Path to Transcendence

Julius felt a little bit awkward. After their intense fight, or rather his intense beat down, he was now standing next to the guy like nothing had happened.

Julius learned that the guy's name was Dustin and he was only there because of a favor for his friend.

Julius guessed that beating down a young boy grew a conscious in a person, which was the reason why Dustin was helping him now.

Although, Julius was surprised that Dustin killed the people who had tried to come investigate. Unlike the fight they had, Dustin killed those people with zero hesitation. One moment they were coming to check on things and the next they were empty bags of flesh.

Such a massive difference from how he treated Julius. Just that one thing made Julius trust Dustin just a little bit more.

He placed his attention back to the cell when he heard a hiss as the door to Reinera's cell opened. Inside wasn't as bad as he thought it was. It was in all honesty a clean and plain room.

Oh look, there was even a pretty nice bed inside for her, he sighed gratefully.

As he was distracted by the room, the moment he entered he was taken by complete surprise as a blinding white spear of light smashed into his face.

It sent him flying back several feet, his face a scorched mess.

That was a lot more weight behind those beams of light than I expected, he thought to himself as he lay on the ground.

His mana was already regenerating so he was able to heal himself pretty quickly, but it was still a shock.

Here he had come, ready to rescue the princess in distress, maybe even take her away in his arms. Yet, instead of that, he got a blast of light to the face.

***

Reinera POV

From inside her cell, all she heard were loud blasts and rumbling, indicative of a battle going on outside.

A small piece of her hoped that it was Amelia here to rescue her, but she knew that was very unlikely.

Julius on the other hand was most likely. However, with that Tier 4 lurking around, she was really hoping that wasn't the case.

No matter how strong he was, he wouldn't be able to take down a Tier 4. Certainly not a Tier 4 as strong as that man seemed. Perhaps if the man was a weak Tier 4 he might have a chance, but even that was just blissful thinking.

That was why she was preparing for the worst. The moment the door opened, she would come out swinging. It didn't matter if the man was a Tier 4, she would throw everything she had into her attack.

So when the sounds of fighting stopped abruptly, she got up and readied herself. The second the door opened, she released the attack with a grunt of effort. There wasn't any light for her to use within the cell, but she had plenty of mana within her core.

However, she was shocked when the person who opened the door wasn't an enemy, it was Julius. Furthermore, she had already let go of her attack and could only watch in horror as she blasted her friend in the face.

She immediately ran over to him as he lay motionless on his back. Worry and guilt washed over her.

Thankfully, by the time she had kneeled next to him, he was already in the process of healing. Which was a big relief. Still, her attack had really done a lot of damage to his face. It was like someone had stuffed his face into a pile of coals.

Thank goodness he has his healing skill, she thought inwardly.

"I am so sorry, Julius! Are you okay?!"

He groaned out. "You're welcome for saving you."

"I didn't mean to, I promise! I thought it was the guy from earlier," she tried to frantically explain her actions.

"Oh? So that was for me?" She heard from behind her.

She whipped around and saw the Tier 4 man from earlier. He didn't have a mask on anymore, but she could recognize his voice and aura immediately.

"What are you doing here?" She asked slowly.

"I am the one who opened the door," he said plainly before turning toward her downed friend. "Are you sure this is your friend? I can always put her back if you want."

Reinera went on full alert and jumped up to her feet, putting her fists up, preparing to fight. There was no way she was going back in there.

She felt Julius reach out and grab her by her clothes. "Don't worry, he's just joking. He's on our side now," he assured her as he sat up with a dramatic wince.

She gave her former imprisoner a doubtful look. "Why would you change your mind all of a sudden?"

She saw the man get a faraway look in his eyes. "That's a good question. I'm still trying to figure that out for myself."

She bit her lip. She didn't have anything to say to that and turned back to Julius with a confused look. "Can you explain to me what is going on?" She had no idea what was happening. Why was the person who kidnapped her now helping her and why was Julius here?

Were the two of them fighting earlier? Was that what the noise was?

"We will have to explain as we go, we don't have a lot of time. We need to free these people and get them to that old man you were talking about," the man said to Julius.

What old man? She thought to herself, confused at the whole situation.

***

Julius POV

It was surprisingly easy to let all of the other children out. It was also important to note that not everyone who was helped within these cells was a child of nobles. Some of them, according to Dustin actually deserved to be here.

Julius didn't know what he meant by that, but apparently some of the people in the cells weren't the best kind of sort.

Which was the reason why Dustin insisted they stay in those cells and not take them with them.

Julius didn't have time to investigate these people on his own, so he had to trust Dustin on it. He deserved that much trust since he was helping him and had spared Julius's life.

While letting the noble-born children out of their cells was easy, convincing them to listen to them was much more difficult. After much arguing and attempted reassurances, Dustin just decided to press them with his authority and threaten them.

Julius didn't know if that was exactly the nicest way to go about it, but he couldn't deny its effectiveness. The children all immediately became much more compliant.

Even the more obstinate ones become much more agreeable. If it wasn't for the fact that they were still children, Julius would have been tempted to leave them to their fates.

Well not really, but some of them were real brats. Plus, he didn't necessarily care about them. He got his friend, and that was all that really mattered to him.

If he could save some innocent children while he was at it, then he would, but if they made it difficult for him to save his friend, then he would prioritize his friend.

Well, maybe not the little ones, he corrected himself as he looked at the small children who were looking quite scared and adorable.

***

Somehow they were able to sneak all of the dozen or so children out of the complex without much issue. Dustin had taken care of the rest of the criminals, but thankfully there weren't any more surprises.

The most worrying thing was the small children. There were a couple around six or eight years old who didn't quite understand the gravity of their situation.

But luckily for them, they were happy to just follow the group. Julius even created little platform constructs which he used to transport the younger ones since they had tiny legs and hastened their travel. It also worked as a good way to distract them.

When they arrived at the orphanage, he wasn't surprised to see Elder Han already out in front.

"What is this?" The old man asked bluntly.

"These are the other children who were kidnapped," Julius said simply as if that explained everything.

Funnily enough, it seemed like it was. Elder Han just let out a defeated sigh and nodded like it was expected. Then he gave a curious look at Dustin who was trailing toward the back, making sure there wasn't anybody following or noticing them.

"And him?"

"He's a person trying to turn over a new leaf," Julius said after some thought.

"And you trust him?" Elder Han asked him seriously.

Julius paused again. "He could have killed me. I was out of mana and completely done for, yet he spared me. I would like to think that allows him some leeway. Which by the way, you were wrong. There weren't just shitty Tier 3s there."

"You fought him?" Elder Han asked surprised.

"Yeah, kind of got my ass handed to me," Julius admitted.

"Well, that's what happens when a Tier 2 tries to fight a Tier 4. You should be grateful that you even were able to put up a fight," Elder Han scolded him.

Julius shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't exactly have a choice in that matter."

"You never considered just surrendering?" Elder Han said with a scoff.

Julius opened his mouth but nothing came out.

Huh, I didn't even consider that. What does that say about me? He thought worryingly.

"You actually didn't. Gods, you are really something. No wonder you got as strong as you did. I guess, not having a brain can be a blessing at times," the old man scathingly said.

"Okay, okay. I get it. No need to get all grumpy on me. You might give yourself a heart attack," Julius tried to calm him down.

The old man wagged his wrinkly finger at Julius. "Watch it. I might be old, but I can still give you a lesson," he said before pausing for a second. "On second thought, if I do, you will probably just enjoy it, you masochist."

"Haha," Julius dryly laughed. "So are you going to help these children or not?"

"You think you can just drop a bunch of spoiled noble brats at my doorstep and expect me to help you out?" Elder Han said with an offended expression.

"Yep," Julius nodded his head confidently.

Elder Han didn't even bother to respond. He just turned around and walked back toward the orphanage.

When nobody made any moves to follow him, he turned around. "I don't got all night. Are you guys coming in or not?"

Julius didn't even bother trying to hide the smile that made across his face.

Elder Han may have been grumpy, cynical, wrinkly, and old, but he knew that the old man still had some empathy left in him.