“Milli,” Lance whispered gently from Carter’s back. “How’re you holding up?”

Hearing that, Milianna took a deep breath to calm her nerves – albeit only slightly – as she continued to watch her son’s fight.

“I’ll be fine,” Milianna replied gently. “As long as Ace is fine, I’ll be fine.”

Arianna had been by their side this whole time, so she was fully aware that her disciple had been extremely tense ever since the moment they arrived. Still, she didn’t say anything; she knew this was needed for Milianna’s future.

Even though she appeared to be in a state of peaceful meditation, the truth was that she was the one most on edge. Not because of the Fain and the other saints – they were nothing more than a bunch of cronies in her eyes. The reason behind her extreme state of focus was O’Brien.

As the shadow robe didn’t work on those above the saint realm, all it would take was one sweep of his divine sense to see it was Milianna under the robe. And although her soul was more potent than the likes of Desri and Fain, it had still yet to near that of a genuine deity; as such, she wouldn’t be able to sense his divine sense.

Arianna was confident in her ability to defeat a deity like O’Brien, but the fact that she wouldn’t be able to sense his divine sense spreading over her meant that she wouldn’t be able to react until after he made his presence known, and if she allowed herself to get distracted for even a fraction of a second, an expert of O’Brien’s level would be able to easily capitalise on that.

Still, that was only if she allowed herself to get distracted. With how close she was to her disciple, there was no way O’Brien would be able to get close to Milianna without her noticing.

Back in the arena, the fight was really starting to heat up. Whether it was Olivier or Ace, they both began accumulating small wounds. Still, that only seemed to spur the two warriors on.

An excited grin played on both their faces, including that of the iceberg that was Olivier Akerlund.

It was rare for one to face such a worthy opponent, and they both knew it. But as satisfied as they were with their opponent, they were both determined to be the final victor.

It was then that Olivier did something that shocked the crowd. Olivier’s body split into two, and then those two split into four, then into eight, only stopping when there were 16 seemingly perfect copies of Olivier surrounding Ace.

“After losing so convincingly to Kaymin last year, I went straight into seclusion to perfect my Lightshadow Sword Art’s movement technique,” Olivier’s voice echoed between all 16 copies of him. “With Kaymin having broken through to the saint realm, I had initially planned to reveal this move when challenging Wukong…”

As he said that, a sigh full of emotion escaped Olivier’s lips as he looked at his dignified opponent with resolve and a hint of admiration.

“I never expected that the first person to force me to use it would be you,” Olivier continued. “Still, if this is the full extent of your strength, I suggest you give up now. You are by far the most talented person I’ve ever seen, maybe even the most talented person our Yulan Continent has ever produced – it would be a shame for you to lose your life here.”

Hearing his words, all those present from the O’Brien Empire were filled with pride as Olivier showed his overwhelming strength, but there was none more proud than Blumer. Olivier was once again proving to the world that he was number one.

Ace’s dignified expression gradually settled, and a sigh escaped his lips as he scanned his opponents. ‘I really hate the speedy ones.’

The truth was, the moment Ace saw Olivier multiply, he believed he had gained insight into the laws of Light and/or Darkness. After all, both laws had profound mysteries of doppelgangers, but after no longer than a second, he dismissed that thought.

If Olivier really had gained insight into either profound mystery, as a warrior at the peak of the ninth rank, he would’ve automatically broken through to the saint realm, but more importantly, Ace couldn’t sense the infusion of the natural laws coming from his opponent, but that only made it all the more impressive, as Olivier was accomplishing this feat with nothing but raw speed.

Olivier’s raw power may not mean much to a saint, but purely in terms of speed, Ace believed Olivier was superior to some of the slower saints at the early stages.

Unfortunately, as Ace couldn’t compare to even the weakest of saints when it came to strength, defence or speed, it made his chances of winning seemingly impossible. Still, the fight in Ace’s eyes hadn’t even begun to wane.

“It’s probably for the best you didn’t get to challenge big bro Kong,” Ace smiled teasingly, causing Olivier’s brows to furrow slightly. “Even with this technique, you’d still only be asking to be abused.”

Many believed that Ace was just bragging, but Olivier could tell that whilst it was true that the dark-haired teen was trying to get a rise out of him, he didn’t appear to be lying. Still, he didn’t seem that surprised either.

It had to be remembered that when Wukong and Olivier fought all those years ago, Olivier had just broken through to the eighth rank and was regarded as the number one genius of the War God’s College as he was capable of jumping ranks to fight those in the ninth.

Wukong, on the other hand, was only at the peak of the sixth rank at the time and a few years younger, and yet, despite being almost two ranks above, he could only fight the ape-like young man to a standstill.

As much as he hated to admit it, Wukong was definitely more talented than he was. After that, he trained his body to his limits on a near-daily basis, all with the hopes of defeating Wukong the next time they met, but deep inside, he knew that there was a chance that Wukong would continue to improve at a speed faster than he could keep up with.

Still, as talented as Olivier was, what made him so impressive wasn’t his talent but his unyielding state of mind.

Even now, after finding out that Wukong was still stronger than him – albeit from a potentially biased source –, he didn’t despair; in fact, he found that his drive to get stronger had only increased. That was probably the biggest difference between Olivier and Blumer.

“Is that right?” Olivier asked calmly. “Well, I guess it really is a good thing that I’m facing you and not him.”

As he said that, Ace’s iris’ shrunk as he instinctively pierced his glaive to his right.

Despite having foresight on where Olivier was going to attack, he still came out on the losing side of that exchange, with a large slash on his left shoulder.

He took that moment to jump back and escape his opponent’s encirclement, but before he could, a flash of light appeared in Ace’s line of sight, then, at a speed he could barely react to, Olivier’s sword snaked through the air towards Ace’s neck.

“[Blazefield]!” Ace roared, willing his pseudo-battle-qi to transform into a forcefield that protected his whole body.

Although Olivier was able to cut through the fiery forcefield, it had still managed to slow the attack just enough for Ace to dodge.

Ace didn’t even take a second to try and recompose himself. The second he was out of danger, he thrust his glaive forth, hoping to pierce Olivier’s skull, but as it moved, the glaive seemed to multiply, turning into 16 fiery glaives at once, each one aiming to pierce the skull of his opponent(s).

Unfortunately, Ace had just begun to attack by the time Olivier had already appeared behind him once again, forcing Ace to escape into the air this time.

“How’s Ace doing?” Milianna asked, turning to her master as she couldn’t follow a fight at this level with her sight.

“He’s holding on for now,” Arianna replied. “But his opponent’s movement technique has put him firmly on the back foot.

Although he hasn’t actually comprehended any of the profound mysteries, this Olivier child’s movement technique is able to distort light around him to create an illusionary effect; then, without his opponent noticing, he’s able to move like something of a shadow to approach his opponent noticing at lightspeeds and attack before his opponent can react.”

It was rare for anyone to gain the acknowledgement of Arianna, but Olivier’s self-created technique clearly had.

“Without truly grasping any of the profound mysteries, he’s still managed to utilise the Law of Light’s Profound Mysteries of Lightspeed and Refraction, as well as the Law of Darkness’s Profound Mystery of Shadows.

If he were able to truly grasp all three of those profound mysteries, even if only on a surface level, his strength would rival some weaker peak saints,” Arianna praised. “Fortunately, with his far superior comprehension and versatility, Ace can barely defend himself, but he can’t keep it up forever.

He’s still only at the peak of the fifth rank; he’ll run out of gas long before his opponent.”

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Book 10: Part 11 – The History of Larkel and Cecelia Viz