Royal Road
SomethingOtherThanRain
Path to Transcendence - [Isekai/Litrpg] by l-Ryn-l
Chapter 14: Survival
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Right when he thought he was done for, Julius was grabbed from behind and tossed out of the way of the knife.
In the chaos, Julius had completely forgotten to wake Edwin up. Luckily, it seemed that breaking down his door was sufficient enough to wake Edwin from his slumber.
Edwin, after getting Julius out of the way, quickly attacked the intruder. Julius couldn't follow their movements. However, a split second later, Edwin had a blade of shadow mana rammed through the chest of his opponent. The assassin never had a chance.
Seeing the commotion from Edwin's room, Julius sensed the other assassins converging on it from their hiding places. The violet orb of mana didn't make contact with his attacker, it was much faster than his previous constructs, but it was still too slow to hit a high-tiered opponent. Yet, it seemed that Lady Luck was on his side and the orb, missing his intended target, was heading directly towards the doorway, where the assassins were now running.
The mass of violet mana hit the chest of the first assassin just as he was turning into the room and detonated. Unlike, his earlier kick on the first intruder this attack did much more damage.
The combination of condensed fire and kinetic mana created a lethal explosion that ripped through the defenses of the assassin. The orb that Julius created wasn't a technique that focused on elegance or efficiency. It was a construct that had one purpose, to destroy anything in its path.
That being said, Julius was still only Tier 1, so to be able to hurt someone who was probably Tier 3 or 4 was next to impossible. It was already insanely difficult to fight up to Tier 2 as a Tier 1, and the disparity between ranks only increased as you advanced.
That was why it was so surprising to see how effective his attack had been against a much superior opponent. The assassin was enveloped in the explosion and was blasted out of the doorway and through the walls of the building. Leaving a human-sized crater in its wake.
The hallway didn't remain unscathed either. The surroundings of the explosion destroyed everything around it and the wall connecting Edwin's room to the hallway had turned to rubble.
Julius could only hear ringing in his ears from the shockwave of the blast. The chaos that Julius had caused provided a few moments for Edwin to get his bearings.
Edwin took a quick look around at the intruders still converging on them and immediately sent out a wave of shadow mana. It hit the group and they all swayed as if they were drunk. It seemed like the purpose was only to disorient the assassins because Edwin instantly turned to the wall that connected his room and Lukas's and blew a large hole through it.
Julius understood what Edwin was doing. He was trying to get to Lukas's side, knowing that he was probably the intended target.
The other room had a similar scene playing out. Apparently, Lukas had heard the noise as well and woke up. However, around ten attackers were in the process of trying to kill the Patriarch, compared to the four who were in Edwin's room.
It did seem that their true target was the Patriarch of House Hyperius. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Lukas was holding his own.
His uncle had a thick golden barrier made of sun mana protecting him from the bombardment from the assassins. He also was simultaneously tossing out golden blasts whenever he could.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the assassin knew about his uncle's abilities and had prepared accordingly. Three attackers with pitch-black shields stood in front of the others. These shields were able to absorb Lukas's blasts with ease. It was almost like they consuming the light out of the blasts.
It seemed like they had come well-prepared. It was well-known that sun affinity users were much more powerful during the daytime. It was also why they probably tried to assassinate Lukas at night. Therefore, they thought they had the best chance of success if they attacked him when he was weakest and defenseless in bed.
Still, the assassins weren't making much headway into breaking Lukas's defenses. To Julius's surprise, Edwin grabbed him by the arm and whipped him over to Lukas's feet. His uncle expanded his barrier a bit so Julius was safe from any stray shots.
Edwin on the other hand, promptly disappeared and reappeared directly behind the attackers. Within a blink, he took out one shield user with a blade to the back of their throat and disappeared again before half a dozen strikes landed on his location. This time, he reappeared several steps to the side and launched the same wave of mana he used in the other room at all of them. Disoriented, the attackers didn't focus on Lukas, who had swept a narrow disk of condensed mana at the distracted intruders. It managed to cut through four of them like they were clay.
The other four from the other room had made their way over and now there were nine opponents against Edwin, Lukas, and Julius. They also didn't leave any more gaps for Lukas to exploit. Every attack from him was blocked by those black shields.
Julius just sat there behind the barrier and watched. He was aware he was more of a liability than anything else. Because he was there, Lukas was forced to continue protecting him within the barrier.
He constantly pulsed [Spatial Perception], making sure nothing snuck up on them. But the intense usage of it was putting a large toll on his brain. His legs were still a mess, even with him sending as much life mana as he could down into them. The only thing he thought might help, was to try to replicate that violet mana orb again.
He didn't know exactly how he did it, but it was the only thing he had done that caused actual damage. Taking a deep breath, he tried to remember that feeling. Ever since he successfully delivered that kinetic empowered kick, a switch seemed to flick for Julius. Kinetic mana was now more responsive than before. It was as if once he had done it, his body wouldn't let him forget it.
Julius did seem to vaguely remember getting a notification during the chaos. So before he tried to recreate the orb he wanted to quickly check to see if there was a skill available. Any increase in strength would be useful right and might be the difference between life and death.
[Spatial Perception] has reached threshold. [Spatial Perception lvl 16 -> Spatial Perception lvl 17]
[Spatial Perception] has reached threshold. [Spatial Perception lvl 17 -> Spatial Perception lvl 18]
[Focus] has reached threshold. [Focus lvl 8 -> Focus lvl 9]
He got two consecutive level-ups in [Spatial Perception] and one in [Focus}. It must have been the pressure he was under with the threat of death. It was an open secret that skill levels correlated with how much stress your soul was received. But he didn't think it would have been this drastic.
There were more notifications.
Would you like to learn the skill [Kinetic Release]?
Would you like to learn the skill [Thermal Compression] (Uncommon)?
He was offered two skills, and one was even uncommon at that. Learning an uncommon skill without evolving an existing general skill was difficult, not many were able to achieve it. He had a feeling it was because of his prior experience with compressing his own mana for years.
Julius had accepted both of them without a second thought. They might not be what he wanted in the long run, but if he survives the night, he could always remove them later.
Congratulations, skill [Kinetic Release] acquired.
Congratulations, skill [Thermal Compression] (Uncommon) acquired.
While Julius was fooling around with his new skills, Edwin and Lukas were fighting the remaining assassins. Feeling bad for being dead weight, he focused on his task.
[Thermal Compression] unsurprisingly was related to how Julius compressed his fire mana to its limit and [Kinetic Release] was similar to what he had done with his kick to the assassin's face. While they weren't new variations of his abilities, these skills made a large difference already. He could feel them starting to activate on their own, with just the thought of it.
He began to load fire mana into another orb, while also trying to add kinetic mana on top of it. However, the way the kinetic mana was interacting with the fire mana did not feel the same as before. Earlier, the fire mana and kinetic mana seemed to swirl together inside, feeding off one another's energy.
Therefore, he started to spin the mana inside the orb, not worrying about controlling each mana type separately, just trying to mix them together like in a blender. While he was continuing to dump mana into the orb, it started to spin faster and as a result, compress even further, [Thermal Compression] making it practically automatic. He took much longer to form it compared to his previous one, but this time it felt stronger.
After almost ten seconds, he finally held in front of him an orb of compressed fire and kinetic mana. It was still a violet color but was now rapidly swirling within its confines.
The mental toll it took to control this much mana together, all while feeding it two separate mana types was massive. On top of his generous use of [Spatial Perception], his brain was just about to melt into a puddle.
Julius didn't know if Lukas's barrier only stopped external attacks or if it allowed attacks from the inside to be sent out. It looked like Lukas's own attacks had no problem going through, but it might just be because its his technique.
So, Julius tapped his uncle's side to gain his attention.
Lukas had been observing Julius create the orb while he was defending and attacking the assassins. Truthfully, he was shocked at how much mana Julius had managed to fit inside the orb. Julius always seemed to have a talent for condensing mana. Furthermore, Lukas was also aware of the unnatural purity of Julius's mana after his baptism. It was unknown to him why Julius had such rich mana at Tier 1 but it was only a benefit to Julius and subsequently, House Hyperius, so Lukas didn't pry.
These factors, combined with Julius's high mana capacity, put Julius far above any Tier 1 Lukas had ever met. He would never tell Julius this, but just off of pure raw mana, Julius was at the level of a Tier 2 combatant.
It seemed that Julius himself had no idea how far ahead he was compared to other children his age. His isolation left him without anyone to compare himself to, and with Edwin's brutal training, Julius's foundation was unbelievable. Lukas truly was convinced that Julius would reach Tier 6 maybe even Tier 7 someday, as long as he lived long enough.
He needed to make sure Julius survived no matter what. If Julius reached his potential, House Hyperius's success was assured.
After getting Lukas's attention, Julius didn't even need to say anything. Lukas just opened a small gap in his barrier around the size of the orb and Julius quickly shot the orb right toward the attackers.
It seemed like Edwin had taken care of one assailant in the meantime. Still, the two remaining with shields were the biggest threats. Those shields seemed to be specifically made to counter sun magic and they needed to be taken care of before anything else.
Julius used [Kinetic Release] to use up some of the charge he built up on the outside of the orb. Unlike his prior attempts where he tried to use explosions to propel the construct, kinetic was much more delicate on the orb. The kinetic mana acted similar to a jet thruster, pushing force one way, and the orb speeding toward the other.
This meant the orb was much faster than any other attempt so far. The shield-bearing figures noticed the projectile and braced themselves against the incoming orb. Edwin, once he saw what Julius was trying to do, teleported away from the group and shot another wave of shadow mana. It didn't do as much as it did the first time, as they were prepared for it, but it still staggered them.
The orb hit the shields with a monstrous force, detonating on impact. The shield users themselves stumbled backward. The shock was evident in their eyes. They weren't expecting such a blow from a child. One of them even almost lost his grip on the shield.
Edwin immediately capitalized on this opening and confusion. He teleported directly overhead and released a massive blast of shadow mana that shredded the one who almost dropped the shield and took the entire left arm from the other.
With only one more shield user, who was half crippled, Lukas made his move. He surrounded the remaining assassins with golden light. The sole shield was trying to absorb as much of the mana as it could and the others were desperately flinging spells at Lukas, but it wasn't enough. Lukas powered this move with enough mana that it had completely overpowered whatever effect it had. Once, the entire group was enveloped in the thick aura, Lukas released his technique on them.
In a similar fashion to what happened to Gregor, a divine beam of light burst enveloped them, this time Julius could feel the heat and oppressive force it constrained. Every single one of them was vaporized. Nothing but ash and several pieces of equipment survived its wrath.
Just like that it was over. Julius was exhausted. He had a lot of mana, but those two orbs took everything out of him and it would take several hours before he could regenerate his mana.
Only that Edwin and Lukas didn't look like they thought it was over. They were still on edge and prepared to fight more.
Their instincts were proven correct as Julius could see through a hole in the wall to the outside and saw a layer of blue mana sealing off the entire section of the mansion they were in, like a dome. They were trapped.
He heard Edwin, curse under his breath.
Lukas let out a soft sigh as well, "They somehow activated the property's wards and now we can't leave. I wondered how they got in, but now it makes sense." Lukas said.
"You think someone betrayed us?" Edwin asked Lukas.
"Yes, they had to have someone on the inside let them in and then give them access to the wards. It probably took them a long time too, otherwise, I would have seen signs of tampering."
"What does that mean for us?" Julius asked the two.
Neither replied, but that was an answer itself. It didn't look good for them.
"The ones that attacked us were probably expecting to catch us off guard in our sleep. Honestly, they would have if you didn't wake us up, Julius. Those shields were made to counter my skills and they would have eventually whittled me down. We are alive because of you." Lukas finally said to Julius, ruffling his hair.
The realization of how close to their deaths hit Julius. One false step, and they could have died. Not that they were out of danger yet. It seemed like they were still in a bad situation.
"I only noticed them because I felt something was off and [Spatial Perception] picked up on them hiding in the shadows." Julius paused for a moment. "Were they from the Genshen Clan?"
Lukas nodded his head. "Yeah, I expect one of our enemies, maybe Duke Greyson, hired them for this job."
Edwin spoke up, "We should head towards the emergency teleportation station. They shouldn't know about it, and they might think we are trapped inside. The only worry is that the wards might interfere with any long-range teleportation. With that said, it is still our best chance."
"Where will it send us?" Julius asked.
"It is supposed to send us to a corresponding teleportation station in one of our safe houses. It should be the one in Celestia." Lukas said.
Julius hadn't heard much about Celestia, only that it was the nearest city to the estate and where House Hyperius held many of their holdings. But it seemed like that was their next destination, assuming they got to the teleportation station first.
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Royal Road
SomethingOtherThanRain
Path to Transcendence - [Isekai/Litrpg] by l-Ryn-l
Chapter 15: Teleportation Formation
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The three of them quietly made their way to the station. Julius didn't know what was happening outside of the ward, he didn't see or hear anything. It was odd, nobody was coming to check on their Patriarch. Admittedly, there weren't many combatants on the estate, but Julius still expected some like Samuel or others to investigate.
However, there was no noticeable attempt to help the three of them out. The fact that someone who had access to the property's wards had betrayed them plus that nobody was coming to help, was a troublesome sign. This was all looking very shady.
That said, Julius didn't understand enough about the political environment of the family to make any speculations.
The way to the emergency teleportation was too quiet, there wasn't a single sound except for the shuffling of their feet. The station was set up beneath the dining room, in a hidden underground chamber.
Edwin moved a large shelf that covered up the entrance to the chamber. However, Julius got that feeling again, the one he got earlier when walking back to his room. Using [Spatial Perception] he tried to see beyond the door but due to his overuse of the skill or something else blocking it, he couldn't see what was behind it. He quickly placed his hand on Edwin's, who was about to open the door.
"I can't see what's inside. Something feels off." Julius said.
Surprisingly, Edwin looked at Julius and seriously contemplated what he just said. It seemed like Edwin trusted Julius's judgment and took his words to heart.
"We don't have many other options." Edwin finally said.
"I know that, but if it's a trap, we don't need to waltz right into it," Julius argued.
"You're right. Edwin, you should hide yourself, while Julius and I enter, you come in from behind. If someone is waiting for us, they might just think it is the two of us." Lukas said from behind Julius.
Edwin thought about it and nodded his head, quickly disappearing from view. Lukas summoned his golden barrier again and put his hand on the door then opened it.
Inside, was a dark space that had a glowing platform in the center of it. Julius nervously looked around and scanned the surroundings with [Spatial Perception]. It seemed like the skill worked again once he got inside.
Before he could even react, a wall of blue flame smothered the golden barrier. Julius could feel the intense heat from inside, roasting him like a chicken in the oven. The barrier that had held against all the assassin's attacks earlier was now showing signs of cracking at the edges.
The wave of fire finally let up and Julius saw several figures standing in front of a platform. He didn't immediately recognize any of them, except for one. The man standing directly in the middle was Samuel. The same man who was at his baptism and who was supposedly a loyal member of House Hyperius.
It seemed he no longer felt that way.
Lukas didn't look that surprised, only angry and disappointed.
"Samuel," Lukas said quietly while staring directly into his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Lukas. We received an offer from Duke Greyson that guarantees House Hyperius's safety. But it came with one condition" Samuel apologized.
"What was it? To slit your own family's throat in their bed?" Lukas needled at Samuel.
Samuel shook his head. "Don't be like that. You know that the house comes before everyone, even you."
"Yes, but we don't sell out each other," Lukas said.
"What did you expect? We are stranded in the middle of the ocean and there's blood in the water. Everyone is coming after us to get a piece of our flesh. If we don't do something House Hyperius won't survive. This was the only way." Samuel said heatedly.
"No. It was just the easiest way." Lukas said disappointedly.
A flash of guilt went across Samuel's face. "You're right. It was the easiest choice, but that doesn't mean it isn't the best one."
As Lukas and Samuel went back and forth, Julius took a look at the other figures in the room with them. Now that he was looking closer, there were half a dozen of them. He spotted a man and a woman who he thought were present at his baptism as well. This meant that Samuel wasn't just doing it alone, others in the house went along with this plan too.
He also vaguely sensed Edwin. It was always hard to track Edwin when he hid, but Julius was so familiar with his presence that he could still feel a wispy aura sneaking its way to the platform.
Lukas is distracting them so that Edwin has time to prepare the transport, Julius thought. It wasn't a bad idea, so far it was their only chance out of this mess.
Julius could feel the pressure exuding from the other figures, they were all on par with Samuel. Furthermore, Samuel was a Tier 5, a strong one at that. So that must've meant that they were potentially facing six elite Tier 5's.
Lukas was their only Tier 5 combatant. Edwin was only a Tier 4, and Julius was a Tier 1 who was physically and mentally spent, as well as having practically no mana. Even though Lukas was renowned for his ability to fight beyond his tier, fighting six-on-one while protecting a child was too tall a task.
It was looking bleak and Lukas seemed to understand this as well.
His uncle looked at Julius with calm eyes. "Go," he said softly.
Julius knew better than to argue and ran directly to the side of the room.
They don't know about Edwin yet, I just need to make it to the platform.
All of a sudden, Julius felt a mountain crash over his back. Turning back, he saw his uncle shrouded in a golden aura, radiating immense heat and light. It was on a whole other level than when he was fighting the assassins. The pressure from his uncle physically affected Julius, and by the looks of it, the enemies were taking it even worse.
Julis knew Lukas had been holding back for his sake, but it was astounding to see his uncle show his true strength. The strength that had protected House Hyperius for years. The might of a Tier 5 with a perfect sun affinity.
This was the power of those at the top of the continent, the power that Julius sought.
Lukas and three of his opponents were in the air trading attacks back and forth, while the others on the ground were sending their own techniques at Lukas. They were trying to corral him and box him in. But Lukas was too fast and too skilled.
They were moving so fast to Julius's eyes, that it looked like they were teleporting from place to place in a flash of light. Julius couldn't even see their figures anymore just a zipper of light dancing across the chamber. He could only tell which one was Lukas based on the golden-colored light. Several attacks managed to get near, but whenever that happened a golden barrier would erupt around him, protecting Julius.
Lukas was still protecting Julius, even as he was fighting six Tier 5 opponents. It was unbelievable.
Taking one last glance at the fight going on, Julius took off toward the platform. His legs were barely functioning at this point, even with Julius constantly infusing his legs with life mana. He promised himself that if he survived this, his first priority would be to learn a proper healing skill.
Edwin should have been close to finishing the preparations by now. And by the looks of things, his uncle was more than occupying his opponent's attention. They were too busy trying to not die than to worry about a Tier 1 child.
Julius ran in the direction he felt Edwin and felt the teleportation runes start to hum with mana. It seemed that Edwin had started it up. Julius stopped next to the still invisible Edwin and took the time to catch his breath, pumping his body with as much life mana as he could. It was the only mana he had left but it was too slow to heal his injuries, only staving off the worst of his exhaustion.
Unfortunately, it seemed like that also got the attention of the enemies. A massive lance of blue ice crashed into the platform, shaking the intricate circuits being formed by the teleportation runes.
Another lance followed directly after it. However, this time Edwin decided to reveal himself and intercept the ice lance.
Shadow mana was not good for direct confrontations, it was for evading and misdirection. Regardless, Edwin used his body to deflect the lance away from the runes. He was unable to handle the force of the attack and was thrown off to the side.
Still, that didn't stop Edwin from getting back up and deflecting another lance of ice. The woman who was sending the lances was still busy fighting Lukas and her main focus was on his uncle, dodging thick pillars of light trying to spear her out of the air. It was the only reason, the teleportation circle wasn't broken yet.
Finally, Julius felt the mana settle down and realized it was ready to be activated. Samuel, while fighting Lukas seemed to sense this as well. Therefore, he took his attention away from the fight and launched a rotating spike of dark red mana at the platform.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Lukas was able to land a hit on Samuel's shoulder, severing his entire left arm.
However, the damage was done. Edwin was busy blocking the ice lances with everything he had and the attack landed directly onto the runic formation, cracking and shattering some of the links.
Yet, in a twist of fate, it was also the trigger to activate the circle.
Julius saw the panicked look on Edwin's face as he was trying desperately to get to Julius's side. However, he was too late. The formation was activated and Julius felt the mana release in a massive explosion.
In an instant, Julius was enveloped within the mana and was gone in the next.
Whatever damage Samuel did to the transportation runes, must've caused the formation to malfunction. Julius felt the formation grab him, twist him into a tiny ball, and shove him into a blender.
He felt his skin was ripped apart and his bones were crushed into dust. He was absolutely sure that being transported was not supposed to hurt this much. It wasn't like he was instantaneously transported to another location either. He stayed stuck within a void for what seemed like an eternity, unable to see or hear anything. Even [Spatial Perception] said there was nothing around him. The only thing he had to keep him company, were sensations of pain and his thoughts.
Julius didn't know what happened to Lukas or Edwin. The worry he felt exceeded the pain he was in. The hopeful side of him believed that they would be alright, but the rational side of him spoke of a different outcome. As strong as Lukas was, the enemies would whittle him down like a pack of wolves until he ran out of mana or made a mistake.
His thoughts turned into despair at the injustice of his situation. It seemed whenever he got close to people they were always taken away from him. It was always something that was outside his control.
His mother, father, and sister were killed by a drunk driver. His grandfather had died of cancer. Now his new family was likely killed due to the machinations of a powerful ducal house. He never had the chance to save them, because he was powerless. He was always either unable to or too weak to save them.
Never again. I will never be powerless to save another person I care about again.
His old world didn't have magic, but this one did.
Julius swore that one day he would become powerful enough that he could control his fate. He wouldn't let it steal any more of his loved ones away.
That was his vow.
He would transcend fate.
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