[System]
You are a skilled LitRPG progression fantasy author. Write chapters based on the story bible and instructions provided.

## Premise
Path to Ascendence — a LitRPG progression fantasy. After Julian lost his parents and sister several years ago, he didn’t know what to do. As just a young child, he wasn’t emotionally prepared to deal with everything that came after. Their deaths hadn’t even been a possibility in his mind. Death was an obscure thing to young Julian. They were killed in a car accident.

## Main Character
Name: Julius | Gender: male (he/him)
Key supporting characters: Edwin, Lukas, Tier

## World & Power System
level-based progression; skills (e.g. Restoration lvl 3 -> lvl 6, Focus lvl 9 ->Focus lvl 10, Restoration lvl 6 -> lvl 7, Firebolt lvl 5 -> lvl 9, Firebolt lvl 2 -> lvl 3, Thermal Compression lvl 4 -> lvl 7, Mana Consolidation, Restoration lvl 14 -> lvl 15)
System notification style: "Alert! Rift is reaching the overflow stage. You will not be able "

## Writing Style
third-person limited narration, past tense. Dialogue-heavy (34% dialogue). Fast-paced, short punchy sentences.

[User]
Write Chapter 531: infiltration
Target length: ~2100 words

[Assistant]
As the beast crawled its way through the crack, Julius couldn’t help but notice how intense the creature’s aura was. He could feel the pressure tingling across his skin and weighing down on his own spirit. He knew right away that this creature was powerful.

It was Tier 4 at the very least, maybe even stronger. He was sure of that. If that wasn’t bad enough, he got an ominous notification.

Notice: Infiltration detected…

Protection protocols have been damaged…

Warning: True death is a possibility.

His attention snapped to the message he received. He did not like what he read. Not one bit.

He had a feeling that this damage was caused by whatever field had attacked their souls. Perhaps it wasn’t even a soul attack in the first place, merely a byproduct of it. Whatever it was, Julius didn’t believe it was part of the realm’s trials or plan.

It was most likely an attack by another party or organization—someone who was playing dangerous games.

He grabbed his friends by the arms and started retreating farther from this creature. They were becoming more lucid, so it was easier.

Julius stared at where the creature was squeezing its shoulders out of the crack. Its face was jagged and completely black, as if made of pure darkness. Its red eyes were pulsing angrily as it roared.

Just the shockwaves from its roars were enough to stagger some of the nearby people who were only just recovering from the soul damage they received.

Everyone was in full panic. Some were smart and were already running. It would seem that he wasn’t the only one who had received that message. People were talking about it worriedly and for good reason.

This past week, they had been able to fight with confidence because death wasn’t actually real in this realm. However, from the sounds of it, that no longer applied, and it scared people.

The bad news was that they couldn’t run. One of the people who had a flying treasure was already far away, but Julius saw them slam into an invisible wall of some kind. There was a barrier around them.

Julius saw other people try to break through this barrier, but to no avail. People attempted to teleport, but either their skills didn’t work, or they would disappear, only to reappear with a cry of agony. It looked like they received some kind of backlash.

He and the others had already gotten to the barrier. They were all doing their best to try to figure out this barrier. He did his best to inspect the barrier and see if there was a way to break it.

He threw some powerful spikes of mana at the barrier. He even channeled a bit of fire mana through his crown, using the ruinous flames to enhance his constructs. But that was useless as well.

He had a feeling that [Void Step] might get through. The only thing that stopped him was the fear of leaving his friends behind. He did not have sufficient control to feel confident carrying all his friends through the barrier alongside him.

He never forgot how innately dangerous the skill was. There was a reason he had almost died several times trying to learn it. The chaotic void wasn’t a place meant for humans to live.

His Space Concept helped him survive better than most, but he didn’t have any qualms about his friends being able to survive similarly. He wanted to test out if he could exit in the first place, but he was also worried about it keeping him out the moment he left.

He had a feeling that this barrier’s primary function wasn’t to keep people in. That was only a single function of it. It was more likely that this barrier was meant to prevent individuals like Vailon, Kaelther, and Terradon from entering.

Julius stayed calm, though, and his mind started to race through the possibilities.

He was forced to turn his focus away from the barrier and to the monster who was already halfway through the crack. He came to a simple conclusion.

If push came to shove, he would have to deal with the threat himself.

He grinned slightly when he saw that he wasn’t the only person to have this idea. Many others were already throwing attacks at the creature with all their strength.

Isaac, the behemoth of a teen, was throwing himself at the monster. Julius watched as the ground completely shattered from the force of Isaac’s jump. A powerful, glowing white light appeared around the guy’s skin.

It was oppressive, and Julius found himself impressed despite the current chaos all around him. Isaac was fast. Extremely fast.

He disappeared from the ground and appeared in front of the massive creature in the blink of an eye. His fist was already crashing into the creature’s face with an earthshattering crash.

However, this only seemed to annoy the creature rather than injure it, and it roared out, showing its enormous fangs. Then its red eyes flashed once, and Julius watched with concern as Isaac was hit by a crimson beam and thrown aside, smashing into the ground. He produced a crater large enough to fit an elephant.

He heard Isaac before he saw him. The guy's joyful laughter echoed through the area. He was covered in injuries, but to Julius’s shock, a flash of white light blasted outward from Isaac’s body, and his wounds were healed.

“God damn battle maniac,” Julius heard Riven mutter from behind.

“He can heal?” Julius asked the mage.

“Yep. The crazy bastard not only can heal, but he also absorbs mana to fuel his healing ability. It makes him a pain in the ass to fight,” Riven said with a look of disgust.

“It sounds like you have fought him,” Julius noted, looking at Isaac, who was already heading straight for the monster once more.

“Yeah, he challenged me earlier this year. My master thought it would be a good experience,” Riven said with a shudder.

“Was it not?”

“No, it was stupid. He fights with no real finesse and uses brute force for everything.”

“So you lost?”

Riven scoffed. “Of course not. As I said, he is a simple fighter, and he wasn’t able to even get close to me. With that being said, I wasn’t able to put him down either. His resilience and healing abilities are no joke.”

Julius leaned forward with a grin. Perhaps, Isaac would make for a great sparring partner after all.

Aubrey, who was feeling better, slapped him. “Are you seriously thinking about that kind of stuff now?”

He looked at her with astonishment. “What are you, Lily?”

She tilted her head upward. “No, but it doesn’t take a mindreader to know what’s going on inside that brain of yours.”

He didn’t bother to reply to her and instead looked back at the creature who had smashed Isaac into the ground once again.

At this point, the creature had already crawled out of the crack, and Julius got a good look at what they were facing. It was an ugly and monstrous-looking thing. It was huge as well.

It was well over fifty feet long and half as tall. It had six legs and was covered in thick scales. Large black spikes ran down its spine to its tail. The tail was enormous, too; it was practically as long as the creature itself.

Its aura was the real concern. From what Julius could tell, it was still Tier 4, thank god for that. But it was a powerful Tier 4. Terrifyingly strong.

“What the hell is that thing?” Aubrey asked with a tinge of nervousness.

“I think it's a chimera,” Riven noted with worry.

“What makes you say that?” Aubrey asked.

“Look at its aura. It’s unnaturally strong and feels like an amalgamation of various aspects,” Riven pointed out.

Now that he had mentioned that, Julius noticed that as well. The creature’s aura was strong, but it felt mismatched. It was almost as if he were observing multiple creatures rather than a single one.

“Is that a good thing?” Edgar asked optimistically.

Riven shut down that optimism right away.

“No, it is very much a bad thing. Chimeras are nightmares, and from the looks of it, this thing is not an exception,” he said to Edgar, and Julius felt an enormous amount of mana begin to flood into Riven.

However, Riven wasn’t the only one who was gathering mana. Julius’s eyes widened when he sensed an even larger gathering of mana coming from the chimera.

The large spikes on its body started to release a dangerous red glow. His danger senses were blaring, and he threw up every protection he could think of around him and his friends.

It was a good thing that he did too, because a sphere of red beam of concentrated light exploded out from the chimera's mouth. The force of the beam was so strong that it ripped apart the ground as it tore across towards Isaac, who was once again attacking the beast head-on.

The unfortunate people who were in the way were vaporized. Then the beam slammed into Isaac, who, to Julius’s surprise, didn’t make any effort to dodge it. Perhaps it was the ability to absorb mana that gave him confidence, but the ginormous teen stood resolute and took the beam straight on.

Julius wished he could say he was shocked when Isaac was blasted a hundred feet into the air. His body was mutilated by the beam of concentrated light and was sent flying off into the distance. For the first time since the fight started, Isaac was unmoving and silent.

Apparently, Isaac couldn’t absorb all the mana. Or perhaps the attack from the chimera didn’t use just mana. It might have been like Julius’s constructs, which used properties of aura to bolster his attacks.

“He’ll be fine,” Riven said unconvincingly.

Julius wasn’t worried about Isaac. He had a feeling that the boisterous guy would be harder to keep down than that. He was more concerned about his friends, and so when he saw the monster charging for another attack, he was already flooding his body with kinetic energy. He was about to teleport right next to the beast when he spotted something dark covering the sun overhead.

He squinted upwards and saw dozens of swords of various sizes all hovering over the beast. All of them were shimmering with golden light, and Julius couldn’t help but shiver when he felt multiple powerful Concepts of Sharpness all converge on these swords.

He didn’t like to admit it, but he had a feeling that these Sharpness Concepts were stronger than his own, or at the very least, rivaled them. More importantly, these Concepts fed off each other with immaculate synergy. It was quite marvelous to watch, and he found himself grinning when he saw these swords descend from the sky with the wrath of a god.

The golden swords slammed into the shell of the chimera, and to the relief of everyone stuck inside the barrier, they were able to pierce the monster’s scales.

The monster cried out in pain and used its tail to smash the swords from its back. Then, with another roar and spike of mana, these spikes were shot out from their respective wounds in all directions.

Thankfully, they faded into particles of light before they could land on someone.

However, Julius wasn’t focused on that. He was more focused on the regenerating tissue he saw from the chimera. The large wounds inflicted by the swords were healing at an alarming rate.

“Ah, we are so fucked,” Julius heard one person mutter softly.

He heard Riven and many others curse loudly in the background. He didn’t curse out loud, but on the inside, he was a lot more worried.

Defeating a Tier 4 monster was already hard when you were Tier 3.

But defeating a beast that strong and one that could regenerate its wounds? That was so unfair. What kind of monster should be allowed to do that? He must have said that last part out loud because he got a weird look from his friends. He pointedly ignored them.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

[User]
Write Chapter 532: Sturdy Little Barrier
Target length: ~2200 words

[Assistant]
Julius had been attempting to break the barrier with his mana and ruinous aura, but sadly, it hadn’t been effective yet. He could see that his ruinous aura was doing something, but the barrier was so tough that it wasn’t enough.

Not only that, but the barrier seemed to gain strength as more time went by. What had been a relatively invisible barrier was slowly changing into a curtain of gray shadows, encapsulating all of them.

Whatever damage he caused was fixed by the barrier's self-repair function. It was annoying, and he was running out of ideas. He banged his head against the edge of the barrier in frustration.

However, it would appear that hitting his head was a good idea because he had a sudden thought.

He looked around at the people around them and noticed they were too occupied watching the chimera stomping around. Furthermore, his suspicion about Isaac was correct. It would seem that getting hit by that beam of light wasn’t enough to keep Isaac down for good. He was already healed and was attacking the chimera once more.

With the added help from Eren and his falling swords, the chimera was quite pinned down for the moment. It was too busy dealing with the two powerful Tier 3s. Riven hadn’t flown over to join them. The mage was nearby, also trying to break open the barrier just like Julius was.

He was having the same issue as Julius. The barrier would open momentarily, but would close too quickly for anyone to get through. Teleportation didn’t seem to work while inside the barrier, either; therefore, people couldn’t go through the small hole.

It was a good thing that he had an idea he wanted to try.

He looked down at his fist with a grin and started to manipulate his Space Concept into it. [Void Strike] layered over his hand, pulsing with dangerous and volatile waves of energy. He didn’t get many opportunities to use the skill. It was too powerful and dangerous for most applications.

He saw Riven pause and look over at Julius with surprise evident in his eyes.

Julius focused on his own actions for the time being. He thought he had a good chance of damaging the barrier with [Void Strike]. The barrier clearly had a spatial aspect to it. If he could use [Void Strike] and his ruinous aura in conjunction, he might be able to create a large enough hole to have his friends escape.

With a grunt of exertion, he let the mana build up, and when it reached a precipice, he unleashed all of it on the barrier. A loud crash rocked the barrier, and to his delight, he saw the barrier crack ever so slightly. He used some of his aura to try to break it open, but the barrier healed itself once again.

However, he wasn’t deterred. He kept on trying, charging another one of his fists with mana. This time around, he also created a gauntlet, using the construct to take most of the pressure off [Void Strike]. This enabled him to push even more power through the skill.

He briefly glanced backward and was interrupted when he sensed some debris from the chimera’s fight heading his way. He was about to create a barrier, but his friends were already there to protect him.

They must have realized what he was doing and had used all of the attention to create a defensive shield around him. He nodded his thanks to them and continued his work.

He let some of his fire mana feed into his crown, allowing the ruinous flames to feed into his fist. He could feel the fire eating away at his flesh. The destructive energy was hard to contain, even with the gauntlet taking the brunt of the weight from the skill.

However, once he was ready, he unleashed his strike on the barrier. An absolutely massive shockwave exploded out from where he attacked the barrier. His eardrums were blown out from being so close to the impact zone. The accumulated kinetic energy, fire mana, and aura were enough to blow his arm to pieces regardless of his preparations.

It was one of the strongest attacks he could manage at this time, and it showed. The barrier, which had previously only been cracked, now sported a hole large enough for a human to walk through.

He could already feel the barrier trying to repair itself. However, thanks to his infusion of ruinous flames and aura, he was able to stall this mending feature. He also made sure to force even more ruinous aura into the barrier, doing his best to hold it back.

The weight from the barrier was unimaginably intense, and he could feel his soul struggling as he pushed his willpower to the limit. However, the stress it placed on his mind was far greater than the one on his soul.

He groaned loudly when he felt his mind slowly collapsing. His will could somewhat handle it, but his mind was another story.

Blood was dripping from his nose and eyes as he struggled to keep them open. He tried to yell at his friends to get through, but the words wouldn't come out.

Thankfully, they knew what he was asking of them and, without questioning him, heeded his desires. They dashed over to the small opening of the barrier he had forced open, but it was already closing slowly.

He gasped as he pushed his mind even further. It had only been mere seconds since he opened the crack, but it felt like he had been keeping it open for over minutes.

He didn’t know if he could keep it open for much longer, but he owed it to his friends to keep trying. He let his healing skill continuously heal his melting brain. Drasil was doing all he could to support Julius as well. But the constant cycle of damage and healing was taking a toll on his thoughts. They were getting muddied.

Just when he thought he was unable to hold it any longer, he felt someone join him. He looked over to the side and saw Riven right next to him. He didn’t know how, but the mage had somewhat piggybacked off his work supporting Julius.

The strain immediately lessened, and with the two of them, they were able to keep it open long enough for his friends to pass through. Julius was worried that there was another layer of enchantments, but let out a sigh of relief when he saw they were okay.

He slowly stumbled his way to the barrier. The strain was lessened, but his brain was still a bit muddled and required some time to reset. Burning one’s mind would do that to a person.

“Go on through. I will follow after,” he said to Riven, shaking his head to clear the fogginess.

Riven groaned and shook his head. It was clear that the mage was struggling to hold on as well.

“Seriously, stop being stubborn and get in there. The more time we waste, the more dangerous it will become,” Julius said impatiently.

“Not until everyone else gets through,” Riven said stubbornly, puking out a mouthful of blood.

“Who cares about the rest of them? My friends are safe, so it’s not my problem,” Julius said and looked at Riven like he was an idiot.

“So what? You are just going to leave them at the mercy of that monster?” Riven asked in disbelief.

“Damn right,” he said shamelessly. All he cared about was his friends. That was his only priority.

Riven stared at him and twisted his bloody mouth. Then he looked at where the other participants were panicking.

“Get over here! We created an exit!” Riven suddenly shouted out, using wind magic to enhance his voice.

It was like a crowd of children hearing someone shout that free candy was being given out. Over a hundred desperate stares latched onto Riven, and before Julius could say anything, they were already sprinting toward them like a pack of wild animals.

Riven then turned to Julius with a victorious smile. However, the smile looked a bit deranged since the mage’s mouth was flooded with blood from the strain of holding the barrier open.

“Okay, so now you can either hold this open with me. Or you can always jump through on your own. I will keep it open so you can do that if you want,” Riven said to him, displaying his bloody teeth.

Julius rolled his eyes but didn’t make a move to go through the hole. “What are you? Some kind of hero or something?”

Riven’s eyes flickered with sadness for the briefest of moments.

“I’m trying to be,” he said with a serious look.

Julius frowned, wondering if there was a story behind that.

“Fine,” he said defeatedly and watched as a horde of people all desperately tried to escape through the hole they created. He believed there would have been far fewer people trying to run away or fight the monster, but Isaac and Eren’s failed attempt must have convinced them they couldn't win.

To be fair, he agreed with their assessment. The chimera was ridiculously strong, and it showed when Isaac’s continued efforts didn’t do anything. Julius watched as the guy was slammed by the creature’s tail, getting pummeled into the dirt once again.

Eren had already given up and was heading over to them on a flying sword. There was a look of reluctance on his face, but he must have realized that there wasn’t a point in fighting with an exit secured.

Julius gave Garrett a dark glare when he saw the guy frantically making his way over. He was one of the first to arrive. The guy was actually really fast and had impressive control over his mana from what Julius could sense.

However, the panic in his face convinced Julius that this wasn’t a part of the teen’s plan and that the teen was just trying to run away.

Nobody, other than a scant few, even bothered to say thank you to Julius or Riven. They just moved as quickly as possible through the hole, worried it might close suddenly. Which, to be fair, was a real risk.

A few errant attacks from the chimera had already gotten pretty close, and it was only thanks to several proactive people that Julius didn’t have to create any defenses of his own. He and Riven were able to solely focus on keeping the barrier open.

Yet, even this wasn’t enough.

Isaac’s distractions were slowly becoming ineffective, and eventually the chimera’s gaze locked onto Julius and Riven.

The spikes along its spine started to glow with the dangerous red light once more. It was as if all of the mana around the creature was being sucked into its lungs.

“Hurry up,” Julius said urgently to one of the last few people trying to get through while he created several barriers in front of him. These last people were the ones who had stayed behind to help protect him, so he didn’t want to close the hole on them. They were one of the few who deserved to escape after all.

But the light was growing brighter, and just as the last person stepped through, a piercing beam of red light cut through the air and slammed into his barriers.

The first few shattered like glass, which somewhat surprised him. He knew that the attack contained a lot of mana, but the ease with which they were able to break his aura-woven barriers was scary.

The other barriers held up a little bit better, but they still weren’t enough.

Thankfully, they gave him enough time to react, and with a shove of aura, he attempted to send Riven through the hole before it closed. The mage tried to fight him for some reason, but since he was already tired from holding the barrier open, Julius overpowered him.

Then, before Riven could do anything, he closed the hole as the beam of light slammed into Julius.

He had just enough time to make some last-second protections, but even then, it wasn’t enough. The beam of light tore through everything he placed in front of himself, and he could feel his skin burning away.

He wasn’t able to move because it felt like he was being blasted by a firehose the size of a building. However, he was able to use [Void Step] and get out of the way.

When he teleported away, the beam had nowhere else to go, but slammed into the barrier that had been behind him. Surprisingly, it didn’t do as much damage as he expected.

He didn’t have much time to think about that. He had a feeling that he was about to become extremely busy.

He let his flesh regenerate and looked at the chimera with an enthusiastic grin.

Some might have thought he would be in trouble because he was stuck in here with the powerful beast. But what they didn’t know was that it was the other way around. The chimera was stuck inside with him.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

And for those who want to discuss the story with each other, there is a Discord server created now.

[User]
Write Chapter 533: Chimera
Target length: ~2100 words
Key events: combat-heavy

[Assistant]
Julius turned to stare at the chimera, which was roaring at the sky, and smiled.

The moment he saw the creature, he knew he wanted to fight it. His blood sang with excitement, and he only held back because of how people were around. Also, his number one priority had been to keep his friends safe.

However, now those issues have been solved. He could have some fun.

He charged his body with so much mana, kinetic energy, and aura that it felt like it was breaking apart. And it felt absolutely exhilarating.

He used one quick [Void Step] to appear right in front of the creature’s face, slamming the monster with a [Void Strike] along with all of the kinetic energy he had managed to siphon from its last attack.

The flesh of the chimera’s face was really tough. It was no wonder that Isaac and Eren had some trouble. However, with all of the power he put into his blow, the monster’s face now sported a large crater in it. Unfortunately, since it was so large, there was only so much damage he could do.

The injury was relatively small compared to its massive size. But that didn’t deter Julius; he was already charging another attack while he watched the flesh of the beast regenerate at a visible pace.

He attempted to use some of his ruinous aura to stop whatever skill it was using, but he was unable to. He might have slowed it slightly, but the creature had an enormously powerful willpower.

It didn’t have any finesse or real level of control, but with its unusual soul, it must have inherited an absurdly strong will or something similar.

He had already created armor around his body. Azure colored mana flowed from his chest to his hands. Beautiful wings sprouted from his back, flaring dangerously with flames. He could feel his red eyes shining brightly with each movement of his aura.

His crown, pulsing slowly atop his head, seemed to breathe with life.

It was funny. For the first time since he got the item, he didn’t feel it fighting against him. If anything, the crown seemed like it was just as excited as he was.

“Ah, so you are a battle maniac too, huh?” He asked the crown quietly.

All he got in return was an emphatic flare of blue flames from it.

Then, with a wild, wild grin, he disappeared in a flash of blue light. He hadn’t teleported; he used sheer kinetic energy to propel himself forward, using his own speed to cycle even more kinetic energy from his movements.

He slammed into the creature’s face once more. This time around, he used [Void Strike] alongside his ruinous flames. Now that it was motivated, the crown was much easier to use.

He was able to feed fire mana into it with an ease he had never experienced. The mana that came out of it was just as easy to control. He fed it into his fists and armor, letting the destructive force vibrate under his willpower.

The strike was powerful. Really powerful. The fifty-foot monster was knocked off balance for the first time and cried out in pain as it fell to the ground. Its six legs thrashed around as it tried to get back to its feet.

Julius was forced to blast himself upward into the sky when it tried to smack him with its tail. He had learned from watching Isaac fighting earlier that while the chimera wasn’t that swift, considering its size, its tail was another story.

The ridiculously long limb moved with shocking speed. He was just barely fast enough to ignore it. He flew high up, ready to strike once again.

However, he stopped himself when he sensed a glowing white missile slam into the downed creature. Isaac must have stayed inside along with Julius and used his body like a missile, slamming into the creature’s exposed belly.

The force of the blow was immense and exploded a small chunk of flesh from the chimera. However, it was clear that Isaac didn’t have anything that prevented the monster’s healing factor. Unlike the wounds that Julius had just inflicted, the scars of the belly were almost already healed in a matter of seconds.

The chimera let out a roar, and Julius widened his eyes in astonishment when an invisible blast smacked him right in the face. He had no idea what kind of attack this was. It might have been some kind of telekinesis attack, but he was sure.

Thankfully, he absorbed most of the force. Still, it forced him back and required him to take some time to stabilize his flight.

Isaac, on the other hand, was tossed a hundred feet across the field. Julius watched as the large teen got back to his feet once again, holding back a sigh. It would appear that, for as powerful and fast as Isaac was, fighting strategy wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

It wasn’t even like Julius himself was particularly skilled in this aspect, but Isaac had been doing the same thing over and over for the past several minutes. Not changing a single thing. He just kept on running in, got a good hit on the monster, and then got blasted into the ground. It was only because of his pretty good healing skill that the man wasn’t dead yet.

Even then, Julius could see the teen's healing slowing. The white light was a little dimmer, and several minor wounds weren’t healed. Julius suspected that part of the issue was that the monster wasn’t using plain mana attacks to hurt Isaac, which meant there wasn’t enough mana to absorb to heal.

Yet, Isaac continued to run headfirst into the beast without any regard. Julius had his fair share of headbutting into walls until he succeeded, but that was when he was holding back or when he knew he had some advantage he could use.

Isaac seemed a little... special.

Julius didn’t know why, but it irritated him more than it should have.

Still, Isaac was at least doing something, so he ignored the guy and dashed back to the chimera. This time around, the chimera had targeted him as a threat, and the difference was dramatic.

The spikes on its back glowed red once again, but it wasn’t like the previous attacks. Instead of a single strong attack, he found himself assaulted by hundreds of small beams of light. They were extremely fast and unbelievably nimble.

He used his wings to help him dodge the attacks. The wind tore his face as he used kinetic energy to flash across the sky. His flight abilities were so much better than they had been several months ago, but they still weren’t the best. It was expected as well.

Humans weren’t supposed to fly after all. Thankfully, he had a lot of kinetic energy to play with, so even though he wasn’t the most graceful, he was quick.

Unfortunately, it was like the chimera had locked onto his mana signature. Every single attack tracked him with worrying precision. He created several barriers around him, using them to block the few attacks that he wasn’t able to dodge.

Since they weren’t as powerful, they didn’t manage to pierce or crack his barriers easily, as the breath attack had been. However, they were strong enough that he was able to absorb a fair amount of kinetic energy from them. He started deliberately getting hit by these attacks.

While he did this, he also tried to see how they were constructed. As Isaac had experienced already, they weren’t just simple blasts of mana. There was something else that made them a little dangerous.

It was almost like the creature had used a similar technique to Julius. It nearly felt like some of the monster’s aura was woven into the attacks. The only issue was that the creature’s manipulation of aura and mana would contradict this statement.

At this point, the creature was ignoring Isaac. It would occasionally smash the guy into the ground, but almost the entirety of the monster’s attention was on Julius. It showed.

He was getting drowned in attacks, and while the chimera wasn’t very skilled in pure mana control, it was still constantly making minor adjustments to its attacks.

It must have realized that these attacks didn’t threaten Julius, so it reduced the number of attacks. There were still a lot, but now they were a lot more powerful, and he wasn’t able to take them straight on as confidently.

He used his barriers to deflect most of the impact and absorbed as much kinetic energy as he could. He would use this kinetic energy to fuel his flight, but his body was slowly accumulating damage from the relentless assault.

He laughed at the hilarity of the situation and would have enjoyed this fight more, but unfortunately, there was a stupid battle maniac constantly interrupting his tempo. Whenever there was an opening he wanted to take advantage of, Isaac was already heading straight for it.

It would have been impressive that the guy could read the flow of the battle that well and, without hesitation, throw himself into the fray. Sadly, the guy wasn’t causing much damage or making much of an impact.

At this point, he was just in Julius’s way. That was why he ultimately made a decision.

He sensed Isaac about to head in to make another move, but before the teen could dash in, Julius teleported in front of Isaac, extending his arm.

He creased his brow in annoyance when he saw Isaac lash out at him. It was all instinct, though, so Julius tried not to get too upset. However, that proved what Julius had been thinking this entire time. Isaac had no plan; he was just reacting and moving on pure instinct.

Isaac was fast, but Julius was just as fast. He was able to duck underneath the man’s fist and slap it away with some of his accumulated kinetic energy.

“Can you knock it off?” he said irritably, crossing his arms.

Isaac finally seemed to realize that Julius was there and smiled. “Oh! Hey, Julius. I see you wanted to test yourself against this strong monster, too.”

“Yeah, but you are making a real mess out of things,” he said with a glare.

Isaac shrugged uncaringly. “I am trying to figure out how it's able to prevent me from absorbing its mana.”

Julius pinched his nose. “Are you serious? You haven’t figured that out yet?”

Isaac looked confused. “No,” he said without any shame or embarrassment. “Have you?”

“Yeah, it uses some application of mixing mana and aura, which is probably preventing your skill from working,” he explained briefly, using some of his barriers to block some of the incoming attacks.

“Oh. I didn’t even know that was possible,” Isaac said, his eyes shimmering brightly with realization.

“Well, can you stop taking my openings? I can’t make a move because you keep rushing in, and I am more likely to hit you than the monster,” Julius said to him, using his armored fist to smack aside a mighty blow from the chimera.

Isaac rubbed his head. “Oh, sorry about that. I have been told that I make for a terrible teammate.”

“Yeah, so until you find a way to hurt the monster, please just let me handle it, okay?” Julius asked as politely as possible.

Isaac frowned at him. “I’m pretty close to finding the creature’s cores, so no.”

“Cores?” Julius asked interestedly.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah, I have found out that the monster has several—”

Isaac’s words were cut off midsentence when a large blast of red light smashed into them. Julius protected himself well, but Isaac was sent flying away again.

Julius sighed and teleported over to the hole Isaac was already crawling out of.

“You were saying?” Julius asked while he watched Isaac heal very slowly.

Isaac dusted himself off; his clothes were almost entirely gone at this point. “It has several cores. I keep damaging them, but it can heal them as well, so it has been an annoying problem.”

Julius tilted his head curiously and mentally apologized to Isaac. It would appear that the man had some kind of plan after all. He wasn’t just pointlessly wailing on the beast. His opinion of Isaac was raised a bit.

“Where are the cores?”

Isaac shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve been guessing.”

Julius pinched his nose and immediately revised his opinion of him. This guy was an idiot. He should have kept Riven here with him. At least he would have been more useful.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

[User]
Write Chapter 534: Second Stage
Target length: ~2100 words
Key events: boss encounter

[Assistant]
Julius decided to ignore the idiot in front of him. He wanted to beat this monster and couldn’t worry about Isaac. This wasn’t a standard Tier 4 monster like the ones he had taken care of in the past.

This chimera was something else entirely. The sheer amount of damage it could release was impressive enough. However, its endurance and regeneration were the real issues. If he couldn’t figure out a way to hurt the monster, he was afraid that he would simply be wasting his own energy.

Of course, slowly whittling its mana and other resources away was still a sound strategy, but he didn’t know if he wanted to do all of that. He had a sneaking suspicion that was precisely how this beast was meant to fight.

With how big it was and its higher tier than his own, he wasn’t confident that he could outlast the monster.

Luckily for him, he had other options at his disposal. Options that he was looking forward to using, and if he “accidentally” hit Isaac because he was in the way, then it was only the big oaf’s fault.

He heard the guy still trying to talk to Julius, as if to explain his reasoning, but he wasn’t hearing any of it. Julius was too focused on taking control of his mana and aura. He slowly fed the blazing crown on his forehead, feeling the intense heat radiating from the soul-bound item.

Time slowed down to a crawl as his mind and spirit went into overdrive.

The crown wanted more fire mana; it was a greedy little thing, and despite his usual reservations, he didn’t hold back this time around. He let the crown have what it wanted—feeding the flames with his massive mana pool, letting his ruinous aura meld with the ruinous flames.

The synergy between the two energies was perfect. It was as if they were meant for each other, and they supported each other in ways his usual mana and aura were never able to. Each covered the other’s weakness and offered their strengths without taking away the other’s own.

The only problem he had to deal with was the sheer heat the crown was giving off. His flesh was being blasted by some of the most intense flames he had ever created. He used to think that his blue flames were hot, but this was on another level.

These ruinous flames were melting the stone beneath his feet, and it required him to constantly throw life mana into [Phoenix Renewal] to keep his body intact. Drasil pitched in as well. He had already gotten used to Julius’s antics and only whistled in exasperation when he felt Julius destroying his own body.

What was amusing to sense was Seraphyne’s panic while she was hanging out in Julius’s soul space. The turtle spirit wasn’t panicking because she was worried about Julius hurting himself. No, she was frantic because Drasil had grabbed hold of her and was using her as some kind of mana battery.

She didn’t have a healing skill that could help Julius, but apparently, she made for the perfect battery, allowing Drasil to use more mana.

Julius would have teared up in pride for his little spirit, but his tears would have evaporated by the sheer heat he was experiencing.

Fortunately, the heat was just a byproduct of what he was trying to achieve. Once he got a good feel for the mana, he finally started to manipulate the ruinous flames. He used [Armaments of the Arcane] to slowly mold his mana into small spikes.

The compression of the flames was surprisingly tricky. He wasn’t able to compress them as intensely as usual. He didn’t know if it was because of the nature of the flames or just because they were already so powerful, but he was barely able to compact them.

He still tried, though. He also made sure to utilize [Spirit Fortification] to weave his ruinous aura into the constructs. He laughed loudly at how easy it was and how seamless the construction became. His ruinous flames and ruinous aura were truly meant to be combined.

Several dangerous flares of fire erupted when he finally formed a single spike. The power contained in each one was miles above anything he had felt from one of his constructs. It wasn’t like when he used [Void Strike] on them.

That was a totally different kind of power and danger. [Void Strike] was an attack that ignored defenses due to its unique and spatial nature. This was different. His ruinous flames and aura were meant to burn down and destroy anything that stood in its way. Plain and simple.

He tried to add [Void Strike] to the spikes, but to his shock, it didn’t work. Even more shockingly, they didn’t even explode. The combination of the two skills wiped away the skill before it had a chance to latch onto the construct. It almost felt like the constructs wouldn’t allow anything else to touch them.

Like some deep-seated pride.

Julius was okay with that. He was already desperately trying everything in his power to keep it together. The ruinous flames and aura worked well together, but that didn’t mean it was easy to control.

It required all of his willpower to form them and even more to keep them together.

Yet, he still didn’t give up there. He kept on going and pushing far beyond his limits.

He didn’t stop at one or two spikes. He formed over a dozen of them in quick succession. Typically, this wouldn’t be possible regardless of his control over mana and aura. However, the crown was giving him a helping hand. It wanted this more than he did and lent him its power.

An array of bright azure colored spikes dazzled as they sat over his shoulders. Each pulse they released threatened to disrupt everything and blow all of this power in his own face.

However, he ignored that for the time being. For some reason, he had absolute confidence that wouldn’t happen. The thrill of power violently surged through his blood.

His body was burning away; he could feel that, despite his and Drasi’s efforts, he was little more than bones. His arms had burned off, as had his legs. Only his chest and head were a priority to keep healed.

The pain would have been crippling for most, but for Julius, the pain was just irrelevant.

He slowly took control of the spikes and teleported away when he felt the chimera send another volley of attacks his way. This teleportation had unbalanced the delicate equilibrium he created. The spikes he created with pure willpower were on the verge of collapsing, as was his mind.

His constructs wanted to destroy and cause chaos. Therefore, he let them do exactly that. He barely had to push them towards their target. The second they were released, they were soaring toward the chimera all on their own with a palpable hunger radiating from their surface.

They were literally falling apart as they tore through the air. He coughed up a gallon of blood due to the backlash of releasing the technique. But his eyes sparkled when he saw his precious constructs tear through space.

They moved so quickly, they were little more than flashes of light

The massive chimera, which had stubbornly soaked up all the damage anyone had thrown at it, finally reacted. Julius spotted the signs of fear in its eyes just before the spikes slammed into its body, causing absolute ruin.

The entire sky lit up in a symphony of flames and destruction. The chimera’s roar of agony shook the barrier. Julius, on the other hand, floated there limbless and with a broken body, admiring his handiwork with a wild grin on his face.

He ignored the multiple pings he received, likely some notifications. He also ignored Isaac, who must have gotten in the way of his attack and was blasted into the distance, slamming into a grouping of trees.

The guy would survive… Probably.

When the dust settled, he finally got a look at the damage he had caused. The chimera looked like a mess. It looked like someone had detonated dozens of landmines across the chimera’s flesh.

Its ribcage was exposed, and half of its body was covered in severe burns. As a matter of fact, its body was still on fire. The ruinous flames were devouring its flesh as if it were food, further accelerating the damage they unleashed.

The chimera glowed red once more and let out a powerful blast of mana. Julius watched with intrigue as the flames were extinguished. He could feel the Tier 4’s Authority ripple outward; he suspected that this was the reason why it was able to swat out the flames as easily as it did.

Still, the damage was impressive. He would have given himself a pat on the back, but he was still growing his limbs back.

He saw the chimera healing as well. It was definitely delayed compared to Isaac’s attacks, but the creature was still able to regenerate—a big annoyance.

That was why Julius didn’t let up. While the chimera was still in terrible shape, he didn’t give it any time to breathe.

He gathered even more mana and aura, flowing them through his crown and into more spikes. Since he had already done it before, the process was slightly more straightforward. That said, it was still a grueling task.

He quickly fired another salvo, his barely regenerated arms disintegrating once again from the excess heat. It was quite an annoyance, but the spikes' results spoke for themselves. Just as the chimera was recovering, he was already sending a dozen more spikes, concentrating his efforts on an area just under the beast’s neck.

From what his mana senses could tell during the brief moment when its scales were destroyed, he sensed a large core just underneath it in that particular region. He was curious how the beast’s scales managed to shield against his perception, but he didn’t have time to worry about that.

The explosion rocked the beast once again. This time, cutting even deeper into the flesh of the beast. Its ribcage was fully exposed, and he could see what appeared to be its organs. Just underneath one important-looking organ, he spotted the mass of mana he had sensed before.

It was a red gem-like material with intricate veins running through it. It wasn’t so much a core, but rather something that looked closer to a heart.

He didn’t hesitate for a single moment. He was already charging even more spikes. The ruinous flames were practically dancing with anticipation as they saw the injured opponent. He had to hold back the crown from going too far; it was trying to pull so much fire mana from him that he was getting sucked dry.

He gave a single warning slap, and to his shock, it listened to him and retreated slightly. It almost felt like it was respecting him by the tiniest of margins.

It only took him destroying his own body for that to happen.

The chimera was recovering faster than he liked to see, and so he quickly sent the next volley at the creature’s core. A protective shield appeared around the core, but he concentrated all of his firepower on this one section.

Its barrier wasn’t enough to stop all of the spikes. The first two were blocked, which was impressive enough, but the next ones tore through it and slammed into the heart-shaped core, driving deep and exploding in a symphony of flames.

The resulting explosions staggered him as he hovered in the sky.

He would have been more excited about taking out one of the monster’s cores, but there was another issue. One that actually made him a little bit worried.

When he had destroyed the core, instead of getting weaker, a surge of power flowed through the chimera as if the residual energy from the wrecked core spread into the chimera’s body—enhancing it even further.

He grimaced to himself. It looked like he had unlocked the second stage of the boss fight.

However, he realized that it wasn’t such a bad thing. That just meant he had a perfect opportunity to test some of his other ideas against the beast. He felt a big smile appear on his face as he raced back toward the creature.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

[User]
Write Chapter 535: Dangerous
Target length: ~2300 words

[Assistant]
The increase in power he felt coming from the chimera wasn’t the main thing that disturbed him. No, it was the transformation the creature was currently undergoing.

A sphere of crimson red light appeared around the chimera. Julius immediately sent several ruinflame-powered spikes at this barrier. However, to his astonishment, it was much stronger than the one he had broken through just moments ago.

This one unraveled his technique, and before it could impact the shield. It felt like it was actually using its Authority properly and tearing through his own constructs. It was like the monster was changing before his very eyes, evolving into something different.

Something dangerous.

He needed to stop it before it could complete its transformation. He was sure of that.

So he dashed forward, his limbs already regenerated during the short period. He loaded up his kinetic energy and gathered more destructive flames. Once he got close to the barrier, he used [Void Step]. If he couldn’t break the barrier, then he could just bypass it.

Or rather, that was what he had been planning on. Instead, he found himself inside the chaotic void, and the spatial energies were already trying to tear his body apart. Unlike usual, he wasn’t able to locate the spot he wanted to teleport to, and before he could try to cancel the skill, he felt his body get squeezed by the collapsing space.

He was spat out of the void and groaned in pain. His body, which had received the backlash of the interrupted skill, was more of a mess than before. His limbs, which had already been destroyed twice, were a mess once again—only this time around they looked like someone had wrung them like an old dishrag.

It wasn’t just his limbs either. It was his body as well. He was barely able to protect his heart and brain, but the rest of his chest was a broken disaster.

He lost control of his wings, and they faded as he plummeted from the sky. His healing skill and Drasil were going into overdrive, trying to heal him.

However, void damage was always a bit of a pain in the ass. The same aspect that he enjoyed using with [Void Strike] was now preventing him from healing as quickly as usual. He supercharged his Phoenix Concept and his Emblem to make up for this.

The strain on his soul was intense, but he needed to heal before the chimera finished whatever transformation it was undergoing.

He choked out one last groan, and to his relief, he felt the impedance from the void damage finally get overwhelmed. His body started to heal, and he took a deep breath when his lungs were regenerated.

As he healed the rest of his body, he looked at the chimera hiding in its little cocoon.

He was still befuddled as to why he was unable to teleport through the barrier. From what he could tell, there hadn’t been any anti-spatial aspects to it. However, even if there were, it wouldn’t have mattered. His skill was meant to go through enchantments or similar techniques.

The only thing he could compare it to was the feeling he got when he had tried to teleport a spike into a living creature. Not too long ago, he had thought about teleporting an explosion-rigged construct into his opponent’s head—a nasty idea with great potential.

However, there was an unbreakable barrier that prevented him from doing that. Freya mentioned that there was some natural defense in one’s soul that protected against such techniques.

Of course, if one were powerful enough to ignore these defenses, then it didn’t matter. But since Julius was already a tier lower than the chimera, it clearly didn’t apply to him.

He started to believe that this cocoon was an extension of the chimera’s soul.

He didn’t give up, though; he kept on sending more attacks against the barrier. He wanted to see if he could disrupt it somewhat. Unfortunately, it became apparent that his efforts were in vain, so he stopped his attacks and instead focused on building another salvo of spikes to throw at the creature.

He would wait until whatever it was doing finished, then throw everything he had at it.

Thankfully, that time came soon, and when the cocoon shattered into small shards of red light, he sent all of the spikes he created at the creature.

The chimera didn’t have any time to react. The ruinous enhanced spikes immediately bombarded it. Consecutive explosions rang out in the surrounding area as each of his spikes slammed into the chimera.

However, Julius felt something was off. His instincts were screaming at him, and he saw the reason why.

The chimera, whom the constructs had heavily injured before, was standing there looking no worse for wear. There were no gaping holes or wounds on its body.

Not only that, but the creature’s transformation had been much more dramatic than he expected; instead of getting larger, as he thought. The chimera had shrunk a lot. Instead of being the size of a bus, it was now the size of a large truck and much sleeker.

Its previously black scales now had an ominous crimson glow to them, and the spikes running down its spine now covered most of its body.

However, what was more concerning was the amount of heat he felt in the chimera’s body. It wasn’t just the heat, either; it was the source of heat. It was the same heat that came from his ruinous flames.

This little shit had somehow absorbed his ruinous flames. He knew this because he saw small flickers of the ruinous flames being distributed along the spikes on the chimera’s body. Of course, they were nothing but a weak imitation, but it was still annoying to see.

He was about to say something in protest, but he was forced to blast himself to the side to avoid the piercing beam heading straight for his face. The stinging heat from his ruinous flames burned his cheeks.

However, he wasn’t to focus on that particular aspect because the chimera had moved with a speed he hadn’t seen so far. It disappeared, and he was barely able to sense an incoming object coming right behind him.

He used a barrier to deflect it, but the chimera shattered right through it, as if it were made of glass. Julius was forced to use [Void Step] to avoid the charging monster. Even then, he was almost too slow and got clipped by one of its claws.

Beforehand, the chimera had been a large and slow target. However, that appeared to have changed, and Julius didn’t like that— not one bit.

He remade his wings and flew up high into the sky. This seemed to draw the chimera’s attention. It looked up at his position and snarled.

He didn’t know if he was seeing things, but he could have sworn that the monster had more intelligence in its eyes than before.

Julius stared right back at the monster and started to gather more fire mana into his crown. However, he was forced to fly backward as another concentrated blast of red energy flew at his face.

He was thinking about how lucky he was that the beast couldn’t fly when he was forced to create several barriers in front of his face. Out of nowhere, the chimera’s jaw was closing around his face.

Apparently, the chimera could still reach him all the way up in the sky. It was using some kind of skill around its six legs to propel itself through the air.

His barriers broke just as easily as they had seconds prior, and he shoved his arm upward, using it to block the monster. Unfortunately, all this was to give the chimera a free meal. His arm was removed with one single bite and disappeared into the chimera’s stomach.

Julius kicked away, using as much kinetic energy as he could.

To his curiosity, this seemed actually to hurt the beast more than his spikes had done. He felt his kinetic energy penetrate where his spikes hadn’t.

He continuously blasted himself backward, avoiding the follow-up claws. While he did that, he desperately tried to figure out what had changed. He clearly needed to make some adjustments. The evolution this beast had undergone was definitely more dangerous, but it was clear there were still some weaknesses he could target.

The only downside was that it appeared his kinetic energy was the way to go. That meant he had to get close to the beast that was suddenly as fast as hell.

He felt the familiar waves of fear, excitement, and adrenaline rush through his veins. Everything faded into the background as he concentrated all of his energy on enhancing his body.

If this monster thought it had him just because it changed a little bit, then it was in for a rude awakening. Julius’s whole skill set revolved around being versatile. If you took away his constructs, he would just beat his opponents with his fists.

He sensed the chimera already closing in, moving so fast that it was practically teleportation. As a matter of fact, he would much rather deal with a teleporting foe. At least their movements were more predictable.

He dropped to the ground, a place where he felt like he could maneuver better. He stepped to the side when the sharp claws of the chimera tore at his face, barely avoiding them. He siphoned as much kinetic energy from its movements as he could, doing his best to slow it down and gain more energy to use.

He avoided another three swipes, and when he felt an opening, he made his move. He took all of that gathered kinetic energy and slammed his leg into the beast’s chest. He used as much of his Force Concept as he could, trying to penetrate its defenses. He also used his ruinous aura.

While it was able to absorb his flames, it wasn’t able to absorb his aura. The creature roared and spat blood, showing that the attack had damaged it. A wave of regenerative magic washed out from the chimera, but Julius didn’t let this stop him.

He stayed close, not letting the chimera use its superior size to dictate the battle. He also decided to create a staff. If he was going to beat this thing up, he was going to need something bigger than his fists.

The staff was strong, unlike his spikes, which were meant to withstand continuous damage.

While it was clear he was slower than the chimera, the beast's fighting style was simplistic and lacked skill. It relied purely on speed and sheer strength.

Still, it was a hard battle. He would avoid the relentless assault, only taking a few glancing blows in return for slamming his staff into anything he could reach. The chimera was getting increasingly angry.

The staff was already breaking down, but Julius made sure he kept it together. Constantly reinforcing it with more mana and aura as the fight went on.

He was ahead so far, but the real problem was the tiny mistake he inevitably made. They were so small that during a normal fight, nobody would be able to punish him for it. But against a creature this powerful, each mistake was amplified, and soon enough, he found himself mistepping by a couple of inches when his pivot foot slipped out of place.

This caused him to be right in the way of the monster’s tail, which clobbered him. He could feel his entire chest get crumpled like a tin can and found himself flying across the field. He used his kinetic energy to help slow himself down, but when he slammed into a rock, he still shattered his spine.

He didn’t even get time to groan in pain. Before he could stagger to his feet, the chimera was already on top of him. It snarled in his face as it tried to tear him apart. It was pretty apparent that the earlier damage he inflicted hadn’t been forgiven.

The chimera was holding quite a firm grudge and was doing its best to rip Julius into a dozen pieces. He would have teleported away, but the constantly brutal assault didn’t give him the chance. He didn’t have the skill channeled, and the onslaught was so overwhelming that he didn’t have the capacity to weave the complicated skill together.

His sole focus was on staying alive. He didn’t even care about staying in one piece, either. He was forced to sacrifice an arm and a leg just to gain some distance. He didn’t even bother to heal his limbs.

At this point, they were just wasting his mana. Instead, he created artificial limbs out of mana for the time being. They were basically what he made for his armor, anyway.

He kept on struggling to stay alive, though. Now that the momentum was on the chimera’s side, he was in real trouble. He tried everything he knew. However, it was so strong and fast that it barely mattered.

It was like he was facing a stupider and weaker version of Cain. There was nothing he could do but retreat and keep himself alive.

He was about to start taking drastic measures when he felt someone appear out of nowhere. They slammed into the chimera; the force of their blows was so intense that the beast was blasted ten feet into the dirt.

This finally gave Julius a second to breathe and heal.

He looked over at Isaac and gave the other boy a grateful nod. Isaac didn’t even bother looking at Julius. For the first time, Julius saw that Isaac wasn't laughing and had a somber look on his face.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

[User]
Write Chapter 536: Nothing But Ash
Target length: ~2100 words

[Assistant]
Julius watched as Isaac disappeared in a flash of white light. There was so much more energy coming off Isaac compared to before.

Had Isaac been holding back? Julius didn’t know, but regardless, he was grateful for the assist. The chimera was quickly becoming an extremely formidable opponent, and despite his pride screaming that he wanted to beat it on his own, he didn’t know if he would be able to.

Isaac slammed his meaty fists into the powerful Tier 4 monster. Each blow seemed to warp the air; that was how hard Isaac was punching the thing.

And just like Julius’s kinetic attacks, it would appear the beast didn’t do so great against blunt strikes. Something Isaac seemed to understand and began to pummel the chimera before it could get back onto its legs.

The chimera, which had been ignoring Isaac up to this point, now placed its full attention on the large teen and used its long tail to smash Isaac in the chest. Isaac was much better prepared and was able to weaken the blow with his arms. But this was enough space for the chimera to get back onto its feet.

When it did, Isaac backed away and looked at the beast with a calculating look.

“Do you have any spare mana?” Isaac asked Julius without bothering to turn around.

Julius flexed his newly healed arm. “Yeah, I got a good amount left,” he confirmed to Isaac.

“Do you mind giving me some? I am running kinda low, but I will be able to heal if you attack me with some mana,” Isaac quickly explained what he wanted.

Julius didn’t even question Isaac’s request. Instead, he nodded. “Okay.”

He didn’t wait for Isaac to give him the go-ahead and sent a concentrated burst of fire mana straight into Isaac’s back. He didn’t use his crown to convert any of it. He didn’t want to take the chance that Isaac wouldn’t be able to use it and instead just be even more injured.

To most Tier 3s, this burst of fire mana would have turned them to ash, even without his ruinous flames. However, Isaac stood there unmovingly as he absorbed the fire mana into his skin. The leftover injuries scattered across Isaac’s body were slowly healed back to normal.

Julius gave a quick inspection of how the skill worked and realized that it was very similar to how he siphoned kinetic energy. Rather than absorbing and processing it himself internally, Isaac was holding it and using this foreign mana to fuel some kind of healing skill.

It wasn’t life mana-based; Julius wasn’t able to sense anything like that, but perhaps it was light mana-based. Isaac could be converting the absorbed mana into light mana via a special technique or item that he then used to heal himself.

It was quite a powerful healing skill. It wasn’t as powerful as Julius’s, but the fact that it could heal as quickly as he did spoke volumes. It was also impressive how often he could use the skill. Julius would have thought that Isaac would be hitting his healing threshold.

Or perhaps it didn’t work like that for certain self-healing skills.

Julius didn’t have time to worry about this. He was much too focused on watching the chimera.

Several beams of light swarmed Isaac, and Julius used this opportunity to get in close. He had preemptively created several spikes and sent them flying toward the monster. The ruinous flames were easier to control than ever. The crown was really putting in work, giving him a lot of freedom.

However, as before, the chimera seemed to absorb a large portion of the attack. The rest was blocked by the new scales spread over its body. Julius grimaced when he saw his new, powerful attack so easily blocked, but thankfully, he was already prepared for that.

The spikes were just a distraction that obscured its vision, allowing him to get close. He appeared behind the chimera, and before it could realize where he was, he was already slamming his staff into the back of its head.

He used every ounce of kinetic energy, aura, and Force Concept he could infuse into one single strike. The force from the attack was so great that it blasted out the other end of the chimera’s throat. A hole the size of a watermelon appeared, and blood went everywhere.

The chimera reacted swiftly, though. A breath that contained some of the stolen ruinous flames crashed into his face. However, he only smiled and took it straight on. At the back of his mind, he could tell that his Ruinous Crown was getting irritated for some reason. He suspected the item didn’t enjoy seeing its flames absorbed so easily, or even being thrown back at it.

A dangerous sensation rippled from the crown.

The chimera was already swinging its claws and tail at Julius. However, he had already seen this attack more than enough times. He knew what to expect and let the claws glance off his shoulder, using his left arm to parry the leg, ensuring that he made contact with it so that he was able to absorb the maximum amount of kinetic energy from the monster.

Safe to say, it was a lot.

He accumulated so much kinetic energy that he had to waste some of it. The excess kinetic energy was blasted outward from him, destroying the ground. However, the energy he gathered condensed into a sphere at the tip of the staff. He then brought both of his hands up, holding his staff high, and cracked it against the chimera’s skull.

The creature’s head was sturdy, but with how much energy he delivered, it wasn’t enough. The skull shattered and created a mess inside the chimera’s brain. This wasn’t to kill the monster, though. Julius had learned enough about this chimera that he knew that its healing factor was too strong for that.

However, he wanted to daze it and damaging its brain seemed like a perfect way to do that. Fortunately, it worked, and the chimera staggered backward as it desperately healed the ruined flesh inside its skull while Julius used as much of his ruinous aura to prevent this process.

This was when Julius sensed Isaac make his move as well.

It felt like Isaac was carrying the weight of a mountain. Each step shook the field, and there was this overwhelming pressure coming from his body. It was pure physical power, too, that was the scary part.

No mana, no aura, just pure physical might. Julius was sure this had to be some kind of bloodline or special ability. There was no other way a Tier 3 could have this much physical strength without relying on mana or aura.

Half of the chimera’s face disappeared in a puff of red mist when Isaac hit the monster, and Julius was sent flying back from the shockwave that was released. He used some kinetic energy to absorb the force while looking at Isaac with an impressed look on his face.

That amount of power was on another level. Julius didn’t think he would be able to generate that much sheer force without some help or some time to prepare.

While this was happening, he was creating several more spikes over his shoulders. The crown, which seemed to have its pride prickled, was even more aggressive and willing to listen to Julius’s demands. Several spikes pulsing with ruinous flames were already being shot toward the injured chimera.

With its scales no longer in the way, he was hoping that the spikes would do much more damage. Fortunately, his hopes were answered. Without the scales or spikes in the way, his salvo was able to do some damage.

Even more parts of the chimera’s flesh were blown up. The regenerated flesh was destroyed once again, and this time the ruinous flames stalled its healing, which was probably the most helpful part.

Isaac was obviously worn out from that last attack; the large teen was heaving as he took massive gulps of air. However, he didn’t let up the pressure and was already slamming another fist into the chimera.

Each strike hammered the chimera deeper and deeper into the ground. Almost creating an earthen prison for the monster.

The chimera was flailing around in desperation. It was absolutely insane that it was still alive despite its head and most of the flesh of its upper body being obliterated. It was even more insane that it was healing as fast as it was under Isaac and Julius's attacks.

Julius chose to switch up his attacks, though. Instead of taking time to gather ruinous flames to create spikes, he just decided to throw the pure flames at the monster like a flamethrower.

To his shock, it felt as if a valve had been released and a limiter removed from the crown. A tidal wave of azure flames crashed into the chimera. The heat was on a totally different level than before.

It almost seemed that, without the constructs holding it back, it could express itself freely. The heat became overwhelming even to Julius. His flesh started to melt like candlewax, and he roared out as he pushed through the pain, continuing to dump all of the ruinous flames onto the chimera stuck in the pit.

They were so strong that Isaac was forced to retreat. The heat had already burned the guy’s arm off. But he didn’t seem upset about that. Instead, he looked at Julius with a wild grin on his face and laughed like a maniac.

Julius ignored the crazy guy and increased his efforts. He wanted to turn this immortal beast into a pile of burnt remains.

The crown was more than happy to help him. It was practically laughing like Isaac when Julius let go of the restraints he usually had on the crown. Julius let the thing do what it was made for.

To cause devastation and ruin.

His body was not only being burnt by the oppressive force, but also by the immense stress he was placing on his own body from the amount of mana he was forcing through his channels. When he felt himself slowing, he dug deep and began carving out pieces of his soul to fuel the technique.

He felt his soul cracking when he did this, but he didn’t care. At the moment, his mind was focused on one single thing. Destruction.

He poured every ounce of willpower into the deluge of flames. The chimera, which had been struggling wildly, was now slowing down.

He didn’t even care, though. He wouldn’t stop until the chimera was nothing but ash.

***

Isaac POV

Isaac gulped for air as he recovered. The last attack had really taken a lot out of him. It was one of his last-ditch techniques that utilized his very own life force. His aunt wouldn’t be happy to hear that he used it.

However, he wasn’t worried about that. Despite his missing arms, he stared with wide eyes at the young boy he had been with.

Julius Snow, huh?

The boy didn’t even look human anymore. His eyes were a scarlet red that glowed with the promise of death and destruction. He floated over the pit the chimera was trapped in, pouring an insane amount of fire mana into it.

The terrifying crown on the boy’s head was glowing so brightly that it was hard to look at. The heat radiating from the crown was enough to melt everything within its vicinity.

The chimera was unlucky enough to be the sole focus of this power.

It became a battle between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. However, no matter how much healing the chimera had, Isaac knew in his gut that it wouldn’t be enough. These flames that Julius was using were of a different quality than anything he had ever seen.

He always thought that he was the strongest Tier 3 on the continent. He had too many advantages. He had the Mana Siphon Physique and a powerful Bloodline that made use of this physique to the max, making for a powerful combination that was unstoppable for his tier.

However, for the first time in a long time, Isaac felt fear ripple through his body. He didn’t have any confidence in beating Julius, not as he watched the boy torch the insanely strong Tier 4 into oblivion.

If Isaac didn't know any better. It was like he had just watched the birth of the future Incarnation of Ruin.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

[User]
Write Chapter 537: Cake Time
Target length: ~2100 words
Key events: level-up occurs

[Assistant]
Julius collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. Every single piece of his body felt like it was coming apart. He was covered in so many burns that he more closely resembled a piece of barbequed meat than a human being. Speaking of meat, he was starving.

He would take out some food from his storage ring or his lunch box, but at the moment, he wasn’t even able to move his fingers. He was forced to lie on the ground for the time being, desperately trying not to throw up.

He didn’t know for sure that the chimera was dead. But he felt the last core of the monster melt under the wave of flames, so if it was still alive, Julius was more than okay with conceding this battle to it.

He let out a sound that was a mix between a groan and a sigh as his body slowly healed the damage. Part of the issue of healing himself was the ruinous flames he used. While they were really good at interfering with the chimera’s own healing, it was that very same ability that prevented him from healing like normal.

Still, he was thankful he had been able to stymie the monster's regeneration. If he hadn’t been able to do that, he didn’t know if he would have been able to overcome it.

Now he knew what it felt like to be fighting someone. Opponents who could self-heal were a pain in the ass. He didn’t want to deal with another half-immortal monster for a long time.

Speaking of self-healing monsters, he glanced to the side as Isaac stumbled over to him. The other teen had an excited grin on his face, one much too bright for the tired Julius.

“That was crazy. Are you sure you killed it?” Isaac asked, looking over at the crater of melted stone and flesh.

Julius shrugged. “I don’t know. If it’s not dead, then it can kill me. I am too tired to fight anymore.”

Isaac tilted his head and laughed. “Don’t worry. If it is still alive, I will grab you and run away.”

“I didn’t really take you for a person who runs away,” Julius commented as he lay on the ground.

“Eh, my aunt always told me that as long as I tried my best, there is no shame in running and trying again,” Isaac said.

“Hmm. Well, I appreciate the offer. Although I don’t know how retreating will work with the barrier still up,” Julius said with a sigh.

“Oh, it’s coming down now. I think the chimera was an integral part of the barrier. Whoever caused all of this probably used it as a connectional nexus that interlinked the barrier to its own existence. And the condition for it to disappear was probably fulfilled with its death,” Isaac explained.

Julius stared blankly at the musclehead who just said a bunch of words that he barely understood.

“Hmm.” That was all he said, and he looked over at the barrier that was indeed coming down.

His brain was already half melted, so he didn’t think too hard about it and instead pulled out a sandwich from his lunch box, making sure that he dusted off his ashy fingers.

He missed his mouth a couple of times, but eventually managed to jam a corner into his mouth. The relief from the food was magical. The life mana infusing into his body also soothed his weary soul.

Drasil suddenly appeared on his shoulder, and without a word, Julius handed his little helper the payment. Drasil cooed a quick thank you and proceeded to munch on it right beside Julius as he placed his tiny hand on Julius’s face, still healing him.

He was finally feeling a little better. The headache that had been jackhammering his skull was slowly dying down, and he was finally able to wiggle his toes as his legs healed.

However, his relief couldn’t last forever. Because Isaac plopped down next to him, drinking some kind of potion.

“Hey, do you wanna spar?”

Julius slowly looked at Isaac with a flat look and back at the carnage behind them.

“I mean, like after you eat,” Isaac said with a placating gesture.

Julius didn’t have the energy to explain to Isaac that that wasn’t the issue and instead decided to ignore the musclehead teen.

***

Julius felt another headache while Isaac kept on inviting him to spar. The guy wouldn’t stop talking either, and Julius was forced to shove small constructs into his ear to block out the sound.

While he ignored Isaac, he looked at the flood notifications he felt during the battle, as well as at the end.

[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 22 -> lvl 24]

[Sage of Savagery lvl 25 -> lvl 26]

[Phoenix Renewal lvl 17 -> lvl 19]

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 21 -> lvl 22]

[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 20 -> lvl 22]

[Void Step lvl 11 -> lvl 12]

[Void Strike lvl 8 -> lvl 9]

[Spirit Fortification lvl 9 -> lvl 13]

[Kinetic Energy Refinement lvl 19 -> lvl 20]

He grinned widely at the long list of notifications of level-ups he received. It was insane and by far the most significant increase in levels he had ever received. One would argue that his early days were larger, but with the higher-ranked skills and the larger number of skills, he would say this would take the cake.

Speaking of cake. He deserved some cake, so he pulled out a box from his storage ring. Thanks to its numerous enchantments, it had reappeared on his finger with a simple thought. He rubbed his hands together with happiness. He had been saving this cake for a long time. It was from that same shop he and Reinera loved, and he needed to remind himself to go back to Heston to stock up on some more. He could also visit Declan and Rae. Maybe even see Dante if he was still around.

It seemed like all his skills had leveled up. Some of them more than others. The standout ones were [Armaments of the Arcane], [Phoenix Renewal], [Inexorable Aura of Ruin], and [Spirit Fortification]. They each gained two whole levels, which was ludicrous given how far along Epic ranked them.

For good reason, too, they were probably the four skills that were the reason for his victory. Without them, he would not have survived. That was how strong the chimera had been. It was undoubtedly the strongest Tier 4 he had ever faced.

[Spirit Fortification] even managed to gain four levels. A very welcome improvement. He could already feel the impact the extra skill levels had made at the end of the battle.

He also finally got the final level of [Kinetic Energy Refinement]. It was a little surprising that it took this long, but then again, he had only just gotten it, and Cain was still working with him on the skill.

He wouldn’t be allowed to evolve the skill until Cain said he was ready. It was sad, but he would reluctantly trust the man for the time being. It wasn’t like Cain was one of the best kinetic users on the continent or anything.

These weren’t the only notifications, either. He had another one waiting for him to look at.

Would you like to learn the skill [Flames of Blight]?

Julius frowned when he read the notification. He wasn’t expecting that kind of skill to be offered. He thought that if anything, he would be offered a skill for that last attack. However, the skill sounded a little different from what he had done.

Blight was different from ruin, at least in his mind. So he was confused why such a skill was being offered. He chewed on his lip while he thought to himself for a few minutes.

He only stopped when Drasil gave him a stiff poke in the face, pointing out that the cake was still uneaten.

Julius gave his familiar a grateful nod and opened the box that held the holy treasure. The cake looked as fantastic as the last time he ate it.

He was about to cut himself a nice big slice when he felt the world around him warp. He didn’t even think and simply reacted. It was like instinct as he frantically grabbed the cake and held it close, shielding it with five different barriers.

Then, before he could curse at his shit luck, he was teleported away.

***

He landed on the hard ground and hurriedly made sure that his cake was alright. Once he did, he let out a sigh of relief. With that being said, he found himself standing in the middle of a very white room with all of the other competitors, who must have been safe once they exited the barrier.

However, that wasn’t what worried him. No, he was more concerned about the dozens of armed individuals surrounding them. The only thing that put him somewhat at ease was that these people appeared to be wearing uniforms that identified them as part of the Empire.

They were all Tier 4 at the very least. A few of them were clearly stronger than that. He saw a group of six of them standing at the front of the room. A young man was at the helm of this group. He looked very familiar and had some of the most beautiful white hair he had seen.

Julius did a double-take because a somewhat older man was standing behind this young man, wearing plain clothes. He did a double-take because his spatial skills had almost completely overlooked this man.

Julius had only looked for the briefest of moments, but the man must have sensed something, and his head snapped to Julius’s. There was a sharp, inquisitive glare for a little bit, but then Julius saw a flash of realization dance across his face, and the older man relaxed before ignoring Julius once again.

“What is going on?” A young man who Julius recognized from the realm asked loudly.

“Yeah, what is going on here? What in the nine hells had happened in there? I thought it was supposed to be a safe and secure realm?” Another girl shouted out in protest.

More voices started to pop up. However, Julius drowned out these voices and did his best to find his friends. Luckily, the room wasn’t that large, and he found them quickly. He maneuvered his way to them and was relieved when he saw that they were okay.

They spotted him, and he could see similar relief in their eyes as they closed the distance to him. Aubrey was the first to give him a hug, followed by Edgar and Derek.

He was about to ask Derek questions about what had happened after they had crossed the barrier when the young man with white hair spoke out, his voice booming loudly throughout the room. His powerful Tier 5 aura flooded the area as well. It wasn’t oppressive, but it was authoritative and quickly silenced everyone.

“I know you all have a lot of questions. I assure you that they will be answered in due time. However, before we do that, we need to get some answers of our own and make sure that there are no more threats to you all. To do that, we need your cooperation. We will be having some of our best healers go around to heal those of you who are injured and to make sure there are no hidden injuries. Please bear with it for now. I promise you that we will get everything situated.”

Julius bumped Derek lightly with his shoulder. “Who is that?”

Derek, who had a slight frown on his face, looked over at Julius.

“That’s Jaxson Luminous, the Crown Prince of the Luminous Empire,” Derek informed him.

“Ah,” Julius said and nodded slowly.

So this was Reinera’s brother. It was no wonder he looked familiar; he should have connected the similar hair colors himself.

Julius was curious about the reason why the Crown Prince was here. He was also much more interested in knowing why they had been transported here instead of the arena from which they had entered the realm.

What had happened inside the realm? And how big a deal was it?

Julius sighed to himself—so many questions and not enough answers.

On the bright side, he could finally have some time to enjoy his cake.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

[User]
Write Chapter 538: Aftermath
Target length: ~2100 words

[Assistant]
The incident turned out to be a major issue. Not only were there a lot of Empire soldiers around, but there were many other organizations, noble houses, and other groups all aggressively asking what had happened.

For the time being, the Empire was being relatively quiet about it. Julius suspected they wanted to keep most of the information to themselves before they issued a report on what happened.

However, it was bound that people inside the realm would report back to their families or groups.

In the meantime, Julius and his friends found themselves getting “healed” by the Empire’s healers. Julius didn’t think they were actually too concerned with healing.

Well… perhaps that was a bit unfair.

However, it might have been more accurate to say that wasn’t their entire motive. He said this because the healers, along with some others, were doing a rather intrusive delve into his body and soul. Or they tried to.

He didn’t let them get very far. He had learned enough about that kind of stuff that he could protect himself, or at the very least, limit the information they got. Instead of examining his body, they seemed concerned with his soul, and he wasn’t comfortable with how touchy they were getting.

It was as if they were interested in whatever they had sensed during their cursory scans. He didn’t know what it was, but he started to think about how he would get out of this and looked at the exits of the room.

He kept slapping their probes away. He brushed them off, telling them that he was fine and that he had already healed himself. However, they didn’t listen to him and insisted on taking a closer look.

He spotted the man off to the side, sent some kind of signal to someone, and narrowed his eyes. It would appear that he was beginning to attract some suspicion. He didn’t want that, but he also didn’t want them to take a closer look either.

He had a lot of secrets in his soul and didn’t want any of them poking around any further than they already had. Unfortunately, it would appear that they wanted some answers, and he spotted one of the Tier 5s walk over to him and his friends.

Speaking of his friends. They were scanned as he had been, but the people must not have found anything out of the ordinary, and let them be. Now Derek, Aubrey, and Edgar were all looking with furrowed brows when they saw how much attention Julius was getting.

The Tier 5 woman stopped in front of Julius, and he felt her use her senses to probe him. She appeared young, but there was a mature air about her. Her dark brown hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head, and her uniform was perfectly ironed.

And while she looked mature, he saw that there were small creases around her eyes and the corners of her mouth, as if she smiled a lot. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like she was in a smiling mood at the moment. She walked up to him and gave him a flat stare before looking at her personnel.

“What seems to be the problem here?” She asked them.

“He is refusing to allow us to examine him,” one of the healers said to her.

“Refusing? You are a Tier 4, and he is a Tier 3; just ignore his defenses and get it over with. There is a lot of stuff we need to do, and we can’t afford to waste time,” she said with a cold stare at the healer.

The healer shuffled their feet. “I’m sorry, Lady Anna, but I can’t.”

“Can’t?” She said slowly, but Julius could feel some of her impatience starting to show.

The healer wilted and glanced at Julius. “His willpower is really strong. He won’t let me in.”

Lady Anna, the Tier 5, finally turned her attention to him. “Why are you resisting?”

He kept a neutral expression on his face and responded as politely as he could. “I don’t feel comfortable with someone rummaging in my soul. I am fine, and I don’t need any healing. If this is for our benefit, like we were told, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lady Anna stayed silent for a few brief moments and looked over at his friends for a little bit before turning back to him. “It seems you have already somewhat understood the situation. You are correct. We are not just looking to heal people. We are trying to figure out whether someone amongst you or your fellow competitors has been involved, either intentionally or accidentally, in the sabotage the Empire has just experienced. Since you don’t want to be investigated and have continuously rebuked the probes, that means you are also a suspicious individual.”

“Lady Anna, I can assure you that Julius had nothing to do with what happened inside the realm. If anything, he is the reason why we were able to get out safely. He and Riven Briarwood held open a small hole in the barrier for the rest of us to escape,” Derek said to the woman firmly.

Lady Anna slowly turned to Derek. “I understand your loyalty to your friends, Young Zenith, but this is official Empire business as much as I would like to take your word. I need to do my due diligence.”

Derek clearly wanted to argue, but in the face of her fair response, he wasn’t able to. Julius didn’t see much of a problem with her either. He understood where she was coming from. After all, she was just trying to do her job.

She returned her attention to Julius. “Now, it is evident that you are hesitant to show us your soul and aura, but that is an issue. Would you be willing to come with me so that we can discuss this in private in case anything sensitive comes out?”

He didn’t find that all unreasonable. The only worry he had was whether or not her intentions were in his best interest. Being out in public gave him a certain level of security.

His thoughts must have shown on his face because she nodded at him. “If you want to bring your friends with you, I will not have any problems with that. In fact, it would be more efficient to get a better picture of what happened. Plus, you can be more comfortable since Young Zenith will be with you,” she added.

“You’re saying that you won’t try anything because you are scared of offending Derek’s family?” Julius half-joked.

She didn’t hesitate and nodded. “Everyone is scared of offending House Zenith. Duke Zenith is not a man you want to make enemies of. If the Empire hurts his precious grandson, there will be blood to pay. Nobody wants that.”

He wasn’t expecting her to answer so straightforwardly. He looked at his friends to see if they had any objections or things to say, but they were looking at him to see what he would decide.

He sighed and nodded at Lady Anna. “Okay, lead the way. Let’s make sure you know I am not some mind-controlled spy sent from an enemy country.”

She didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, that would be wonderful. However, if you were an agent sent from an enemy group, then I would have to rip off your limbs and beat you with them. It wouldn’t matter if you were friends with Young Zenith or not,” she said in a way too joyful tone that it was scary.

It was also clear that she was joking, but the viciousness of it surprised him.

***

She took them down a hall and past another dozen or so guards surrounding the room. It was chaos, and he saw many representatives from various groups all trying to get past the barrier the Empire had set up.

Anna had already created some kind of field around them. He suspected it was some kind of stealth skill that hid their presence, judging by how it bent the light around them.

Eventually, they entered a small private room where a bunch of nice furniture was laid out. It looked like someone’s office or something.

She removed her jacket, placing it on the back of her chair, and sat down with a tired sag of her shoulders.

“So I have heard you are involved with the conclave. Is that correct?” she asked him accusingly, staring deep into his eyes.

He looked right back at her, not breaking eye contact. How'd she know that? Not many people knew that sort of information. He walked over and pulled out a seat for Aubrey to sit down before sitting down next to her.

“Yes, I am,” he said simply, deciding it was better to be honest at least for now.

“In what capacity?”

“I had a few run-ins with them.”

“I need more than that.”

“I am not friends with them if that is what you are worried about. In fact, they have tried to kill me in the past. But if you want more information, you are not getting that. At least not for free,” he said with a calm expression.

He felt something very subtle ping from her side of the table. It was so minor that he would attribute it to some kind of standard mana pulse from various enchantments.

However, his mind was still wired to the max since his fight wasn’t too long ago. It was like every one of his senses was in overdrive.

“What was that?” He asked her, not bothering to hide that he felt something. If he was going to be straightforward with her, he wanted her to be straightforward with him.

She showed a hint of surprise for the first time, but hid it well. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Is it some kind of device that detects whether or not I am telling the truth?” He guessed blindly.

She narrowed her eyes at him and slowly nodded. “Yeah. I am surprised you sensed that. Your profile did say you had very acute senses, but it’s made to be very discreet.”

He shrugged, glad that she was being honest so far, and so he reciprocated that a little bit. “I got lucky, and I am a little paranoid after my recent fight.”

She nodded. “Yes, that is what I wanted to ask you about. From what I have gathered, you and Isaac Draven were alone inside the barrier, fighting the chimera. Is that accurate?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that’s about the gist of it.”

“Can you give me a memory shard of the fight?” She asked him.

He didn’t know what a memory shard was, but he didn’t like the sound of it and shook his head. “No, I would rather not.”

“Did you see who was responsible for it?” She asked him, not surprised by his reluctance, and changed the topic.

He shook his head. “No, I got a notification about some interference, but that was about it.”

“You don’t have any clues or suspicions on who it might be?”

“Not really,” he said with a slight frown, but noticed that the device she was using to test whether he was being truthful or not gave a different signal than other times he had responded.

“Who do you suspect?” She asked, leaning forward.

He sighed and leaned his chin on the table. “At first, I suspected Garrett, but from his reaction, he seemed very shocked and scared at the events unfolding. He is either a magnificent actor, or he genuinely didn’t know.”

“You suspect that Garrett Greyson is allied with the Conclave?”

“Suspected, and I’m curious why you don’t think so. If you gathered information about me, you surely would have known that House Greyson has been dabbling with the Conclave,” Julius said, not being fooled by her playing dumb.

There was a reason why she had mentioned the Conclave so early. It was likely that she already knew about the conflict between him and them, but simply wanted confirmation.

She smiled but didn’t confirm or deny the connection. “So who do you think it was?”

Julius stared at her with a serious look of his own. “I noticed that I did not see Casey Vale exit the trial with us.”

He looked at her, trying to see if he got a reaction. And he did.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

[User]
Write Chapter 539: Time Together
Target length: ~2100 words

[Assistant]
He noticed straight away that mentioning her name didn’t seem to shock Anna; if anything, she seemed like she expected something like that to come out of his mouth.

“You think it might be her as well,” he noted and leaned back.

Anna shrugged. “Maybe. We don’t know enough information yet.”

Derek hummed from beside Julius. “It would make sense. Of all the people, she might have a connection to the Conclave and is a relatively new and unknown person.”

“You too?” Julius asked his friend.

Derek shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, but she is definitely suspicious.”

Julius was about to say something to Anna, but the door suddenly opened and one of the other Tier 5s who had been next to Anna previously walked into the room. The man, wearing the same uniform as Anna, looked at his colleague.

“You are needed elsewhere, Anna,” the man said without so much as glancing at Julius or his friends.

“I am busy here, Franklin. Tell them they can either wait or have someone else handle it,” she said, waving at him to leave.

“It wasn’t a request, Anna. It was an order directly from the Royal Family," Franklin said calmly.

Anna shifted her jaw and took a slow, deep breath. “Fine,” she said while getting up and grabbing her jacket.

“Please remain here for the time being. I wish to talk with you before I let you go,” she said to him.

Julius shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t stay around. I need to do some stuff.”

She laughed at him and smiled, as if amused. “I wasn’t exactly asking. I can’t let you leave until I question you a little more.”

“So I’m a prisoner?” He asked with a frown.

“Hey, don’t forget we are here with you,” Aubrey pointed out.

He looked at her and nodded. “So we are all prisoners?” He amended.

She chuckled. “Don’t be so dramatic. There is a lot of room for you to relax and recover. Your mana channels are clearly strained; you could use some rest. Plus, there are nice snacks in that cabinet over there,” she said, pointing at the large wood cabinet off to the side. “You are more than welcome to help yourselves. I promise I won’t be long.”

Before he could argue again, she was already striding out of the room with the other man following behind her. The door slammed shut, and Julius heard Aubrey grunt unhappily.

“This wasn’t how I was expecting the second stage to go,” she said with a pout.

“Are you surprised? I learned that anything that Julius is a part of usually ends up in shambles,” Edgar noted with a grin.

“That’s not very nice,” Julius said and slouched into his chair.

Derek, on the other hand, was already going over to the cabinet where Anna had said there was some food. He grabbed a selection of snacks and handed them all something. Julius took the food gratefully.

It wasn’t cake, but it was something at least.

They all went over to the couch and collapsed into the soft cushions. He moaned at the softness of the sofa, feeling it envelop his body like a warm hug. He looked at the couch greedily. He wondered if they would mind if he stole the couch before he left.

He was interrupted in his relaxation when Aubrey’s feet whacked him in the chest. He pushed them away. “Get those smelly things out of here.”

“They aren’t smelly,” she said defensively.

“Oh yeah? When’s the last time you took a shower?” He pointed out.

“I took a bath, remember,” she said with a proud smile.

He lifted a finger and put it down. She was right, she had taken a bath. He didn’t know if that counted, but it was technically accurate.

She wiggled them in his face, and before he could snap at them like he was Seraphyne, the door opened.

“Oh, that was quick—” Julius said, trailing off as he looked over at the door. His mouth stayed open when he saw who was there.

Her gorgeous white hair was as it had always been. However, just like he had noticed the other time he had seen her, there was something different about her. He couldn’t put his finger on what that exactly was, though.

Regardless, he didn’t know what to do, so he just waved awkwardly at Reinera.

“Hey,” he said lamely and offered the food in his hand to her. “You want to join us for some snacks?”

Her face, which had her usual princess look on it, shook by the smallest of margins. However, that was all it took for it to come crumbling down. The bright smile he had come to know slowly appeared on her face, and she walked over to him. To his surprise, she actually took his food and bit into it.

He stood there in shock. He hadn’t actually thought she would accept his offer. He also wanted to eat that, and somewhat regretted offering it to her. He had forgotten that she was as much a glutton as Drasil.

When she passed it back to him, all that was left was a small nibble, not even enough for him to have one full bite.

“I see your appetite hasn’t changed,” he commented.

“You are the one who offered it to me,” she said with a light smile, and looked over at where the others were looking at their interaction.

“Hey,” she said with a shy wave.

Aubrey was the first to come over and wrap Reinera in a tight hug, dragging her over to the couch and having her sit down next to them all.

“I was wondering if we would get to see you. Has your family been keeping you away from us?” Aubrey asked.

Reinera folded her hands in her lap and shook her head. “No, they actually support my relationship with you guys. Even my more stubborn family members don’t have many objections. It doesn’t hurt that you all have quite impressive backgrounds.”

“Me?” Julius and Edgar asked at the same time.

Reinera laughed. “Yes, even you two. With how close you are with Lily, Aubrey, and Derek, people have already grouped you with them.”

“Oh,” Edgar said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Wait a minute, why are you here?” Julius asked, finally realizing that her appearance was odd.

“I heard there was something wrong with the second stage. Then I heard that Anna was questioning you, so I came down here to see what was going on.”

“Were you the one who asked Anna to leave?” Derek asked.

Reinera wore a smug smile. “Maybe.”

“So what now?” Julius asked, amused, shaking his head.

“Well, technically, I am supposed to get some answers, but we can catch up a little bit before we get into the serious stuff,” she said with a smile. “So how have you guys been? It feels like forever since I have seen you guys.”

“Oh, you know, the usual. We almost got killed a few times and whatnot, so pretty typical,” Aubrey said with a shrug.

“What?” Reinera asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, but I blame Julius. I think fate wants him dead or something, and we are just along for the ride.”

“That isn’t true,” Julius said with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh yeah? Then what about the Endless Forest?”

“They weren’t even after me,” he pointed out.

She was about to argue, but realized that it was true and backed down. “Okay, fair. But you have to admit that you are a magnet for trouble.”

He couldn’t even say anything against that either. It was true.

Reinera looked confused but interrupted their little back-and-forth. “Okay, can you guys tell me what happened? I wouldn’t normally rush you guys, but it seems that the monster you guys were attacked by wasn’t the only incident in the realm.”

“What other problems were there?”

“The array that maintains the realm is damaged. This means that we won’t be able to use the realm like normal for at least a couple of years, depending on the extent of the damage. We are still evaluating how bad it is,” she explained.

“What is so bad about that? Doesn’t that just mean you won’t be able to use the realm for the tournament and such?” Julius asked with a frown.

“Not only that, but there are some unique features and benefits we receive from the realm. Without access, we will be hindered for the next couple of years. Whoever did this has been planning this for a long time. They managed to infiltrate our defenses and sneak their way in,” Reinera added.

“And what? You guys think it's the Conclave?” He asked.

“Maybe, but we think some other countries or organizations are involved as well.”

“That sucks,” he said while biting his lower lip. The Conclave was already a big pain. He really didn’t want to deal with even more interested parties.

Speaking of the Conclave, he still hadn’t heard from Edwin yet. He had been supposed to contact House Violet or House Zenith, but there hasn’t been any word as of yet. Julius was worried something might have happened.

“No offense, but I don’t know how much of a help I will be. I fought the chimera, but honestly, I don’t have much valuable information. And to be honest, I don’t really want to leave your family with a memory of the fight. I really don’t need them having all of that sensitive information,” he said to her.

She waved his concerns away. “Don’t worry about that. You shouldn’t have to divulge any information about your skills. I will make sure that you don’t have to. But can you tell me about what the monster was like at the very least? Like what kind of skills it used and the overall strength of it?”

He didn’t see a problem with that. He wasn’t the only person who saw the chimera, but maybe what he knew might help them figure out who was behind all of this, and so he told her mostly everything.

When he was finished, she looked at him with a look of disbelief. “You still somehow can surprise me,” she said with a chuckle.

“What?” He asked in confusion.

“A powerful Tier 4 with regenerative capabilities? Sounds like an absolute nightmare to deal with. And you took care of it yourself?”

“Well, Isaac was there,” he added.

“God, I almost forgot how monstrously strong you are,” she said with a grin.

“You’re one to talk. It seems like you have already advanced to Tier 4,” he said to her with a shake of his head.

Her eyes widened. “ You can tell? How did you know?” She asked in surprise.

“I didn’t, but now I do,” he said with a shit eating grin. He hadn’t been a hundred percent certain, but there were too many weird signs from her aura. At first, he was nervous that she was an imposter, but the closer he inspected her aura and body, he realized that something had changed within her.

Something powerful and dangerous was brimming just underneath the surface.

“You already advanced to Tier 4?” Aubrey asked in astonishment.

Reinera turned and nodded at Aubrey. “Yeah, when I arrived back at the Capital, my family sensed that I was ready to awaken my bloodline and forced me to advance. I wear a shroud that hides it, but as you showed, it doesn’t always work.”

“I wonder if this means you can finally beat me,” Julius said with a challenging grin.

He saw her eyes shimmer with amusement. “Oh, trust me, I got very strong. I don’t know if you and all your broken skills can beat me with all the advantages I have now.”

He tilted his head. “Advantages?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, my bloodline gave me quite a powerful boost when I advanced to Tier 4.”

Julius felt his heart race a little bit when he saw how confident she looked. Perhaps, they would have to spar a little bit in the near future. He wanted to know if she could back up her words.

However, that was an idea for later. For now, he would just enjoy their time together and worry about that stuff another day.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

Also, just a reminder that there is now a Discord Server available for those who wanted it :)