Path to Transcendence

He observed as he watched Elder Delton's “plan” unfold before them. Kanen didn’t agree with the situation at all. House Violet had already warned them not to interfere or mess with Julius Snow. Yet, Elder Delton’s ego couldn’t let things stand.
Kanen still didn’t know how Delton managed to arrange this entire thing. He suspected that the Conclave or House Greyson had done something to help. It was such a stupid plan, he wondered what Delton had to promise or pay in order to achieve this.
Being able to convince or bribe a dozen of the Empire’s top talents was no small feat. There had to be a cost; nothing in this world was free, especially if it came from the Conclave or House Greyson.
Kanen had personally seen Julius walk away completely unharmed when Colten, a talented Tier 4 in his own right, attacked him on Delton’s orders. He didn’t know how the young boy did it, but he did know that he arrived to see Julius dragging the aforementioned Tier 4 by the hair across the sandy beach.
It was hard to judge how strong Julius was just from that one meeting, but being able to survive an encounter with one of Clan Genshen’s assassins was an accomplishment no matter what method he might have used to achieve it.
“Father, isn’t that…” His son, Brandon, whispered quietly.
“Yeah, that’s him,” he confirmed with a stiff nod.
Kanen was in the capital because his son would also be participating. He had won his own school’s tournament, and Kanen had high hopes for his success. Brandon had only gotten stronger in these past few months, and there was a good chance that Brandon could make it to the final stage.
“Is he really that strong?” Brandon asked, looking a little skeptical as they stared at where Julius was standing.
Kanen admitted that Julius didn’t look all that impressive at first glance. He wasn’t moving, and he was simply chucking hard mana constructs at the foxes. While these constructs were clearly well created, there was a lack of power behind them.
Still, it was evident to anyone experienced enough to know that Julius was holding back. Brandon would likely see for himself in a few moments. Kanen didn’t believe the boy would be allowed to keep holding back if he wanted to advance.
Kanen noticed that around a dozen people were working together to undermine Julius’s points. They were all quite skilled, and with the rule about attacking other participants, it was hard for Julius to find a way to address this issue.
If he was being honest, he was very curious to see what the young boy under the protection of House Violet could do. What had allowed him to beat a Tier 4 like Colten?
Was it luck, an item, or was it skill? Those were all questions he wished he had answers to.
As fate would have it, some of those questions were answered immediately. The boy must have realized that it was useless to keep holding back so much and had finally decided to make a move.
In a display of absolutely breathtaking mana and aura control, Julius tore through their interference without issue. The other mages and fighters had no chance; they were unable to prevent Julius from killing the foxes.
Small but extremely savage spikes of blue fire mana blew through everything in their path. The boy's aura ripped through the other competitors' mana like it was nothing, tearing through any skill or spell they tried to use.
“Damn,” his son muttered quietly as he stared at Julius with wide eyes. “Those are some powerful constructs,” he added with a subdued tone.
Kanen nodded softly; his son was right. Those weren’t the constructs of a Tier 3. Those were the constructs he would likely see from a Tier 4. He was able to sense several interesting aspects within these missiles of concentrated mana, but it was hard to get a good read off them.
The barrier surrounding the field impeded his senses, but the spikes were constructed so well that they barely gave off any residual mana. Furthermore, Kanen wasn’t merely impressed by the physical constructs; he was more fascinated by the control and speed of them. That said more about his skills than anything else.
Powerful skills weren’t out of the norm in a place like the Empire’s Tier 3 Tournament, but seeing this level of finesse was much more rare. These children were still young; they didn’t have the time that Kanen or other older fighters had to hone their skills.
Kanen watched as the spikes continued to increase in speed, leaving flashes of blue light as they disappeared from sight, tearing through the foxes and all the attempts to stop them. Even to his Tier 5 senses, they were fast.
Kanen looked over at the other side of the room, where Elder Delton was standing up on his feet and pacing angrily. Kanen hid the grin that attempted to crawl to his lips. As much as he disliked the man’s recent behavior, they were still a part of the same clan and couldn’t outwardly show it.
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On another note, Kanen had also found out why Delton was so eager to either kill or harass Julius. Apparently, his niece Lyn had been missing ever since her mission out in the eastern regions of the Empire, and Delton believed that Julius had something to do with it or, at the very least, was involved in some manner.
Kanen didn’t even understand Delton’s reasoning for this. From what he understood, the girl hadn’t even liked her family, and the feeling was mutual. She hadn’t inherited her family’s shadow affinity and instead had been given a talent for water magic. Since then, they have been growing increasingly distant over the years.
Kanen wouldn’t even be surprised to learn that Lyn had taken this chance to run away and escape her family. He wouldn’t blame her either; they weren’t exactly the nicest of people.
Thus, he didn’t know why Delton was going this far if it was for “revenge”. It would make sense if he loved Lyn or something, but from what he knew, that wasn’t the case. Perhaps it was something else. Perhaps Lyn was simply an excuse for Delton to act. Honestly, that sounded like a more reasonable explanation.
It was possible that the mission she had been on had gone wrong, and Delton was taking some blame for it. He believed that taking care of the people involved might absolve him of some of that responsibility.
Kanen quietly sighed and swayed his head back and forth, he couldn’t know that for certain though.
He glanced back at the field where Julius had created more constructs, showing that he was able to control more than the three he had been using previously. He didn’t give the other people a chance. He was constantly ripping these spikes through the entire arena, navigating them with magnificent control through the large crowd of people and monsters.
He always hit his target, and during the entire time, he had barely moved from his spot. He stood there completely still, his eyes now glowing a dangerous red hue as he tore through another dozen foxes in the blink of an eye.
There was no stopping him. Nothing the other dozen people did was able to slow him down. Even if they were able to intercept the constructs, their attacks were much too weak to make a difference, much less to stop them.
However, this display of skill began to catch the attention of other spectators. He looked around across the entire stadium’s stands and spotted tens of people from various influential organizations, houses, clans, sects, and guilds all paying attention to the black haired youth.
There were very few who showed the delicate skill like Julius had. There wasn't the showy display of falling swords or brawling a beast a dozen times larger with their bare hands. It was a brilliant display of raw control and absolute power.
Now that half a dozen spikes were flying around, the boy was quickly racking up the points. It didn’t matter if they were normal monsters worth a single point or a monster worth five. Not a single one of them stood a chance.
The monsters were barely able to react. One moment, they were fighting another participant, and the next, a glowing blue spike of superheated mana tore through their throats. It was an absolutely ruthless showing of long-range prowess that was only seen by a rare few so far.
Kanen had also done enough research into Julius that he understood that the boy didn’t have any powerful mage personally teaching him, either; his style was completely his own.
Delton was fortunate that House Violet hadn’t arrived in the capital to watch. They might have suspected Clan Genshen of being behind this interference. Nonetheless, Kanen suspected that the young boy would have his choice of backers with this display alone.
Despite Delton’s intentions of ruining Julius’s chances to move on to the second stage, he might have accidentally helped him instead.
Kanen choked down the laugh that bubbled up to the surface. There was a certain irony to that, and he couldn’t help but find it incredibly amusing.
A single minute.
A single minute was all it took for the black haired youth to slaughter around a hundred points worth of monsters. And it left the crowd speechless.
***
Julius blinked when he felt his previous attack not strike the intended target. He was wondering what had happened, but a quick glance at the armband told him what he needed to know. There was now a glowing “hundred” symbol signifying that he had met the point requirements.
He let out a calming breath as he regained some of his composure. To his embarrassment, he had gotten a little carried away in the heat of the moment and had used a lot more power than planned. The second he started to increase his output, he couldn’t stop himself.
He had sent his spikes flying out with almost all of the strength he could manage without touching his kinetic energy. To be honest, he didn’t even know if kinetic energy would help increase the power or speed of the constructs. His pure mana manipulation was already more than enough in his opinion.
He would say that other people thought so as well if the looks he was getting were any sign. Contestants who had finished were standing off on the side, looking at him with both interest and caution. Even those who were still in the midst of fighting were giving him looks.
The spectators were murmuring among themselves as they pointed at him. Even with all of the other noises, he could hear the distinct chatter. People were asking about who he was and if he belonged to any other established group.
He peeped up at where he knew Cain and Freya were looking down from. Freya didn’t seem surprised in the least, and to be fair, she had seen him handle far more powerful opponents, her husband being one of them.
Cain, on the other hand, looked very excited. He was practically jumping out of his seat and was pointing at himself as he talked to other spectators. Julius didn’t need to be there to know that Cain was likely bragging to these people that he was Julius’s master. From their dubious looks, they didn’t believe him for a bit. But that could also be because Julius had shown a mage skill set while Cain looked very much like a warrior.
Being almost seven feet tall with bulging muscles and a buzz cut certainly gave him a special vibe.
He was tempted to stay around to watch the other people continue to fight, but he decided not to. He honestly didn’t care about who would make it, and he had seen enough fights to satisfy his curiosity. He also didn’t want to continue being the center of attention. It felt like the entire capital’s citizens were staring him down like he was fresh meat.
So before all of them mobbed him, he made his escape.