Book 3: Chapter 17 – Avenging A Loss

It was an odd feeling. Even though he couldn't see inside his spiritual sea, he could clearly sense his connection to the lion and vice versa; it too could feel its connection to Ace.

Whether it was their position or emotions, it was as if they were an open book for the other to read at will.

"What's your name?" Ace asked, using their connection to speak straight from mind to mind.

"Name?" The lion asked back, its voice very deep yet oddly immature. "I don't have one."

"Well, that needs to change. I can't just call you 'lion'," Ace replied as he began to seriously consider what to call his new beast partner.

Whilst Ace was busy thinking of names, Amira and Julius slowly approached from the rear. It recognised Amira from their very first battle, but Julius was new. The thing that surprised him most was that, other than Ace, Julius was the one it felt the biggest threat from.

Even though he knew he was safe by the side of Ace and Amira, Julius still felt cautious approaching, especially when he felt the lion's eyes fall on him.

"You've already met Amira, and this is Julius. They're two of my classmates and travel companions." Ace introduced. "And this is my new partner, name pending…"

Despite knowing it was so much stronger than her, Amira fearlessly walked up to it and began stroking its silk-like fur. "He doesn't have a name yet?"

With its connection to Ace, the lion could sense his new partner's strong feelings for the caramel-skinned girl stroking him. It was because of those intense feelings that the lion instinctively had a good impression of her.

"Not yet. I'm just trying to think of one now," Ace explained whilst he watched his new partner affectionately rubbing his mane against the side of Amira's face. "So you make me fight you every other day for a month, and yet you accept her in a few seconds? Where's the fairness in that?"

"Because he can sense that I'm worthy of his acceptance," Amira stated matter-of-factly as she enjoyed the feeling of the lion's soft fur against her skin. "Isn't that right… Leonel?"

"Leonel?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, it means proud lion and can also be translated as proud king?" Amira explained as she focused her attention back on the lion that had actually begun to purr. "What do you think? Do you want to be called Leonel from now on?"

"Leonel, it is," Ace declared while watching Amira and Leonel interact with a gentle smile.

"I feel sorry for you," Julius stated from beside Ace.

"Sorry? For me?" Ace asked back.

"You've just recruited another ally for Amira to get to bully you," Julius sighed as though he genuinely felt pity for the dark-haired teen beside him.

"Another?" Ace asked, his voice becoming slightly more threatening in nature after hearing the teen chef's statement. "Well, we definitely can't have that. Maybe I should get rid of the other one…"

"What was that, Mira? You want me to come over there?" Julius said as he edged away from Ace, feeling less fearful of the Divine Beast than the teen who defeated it in the first place. "I'm coming… right away!"

Ace said nothing. He just watched in amusement as Julius edged away from him but refused to get too close to Leonel.

.

.

.

Over the next few weeks, Ace and his group of four made their way through the forest, constantly hunting new beasts for Amira to fight against and fending off one assassination attempt after another, with Mira being the one who did most of the fighting. Ace or Leonel only intervened if it was too much for her to handle on her own.

Due to the constant life and death battles, Amira had actually managed to comprehend 'Wielding light as though it were lighter', allowing her to make quick work of virtually every being below the seventh rank. Unfortunately, she still wasn't quite at the level where she could take on those of the seventh rank.

Normally she would've been ecstatic about her warrior comprehension taking another step forward, but one of the drawbacks of being in a team with Ace was that she had to watch the speed at which he progressed.

It was hard to do without subconsciously comparing yourself to him unless you were Julius, who had absolutely no desire to get stronger.

Still, being in a team with Ace wasn't all bad. She got to spar against him regularly, and at his current level, he could see her openings in a similar fashion to how his master had when facing him. It allowed her to improve her swordsmanship at an incredible speed.

In that time, Julius had gone from deeply terrified by Leonel to best friends. Because Leonel was no less of a glutton than Ace, Julius had managed to get him to warm to him through his stomach.

Though not as good as the Dragon soup, Julius' meals were still delicious, and for a glutton like Leonel who was only used to raw meat…

It was no wonder why he warmed to Julius so quickly.

On one sunny afternoon, Ace and Amira were walking through the forest side by side, with Leonel walking just behind them with Julius sitting on his back when they heard a group of teens not much older than them walking not far from them, completely oblivious to the presence of Ace and his group.

"Did you hear about what that young master of the Baruch Family is offering?"

"You mean the 10,000 gold for any news on the location of someone called Ace or the location of some supposed new school – the Yin-Yang Pavilion?

Yeah, I heard. He's been searching for news of this Ace guy for the last year or so.

I just don't get why he's going through all this trouble for some unknown boy. I mean, he's supposed to be one of the most extraordinary talents the War God Academy has produced since Olivier Akerlund. He's even been accepted as a disciple of the strongest saint on the continent – Sword Saint Haydson. What's the point of challenging some nameless boy?"

"Apparently, during his selection five years ago, they fought, and apparently, he was publicly defeated and shamed. I have a friend in the War God's Academy who said that it was avenging that defeat that kept him so driven.

I don't think he'll be willing to let this go, not until he's standing over his opponent's defeated body."

"I can't help but feel sorry for this Ace guy. Because of something that happened over five years ago, he's probably going to end up being publicly humiliated."

"If he's smart, he and that Yin-Yang pavilion of his will stay hiding under whatever rock they're currently hiding behind."

Whether it was Amira, Julius, or Leonel, they all turned to look at Ace curiously. They found it funny that anyone in the same generation would dare to challenge Ace, but that was because they had a profound understanding of Ace's strength. Still, Amira and Julius were more curious because it was another Baruch.

"Don't look at me like that. It was them who kept provoking me," Ace declared. "Anyway, I have no more interest in that little lizard."

If others were to hear how Ace was talking about Wharton, they would undoubtedly believe that he was just giving excuses as a reason not to fight, but they knew Ace had every right to look down on this Wharton teen. As it stood, there was likely no one in their generation who could actually give Ace a good fight.

"What's wrong?" Amira asked when she saw the sudden frown appear on Ace's face.

"That group we just passed… they were just slaughtered," Ace said solemnly.

"It's unfortunate, but you know just as well as I do how often acts like that happen in the wild," Amira replied, not understanding why Ace cared so much.

"It's not them I care about but their attackers," Ace voiced. "They're being led by a warrior of the ninth rank."

When he said that, the mood of the group became extremely tense. Although Ace and Leonel were extremely powerful, they could still only fight against warriors of the eighth rank.

"They haven't noticed us yet, so we should be fine, but just to be safe, let's hurry up and get out of here," Ace commanded as he led his team as far as he could in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, a little under a kilometer away, a team of six wearing matching black armour were looting the bodies of a few teens when one of them, a lanky man holding a sabre in one hand, looked down at a gem hanging from his waist which started glowing bright-red all of a sudden. "Boss, apparently, there's one nearby."

As the man's voice waned, a stocky man with a great sword strapped to his back sitting on a large boulder off to the side opened his eyes. "Is it the dragon we're looking for?"

This man was the rank nine warrior Ace had sensed earlier and also the leader of this team of killers.

"I can't be sure," the lanky man replied. "But what're the chances of there being another Divine Beast in the vicinity?"

"Finally!" The leader said as a bloodthirsty grin suffused his fiendish face. "The sooner we catch that little dragon, the sooner we can go back!"

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Book 4 - Chapter 26