Path to Transcendence

Chapter 513: Garrett Greyson

Garrett Greyson POV

Garrett looked out at the battle unfolding before him. Hundreds of the Empire’s most talented were slaughtering the horde of monsters. However, no matter how strong these Tier 3s might have been, accidents and mistakes were bound to happen.

After about five minutes into the fight, people started to fall. Once the first post fell, the others began to fall behind it. Of course, not without help.

Garrett gave the order and directed his group to begin their plan. Then, before the other groups could realize what was happening, they were beset by large blasts of mana and attacked by their fellow competitors.

Garrett could only shake his head in disappointment at how unprepared some of these groups were when they were attacked from both sides. Why did they not think other people would take advantage of this chaos to remove them from the competition?

He watched as other groups retaliated, but with how much pressure they were dealing with from the monsters, they weren’t able to properly defend themselves. If they concentrated too much on Garrett’s team, they were injured by the swarming monsters. But if they focused too much on the monsters, then they would get blasted from Garrett’s side.

They didn’t go too far, though. They didn’t really need to. They would only send occasional barrages of attacks against a specific group. But that was more than enough.

He looked over at the group he had assembled and couldn’t help but wonder if it was worth the price he and his family had to pay. Some of the people didn’t cost anything; they were practically begging to join the team. After all, there was safety in numbers, not to mention who else was a part of the group.

He looked over at the true elites of the group. Eren, Riven, Casey, Eva, and Louis were all mighty and talented—especially Eren and Riven.

Garrett liked to think he was on the same level as those two, but according to his father, he wasn’t. He gritted his teeth when he recalled the last conversation he had with his father before the second stage started.

It hurt his pride that his own father, his own flesh and blood, didn’t have faith in Garrett. Sure, he might not have four perfect affinities like Riven. Or might not be so talented with the sword that people compare him to the next Aden Easten, like people did with Eren. But he liked to think that he still stood a chance. He worked hard and fought smart. And sometimes that was more important in his opinion.

He let his focus skill temper his anger and focused on the several individuals he had already labeled the most significant threats. The loudest of them was by far Isaac Draven, the massive brute, who was already the cause of half the destruction on the field. His laughter as he slaughtered monsters left and right echoed across the entire area.

However, Isaac was a simple person. He loved a good fight, and as long as Garrett used that information to his advantage, he could effectively manipulate Isaac to his whims.

The young man was more intelligent than most people gave him credit for. They liked to think of Isaac as a simple brute, but those properly informed knew that Isaac was incredibly intuitive.

Still, it didn’t matter if Isaac knew what Garrett was doing or not. Hell, he likely would know right away, but as long as he was interested, he wouldn’t care.

Regardless, Garrett made sure to let the others know that they should leave Isaac alone for the time being. No need to piss him off for no reason, Garrett didn’t see a world where Isaac interfered with his or his family’s plans.

He then looked over at what he assumed to be the most annoying group to deal with. Large flashes of lightning ripped the earth apart, taking down multiple monsters with each attack and stunning even more nearby monsters.

He shook his head. Why did House Zenith always have to create fucking demons? Even at Tier 3, before their bloodline’s powers could be cultivated appropriately, House Zenith always had powerful Scions. Derek Zenith was no exception.

While he didn’t seem quite like the monster Daemon Zenith had been at his age, and not at the level of Eren or Riven, Derek was still very skilled. Even more so in the recent months, if the reports were accurate.

However, it was his friend group that was the real trouble. Aubrey Crysalia was the only daughter of the Crystal Tyrant, so it made sense that she was talented and well-trained. Edgar Crow had been known as quite a strong fighter ever since he had arrived at Goldencrest, so Garrett wasn’t surprised to see him doing well, either.

Thankfully, Lily Violet hadn’t participated in the tournament. She would have been a real threat with her psychic abilities, especially in a place like the Secret Realm, where there were fewer restrictions so that she could use her skills without restraint.

It would require a powerful artifact that specifically blocked out any mental attacks or someone with a specialized skill just to resist her. If you didn’t have either and you didn’t kill her right away, then you would likely end up in a coma, drooling on yourself for the rest of your life after she put your mind into a blender.

That was the good news. The bad news was that she wasn’t even the most significant threat in their group. The biggest danger was the young first-year who had somehow weaseled his way into the friend group.

Garrett briefly looked at the black haired boy slamming fist after fist into the nearest monster with concern. He had read the report House Greyson had compiled on Julius Snow. He wasn’t very thrilled about what he saw.

Top-tier speed, strength, and endurance made him an already powerful warrior. His kinetic energy and fire affinity only made these attributes even more dangerous. However, he also had some powerful constructs that he had recently shown off in the previous stage. They were much stronger than the report had stated when Julius had been participating in the Goldencrest Tournament.

If those were the only things to worry about, then Garrett would not have been as worried. But the list kept on going. According to other reports, Julius also had an even more impressive perception, a natural instinct for fighting, and a potent aura/willpower skill.

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There were even speculations about a life or healing skill. Julius was known to have a life spirit, and Garrett found it hard to believe that someone with that kind of familiar wouldn’t have a skill or item to take advantage of that. House Zenith or House Violet would undoubtedly help Julius acquire a skill or give him an item if he hadn’t figured something out already.

On the other hand, Clan Genshen had noted that he had somehow taken care of multiple people they had sent to deal with him. Garrett didn’t know the exact details of why they wanted Julius taken care of; all he knew was that nothing Clan Genshen did seemed to work.

They had even asked House Greyson to help them do this in the first stage. While they had been reluctant at the start, they also knew that if they could deal with the potential problem beforehand, it would be well worth it.

Unfortunately, the plan had failed quite spectacularly, and Elder Delton had been quite embarrassed after the fact. However, they were also able to figure out just how strong Julius’s constructs were. So that was the silver lining.

Garrett had been instructed to deal with the Zenith Scion, but if possible, avoid any conflict with his friends. The problem was that they had already organized together. Derek had already escaped the previous attacks Garrett had orchestrated, and this was the result.

He tried to convince the other top talents to help him, but Eren and Riven had no intentions of going against House Zenith. Their masters were unbelievably strong, but angering House Zenith was not something to be done lightly, not even with another Ducal House behind them.

They also didn’t feel like ambushing other people when they were already fighting the group of monsters. They thought it was cowardly and let the other weaker members of the group handle that kind of stuff.

Garrett didn’t know what he was going to do about that group.

“You look concerned,” a voice teased Garrett from behind. It was Eren, surprisingly.

The black haired tall swordsman was typically quiet. Mainly focusing on his swordsmanship, but for some reason, he came over to tease Garrett.

“I’m not concerned, just thinking,” he said, lying to his face. He was concerned, but he wasn’t about to let Eren know that.

Eren took out a cloth to wipe down his blade. There wasn’t even any dirt on it; the sword was as pristine as the first day.

“If you want to take care of them so badly, why don’t you fight them yourself?” Eren asked him.

“There are too many of them for me to take them on myself,” he argued.

“Yeah, but I am sure that one of these opportunistic disappointments would be willing to fight with you,” Eren stated while pointing at the people who were gleefully stabbing the other groups in the back with his sword.

Garrett didn’t respond and looked away.

“See? You are scared. You won’t ever become strong if you keep on being a coward,” Eren said to him with a scoff.

Garrett scowled and leveled his gaze at Eren. The Sword Sage disciple was always so fucking arrogant. He wanted nothing more than to beat him up and show him his place.

“Oh? Did I offend Mr. Duke?” Eren said mockingly, purposefully antagonizing Garrett.

Garrett grit his teeth and reined in his anger. He didn’t fall for the trap and kept his cool.

Eren’s mocking expression faded as if nothing was there in the first place.

“See? So boring,” the genius said with a pitying smirk.

“What is going on over here?” Another voice chimed in, and Garrett spotted Riven approaching their little circle. Eva was right beside him.

“Little Mr. Noble is too scared to fight the guy from House Zenith even with almost an army of people at his back,” Eren spoke up.

It was clear that Eren had a reason for acting like this. Garrett had a feeling that Eren had an ulterior motive for encouraging him to fight. It was too obvious.

He had a lot of experience with these types of interactions, which made Erenʼs intentions plain to see.

Riven, who wasnʼt even paying attention to the battle before them, spoke up. “I mean, Derek Zenith is pretty strong. So I don’t blame him,” he glanced at Garrett. “Still, I never understood the hatred you seem to have for House Zenith. I know your houses are rivals and all, but it just sounds like a waste of time and effort if I am being honest.”

Garrett didn’t even bother explaining the political dynamic between the two Ducal Houses. They wouldn’t understand it even if he had all day to describe it. However, he didn’t like how they both seemed to think he was scared of fighting Derek. The two of them haven’t been giving him respect since they teamed up, and it was really starting to annoy him.

“It’s not Derek Zenith that I am worried about. It’s his friends. One of them in particular,” he explained, trying to maintain his calm.

“Oh?”

“Who are his friends?” Eren asked curiously.

Garrett gave them a quick explanation and even pointed out where they were fighting at the moment. The two of them both looked in the distance and observed the battle curiously.

Garrett hid the uneasy expression from appearing on his face.

Their reports might have been wrong about Julius Snow. Very wrong.

Something had obviously changed. He was way more terrifying than the reports had led him to believe. He knew Julius was strong, but the viciousness of his fighting style was deeply concerning.

He stood there, unnerved as he saw Julius literally tear out the spines of monsters with ease. He went from monster to monster like a demon. He was moving so fast that Garrett could barely track him. Almost no monsters were able to survive a single strike from Julius.

Those who lived didnʼt survive the second attack.

He flinched when he saw Julius use a reptilian monster like a club and smash a couple of other monsters before the body broke apart into small bone fragments. There was a savage grin on the boyʼs face, and Garrett could tell that the other people in his group were scared by this as well.

Of course, it was at this moment that one of his group members just had to do something. For some fucking reason, one of the mages in his group decided that it would be a good idea to attack the boy, razing monsters like one would a field of wheat in the back.

Unsurprisingly, this didnʼt work at all. Julius swatted the missiles of mana to the side like they were a swarm of insects. However, what worried Garrett was the gaze now leveled in their direction.

He was barely able to channel mana through his body when a sudden flash of light blew right by him. An explosion rang out from behind him. He slowly turned around and looked at the chaos.

Julius had sent one single spike at the mage who had attacked him from behind—just one spike.

However, that spike had been so powerful that it blew through four different barriers like they were made of paper and slammed into the mage. Or more specifically, tore a hole in their chest, vaporizing them from chest up, and proceeded to injure three other people when it blew up several feet later.

Eren laughed and looked at Garrett. “Ah, I see. Yeah, good call. You would die.”

Garrett was still too shocked at the display of destruction that he failed to get angry at the statement.

Riven, on the other hand, had a completely different reaction from Eren. He wasnʼt laughing; instead, he stared at Derek’s group, specifically at Julius.

Garrett was about to ask Riven what was wrong, but before he could, the mage had already launched himself into the sky and was heading toward them with a look of determination on his face.

Garrett had no idea what had just occurred, but he wasn’t about to complain. He only hoped that Riven and Julius ripped each other apart when they were finished.