Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1032  Essence

The sparks flew across the hard lines of Sylasʼ face, dancing into his hair and splintering into a rain of chaos. He moved not like the wind, but akin to bolts of fury falling down from the skies.

He could feel that Throne more clearly now than ever before, and all of a sudden, he could sense the 80 Foundation Glassvolt Rune floating up before him, before it shattered to form a 90 Foundation one.

His blood boiled, his control reaching another level as every fiber of his being focused on his steps.

A second 90 Foundation Glassvolt Rune took shape, and then he felt them growing closer and closer to one another.

The outline of a Scorpion Warlord Armor sparked into being around Sylas. He didnʼt try to form it, but something deep within triggered it all on its own.

BOOM!

Sylas blazed down the trail of gold.

The golden foliage to the side tried to reach toward him, but green and violet had begun to practically ooze out of him, the panels of the Scorpion Warlord Armor piecing themselves together.

It was just the first layer, and yet it felt so much more powerful than usual, as though it had stepped onto a completely new path.

Tendrils of gold began to creep into it, and the black seeped out from Sylas. They intertwined with one another into a mass of savagery that ripped through everything.

Sylasʼ tail flickered again and again. This time, the Runes shattered from over two kilometers away, beams of light crossing from Sylasʼ tail toward them and shattering them to complete pieces.

There was a relentless fervor to Sylasʼ movements, as though he wouldnʼt be satisfied if he stopped accelerating for even a moment. Even if he wasnʼt becoming just the slightest increment faster, he wanted it.

It was a pride surfacing from deep within, a pride he had felt when he faced off against the Rune Mastery Secret Realm.

But this time, it seemed to have more to do with Poison than any sort of Rune Mastery. The Rune challenges in this Secret Realm were so blatantly easy to him that he didnʼt even think about it.

It was something else that was attacking his psyche…

How could a Poison stronger than his own be allowed to exist? In this case, he was ruler of Poisons, he stood above them all. Whether in body or in mind, he was superior.

Flashes of a malevolent light came from Sylas as the roar of a Scorpion was practically peeled out of him. Sharp bolts of lightning shattered the roads around him, the branches, leaves, and foliage that attempted to reach toward him tearing themselves to pieces just getting close.

The two Runes before Sylas seemed to be growing closer and closer together, their 90 Foundations seemingly having both a magnetic and repulsive character to them, as though they were meant to be together and yet had no understanding of how to manage it.

Sylas seemed to forget about the world he was in, forget about the challenge that lay before him, forget about the Runes manifesting with every intent of turning him into a golden statue.

His irises began to spin in relation to his pupils. He knew he was close, just the slightest bit more, just a little bit extra…

And then heʼd be there.

At that moment, both Runes suddenly unraveled, their Strokes and Foundations becoming bits and pieces of swirling energy in the world.

Sylas pushed against the energy with his Will, embodying that Throne of Glass in the skies, sitting high above as stormed lightning attempted to corral it.

He felt the defiance, the arrogance, the disregard for even the clouds it sat around itself.

That essence… Sylas knew it intimately.

Back then, he had had a choice… to build his Throne of Glass on the hardship of those before him, or to disregard it all and build up his own path forward.

He had chosen the latter, and every moment since then, he hadnʼt regretted it for a single instant.

He didnʼt want to rely on others. Even for his loved ones, he wanted to be the one that carried all of their burdens for them. He wanted to be that existence in the skies that could be indifferent to even the Wrath of the All-Seeing Eye…

To reflect that fury to the world and yet be indifferent to it himself.

To Be Strong.

BOOM!

The road shattered to pieces the next time Sylas took a step forward. The Gold folded and broke apart. Sylasʼ Will had suddenly blown by it, not allowing it to maintain its form or substance.

Right then, the Strokes of the two Unraveled Runes pulsed back into being. Under Sylasʼ Will, they knew what form they should take naturally, they understood their place in the world beneath his guidance.

Much like when Sylas sensed the essence of the Scorpion through its Blood Essence, allowing him to draw its Runes to perfection, he did it again…

This time all on his own.

It wasnʼt the same defiance that the Basilisk King had had, it was something deeper than that.

It was a true arrogance.

Defiance acknowledged your weakness.

Arrogance saw your weakness and didnʼt believe in it, it kept pressing forward until whatever was in front of it shattered to pieces or you did…

It cut off the nose to spite the face.

The true essence of what it meant to be a Scorpion.

It wasnʼt smart because it didnʼt have to be. If its arrogance was overwhelmed by the challenge it faced, then it would just die.

So what about it?

Take its limb, take its tail, an eye, a panel in its armor, its heart, its head.

It didnʼt matter.

It would scratch and claw for everything even if it meant it would breathe out its last.

BOOM!

The Strokes became Foundations.

BOOM!

The Foundations fused into one chorus, a harmonious resonance painting across the skies until even the Gold seemed entirely too dull.

And then it appeared.

A Glassvolt Rune with 99 Foundations.