their lives?

  The Pavilion had made it clear that as long as they weren’t provoked directly, they would do nothing to any of the other forces, even if those forces were to kill their Acolytes. Still, that didn’t make them any more willing to go anywhere hose monsters.

  Seeing how none of her saints were willing to go to the battle, a helpless sigh escaped Catherine’s mouth. Still, she didn’t bme them. The Pavilion really were too scary; if it really were a trap they were walking into, only O’Brien and herself would stand a slight ce of esg with their lives, but with the nature of O’Brien’s retionship with them, there was a ce that they really might atta sight.

  Unfortunately, they had been backed into a er. Even if they didn’t want to go, they had to! She looked down at the invitation on her p as her jade-coloured eyes narrowed slightly.

  With Ace being so bold as to send an invitation directly to her if they refused to go, it would be no different to the admitting to the world they were scared. And even if they were, they couldn’t afford to outwardly show it.

  “Looks like I’ll have to go personally,” Catheriered gently, her gentle voice seemingly able to soothe the spirits of those who listened. “This will be my first time meeting the so-called ‘Son of Heaven.’; I really want to see if he’s as impressive as the rumours say.”

  .

  .

  .

  At the same time, deep within the forest of Darkness, Lord Beirut was looking at the invitation in his hand with a hint of a smile.

  With the differen power between him and all the other experts on the ti, it was rare for ao even attempt to i with him.

  This was the first time in thousands of years that he had received an invitation from anyone on the ti. For it to have e from a mortal…

  “Iing,” Beirut chortled. “Since he dared to invite me, it’d be rude of me not to go.”

  .

  .

  .

  Ace’s Gol Duchy made sure to extend an invitation to all the major powers and top experts on the ti, and without exception, each of them made their preparations to attend. This may well be the first so many experts gathered in one pce outside of the opening of the Necropolis of the Gods. Still, with the fame of Ad Linley, it was to be expected.

  Even those ordinairy saints scattered around the ti who didn’t receive an iill hurriedly made their way to the mountain range of the Magical Beasts. The only ones who didn’t dare to attehe mortals.

  With so many saints aies gathering in one pce, how could a mortal even dare to attend? Still, it didn’t stop them from fervently gossiping and pg bets on who they thought would win.

  At the same time, in the Baruch Duchy, Linley was currently sitting in his grand hall drinking merrily with three other young men.

  With Linley’s current strength and status, there were very few qualified to share a drink with him, and aside from the higher-ups from his dukedom and the young Acolytes from the Pavilion, those who were qualified were all saint-level experts.

  But these three were different. Although they weren’t family by blood, they were no different than brothers.

  They were his three good brothers and former roommates from his days in the Ernst Institute: Yale Dawsoo the Dawson glomerate; Reynolds Dunstan, former heir to the Dunstan ; and Gee Walsh, formerly of the Yun Empire.

  “Cheers to you, third bro,” the long, blonde-haired Yale Dawson raised his gss happily. “Not only have you recimed your Baru’s flory, you have already formed your own Duchy and are mere days from transf it into a Kingdom.

  I always knew you were destined freatness, but never would I have imagihat your rise would e so quickly!”

  “And cheers to you, Boss Yale,” Linley merrily replied. “As the curre in lio i your Dawson glomerate, your status is no worse than mine.”

  “You jest,” Yale sighed. “As a saint, how my status pare to yours? Plus, I only cim this position, one, because of my retionship with you and two because that cousin of mine has no i in running the glomerate.”

  “That’s not true, Boss Yale,” the blue-haired Gee Walsh shook his head. “Although your cousin – Joel – is more powerful than you, there is no denying that when it es to running a business, you are sed to none. Your family know that and chose you because of that.”

  “Sed bro is right,” Linley nodded. “You shouldn’t uimate your ability. Without you, there’s no way I would’ve been able t my to its curres so quickly.”

  “It’s also because of your fht and quick thinking, Boss Yale, that I was able to escape from my d make it here unharmed,” Reynolds nodded.

  “If you all tio praise me, I’ll truly grow big-headed,” Yale chortled before a sombre expression formed on his face. “Still, I ’t believe your family would dare act against you like that, fourth bro.”

  Hearing that, a cold glint fshed across Linley’s eyes as he thought about the danger Reynolds faced because of his retionship with him.

  It was that Linley viewed each of the young men in the room as though they were truly his brothers. As such, when the alliaween the four nations was formalised, the Radiant Church asked their now trymen, formerly from the O’Brien Empire, to capture the young Dunstan heir so that they could use his bond with Lio their advantage.

  Thankfully, the Dawson glomerate’s intelligehering capabilities were top-tier. The moment Yale heard about the amalgamation, he guessed the Church would try something like that. As such, he immediately sent some of his anisation’s stro experts to fetch his fourth bro before any harm could e to him.

  His men arrived just as the Dunstan were preparing to hand the young Reynolds over. The emissaries from the Church tried to threaten the Dawson glomerate into handing Reynolds over, but the Dawson glomerate had long since picked the side of Linley, Ace, and more specifically, the Yin-Yang Pavilion. As such, they paid the experts from the churo heed and swiftly took Reynolds away.

  The church had wao try something simir with Gee Walsh back when they initially allied themselves with the Yun Empire a little after Apocalypse Day. Unfortunately, they were too slow.

  Though young, due to his impressive talent as a mage, as well as his friendship with Yale and Linley, Gee had been he head of his family. As such, the moment he learned of the Church’s alliah the Yun Empire, he didn’t hesitate in taking his family away, not wanting anything to do with an Empire that would ally itself with a force that opposed his third brother. To him, this wasn’t even a choice.

  He didn’t know that the Church would try and target him, but before they even got the ce to act, Gee had long since led his family out of the Yun Empire, taking refuge uhe banner of the Dawson glomerate, whilst he took up the position ht-hand man, and advisor of his eldest brother, Boss Yale.

  “Let us not talk about that now,” Reynolds replied, swiftly ging the topic, suppressing the pain of his family’s betrayal. “I’m more ed with your uping battle against that Gol D. Ace, third bro.”

  How could Linley fail to sehe unwillingness ament his fourth bro held? Still, if Reynolds didn’t wish to speak about it, he wouldn’t force him.

  “What’s there to be ed about?” Linley chuckled calmly. “It’s just another battle.”

  “But this is a battle against the supposed leader of eion,” Gee replied. “Even I have to admit, his talent is frightening.”

  “What are you saying?” Yale retorted. “The purity of third bro’s bloodline has even surpassed his aor’s! How could he lose? Right, third bro?”

  “Are you fident?” Reynolds asked, a hint of seeping into his voice.

  Hearing their questions, Linley surprised them all by erupting in ughter. “I have absolutely no fidence.”

  “What?” Reynolds asked. “None?”

  “None,” Linley shook his head casually.

  “If you have no fidehen you shouldn’t fight, third bro,” Gee frowned.

  “That’s right,” Yale added. “A battle between experts at your level could easily result in the loss of a life!”

  As much as the trio supported Linley in all of his endeavours, they couldn’t get behind Linley risking his life in such a manner.

  “Don’t worry,” Linley smiled calmly. “Although I’m not fident about defeating Ace, I am 100% fident about preserving my life.

  Plus, I really want to know how big the gap between us is now.”

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