Path to Transcendence

Julius did his best to explain what had happened during the mission, only omitting a few things that had no real importance. He also briefly talked about his relationship with Derek and Lily.

"So let me get this straight, two of the heirs of some of the most powerful Houses are really good friends and they decided to send out these two to bring you back?"

He gave a shrug at the man. "Kind of, yeah."

"What about Grace then? Do they know about her?" The Marquis asked in an odd tone.

"We know all about 'Grace'," Stella said with a shake of her head. "It is sort of a delicate situation, but House Zenith has a plan for how they want to handle it."

Julius looked between the two of them. "Wait? Do you know?" He asked the Marquis, a little taken aback by Stella's willingness to openly share sensitive information and also that the man didn't seem that surprised by it.

"Yeah, we figured it out a little while ago. We were just going to ignore it for now, we thought it was better than getting mixed in with the Royal Family. They have always been a pain in our backside," he said with a sad shake of his head.

He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He hadn't really expected them to find out about her so easily. Then again, who knew what kind of resources they had access to?

"So you don't mind if we take the two of them back to Heston after this is finished?"

"Not at all, as long as they are both willing to go along with you guys, then I won't argue."

"Perfect, in that case, we have three people who were a part of the attack, including the Tier 5 locked up in one of my family's residences. I will organize the transfer over to you guys as long as you are willing to share any information that might be of help to us."

The three of them, excluding Julius, talked for a while, discussing the details of how they were going to plan things out. It would seem that knowing that Derek and Lily were his friends made the man much more willing to work with them.

As they did so, he just sat around twiddling his thumbs aimlessly, not having much to offer them now that he had done his part.

He even took a snack from his storage ring as he waited for them. There was a lot of negotiating about what each House would give to the others and a lot of promises about future dealings were made. There were times when things got a little heated but in the end, everyone seemed pleased with how it went.

After they were done, the attention was back to Julius.

The Marquis turned to Julius with a frown on his face. "I really thought the princess would have been the most trouble but then somehow you end up being more problematic than her. I must say, that is quite impressive."

"Problems which you and your House are directly responsible for I might add. Problems that I am obligated to report to my lady once I return," Marcus commented with a dark look.

The Marquis gave a conceding wince. "Of course, we are as much to blame as anyone. Julius will be properly rewarded for his contributions to House Easten, you have my word."

"I will make sure that you do," Marcus nodded firmly and looked at Julius. "Are we all good now? Can we take you back with us?"

He shook his head. "I still have to say some goodbyes to some people."

"That's fine. Take a day to say your goodbyes and we can leave tomorrow evening. In the meantime, I will be staying on property and settling the details on a few more things such as examining the list you procured and any other information these Conclave members might have."

"Hey! What about me? What am I going to do?" Stella asked.

"I thought you said you had other duties to take care of?"

"Yeah, but that should only take a little bit. I was thinking we could go eat somewhere and relax before we head back," she said hopefully.

Marcus shook his head. "My lady has already made her impatience quite clear to me. She wants her friend back and nothing is going to stop me from getting her that. If you want to face Lady Lily's wrath, by all means, go and explain to her why you wish to delay such an important moment for her."

Stella actually flinched.

"No no. We don't need to go that far. Your plan sounds wonderful, I will just go on and handle the transfer," she said already walking away from Marcus in haste. However just before she walked out of the door, she turned to Marquis Easten. "If you don't mind Casidus, I would like to get some permissions to use some spatial magic on the property."

"Of course, let me show you where you can put them," the man said while standing up and walking with Stella out of the door.

Stella hastily followed the man, making Julius chuckle at her sudden willingness to get away from him and Marcus.

"Is Lily that terrifying?" He asked Marcus once it was just the two of them.

The man gave him a meaningful look. "You're friends with her right?"

"Of course."

"Then do you really need me to answer that question?" The one-armed Tier 5 said while walking away, reviewing the copy of the list Julius had made.

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Julius cocked his head as he recalled all of the times Lily had gotten angry at him or the others.

Yeah, that was a dumb question.

He jogged to catch up to Marcus. "Have you told her yet?"

The man shook his head. "Not yet, no."

"Why not?" He asked with a worried look on his face. They were just talking about how scary Lily could be when she was mad. But now this man was admitting that he hadn't told Lily about them finding Julius. That seemed like a sure way to earn her ire.

"I am hoping to surprise her. I already asked Stella to refrain from telling House Zenith as well," the Tier 5 said to Julius's surprise.

"Won't she be mad about you not sharing this with her? That sounds like a recipe for disaster," he noted with a tense look toward Marcus.

The man actually chuckled at that. "Oh, definitely."

"Then why do it?" He asked with a confused look.

"Because it will be worth it," the man said with a loving smile as he gave Julius a soft glance.

Ahh, I understand, he thought to himself with a grin blooming on his face.

"You are actually quite the teddy bear aren't you?" He said to Marcus with a small bump to the larger man's shoulder.

"What's a teddy bear?" Marcus asked with crinkled eyebrows.

"It's like a stuffed animal of a bear. Looks like a bear, but totally harmless on the inside," he explained with a grin.

"I am a Tier 5 who can level an entire town," the man said bluntly. "I don't think that qualifies me as harmless."

"Only if someone angers you right?"

Marcus's exasperated sigh was everything he needed to hear.

"See? You're a good person," he said with another encouraging wack to the man's back.

"Lily was right. You're an odd boy."

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked, a little offended at the sudden insult.

"You do realize that most people act in fear around me, right? That normal people are put off by my aura and presence. Look at Marquis Easten, even if he is a whole tier above me and is a Marquis, he still shows me and Stella more respect than one normally does for people a full tier below them," Marcus said to him.

"I did wonder about that. But I assumed it was because of House Violet and Zenith backing you two."

"Not entirely. We have quite the reputation," the man explained as he walked down the hallway.

"I'm sure you do. I doubt Lily's and Derek's parents employ weak people," he said matter-of-factly.

Marcus glanced to his right, directly at Julius's grin that was looking up at him.

"You still seem unaffected by our presence."

He gave the man a knowing look. "I don't know the exact reason why, but powerful people's auras and presences have never been that scary to me. I am sure that to most people, you guys are terrifying, but to me, unless you direct it towards me, it doesn't feel threatening. Plus, you have seen my aura when I am not controlling it. Do you really think that I can stand here and say that your aura scares people? Mine literally wants to eat and destroy others' aura without any manipulation."

"Yeah, speaking of that, I am really curious how you got such a volatile aura. That with your ability to fight against Godfrey's Domain is very unique."

"I got the aura effect from one of my skill options," he said truthfully. "I am still getting used to it, but I am continually getting better at handling it. As for my ability to not be captured by the man's Domain, I don't really know. It's certainly not something anyone should do, I am still recovering from the damage I did to myself attempting it."

"Wait, you are still injured?" Marcus asked worriedly.

"It's not too bad. It should be healed in a couple of days," he assured him.

"What got damaged? I can't sense any injuries so I am assuming it is your soul or mind?"

"My soul," he admitted.

Marcus stopped walking and Julius felt the man's Domain encapsulate him with a gentle touch, probing his aura.

"I'm assuming by your lack of reaction you either don't know what that means or you aren't worried about it."

"It has happened before. I should be fine, I will keep a close eye on it for the next few days though."

Marcus gave Julius a scrutinizing look. "Try not to let people know that you have such a skill. They will do a lot of things to you just to figure out how you got such an ability."

"Yeah, I think that was what that Tier 5 was hoping to figure out by capturing me," he commented.

Marcus didn't say anything in return but he gave him one last look with a weird look on his face.

Hmm, I wonder what he is thinking about, Julius couldn't help but think to himself.

***
Elder Han POV

"You let things get way too close," Elder Han said to the shadow while pinching his nose in frustration.

"You told me not to interfere unless it was absolutely necessary," the man he had sent to keep an eye out on Julius said.

"I told you to step in if he went up against someone he had no chance of winning against," he pointed out darkly.

"Yes, but I didn't think he was in any actual threat of death."

"You just told me that he just fought a Tier 5. That's a threat of death if I've ever seen one."

"Under most circumstances, I would agree, but this Tier 5 seemed very interested in taking the boy alive. He wasn't trying to kill the boy, merely tiring him out before he took him away since his Domain wasn't effective. Which is why I thought it was better for me to just try and lure Marcus Avery to the boy's location instead."

"His Domain wasn't effective?" Elder Han asked, sitting up a little straighter in his chair.

"Sort of. It was hard to tell what exactly happened, but for some reason, the Tier 5 wasn't able to pin the boy down like he should have."

"Very interesting," he said to himself out loud.

A stark silence pervaded between them and the shadow only spoke up after a full minute went by.

"What do you want me to do now, Master?"

"There's no need to keep an eye on him anymore. Those two should be more than enough to take care of him until he goes back to Heston. In the meantime, I have something else I want you to look into. This Conclave is sounding much more complicated than we first believed. I want you to see if you can find anything else that might help give us a better idea of how they operate."

"Where are you sending me?"

"I heard that there has been some trouble brewing in the Valorbury region. I want you to see if there is anything connected with the Conclave."

"Understood, Master," the shadow said with a low bow toward him before disappearing into nothing.

Elder Han leaned back into his chair, sipping some tea as he did.

"Jeez, why is that boy always causing trouble? First, he decides to fight against a Tier 4, then not long after he decides that he needs to fight a Tier 5. Got to give him credit though, at least he's not boring," he muttered as he stared out the window of the orphanage.

As much as he hated to admit it, something was coming and they would need to find as many people just as crazy as the boy that they could find.