Path to Transcendence

Chapter 750: Should Have Known Better

Haruto POV

Everything had gone to shit. He should have known better and expected Kaito to have something up his sleeve. It was more than likely that Kaito realized Renal was a traitor and had deliberately fed him false information.

However, he would have never expected Kaito to somehow gain the help of Marcus Avery. He had anticipated maybe one or two Tier 5 from Clan Kaizen or other hired individuals. But Marcus Avery was another problem entirely. He was a true threat. Not a weak little Tier 5 like some of the other clan members.

That being said, the Conclave had offered their support on this matter. Though Haruto suspected they were more there to test Haruto and maybe to gain some kind of blackmail or leverage than to help.

The three people they sent with them certainly didn’t seem concerned about fighting. They already thought it was overkill sending six Tier 5s after one man and his daughter. Seven if you included the contracted beast that came with Yarel.

However, they were already down half of their strength. Yarel and his beast were already down for the count. And Marcus had just crushed Elder Bran despite the man having one of the strongest barriers Haruto had encountered. Marcus was truly a terrifying figure.

However, these Tier 5s that the Conclave sent over weren’t bad either. The dual swordsman who was helping him take on Kaito was quite skilled. And the female mage fighting Marcus was doing a good job of holding the other man back from coming to help. They had isolated him and were making sure that Haruto and the swordsman had enough time to take out Kaito.

Still, that was easier said than done. Kaito was very strong for his tier. There was a reason why his brother had chosen Kaito as his successor. Ryoku always valued strength and competence above all else. Even more than one’s loyalty to the clan. Haruto fervently disagreed with this.

The clan's interests always came first. Everything else was secondary. It was why he didn’t think Kaito was a good choice for patriarch. The man had spent too many resources and effort on saving his daughter. The amount he wasted on treasures over the years would have been enough to cultivate a dozen powerful warriors for Clan Yoshu.

Yet, Clan Yoshu was becoming weaker under Kaito’s rule. They barely had any real talents of their own. Other clans had many blooming talents, whereas Clan Yoshu only had a few who could go up against these others.

Haruto wanted to fix that, and removing Kaito from his position was the first step toward this goal.

However, they needed to take down Kaito here and now. Unfortunately, that was a very difficult task, even with two against one.

Haruto narrowly avoided a viper-fast thrust coming at his face and was forced to expend even more energy to regain some momentum. But Kaito pushed forward like an indomitable warrior, slamming his spear forward like a heavenly tribulation.

Haruto spun his own spear and retreated desperately. He almost got his head cut off, barely fast enough to avoid the slicing spear, but he still got sliced on the cheek, adding yet another injury to his growing collection.

Haruto cursed internally. He hated to admit it, but Kaito was truly a genius when it came to the spear. Nobody within the clan could compete with the man when it came to the spear arts.

Fortunately, the Conclave swordsman understood that if Haruto fell, then he would have to fight Haruto on his own. Which meant he had to fight seriously.

The man activated a powerful skill which surrounded Kaito in multiple invisible blades of sword intent. It was clearly a skill meant to be used as a killing blow, but that didn’t work against one of the clan’s most talented spear users in its long history.

With a casual wave of his spear, he managed to intercept most of these invisible attacks with a simple wave of his own spear intent. A few got through, and several small cuts appeared over Kaito’s body, but he didn't seem to care about these injuries.

Thankfully, this meant that Kaito wasn’t able to keep swarming Haruto, and he was able to back up to remove a healing potion from his storage ring. He quickly downed it and then uncorked a mana potion as well. He allowed the nasty fluid to trickle down his throat, and the artificial mana flowed into him.

While he healed and converted some of the mana into a more natural state, he took a look over at the carriage where Lora was kept safe. The other Conclave should already be working on breaking through the carriage’s enchantments. As long as they managed to get a hold of her, then they wouldn’t even need to fight Kaito. Using her as a hostage would be enough to force his nephew to surrender. The man was strong, but when it came to his daughter, he was disappointingly weak-hearted.

Therefore, imagine Haruto’s shock when the carriage door slammed open, and the Conclave’s rogue got kicked into a nearby boulder. A young man cloaked in white and dark blue mana dashed after him.

It was hard to discern their features, but Haruto barely recognized the boy as the same one who had embarrassed him at the estate. The one who was beside Lily. However, that didn’t make any sense; from what Haruto remembered, the boy was only a Tier 4.

Stolen novel; please report.

Yet it certainly didn’t seem like it, especially not when the boy proceeded to slam into the Tier 5 rogue and rip him apart piece by piece. It wasn’t even close either. The boy got in close and somehow managed to tangle himself so tightly with the rogue that they weren’t able to use their teleportation skill.

Even more worrisome was that the rogue’s domain seemed to have no effect at all. The boy ignored it as if it were nothing more than a slight annoyance.

Was this why Lily insisted on keeping the boy at her side? This extreme demonstration of power wasn’t something a Tier 4 should have. The sheer amount of mana and aura being released indicated a level of power only seen at Tier 5. Yet, the boy was stifling another Tier 5 so badly that Haruto started to believe that the boy was actually a Tier 5 in disguise. There was no better explanation. He must have an item that helped shield his tier.

If that wasn’t bad enough, then the sudden explosion of fire and aura that enveloped the rogue sealed it. Haruto felt his legs shake when he heard the rogue’s screams and desperate attempts to escape.

It wasn’t like the other two agents could go and help either. They were all very distracted by their own fights against superior opponents. So they could only watch as their comrade got torched alive.

A lifeless husk fell to the ground, and then, before Haruto was able to sense anything, the boy vanished. Haruto’s instincts screamed at him when some of the wind was displaced at his back, and he barely turned around in time. He stepped to the side and narrowly avoided the glowing fist roaring at his face.

He snapped his spear up, stabbing toward the boy. But once again the boy vanished, this time appearing behind the swordsman, and unlike Haruto, the swordsman didn’t sense anything. He was so distracted fighting Kaito that the boy managed to land a kick right into the swordsman’s side.

The man grunted as he was sent toppling over the ground. His armor blunted much of the damage, but clearly not all of it.

Haruto was about to dash in to help, but he was quickly forced to step back when the boy appeared right in front of his nose. A dark and savage grin was staring straight into his soul. Haruto didn’t hesitate, though, and stabbed his spear forward, using every ounce of his spear intent to stab forward.

He didn’t even see a glimmer of concern on the boy’s face. In fact, he didn’t even bother to dodge completely; he leaned slightly off to the side and allowed the spear to stab straight into his stomach.

However, instead of shouting in pain or going down, the boy grabbed the shaft of the spear and pulled himself closer. Haruto was so surprised that he didn’t even let go of the spear; instead, he got punched straight in the face. The sheer weight and power of the blow astonished him. His skull rattled, and he saw stars.

He detonated mana from his spear that was stuck inside the boy’s body, or rather, he tried to. For some reason, it was harder than usual, and only a small explosion of wind mana rippled out. It was only then that Haruto thought to release his spear, but not before he got another punch in the face.

He used his movement skill to gain some space and wipe the blood from his mouth. He glared at the boy and teleported his spear back to him. With the spear no longer staunching the wound, blood started flooding out of the boy’s stomach. However, Haruto cursed when he saw the wound heal within the blink of an eye.

He had a self-healing skill. No wonder he wasn’t scared about getting injured.

Haruto finally allowed his domain to expand outward rather than inwards. With Kaito, he needed every bit of reinforcement he could get, but with this boy, he needed to be able to disable his skills, specifically that teleportation skill and healing skill.

For some reason, he wasn’t able to detect the normal spatial fluctuations one would associate with teleportation skills. It must have been a special variation of it.

Only once he let his domain expand did he finally go on the offensive. He activated [Flow With the Wind], and his presence merged with the wind, disappearing within it. When he emerged from it, his spear was already poised to pierce the boy’s skull. The boy might be able to heal, but let's see him try to heal without a brain.

He felt the boy activate some mana, and his domain came crashing down. But he finally understood why the rogue’s domain hadn’t worked. A powerful pulsation from the boy’s soul interrupted the domain’s influence, and with the extra space, the boy was able to activate his skills.

He didn’t know how this was possible, but Haruto had somewhat planned for this. He had already flanked the boy, but he shifted his head to the side without showing the least bit of surprise. Then Haruto felt an incredible amount of aura, mana, and force come crashing down on him. It was impossibly heavy, especially for one so young.

Haruto groaned as he fought against it, but widened his eyes when a glowing white hammer the size of the boy’s body suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and it was swinging right for his head. His spear lashed out to intercept, but it was knocked to the side.

Haruto quickly positioned himself to press forward. A hammer was a powerful weapon, but it was slow. However, the hammer flowed like water and reforged itself into a sword. The sword and his spear slammed into each other, but then Haruto fell forward when the sword vanished into vapors of mana, only to reconstitute itself right as it was about to slash into his chest.

Haruto activated [One With the Wind] again and barely avoided the blade. However, the boy transformed the sword into a spear and cocked his arm back with alarming force.

There’s no way he can sense where I’m at, Haruto told himself.

Then again, he was quickly shown otherwise when the spear was hurled straight at his face. He zipped to the side, but the spear exploded midair, and he felt himself take damage from the explosion. [One With the Wind] was a very powerful skill, but it meant he sacrificed some defense for agility and stealth.

How was the boy tracking me, though? Not even those with powerful spatial senses should be able to track me.

It was only then that he scanned his body and noticed the mark placed on his cheek. It wasn’t the most subtle piece of magic, but it was hard to detect during a battle. He tried to rip it apart, but to his unease it didn’t so much as shake. Not only that, but the same mark was on his spear.

His soul-bound weapon.

Haruto growled at the boy and blitzed forward, but just as he took a step, he felt the wind displace. He turned around and barely shouted out in alarm when Marcus Avery was right in his face. Haruto had lost track of the man while he'd been busy with the boy and wasn’t in time to block the fist slamming up into his sternum. He felt several ribs shatter upon impact with the telekinetically reinforced fist.

His organs were eviscerated, and before he could activate his failsafe, his head got smashed in with a brutal elbow straight to the skull. Darkness took him into its embrace.