Path to Transcendence

Chapter 349: Why Was There Even Doubt?

The man was good. Very good. It took everything Julius had within himself to just keep up with his speed. However, it was also a great opportunity to test his close combat skills against someone who outmatched him physically.

The results were… satisfactory. He wasn’t completely beaten, but he found that his lack of reach limited his ability to do any meaningful damage. Add that to the fact that he was actively delaying his healing skill from aiding him. It was a challenge to give any resistance.

However, he paused when he was alerted to a notification.

[Flash Step lvl 19 -> 20]

He grinned even wider than he already was, but ignored it for the time being. It was time to stop fooling around and give a little fight back. As much as he enjoyed training his skills, his pride didn’t feel so good letting this man just beat him up.

And it was perfect timing too. The man must not have been very good at prolonged battles, because Julius could already tell that he was flagging. His aura which was once carefully controlled, was no longer.

It also helped that the man was now out in the open. Julius still didn’t know how the man had hidden from his sight even with his new perception skill. It was a bit worrying and showed that even though the skill was overpowered, there were still ways to avoid its detection. He was glad he learned this now rather than later.

For a moment, he was letting himself get overconfident in the skill’s ability.

He finally used [Phoenix Renewal] to heal all of his injuries. The rush of life mana was relieving. The pain from his injuries had been accumulating, and now that they no longer burdened him, he felt like a brand new man.

He stopped and studied the man frozen in place as he watched Julius heal instantly. He had to admit that seeing the manʼs panic and surprise when he saw Julius’s skill was satisfying.

It always caught his opponents by surprise.

“You gotta be shitting me,” he heard the man mutter under his breath.

Julius let himself bask in the man’s surprise for one more moment before he went to work. He activated all of his skills and pressed down his will onto the assassin. His willpower acted like a battering ram to knock him off balance.

His aura, while not blowing through his defenses, still managed to pack a mean punch to anyone subjected to it. This was the same case for the blade-wielding assassin. His surprise at the healing skill also helped Julius stagger him more than he probably should have.

It was at this moment that he used his kinetic energy technique to restrict the man’s movements. Thanks to the circumstances, he managed to pause his opponent for a brief second, allowing him to get in close for the first time.

A punch loaded with more aura and mana than he had shown so far blasted into the barrier that covered the man. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to break through. But that was why he was already slamming his knee upward, creating a shockwave of force from the impact.

This luckily seemed to rattle the barrier, and was why he ignored the incoming blade heading straight into his stomach. He did his best to stop it with barriers, but the man’s Sharpness Concept tore right through. [Barrier of Severance] had no chance, showing the reason why he wanted to upgrade it.

However, he was okay with taking the attack. He was no longer going to hide his healing skill, and he was going to fall back to his favorite fighting style, a head-on battle to see who could soak up more damage. Something he was confident he could win no matter his opponent.

All thoughts of defense were gone and he placed all of his attention on offense. He no longer avoided the slashes from the blade, he would take them on the elbow, letting the blade cut deep into his muscle, until it hit bone. But then he would exact his own punishment before healing his injuries and then going back in for more.

He kept on brutalizing the barrier, knowing that it would break at some point. To make things go a bit faster, he created a bunch of constructs over his shoulder as they brawled it out. Just slinging them at the best opportunities. This, of course, meant he was sometimes in the way of his own attacks, but it was worth it. He made sure he dished out more than he received.

Finally, after a massive barrage of spikes slamming into the barrier, he felt it crack. Smiling widely as he sensed the opportunity in front of him, he pushed his skills to the maximum and started to go wild. Nothing mattered to him at this moment except breaking through.

The assassin desperately tried to disengage, likely realizing the danger as well. But Julius didn’t let him. He would constantly harass the man with his aura and kinetic energy technique, making sure he could back off.

His opponent kept on trying to use a specific skill the entire time during the fight. Julius had a feeling that this was the same skill that allowed him to hide from his senses. Luckily for Julius, it would appear that this skill took time to deploy and use.

Otherwise, this fight would get much harder than it already was.

Eventually, after a couple minutes of brutal strike after brutal strike, the barrier was shattered from the force he laid upon it. A large cloud of black mana immediately plumed all around the two of them and Julius could sense the man trying to escape.

He could also feel some kind of disorientating effect coming from this mana. If not for his perception skill, he might have lost track of the man. Luckily for him, that didn’t happen, and as the man was turning away to run, Julius slammed a leg into his hip.

Stolen novel; please report.

The sheer force from the blow created a shockwave, and he felt something crack in the man’s body. Making sure he could not get away, he quickly sent a volley of spikes to smother his opponent.

With the barrier gone, his constructs managed to do much more damage than before. The man must not have been that great at body enforcement beyond what he was given when he advanced to Tier 4, because these spikes pierced the manʼs defenses quite easily.

The explosions ripped large gouges of flesh from his body, even going so far as to remove an entire arm from the assassin.

He saw the man take out a potion right away, but Julius threw a small needle of mana right at it, shattering it before he could take a sip. Then, before he could react, Julius appeared right in front of him and slammed a fist directly into his temple.

He made sure to add as much kinetic energy as he had been storing during the fight. The effect was glorious, and the man was slammed into the ground, scrambling back to his feet completely dazed.

Julius walked him down before he could get up and slammed another knee into his stomach, then brought two hands over his head as he surrounded his fists with a construct that resembled a stone slab and crushed it on the back of the assassin’s head.

With the man on both knees and his hands barely holding him up, Julius kicked him in the teeth, feeling them shatter from the impact. He heard the yelp of pain and distressed moaning but ignored it.

He grabbed the man by the hair and covered his own face with a plate of mana before smashing the crown of his forehead into his nose, feeling the flesh give way under the blow.

He then brought his face back up one last time and smashed it again for good measure. The man was completely silent as Julius pummeled his skull in.

Julius healed the damage from his headbutt and inspected the lifeless man as he continued to hold him by his black hair. A part of him wanted to keep him alive so that Lily could ask her family to interrogate him, but she had also told him what they had found out from the first woman.

As expected, she was from Clan Genshen, but there was nothing they could get out of her with her soul contracts in place. He had a feeling that it was the same case with this man, which was why he cocked back his fist and was about to deliver one last blow.

However, just before he could, he sensed someone appear just outside the barrier the man had set up. He cranked up his mana, preparing for the worst.

***

Lily POV

Apparently, during their meeting, Elder Kanen had sent out a communication with one of his people to find out the information they had on Julius. It was during this that he also found out that there was an ongoing mission at this very moment. Probably one of the worst things to hear when House Violet was sitting in front of you, demanding that you don’t try to kill one of their own.

To Elder Kanen’s credit, he took action right away. In a matter of seconds, he was on his feet, trying to find the assassin before he could do anything drastic. However, that still didn’t make the situation any better.

The whole reason they were there in the first place was to stop Julius from getting killed. So when you find out that the Clan had already sent another person to kill Julius, it wasn’t ideal. It also wasn’t something House Violet could just let slide, and Elder Kanen knew that.

It was why the man was worried and desperately trying to stop it before it could happen.

If Lily had to take a guess, it was that someone else in Clan Genshen was involved in this incident or was the one behind the assassination. Elder Kanen likely knew and either couldn’t or wouldn’t tell them who the perpetrator was.

However, with this incident, the Clan might be forced to. Otherwise, they might be going to war with House Violet.

That wasn’t something anyone wanted to do. House Violet had control over a massive portion of the Empire’s economy, and if it came down to a war, it didn’t matter if Clan Genshen came out on top. Because at the end of the day, they will experience such significant losses that the victory would be meaningless.

She didn’t know who the elder called, but he found out where this assassin was and was taking them there with haste. Kanen didn’t even bother to look her father in the eyes. He knew better than anyone that this wasn’t good, and her father’s barely contained anger was felt by everyone. Even Marcus, who had been relaxing off to the side was already activating his skills.

Tyranical and heavy pulses of mana were exuding from the one-armed man. She saw Elder Kanen look very worried when he sensed that. The Clan Genshen Elder likely knew who Marcus was and his reputation.

Funnily enough, the only person who wasn’t that worried was Lily. Sure, she was worried that someone was trying to kill one of her friends. But she also knew better than anyone how strong Julius was. He had just taken out three Tier 4s on his own not too long ago.

She didn’t even think the others in their friend group knew just how strong he was. She thought Julius had a pretty good chance unless it was an extraordinarily powerful Tier 4.

Elder Kanen quickly explained to them where they were going and that he was planning to teleport them to the assassin’s location. To which they all readily agreed. They were brought to a teleportation array. Something that many nobles used to aid in spatial travel.

Most Tier 5s weren’t like Stella or Marcus and couldn’t use long-range teleportation so freely. They needed a platform to help their techniques.

It took a little bit of time for the elder to get ready, but once he did, she felt the man extend some mana to them. She carefully let the mana wrap around them, ensuring that everything was properly in place. However, before they could teleport, her father spoke up.

“Not them,” he said while pointing at Elder Kanen’s son and guard. “They can stay here. I don’t need more people getting involved in this situation. I have already allowed them to listen in more than required.”

Elder Kanen appeared like he was about to argue, but the stern and slightly pissed off look on her father’s face was enough to convince him that it wasn’t worth the fight. So he let the mana fall away from the two people, and once he got a nod from her father, Elder Kanen activated the teleportation and teleported them away.

When they arrived, Lily recognized the beach they had often visited during her years as a student. She also noticed that there was an isolation barrier already set up not far in front of them.

When she inspected the inside of this barrier, she let out a sigh of relief. No matter how confident she was that he could handle himself, it was nice to know that he was okay.

She looked over to her left, where Elder Kanen was standing, and smirked at the stunned expression on his face as he looked at his clan member beaten to a pulp with Julius gripping him by the hair.

Even her father seemed surprised at the outcome. The only people who weren’t surprised were Marcus and Lily. Julius’s face was covered in blood, and his clothes were cut up pretty badly, but she couldn’t help but grin back when she saw the surprised grin on the boy’s face when he turned to look at them.

She didnʼt know why she even doubted him.