Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2402: Cheeky

Sylas barely reacted to the second pillar of light rising from the Beast Sanctum, though the fury spilling down through the cracks to the God Plane made it obvious that whoever stood on the other side had reacted quite differently.

Elara appearing here wasn’t entirely unexpected either, since one of the reasons Sylas had left Nosphaleen outside the World of Spirits was to support his sister if the situation ever reached that point, though it seemed Elara had managed to become a much larger problem than even he expected.

From the moment the five Representative Wills began converging, Sylas had sensed that four of them were unusually clear, their paths carrying enough definition that even without reading Fate directly, he could feel where the pressure was coming from.

The fifth had always been different, related enough to the others that Sylas knew it belonged here, yet murky in a way that made its eventual owner difficult to grasp. Elara taking one of the seats had changed that balance completely.

It was less like she had entered a path waiting for her and more like she had reached into the possibilities surrounding the fifth position and severed several of them at once. The result wasn’t much different from what the woman above had attempted moments ago, when she tried to control the narrative surrounding Sylas tightly enough that only the future she wanted would remain possible.

As Sylas had already told her, though, the only person allowed to write his story was himself.

And the moment that thought settled, his Champion Will roared.

There was no dramatic explosion at first, only an invisible wave that spilled from Sylas and continued expanding until the surrounding World of Spirits seemed to become dense with his presence.

The air grew heavier, the rainbow light warped around him, and even the residual image of the Milky Way hanging across the skies seemed to gain weight as though the world had accepted that everything Sylas just revealed was only the smallest visible portion of something much larger.

Tomoe’s expression changed.

She felt it first as pressure against her skin, then as winds battering against her Will from every direction, except there was no actual wind for her to cut apart. Sylas’ existence itself had become so thick and complete that even her Formless Will struggled to slip between the gaps, finding fewer and fewer spaces where his presence wasn’t already waiting for her.

Her pupils constricted.

Champion Will.

Tomoe knew enough about it to understand what she was feeling, but understanding only created more questions. Just how much Karma had Sylas accumulated from the Champion Knight by now, and how could a C-tier possibly have gathered enough for his Will to feel like this?

More importantly, how much of his story had he not told them?

Tomoe’s grip tightened around the Executioner’s Blade as another thought followed, one strange enough that even her excitement stalled for a moment. Sylas had apparently possessed access to this power for some time, and yet rather than dragging the story of his accomplishments behind him everywhere he went and feeding upon the recognition, he had simply ignored it.

This wasn’t patience, certainly not the same patience that she, Rhykan, and Januar had displayed. It was complete and utter disregard.

He had been walking around with a mountain of Karma waiting only for the world to understand why it belonged to him, yet hadn’t cared enough to explain himself until someone tried to turn that silence into a weapon. The sheer arrogance of it sent another thrill through Tomoe, and the solemnity in her expression began collapsing under a growing grin.

Sylas moved before she could attack.

One step carried him forward, yet his body seemed to phase through reality rather than cross the distance normally. Space rippled around him without forming a true fold, his figure appearing once, twice, then nowhere at all before emerging much closer to the Beast Sanctum.

Tomoe swung immediately.

Her blade crossed the afterimage he had left behind while Sylas continued forward, the weight of his Champion Will disrupting her Formless Will just enough that her sword arrived a fraction too late. That fraction was all Sylas needed.

Farther away, Januar finally stopped watching.

Unlike Tomoe, he had never forgotten why they were here in the first place, and the moment the second throne was claimed he understood that continuing to spectate would become increasingly foolish.

His fountain pen appeared beneath him, expanding until he stood upon it with his trench coat fluttering behind him, then it shot toward one of the remaining paths fast enough that the surrounding light stretched into lines.

Sylas sensed it but didn’t slow.

Another presence entered his path instead.

Silver-blue radiance exploded through the air as Meikai Azurex descended from above, her sapphire-white scales glowing with the heat of a compressed star while enormous wings of solar-flare-like energy unfolded behind her.

The sight would have been far more oppressive if she had access to the full slate of abilities expected of a God, but the restrictions of the World of Spirits and the limits pressed down on her just as surely as they did everyone else.

”You.”

Meikai’s voice carried enough anger that Sylas almost found it nostalgic.

She attacked without another word, space distorting around her as the silver-blue heat condensed into a sweeping current meant to cut Sylas away from the path ahead. Somewhere beneath that fury was the humiliation of their last battle, the memory of being left alive at Gogo’s request, and the shadow Sylas’ story had only just forced her to tear from her Will.

Sylas didn’t stop.

The fused scythe and brush moved once.

Meikai’s eyes widened as the stroke reached her before the weapon seemed to move, a black line appearing across the radiant field surrounding her. Her solar wings split first, then the defensive Will coating her body followed, and by the time she tried to pull away the curved blade had already torn across her side.

Blood scattered through the rainbow skies like droplets of burning silver.

Meikai was thrown downward, her enormous body tumbling through the air while several scales shattered from the force. The wound wasn’t enough to kill her, but it carved deep enough through her defenses that the impact alone left her struggling to stabilize herself before the distant mountains rushed up to meet her.

Sylas had already passed, but a pillar of light suddenly erupted ahead.

Januar had arrived first.

The historian settled onto one of the remaining thrones with his typewriter resting across his lap, glancing toward Sylas with a small smile that suggested he found the timing far more amusing than he should have.

Sylas reached the next path moments later.

The Will surrounding it resisted for only an instant before recognizing him, and the throne formed beneath him as another pillar of light tore into the skies.

Not too far away, Elara leaned against the arm of her own throne and watched the new light appear, her smile brightening in a cheeky grin. She seemed very self-satisfied with this result, her gaze glowing with achievement as though her brother’s success was also her own.