Ryn
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Chapter 269
🕑 Added 2025-01-30 19:00:04 +0000 UTCJulius didn’t let the man make the first move.
He had already experienced what that was like and did not want that to happen again. That was why he blitzed toward the Tier 5 with nothing held back.
There was no hiding his skills or conserving his mana. He went all out from the very start. Huge spikes that more closely resembled a spear the size of a tree trunk soared toward the man.
The Tier 5 didn’t flinch as the missiles struck him. The man used some sort of green defensive skill to block the constructs. The resulting explosion created a massive crater in front of the man.
As the smoke billowed out, Julius closed the distance, charging as much mana and aura into his fist as he possibly could.
It didn’t matter that his ruinous aura was damaging his own body, he was more concerned about whether or not it would be enough to even scratch the man.
He swiftly found out that he was still too arrogant.
Instead of worrying about injuring the man, he should have been more concerned about getting close enough to even hit him.
Just as Julius got within several feet, he felt the man’s Domain collapse onto him like a tidal wave of pure power.
He had felt people’s Domain’s before. He had experienced Richard’s on many occasions, which was why he felt prepared to face this man’s Domain.
How wrong he was. Why did he ever think that overcoming a Tier 5's Domain would be easy or even possible for a Tier 3 like him? It was hubris to the extreme.
It didn’t matter how strong or resolved his aura or willpower were. It didn’t matter if his Emblem was already powered by four strong Concepts.
In the face of a fully powered Domain, he wasn’t even allowed an inch to move as he was held in place by pure mana. Somehow the man was able to use just simple mana to surround his body and immobilize it.
There was no need for any fancy skills, it was just a demonstration of how the man was able to use an extraordinary amount of mana to suffocate him.
All of his mana was wiped away and dismantled like kicking down a child's sandcastle. It was humbling and terrifying at the same time.
The Tier 5 casually closed the short distance and gave Julius’s body a quick examination. Going so far as to send a pulse of mana that traveled through his body and exited it just as swiftly.
“Very interesting,” the man said with two fingers placed on his chin in thought. “Very interesting indeed.”
The Tier 5 finally stopped examining him and looked him directly in the eye. “Why?”
Even Julius was surprised at the man’s question. What did he mean by ‘why’? What was he talking about? He wanted to talk, but man’s Domain was still in the midst of strangling him.
“Sorry about that.”
The man seemed to realize this as well because he released the pressure of his Domain slightly, allowing Julius some freedom in his throat, enough to talk at least.
The man looked at him again. “Why?”
Julius gave the man a confused look in return. “Huh?”
He saw the man’s brows furrow in thought. “I guess it doesn’t matter that much. Either way, I changed my mind. I don’t care if you surrender willingly, you are coming with me," he said to Julius like there wasn't any other choice.
Julius's anxiety spiked a little bit as he didn’t like the tone the man was talking with. It sounded like he thinking of Julius more as an interesting toy rather than a person. He attempted to say something in response but found himself once again unable to speak.
The man had reactivated his Domain to restrict his voice.
Like hell I am going to just let myself get kidnapped, he angrily thought to himself.
Therefore, even if he was stuck in the man’s Domain, he focused as deeply as he could.
If he was going to have a chance of escaping the man’s Domain he was going to have to use his Emblem to do it.
He already had a good idea of what an Authority was. Although Richard or Rebecca didn’t tell him directly, he figured out that one’s Authority was simply an extension of their will. He also knew that in order to gain an Authority, he needed to use his Emblem to do so.
Thus, he did the most obvious thing he could think of. He gathered everything he could and started to compress them into his Emblem.
He didn’t even fight against the man as he was dragged by the feet like a sack of potatoes. He simply stayed concentrated on his task.
All of his willpower, aura, and even his Concepts swirled around and started to come together. He couldn’t help but notice that the process came together more easily than he expected. It wasn’t until he took a closer look that he found the reason why that was.
It was the man’s Domain. Nothing was able to leave its boundaries. Not a single piece of mana and not a wisp of aura.
However, it also meant all of Julius’s willpower, aura, and Concepts had nowhere else to go but where he directed them.
He didn’t have to worry about keeping tight control of them. The man’s Domain did that for him.
It was quite ironic. He was only attempting this because the Domain was oppressing him but the reason he might be able to break out of it was because it was there.
With that being said, it still wasn’t easy. His willpower and aura were a little difficult to shove into his Emblem but feasible. He had done similar things in the past, so it wasn’t that different. The real issue was trying to put his Concepts into his Emblem. That was a much harder task. One he doubted would be impossible without the ‘help’ of the Domain.
Using one Concept in his Emblem was something he had already accomplished. But integrating more was another beast altogether.
But he wouldn’t flinch from the challenge. He would meet it head-on because if he didn’t, he might be taken to god's know where and the man could do whatever he wanted with him.
Death might be a blessing compared to being imprisoned and experimented on or whatever they had planned for him.
He started by integrating his Will Concept into his Emblem. He chose this for obvious reasons and let out a breath of relief as the Domain’s pressure became a little bit more bearable.
This further encouraged his theory that he needed to leverage his Emblem if he wanted to fight against the influence of the Domain.
Then he started to feed his Phoenix Concept into the Emblem.
This was where it got hard immediately. There was no space for his Phoenix Concept to fit alongside his Will Concept. That didn’t stop him though.
He started to squeeze both of his Concepts and compress them as much as his will was able to. He tried to imagine it like one of his constructs and how he managed to shove both fire mana and kinetic energy into a ball.
Unfortunately for him, Concepts didn’t work in the same as mana or kinetic energy did.
Instead of squeezing the Concept and compressing it, the Concept slipped between his fingers and out of his control.
He didn’t give up though. He adapted his method and tried to compress it, but this time he made sure to create a sphere around the Concepts with pure willpower and aura that was present in his Emblem. He then used this to press them together like a hydraulic press.
The good news was that his Concepts no longer slipped between his fingers.
The bad news was that it hurt like hell.
His Emblem started to feel like a balloon that was getting inflated with too much air. But he didn’t pay the pain any heed. He had experienced much worse pain and so he pushed through his soul’s protests.
He unconsciously felt something wet dripping down his face from his eyes and nose. But maintained his focus with an unwavering will.
However, just as he felt the two Concepts pressing together, almost completely filling his Emblem up, something unexpected happened.
The pressure he was placing must have been too much because everything exploded.
All of his willpower, aura, and Concepts were released in a roaring boom, the shockwave coming directly from his body.
He wished he could say he was surprised by this turning of events, but honestly, he had learned that self-inflicted explosions were a simple part of his path.
With that said, he couldn’t help but feel very anxious when he inspected himself. His soul was once again damaged by his reckless actions and his Emblem was looking quite ragged on top of that.
The bright side was the explosion had let him break free from the Tier 5's Domain. Somehow the release of pressure had been powerful enough to break whatever hold it had over him.
Not letting this chance pass him by, he instantly formed the most powerful spike of mana he could and launched it at the man’s back.
The hulking man had noticed something was wrong and was in the process of turning around to inspect what was happening but was welcomed with a supercharged spike to the face.
Julius deeply desired that his attack did any meaningful damage, but he was swiftly shown the reality of his circumstances. While his spike was strong, it would appear the defenses of a Tier 5 were stronger.
What he had done was the equivalent of throwing a pile of stinky poop at the man’s face. It didn’t hurt the man so much as surprise and anger him.
Julius didn’t stay behind any longer and see how the man reacted because he immediately funneled more kinetic energy than was safe through his legs, rocketing him as far away as possible.
He didn’t like running away, but he had been shown that he was outmatched completely. Thus, he made a hasty retreat, throwing out more spikes of mana as he did.
As he was sprinting for his life, he felt the man’s Domain start to close around him once more. The Tier 5 must have felt so confident in his Domain that he wasn’t even chasing after Julius. He was merely relying on it to hold him down once more.
However, this time he was more prepared. He was already in the midst of replicating what he had done just moments ago, this time with a little more purpose and a little bit less… violent.
Once more he compressed his Concepts together until they released another shockwave, once more destabilizing the Domain that was trying to suppress him.
He had made quite a large gap between himself and the man already, running in the opposite direction of the other people who were already escaping. And for a minute he really believed that he was going to get away.
It wasn’t until he felt a disturbance with [Spatial Perception] did that feeling go away really quickly. Thankfully, unlike before, he managed to avoid the man’s fist from entering his chest.
On the other hand, that just meant the man’s follow-up kick smashed into his back and he found himself flying over a hundred feet with his organs pummeled into mush.
[Phoenix Renewal] was already working to heal that damage but he was more worried about the fact that the Tier 5 was already chasing after him. Before he hit the ground, the Tier 5 teleported on top of him and sent another brutal strike down on him.
Julius quickly sent out a blast of kinetic energy to buffer the attack as well as absorb as much kinetic energy as he could. Unfortunately, that proved to be much more difficult than he hoped it would have been.
Instead, he found himself smashed several feet into the ground, in the middle of a crater.
As the man appeared on top of him, he lashed out with a kick that held all of the power he could gather, actually making contact with the Tier 5. But that didn’t seem to matter to the man. He took it without flinching and then proceeded to grab his leg, lift him out of the crater, and smash him into the ground repeatedly, shattering almost every single bone in his body.
Miraculously, Julius was still alive as the man stopped slamming him into the ground. The Tier 5 paused the beatdown and dangled Julius in front of him like a dead fish.
“You’re full of surprises ain’t ya?” The Tier 5 said with an annoyingly curious tone.
Julius on the other hand, looked up at the man, half of his face missing, likely still somewhere in the dirt, and gave the man the most intimidating glare, a person who had been beaten down as badly as he could. He then tossed a spike of mana at the man’s face just for spite.
The brute of a man didn’t even bother avoiding it either. He took it straight to the forehead and as the smoke cleared, had the same unbothered grin on his face looking at Julius like one would an unruly cat.
Comments
gray matter
He can be a speed stealth specialist and still be far away that was his job. By the time Godfrey intervened, since Julius was having no issues, the battle was a Tier 5 speed and Julius was already “dead” as far as he was concerned. He has never seen Julius’ healing ability before. Shit he may have left to tell Han he failed while Julius was healing. And like Hamfist and myself stated for the other reason, there is nothing that says the shadow is someone who can defeat Godfrey.
Octaeon
I would guess that he somehow manages to contact Rebecca and Richard and they rescue him. This guy is a T5 but they are elite T5s, and if they find him, he's done.
Zach
This is canon now in my mind. The princess wants baked goods, Julius just ate the last one, he sees the danger of this fight lasting the rest of their lives (bc they are married in my head canon) - instant space unlock Truly a life or death situation IMO
Hamfist
@Kyfe the shadow is supposed to make sure they get back to Heston/school. The quote from that chapter is “Let them experience some hardships. I doubt they will find their trip back to Heston an easy one. I can already tell that the girl is a magnet for trouble and the boy might possibly be worse if that is possible. Only interfere if something beyond their abilities shows up, understood?”
Daniel Hamilton
Hopefully one day reaching ultraviolet in color exceeding 3,000°C (5,432°F) but I feel like that’s a long way off.
Adrian Auriat
like be patient man he just love watching julius get a beating and he is giving him a chance to become more powerful if not julius will never grow.
Nick Tinsley
Lets be real: when he unlocks a space skill, it's going to be because he ran out of delicious baked goods and is nowhere near a vendor.
Cameron Taylor
This is Julius. Maybe he will finally unlock a space skill and concept by annihilating himself and realising he is "one with universe"?
Cameron Taylor
Plot armor wasnt even going to give domain. He's so far out of his depth that he was hoping on getting plot armor to give him just Authority. Brand new tier 3 dreaming of Tier 4 features with which to fight off a tier 5.
Cameron Taylor
Julius probably also weakened the implicit tier suppression when he brute forced his half step towards authority. At least with phoenix or will related energies.
Cameron Taylor
Call it a Chekhov's Armor if you have a foreshadowed arbitrary intervention.
Daniel Hamilton
Or will the news eventually get back to Dante? “Waking a sleeping giant” if you will. Which leads him to stepping up to mentor Julius in combat. That’s assuming he gets captured and his friends houses heavy hitters don’t arrive on scene. Just thinking of those couple lines who did they send? Followed by “oh shit!”
Kyfe
I do feel the need to point out that this is definitely not "power up trash." It was pretty clear that the method Julius used was just a harmful explosion, not the correct way to attain Authority. He hurt himself more than the opponent, considering he didn't hurt the opponent at all, and he shredded his own soul. I don't think it's the Shadow that's going to show up. Maybe I'm misremembering, but wasn't his job only to get him to the city with the kid? He probably went back home already; however, there's a group of powerful Tier 5's in the region sent by Julius' school friends, and I'm guessing they're going to have felt the Mana fluctuations and show up to investigate, finding Julius and rescuing him. Or the Shadow is there and he recognized he's not Godfrey's match, so he retreated and either sought out said group or stumbled upon them, and they're all gonna show up.
Vaccus
It kind of does make sense, the first hit was just him killing some random tier 3 to get them out the way. Now he is playing with a new toy. Why would you use your full power and destroy that toy instantly? More than likely the tier 5 is not infusing their authority into their strikes anymore, it is not needed.
nicolas
Maybe it will pay and he will get the explosion concept : Supernovae :p
nicolas
Julius was caught of guard, but now that he is ready he can somewhat block a tier5 random attack. Also the Tier 5 doesn't want to kill him anymore but to capture him. So he might intentionay restrict his blows and his skill that impede healing so that he does not kill Julius by accident
Hamfist
Well... bye.
Tom
I have a sneaking suspicion that the house either running or high up in the conclave is house hyperius. He's going to get delivered back to his relatives surprising everyone. Haha
Tanner Lannister
feel like it’s the authors little joke oh you think something epics about to happen? Jk hehe Julius blew himself up again. Love the reoccurring joke
Steven Frey
Multiple chapters to depict a beat down seems a little much, it also seems strange to me that Julius is able to somewhat block one of the tier 5's attacks during this chapter considering how debilitated he was by the first one. Julius' healing also seems to be working fast again even though it was stated the tier 5s mana slows it?
Colby Jordan
Right? I feel like that is part of his will. He is willing to do almost anything to survive.
FoodFood (Hell, group 4)
@Hamfist Nobody said the shadow was 'a tier 10 God of War'. Why are YOU saying that people are acting like that? Amelia was only chosen to tail the princess extremely closely because of her stealth abilities. Julius literally fought a Tier 4 (Dustin) before this; that was a consideration that Elder Han made before sending the shadow out. I am estimating the shadow to be Tier 5 because I am estimating Elder Han to be Tier 6/7, and it is doubtful that his shadow is only Tier 4 with this in mind since he was the former Sect Leader of the Fallen Spire sect. Tier 5 vs Tier 5 is very reasonable in my eyes... So your reasoning literally makes no sense unless Elder Han wants Julius to die, which defeats the point in sending the shadow in the first place. Not gonna respond to anymore comments after this due to the amount of copium that is being presented here.
Radek Homola
It cant be deus exmachina if it was foreshadowed before.
Hamfist
Why is everybody acting like the shadow is some tier 10 God of War? We know that they are stronger than Julius, or stronger than Julius was at that time at any rate, and expected to offer him help. It is entirely possible that they are a t4 on the same level as Amelia, who was assigned the same task for the princess.
LostinLimbo
He is the MC so improbable situations he uses to grow are gonna happen, but yeah, we saw a similar scenario a bit ago when he rescued the princess, where someone 2 tiers up curb stomped him. It is a bit frustrating to read and seems like recently conflict with Julius are scenarios he has overcome fairly easily like the dungeon with the princess, or so far out of his league he basically loses any agency he has. Either way it isn't as interesting to read. Maybe it's just recency bias, and reading 1 chapter a day definitely has a different perspective than binging all at once, but it has been feeling imbalanced for a while. Am holding out hope he immolates himself and forces a rebirth to hide/escape or something besides being rescued by someone else. Curious to see how he gets out of this situation.
FoodFood (Hell, group 4)
@gray matter I don't know how you put "on his way just late" and "the shadow may be more speed/stealth based" in the same sentence. If we are using the text as evidence, he was sent over a hundred feet away from the Tier 5's punch last chapter and incapacitated Rolus, and the Tier 5 immediately caught up to him, so you're just saying that Elder Han's shadow is incredibly bad at his job which is pretty ridiculous because it's Elder Han's shadow. This is the same kind of reasoning that caused Julius to die from the suicide bomb when Alice was watching the entire thing just so that he can get his Phoenix concept. I made the comment as some feedback and a reminder to the author about the shadow AKA hoping for a response yet they hearted every other comment besides mine while not responding, indirectly showing that they don't take criticism well. Now I'm definitely not resubscribing, but I still wish the author best of luck and hope you enjoy the story.
Tanner Lannister
what plot armor going to give him a domain early??? Nope, he just learned to blow himself up in a slightly new way, very much a Julius move
Connor Charlton
I think Elder Hans shadow will deus ex machina him
Pokox
Nah, you are acting like the shadow has 0 perception abilities and is super slow. This is just poorly written powerup trash. For most part novel has been good and this is an exception but this is just bad writing. I would guess a lot of people will unsub if this level remains
Nick Tinsley
Wooo pointless weeks long nothing but filler slave arc let's goooooo
gray matter
As someone who complained about Lyn taking too long I’m going to disagree with both here. As for Elder Hans shadow he was told to stay a good distance away due to Julius being able sense him. So he could be on his way just late due to how far he stayed. Yes he should’ve moved up during the fight just in case tho. However, Godfrey doesn’t seem like a pushover and the shadow may be more speed stealth based so he could be forced to wait to steal Julius away if he’s not confident in beating Godfrey. Godfrey does have a full domain. As for him not being killed, Julius’s abilities are powerful and intriguing as described by Godfrey, it’s a decent explanation for not killing him, I don’t get the not understanding there.
Zach
TFTC! Curious on what happens next, will Elder Han shadow intervene? Will Julius go on the kidnapping adventure and the shadow let Han know for a rescue? A new mysterious party they weren’t told about coming to save the day bc this situation was planned for?? I do hope this experience either way helps Julius understand how to thread his concepts together or maybe unlock space somehow. Not sure how with space rn but who knows. Nothing like life or death to figure out the next step in power! I am glad Julius couldn’t even scratch him though, good to see how clear that gap is with the tier 5 players
Adrian Auriat
i just want to see Julius get consume in flammes and take the shape of a phoenix and the flammes of the phoenix becoming black from red and all burn in the vicinity
Pawaidan
I personally am enjoying the chapters, I do wonder why the shadow has not shown up yet
FoodFood (Hell, group 4)
To each their own @Alex Galaitsis. I overlooked a lot of details but lately it has become so predictable and repetitive that it’s not worth shelling out the $10 subscription. I’ll check back on the story every once in a while but I don’t think I’ll be missing anything worthwhile for quite some time. Enjoy the story.
Corwin
Hmm...House Easten is now on its way before Julius gets away. Since now the other Tier 3s are out of the sphere of influence that stopped them from contacting back up...a Tier 5 is going to shock everyone though that comes in to mop up
Adrian Auriat
yearh he mustn’t have used this emblem like that more like just go with the flow of this phoenix concept and this blue fire for more power and deadly flammes because it is say that he didn t tape all the power of this phoenix concept
Voral
Comments getting me kinda confused, chapter was fire to be honest, hype for tomorrow!
BobbyMcDilan
Agreed also, why would the tier 5 keep him alive? He shouldve been killed already.
nicolas
wait for a rematch when Julius is peak Tier3, it won't be te same.
Curthbert Kansiime-ruhanga
I kinda gr what you mean it's like I am watching bleach all over again, but I will wait and see but yeah it's been predictable and repetitive at the moment
Paul Smith
I loved the “fight” I feel like he’s as bad as a cat avoiding a bath sometimes… Thanks for the chapter!
Azulmar
This is one of those chapters that's good in a book but with a web novel I just feel we are back where we ended the last chapter.
Alex Galaitsis
To each their own? I’m loving the story.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Julius is definitely having a rough day…
FoodFood (Hell, group 4)
Gonna be honest, this ain’t it. Elder Han’s shadow should have intervened by now. Also getting annoyed at the constant repetition of the world revolving around Julius, as this fight has been contrived so that he gets stronger. Canceling my subscription, hope the story goes well.
Usernames_are_annoying
I should have waited
Oskar
Thanks for the chapter!
RedLeaf
Thanks for the chapter!
Kevin McKinney
Well. Damn. Thinks are looking a bit rough here.
Usernames_are_annoying
I should wait a couple days. So that all the chapters of this fight come out. But I can’t, so I’m going to read right now.
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
