Chapter 113: Almost Certain

It took him way longer than it should have to escape. After his many attempts, he finally realized that it wasn’t the dirt that was holding him in place, but it was as if space itself was locking down on him. Eventually, Dante must have gotten tired or felt as if Julius had been properly punished and had released him.

The moment he was free Declan grabbed him by the neck like a kitten and quickly ran away from the property. The entire time Declan didn’t say anything to Julius, he was focused on escaping.

It wasn’t until they had made it back into the gates of the city that Declan dumped him to the ground. Not even the guards had the courage to stop Declan and ask him what he was doing. They had only seen a vice-captain wrangle a young boy by the neck, but seeing Declan’s face must have made them think twice before intervening.

Some guards they were, Julius grumbled internally.

Julius picked himself up and dusted himself off. “What was that for?” He asked Declan.

Declan gave him a whack across the back of the head in response. “What was that for? You should be thanking me.”

Julius rubbed his head. “Why are you freaking out so much?”

Declan reached out as if he wanted to give Julius another swat but Julius quickly stepped back and out of the way.

“Do you have any idea who you were just insulting?” Declan asked Julius seriously.

Julius shrugged his shoulders. “Not really, but he didn’t seem to mind it that much,” he pointed out.

Declan sighed loudly. “That was a Tier 6 you were just disrespecting. A monster who is more powerful than you could even begin to comprehend. Do you have a death wish?”

“He seemed nice though. He was a bit pushy and sensitive, but I think that’s just because he doesn’t get out a lot,” Julius said with a smile. He had suspected that Dante was Tier 6, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. So it was nice that Declan confirmed it for him.

Declan turned to look at him with a deadly serious gaze. “You could have died today. He could have killed both of us and there would not be a damn thing anyone could do about it. Not the Lord of Heston, not the Headmaster, and not even the most powerful noble houses.”

Declan took a deep breath before he continued. “I don’t think you quite understand how lucky you were just now. I have seen powerful people like that man kill people over less. I saw a Tier 5 kill a soldier because he was snoring too loud. Nothing happened and there were no repercussions because the value of the Tier 5 was more important than a thousand soldiers.”

Julius knew that it was time to stop joking around. He put his hands up and reassured Declan. “He wasn’t going to kill me or you. I was almost a hundred percent certain.”

“How could you be sure?” Declan asked him.

“I’m guessing you didn’t hear what the two of us were talking about or doing when you were frozen,” Julius said with a frown.

“No, I have no idea. The man’s domain crushed my Authority before I could even take a step. There wasn’t anything I could do. What happened between the two that made you so sure that he wouldn’t be a threat?” Declan pressed him for details.

“Well, he wanted to know the name of my skill. I told him after I was able to negotiate a favor from him in the future…”

Declan interrupted him. “You got him to owe you a favor?” He asked skeptically as if the thought was unbelievable.

“Yeah, it has to be something reasonable, but I got him to promise a favor in return for telling him the name of my skill,” Julius said proudly. “Pretty good deal right?”

Declan just looked at him blankly. “A Tier 6 exchanged a favor for you telling him the name of your skill? Why would he do that?”

Julius shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. He really wanted to know how I was able to sense that he was much stronger than he was trying to come off as.”

“You were able to sense that he was Tier 6? What kind of skill allowed you to do that?” Declan asked in surprise.

Julius shook his head. “No, I couldn’t tell for sure that he was Tier 6. But there were a lot of signs that pointed to that. My skill wasn’t able to detect his presence at all which was the first big warning, but also I got a very dangerous feeling from him,” Julius explained carefully.

“And you still antagonized him?” Declan asked.

“No, that was after we trained some of our skills against each other. He even said he managed to gain a level in his own skill. Then he told me to meet him back here in two months. He said that he had something he needed to give or show me. I’m not quite sure, he wasn’t very forthcoming in that regard.”

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“I know I have never asked, but what is your perception skill? I’m guessing that was the skill that allowed you to sense the man.” Declan asked calmly.

Julius thought about telling him. He hadn’t told Declan yet, but honestly, he believed that Declan deserved to know, especially after this whole fiasco. “It is called [Spatial Perception],” Julius finally said.

“[Spatial Perception]?” Declan repeated.