Path to Transcendence

Chapter 403: Is There a Chance?

Julius didn’t get time to prepare. Before he was ready, the man was already going in for the kill. He disappeared with a quick activation of shadow mana. Something that Julius looked at with suspicion. In his experience, those with shadow mana were often a part of the Genshen Clan or just assassins.

Did this mean these people were a part of the Genshen Clan? That would certainly make sense. Or were they a part of the Conclave? That would also make sense.

He would have asked, but he didn’t think they would answer his question right now.

His opponent was fast. Much faster than the other Tier 4s he had just fought. He knew right away that this person was on a different level. Perhaps, not at the same level as Savath, but definitely someone he needed to take seriously. Thankfully, there werenʼt three more people supporting him; that would have been worrying.

Julius evaded the dual blades the man had taken out with sharp bursts of kinetic energy. Each swing was shrouded with shadow mana, obscuring the bladeʼs actual trajectory. This was very annoying to deal with because his eyes told him one thing, but then his [Absolute Spatial Perception] told him another.

The shadow mana didn’t just obscure the blade. That was just a secondary effect. There was a sense of danger emanating from it. Julius had a good feeling that being sliced by these blades wouldn’t be a pleasant experience.

He used his aura to try and rip away this technique, but was surprised when the man smacked aside this attempt with ease. He used his Authority to his advantage and forced Julius to withstand it at every step.

Julius was being forced back. He didn’t overclock his body with power, but he was finding it hard to keep up. The man was faster and more skilled than Julius—a huge problem.

Julius blasted kinetic energy into the enemy’s face and used this momentum to leap backward. Then he threw a spike at the robed figure using as much force as he could build up. The spike tore through the air with a high-pitched whistle.

The man didn’t make any moves to dodge. He stood there and allowed the spike to hit him. However, upon contact with the robe, it appeared that the shadows surrounding the man devoured the spike like an endless pit of darkness.

Julius lost all connection with the spike and was unable to detonate it. Whatever skill the man had used, he had somehow torn apart the spike with more ease than any Tier 4 had shown so far.

Then, before his opponent could close the distance again, Julius melted down the bracelets of aura woven mana and reformed them into wings. He blasted himself upward and hovered in the sky.

He did this for several reasons. First off, he needed some time to recover some mana. The sequential fights had drained his enormous pool more than he was comfortable with. Secondly, he needed to devise a strategy to outmaneuver this opponent.

His original idea had been to bombard his opponent with constructs. But he had a feeling that wouldn’t work so well. He also couldn’t exactly fight the man up close. This shadow using asshole was faster than Julius.

The only way for Julius to compete would be for him to overclock his body. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough mana to do that. Or rather, he did, but if the man managed to last longer than a minute or two, Julius would be absolutely screwed.

His opponent had also quickly shown that his aura wasn’t that effective against his Authority. That was another one of Julius’s weapons rendered useless. He was beginning to truly understand just how much of his build was focused on having enough mana to use his healing skill.

As he was thinking about how he would deal with the robed Tier 4, he blasted himself to the side, using his wings to aid him. The man had somehow teleported through one of his shadows and had almost sliced his head off.

It wasn’t strictly spatial magic, thus he hadn’t been able to detect it as easily, but he was just in time to save himself. Despite his swift reaction, the man still managed to slice down the back of his spine.

The shadow mana immediately began to seep into his flesh. It was like a virus and started growing on his skin. Julius immediately used his aura to wipe it out before it could infect his entire body, but before he was able to deal with it, the shadow mana suddenly morphed into sharp thorns. These thorns tore into his back.

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The thorns were insidious and burrowed their way deep into his flesh, releasing some kind of toxin as they did. This toxin not only poisoned his body, but also seemed to eat through his mana and disrupted his skills at a terrifying rate.

He was forced to use his aura as well as his fire mana to burn through these thorns. The pain was immense, but it was better than allowing them to fester.

As he was falling from the sky, he came to a decision. He knew how he wanted to take on this person.

He let himself slam into the ground with a deafening thump. He siphoned as much kinetic energy from the impact as he could. Then he took hold of it and used that kinetic energy to fuel his body, standing up from the hole he had created.

Then he took control of the wings of aura-woven mana and molded them around himself. He didn’t need the wings anymore. He would rather not be such an easy target for the Tier 4, especially since he had proven that flying wouldn’t keep him away.

Instead, he used a technique he hadn’t used for a while. A full armor made entirely of mana slowly formed around him. The power from the aura-woven mana hummed and pulsed gently, with a blue hue.

When the man appeared from another shadow, he was prepared. He had already created two shortswords of his own and was already meeting the strike of the shadow man with them. His opponent got tricky and slid his blades upward, trying to nick Julius with the edge of the blades. However, the armor he created was more than enough to handle this.

The blades slid right off the armor, and Julius used this chance to close the distance.

Right away, it was clear how far away they were in terms of skill. His opponent used every bit of his speed to his advantage, making Julius fall for feints even though he had such a good perception skill.

However, he didn’t have the armor that Julius had either. Something that was already making a difference. Julius didn’t have to be as careful about leaving himself exposed. Even if he made a mistake, his armor covered for him.

The man deployed a few tricky blades of shadow from behind, which Julius was unable to avoid. It was only thanks to his armor that he was punctured in the back.

The aura woven mana was very strong. Something that the man realized quite early, and began to target Julius’s joints. The problem was that the armor didn’t have any joints like traditional armor. Since it was created with mana, Julius was able to make it so that there were no joints.

Of course, the armor was softened in areas like the inside of his elbows and knees, but it was still quite protected. He dealt with the annoying spikes of shadow that tried to pierce him from behind.

Their back and forth continued. Julius was too slow to get a solid hit on the man, but he also wasn’t using that much energy. He was siphoning his opponent’s kinetic energy and using that to fuel his body enhancement along with his aura.

He was still using mana, but the amount was quite small compared to what he had been using for the past several fights.

He did his best to grab hold of his opponent, but the man was very wily. Every time Julius had cornered him, the man would disappear into a nearby shadow, forcing him to repeat the process over and over.

However, the longer he fought this Tier 4, the more he started to feel something odd. He looked at his enemy a little closer. He had faced this same style before.

A growing pit started to bloom in his stomach.

There is no way, right? Julius told himself that he was being silly.

However, now that he was suspicious, he was starting to see the similarities. The way the man used Julius’s own aggression against him. The cunning with which he fought. Even his posture and stature were familiar.

The more he continued to fight, the more he started to wonder if it was actually true. A shadow affinity and practically the same fighting style? What were the odds?

Julius began to think about the reasons he might be here. If it were true, what possible motive could he have to be here?

He only needed one look at the Tier 5 to start seeing the possibilities.

However, before he became too convinced, he decided to test some things. Instead of trying to smash the man, he decided to go through his old routine. It was so ingrained into his body that even after all of these years, he was still able to flow through them with ease.

All of the footwork drills and exercises he had learned. It didn’t matter if the man was increasing his pressure on him more and more. He kept on repeating the exercises with a close eye on the man.

His opponent didn’t react to this; he just continued to attack Julius with singular focus.

However, just when Julius was about to give up, he finally spotted the slightest reaction from the man. It was a mixture of confusion and hesitation.

When Julius saw this, he immediately took a step back, removed a scrap of black cloth from his ring, and placed it around his face. This was the final test; if this were truly who he thought it was, then he would know exactly what this meant.

After all, Edwin had been the first person to know what skill Julius acquired.

The relief and waves of emotion Julius felt when he saw the man stop in his tracks were indescribable; he barely managed to keep them under control. The blades, which were raised to strike Julius down, were swiftly dropped to his side.

Is there an actual chance? He thought to himself, a spark of hope flickering in his soul. No matter how much he wanted to, he still couldn’t bring himself to believe that it just might be true.