Path to Transcendence

Chapter 578: Problematic

Eren POV

There weren’t many people he had been worried about facing in this tournament. The only ones he had been concerned about were the likes of Isaac and Riven. They were his biggest competition. Riven was, for obvious reasons. The mage was extremely talented, even given the constraints his tier imposed on him. He was also not an optimal matchup for him.

His master had already told him that Riven would likely become even more dangerous once he advanced to Tier 4, where his mind and body would improve by leaps and bounds. Allowing him to fully utilize his skill and talents.

Isaac was a problem for obvious reasons. He was a powerhouse whose main purpose was to fight to the death. Eren didn’t really like his chances of fighting that brute for one simple fact. He didn’t think he could get through Isaac’s defenses. The only chance of that would be to use his sword intent, but at Tier 3, sword intent was still extremely fatiguing to use.

The fact that Eren had acquired sword intent at Tier 3 demonstrated his immense talent for the sword. Only a small number of people had accomplished this at his age. And all of these people had gone on to become powerful figures.

Eren sighed as he looked across the field. Isaac and Riven were the only ones he had been worried about. At least until Julius Snow made his appearance. The young teen was most definitely a problem, and it was for good reason. From what he had seen, Julius was a combination of both Riven and Isaac. The boy was able to use long-range magical constructs strong enough to compete with Riven.

He also used kinetic energy to great effect. His master had informed him of a secret that few were aware of. Apparently, Julius’s master was none other than Cain Steelborn, the Lord of the Shattered Throne. Most people in the Empire wouldn’t recognize that name or title, but those who had traveled in the Northern Regions or near the Kingdom of Valde were aware of Cain’s reputation.

The fact that someone like that took Julius as a disciple revealed far more about Julius’s strength than most people would realize. The Lord of the Shattered Throne wouldn’t select anyone less than stellar to become their personal disciple.

That was the reason why Eren hadn’t bothered to hold back. He had seen Julius’s previous fights. The boy had the habit of playing around with his opponents, and Eren decided to take advantage of this. Going as far as to use his sword right from the start.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Julius remained unfazed in the face of such an attack and dealt with it easily. Now it became difficult because now that the gloves were off, Eren knew that Julius would come at him without hesitation.

And he was right about that. The air around Julius shimmered as he vanished from Eren’s sight. Eren used [Eye of the Sword] to sense his surroundings, but failed to sense anything. It was only due to his instincts that he was able to react in time to the staff slamming toward his skull.

He slashed his sword up, intercepting the staff with a grunt. The power behind the staff’s blow was incredible. He already knew that he likely fell behind his opponent when it came to pure strength, but the difference was still larger than he expected.

He slid back several feet as he tried to maintain his balance. He immediately sent several swords at the back of his opponent. However, it was like Julius had eyes in the back of his head, leaning out of the way of most of them and backhanded one sword that almost hit him.

Eren stifled a curse but pressed forward. He used the staff’s own momentum to parry it to the side, before feinting a thrust. Unfortunately, Julius didn’t bite and slammed his staff into Eren’s sword.

Eren sent a blast of pure sharpness mana at his opponent, hoping to create an opening. If it had been anyone else, the sharpness mana would have cut deeply into their skin. However, this wasn’t the case for Julius.

Eren felt his opponent’s own Sharpness Concept clash with his own. Eren’s concept was clearly stronger, which wasn’t a surprise. It was a concept that had already evolved twice and was the basis for his sword intent. If he had lost to someone who didn’t even specialize in Sharpness Concepts, he would have been ashamed.

Unfortunately, his opponent had more defenses in place. A field of kinetic energy surrounded Julius, blasting apart the sharpness mana and dispersing it. He attempted to force it through with his willpower, shaping this sharpness into a narrow point.

His willpower had always been strong; that was a big reason he had managed to get his sword intent in the first place. Without a strong will, he would have never been able to acquire sword intent.

Yet, to his astonishment, Julius’s willpower wasn’t in any way, shape, or form weaker than his. In fact, it was stronger by a considerable margin. On top of that, there was a nasty little destructive aspect to it. Just that brief contact eroded his aura and mana by a little.

He was forced to abort this attack before he suffered any backlash. He knew from experience that the backlash from losing out in a contest of wills was quite disorientating. His master loved to test him this way, and it was how Eren sharpened his will so much over the course of many years.

So how was Julius’s willpower more powerful than his?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

As he thought about this, Eren felt the field expand, enveloping his body. He jumped back, understanding the danger of the situation. Then out of nowhere, a massive explosion of kinetic energy slammed into him.

He did his best to avoid the attack before it could do too much damage, but there were several potent Concepts involved, and his efforts were in vain. He felt his ribs groan from the impact and was forced to duck underneath the staff flying at his head.

However, this meant he wasn’t able to avoid the front kick slamming into his stomach. He let out a wheeze as air was forcibly expelled from his lungs. He immediately sent dozens of swords straight at Julius. Not to hurt him, but just to delay long enough for him to recover.

Julius didn’t bother to block or dodge these swords at all. Instead, he used that same teleportation skill again. Eren threw out his perception, trying to sense any spatial fluctuations that were associated with teleportation skills.

It was why many high-tiered people avoided using such means to attack. While it could surprise your opponent, against a properly prepared enemy with a perception skill, they could sense the general direction from which you attacked.

It was why Eren didn’t have one of his own. He already had a really good movement skill that essentially acted as a short-range teleportation skill with how fast he moved, but without that particular drawback.

However, to his concern, Julius’s skill didn’t have this weakness either. Eren couldn’t sense where he might be teleporting, meaning it was a damn good skill, and it was definitely not a good sign for him. He threw out a wide net of sharpness mana, and a few swords were mingled in as well, just in case.

He was just in time as well, because his net managed to scrape the now reappeared Julius with the edge of these swords. It wasn’t any meaningful damage, but it was enough to stall him. That was all Eren needed.

He began gathering his willpower and his Sharpness Concept. His soul strained as he formed his sword intent, the energy bristling at his fingertips. He restrained it and formed the intent into a thin layer of energy that covered his body.

It wasn’t a technique he normally used, but against an opponent like this, he was forced to take drastic measures. He couldn’t afford to hold back; that much was clear.

His entire body glowed as the sword intent radiated from him. His sword was glowing even brighter, and once he accomplished that, he began to infuse his sword intent into his skills.

[Drifting Cloud Sword Steps] was the first to get this intent infused into it. The skill struggled to accept the sword intent despite being a superior epic-ranked skill, but he brute-forced his way through it. He could feel his mind straining to hold it in place, but he pushed.

Then, once he had it in place, he immediately used the skill to meet his opponent head-on. The increase in his speed was drastic; his body struggled to accept all this power at once. He could feel the muscle fibers in his legs as well as his bones barely keeping it contained. He instantly appeared in front of Julius; he could see the hints of surprise and fascination as Eren’s sword inched closer to his throat.

Several barriers appeared in front of his blade, attempting to block the strike. But with how much power was behind his sword, intent-enhanced body, it wasn’t enough. He sliced right through these barriers with some effort.

Eren felt Julius activate the teleportation skill again, but this time, he was more prepared. He sent a concentrated burst of sword intent at the exact moment he felt the skill building. His willpower was right there alongside it.

He knew he likely couldn’t beat Julius in raw willpower, but he should be able to delay him. And to his excitement, it worked. The spatial skill was delayed by a fraction of a second. It wasn’t long, but it was enough.

Gotcha, he grinned to himself as his sword made contact with Julius’s skin.

However, the instant he made contact, it was like a sun exploded in his face. An enormous wave of raw heat and destruction erupted from Julius’s body. Stalling the blade for a brief moment, but Eren wasn’t about to be denied.

He gave his soul one more push, feeling his teeth crack from how hard he was clenching his jaw. He didn’t care about the flames or the destructive aura that was wreaking havoc on his body. He closed his eyes and pushed forward until he finally felt something give.

His sword sliced through something, and a flash of light carved a twenty-foot-long scar into the ground behind Julius. The consecutive concussive blasts rang in his ears.

When he opened his eyes, he was shocked that he didn’t see any white light where Julius had been standing. Instead, he felt his stomach cave in and was launched off his feet, flying through the air until he crashed into the barrier protecting the stadium.

He fell limply to the ground and staggered to his feet, already using his movement skill to get away. It was a good thing he did too, because he felt something whoosh right over his head.

He stumbled on the ground and held his sword in front of his face. When he finally got his bearings back, he saw that Julius was more than fine and was standing right where Eren had been, a crater four feet deep at his knees.

Julius slowly glanced over at Eren. His eyes flared with blue flames, and the crown on his head blazed as well, with dangerous pulses of destruction.

Eren’s sword did manage to hit something at least. He spotted a large open wound across Julius’s neck. It was bleeding profusely, and his entire torso was covered in blood. And it would continue to do so since it was made with Eren’s sword intent. Those types of wounds were much more difficult to stop bleeding due to their potent nature.

Julius must have finally noticed this as well. Because the other boy reached up and held his hand to staunch the blood. A pulse of flames surrounded Julius’s hand and cauterized the wound instantly.

Eren stood there in astonishment. The sword intent that he had left inside the wound was wiped out without issue. Secondly, and what made him even more nervous, was that there wasn’t a single reaction on Julius’s face. No sign of pain despite almost having his head cut off and forcibly cauterizing a wound of that size.

He staggered to his feet, still holding his sword in front of him. His sword intent was flickering over his body as his control was slipping out of his control. He needed to end this fast, before he ran out of gas.

He stiffened his resolve, pulling deep from his reserves, and once again infused his sword intent into his skills. He had already gotten close to defeating Julius during that last exchange. He just needed to find a way to finish him for good.

So without another wasted second, he tore across the field to meet the monstrous young teen once again.