That night, there was a giant banquet to celebrate the return of Ace and what remained of his group, as well as Aiden.
During the party, Ace told his mothers and the others all about his group's adventures in the upper realms, only skipping out on parts related to Phueus, the Chief Sovereign of Darkness, and how he could potentially end up having to face Muyan – the strongest deity in existence.
It wasn't that he didn't trust them; he just didn't want them to worry needlessly, especially as it wasn't something they could help him with.
Aside from that, he also told them about Wukong's and Linley's group's progress, something that those of the Baruch clan were particularly thankful for.
Millianna then went on to inform Ace about everything that's happened since he left. On the whole, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The influence of the Yin-Yang Pavilion and the Gol Empire grew steadily, as one would expect, and thanks to their incredibly close ties, there appeared to be no chance for them to be put at odds.
There were only three incidents that came as something of a surprise; the first was the recreation of the Four Supreme Warrior Clans.
After Linley left with his group, Hogg – Linley and Wharton's father – with the support of the four remaining Barker brothers and Lauriella, went on to bring those with the bloodlines of the Four Supreme Warriors, or, more specifically, the Four Divine Beasts, under one banner. He even managed to find a few stragglers of the Prey Clan (the Divine White Tiger Bloodline). And with a little assistance from Beirut, who was able to replenish their bloodline purities, the Four Supreme Warrior Clan was founded.
The second surprising incident was the disappearance of the Rohault Clan. Due to Ace and Amira's relationship, the Rohault Clan went on to become one of the most influential Clans in the whole Yulan Plane, second only to the Gol Clan and the Four Supreme Warrior Clan, and with the insurgence of the Viz clan's bloodline thanks to Amira's aunt; they began producing a few talents with potential that didn't lose out much to the elites of the Gol and Four Supreme Warrior Clans.
It was because they were so powerful that it took the world by surprise that they suddenly disappeared without so much as a trace; what many found even more strange was the fact that whether it was the Gol Clan, the Four Supreme Warrior Clans, or the Yin-Yang Pavilion, none seemed to bat an eyelid – they all carried on business as usual.
Most had no idea the reason behind their sudden disappearance, but the senior members of each group were told by Beirut that due to information brought back by Killian, the Rohault Clan would be retreating into the Necropolis of the Gods for the foreseeable future.
Ace, Kannal, and Osiris merely nodded at this. Of course, they knew the reason. They knew that with Phueus so desperate to get his hands on those with the Viz Clan Bloodline, they had to do everything possible to make sure he never even got the chance to get his hands on anyone with the Viz bloodline.
The third and final surprising incident was something that made the eyes of Ace, Kannal, and Osiris all narrow. In fact, even Aiden frowned slightly when he heard the news.
Apparently, a little over a hundred years ago, there was a group of three who managed to escape from the Gebados Planar Prison. The trio was led by a man called Odin, who was more commonly referred to as the Vile King of the Planar Prison.
Like Ace's grandfather, Bluefire (Leylin), and Linley's grandmother-in-law, Ismarelda, Odin was one of the five kings of the Planar Prison. And although he was the weakest of the five kings, he was still an expert nearing the peak of the seven-star fiend level of power.
As such, it wasn't hard for him to carve out a small corner of the Yulan Plane when he escaped the prison realm, especially as Beirut, Leylin, Ismarelda, Millianna, and Killian's Divine Fire Clone were all in the Necropolis of the Gods at the time, helping the Rohault clan with their move and new transition.
Unfortunately, unlike Ismarelda and Bluefire, who were relatively peaceful and weren't the type to choose to rule with an iron fist, like his name suggested, Odin the Vile King was exceedingly vile to his core.
He treated the residents of the Yulan Plane as if they were worse than vermin. Unfortunately, the experts of the major powers didn't get news of his arrival or behaviour until it was too late.
The area Odin chose was, unfortunately, one that fell under the purview of the Four Supreme Warrior Clan nearing the border of the Yin-Yang Pavilion's domain. In fact, it was a city that was led by a talented mid-staged saint who was following the path of a Supreme Genius.
That expert was Sullivan Hyde, a descendant of the Violetflame warriors and the only child of Mathias and Lauriella Hyde.
Unfortunately, when Odin decided to take over, he didn't care about who he was potentially offending. As such, not only did he slaughter the saints whose job it was to protect the city, but he even went so far as to capture Sullivan, strip him naked and publicly torture him before finally killing him. He then had one of the locals hand-deliver the video of Sullivan's humiliating death to the experts of the Yin-Yang Pavilion.
Upon getting the news, those of both the Four Supreme Warriors Clan and the Yin-Yang Pavilion were outraged, especially Mathias and Lauriella.
The husband and wife set out for vengeance, only to find out that Odin was an incredibly powerful expert.
In the last thousand years, all of Ace's friends and family had made progress. His instructors were no exception. Although Lauriella was still only a Full God, between her bloodline transformation and the fact that she had fused four Profound Mysteries, her power was no weaker than a six-star fiend.
As for Mathias, as an expert of the Edict of Destruction, there was no way for him to follow the path of a Supreme Genius, regardless of how talented he was. As such, he had become a High God some time ago, but thanks to the synergy between his comprehension of the Edict of Destruction and his Concept-based axe-art, he made astonishing progress.
Despite the fact that it becomes harder for one's comprehension to progress after becoming a High God, Mathias' comprehension of the Edict of Destruction had reached the level of a five-star fiend, as had his Annihilation Axe-Art based on the Concepts of Destruction. That's right, like Ace and Kannal, Mathias' weapon art had reached the High-God level. Because of both those factors, Mathias' overall power had reached the level of a six-star fiend as well.
Unfortunately, even with both he and his wife working together, they were unable to defeat Odin, instead finding themselves heavily suppressed.
Thankfully, after getting news of Sullivan's death, Hogg had sensed that something was off, and instead of heading over directly with Mathias and Lauriella, he chose to ask for help from the Gol Clan.
Unfortunately, Millianna was in the Necropolis of the Gods with the her father and the others at the time. It had to be remembered, that although she was also a Full God following the path of a Supreme Genius, she was also had the bloodline of a Imperial Gol Clan descendant. Forget a seven-star fiend; if she went all out, there weren't many Paragons who'd be able to stand up to her might.
In her absence, though, Lance was actually the strongest expert of the Gol Clan. Although he wasn't a true descendant and, therefore, didn't have the ability to wield Haki, he was still an extremely powerful expert.
With the Azure Dragon Spear boosting his affinity to the Laws of Water beyond most with an exceptional affinity and him having watched Ismarelda create a Divine Plane of Water all those years ago, not only had he completely fused four mysteries of water, but he had also begun fusing his fifth before he accidentally comprehended all six individual mysteries of water and became a High God.
Although his Azurian Spear Art was still only at the Full God Realm, his comprehension of the Laws of Water put him among the stronger seven-star fiends, and when both facets were used in conjunction with one another, one would be hard-pressed to find a seven-star fiend more powerful than Lance Gol.
Because of that, he was able to fight Odin to a standstill. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to kill him – they were too close in power and when Odin heard one of those watching the fights bring up the name Bluefire, he was frightened senseless.
It had to be remembered that among the five kings, Bluefire was regarded as the strongest of them, whilst Odin was the weakest. So when he heard that Bluefire was actually the ancestor of the Gol Clan, although he didn't know how such a thing was possible, he knew he couldn't remain here any longer. He even left his son and brother behind when escaping.
Unfortunately, because they were too close in power, Lance was powerless to stop him. All he could do was follow him to the Yulan Plane's teleportation station and watch him escape into the higher realms.
Although Hodan was technically the Planar Overseer, he was only a Full God – and unlike the various geniuses of the Yulan Plane, he wasn't a Supreme Genius; as such, when Odin ordered him to send him to the Netherworld, Odin did so without hesitation. He figured he would rather offend Lance, an expert well known for his gentle and kind temperament, rather than Odin, a man who wouldn't have hesitated to kill him – a decision which paid off in the end. Although angry with Hodan, Lance didn't blame him.
Hearing the story, Ace, Kannal, and Osiris were all outraged and were tempted to head into the Netherworld to track down Odin.
Even Osiris, who was effectively the weakest of the trio, was infinitely close to becoming a Commander himself. There were very few seven-star fiends capable of withstanding more than a couple of his arrows before losing their lives.
But before they could allow their impulses to dictate their next move, Aiden's odd behaviour captured their attention.
As they hadn't been there for the moment when Aiden woke from his trance, what happened next was new to Ace, Osiris, and Kannal.
But when Beirut saw Aiden talking to himself with Mother Nature herself, which seemed to keep him from hearing or seeing what Aiden was saying, he was more sure than ever – Aiden was communicating with an Overgod.
Aiden had no idea what Beirut was thinking – when he finished "talking to himself", he looked at his Wife's eldest disciples and said something that shocked them both to their very core. He told them that their son may not be dead.
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