Whilst Ace was using his observation to assess the situation of the other battles, the mage in front of him began ting, and although Ace had never seen a real mage do battle properly, he knew from books that Mages used ts to trol their spells.

  Not wanting to find out ell his oppo was casting, Ace shot towards him, guandao in hand, as fast as physically possible, giving his oppo quite the fright.

  “Impossible! They said you were only a rank one warrior, but that speed…” The mage shouted in shock, clearly caught off guard by Ace’s speed!

  But Ace was more ied in who the ‘they’ he was referring to were. But before he could ask, he noticed several silvery crest bdes being fired at him in quick succession.

  He assumed all spells required ts to perform, so when he heard the mage interrupt his t, he foolishly believed he was safe. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have been any further from the truth.

  Though he was taken by surprise, Ace remained ready to react. His guandao swept through the air in front of him with unstoppable momentum slig through three wind bdes with one ssh, but he was forced to stop his approad dodge wheiced three more ing towards him.

  ‘This is what they called a somewhat talented eight-year-old?’ The mage thought to himself in disbelief when he saw the ease with which Ace was dodging his wind bdes.

  He could somewhat accept that he had reached rank two by the age of 8, as although it was rare, geniuses like that popped up every on a while.

  He could even accept the ruthlessness required to thrust a ko another man’s eye. Again, although it was rare for a child, it wasn’t unheard of, but when you add both those points together as well as the bat experience required to perfectly dodge each of his wind bdes without being touched. The only word he could think of to describe the child in front of him was… ‘Monster!’

  Ace, oher hand, was smiling happily as he moved between the wind bdes. The lohis went on, the more rexed he felt.

  At first, he could only see the wind bdes being formed and then had to guess where they were being aimed and move accly, but now, through his observation, he could see the intended path of each attack, making them easier to dodge, allowing him to slowly edge closer and closer towards his target as he weaved his way through the onsught of wind bdes.

  The mage didn’t even realise that he’d been bag away until he backed into a tree.

  “Aghhh. I refuse to let a child beat me, a dignified rank three mage!

  Rank 2 Spell – Giant Wind Bde!” As the mage roared, a giant wind bde five times the size of the others formed in front of him.

  Even after seeing the size of this new wind bde, Aever faltered. His eyes fshed with resolve as he took a deep breath and shot toward him like a bullet. As soon as the Wind Bde was in rahe bde of his polearm turned pitch bck, and Ace, using all the strength he could muster, swung the guandao from left tht.

  The spell didn’t shatter under his might like Ace hoped it would. Both attacks fell into a stalemate, with her able to push the other back.

  Ace felt a shooting pain all along his arm, but he refused to give up.

  “BREAK FOR MEEEE!” Ace bellowed as he forcibly coated the whole of his on with his armament haki.

  The wind bde shattered there and then, but Ace wasn’t done. He knew he didn’t have the strength to do that again, so, as soon as he finished destroying the spell, he sped towards the assassin who had only just recovered from what he saw.

  “Kid, you’re not the only sed-rank warrior you kn…”

  Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the guandao tear through the air like a shooting star. He hadn’t thought Ace would throw it from that distance, and he definitely hadn’t expected it to travel that fast.

  The give tore through his chest aed his back before stopping bde first iree behind him.

  Ace, whose body was g for rest, turo face the rest of the attackers with crimson eyes. Every cell in his body was burning with fatigue, but when he saw Killian, who was covered in his own blood but refused to go down, and Lance, whose dition was er, he forced himself to keep going.

  The other assassins, who had all been traio keep an eye on their surroundings, had seen what happened a a hint of fear when looking at the prepubest boy, who was barely able to walk.

  “I’ll hahis stubborn fool; you go kill that kid!” The burly man wielding the heavy-sword said to his partner.

  Not wanting any more acts to happen, the slender saber-wielding assassin darted towards Ace with every iion of taking his head as quickly as possible.

  Ace saw the man ing towards him, and even though he knew his body was in too much pain to tinue, he carried on walking in his dire. Each step was more painful tha, but Ace’s fists were balled tight, and his eyes shoh a fierce light that made the maate briefly.

  “Why am I scared of a snot-nosed brat?!” The assassin snorted before speeding up.

  Milianna, who had been f herself to stay silent so as not to distract Ace or the others from their fights, fell to her knees when she saw the saber-wielding assassin running towards her son, who could barely stand.

  “No…

  Please stop…

  My son…

  SSTTTOOOOPPPPP!” She screamed as a familiar invisible energy exploded out of her.

  Just before the saber could reach Ace’s neck, the assassin colpsed uhe sudden pressure he felt from Milianna’s haki.

  The two remaining assassins didn’t colpse, but they were definitely caught off guard.

  That moment was all Laneeded to flip the script in his favour. His spear snaked forth, pierg through his oppo’s head like a hot khrough butter. Lached as his burly attacker fell to the floor, with all signs of life fading from his eyes.

  Oher hand, though the young assassin seemed able to easily bear the pressure, she was still in shock over the sudden development. She took one more look at her fellow assassins, all of whom were her dead or unscious, befng at Ace, who was gring back at her. She finally turo take one more profound look at the boy who gave her so much trouble.

  She could see he was barely scious and should be uo swing the axe in his hand anymore, but for some reason, she felt that as long as she stepped towards him, he would swing away with just as much power as before. She couldn’t feel any hatred or killing i from him, just pure, unwaveriermination.

  She sighed o the situation before running away, taking advantage of the fact that everyone else was too weak to stop her.

  It was only when he saw her leave that Ace felt he could breathe a little easier. He then turned his attention to his mother, who was running over to him in tears.

  ‘So you have queror’s haki as well?’ Was the st thought he had before losing sciousness.