The eyes of Byrius and his group constricted as they all suddenly came to a halt and hurriedly flew back as a sphere of pure destruction appeared around Carter and the others.

It only appeared for under a second, but when it vanished, Byrius and the others saw a scene that would forever be ingrained in their memories.

The body of their fifth brother slowly disintegrating by the feet of a black-robed figure holding a giant war cleaver over his shoulder.

“Who are you?” Talana asked as she quickly got over her shock.

She had no idea who this mystery figure was, and due to his robe, she was unable to sense anything about him. But she could still vividly remember the energy used. Still, that only left them with more questions than answers.

First, the energy used was of the edict of destruction. Although somewhat surprising due to its rarity, it wasn’t enough to make experts of their level hesitate. No, the hesitation stemmed from the fact that the energy seemed to only be of a mid-staged saint but had the comprehension of a prime saint.

The moment they sensed that, they couldn’t help but think of the monstrous woman currently stuck fighting their master. If this was an individual who had, for whatever reason, chosen to follow a path like hers…

They couldn’t help but hope that their concerns were unfounded, or better yet, as unlikely as it was, that he had nothing to do with Ace and his group.

The mystery man was obviously Mathias. Arianna, having foreseen the potential of an outcome such as this, had planned to turn this exact location into a rendezvous spot for her disciples to provide backup should it be needed.

But with each of the senior members of the pavilion having to travel back from their various chosen schools, first back to the pavilion to drop off the student they were tasked with protecting, then hurrying here, not even she had been 100% they would be able to make it in time.

Thankfully, it appeared that, at the very least, her eldest disciple had been able to make it on time.

“Sixth sister…” Mathias voiced in a worried tone, paying absolutely no attention to Talana and the rest of O’Brien’s disciples.

He turned to ask Ace how she was, but he could tell from the expression on his face that Ace was in no condition to conversate. As such, he was forced to land on Carter’s back and check for himself.

Byrius and the others all frowned when they heard that. If he were another and more senior disciple of that monstrous woman, then it would make sense that he too had followed her path. The only question that was on their mind was what level his comprehension had actually reached.

If it were only that of a prime saint, though slightly problematic, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but if it had surpassed that and stepped into the realms of a deity…

Since Mathias’ soul wasn’t as strong as Aiden’s or his master’s, nor could he use [Observation Haki] like Ace to spread his soul so adeptly out of his body to get a better understanding, he had to make direct contact with Milianna before sending his spiritual essence into her body.

No one said or did anything as Mathias moved; his so blatantly ignoring Byrius and the others only made them more hesitant.

Mathias’ control of his spiritual essence was never his strong point. Still, even though he couldn’t perform as thorough a check as he would’ve liked, what he could sense was enough to make his face darken.

“Carter, you take Milianna and the others back to the Pavilion,” Mathias commanded as he slowly floated off the lion’s back. “Leave them to us.”

As the sound of his voice waned, the eyes of Byrius and the others constricted as they sensed four imposing auras heading their way.

One seemed to belong to a mortal at the ninth rank, whilst two of the others belonged to experts at the early stages of the saint realm.

For most forces, such a lineup would be pretty impressive, but for a group like Byrius and his fellow brothers and sisters, it wasn’t anything to write home about. What truly had them so surprised was the one who seemed to be leading the charge.

It wasn’t long before the four experts arrived on the scene, having already passed Carter, Ace, and the others on the way. As their eyes fell on their soon-to-be enemies, their collective killing intent soared as they remembered the condition of their junior sister.

“What do we do now?” Kimai, O’Brien’s eighth disciple, asked cautiously.

Though he didn’t say anything else, his fellow disciples understood and quite frankly shared his concerns.

Though they had Arianna’s disciples outnumbered nine to five, and three of them weren’t even worth mentioning, the other two remained a problem.

They still had no idea the true limits of Mathias’ strength, but the violet-haired woman was a different matter altogether.

The moment she appeared, they instantly understood that naturally, she too was only at the middle stages of the saint realm, but even if her comprehension wasn’t as freakish as her masters, individually, she was still stronger than all of them – thus was the fearsomeness of the descendants of the four supreme warriors.

Lauriella stood in the skies above, her Violetflame Phoenix bloodline on clear display for the world to see, as she looked down at O’Brien’s disciples, the wrath in her eyes anything but hidden.

Whilst usually, she was only at the middle stages of the saint realm, once transformed, her mage realm would see an explosive increase. As it stood, her realm had jumped all the way to that of a prime saint.

The only disciple among their ranks that could even hope to challenge her was Fain. Unfortunately, he was still stuck with their master, facing Arianna.

Still, before any of them could respond to Kimai’s query, Wukong wordlessly decided to answer for them.

Wukong took a single step forward; his eyes closed as he remembered the state Ace had been in when moments ago.

Like his senior brothers and sisters, Wukong had come to care a great deal about Milianna over the last few years, but though he didn’t say it, his relationship with Ace was much deeper.

He genuinely saw Ace as his little brother, so seeing him in his current state – Wukong’s mood could be understood!

As his foot landed, nine bolts of lightning descended from the skies at a speed that made all nine look at Wukong in surprise.

Though nothing to them, the power of each bolt had impressively reached the power of an early saint.

But as mentioned earlier, such power was nothing to them.

Still, Wukong couldn’t care less about the ease with which they blocked his blow. With his eyes still closed, he took a second step, a step that was equal to the first in just about every way, but this time the bolt of lightning had doubled in speed and power – once again shocking his targets. Unfortunately, it was still too weak to do them any real danger.

As Wukong raised his foot for the third time, what sounded like the enraged roar of a divine dragon threatened to burst their ear drums.

Byrius had been approaching boiling point long before Mathias arrived on the scene, then having to watch as the target of his anger and frustration slowly flew away with there apparently being nothing he could do to stop it… His patience was really being tested!

So when yet another mortal dared to oppose him…

“This is no place for mortals!” Byrius snorted as he flicked his wrist, sending a scorching wave of battle-qi at the ape-like young man.

Though it was only a casual attack from him, it still had the might of a peak saint, but Wukong carried on with his third step; his eyes still firmly shut as though he couldn’t sense anything wrong.

Just because Wukong didn’t appear to be paying attention to his surroundings didn’t mean his seniors weren’t.

The moment Byrius made a move, Lazerim, Arianna’s third and usually most unassuming, casually raised his gauntlet-covered arm.

Before Byrius’ attack could land, a diamond-encrusted wall rose from the ground, shielding Wukong from harm before warping into a tree entirely made of diamond.

A diamond-covered tree was truly a spectacular sight, but none of O’Brien’s disciples was in the mood to appreciate its splendour as its branches suddenly extended in each of their directions.

“We’re leaving!” Talana ordered as she used her battle-axe to slice through the branch aimed at her, her brows furrowing slightly as she took one final glance at the sliced branch on the floor before turning to make a run for it. “Now!”

There were too many unpredictable factors at play for her to allow things to proceed any further. In fact, she wished she had been more decisive and retreated the moment the robed figure arrived. Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret.

Byrius wanted to roar in frustration as he took one final glance at the disappearing figures of Ace and his group. There was no one more unwilling than him, but he wasn’t suicidal. He had come to the same conclusion as his second sister.

Unfortunately for them, Arianna’s disciples were far too angry to let things end so simply.

On behalf of their junior sister, each of them wanted to show the world the consequences of messing with their little family.

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Book 11: Part 10 – A Sovereign’s Offer