Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1316: Last Hope

Sylas stood there as though the howl was nothing more than a spring breeze. His hair kicked back, his face indifferent, and his emerald Scorpion Warlord Armor hardly flickered even the slightest bit.

It was clear that none here really understood just what Sylas had drawn. Not a single person seemed to have reacted to the perfection of his Armor or even what it meant for him to have it on in the first place. It was like this new Scorpion Warlord Armor existed outside of their ability to comprehend.

There were certainly Scorpion Lineage disciples in the crowd, mixed amongst the thousands, but they didn’t quite understand what they were seeing either. It hardly felt like Sylas was a Scorpion they recognized in the first place.

And before they could even begin to study it, it was like Sylas had already ended the battle.

This time, though... it felt like they might get a chance to watch a real show.

BANG!

Riusar didn’t seem put off by the fact Sylas was unaffected. He was already prepared for it, his body flickering forward in a wild leap that extended his heavy arms well above his head.

His chest roared with his fury and his fists became even heavier, their sides smashing down like hammers from above.

BOOM!

The fists landed on a sphere of defenses, an entire meter from Sylas’ body. He just continued to stand there as though nothing at all had happened, his expression practically dull and lifeless with what looked like boredom, but was actually unprecedented focus.

Incompetent. Everyone and everything around him just felt so completely incompetent.

If only there was a Spark Master to study, he would have already grasped this Armor’s truths. It shouldn’t take him so much effort to decipher it all.

BOOM!

Riusar grew more enraged. As though entering a Berserk state, his power increased further, emotions pooling forth as wild howls continued to emit from his maw.

He smashed his fists down again and again, his body flickering and vanishing in a wild sway that was hard to fathom and follow.

Sylas had already seen through the three capabilities of the Armor. The First Layer should be this wild, unpredictable movement technique... a technique that reminded him almost too much of [Primal Step], which had just evolved once again.

However, it was more complex than just a method of movement. It seemed to also be a method of attack as well. Not only did it make their steps hard to follow, but their wild attack patterns seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them, making them hard to track as well.

The Second Layer carried their Will attack within it. Their howls became laced with their maddened Will, and they could use it to suppress the courage of their opponents.

This layer was also a bit more complicated than it seemed as well because there was a synergy—or a potential synergy—that Sylas could see between it and the First Layer.

If one was calculated enough, it was possible to use their voice and those howls in an array of sorts that matched the wild cadence of their own version of [Primal Step].

Essentially, by timing their howls with specific movement patterns in their movement technique, they could layer the sound waves in such a way that the disorientation was countless times stronger.

It was just that Riusar’s control over this was so pitiful that Sylas barely had to tilt his head from side to side a scant few degrees to eliminate it entirely.

If it wasn’t for the fact Sylas was standing completely still, it was clear that Riusar wouldn’t have nearly the capabilities needed to use this at all.

This was obviously an exceptionally high-level technique, and it probably required crossing into the Essence Mastery boundary before it could be used effectively. But Riusar was still an inch from that. Whether he could perfect his Third Layer enough to allow that would take patience he might not have, considering how the Ape Warlord Armor was already affecting his temperament.

And then there was the Third Layer, the Berserk Layer. But it too was more complicated than that.

Thanks to the Second Layer, it seemed capable of feeding off of the emotions of not just the user, but of the targets and surrounding victims as well.

Essentially, not only did it allow the user to grow stronger based on their own Fury, but also the Fear and angst of the opponents they crushed or were in the process of crushing too.

Now that... that was interesting.

It was no wonder the Ape Warlord Armor was amongst the three strongest. It wasn’t just a matter of how powerful the individual layers of the Armor were, but how they worked together—fed off of one another.

You could confuse your opponent, attack their psyche, and then use that psyche attack to both weaken them further and strengthen yourself.

It all went hand in hand in hand.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The wild attacks of Riusar faded back into being for Sylas and his gaze finally regained a hint of focus.

He was done with studying this man. He wasn’t good enough.

Most of what he had learned were extrapolations—extrapolations he wasn’t quite yet sure were perfect just yet. He needed more samples.

”Piss off.”

BANG!

Riusar’s eyes opened wide as another simple pair of words caused his Armor to explode.

He was sent rocketing back, and if not for Raul, who caught him, he would have landed in the same crater alongside Brenna.

A silence fell over the arena. Was even the likes of Scarval this dominating? But if Sylas was so powerful, then why did he struggle so much against a Scarval who hadn’t even summoned his Warlord Armor?

Confusion settled into their hearts, but the rage of it all was truly beginning to get to the Ape Lineage disciples in the crowd. As one of the four strongest Lineages... they had never before been humiliated like this, and certainly not by a lesser Lineage.

Torin... Torin, the true number one of their generation...

He was the only one that could turn this around. But...

Where was he?