Path to Transcendence

The incident turned out to be a major issue. Not only were there a lot of Empire soldiers around, but there were many other organizations, noble houses, and other groups all aggressively asking what had happened.
For the time being, the Empire was being relatively quiet about it. Julius suspected they wanted to keep most of the information to themselves before they issued a report on what happened.
However, it was bound that people inside the realm would report back to their families or groups.
In the meantime, Julius and his friends found themselves getting “healed” by the Empire’s healers. Julius didn’t think they were actually too concerned with healing.
Well… perhaps that was a bit unfair.
However, it might have been more accurate to say that wasn’t their entire motive. He said this because the healers, along with some others, were doing a rather intrusive delve into his body and soul. Or they tried to.
He didn’t let them get very far. He had learned enough about that kind of stuff that he could protect himself, or at the very least, limit the information they got. Instead of examining his body, they seemed concerned with his soul, and he wasn’t comfortable with how touchy they were getting.
It was as if they were interested in whatever they had sensed during their cursory scans. He didn’t know what it was, but he started to think about how he would get out of this and looked at the exits of the room.
He kept slapping their probes away. He brushed them off, telling them that he was fine and that he had already healed himself. However, they didn’t listen to him and insisted on taking a closer look.
He spotted the man off to the side, sent some kind of signal to someone, and narrowed his eyes. It would appear that he was beginning to attract some suspicion. He didn’t want that, but he also didn’t want them to take a closer look either.
He had a lot of secrets in his soul and didn’t want any of them poking around any further than they already had. Unfortunately, it would appear that they wanted some answers, and he spotted one of the Tier 5s walk over to him and his friends.
Speaking of his friends. They were scanned as he had been, but the people must not have found anything out of the ordinary, and let them be. Now Derek, Aubrey, and Edgar were all looking with furrowed brows when they saw how much attention Julius was getting.
The Tier 5 woman stopped in front of Julius, and he felt her use her senses to probe him. She appeared young, but there was a mature air about her. Her dark brown hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head, and her uniform was perfectly ironed.
And while she looked mature, he saw that there were small creases around her eyes and the corners of her mouth, as if she smiled a lot. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like she was in a smiling mood at the moment. She walked up to him and gave him a flat stare before looking at her personnel.
“What seems to be the problem here?” She asked them.
“He is refusing to allow us to examine him,” one of the healers said to her.
“Refusing? You are a Tier 4, and he is a Tier 3; just ignore his defenses and get it over with. There is a lot of stuff we need to do, and we can’t afford to waste time,” she said with a cold stare at the healer.
The healer shuffled their feet. “I’m sorry, Lady Anna, but I can’t.”
“Can’t?” She said slowly, but Julius could feel some of her impatience starting to show.
The healer wilted and glanced at Julius. “His willpower is really strong. He won’t let me in.”
Lady Anna, the Tier 5, finally turned her attention to him. “Why are you resisting?”
He kept a neutral expression on his face and responded as politely as he could. “I don’t feel comfortable with someone rummaging in my soul. I am fine, and I don’t need any healing. If this is for our benefit, like we were told, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Lady Anna stayed silent for a few brief moments and looked over at his friends for a little bit before turning back to him. “It seems you have already somewhat understood the situation. You are correct. We are not just looking to heal people. We are trying to figure out whether someone amongst you or your fellow competitors has been involved, either intentionally or accidentally, in the sabotage the Empire has just experienced. Since you don’t want to be investigated and have continuously rebuked the probes, that means you are also a suspicious individual.”
“Lady Anna, I can assure you that Julius had nothing to do with what happened inside the realm. If anything, he is the reason why we were able to get out safely. He and Riven Briarwood held open a small hole in the barrier for the rest of us to escape,” Derek said to the woman firmly.
Lady Anna slowly turned to Derek. “I understand your loyalty to your friends, Young Zenith, but this is official Empire business as much as I would like to take your word. I need to do my due diligence.”
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Derek clearly wanted to argue, but in the face of her fair response, he wasn’t able to. Julius didn’t see much of a problem with her either. He understood where she was coming from. After all, she was just trying to do her job.
She returned her attention to Julius. “Now, it is evident that you are hesitant to show us your soul and aura, but that is an issue. Would you be willing to come with me so that we can discuss this in private in case anything sensitive comes out?”
He didn’t find that all unreasonable. The only worry he had was whether or not her intentions were in his best interest. Being out in public gave him a certain level of security.
His thoughts must have shown on his face because she nodded at him. “If you want to bring your friends with you, I will not have any problems with that. In fact, it would be more efficient to get a better picture of what happened. Plus, you can be more comfortable since Young Zenith will be with you,” she added.
“You’re saying that you won’t try anything because you are scared of offending Derek’s family?” Julius half-joked.
She didn’t hesitate and nodded. “Everyone is scared of offending House Zenith. Duke Zenith is not a man you want to make enemies of. If the Empire hurts his precious grandson, there will be blood to pay. Nobody wants that.”
He wasn’t expecting her to answer so straightforwardly. He looked at his friends to see if they had any objections or things to say, but they were looking at him to see what he would decide.
He sighed and nodded at Lady Anna. “Okay, lead the way. Let’s make sure you know I am not some mind-controlled spy sent from an enemy country.”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, that would be wonderful. However, if you were an agent sent from an enemy group, then I would have to rip off your limbs and beat you with them. It wouldn’t matter if you were friends with Young Zenith or not,” she said in a way too joyful tone that it was scary.
It was also clear that she was joking, but the viciousness of it surprised him.
***
She took them down a hall and past another dozen or so guards surrounding the room. It was chaos, and he saw many representatives from various groups all trying to get past the barrier the Empire had set up.
Anna had already created some kind of field around them. He suspected it was some kind of stealth skill that hid their presence, judging by how it bent the light around them.
Eventually, they entered a small private room where a bunch of nice furniture was laid out. It looked like someone’s office or something.
She removed her jacket, placing it on the back of her chair, and sat down with a tired sag of her shoulders.
“So I have heard you are involved with the conclave. Is that correct?” she asked him accusingly, staring deep into his eyes.
He looked right back at her, not breaking eye contact. How'd she know that? Not many people knew that sort of information. He walked over and pulled out a seat for Aubrey to sit down before sitting down next to her.
“Yes, I am,” he said simply, deciding it was better to be honest at least for now.
“In what capacity?”
“I had a few run-ins with them.”
“I need more than that.”
“I am not friends with them if that is what you are worried about. In fact, they have tried to kill me in the past. But if you want more information, you are not getting that. At least not for free,” he said with a calm expression.
He felt something very subtle ping from her side of the table. It was so minor that he would attribute it to some kind of standard mana pulse from various enchantments.
However, his mind was still wired to the max since his fight wasn’t too long ago. It was like every one of his senses was in overdrive.
“What was that?” He asked her, not bothering to hide that he felt something. If he was going to be straightforward with her, he wanted her to be straightforward with him.
She showed a hint of surprise for the first time, but hid it well. “What do you mean?” She asked.
“Is it some kind of device that detects whether or not I am telling the truth?” He guessed blindly.
She narrowed her eyes at him and slowly nodded. “Yeah. I am surprised you sensed that. Your profile did say you had very acute senses, but it’s made to be very discreet.”
He shrugged, glad that she was being honest so far, and so he reciprocated that a little bit. “I got lucky, and I am a little paranoid after my recent fight.”
She nodded. “Yes, that is what I wanted to ask you about. From what I have gathered, you and Isaac Draven were alone inside the barrier, fighting the chimera. Is that accurate?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s about the gist of it.”
“Can you give me a memory shard of the fight?” She asked him.
He didn’t know what a memory shard was, but he didn’t like the sound of it and shook his head. “No, I would rather not.”
“Did you see who was responsible for it?” She asked him, not surprised by his reluctance, and changed the topic.
He shook his head. “No, I got a notification about some interference, but that was about it.”
“You don’t have any clues or suspicions on who it might be?”
“Not really,” he said with a slight frown, but noticed that the device she was using to test whether he was being truthful or not gave a different signal than other times he had responded.
“Who do you suspect?” She asked, leaning forward.
He sighed and leaned his chin on the table. “At first, I suspected Garrett, but from his reaction, he seemed very shocked and scared at the events unfolding. He is either a magnificent actor, or he genuinely didn’t know.”
“You suspect that Garrett Greyson is allied with the Conclave?”
“Suspected, and I’m curious why you don’t think so. If you gathered information about me, you surely would have known that House Greyson has been dabbling with the Conclave,” Julius said, not being fooled by her playing dumb.
There was a reason why she had mentioned the Conclave so early. It was likely that she already knew about the conflict between him and them, but simply wanted confirmation.
She smiled but didn’t confirm or deny the connection. “So who do you think it was?”
Julius stared at her with a serious look of his own. “I noticed that I did not see Casey Vale exit the trial with us.”
He looked at her, trying to see if he got a reaction. And he did.