Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1699 Fanelei (2) [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to Tommy_C_6117 :)]

Fanelei stared at the Madness Key on the ground as though her body had been completely stripped down, chained in place, restricted to the point of imprisonment.

Sylas slowly walked forward until he towered over her, not bothering to look at the Gluttony Madness Key again. Quite frankly, it was next to useless to him now that he had the Pride Madness Key. Much of the restrictions other Madness Disciples faced, he no longer had.

And that was the key to it all, now wasnʼt it?

The Madness Sect wasnʼt exactly a simple doctrine to follow. The little girl-or, rather, Fanelei-had made that quite clear in the past. Why was she in the Madness Key to begin with?

She had said it quite clearly. It was because she had failed. That was the fate of all Madness Disciples who didnʼt manage to reach the pinnacle.

But the Analei were unique, now werenʼt they? When they died, so long as they werenʼt on their last life, they didnʼt well and truly die, now did they?

The question was... would the Madness Key feel like Analei should get off scot-free?

Somehow, Sylas highly doubted that. And judging by Analeiʼs reaction, she knew that all too well, too.

”Youʼve been hushed for a long time,” Sylas stated. ”I was wondering why that was. Then I was pretty sure it was because you sensed me from the Pride Virtue. To you, Iʼm no longer a Madness Disciple climbing up the ranks, I am the Official Disciple of Pride.

”When I was only a Tier 6 Disciple, you still had breathing room. But the moment I crossed into the threshold of Official Disciple, the odds of your real body being sensed increased severalfold.”

Fanelei slowly looked up at Sylas. ”You donʼt usually talk this much. What is your angle?”

Sylas slowly pulled something out.

[Affiliation Erasure (???) (Template)][Eliminate an Affiliation of any organization with a City Stele beneath the Grade 1 Common Kingdom level][Uses: 3/3] —

Fanelei recognized what it was immediately, and at first she didnʼt understand why Sylas would take something like that out-until her heart skipped a beat.

She took a breath and forced herself to calm.

”I doubt that Template is very high level. Do you have any idea what tier the Weaver Guild is at? Are you under the impression that you can get rid of it so easily? Maybe if you were a normal disciple it would work, but youʼre a Legacy Disciple now. Any breaking of a relationship will be even more scrutinized by the system.”

”Maybe,” Sylas replied calmly. ”But...”

Clank.

The Scorned Wraps on Sylasʼ right arm separated from his body, hovering around his wrist and forearm as though they had gained a life of their own.

”What do you think the Virtue Pride Madness Key has given me?”

Fanelei was the one who taught Sylas about the real use of the Scorned Wraps. But she had no scope of what a Virtue Disciple was capable of-least of all an Official Virtue Disciple.

How would she know whether Sylas could do even more than she knew now?

If he used the Scorned Wrapsʼ ability to obscure the systemʼs sight and the Template at the same time, he just might get away with it.

Of course, Fanelei might know that with the previous state of his Scorned Wraps, they werenʼt high enough tier to allow that. But she had no idea what level the Scorned Wraps were at currently, or what other secrets he might be hiding.

What Sylas had proved just now was that he was capable of taking the unequipable Scorned Wraps off whenever he wanted. In fact, he had already proven that by tossing the Gluttony Madness Key at her feet.

The fact he could take it off in the first place proved everything that needed to be proven.

Of course, Sylas was bluffing. The Virtue Madness Key had been the only thing he gained, aside from his ability to separate from the Scorned Wraps at will. But this didnʼt prove why Faneleiʼs expression was slowly becoming more and more somber.

Her action to save Sylas had left her completely vulnerable. She had forced the system to act by making him her Legacy Disciple. But that also meant that if the system was brought back into the fold-this time to act as the agent of separation between the two of them-every action taken until now would be scrutinized by the system.

Fanelei had said it herself. Sylas wasnʼt a normal disciple. If he took action to separate, it would be observed by the system quite slowly.

Whereas usually the system might gloss over certain things, it would go into the details this time... details that would unravel the destruction of Faneleiʼs Madness incarnation.

Sylas would get away with it because he still had the protection of the Scorned Wraps. They would insulate him.

But Fanelei clearly no longer had her own.

The worst part?

Sylas didnʼt even need to succeed.

In exchange for Demerits, he only had to make the attempt.

The moment Fanelei was exposed, it wouldnʼt just be a matter of Demerit for her.

She would be wiped from existence just like the Thryskai Demi-God Clan had been.

And it wouldnʼt be that simple either.

Sylas had sensed it very clearly back then. The Analei Ancestral Lands had reacted to her taking him in as a Legacy Disciple.

This meant that so long as Sylas took the smallest action, he would have not just the death of a Demi-God Clan, but a Quasi Demi-God Clan on his hands.

All without hardly lifting a finger.

The moment Fanelei saw the Madness Key clang to her feet, she realized the sort of predicament she was in.

She had actually been cornered by a child.

Sylas had said he had 70% assurance. But the way he scaled things and the way others did were vastly different. In reality, if he said something was 70% assured, it might as well have been better than 90% odds.

There were only so many things Fanelei could do to avoid her entire Clan being wiped out by her own hand.

Before Fanelei could answer, both Sylas and her looked down, their pupils constricting.

The Gluttony Madness Key vibrated, glowing a gentle red.

It sensed a Gluttony Disciple Candidate nearby.