Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Experts like the Golden Sun Pirates, who comprehended the path of concepts, paid more attention to the strength of their bodies than most.

At first, like many of the other forbidden regions, the dangers were easily dealt with. They even managed to get their hands on a few mature plums.

As Ace would be heading into what may well be the Lion's den in the not-so-distant future, he was given the first fruit. Unfortunately, with him having entered the saint realm using his master's [Imposing Devourment] instead of battle-qi, his body was already no weaker than a Divine Beast – even without the use of Armament Haki. As such, the plum did little to nothing for him.

They didn't even bother offering it to Alissa, who, thanks to her Divine White Tiger bloodline, also had the body of an average Divine Beast or Leona, whose body was by far the most terrifying of them all. But for Killian and Kannal, who were the next to receive it, it was a different matter altogether.

Though they weren't able to become saints using [Imposing Devourment] like Ace, they had still managed to reach the peak of the ninth rank as warriors before being forced to cultivate their battle qi; as such, physically, they were no weaker than mythical beasts, and after taking it, both of their physical abilities grew to the level of Aces.

For Kannal, who now was the only other person aside from Ace to reach the High God level of Concepts, this boost was exactly what he needed to finally reach the Commander level of strength.

As for Killian, although he would still be powerless in front of the Willpower of a genuine Paragon, he was almost invincible under that level. Only Apex Divine Beasts like Garot, before he became a paragon, would likely be able to pose a threat to him now.

But just when the group were excited about harvesting more, they found themselves devoured by what could only described as a domain of plants, and Yulana, in particular, found herself being trapped by their infinite branches.

The whole group exploded with their strongest strength, but it didn't appear to be enough. A frown appeared on Ace when he sensed that the branches were infused with the Willpower of someone faintly stronger than even the average Paragon.

Ace considered using the [Dual Battle Tactics] with Leona, but he knew that even in the face of an ordinary paragon with access to one full unit of Willpower, they would still be at a disadvantage, let alone someone who, by his estimation, seemed to have 1.5 units. Still, he wouldn't just allow anything to happen to any of his crew, not if he could do something about it.

He was just about to use his own Willpower – including his Divine Ability – when an ethereal apparition of an extremely beautiful but valiant woman with long black hair and red eyes appeared in the domain of plants and vines. She told the group to give up, that as impressive as they were, in her domain, they stood no chance.

Killian knew that unless something was done, Ace would inevitably risk exposing his bloodline to save Yulana; as such, he used the formation on the back of his soul-protecting Sovereign artefact to try and summon Bluefire. Unfortunately, for reasons that escaped him, it proved futile.

It was then that the woman told her not to bother; she explained that even though she was a shell of her former self, she was still a former sovereign. In her domain, she could not only prevent the prying eyes of other Sovereigns, but she could also prevent any signals from escaping.

Hearing that, a mysterious glint formed in Ace's eyes as he confirmed that no Sovereign was capable of seeing what happened inside.

The woman didn't know why Ace was asking, but she still confirmed that although even the weakest Sovereign would be able to break her domain with very little effort, not even a Chief Sovereign would be able to see inside just using their Godrealm.

She then continued to say that for over 10 billion years, she had been waiting, and now, finally, she had found the perfect body to take over. In her spirit form, the woman rushed towards Yulana's body whilst saying not only did she have an incredible affinity to the laws of water, but she also seemed to have grasped a unique method of wielding a whip that increased its power exponentially.

She knew neither she nor the rest of their group would tell her the secrets to their weapon-wielding voluntarily, but after she took over her body, she would have access to all of her memories.

Unfortunately, when she was only a few meters away from Yulana's body, Ace appeared in front of her, and behind him was the Visual Manifestation of his Golden Sun as well as his crown-wearing soul-self.

Ace could tell that the woman was merely a spirit; as such, no material attacks would work, but not only had his individual comprehension of the Profound Mystery of Spiritual Flames reached 99%, but his comprehension of *True Fire* had reached 95%.

Just coating his glaive in his flames gave the otherwise material attacks of his [Blazing Glaive Art] an overbearing spiritual component and, when combined with his Willpower, which jumped to two units under the boost of his Divine Ability, it allowed him to surpass the ghost trying to take Yulana's body.

Just one strike from Ace's glaive seemed to significantly weaken the former sovereign, making her form all the more faint. Ace was just about to go in for the kill when she begged for forgiveness.

Ace's glaive was inches from her face when she explained that as long as she was spared, not only would she not go after Yulana anymore, but she would pass along her bloodline to her and personally train her into a supreme expert.

Ace would normally kill anyone who dared to threaten the lives of any of his crew, but ultimately, this could be a chance for Yulana to change her destiny; as such, he left the final decision up to her.

As it stood, when going all out, Yulana could be considered invincible among six-star Fate Seekers and was infinitely close to the seven-star level. Still, she knew better than anyone that, among the group, she was the weakest. The fact that she was the one targeted this time and could do nothing but wait to be rescued only cemented that fact home for her.

She was fed up of feeling like a burden at this point. After everything he had done for her and the others, she wanted to be strong enough to be of some help to Ace for once, and with them having to enter the Planar Battlefield in the not-too-distant future, she didn't even need to think about it. She immediately agreed to the terms of the former Sovereign.

Seeing that, Ace sighed before turning back to the ghost and telling her that he wouldn't kill her, but that was on the sole condition that she swore an oath by the name of the Overgods that not only would she do everything she previously mentioned, but also that no matter what happened in the future, she would never do anything to harm Yulana.

The woman replied that she could do that, but she had two prerequisites of her own:

First, they must help her find a body for her to claim in the future. It didn't need to be someone quite as strong as Yulana, but it did have to be a woman with an exceptional affinity to the laws of water.

And second, if there ever came a day when Ace was strong enough, he must help her take the life of the Sovereign who "killed" her in the first place – The Chief Sovereign of Darkness, Phueus.

Ace readily agreed and even swore an oath by the Overgods to show his sincerity. Seeing that, the former Water Sovereign did the same.

It was then that she revealed that her name was Khelissa, the original Chief Sovereign of Water.

It was then that Ace revealed that due to certain circumstances, the Chief Sovereign of Darkness would inevitably target him anyway before asking if there was anything she could tell them about him.

Khelissa then revealed that even though she hadn't had any communication with the rest of the world for the last 10+ billion years, she was confident that Phueus still wasn't the most powerful Sovereign, but he had the most terrifying bloodline that she had ever seen. It was one that gave him almost unlimited potential.

On the surface, Phueus had the bloodline of an Apex Divine Beast – The God-Slaying Serpent. A Divine Beast, which was terrifying enough in its own right with the Divine Ability that allows him to generate a poison so toxic that even Chief Sovereigns dare not touch it lightly, but the truth is, that's just one of his clones.

Unlike most who have to wait till they become deities to create a divine clone, Phueus, who was actually born a Wraith, can reanimate a corpse he has personally killed and turn it into another of his genuine bodies, allowing it to retain the bodies original abilities.

The most Heaven-defying aspect, though, was that Phueus' Wraith body would have access to the unique abilities of the corpses he reanimated, allowing him to potentially use multiple Divine Abilities.

Hearing that, Ace and the others were beyond shocked and terrified. It was simply a terrifying ability that could easily make him invincible if used correctly.

Still, as incredible an ability as it was, it, too, had its drawbacks. For every corpse that he reanimated, he wouldn't be able to create another until that clone was perfected, and by that, she meant that if, for example, he absorbed the corpse of a descendant of the Azure Dragon, as their bloodline wasn't perfect, he would have to continuously assimilate the corpses of other Azure Dragon descendants bringing his original corpses bloodline closer and closer to perfection.

But for every corpse devoured, it made the effect of devouring another that much weaker. Meaning it could take thousands, if not tens or even hundreds of thousands of corpses to perfect a bloodline.

The only way around it is if he was able to have his corpse clone with the imperfect bloodline devour a corpse with the pure and perfected bloodline; at that point, it would immediately become perfect, regardless of how close or far it was previously.

As soon as she said that, alarms went off in the head of Ace and the others. They immediately understood that the reason Phueus was so desperate to get his hands on the bodies of Vis Clan descendants was that, at some point in time, he had likely chosen to reanimate the corpse of a Vis Clan descendant with an imperfect bloodline, and now, with their being no more Vis Clan descendants for him to get his hands on, he was unable to perfect it.

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Hi guys! I just wanted to thank you all for staying loyal for this long, especially with the change in writing style. But as previously mentioned, the change was to start writing my own original novel, a novel I'm excited to announce that I've officially started releasing! 

Please follow and support my new novel - A Tale of Pride!

Just a warning in advance - it does have a bit of a slow start. As a result, I've decided to release the entire first volume in one go and release a chapter of the second volume each day. Unfortunately, that release rate isn't maintainable with my current career, so things will more than likely slow down when I start releasing Volume 3. 

Anyway, please go check it out; tell me what you think! 

Thanks again!

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