Genetic Ascension

Chapter 730  Return

BANG!

Vaekraʼs foot landed on Sylasʼ back just as she had her foot hooked.

The grappling maneuver sent Vaekra off balance, her body being swept off her feet and sent into the air in one fluid motion. The rebounding power of her own kick had her flailing.

However, the grip Sylas and she both had on her bow kept her from falling entirely.

Her back arched and she pulled, trying to use Sylasʼ grip to pull herself back up, only for Sylas to suddenly violently push.

Vaekra crashed into the ground hard. If not for the soft soil, the damage certainly wouldnʼt have been light.

Without losing her bearings, however, she sent a shin right up toward Sylasʼ crotch.

This time, Sylas was forced to let go, moving his uninjured hand to block her kick.

BANG!

Sylas almost felt his wrist shatter beneath the impact. If not for the reinforcement of the Scorned Wraps, they really would have. But that didnʼt stop him from grabbing her leg and slamming them toward the ground.

Red gold wings appeared to his back and he accelerated in a ground-passing maneuver, forcing Vaekraʼs leg to the side as he mounted her from a side position.

Vaekra tried to sit up but found her bow and arms pinned to her body.

After a single useless struggle, Sylasʼ illusory wings flapped once and Vaekra found her vision spinning.

Sylas gained back-control, his arms wrapping around Vaekraʼs neck and his legs controlling her hips.

A choked spurt of air came from Vaekraʼs lips, veins popping up across her forehead.

From the moment Sylas got close, it was as though she had lost all right to resist. She could already feel her vision going black as the blood flow to her brain had been swiftly cut off.

She didnʼt want to die here… she really didnʼt want to die here…

There was too much she hadnʼt done, too heavy a burden that was still weighing on her shoulders.

However, that Will to live was being savagely suppressed by Sylasʼ Martial Will, Sparked Will, and Demonic Will all at once.

He was like a towering behemoth that crushed her from above.

Her brotherʼs gaze flashed in her eyes. Had she made a mistake coming here? Was it her fault for wasting their last opportunity like this?

She had let down her brotherʼs belief in her.

”No…”

Vaekra drew weak claw marks across Sylasʼ forearms, trying to free her neck.

”No…”

She dug deeper, barely drawing blood. But it was clear that with most of her Physical stats being put into Speed and Dexterity, Constitution and Strength werenʼt her strong suits.
”NO!”

BANG!

Sylasʼ pupils constricted as the danger came out of nowhere, but there wasnʼt any time.

Bone spikes suddenly grew out from Vaekraʼs back, piercing into his chest several millimeters before he was forced to let go of her neck and his Constitution won out. In the end, he was sent flying back instead.

He rolled on the ground, his pupils constricting as he watched bones grow out from Vaekraʼs body in wild patterns.

That was when he remembered something Nosphaleen had said very clearly…

~

”If you run into a Dogon with odd bone growths coming out of them, however… Run the other way.”

~

Vaekra grabbed her head, a banshee-like screech coming from her as a pair of bone wings ripped their way out from her back, shredding her upper garments to pieces.

Runes pulsed into being across these bones like chiseled patterns into jade ivory.

Sylas could feel that Vaekraʼs strength had suddenly pierced through a thin paper veil, exiting on the other side as something that had undergone a complete metamorphosis.

Looking down at his body, Sylas found half a dozen heavily bleeding holes in his chest. He was already gasping for breath. The wound in his leg, left behind by Vesta, was only not slowing him down thanks to his telekinesis. But no amount of telekinesis would help if he was bleeding out.

At some point, it really was too much. Half of him couldnʼt help but wonder if this was really all just a coincidence… or if it was because of the systemʼs distaste for him right now.

Just how many things could possibly go wrong on what was supposed to be a routine recovery mission?

Sylas coughed up a mouthful of blood, wiping it away with a forearm as Vaekra stood.

She turned toward him, bones extending from practically every part of her body. Her gaze was as dark as an abyss, the whites of her eyes having vanished in favor of an endless black.

—

[Vaekra Zyrakhn (???)]

[Level: ???]

—

The sound of his breathing echoed in Sylasʼ ears again. He had already thought it once before. But, he was just…

Tired.

He wasnʼt tired of the constant dance between life and death. Not tired of the injuries or the pain. Not tired of the constant targeting or feeling like the world was against him…

He was tired of the fact he had to face death at all. Tired that he was capable of being injured or feeling pain. Tired that these people and the system dared to target him in the first place.

But in the end… he was still just far too weak.

These were thoughts he wouldnʼt even be having had he not formed Demonic Will.

For as long as he could remember, he was an extremely pragmatic individual. He didnʼt like wasting thoughts on useless matters. What good was this unwillingness and arrogance? Would it make him stronger?

No.

It wouldnʼt.

There was one person at fault for all of it.

But…

It would make him feel better.

These issues he was facing. Every road block, every tweak of chance, every serendipitous twist of fate that weaved together to make his life just that little bit worse…

There was one person at fault for all of it.

Lucius Grimblade.

BANG!

Vaekra suddenly appeared before Sylas, swiping an open palm with a bone blade sticking out from the center of it toward his neck.

But Sylas didnʼt move.

BANG!

The Basilisk Kingʼs tail sent Vaekra flying into the distance.

Sylas turned his gaze toward the Basilisk King, frowning when he noticed several bones sticking out of its body. Obviously, that tail whip hadnʼt come without a price.

”Letʼs go.”

Sylas put the Basilisk King away, catching Vesta as she fell out of the skies.

With a swift motion, he summoned the Violet Rose Peacock, wrapping it in his telekinesis and shooting off toward the tunnels.

In the distance, Vaekraʼs body pinballed through the forest before her bouquet of bones lodged themselves into a particularly thick tree.

She tried to pull herself out, but it was obvious that she was having trouble properly controlling her new abilities.

By the time she managed to pull away from the tree, Sylas was gone.

…

The night air wasnʼt as cool as it should have been with the billowing heat from the Portal.

Sylas stood on the peacockʼs back in silence.

There was a deep dissatisfaction within himself that he couldnʼt easily get rid of. He had accomplished so much, and yet felt like it was still so little.

But in the end, he had felt it… he just couldnʼt hold on anymore. His body had hit a wall his Will couldnʼt drag him past.

He was proven correct very soon.

The moment the peacock zoomed out of city limits with the support of Sylasʼ telekinesis more than tripling its Speed, the last bit of Sylasʼ Will blinked out.

His vision swam and he collapsed onto the peacockʼs back. Down below, Vestaʼs paralyzed body hung from a long vine that wrapped her up tightly.

However, if one paid any sort of attention to the peacockʼs direction, it became clear that upon re-entering Paradise, Sylas wasnʼt returning to Casstle Main at all.

He was returning to the Grimblades.

A murderous aura billowed from Sylasʼ unconscious body, the dense blackness causing Vestaʼs pupils to tremble with fear.