Chapter 522: Choice is Yours

Julius was about to ask Kaelther another question, but before he could, the man suddenly vanished into thin air.

“Damn, I had some more questions,” he said disappointedly.

He sighed, but he knew that time was of the essence, and so he went over to his friends, creating a cart out of mana. He then proceeded to load his friends onto the cart, as if it were some furniture.

He didn’t spot Liam or Irene nearby, so he didn’t get to pick them up. However, he did end up picking up Riven as well. The mage seemed to be better off than his friends. There was no blood on his face, and it looked like he was sleeping peacefully.

Julius wasn’t as gentle as he was with his friends. He basically tossed Riven onto the cart like a sack of potatoes. He thought about finding Riven’s friend, but Julius still held a small grudge for her ambush on him, so he didn’t bother to. She could find her own way inside.

Once he was done, he noticed that most of the people were already beginning to stir. So before they could fully awaken, he quickly pushed the cart that held his friends inside the doors.

He was expecting something special upon entering, but nothing really happened. The only remarkable thing was the room he found himself in. The inside of the temple was breathtaking. Everything was spotless, pure white marble pillars, lined with iridescent gems.

The other thing that froze him in place was that Cadius was standing on a platform at the very center of the room. There was a big difference between what Julius had just seen several minutes beforehand.

The man’s iridescent eyes were almost entirely dull. There was color, but no sparkle. They were lifeless, and when they landed on Julius’s form, there was no sign of recognition. It was like it was a totally different person. Julius wasn’t even sure if this was the same person.

Only the similar aura signatures made him think that this was indeed Cadius. But the contrast was jarring.

It was a good thing that Cadius appeared this way as well, because Julius was half tempted to jump up there and punch the man in the face. Not because of how he treated Julius. No, because of how he hurt his friends.

He felt a surge of anger rush through him, and he reflexively shoved some fire mana into his crown, trying to form it into a spike. However, to his shock, he felt some kind of interference. It wasn’t like anything he had experienced either.

It wasn’t like the times when someone wiped out his technique. This felt very different. It was like he was utterly unable to weave together his mana, almost like he had forgotten how to use his mana.

If he could compare it to something, he would compare it to waking up one day and trying to write something down, only to find out that you weren’t able even to write your own name. You knew intuitively that you should be able to, but somehow all that knowledge disappeared.

He tried to do other things. He activated his enhancement skill, letting his mana, aura, and kinetic energy flow through his body. This only made him frown harder, since the skill worked as usual. He didn’t sense any differences and was able to enhance his body without issues.

What was the problem then? Was it just his crown?

He bit his lip and tried to create a thread of fire mana, infusing some of his mana into the sadistic crown. To his confusion, that seemed to work as well. He didn’t understand what had just happened.

He suddenly found he could use his techniques despite not being able to. The only difference he could think of was that he had been thinking about hurting Cadius. He had been toying with the idea of throwing an empowered spike at the man’s head.

The moment that thought came into his head, he felt that same interference again. Before he could sense what was happening, he felt his technique fall apart into harmless particles of mana. Even the ruinous aspect of the fire mana was taken care of with zero issues.

It had to be some kind of intent-based ward or enchantment, that was the only logical answer he could come up with. He knew that there had been a similar ward in front of the temple, but it hadn’t been like this. If you tried to hurt someone, you would be frozen in place. However, inside the temple, your entire technique and mana control would fall apart without you knowing how. It was much more uncomfortable.

He was going to keep on experimenting with the enchantment, but he noticed the cart of bodies start to shift. It would seem his friends were already waking up. Surprisingly, it was Aubrey who was the first to sit up. He had been expecting Riven to be the first one, considering his stronger willpower.

It would seem that Aubrey was full of surprises.

“Are you okay?” He asked her as she looked around with scrunched brows.

“What happened?” She asked groggily. He stifled the laugh when he saw her shove Riven off her body and to the ground. The mage’s body hit the stone floor with a dull thump and right onto his nose. Julius winced but rationalized to himself that Aubrey likely didn’t even know what she was doing.

“You don’t remember?” He asked worriedly.

“Not really, things are really fuzzy after that man showed up. I can’t remember what happened afterwards,” she said while rubbing her forehead, bumping her foot into Riven. She looked down and, none too gently, shoved the other guy away with her foot.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He didn’t really give much attention to Riven; the mage would be fine. However, he ran his senses throughout Aubrey’s body once more. He didn’t see anything wrong with her, but he still gave her a gentle infusion of life mana just to be safe. However, even after that, her headache didn’t seem to be going away.

She pushed him away after a few moments of his smothering. “I’m fine, just a little foggy. What happened?” She asked with a serious look on her face.

Julius did his very best not to stare at Cadius and gave her a simple explanation. “Some asshole attacked all of us, and you guys passed out.”

“What?” She asked, sounding baffled.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod.

“An asshole?”

“Yeah, the biggest,” he said with a serious nod.

“Did you kick his ass?” Aubrey asked with an expectant look.

“Not yet.”

He saw a small hint of disappointment in her gaze, so he quickly added, “But he did get reprimanded by his boss.”