A Novel Concept - He Who Eludes Death

Mouths agape, everyone stared as a pillar of dust surged into the sky, like the aftermath of a skyscraper's collapse. The shock lingered until the ground trembled, a confirmation of the devastating power behind Leo's attack on Ophis.

Priam turned to Jasmine and exchanged a satisfied smile. Their plan had worked. If the Aelbes carried their strike through—and why wouldn't they?—then one of the three clans would fall before dawn. Better yet, with the beheading of their leader, Ophis, the collapse of that tribe would come with minimal civilian casualties—one of Priam's secondary objectives.

"We're heading back," he declared.

"You sure?" asked Rohan. "No one can say how this will play out. I give you my word—no harm will come to you if you stay here. My duties as heir prevent me from escorting you, but I can at least guarantee that."

"When you're not busy being an arrogant prick, you're actually a decent guy!" Jasmine laughed.

Priam just smiled. Deep down, he was starting to genuinely appreciate the Aelbe. For someone who had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth, Rohan wasn't all that bad.

"Thanks, but the rest of our team's still out there. I'm worried."

Leo had struck too soon. Priam had expected him to wait for the tournament's opening ceremony to file an official complaint with the High Marshal. Out of respect, if nothing else.

"Mmh. Take care of yourselves."

Seconds later, the three Champions were gone, darting from rooftop to rooftop. Sure-footed and swift, Priam dashed through the urban jungle, vaulting, sprinting, and climbing as obstacles came. He couldn't help but grin as [Movement Virtuoso] guided his steps with sublime ease. The skill harmonized with his enhanced physique, letting him traverse the Aelbe camp at breakneck speed. Not that it kept Jasmine from keeping pace—sometimes even overtaking him. She moved with such elegance, Priam couldn't help but admire her.

He didn't extend that admiration to Kazuki. The hoplite had clearly given up on finesse. Incapable of replicating the subtle footwork required for city movement, he had opted for brute force: leaping in a series of thunderous bounds, each landing marked by a shockwave. A cushion of air buoyed him at the peak of each jump, extending his range, while the ground groaned under each impact.

And yet I know he can be silent. Is he faking the noise to mislead spies?

In less than twenty seconds, the trio reached the edge of Aelbe territory. Before them sprawled the center of the banquet grounds. At the crossroads of the tribes, the plaza had been designed for mingling and free exchange. Despite the hour—late or early depending on one's perspective—the square was packed. Packed, and eerily silent. All eyes were fixed on the distant battle.

Priam halted on a rooftop, eyes scanning the throng for his friends.

"We should've set a rendezvous point," he grumbled.

"The rendezvous point was Blueberry. Kinda hard to lose a building-sized bear," Jasmine pointed out.

And yet, after a few moments, Priam had to admit the obvious: amid a crowd of several thousand people, their friends were nowhere to be found.

"Shit, I don't see them." A tremor nearly sent him tumbling. He grabbed a chimney for balance and grimaced. Even this far away, the building beneath him vibrated with the fury of the battle. They were running out of time. "Let's split up and—"

"That's not dust," Kazuki cut in, pointing to the dark column shrouding part of the Snahert territory.

Priam turned toward the ongoing duel between the two Transcendants. After the quake, the next sign of the battle's savagery was the mushroom cloud now falling from the sky. Leo's attack had made Ophis' manor erupt like a volcano, releasing a dark plume. Priam squinted. What he had initially taken for debris and dust… was red. Blood red.

As the fallout touched the ground, it spread like a pyroclastic surge from a volcanic eruption. Though omnidirectional, the brunt of the wave hurtled toward the banquet—like the final curse of a sore loser.

"Oh, fuck," Jasmine swore.

Priam didn't have his Shadow's instincts, but his gut twisted as the cataclysm bore down on them.

"Ophis' revenge," murmured Kazuki, as the crowd stood frozen in shock. The next moment, the toxic cloud touched the first victim, who collapsed screaming. Like dominoes, the rest began to shriek, then to run.

"Shit! Stick together, grab random people, see if they've seen a giant bear, and don't get touched by that shit!"

Despite his attributes, terror gripped Priam's hearts as he jumped onto a table at the center of the banquet grounds. Around him, chaos reigned. People screamed for loved ones, for help, for mercy. Warriors shoved aside anyone who blocked their path, while fallen crafters were trampled by panicked feet.

Priam caught a teenage girl just as she stumbled.

"A giant bear!"

"What?!"

"Have you seen a giant bear?!" he bellowed to be heard.

"I—I don't know—please help! I've lost my parents!"

Her wide eyes overflowed with fear and desperation.

"Sorry, I don't have time. I need to—"

A hand seized the girl by the nape and hurled her in the opposite direction of the cloud. She would have slammed into a wall, had a gust of wind not carried her safely onto a rooftop.

"No time for guilt," Kazuki said flatly, gesturing to the rolling poison cloud. The Transcendent's attack was slowing—not due to the ineffectual strikes of a few Tier 3s, but because every victim consumed part of it. A liter of gas in a dying crafter's lungs was a liter less in the air. "We have only a minute before this place is a corpse field."

Nodding grimly, Priam hardened his hearts. Charity begins at home; he would save his friends before strangers.

Grabbing fleeing survivors, he questioned them one by one, eventually learning that Blueberry had been seen fighting some Snaherts. But none could say where he was now.

"Priam!" Jasmine called. She was holding a child, shaking him like a maraca. The poor kid clutched a bag of marbles for dear life. "This brat saw a giant bear heading off with some Gaeserts!"

"Nice! Let's g—"

An explosion flung Jasmine backward. Priam saw her body arcing toward the poisoned mist and leapt. He caught her in his arms, probing her with Domain. His mouth went dry as he saw blood staining her long black hair. The metallic tang filled his nose.

"Jasmine?" he whispered, terrified by his own helplessness. "Can you hear me?"

"Ow… My head is killing me," she groaned. "And my hand is burning—"

She shrieked. It was the first time Priam had heard her scream like that, and he shivered as realization hit. In Jasmine's clenched hand was still the hand of the child she had questioned. Just the hand. Below the wrist, nothing remained but a mangled, bloodied stump.

Priam looked up, searching for the rest of the boy—but all he saw was a carpet of corpses and formless flesh. The blast had torn through a hundred people, their constitution unable to withstand the blast.

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Without Micro, Priam would have thrown up. Even so, he forced himself to search for the enemy.

The ground was littered with dismembered limbs and bodies torn asunder, except in one place. At the epicenter of the blast, a crater had formed in the midst of the carnage, etched into the charnel floor. Streams of blood were already trickling inward. Standing in the gore, ankle-deep in entrails, were two Tier 3s facing each other.

"You shouldn't have gone after civilians, Viga," said the one with catlike ears. "What, you trying to inbreed us into extinction in two generations?"

"If my clan has no future, then neither will yours," the Snahert replied coldly.

"So that's how it is... You think our leaders are serious?"

In the distance, the battle had quieted. Priam hadn't felt a tremor in several seconds.

"Ophis just ordered us to slaughter everyone who isn't a Snahert. You know what that means."

"It means he's dead. You don't have to follow him into the grave."

The Snahert shrugged. "Either I die today obeying my leader, or I live to watch my great-grandson get butchered and his sister end up as some Aelbe's third wife. I've made my choice," he declared, snapping his arm in a swift motion. Ten meters away, an Aelbe family fleeing Ophis's poisonous cloud collapsed, their three heads severed.

The Aelbe let out a feral hiss and lunged forward. The shockwave sent Priam stumbling back. He twisted to shield Jasmine with his body. [Kinetic Sovereignty] couldn't have stopped the Blade Concept slash that tore deep gouges into his back.

"These fuckers are insane!" Jasmine cursed, watching fifty civilians drop dead. All three clans were represented, a prelude to a massacre. "We have to find Blueberry and the others. Fast."

Priam nodded grimly. This kind of skirmish would soon become the norm. Already, three more duels had broken out. They had to run. Even if no tribe had more than fifty Tier 3s, the banquet had brought most of them together—and this square was about to become no man's land.

Ignoring the pain in his back, Priam scooped Jasmine into a princess carry and started running, hugging the edge of Ophis's poisoned mist. It was a dangerous gambit—one brush with the cloud would kill Jasmine and possibly him—but for that same reason, the Tier 3s kept their distance.

Only one dared to swipe in their direction, casually. Summoning Promesse, Priam gently set Jasmine down and moved to intercept. Micro, his kinetic mastery, and his Heroic Aura all surged to support the motion.

Lvl Up: [Hoplite Parry] lvl 32
STR +3

With a sound like a gong, his spear met the windblade and scattered it. A flash of pain shot up Priam's arm, but he ignored the backlash, glaring defiantly at the attacker. The Snahert raised an eyebrow before recognizing him. A grin crept across his lips, and he turned away from the Champion to pick an easier target.

"Bastard," Priam muttered, lifting Jasmine back into his arms and continuing their escape. Five seconds later, they reached a street dividing Gaesert and Aelbe territory. Kazuki was waiting there, a Tier 1 Aelbe impaled on his spear.

"The Aelbes don't have enough trouble with the Snaherts already?" Priam asked, as behind them, the combat began collapsing buildings. The Tier 3s were losing all restraint.

"It's turned into every clan for itself."

"So it's war."

"Worse. It's chaos. Jasmine?"

"I… I don't think I can walk," she admitted, gritting her teeth. "One hit and I'm out. Fuck."

"Complain later," Kazuki said. "First priority is finding Louis and the others. Priam, stop carrying her. She can hide in your shadow. And you—what about your injuries?"

Priam shrugged, then winced. "Blade Concept's interfering with my regen. Don't worry, I'll manage."

Just then, a massive blade materialized above the square. Priam barely sensed the aura of a Myth before it fell like a guillotine. The impact leveled a city block.

"The Tier 3s are letting loose. We have to go," Kazuki ordered.

Status:

PHYSICAL:
Strength 1 253 (+4)
Constitution 2 083
Agility 1 652
Vitality 2 092
Perception 990

MENTAL:
Vivacity (D) 666

Dexterity 894
Memory 1 152
Willpower 1 298
Charisma 990

META:
Meta-affinity (O) 1 398
Meta-focus 886
Meta-endurance 1 584
Meta-perception 842
Meta-chance 1 089
Meta-authority 768

Potential: 33 696 (+2)
Tier 0

Concepts:

Breath (T0): 100% / Symphony (Harmony before timeskip)

Fire (T0): 100% / Unity

Pyro (T1): 100% / Unity

Mist (T1): 100% / Symphony

Bloodlines:

Phoenix: 6%

Dragon: 3%

Tempering - Fundamental Stage - Heavenly Dragon (Seraph rarity):

Order Gate (Brain)

Soul Gate (Right eye)

Inventory:

Primo Dinosaur Fossil - Earth

Hearthstone

Tempering Trophy (7th Terror)

Memory of a Fae

Colosseum VIP Token

2 die 4 (Priam's boxers)

Trophy Compass

Heart of a Draconic Necro Chimera

Rewards standing:

Affinity Token - Tier 1 (30%)

Talent Token - Upgrade (Seraph)

Revelation Token - Ideal Prerequisites (Epic)

Seed of Potential x1 (2 used during timeskip)

Experience Phantom Advisor - Skill (Epic - 1 hour)

Experience Phantom Advisor - Supremacy (Tier I - 1 hour)

[Tribulation]: Three Tribulations pending.
Future Tribulations delayed until:
Time: 2 months 11 days 10 hours 7 minutes 14 seconds.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 900 / 3 attributes > 1 800 / 1 attribute > 2 100

Next arc already complete on Patreon (58 chaps ahead) if you want to find out what happens next!
https://www.patreon.com/ANovelConcept