Path to Transcendence

Julius was gassed.

By far the biggest problem was his opponent's physical prowess. There was just no way for Julius to keep up with the man. By the time he tried to react to his movements, he was already getting punched in the face.

He could see it, but could only watch as the fist connected with his face.

He was just now starting to understand just how much Gabriel must have been holding back whenever they sparred.

The other thing that really made it difficult was the man's authority. Although Julius was able to keep it at bay, it wasn't like it was easy.

It took a significant amount of mental commitment to deal with it. It forced him to control less of his constructs which whas probably his largest source of damage.

The problem with his blue fire spikes was how much mana and focus they took. The man had a way to interfere with them just enough to where he could avoid them easily. Additionally, his reaction speed outclassed the speed at which Julius could shoot them. Which made them less useful than they normally were.

He was lucky that his opponent didn't seem to going for instant kill shots. The man for some reason was hesitant to kill Julius. He always held off before he would kill Julius.

There were a couple of times when Julius was completely wide open, with his arms and chest crushed like a compressed soda can, but the man never tried to smash his head open.

While Julius wouldn't be that surprised if he was to survive that, it was a bit confusing to see that the man didn't even try to go for it. That was why he believed his opponent wasn't trying to kill him.

Although, at this rate, he wasn't going to be able to keep it up for much longer.

His mana was almost out. Something he thought he would never say.

The last time that had happened was at the troll rift. However, in that time Julius had gained even more mana. So the fact that he was almost out said a lot.

He had chosen or rather been forced to stop using his full body armor. It was actually cheaper mana-wise to just tank the hits than to recreate each damaged armor piece.

Now that mana usage was becoming an actual issue, he realized that his armor was a bit wasteful.

He had no reason to use armor for his entire body. He just needed to select pieces to protect his vital points. Furthermore, he could even just create a construct whenever he noticed an attack on the fly.

His mana control had gotten good enough that he could probably pull something like that off.

It would certainly save him a lot of mana that way. Even though he wouldn't look as cool, it would probably be more efficient. He was learning that he would have to be a little more careful how he used his mana in the future.

That is if he still had a future in a couple of minutes.

Shaking those negative thoughts out of his head, he focused back on the fight.

The man was giving Julius an expectant look. As if he was trying to say to Julius, 'give up, you're not going to win'.

Julius wasn't going to deny that the man was probably right, but he wasn't the type of person to shy away from a fight just because he thought he would lose. That wasn't the kind of person he wanted to be. He also had a friend who needed him right now, sitting behind that door.

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He checked his mana capacity. There was just enough mana left where he could launch one last offensive. He would need to make each ounce of mana count.

He had a plan in mind, though it was certainly one of his more crazy ideas. He was going to have to rely on a mixture of luck and hope that the man wouldn't immediately go for the kill shot.

Julius took a calming deep breath, his mind was clear, and so was his will.

He saw the man gently shake his head and once again come after Julius with an insane burst of speed, only [Spatial Perception] allowed Julius to track the man.

I got one shot at this, he reminded himself.

His opponent went for the same thing. He came blitzing in and smashed apart the constructs and Julius's defenses with a couple of powerful strikes.

Once Julius was undefended his opponent sent a vicious punch at his chest. However, unlike the times before, Julius was already moving before the man struck out, guessing and hoping to get lucky. While he was dodging, he also finally used his kinetic immobilization technique for the first time during the fight.

He had been saving it for a couple of reasons. For one, he didn't think it would actually do much to his opponent, considering how strong the man's willpower and Authority were.

Also, he wanted to keep it as a last-ditch ability that might give him an opening. An opening just like this one.

As the technique reached the man, it barely had an effect. Instead of freezing the man in place because of his siphoning the kinetic energy, it was more accurate to say that it froze him for a moment because of how surprised the man was. It was akin to a kid grabbing a hold of an adult's coat jacket with their two fingers.

Fortunately for Julius, that was all he needed.

As the man's arm was passing by Julius, he reached out and clapped down on it. The constructed armor that had been surrounding his fists, melted down like water and wrapped around his opponent's arm.

For the first time ever, Julius pumped the constructed gauntlet with kinetically enhanced fire.

He had always been too nervous to do so. Making blue spikes was different, they weren't attached to his body, which meant that the chances of them killing him were much lower. However, he also realized how stupid he was being.

When had he begun to stop pushing his skills and abilities just because he was scared of what would happen? When had that fear begun to override his desire to get stronger?

It was pathetic and it was disgraceful.

He should never be scared to use his own techniques backfiring on him. If he kept on doing that, it would just act as an anchor that would keep him down for the rest of his life.

So with the type of confidence that only came when there were no other options, he supercharged his construct.

Both his arm and the man's arm were enveloped in a brilliant blue flame. And before the man could try to disrupt it or before Julius chickened out, he detonated it.

The blast was many times stronger than his spikes had been. The resulting explosion tore his entire body apart. For the first time during the fight, he lost consciousness briefly.

When he awoke, he was buried under a pile of rubble with his body slowly healing itself. He was bone dry and had no mana left. He distantly felt Drasil pumping in some of his essence to supplement his skill, trying to heal him as much as he could, but the damage was way too great and Drasil had already been feeding Julius his essence during the entire fight.

He took a look around, trying to get a grasp of the situation. He first noticed the gaping hole in the ceiling and the complete mess the cellar was in. The once large room was now buried in stone, with the ceiling about to completely cave it.

However, he clenched his teeth tightly together when he spotted the man staggering to his feet on the other side of the room. On the bright side, the man didn't come out unscathed. His arm was a bloody mess, bones were sticking out of it from multiple places and there were burns marking him up and down his body.

Unfortunately, unlike Julius, he seemed still able to fight.

Julius tried to get up, but there was just nothing to stand up with. His legs were little more than nubs of shredded flesh and scorched bones. Not even Inexorable Will or Ashen Rebirth were able to help him. He had no more mana left in him.

He was completely dried out. It was only due to Drasil that he was able to heal as much as he was. However, most of that energy was going toward keeping him alive.

So he just had to watch as the man approached Julius with slow, but steady steps. The full weight of what his loss meant was sinking in.

***

Dustin POV

He didn't expect that the boy had something like that in his back pocket.

When was the last time he had been hurt this badly? It had to been at least several years by his estimate. Was it because he was rusty?

No, rusty or not, it wouldn't have made a difference.

He stumbled to his feet and quickly downed a healing potion. His Tier 4 healing along with the potion helped heal the worse of his wounds.

He looked over and stared at the boy who was still calmly glaring right back at him. The boy was barely a boy at this point. It was like a wolf used him as a chew toy, spat him out, and then got roasted over a campfire.

Still, the boy didn't look in pain. He must have had one hell of a pain resistance skill. Dustin could not even begin to imagine what kind of trauma the boy must have been through in order to acquire such a skill.

Unlike their entire fight, Dustin didn't see the boy healing like a troll. It would appear that the boy had finally run out of mana.

However, before he was about to walk over to the boy, he heard people coming down the stairs to the room. It seemed that the last attack had been so powerful that not even the enchantments or skill could isolate the noise and shaking of the ground.

Regardless, that meant he had a choice to make. And it had to be fast

With that being said, it was this fight that really opened up his eyes for the first time in what seemed to be an eternity. It cleared the haze that had been covering his eyes.

Seeing a young boy at Tier 2 desperately fight against him, a Tier 4, in order to save his friend showed him a part of himself that had been missing for years.

A piece of his humanity, that he had thought was long gone and had died alongside his family.

While Ashton had saved his life all those years ago, did it really justify him doing this? Even if he did change, was there still a redeemable part of him left to be salvaged?

He sighed and let out a small self-deprecating chuckle. Perhaps… it wouldn't be a bad idea to find out for himself.

He looked over at the boy who was still desperately trying to claw his way to his feet, even though they were no longer there. Even with no mana or legs, the boy still wanted to save his friend.

His stomach ached at the mere thought of killing this boy. The boy's grit and determination were something to be inspired by, not be snuffed out like a candle.

If the boy still managed to have the will to fight, who is to say that he couldn't do the same?

He sighed again and before the group of people who were coming downstairs to investigate even made it halfway down and before he could even fully realize he was doing it, Dustin sent a concentrated blast of authority right toward them.

Unlike the monster wearing the skin of a boy, these Tier 3s were unable to put up even a fighting chance against his authority. The moment he had total control of them, he ripped a compressed strike of soundwaves directly through their bodies. Doing what he had been wanting to do since the day he met them.

They didn't even have a chance to yell out. They were dead before they realized what had happened.

"..."

"What did you do that for?" He heard the boy croak out from where he was lying in his own blood.

Dustin's eyes didn't leave the stairway. "I'm not… I don't know," he said to the boy with a frown.

These people's deaths wouldn't go unnoticed. He would need to figure out a lie he could tell Ashton and the organization. He was preparing for the shit that was going to come his way.

"Does this mean you are going to let my friend go?" The boy asked bravely, considering his current state.

Dustin nodded his head. "Yeah, you can take your friend and leave," he said to him with hints of a grin, already feeling like a massive weight was lifted off his shoulders.

He heard a choking laugh from the boy. "After all of that? And you are just going to let me get what I came here for originally?" Dustin could have sworn he heard anger in the boy's tone.

"Would you rather I didn't?"

"Nope! Your generosity is much appreciated," the boy said quickly.

Dustin sighed and pulled out another healing potion, chucking toward the boy's direction. The vial smacked the boy in the face with a thud. "Ouch!" He heard the boy yell out, pretending like it hurt.

Who do you think you are fooling with that? I just beat the shit out of you without you making a single peep or wince, but a vial hitting you in your face hurts? He thought skeptically.

"Take that, it will help you heal. After you are done, take the girl and leave town. Get as far away as you can," he told the kid.

The boy gave him a careful stare as if he couldn't believe that Dustin changed his mind all of a sudden. He didn't blame the boy, he could hardly believe it himself.

However, he still drank the healing potion without much pause. It was a Tier 3 healing potion, one that would normally kill or poison a Tier 2. But Dustin knew better. The boy could handle it.

The effects of the potion kicked in immediately, and the legs of the boy which were already healing, regenerated quicker, aided by the potion.

That is some healing skill, even with barely any mana, it is still able to heal better than most passive healing skills. He thought to himself while shaking his head.

The boy eventually struggled to his newly grown feet. "What about the other cells?" He asked.

Dustin frowned. He had no idea about what to do with them either. It wasn't like he could just leave them be while he let the boy and the girl go. But he had no idea what to do with them after he freed them.

"There's nowhere for them to go," Dustin finally said.

He saw the boy frown, obviously trying to think of something. After a few moments, he must have come up with something.

"I might have an idea," he said with a devilish grin.

Dustin gave the boy an uncomfortable look at that. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?