Path to Transcendence

Julius hadn't realized how much the tournament affected the city as a whole. All he had really seen so far was how busy the campus got with the flood of people.

However, seeing all of the people still bustling about at night around the city was quite the sight.

They had just eaten dinner at the Golden Wheel, an experience just as impressive as last time. Perhaps even better, considering that he didn't have any drama with other people while they were there.

He licked his lips and couldn't help but wonder what kind of sorcery they did to the food to make it taste that good.

At the moment, he wasn't with the others. While they had all decided to stay and hang around in the city for a little bit since everything was still open, he had requested that they wait for him to grab something by himself.

He didn't want to share with them his secret shop he had found, it was one of his most valuable and deadly weapons against them. If they were to find out where he managed to procure some of the pastries, it would be horrible for him.

His stock needed some replenishment, especially if he wanted to bribe Lily into helping him with his aura training.

Thankfully, he had gotten there soon enough that the woman had just enough left for him. So with an excited grin, he tucked the goodies into his ring and headed back toward the others.

Navigating through the dense crowd, he smiled when he saw all of the children, young couples, and other families having a good time. It was quite pleasant to see. The atmosphere was radiant and bright.

However, it was for that very same reason he was surprised when he didn't notice the person dressed in all black right next to him until it was too late. Before he could even turn and look at them, Julius found himself being stabbed by a thin needle right in the back.

He couldn't keep a close eye on everyone around him; there were just too many bodies. For a brief moment, a part of him thought it was just an accident, and someone with a pointy stick had poked him when he was walking by.

But he realized that for that to happen, it must have been one hell of a stick for it to break his skin and pierce him. If that wasn't suspicious enough, then the flood of foreign substance entering his body was the next hint that it wasn't an accident.

He reacted right away, and before the assailant had the opportunity to get away, he spun around and proceeded to slam his elbow into them. The attack contained all of the kinetic energy, mana, and aura he could gather in such a short period.

Furthermore, his quick actions surprised the person, and they were barely in time to put up an arm to block his strike. A defensive skill of some sort was deployed to intercept, but it wasn't enough, and he crushed through the defense. He felt his arm slam into them, and they were blasted away into the distance.

However, Julius widened his eyes in alarm as he watched the person he attacked barrel through several people. One bystander in particular was tossed into the side of a building with a worrying amount of force and hit the dirt with a thud, completely unmoving. Many others were sent to the ground with a collection of small injuries.

Screaming and shouting immediately started to ring out of the crowd as they got worried about what had just occurred. Soon, everyone ran away, understanding that staying around there would be a mistake.

Julius instantly felt a pang in his stomach. His actions were shortsighted, and what frustrated him even more was that he didn't even think before acting. He had just smashed that person through a crowd of normal people like one would throw a hundred-pound bowling ball at some pins.

Of course, that would hurt them.

He had gotten strong enough that he shouldn't react so explosively. He would survive. He had a pretty decent healing skill after all. He could have used his aura or kinetic energy to freeze her.

With that being said, he still understood that he needed to finish the job. The fight had already started, and it was too late to stop now. So with a disgruntled groan, he dashed toward the person who had attacked him, who was in the process of getting up to their feet. However, just as Julius was on top of the person, he felt a movement of mana.

Realizing that whatever the assailant was about to do wouldn't be good for either him or potentially the people around him, he sent a localized burst of aura at the person and siphoned all of the kinetic energy around him.

The burst of aura wasn't as strong as it could be, but he couldn't take the chance of it accidentally hurting the people around them. However, he cranked up his kinetic energy and slammed the entire strength of his willpower and Emblem down at the shrouded person, immobilizing him.

He heard the surprised grunt from the person and realized that the person who had attacked him wasn't a male, as he had thought, but was actually a woman. Still, he didn't let up just because of this realization.

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He squeezed his kinetic energy around them ruthlessly and leaned down to pin them to the ground, all the while using his aura to try and disrupt whatever skills they were trying to use.

Despite not taking it easy on her, he found it quite hard to keep the woman in place. Her willpower was strong, and she was definitely Tier 4 because he was trying his best to beat her Authority into submission. He was finding this very difficult as she was definitely no slouch, and it was only thanks to the surprising nature of his attack that it worked on her.

However, now that he was within touching distance, he loosened the reins on his aura control, letting it seep into the woman and destroy her. This seemed much more effective because she screamed out in pain as his aura went to work.

Still, as a Tier 4, she had some impressive aura defenses of her own, and he quickly found that he wasn't able to overwhelm them like he had with other Tier 3s or that weaker Tier 4 he had fought in the past.

Unfortunately, as this was happening he felt the poison the person inflicted on him start to wreak havoc throughout his body. Whatever the poison was, it was a strong one. He could already tell that it was trying to break down his flesh and felt like it had some kind of Death Concept attached to it. It reminded him of the undead knight aura he had faced when stuck in the labyrinth type rift.

Only this time, much more concentrated and potent. Before he could even direct it, [Phoenix Renewal] activated to purge it from his body. However, to his immense surprise, the skill wasn't able to just brute force its way through the foreign substance.

Whatever this poison was, it was extremely dangerous. Especially if it could fight against his own healing skill's influence, he had to focus a lot on combating the poison so it didn't kill him. He had a feeling he wouldn't like what would happen to his body if he allowed the poison to rampage through it like it wanted to.

While this was happening, a large crowd had formed around them and watched as he was on top of this girl's back, pinning her down to the ground. Most of them were probably unaware of the battle they were waging with their auras and willpower.

Sadly, it would seem that people mistook him as the aggressor because before he could grind down her defenses, he was hit from behind. Someone must have taken exception to his actions, and without knowing what was actually happening, they thought they needed to protect the screaming woman underneath him.

The tall, red-haired young man gave a harsh jab at Julius's side. He grunted as the wind blew right out of his chest.

The redhead jumped on top of his back and started to try to wrestle him off the woman. He used his own aura to pry away Julius's willpower and aura from the woman.

Then he felt the Authority which just confirmed what Julius had been thinking already. This young man was a Tier 4. He couldn't have looked older than twenty—quite an accomplishment.

Furthermore, the young man didn't seem to have any bad intentions, unlike the woman who had attacked him. Regardless, Julius also wasn't going to just lie there and let the man beat him up. So with a snap of his head, he smashed his head into the man's face with all of the force his skill allowed. The shockwave of the blow rocketed through the courtyard, sending what remained of the curious spectators running.

"You know, she attacked me first," he grunted to the unknown man as he continued to battle with the woman below him. He would have liked to explain it in more detail, but he was a bit distracted at the moment.

Maybe it was the fact that Julius had smashed his head into his nose, but the young man didn't seem to listen, or maybe just didn't believe his explanation. He also must have understood that Julius was quite strong in his own right at this point, and instead of wrestling him off of the woman, he slammed a knee into Julius's side.

The power behind this attack was much stronger, and it felt like he was hit by a bus.

Julius panicked as he felt his hold over the woman start to falter. There was just too much he was trying to focus on. Holding down a Tier 4 was hard enough, but then if he added on trying to neutralize the poison along with fighting another Tier 4, it became impossible. Another knee to his side, and there was nothing he could do as he was thrown across the courtyard.

He recovered quickly, [Phoenix Renewal] healing the damage done to his ribs with much more ease than it was having with the poison. But before he could dash back toward the woman, he watched in frustration as the woman's skills he had been so desperately trying to interrupt activated. And with a surge of mana, he watched as she disappeared into thin air before his aura could grab hold of her again.

He stood there frozen for a few moments, unable to believe that she had escaped. Someone who had tried to kill him was just able to leave without him getting answers or payback.

Who had sent her after him? What was the reason?

He was already creating several different scenarios in his head. But the detail that had him seething more than anything else was the feeling of the woman's mana before she left.

There was no doubt in his mind that she had used shadow mana to disappear. There weren't that many people or organizations that used such techniques. And there was one who was very familiar with.

A certain little clan that had attacked him in the past.

He tried to calm down and reminded himself that just because she had used shadow mana didn't mean she was involved with Clan Genshen.

Regardless, his anger slowly got the better of him and he saw the perfect person to take his frustrations out on.

The young redheaded man who had interrupted walked over to Julius while pointing a finger at him.

"Have you no shame, kid? Attacking a young lady like that in the middle of the street?" the man scolded him.

Julius hardly listened to the man's rant. He was too busy trying to pull the reins back on his aura and not let it bully its way out of his control. His rage wasn't doing much to help that problem either.

The man continued to berate him like it was all his fault, as if Julius was the problem. As he was still yapping away, Julius tried his best to neutralize the poison that was still surging through his body. However, when the man grabbed Julius aggressively, he snapped.

He barely realized what he was doing, but before the man could react, Julius had already snatched the man's wrist and, without holding back, swung the man over his shoulder and straight into the cobblestone floor.

Not even the magically enchanted stones were able to withstand the force of the attack and shattered as Julius slammed the man into the ground. After he did this, a stark silence pervaded the now-empty streets.