Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2393: Arrogant

”Don’t get distracted.”

Tomoe’s voice reached Sylas at the same time as her blade, the Executioner’s Sword stretching through the air in a flowing arc that seemed to drag an entire river of Sword Will behind it.

Sylas shifted one step backward, and the edge passed close enough to split the ground beneath his feet without touching him, his movement so clean that it looked less like a reaction and more like something decided before Tomoe ever swung.

She didn’t seem to care about the Beast Emperor Sanctum in the slightest, which suited Sylas well enough, but his own priorities had already changed. He had spent far too long preparing for this moment to let himself be dragged into an endless battle simply because Tomoe happened to be entertaining, and whatever excitement she had awakened in him didn’t outweigh the importance of what was happening at the center of this world.

Besides, Tomoe had already signed her death warrant the moment she spoke about killing Cassarae, which meant there was no reason to rush the conclusion now.

Sylas extended one hand behind him, palm facing toward the distant battlefield they had left behind.

Far away, his scythe ripped itself from the ground.

Several geniuses had gathered around it and the calligraphy brush over the last half hour, convinced that Sylas had abandoned two priceless treasures after being dragged deeper into his fight with Tomoe.

None of them had managed to move either weapon more than a fraction, yet greed had kept them pulling, prying, and layering techniques over the hilts until the moment Sylas finally called one back.

The scythe shot upward and bodies exploded around it.

Those closest were torn apart before they understood what had happened, limbs and blood scattering through the ruined forest as the scythe accelerated across the enormous distance toward Sylas. He hadn’t even realized they were there until the weapon began moving, and even then their deaths barely occupied enough of his attention to form a complete thought.

Tomoe laughed when she saw it coming.

Her sword changed directions immediately, slashing toward the approaching scythe with a casual confidence. She could cut matter, Aether, Runes, Will, and even spatial disturbances when they entered her range, so a weapon trying to bend space around her attack should have been no different.

The scythe curved. Space folded through several overlapping angles at once, the weapon disappearing from one path before appearing through another and then twisting through a third layer hidden beneath both. Tomoe’s sword still moved with flawless precision, but for the first time since their battle began, her missed in the truest sense.

Her eyes widened as the scythe slapped into Sylas’ palm.

Tomoe looked toward the distortion she had just attacked, then toward Sylas’ weapon, and the confusion on her face only lasted a moment before understanding followed. Spatial affinities were so rare that most who possessed them relied on simple advantages, teleportation, distance manipulation, folding, or raw spatial pressure, but Sylas had buried his movement beneath enough layered relationships that Tomoe had actually cut the wrong space.

Her grin became feverish again.

Sylas’ aura changed the moment his fingers closed around the scythe.

The world seemed to moan beneath its weight, not from some sudden increase in raw pressure, but from the way his Will, Rune Mastery, and weapon aligned into something far more complete than what Tomoe had been fighting until now. Even the grey and black domain surrounding her trembled slightly as the scythe’s edge passed through the air.

”So you were still holding back.”

Tomoe’s power bloomed in response.

The Executioner’s Blade stretched until it seemed to become the length of a river, Sword Will flowing around its edge in a vast silver current while the world beneath it began separating before the strike had even landed. Tomoe brought it down with both hands, her grin widening as the slash threatened to divide the landscape from horizon to horizon.

Sylas spun the scythe once and then he met her head-on.

The curved blade passed through Tomoe’s Sword Will as though it wasn’t there.

Her eyes snapped wide as the silver current split apart, the structure she had built around the strike unraveling in a single sweep before Sylas’ scythe struck the Executioner’s Blade itself.

The impact ran through Tomoe’s arms hard enough that her grip nearly failed, and instinct forced her to leap backward before the rest of Sylas’ momentum could reach her body.

Tomoe blasted through several distant ridges, her body uncontrollably shooting back as she looked down at her sword, then toward Sylas, already understanding what had happened.

He had read the emotion and structure of her Will. Then he cut through the part that held it together. Had Tomoe tried to stand her ground, the same strike would likely have torn most of the right side of her body apart.

By the time she looked up again, Sylas was already leaving, and she was still struggling to stop the momentum properly.

He stepped toward the risen Beast Emperor Sanctum, his attention shifting briefly toward Januar, who still stood at the edge of the devastated battlefield with his hands behind his back. Sylas gave him one indifferent glance before opening his free hand.

The calligraphy brush ripped itself from the earth.

Januar’s eyes narrowed. Only then did he realize that Sylas had known exactly what he was doing when he left the brush behind.

He had been baiting him.

Januar stared at Sylas’ back for several seconds, genuinely unsure whether to laugh or become offended. He had never met someone arrogant enough to leave a treasure like that lying around as bait while fighting Tomoe of all people, especially when Sylas had apparently been watching closely enough to know whether Januar would make a move for it.

”Let’s go, Yamero.”

Sylas’ voice remained calm.

The sky split apart as a massive serpent pierced downward from above, spatial Runes dancing across Yamero’s body while the world folded around him in overlapping layers. Sylas stepped alongside him, and the two accelerated toward the central palace where Fanelei and the others had appeared.

**

Fanelei watched as Wills gathering from every direction, her face slowly tightened.

Every person appearing in this place seemed more monstrous than the last, and the pressure surrounding the newly risen Sanctum had already gone far beyond anything she had expected when this began.

Fanelei exhaled through her teeth.

They were screwed.