Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2005: Necks

After just a single exchange, Sylas could see what level of genius he was facing here. Riqo and Ziel were definitely strong, and this was nowhere near their limits.

Ziel had summoned his Skai Eye, but that was a precautionary measure. He had barely used a percentage or two of it from what Sylas could tell.

As for Rigo, he hadnʼt even summoned his yet. As for the explosive power in those fat cells of his, he had only used a small portion of it. The rest of it he had brought forth for the sake of defense, expecting that Sylasʼ attack would have some great trick to it.

There was no trick. He just wanted to battle them and see where his limits lay.

But ironically enough, he, too, had held back in that exchange. It was time to kick it up a notch.

Sylas exhaled a breath and Madness activated. His Will improved by a factor of 50 and an emerald glow coated him from head to toe.

And yet, he hardly seemed finished.

Mixed Chaotic Arts.

The two Comprehensions layered atop one another, oppressively sapping at Sylasʼ Will as though it thought it was endless. And yet, there it was... Perfectly balanced.

Sylas took a step forward and both Thryskai froze. They knew this was it. This was Sylasʼ confidence.

What was that Will? How could an E-tier have it? It had to be at least 10 figures deep.

An E-tier with a Will over a billion? How was that possible?

But what was that other power? It seemed to encompass the chaos of the world, and yet it was so ordered, so structured, so refined. It felt like it could see through anything in a single sitting.

And then Sylas moved.

Riqo and Ziel never thought that they would assign the words grace and elegance to a man, but there was simply no other way to describe Sylas.

When he slipped by a streak of flames sent by Ziel and appeared before Riqo, his blade danced with wild abandon, meeting a single downward stroke of the rotund man with four blows in return.

Two dinged against the left of the hammer, sending it right. The third dinged against a corner, sending it down and right. The last dinged against the very top, smashing it so firmly into the ground formed of Sylasʼ creation that it didnʼt seem like it would ever be able to pull itself free.

Sylas spun by Riqoʼs strike as though it hadnʼt even been there at all, landing a palm against the latterʼs chest.

BOOM.

Riqo felt like the world had descended against him and he was sent flying back, the rippling fat over his body exuding a golden light as he was quickly repaired and the damage mitigated.

Ziel sent another streak of fire, and then another, but Sylas had cut down at seemingly empty space.

All of a sudden, atoms that Zielʼs flames were about to fuse and combust missed by a tiny gap, causing them to explode before they reached their target. The delicate balance Ziel was forming was so perfectly countered by Sylas he almost stood in abject awe.

But then Sylas burst through the flames and cut down at his head.

Ziel quickly unsheathed a pair of sabers, crossing them before himself.

Sylasʼ scythe twisted and seamlessly transitioned into a hook. It cracked the two sabers apart from one another as though opening a can of beer and yanked one out.

Ziel almost lost his blade entirely and fought to maintain his balance, but his lowered blade gave Sylas the perfect opening to erupt with a roundhouse kick to the side of his head.

Ziel quickly unsheathed a pair of sabers, crossing them before himself.

Sylasʼ scythe twisted and seamlessly transitioned into a hook. It cracked the two sabers apart from one another as though opening a can of beer and yanked one out.

Ziel almost lost his blade entirely and fought to maintain his balance, but his lowered blade gave Sylas the perfect opening to erupt with a roundhouse kick to the side of his head.

Riqo launched himself back into the battle, only for Ziel to tumble across his landing spot. Finding his momentum completely stifled, Riqo couldnʼt even properly react to Sylasʼ follow up strike, let alone the second, and then the third, and then the fourth after.

Sylas was controlling the battlefield as though they were pawns to spar with rather than the powerhouses that they

were.

His eyes ripped through their abilities and saw them down to the barest Runes that formed them, and then he countered them faster than they could understand, ripping them apart and shredding their very being into pieces.

It felt like he wasnʼt just fighting with them, he was tearing down their pride, their honor, every bit of self- confidence that they had built up in their lives until this moment.

Sylas reached up to the peak they stood upon and tore them down.

They were worthless in his eyes and he was showing them all brick by brick, strike by strike, one counter after another.

And yet, he hadnʼt drawn blood on a single one of them.

They fought with their lives at stake but not one of them had felt true pain...

Until Sylas erupted into a dance of death.

Blood spurted and cries filled the air. The retainers shouted but found that they couldnʼt even move from their spots.

It was like they were watching the Dance of a Grim Reaper, a man who held all their lives in his hands as he stood at the pinnacle of the world.

The geniuses their Thryskai were so proud of, people that Sylas could supposedly only look up to at some point in the past... Were absolutely worthless before him now. They were worth not a single thing in his eyes, and in truth... they never had been.

Sylas was chasing after something else, that ceiling that hung above his head, that streak of lightning that sought to command and control him.

He would never allow it.

That thing even he wasnʼt 100% sure he could beat, he needed to see it himself, he wanted to face it.

And he had a feeling that whatever the Gods were so occupied with dealing with just might remarkably well have to do with precisely this.

BANG. BANG.

Riqo and Ziel fell to their knees. With a hand hovering above their heads, Sylas controlled chains that pulled taut on their necks.