Path to Transcendence

Chapter 468: Attacked and Rescued

Derek POV

He watched with an amused grin as the small blue spikes flashed across the entire field. Each flash resulted in the death of a fox. It was a slaughter, and no matter what those interferers did, they were helpless to stop Julius.

While most of the people watching the match were taken aback by the sudden development, he and his friends weren’t. They were used to Julius and knew better by now. Their friend was freakishly strong.

People were giving Derek a lot of attention because he was heir of House Zenith and also because he had won the Goldencrest Tournament. What people didn’t seem to grasp was that Derek had only won on a technicality. In truth, he was certain that Julius would have beaten him in the finals if he hadn’t been distracted by training all night long.

Perhaps it was better that it had gone down like that. At least that way, Julius had been able to avoid the attention of large powers. Unfortunately, Derek didn’t think that would last now that he had demonstrated a portion of his real strength in front of the entire capital.

While it might not have been his true strength, it would certainly be enough to capture the interest of many people.

“Fascinating,” his uncle said with a grin on his face.

His aunt looked like she had bit into a lemon, but his grandfather looked like it had been an expected result. Derek wasn’t that surprised that his grandfather was able to determine Julius’s true skill. As much as Derek loved his grandfather, the fact remained that he was a monster who was known as the Empire’s strongest Duke. Only older monsters and hidden masters who stayed out of the public’s eyes might be stronger.

He suspected that the Doren person who had whisked Julius away was one of those people, and Derek had made sure to tell his grandfather about Doren just the other night. To his relief, his grandfather had indeed heard of Doren.

His grandfather wouldn’t explain that much about who Doren was, but he made sure to warn Derek to avoid the man if possible. While he likely wasn’t hostile, he was apparently highly unpredictable and had been the source of many tragedies over the past centuries.

Derek really wanted to know what he meant by that, but his grandfather was persistent in keeping the details a secret. It only made his curiosity grow.

“Did you know he could do that?” His uncle asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Derek turned to look at his uncle, who looked impressed by what he had seen, and nodded firmly. “Julius is very strong.”

“Stronger than you?” His uncle sounded genuinely inquisitive.

Derek laughed and scoffed. “Yeah.”

For some reason, people found it hard to believe that Julius was such a talent. Derek had tried to explain to his family that Julius was someone they should make every effort to support. If not for him being Derek’s dear friend, then it would be because Julius would go on to become one of the powerhouses of the Empire.

Perhaps, they would now start to listen to him. They would have to if they didn’t want some other House or power trying to snatch up Julius. While Derek knew that Julius wouldn’t take their offers, they didnʼt, and would still make every attempt to get him to join them. He knew his friend well enough to know that Julius would hate it.

The dinner event would have been a perfect opportunity to do so, but they had let Julius run off to do his own thing. Plus, Julius already had someone like Cain Steelborn as his master. While Cain was powerful according to his grandfather, he wasn’t someone with political power like House Zenith or House Violet.

They would need to make a public announcement soon, if not to prevent people from bombarding Julius with unruly requests. It was very likely, especially since Julius completed the first stage within a minute the moment he actually took it seriously, something very few had done so far.

***

Julius POV

He really wanted to heal himself, but he also knew that it would likely hurt him in the long run. He had already garnered this man’s attention, and if he found out about Julius’s healing skill, he would probably change his mind and come back for Julius.

Furthermore, it was just a little bit of pain. He wasn’t in any actual threat of dying, but it sucked that he had to endure it until the man walked away. The only thing that Julius could do was take out a healing potion from his ring and pour it down his throat.

He wasn’t able to actually swallow the liquid, so he was forced to use some aura to shove it down his gullet literally. Only then did the healing potion begin to work.

Julius let out a little sigh as his blistered and burnt body began to heal slowly. As much as he wanted to say something to his assailant, he understood that it wouldn’t be worth it. They had already decided to leave him be for now, and there was no reason to taunt the man at this point.

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Additionally, Julius wished he were surprised about his current situation, but he wasnʼt. This was a significant reason why he had wanted to conceal his true strength from others. He just hadn’t expected someone to literally try to kidnap him before he could leave the stadium.

Although in many ways, he was lucky that Adrian had decided to leave him alone. So with a groan, he fell onto his back as the soothing life mana did its work. Drasil wanted to help, but Julius told him not to. He glanced around the area and noticed that there was a little bit of a crowd collecting around him.

Perhaps that was another reason why the man hadn’t just taken Julius from the start. It wasn’t like this was some back alley where he could do what he wanted. This was still a tournament organized by the Empire’s ruling powers.

Julius did notice that nobody made a move to help him; they just watched as he groaned on the floor, and the Tier 5 man walked away like nothing happened.

Julius, on the other hand, stared at the man’s back with a complicated look. However, that look quickly turned into one of amusement when he sensed someone arrive.

“Where the fuck do you think you are going?” Cain’s voice echoed through the area with a dangerous softness to it. All of his aura was still contained and shrouded, but Julius had been around Cain long enough to know that the large man was unnaturally serious.

The Tier 5, who had just scorched Julius’s aura and body, slowly turned around to look at Cain. The man chuckled as he spotted Cain calmly stalking toward him, and to Julius’s shock, ignored Cain. He turned back toward the direction he had been walking and waved at Cain.

Julius laughed loudly and smiled when Cain vanished from his position. While it looked like it, Julius knew it wasn’t even teleportation; Cain had moved so fast that it just appeared like spatial magic.

A loud crash boomed throughout the hallways as the Tier 5 was slammed by his throat into the wall. Cain’s meaty hand was wrapped around Adrian’s thorax as the man’s legs dangled from the floor. Julius couldn’t help but grin when he saw the previously arrogant and prideful man flail around in a panic.

Cain leaned forward and spoke to the man. “I asked you something,” he said calmly, but there was so much hidden force contained in his words that Julius saw the other man’s eyes start to bleed.

The man clawed at his throat and tried to say something, but with Cain’s hand wrapped around his throat, it was futile. However, Cain slightly released his grip so the man could speak.

“Get your dirty hands off me,” the man gasped out in a demanding tone. Julius could sense that Adrian was trying to activate some of his skills, but whatever Cain was doing rendered them impotent. He was as helpless as a newborn pup as Cain gripped him against the wall.

“Let you go?” Cain said in a mocking tone.

“Yes, do you even know… who I am… what sect I belong to?” The man said breathlessly.

Cain looked at the man’s robe for a brief moment before he let a dismissive scoff. “Nope, and I don’t give a shit.”

Adrian let out a dry cough. “I’m warning you. If you don’t let me go, I will personally—”

The manʼs words were cut short because it was at that moment that Cain used his other hand to pry open the man’s mouth and rip out his tongue in one quick and brutal motion. The violence and brutality of the action somewhat surprised Julius.

“You will personally what?” Cain asked as the man’s shrieks of pain echoed throughout the area. “Tell me what you are personally going to do?” Cain asked as he picked the man up from the wall and slammed him down onto the floor, the anger in his voice rising.

The previously pristine white robes were splattered in red as the man was splattered onto the stone floor. His blood and flesh flying in all directions. He was still alive, though, likely only because he was Tier 5.

Cain was about to pick up the man once more when another voice announced their presence.

“Dear, please restrain yourself,” Freya’s voice rang out, cutting through the silence that had pervaded the entire area. The people who were looking on as spectators didn’t move a muscle; it was as if they were scared that if they moved, they would receive similar treatment to Adrian.

“Restrain myself?” Cain called out to his wife in confusion, picking up the man with his hand and displaying him for her to see. “I am restraining myself.”

Julius winced when he saw the broken form of the previously proud man who had crushed Julius with his aura.

Freya scoffed. “I don’t mean you beating up the piece of shit. But we can’t get answers out of him if he doesn’t have a tongue to talk.”

“Oh,” Cain said in realization and scratched his head. “Yeah, good point.”

Freya rolled her eyes and walked over to the man still grasped in her husband’s hand. He felt her gather some life mana, and he saw a new tongue form inside the man’s bloodied mouth. However, she made sure to keep the rest of the injuries as they were.

Then, before anything else, she walked over to Julius, who was still slowly recovering. She kneeled beside him and gently cupped his cheek with her warm hand.

Then, in a pulse of powerful life mana, she healed him. He let out a happy groan as the rest of his wounds, the ones the healing potion hadnʼt fixed, were healed over in an instant.

“Thanks,” he said with a grin.

She shook her head at him. “How come you always find yourself in these situations, huh? You are worse than Cain.”

He blushed and muttered another quiet thank you.

She rolled her eyes and flicked him gently on the forehead. “That’s not a compliment,” she said as she inspected him thoroughly. She made sure he was fine, and only when she was confident that he was in perfect health did she stand up, making her way over to the moaning Tier 5.

“What makes you think you can touch our apprentice and get away with it?” She said as ice slowly started to frost over Adrian’s body.

“Our apprentice?” Cain muttered with confusion.

She ignored him and gripped the man by his hair, holding him up to her face. “Who are you and who do you belong to?”

She received only silence in response.

“He said he belongs to the Burning Sun Sect or something. He said he wanted to bring me somewhere to talk,” Julius commented after seeing the man not respond to her.

“Burning Sun? Who the hell is that?” Cain grumbled.

“The Burning Sun Sect is one of the Empire’s esteemed guests,” a voice suddenly called out. “Which is why I must insist you let Mr. Adrianagus go.”

All of their heads shot to look at where the voice came from.