The silence in the hall was deafening, and Shinji didn't seem to be in a hurry to make a move. He simply stared at the two insolent elders.
Still, no one dared to say or do anything, not before the almighty Sovereign did. Well, almost no one.
Whilst everyone watched on with bated breaths, Gaia, the mother of Forhan and grandmother of Emanuel, decided to take matters into her own hands.
Whilst everyone was focused on Shinji, Gaia's body moved like a flash. Without hesitation, her hands moved like a blur, slapping at the heads of her two descendants.
Shock could be seen on the faces of all those present as the bodies of the two elders slumped lifelessly to the floor.
Gaia, though, didn't care about the reactions of the others as she fell to her knees, prostrating by the feet of the Sovereign her descendants provoked, begging for his forgiveness, asking him to take his anger out on her and not her Clan.
Shinji took a long, hard look at the decisive Great Elder of the Azure Dragon Branch before snorting coldly and standing to his feet.
All those present who had been waiting for Shinji's response with bated breaths subconsciously sighed in relief when they felt the Sovereign retract his terrifying aura.
Shinji, though, didn't care about their reactions as he turned to face Garott and indifferently told him that he was leaving now and that Garott should find him after he finished his move.
In response, Garott once again bowed respectfully as Shinji's body disappeared. He then turned to address Linley, and on behalf of the rest of his Four Divine Beasts Clan, he apologised and asked for forgiveness.
It was only when Linley accepted his apology that he turned his attention to the rest of the Clan. He told them to let this be a lesson to them. There was no greater sin than to bring their Clan name into disrepute – a sin that will never be tolerated.
He then went on to explain how Lord Shinji – the Sovereign of the Starmist Sea – accepted him as his head Emissary and, by extension, transferred ownership of Miluo Island – the former territory of Mosi's Bagwell Clan – over to their Four Divine Beasts Clan. He stated how this was the beginning of a new era, one that will see the return of the Four Divine Beasts Clan in all its glory.
As soon as his words came out, another wave of cheering erupted, as though the incident with the Sovereign and the fear it caused had never happened.
Although, unlike the original four ancestors, Shinji wasn't even remotely affiliated with their Four Divine Beasts Clan, and by extension, was less likely to protect them in the face of true danger, just the fact that they were affiliated with a Sovereign at all was enough to bring the clan's standings to new heights.
Between that and the addition of a paragon like Garott, two Supreme Geniuses like Linley and Alyssa, and their affiliation to their respective groups. The future of the Clan just got a whole lot brighter and far more stable.
Hearing the emotion-filled cheering of his Clan, Garott didn't try to stop them this time. In fact, he declared that from that moment on, the clan would be celebrating, and they would continue to do so for the entire month – a declaration which only served to rile the crowd up even further.
Just like that, the Four Divine Beasts Clan entered a period of celebration, and in that period, they also recalled all of their members posted outside of Skyrite Mountains – not only to partake in the celebrations but also to prepare for the new move.
The actions of the Four Divine Beasts Clan didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the Infernal Realm. In fact, thanks to some deliberate release of news on the Clan's behalf, the powerful clans in the Infernal Realm even learnt that the Clan would be relocating to Miluo Island as one of their members had been accepted as an Emissary by The Starmist Sovereign.
The only thing they didn't know was that not only had Garott returned and broken through to become a Paragon, but it was he who was accepted as the Starmist Sovereign's Emissary.
Upon hearing the news, the Eight Great Clans quickly called a meeting between all their senior members to discuss.
In the meeting, they guessed that the new emissary had to be Linley. With his talent and level of strength, he was the only person that made sense to be accepted. Still, they weren't put off by Linley's new status. In fact, it only made them more determined to kill Linley before he was allowed to mature.
Though they knew that killing an emissary so soon after his acceptance under a Sovereign's banner could be considered a slap to the face to said Sovereign, they also knew that said Sovereign wouldn't act against them to avenge the death of the emissary, especially as there were three Sovereign emissaries amongst the ranks of the Eight Great Clans.
If the Starmist Sovereign were to try and take revenge on behalf of his fallen emissary, he would be directly antagonising each of their respective Sovereigns.
Still, if they were going to act, they had to act fast. Killing Linley after he moved to Miluo Island to be closer to his new Sovereign would be several times harder than it had been in the past. Their best bet was to attack in full force whilst the Four Divine Beasts Clan was moving. Plus, if they played their cards right, they would be able to destroy their enemies in their entirety, putting an end to the war once and for all.
As such, they decided that they would lay in wait on the flight path of the Four Divine Beasts Clan with the entirety of their army – their next meeting would be their last!
They knew the Four Divine Beasts Clan would see through their plans and take measures to counter their offensive, but as far as they were concerned, they were the far superior force, and there was nothing their long-time opponents could do to change that.
Unfortunately, whilst they would've been right about the former Four Divine Beasts Clan, they couldn't be any further from the truth with the return of Garott.
Garott and the higher-ups of the clan had chosen to reveal their plans in the manner they had for this very purpose. They wanted the Eight Great Clans to lead their army to fight one final decisive battle with them – Garott intended to show the world that their Four Divine Beasts Clan were back.
In that month, whilst the Four Divine Beasts Clan were celebrating and preparing for the move, Ace and his group were focused on their training.
Although Ace had reached the pinnacle of comprehension of what a deity could achieve before becoming a paragon of their respective Law, his comprehension of his weapon concept was far from reaching its limits.
With him focusing the entirety of his energy on furthering his [Blazing Glaive Art], his progress could be said to be blinding.
When he arrived at Skyrite Mountains, the might of his [Blazing Glaive Art] had reached the equivalent level of a five-star fiend, but after this last month of training, he had reached the level of a six-star fiend.
Without the use of his Willpower, when going all out, Ace could be considered invincible among Commanders. Still, the sense of urgency in his heart hadn't diminished in the slightest.
With the goal Augusta had set for him of winning the planar battle for the Divine Plane of Light against the Divine Plane of Darkness, he knew his current level of power wouldn't be enough.
If this was just your average Planar battle and no paragons entered, it wouldn't be too difficult. Unfortunately, with everything that happened with Phueus previously, especially with how desperate Phueus was to get his hands on Ace, the chances of him sending at least one of his paragons were very high.
Still, with everything that was on the line, Ace wasn't opposed to revealing his true power – not with Five Sovereigns backing him. After revealing his true power, Ace knew that the average Paragon wasn't his match. In fact, even a paragon like Garott, who was also an Apex Divine Beast, wouldn't be able to match him.
As such, the only person he was worried about was Muyan. As the strongest deity in existence, his power was unquestionable! Even if Ace were to go all out, as it stood, Ace still wouldn't stand a chance. He probably wouldn't even be able to escape with his life. The only chance Ace had was to break through and become a paragon.
Should he do so, Ace didn't know for sure how powerful he would become, but he didn't believe he would lose. At the very least, he would be able to retain his life.
Unfortunately, breaking through to the paragon realm was much easier said than done. All he could do was continue training and progress as much as possible between now and then.
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