Path to Transcendence

Chapter 565: Retrieval

After Warden Gunton saw the seal, the process became very easy. In fact, the man was downright pleasant to Julius. Even offering him a drink from his own collection of alcohol. Julius, of course, declined, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.

They were taken down a hallway, past several layers of security. Until they arrived at a metal door. The warden had to use some kind of key as well as manipulate his mana in such a way that the locks on the door were unlocked.

When the door finally opened, Julius immediately entered without another word. The warden didn’t stop him, simply standing outside patiently. The only person who followed him in was Freya.

It was dark. Very dark, almost as if the room was draining all the light that entered. It was only due to his spatial perception that he was able to sense a form chained to a bed. There was nothing else in the room, just a lone bed with a single blanket.

“Edwin?” Julius called out.

He didn’t get a response and so he walked closer.

“Is there a way to turn on a light or something?” He called back to the warden.

Not even a second after he requested that, a bright light illuminated the entire room. The change was so sudden that Julius had to blink out stars in his vision.

He felt his heart drop to his feet when he saw the form lying on the bed. He had clearly seen better days and looked the most disheveled Julius had ever seen, but there was no doubt that this was Edwin.

The thing that worried Julius the most was the fact that Edwin wasn’t moving at all. He hadn’t reacted to him entering the room and was lying completely still on the cot.

Julius immediately dropped to Edwin’s side, his breath shaky. He didnʼt waste any time and used his senses to examine the man. He frantically ran his aura and senses throughout Edwin’s body, but to his concern, he wasn’t able to detect anything wrong with him.

Other than signs of exhaustion and some slight injuries, nothing was wrong with the man. But that only made Julius more concerned, because Edwin still wasn’t waking up.

“What did you do to him?” Julius snarled, directing some of his leaking anger at the warden.

“According to reports, he has been like that for the past couple of weeks. We suspect it is a self-induced state. Likely some kind of mental skill he has, but we haven’t been able to rouse him out of that state. Our mind mages haven’t been able to access his mind either.”

On one hand, Julius was glad to hear that. Knowing that the mind mages weren’t able to mess with Edwin’s head alleviated a lot of his concern. He wasn’t so worried about physical torture, but was more worried about Edwin’s mind not being the same if Empire’s psychics put his mind into the blender.

On the other hand, he was angry that Edwin was even in this state in the first place. The only thing that kept him somewhat calm was knowing that this was just an unfortunate situation caused by Edwinʼs having infiltrated the Conclave of his own volition. If it hadn’t, then Julius would have been a lot less forgiving.

Still, he was anxious because he had no idea how to get Edwin out of this self-imposed catatonic state.

While he was worrying about this, Freya had already dropped down beside Edwin. Her strong and potent aura had enveloped his old teacher with a gentleness that Julius couldn’t hope to replicate.

He let her do her thing, not saying a single word that might otherwise interrupt her. He kneeled patiently by Edwin’s side for the next several minutes as she inspected what was going on.

Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion and looked over at Julius.

“He seems to be fine for the most part. I concur that this is likely the result of his own skill. It seems to be a skill that touches upon various aspects of shadow mana and a focus skill. Maybe even a combination of several skills working together. The main thing I am worried about is his soul.”

He felt his heart pound in his chest. It was reassuring that Edwin wasn’t a shattered fragment of the man Julius knew, but hearing that his soul might be in trouble was disturbing.

“What is the problem with his soul?” He asked her.

“Whatever skill he is using, it is taking a toll on his soul. The requirement to uphold such a technique must be immense, and his soul might not hold up if it continues to power the technique,” Freya explained.

Julius cursed under his breath. That didn’t sound good.

“Is there any way you can forcibly cancel the technique for him?” He proposed.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She frowned slightly. “I am not sure if that will be the best action to take. I am confident that I can cancel the technique, but I am not confident that I can contain whatever backlash he might face if that were to happen. It is a very complex technique, and unless I had full access and control over his skills, I don’t think it would be a good option.”

He chewed on his lip. “So what? We have to wait for him to deactivate the technique himself?”

“It would certainly be the safest option,” she agreed.

“What about his soul? What if he isn’t aware enough to deactivate it? What will happen to his soul if it continues to run?” Julius asked in a rush.

Freya laid a hand on his head. “Calm down. His soul isn’t in such a bad place that it will collapse within the next month. And with our help, his soul will be fine. The main thing to worry about is when he will wake up.”

Julius took a breath of air to calm himself, as well as using [Sage of Savagery] a little more heavily than usual. Now wasn’t a time to panic.

“So what? We just wait?”

She nodded. “Yes, sadly, until we can take a closer look at him. That is the best option we have.”

Julius clenched his fists but let his shoulders deflate. “Okay, let’s at least get him out of this shithole.”

He turned around to look at the warden, wanting nothing more than to throw a fit. However, he was mature enough to know it wouldn’t help matters. So with gritted teeth, he went over and grabbed Edwin.

Hopefully, House Zenith can help procure a place where Edwin can rest and wake up.

It wasn’t how he was hoping this day would go, but at least he knew that Edwin was alive and not dead in some ditch. He had been worried that the Conclave had found him out and killed him for being a spy.

He had to take the small victories where he could.

***

Erik POV

Erik didn’t know why, but today Julius had a dangerous feeling around him. More so than usual. Which said a lot, considering the younger boy was already scary enough on a normal day.

He winced when he saw Landon get thrown across the room, slamming into the wall with an ear-shattering slam. Landon got up, but Erik could tell that Landon was feeling the last attack. His senior guildmate crawled back up to his feet, shaking his head.

To Erik and April’s shock, Landon hadn’t been able to beat Julius a single time since they began training together. Despite being Tier 4, Landon hadn’t figured out a way to beat Julius. Something that Erik knew bothered the older boy more than he liked to admit.

However, the same could be said for Julius. Landon was simply too sturdy to put down. With that being said, Erik suspected that Julius had a way to finish Landon off. But since they were sparring partners, Julius must have thought better of using such a dangerous attack. Such as the one he had used against Oliver the other day.

April hadn’t won a spar either. Although in her case, she had only just advanced a month or two ago. She hadn’t quite acclimated to her new Tier 4 body. However, she matched up against Julius a lot better than either Landon or Erik did.

While she wasn’t as sturdy as Landon, she was a lot more nimble and used a massive axe with incredible results. She had a gravity skill that allowed her to control her own mass and the mass of any object she was touching. At least, that’s what Erik had learned so far.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just the skill itself that made her dangerous. It was her delicate control over this skill that made her a threat. Erik suspected she would be a nightmare to fight once she got comfortable in her new body.

Erik grimaced when he saw Landon overextend such a fraction, and Julius drove a kinetically enhanced fist into his stomach. It was quickly followed up by three quick blows that knocked Landon across the room once again.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Cain said abruptly, using his kinetic energy to stop both of them.

“No, I’m still good,” Landon said stubbornly, picking himself off the floor.

“Not you,” Cain snapped at him, surprising everyone there, including Erik. One thing they all had learned was that Cain was a very playful man. Sometimes Erik forgot that the man was a Tier 6. Therefore, hearing him actually raise his voice was quite the shock.

To be fair, Erik had also thought Cain was addressing Landon. However, it appears he was talking to Julius.

“What’s wrong?” Julius asked.

“You tell me.”

Erik frowned and stared at the young teen. What was Julius doing wrong?

“I’m not sure.” Apparently, he didn’t know either.

“Take a look at your aura,” Cain said with his arms crossed.

What was he talking about?

Suddenly, Erik felt a strong breeze wash over his soul. It was like someone had removed a dark cloud over his aura, a cloud that he hadn’t even realized was there. It was a very worrying realization.

Was it from Julius? If so, how hadn’t he sensed this? How hadn’t Landon or April?

The very thought of it terrified him.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened,” Julius said, suddenly looking very contrite.

“Umm. What is going on?” April said with a baffled expression on her face.

Instead of answering, Cain went over to Julius, and Erik was worried that the man was going to punish him. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Weirdly enough, the Tier 6 gently reached up to the dull gray crown on Julius’s head.

He touched it for a few moments before pulling away.

“Such a dangerous little thing, aren’t you?” He turned to look at Erik and his guildmates.

“Let’s call it here for now. Go and see Freya to give you guys a once-over. Make sure you guys arenʼt going to fall dead on the streets later today. Then I need to talk to Julius alone for a bit.”

Erik had no idea what was going on, but he had no complaints. He was more than willing to get out of there. For some reason, his soul felt like someone had taken sandpaper to it. And it would seem that Julius was the cause.

He didnʼt need any more warnings, and before Landon could argue, he was already pulling him and April from the room. Something was going on between Julius and Cain, and Erik had no intentions of getting in the middle of it.