Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1894: Before my Pride (6)

Sylas stood to his full height, his gaze indifferent as his armor slowly healed back to its full state. His body didnʼt get the same treatment, but that didnʼt matter to him in the slightest.

The Monkey King stood over half a kilometer from him, high in the skies. But that distance might as well have been a single step to them.

Yet, the Monkey King shifted his weight, resting his staff on his shoulder with a grin on his face.

”Interesting, interesting, interesting.” He laughed. ”Not even the slightest change in expression. I wonder how many times it will take for you to crack? Would it be after you fail to kill me the second time? The third? Could you even make it that far before I strike you down?”

Sylas looked at the Monkey King with the very same indifferent expression. The more he fought, the weaker the effect of the wildness of the Monkey King seemed to have on him. The more he comprehended the armor, the less wild his personality under its effects became, and the more Sylas he was.

It was like by understanding the chaos of the Monkey King, his Will was no longer one that Sylas was so easily influenced by. Instead, it had become another power that Sylas wielded.

Honestly, he was almost grateful.

Almost.

As his lips parted to speak, though, he had no intention of saying such a thing. Instead, he asked something else.

”What level is your Will at? What are the levels between myself and you?”

The Monkey King raised an eyebrow. ”Youʼre asking questions? Thatʼs not exactly very Prideful of you.”

”We have very different definitions,” Sylas said indifferently.

”Maybe so, maybe so,” the Monkey King laughed. ”You are at Fragmented Infinite Will. Above you there is still False Infinite Will, and then True Infinite Will. And then beyond that, there is False Eternal Will, and then True Eternal Will. Then, beyond that, there is Formless Will. Only then can you reach me, who is a step beyond that, at Transcendent Will.”

”And thatʼs what allows you to send your Will into the future?” Sylas asked.

”Indeed. It is.”

”And what about the past? Can you not do that?”

The Monkey Kingʼs head tilted and he smiled before his grin widened, as though understanding Sylasʼ intentions better than even he did.

”Unfortunately for you, that is impossible.”

”Is it?” Sylas asked.

”Indeed, it is. The laws of causality wouldnʼt allow it.”

”It sounds to me, then, that you have False Transcendent Will,” Sylas said slowly.

The Monkey King burst into laughter.

He had never met someone so arrogant in his life. What kind of arrogance did it take to ask someone for the answer to a question, only to then tell them that their understanding of it was too shallow?

Sylas hadnʼt known anything about the topic a few seconds ago, but now he was telling the Monkey King that he just wasnʼt good enough to break rules that had been set since the beginning of the universe itself?

Sylas didnʼt directly respond to the Monkey Kingʼs laughter, though. Instead, he pointed upward.

”Look up.”

He spoke in a voice as calm as the flowing winds, the devastation once wrought by their battle having long faded into the background. It was like there had never been a battle here at all.

The Monkey King thought it might be a trick, but because of his Pride, he looked up anyway. It was almost like he was telling Sylas that if he wanted to use such cheap tricks, he would oblige, because the end result wouldnʼt matter in the slightest anyway.

He could have healed himself from the damage Sylas was causing long ago. He had only sent a small fraction of a fraction of his Will here.

The problem wasnʼt even that he was being damaged, but instead that that sliver of Will was running out of energy.

It could be replied that Sylas had never truly harmed him a single time. He had only sent what he thought was enough Will to deal with Sylas, but Sylas had been impressive enough to improve during their battle, so the Monkey King had to use more Will than he considered he would have had to.

This was impressive, he could admit that. His Pride didnʼt allow him to downplay the achievements of others just to raise himself up.

But that was all it was.

The Monkey King didnʼt care that Sylas was weak. He didnʼt care that Sylas hadnʼt grown yet. He didnʼt care what Sylasʼ particular thoughts of him were either.

All he knew was that he had too many important things to do to allow his Will to be siphoned away into the future like this.

There was war coming, war that even he had to be as prepared for as possible. And he didnʼt care about a future where his descendants didnʼt exist as free as they should.

Sylas was no real descendant of his. He was a fake, a genius who had taken what shouldnʼt be his. And unfortunately for him, he was going to learn the hard way that for some Genes, not only could you not mess with them in the present time, but you also couldnʼt hope to mess around with those from the past, because someone with Transcendent Will just might be enraged enough to act.

However, when the Monkey King finally did look up and saw nothing, he shook his head. He was a bit disappointed.

Though he had resolved to kill Sylas, his impression of Sylas was still pretty good. This was beneath Sylas, though. But he guessed this was what happened when you followed an incorrect path of Pride that insisted you win every battle there was.

The harder you were, the more brittle you were.

The Monkey King looked back toward Sylas, but he didnʼt find the latter suddenly attacking. Instead, Sylas was shaking his head.

”Iʼm not talking to you,” Sylas said calmly.

The Monkey King was confused for a moment, and then his pupils suddenly constricted into pinholes.

At that moment, the Monkey King of the past-the Monkey King seated upon his lofty throne-

Was suddenly forced to look up.

”Impossible, huh? Seems I managed just fine.”