Chapter 586: Handle It

Lily POV

The capital was in chaos. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to let off several explosions all around the capital during one of the busiest days of the year. Lily didn’t have an exact idea of how many people died, but preliminary reports estimated that over a thousand people had already died.

It was a complete disaster, and the Empire’s response was emphatic. In a short amount of time, Imperial Knights had deployed and killed or captured the terrorists. She had personally seen several Tier 5 knights tear through a group of terrorists like wet paper. They were merciless.

Sadly, no matter what the knights did, the damage was already done. Too many had already died, and nothing they did would bring them back. It also wouldn’t restore peace or calm people down. She expected that many of the people who came to the capital to see the tournament would be leaving as soon as possible.

As much as people wanted to be entertained and see a good show, they didn’t care about it if it meant getting blown up in the process.

Despite the massive loss of human life, she was a bit confused by this attack. She didn’t understand why these terrorists decided to attack the capital during such a busy time of the year. Upon first glance, there didn’t seem to be a purpose for it, other than to cause chaos and mass panic.

In that case, she believed that this chaos had another purpose. One that wasn’t immediately obvious. Perhaps it was an opportunity to obtain something else. She had heard rumors that the attack during the second stage had led to the theft of something important.

It was entirely possible that this was a similar situation. In fact, it was one of the only situations where random massive explosions made sense.

If that was what happened, then the question became why? Or rather, for what? Who needed to go to such great lengths to steal or infiltrate somewhere? That was a mystery. She needed to make some preparations of her own. House Violet’s information network might be able find something that would help clear the fog of this situation.

It was only later, when the information started to come in, that she heard reports that important government buildings or facilities had been targeted. Additionally, production and manufacturing plants were attacked all at the same time, confirming to her that this was a meticulously planned attack.

That said, she couldn’t help but be more concerned about Julius. Neither she nor anyone else had heard from him all day. It wasn’t like he would run off, either, without telling them. She wanted to ask Cain and Freya, but they weren’t around either.

She was worried that someone decided to attack him. He had certainly shown himself to be a talented youth of the Empire. Any of the Empire’s rivals would love to kill such a talent before they had the chance to grow.

But with Cain, Freya, House Violet, and House Zenith behind Julius, who would have the audacity to attack him? Surely they were aware that there would be repercussions. Or rather, they didn’t care, which might have been a more worrying prospect. Were they not scared of the retaliation?

Lily tapped her leg anxiously but lifted her head when she sensed Marcus approaching her.

“Did you find him?” She asked immediately.

Marcus shook his head. “I did not. But I sent out several dozen of our retainers to go search for information and found something promising.”

“What is it?”

“Apparently, someone was attacked in a cafe right before the explosions. According to eyewitnesses, the person was a young boy with black hair,” Marcus said with a solemn look on his face.

Cafe? She asked herself internally with a frown. Julius did like cafes.

“Which cafe was this?”

“Butter and Bloom.”

She stood up swiftly. That was the name of the cafe that she and Julius had gone to not long ago. He had made several comments about going back.

“That’s probably him. Where did he go?”

Marcus shook his head. “There was a fight of some kind, but people all ran away once it got out of hand. Several people had some serious injuries and burns.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Lily said firmly, walking through the door.

Marcus didn’t hesitate and followed her.

Lily knew exactly where the cafe was and quickly arrived on the scene. There were a number of Empire officials already investigating the place, but one display of her House Crest, and they left her alone.

“What do you sense?” She asked Marcus, already noticing that he was inspecting the scene with glowing eyes.

“The remnants of mana indicate it was him. But…”

“But what?”

Instead of replying to her, he picked her up and flew them high above the street, traveling a little bit. It was only then that she saw the absolutely destroyed block of the city. There was nothing left but finely ground pieces of stone and dust. It was like someone had eviscerated the entire block.

“He did this?” She asked with furrowed brows. She knew that Julius was strong, but this was something different.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“No, this was someone much stronger,” Marcus said with concern.

Lily shot him a look. “How much stronger?”

Marcus dropped them into the destroyed ruins. “I think this was Cain.”

“Cain was here as well?”

“Perhaps. I feel an immense amount of kinetic energy floating around. Whoever did this was a user of kinetic energy and an immensely strong one at that. I only know of a small number of people who fit that description.”

Lily nodded. So Cain had been here after all. That begged the other question.

“Where is he now?”

Marcus didn’t respond right away and bent down to examine the dust at their feet, pinching it between his fingers and letting it float away into the air.

“I don’t know, but I feel that Cain was…” Marcus didn’t finish his sentence.