Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Neither Ace nor Amira were aware of the changes to their bodies. Both fell into a deep slumber after consummating their marriage. It was only when they awoke that they noticed a difference, the most prominent of which being the sudden increase in power of their respective souls.

Amira, despite remaining at the peak of the ninth rank as both a mage and warrior, now had a soul at what Ace referred to as a half-step Demi-God. As for Ace, although his soul hadn't broken through to the level of a Full God, it was far stronger than the average Demi-God, even stronger than his master.

What made both of them not know whether to laugh or cry was that both husband and wife were nearing the limits of comprehension for their respective levels and estimated that they'd finally be ready to break through to the saint realm within a month or two, but now…

Still, before either could delve into the rest of their respective changes, they sensed the arrival of Amira's "mother".

After welcoming her inside, Sharanthia hesitantly went on to explain the truth about Amira's heritage and everything that came with being soulmates.

Amira had been shocked, speechless, not knowing what to say or even how to feel. She loved her aunt and appreciated everything that she had done for her, and she didn't blame her for keeping the truth from her for so long, but at the same time, she couldn't help but want answers. It was then that Ace took her hands in his and promised to help her find the truth.

Hearing that, Sharanthia sighed before explaining that although Amira's paternal family was based in the Divine Plane of Darkness, her mother was born and raised in The Celestial Realm. It was actually there that her parents first met.

She suggested that would be the best place to start on their journey for the truth as although she didn't know their name; she knew that Amira's mother had a master who doted quite heavily on her and was even stronger than her older brother and grandfather – two of the Divine Darkness Plane's foremost experts.

It wasn't much, but it was a start, and it was better than nothing.

After that, Ace left Amira to go visit his master and give him the pearl of life to heal his injuries. Whilst there, Aiden and Ace had a little sparring battle so that, as his master, Aiden could assess Ace's progress.

This was the first time that Ace and Aiden had sparred in almost two decades, and the Ace of today couldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the Ace from back then. He had even surpassed the level of power his master displayed back when he killed Byrius, but no matter what he tried, Aiden was able to suppress Ace with a shocking level of ease.

It had to be remembered that not only did Ace's soul, and therefore the use of [Impose], see a drastic improvement, but after consummating their love for one another, the two soulmates ended up inheriting the bloodline of their partner, albeit not quite as strong.

Whilst Amira inherited [Armament & Observation Haki] from Ace, Ace inherited her Viz bloodline. As displayed in the skies the night before, his visual projection was that of a golden sun; whilst it didn't directly increase his mage rank, what it did do was improve his already incredible affinity to the laws of fire to what could only be described as near perfection, as well as increasing the might of his flames five times over.

As it stood, even without using his [Conqueror Haki Infusion], Ace would be able to kill O'Brien, armour and all. In fact, there aren't many Demi-Gods who'd be able to stand on his level. Still, Ace remained clearly outmatched by his master.

It was only after their battle came to an end that Aiden let him know that he'd had a breakthrough with his [Mesmerising Glaive Art]. Ace didn't understand what he meant, as although he could feel his own Glaive Art increasing in power and might, he didn't know there was a way to make a definitive breakthrough as such. Aiden then told him that he was still trying to understand it himself, but the best way to describe it was that his Glaive Art had broken through from the Demi-God level to the Full God level.

After that, Ace finally handed his master the pearl of life, at which point his master made a comment that started a round of bickering before Aiden finally said thank you and that he was proud of him.

Then, under the eyes of Ace, Arianna, and Beirut, Aiden fused with the pearl, and as he did, the long-standing injuries he suffered when he was a child were instantly cured, but that was just the beginning.

The eyes of the three onlookers widened in shock as Aiden slipped into an enlightened state as furious wind surrounded Aiden. It was a wind so powerful that Beirut had to take action personally to protect Arianna and Ace; even then, he was still forced back – something that shocked him to no end.

Thankfully, the wind vanished, but as though it was protecting Aiden, whenever someone tried to near him, it would return in full force.

No one understood what happened, but they took comfort in the fact that Aiden seemed to be in a deep meditative state with a smile on his face.

Realising there was nothing that any of them could do – aside from Arianna, who chose to wait by her husband's side – Ace and Beirut returned to their respective residences to prepare for the opening of the upper levels of the Necropolis of the Gods.

Though it was opened to gods, like with the lower levels, even if one didn't reach that level, they were still free to enter as long as they could display the might of a deity. Unfortunately for those of the Pavilion, only Ace, Amira, Leona, and Arianna had reached such a level, and with Aiden's odd state, Arianna couldn't bring herself to leave her husband's side, as such, once again, Ace, Amira, and Leona were the only ones entering.

Before leaving, Ace made sure to pass all the resources they had found in the lower levels to his mother, including the Divine Spark of water, whom Ace said his mother could decide whom to give it to.

Initially, there were three sparks, but one was devoured by Leona, allowing her to unlock her destruction affinity; as for the final spark, it was a Divine Spark of Earth, and Ace gave it to Amira's uncle and his master's brother – Aiden Rohault. Making him the first deity in the Rohault Empire's history.

The next day, Ace and his group arrived in the forest of darkness, ready to re-enter the Necropolis of the Gods, where he found everyone waiting.

Because of the harsher requirements, unlike the opening for the lower levels where there were almost a hundred saints raring to go, this time, there were only 11 of them. Aside from his group of three, the only ones entering were Linley, Bebe, Yunaia, Oscar, Olivier, Cesar, Dylin, and Catherine.

Aside from Catherine, who, for obvious reasons, was standing alone, the others were all waiting together. It made Ace sigh as a little over ten years ago, Catherine and O'Brien were the most powerful and awe-inspiring humans on the continent, and now O'Brien was dead, and Catherine had been relegated to a side character.

Still, what really took Ace by surprise was how Linley and Yunaia stood hand in hand. He had seen Linley's group several times in the Necropolis, but their relationship had never progressed to this level. Still, it made sense. They were both attractive, young, and highly talented.

Eventually, Beirut arrived, and because of Aiden's current state, he was forced to host the entry tests himself.

Cesar and Catherine, as true Demi-Gods, were excused, but one by one, Linley, Yunaia, Olivier, Leona, Amira, and Ace all fought the Demi-God level golem, and without fail, all were successful. The only other ones excused from taking the test were Bebe and Oscar, who were allowed entry as they were the beast partners of Linley and Yunaia.

Outside of the Necropolis of the Gods, the Yulan Continent entered a rare era of peace. With the majority of the former big powers no more, their former territories were carved up and split between the Rohault, Baruch, and Gol Empire.

As for the Yin-Yang Pavilion, it was widely considered something of a holy land. After all, not only had Ace and all of his classmates grown into peerless existences now, but after ten years, many of the students who had joined after had grown up, each maturing into top-tier experts in their own right.

As a result, the Pavilion had inevitably become the school every young, aspiring expert dreamed of attending. Unfortunately, with their entry requirements remaining so strict, the amount of students they turned down on a yearly basis was astronomical.

Still, it wasn't all bad for the rest of the continent as the Yin-Yang Pavilion decided to publicise the methods of training in the art of concepts as well as a list of the various profound mysteries for each of the laws and the way to become a paragon.

This information lit a fire in all the residents of the continent. It also inspired a few others to set up institutes and academies of their own, even if they did imitate the structure of the Pavilion.

Aside from that, the biggest piece of news came from the Gol Empire, and that was that seven years after O'Brien's death, Empress Gol D. Milianna and Emperor Lance Gol had a daughter – Mercurielle. The reason the whole continent was so interested was because the last child Milianna had went on to become the greatest genius the continent had ever produced, and after learning of Milianna's talent, they understood that Ace didn't inherit it from O'Brien but his mother, and now they were all wondering how talented this child would be.

Unfortunately, the era of peace couldn't last forever. Around nine years after the upper levels of the Necropolis were opened, seemingly random massacres were taking place in various cities of the three big Empires.

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