Lily POV

  The capital was in chaos. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to let off several explosions all around the capital during one of the busiest days of the year. Lily didn’t have an exact idea of how many people died, but preliminary reports estimated that over a thousand people had already died.

  It was a complete disaster, and the Empire's response was emphatic. In a short amount of time, Imperial Knights had deployed and killed or captured the terrorists. She had personally seen several Tier 5 knights tear through a group of terrorists like wet paper. They were merciless.

  Sadly, no matter what the knights did, the damage was already done. Too many had already died, and nothing they did would bring them back. It also wouldn’t restore peace or calm people down. She expected that many of the people who came to the capital to see the tournament would be leaving as soon as possible.

  As much as people wanted to be entertained and see a good show, they didn’t care about it if it meant getting blown up in the process.

  Despite the massive loss of human life, she was a bit confused by this attack. She didn’t understand why these terrorists decided to attack the capital during such a busy time of the year. Upon first glance, there didn’t seem to be a purpose for it, other than to cause chaos and mass panic.

  In that case, she believed that this chaos had another purpose. One that wasn’t immediately obvious. Perhaps it was an opportunity to obtain something else. She had heard rumors that the attack during the second stage had led to the theft of something important.

  It was entirely possible that this was a similar situation. In fact, it was one of the only situations where random massive explosions made sense.

  If that was what happened, then the question became why? Or rather, for what? Who needed to go to such great lengths to steal or infiltrate somewhere? That was a mystery. She needed to make some preparations of her own. House Violet’s information network might be able find something that would help clear the fog of this situation.

  It was only later, when the information started to come in, that she heard reports that important government buildings or facilities had been targeted. Additionally, production and manufacturing plants were attacked all at the same time, confirming to her that this was a meticulously planned attack.

  That said, she couldn't help but be more concerned about Julius. Neither she nor anyone else had heard from him all day. It wasn’t like he would run off, either, without telling them. She wanted to ask Cain and Freya, but they weren’t around either.

  She was worried that someone decided to attack him. He had certainly shown himself to be a talented youth of the Empire. Any of the Empire’s rivals would love to kill such a talent before they had the chance to grow.

  But with Cain, Freya, House Violet, and House Zenith behind Julius, who would have the audacity to attack him? Surely they were aware that there would be repercussions. Or rather, they didn’t care, which might have been a more worrying prospect. Were they not scared of the retaliation?

  Lily tapped her leg anxiously but lifted her head when she sensed Marcus approaching her.

  “Did you find him?” She asked immediately.

  Marcus shook his head. “I did not. But I sent out several dozen of our retainers to go search for information and found something promising.”

  “What is it?”

  “Apparently, someone was attacked in a cafe right before the explosions. According to eyewitnesses, the person was a young boy with black hair,” Marcus said with a solemn look on his face.

  Cafe? She asked herself internally with a frown. Julius did like cafes.

  “Which cafe was this?”

  “Butter and Bloom.”

  She stood up swiftly. That was the name of the cafe that she and Julius had gone to not long ago. He had made several comments about going back.

  “That’s probably him. Where did he go?”

  Marcus shook his head. “There was a fight of some kind, but people all ran away once it got out of hand. Several people had some serious injuries and burns.”

  “Let’s go check it out,” Lily said firmly, walking through the door.

  Marcus didn’t hesitate and followed her.

  Lily knew exactly where the cafe was and quickly arrived on the scene. There were a number of Empire officials already investigating the place, but one display of her House Crest, and they left her alone.

  “What do you sense?” She asked Marcus, already noticing that he was inspecting the scene with glowing eyes.

  “The remnants of mana indicate it was him. But…”

  “But what?”

  Instead of replying to her, he picked her up and flew them high above the street, traveling a little bit. It was only then that she saw the absolutely destroyed block of the city. There was nothing left but finely ground pieces of stone and dust. It was like someone had eviscerated the entire block.

  “He did this?” She asked with furrowed brows. She knew that Julius was strong, but this was something different.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “No, this was someone much stronger,” Marcus said with concern.

  Lily shot him a look. “How much stronger?”

  Marcus dropped them into the destroyed ruins. “I think this was Cain.”

  “Cain was here as well?”

  “Perhaps. I feel an immense amount of kinetic energy floating around. Whoever did this was a user of kinetic energy and an immensely strong one at that. I only know of a small number of people who fit that description.”

  Lily nodded. So Cain had been here after all. That begged the other question.

  “Where is he now?”

  Marcus didn’t respond right away and bent down to examine the dust at their feet, pinching it between his fingers and letting it float away into the air.

  “I don’t know, but I feel that Cain was…” Marcus didn’t finish his sentence.

  Honestly, he didn’t need to. Lily knew what he was going to say. After all, she was psychic and could feel the emotions of anger left behind at this scene of carnage. If this was caused by Cain, then it was safe to say that Cain wasn’t happy at all. That something had happened to Julius.

  She felt a cold pit form at the bottom of her stomach. But she quickly squashed those feelings and calmed her emotions. She looked off into the distance when she sensed another huge explosion far away. It would appear that there were still more attacks to handle.

  “He’s going to be okay,” she said out loud, more for her own benefit than anyone else's.

  She reminded herself that Julius was strong and, more importantly, he was very hard to kill. If anyone could have survived, it would have been Julius. She kept on repeating this face to herself.

  Marcus, always the pragmatist, spoke up. “What if he isn’t?”

  She turned to look at Marcus, her own violet eyes pulsing dangerously. “Then someone is going to pay. I will ensure that happens,” she said with a dark glare at the destruction all around her and back to Marcus. “Of that you have my word.”

  ***

  Julius POV

  “So you’re saying that I will probably survive?” Julius repeated.

  “I give it an eighty percent chance of survival,” Doren confirmed.

  “And I won’t end up with some kind of mental deficiency?”

  “Not anything more problematic than what you have now,” Doren said casually.

  Julius glared at the man, but didn’t argue the man’s claim. “What else? I know there is something else. Otherwise, you would have just shoved the thing down my throat already.”

  “Well, if it works, then you will have to advance to Tier 4 almost immediately afterwards,” Doren said to him.

  Julius widened his eyes. “What? Why do I have to advance?”

  “Weren’t you listening? I said it was an aid to advancement. Obviously, it will kickstart your advancement.”

  “But I’m not ready for my advancement,” Julius said with a frown.

  Doren let out a scoff. “Shut up.”

  Julius looked up in surprise. Doren had been sounding very flippant this entire time, but now he sounded actually annoyed.

  “You have been ready to advance to Tier 4 for a while now. The fact that you haven’t has only caused you more issues and made it more dangerous.”

  “But I am worried that…”

  Doren released a sharp slash of aura, interrupting him. “Yes, I understand your current predicament and your worry about your advancement being quite unpleasant. But the more power you gain during Tier 3 will only make it harder. As a matter of fact, if you wait until your soul is completely healed, then it will become so strong and scarred that you won’t be able to properly adapt to your body due to its rigidity. A Tier 4 advancement isn’t meant to handle such a powerful and weathered soul; it needs a flexible soul to work with. Your damaged soul is somewhat of a boon if you consider this. So stop being such a coward and advance already. Staying in Tier 3 is only hurting you and your progression.”

  Julius didn’t quite understand how his damaged soul could be a boon, but he knew that Doren made some valid points. He had been putting it off, and perhaps it was his own fault that his advancement had become such a problem.

  “Fine. Let’s do it,” he said with a grimace.

  Doren relaxed, and the stern and serious attitude vanished as if it had never there. His usual casual attitude came back in full force. “Good,” Doren said brightly.

  “Do I need to do anything to prepare?”

  “Nope. Your work with your soul has stabilized it enough to begin. So you saved time, but other than that, there isn’t much you can do.”

  Julius nodded, and with a shaky hand, he slowly placed the marble on his tongue. The marble, which had been rock-hard, slowly melted the moment it made contact with his saliva. He was surprised at how delicious it tasted. Almost like a Junior Mint.

  “Oh! It tastes pretty good. What did you do to make it taste this—”

  He was cut off because a lightning bolt struck him. His soul space, which had been quiet other than the occasional creaks of his cracking soul, was suddenly being bombarded with bolts of white lightning.

  He didn’t even get the chance to scream as his soul felt like a million volts of electricity was flowing through it. Large spiderwebs of lightning bloomed in his soul space, and he was quickly overwhelmed by the immense power being channeled through his soul.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it will hurt like a son of a bitch,” Doren commented helpfully.

  Julius tried to call Doren a few choice words, but all he let out was a sharp cry as it felt like his soul was being ripped apart piece by piece and lit on fire.

  Doren knelt beside him with an unbothered smile. “I also forgot to mention that you can’t give up. The marble is fueled by your willpower, so if you give up or surrender to the pain, then you will be lost forever. Becoming nothing but a vegetable for the rest of your life. The other human that consumed it ended up going insane and killed himself a few days later.”

  Julius could barely think at this point, and it was only due to sheer spite that he managed to lift his head to glare at Doren.

  Doren held his hands up and grinned, but there was a crazed glint of excitement in his eyes now. “I didn’t want to scare you off. But you have no idea how much I wanted to test this item I made. And you would be surprised by how hard it is to find someone with such a naturally strong soul. Sure, reincarnation isn’t all that common. But even the ones I have come across rarely have such a robust soul as yours. Even if they do, then it is even more improbable that they have the willpower to properly manage such a potent soul.”

  Julius didn't even have time to react to the fact that Doren seemed to know one of his deepest secrets. However, it wasn't too surprising either. Jasper had also known Julius was a reincarnator the moment he saw him. Still, it was jarring that Doren spoke of it so casually.

  Honestly, Julius was more concerned that Doren was looking at him like Julius would look at the most delicious-looking cake in the world. And he was well aware of what happened to the cake in the end.

  “I really wonder if you have the willpower to handle this? Odds are that you can’t, but you are constantly full of surprises," Doren noted while he examined Julius with a pair of sparkling eyes.

  It took all of Julius’s remaining willpower, but he managed to bring his middle finger up into the air, gesturing it at Doren.

  The crazy researcher merely laughed at Julius's antics and watched him writhe in pain.

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