Arthur had barely stepped through the gates of Aurelion before the atmosphere of the city shifted due to the emergency horn sounded by the gate keepers.
Civilians who had been lingering near the streets moments ago hurried away at the sight of him, retreating into doorways and shuttered shops with the kind of reflexive fear that only came from years of war. Some peeked back from behind windows, their expressions tight with uncertainty, while others pulled children along with them without daring to look again.
Word traveled fast in a city under constant threat of war, and a stranger for whom the emergency horns were sounded was walking through the gates nonchalantly was enough to make anyone uneasy.
Arthur noticed it all, though none of it slowed his pace.
Further down the avenue, armored figures were already moving. Knights clad in reinforced plate bearing Thornholm's sigil sprinted toward him, their footfalls heavy against the stone. He could sense their strength even without looking directly at them; there were mostly master-rank martial artists, their auras disciplined and sharp, and a few eighth and nine-circle mages were already weaving mana as they ran. Against most threats, this response would have been more than sufficient.
But against someone like Arthur, it was meaningless. He didn't bother acknowledging them.
The moment they appeared before Arthur the captain of the squad shouted, "Halt! Intruder!"
But Arthur vanished from the gate without warning, leaving behind nothing but disturbed air and a handful of stunned soldiers who skidded to a halt, with their weapons half-raised and minds scrambling to understand what had just happened.
Since his purpose there had already been fulfilled, there was no reason to stay any longer.
A few moments later, Arthur stood at the edge of a vast estate nestled within the city's inner districts. Tall fencing made out of white stone lined the perimeter, reinforced with layered enchantments that were invisible if one didn't pay proper attention. Beyond it rose the Blackwood manor, an imposing structure of dark stone and sharp angles, its architecture blending refined nobility with a more rustic look.
Arthur's gaze swept over the grounds as he stepped forward.
He reached out with his senses, probing the estate carefully. Defensive arrays were embedded into the walls, and by their condition they appeared well-maintained. Elemental wards laced the air. The manor was powerful, refined, and unmistakably dangerous.
'As expected of a powerful noble house.' He thought, but before he could take another step, he felt two people approach him from the estate, one was a middle-aged man, whose posture was straight despite the faint limp in his step suggesting recent injury, dressed in normal robes layered over combat attire. The second was younger, perhaps in his late twenties, with sharper features and an intensity that suggested ambition rather than experience.
Arthur could feel their power clearly, and both were Archmages. But the middle-aged person was clearly the stronger one of the two.
Both of them had appeared after sensing a powerful person approaching their estate. They stopped several meters away from him, mana covering their bodies instinctively as they assessed the unknown intruder who had bypassed the estate's outer alarms without triggering a single ward.
The older man spoke first, his brows drawing together in a deep frown. "Who are you?" he demanded, his tone clipped but controlled.
Arthur didn't answer immediately. His eyes rested on the man's face, studying him calmly before he spoke.
"You must be Lucien Blackwood." The words were not a question.
Lucien stiffened slightly, irritation flickering across his expression. One had to know he was the patriarch of a powerful family in the kingdom, and very few people in Thornholm spoke to him so casually or that too disrespectfully, and fewer still did so without offering a greeting or title. He straightened and became cautious, but a hint of pride bled into his stance as he answered.
"I am the patriarch of the Blackwood family," he said, his voice was cool and deliberate. "If you have business here, you would do well to explain yourself."
Arthur didn't respond. Instead, he vanished from his position.
Lucien barely had time to register the action of the intruder before a fist slammed into his abdomen with devastating force. The impact should have sent him flying across the courtyard, shattered walls, and collapsed half the manor behind him. Instead, he remained exactly where he stood.
Arthur had used Spatial Anchor, one of the derivatives of Spatial Manipulation, which lets him anchor himself or anything in space.
Lucien's body folded forward unnaturally as blood sprayed from his mouth, the shock of the blow tearing through his internal defenses and rupturing organs that had been strengthened by decades of cultivation. The pain was immediate and overwhelming, forcing a hoarse gasp from his throat as his legs nearly gave out beneath him. Though he wouldn't die from this he would still need some time to recover, which he didn't have.
The only reason he remained upright was because he was leaning on Arthur's arm.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he struggled to breathe, the realization settling in far faster than the pain, he was completely outmatched.
Beside him, the younger man reacted a heartbeat too late. He surged forward instinctively, mana surging around him violently as he prepared to strike the assailant who had just attacked his father.
But then he stopped, and no matter how hard he tried, his body refused to move even an inch.
His limbs felt as though they had been fused to the ground. Panic crept into his thoughts as he tried moving, then again, each attempt met with the same impossible resistance.
'W… what is this?' he thought desperately.
But there was no answer.
Lucien, still gasping for breath, felt fear coil in his chest as he sensed something far worse unfolding. His mana circles, which he had painstakingly cultivated over centuries, were beginning to collapse.
The sensation was indescribable. It was not simply physical pain that he felt, but loss. Years of effort, discipline, and sacrifice unraveling inside him as his mana core fractured from within. Lucien screamed, his lungs out by both agony and terror as he felt his power slip away permanently.
Lucien's cultivation was being destroyed at the source, leaving him alive but powerless, unable to resist what came next.
Arthur watched him with cold and unfeeling eyes. When he had struck Lucien, he had injected a small amount of Aether directly into his mana core. Which resulted in his mana circles to shatter due to the potent and heavy nature of Aether.
Aether was a type of energy which even the gods of Thyrandel struggled to utilize fully and could only manipulate in a small amount, so it could be guessed what would happen if it was injected inside a mortal. The only reason Lucien was not exploding right now was because of Arthur's control over the energy.
As the scream tapered into broken sobs, Arthur struck the back of Lucien's neck and the patriarch's body went limp instantly, unconscious before he hit the ground.
Arthur picked him up with his collar and the younger man who was Lucien's son could only watch, with his eyes wide. His mind screamed at him to act, to do something, anything but his body remained locked in place.
In the next moment, Arthur vanished.
…
Arthur reappeared above one of Avalon, the familiar sight of the island greeting him as he descended from the sky towards a specific city. He had chosen this city out of the five cities on the island deliberately, not for its beauty or population density, but because of a specific infrastructure, it had a prison.
Landing just outside the compound, Arthur handed Lucien's unconscious body to a nearby guard bot, issuing brief instructions.
"Secure him with the highest priority."
The bot acknowledged immediately and moved off without question.
Arthur didn't linger. He took to the air once more, heading toward another city where he could sense Kai was at.
As he flew, his gaze swept over Avalon, and his thoughts shifted naturally toward its defenses. The island was already formidable; between the automated systems, energy barriers, and elite personnel and guard bots stationed throughout, it could repel any expert below Grandmaster level or Archmage with ease. Even Archmages and Grandmasters would find it difficult to breach without suffering heavy losses.
But Arthur was not satisfied with it, even though the Church may not find out about the relationship between him and Avalon, he didn't want to take chances. The dragons had somehow found the island belonged to him and the Church might have their own way. And after knowing he was alive, the dragons might come after the island.
So, he wanted absolute deterrence other than him or Selene.
He decided to install some Orbital cannons, which are capable of vaporizing Sage-rank experts easily. Even Transcended beings would need to approach with extreme caution or risk getting killed.
Beyond that, detection fields were necessary.
Arthur recalled the runes he had obtained from the Ancient Realm. They were complex, and fully recreating them would take time and study, but simpler detection runes were already well within his capabilities.
A network of them, spread across Avalon's perimeter, would ensure that nothing significant entered or exited the island without his knowledge.
A few minutes later Arthur landed on the city where Kai was at. It was the city which he first built after arriving on the island, though it was nearly unrecognizable due to the modifications done to it. He decided to explore the city a bit before he went to meet with Kai.
***
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