Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Felicia's eyes constricted into pinholes as she saw the white feathered crow appear directly in front of her in the blink of an eye.

As a prime saint-level mage who specialised in the laws of light, Felicia's speed was incredible, as seen by the way she managed to keep both Linley and Bebe away from her with ease, so one could imagine her shock when she realised that despite her best efforts, Oscar was able to easily close the gap between them.

Still, it took her no longer than a fraction of a second to get past her shock and react accordingly. Whilst creating a golden spherical barrier, she also controlled her light elemental mage force to shoot towards Oscar's eyes.

Though it took a while to explain, from the moment Oscar made his move to when Felicia retaliated in kind took no longer than the blink of an eye, and yet, despite being virtually on top of Felicia when she attacked, with seemingly no time to dodge, Felicia's eyes could only widen in surprise as her light blasts seemed to phase through the body of the crow.

Before she could even register that what she had attacked was merely an afterimage, she felt her golden barrier threaten to break from behind her.

"Ooh, looks like you are pretty powerful after all," Oscar chortled as his body vanished from behind Felicia, casually dodging her subsequent reflexive strikes. "Well, let's see how you deal with this one!"

As he said that, bolts of lightning began to flicker around his body.

Felicia turned around just in time to see the giant crow flap its wings, but unlike what one would expect, Oscar's body didn't move. No, instead, hundreds of lightning-coated feathers magically separated from the crow's body before tearing through the air, each one breaking the sound barrier and creating a terrifying explosion that seemed to travel right through the fifth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods.

Felicia's eyes constricted for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Still, she reacted instinctively, insta-casting both Light Element Forbidden Spells, [Angelic Descent] – A light-style magic spell that creates an illusionary Six-Winged Angel similar to the forbidden-level earth-style spell World Protector – to protect her body and [World Purifying Light] to destroy as many of the feathers as possible.

Though Oscar was only at the early stages of the saint realm, because speed often translated into power and because each of his feathers was coated in his lightning aura, each individual feather had power infinitely close to that of a peak saint.

As both spells met, a violent impact was set off. If not for Bebe being there to forcefully hold his Boss' body down, Linley would've been sent flying from the blast wave.

"Ooh no you don't!" Oscar sneered, his wings bending slightly as he prepared to chase after the figure that shot out of the smoke like a flash of light.

"Leave her," Yunaia uttered lightly, calmly watching as Felicia fled. "You're not capable of killing her as you are now."

Oscar's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't say anything. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew Yunaia was right.

It may have looked like Oscar was dominating the fight, not giving Felicia a chance to even regain her footing, but Oscar knew full well that a big part of that had to do with Felicia underestimating him and unfortunately, as impressive as his speed was, his offensive abilities was definitely his weak point.

Despite his having almost complete control over the flow of their short-lived clash, Oscar saw clearly that as Felicia escaped, other than her clothes being slightly dishevelled, she was otherwise unscathed.

Felicia's choosing to escape had little to do with fearing Oscar and more to do with her fearing the idea of facing Oscar and Yunaia. She knew that with them there, her chances of killing Linley once and for all were virtually impossible. As such, all she could do now was grit her teeth and escape.

With Felicia finally gone, Yunaia finally turned her attention to Linley.

"Please help my boss," Bebe whimpered, desperately worried.

Linley's body was bruised, bloodied, and burnt all over. Looking at his injuries, Yunaia could only sigh, knowing if it was her that had suffered such injuries, the chances of her pulling through, even as an expert of the ninth rank, were small – to say the least. And yet, she could sense that his life force was still strong, and his body was surprisingly stable.

She had met a few different humans with special bloodlines but none with a bloodline quite as terrifying as the brown-haired youth before her. In her eyes, he was like a humanoid Apex Divine Beast, a feat that should be impossible.

"Bring him over and put him on Oscar's back," Yunaia replied before turning to face the direction of Olivier's battleground. "We'll bring him and the other one with us and leave here."

.

.

.

Linley didn't end up waking up till the following day, something that surprised the young Baruch Patriarch greatly as he didn't expect to survive at all. Still, after seeing Yunaia sitting by a small fire with Bebe and Oscar, he was quickly able to put two and two together.

"Thank you for saving me," Linley said respectfully. "I owe you my life."

"You woke up quickly," Yunaia said, glancing at Linley lightly. "Your bloodline really is impressive."

"Of course it is," Bebe said, his voice dripping with pride. "If it wasn't, how could he be worthy to be the boss of a Godeater Rat?!"

Linley could only shake his head at Bebe's ability to show off even when complimenting someone else, but before he could respond, he noticed Olivier's unconscious body lying beside him.

"Olivier," Linley called out, worried. "Is he alright?"

Yunaia glanced at the young man lying by Linley's side, an odd light flickering in the back of her eyes before she responded. "Hard to say."

"What do you mean?" Linley asked hurriedly, unable to suppress his guilt. He was clear that if not for Bebe rushing over to save him, there was no way Olivier would be in such a position; it only made it worse that Olivier was only in this predicament because of him.

"Right now, your friend is in a particularly delicate position, with his soul having received a particularly powerful backlash," Yunaia explained. "There's nothing we can do to help him in this position; whether he lives or dies is up to him."

"What are his chances?" Linley asked hurriedly.

"Slim," Yunaia replied honestly. "But if he does survive, this will turn out to be a blessing in disguise."

"What do you mean by that?" Linley asked curiously.

"Have you ever heard of a soul mutate?" Yunaia asked, responding to Linley's question with a question.

"A soul mutate?" Linley muttered in confusion.

"Soul mutates are individuals who have gained insights into two or more laws and or edicts before, for one reason or another, suffering great damage to their souls, causing their souls to mutate as it tries to heal itself," Yunaia explained slowly.

Linley still didn't completely understand, but he wasn't an idiot. The moment she mentioned that the individual had to have gained insights into two or more laws or edicts, and the fact that she called them soul "mutates", Linley instantly put two and two together, "You mean like you…"

"Right," Yunaia nodded, raising her milky white palm summoning blackish-blue energy. "For those of us who manage to survive, we gain the ability to fuse the energy of said laws, allowing the power of our fused energy to multiply several times over."

Yunaia's words brought no small shock to Linley. He remembered the first time he saw Yunaia's fused energy and the power it was able to generate. It went far beyond anything a mortal should be capable of. Even without utilising her insights into the laws, the power of her fused energy was able to match that of a peak saint.

"Unfortunately, the more laws you gain insight into when undergoing said mutation, the lower your chances of survival," Yunaia sighed. "Even for those like myself who undergo a two-way soul mutation, the chances of survival are close to one in a hundred thousand."

Hearing that, Linley couldn't help but look back to Olivier, his emotions a mix of worry and guilt.

"You don't need to worry too much for now, though," Yunaia added, pointing to the sword still held in Olivier's hand. "I don't know how or why, but that sword – or more specifically, that sapphire stone embedded in its hilt – is somehow keeping his soul stable for now."

It was only then that Linley realised that despite being unconscious, Olivier's hands remained tightly wrapped around his "Luminous Shadow Blade", and, more importantly, the sapphire stone mentioned by Yunaia was flickering gently, radiating a soft but protective spiritual aura.

"Unfortunately, at the rate it's currently being consumed, it'll likely only be able to hold on for another week at most," Yunaia said. "After which, it really will be down to him. Still, this should at least improve his chances."

"How long does it normally take for you to awaken after your soul mutates?" Linley asked.

"I can't speak for others, but it took me a little over a month," Yunaia explained.

"I see," Linley sighed. Although he was still worried, he understood there was nothing he could do right now other than remain by Olivier's side as his guardian until he hopefully awoke. Before that…

"Thank you for everything, but I have one more question," Linley said, turning back to Yunaia. "Why did you save me? You don't seem like the hero type, nor do you seem like the talkative type, yet you saved me and explained so much to me in great detail…"

"You're right; I do have an ulterior motive for saving you," Yunaia nodded calmly, not bothering to hide her intentions. "I want you to teach me how to use "Concepts" and apply them to my swordsmanship."

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