Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1259: How [Bonus]

Sylas stood without much of a word, scanning the situation in front of him.

The Duchess. The Duke. The Archer. And then there was a fourth he didn’t know much about.

”You...” the Duchess barely got the words out when Sylas had already acted.

The Hibernation Realm sparked into existence, three looming figures appearing from high above and slamming down toward the Duke, the Archer, and the fourth unknown figure.

Sylas’ mouth opened, and before the Duke could say anything, he spoke out his name in Ancient Ithkuil.

The first time Sylas had done this, he did so on a whim, unsure how well he would be able to do it. When Gogo spoke out his name the first time, it had felt like he was hearing the Runes of a language far more ancient than Ancient Ithkuil piercing into his mind.

Recalling that memory, something clicked for him. A True Name wasn’t just a name—it was meaning distilled into Will, a condensing of a far greater meaning into syllables and words.

Speaking out a True Name the normal way was easy enough, and the translation of the Duchess’ words to him was simple enough. However, he could feel that there was a filter.

He assumed that there was a better way to use a True Name, maybe a special technique or method that only the best of Demon hunters would have. But Sylas didn’t have that, and he almost certainly couldn’t afford to ask the Madness Key about it if a True Name was already something that only the Noblest of Demons could have in the first place.

So he found his own solution.

Through Ancient Ithkuil, speaking out the name made it so that it was projected from his Will itself. And because of that, he could link the words he spoke with his True Pride Seed. Like this, his ability to suppress the Duke in specific was orders of magnitude greater.

All of a sudden, the Duke found himself frozen in place while Sylas triggered the Beast Totem.

In a single bound, the three Demonic Emperors were bolstered by 60%. Already having been at the very limits of the E-Grade, the sudden boost made them nigh untouchable.

BANG!

Demonic Blue Emperor crushed the Duke into minced meat.

No one had even been able to react just yet, but Sylas had struck first, and he struck lethally.

He could already feel that the Duke was beginning to regenerate. The abilities of the Sanguara, even without their True Blood, seemed to be truly shocking.

Unfortunately for him, he would never get the chance.

There was a pulse of space, and all of a sudden, the bits and pieces of the Duke’s body were scattered across the battle—spread so far and wide that the Demonic Will keeping them together could only try and link again, only to fail.

It tried again.

And then again.

And then again once more.

Before it all died out.

The Duke was dead.

A single line spoken. A single attack used.

And just like that, their group of four became three once more.

The Sanguara had been about to take action, but they stood there, shell-shocked.

The Archer was battered away, all the bones in his body shattering to pieces.

The unnamed Sanguara was thrown away just as easily.

By that point, the Demonic Blue Emperor had already recovered. Under Sylas’ command, rather than rushing the Duchess, it shot off into the distance, chasing after the unnamed Sanguara along with the Demonic Green Emperor.

Like this, the only one that remained anywhere near Sylas was the Duchess herself.

Even now, she hadn’t moved. Shell-shocked and feeling a little broken, she didn’t know what to say or do.

Staring at Sylas, who held another woman in his arms—a woman who was almost certainly the Golden Champion from the aura she was feeling—her mind was blank.

How... had this happened?

She couldn’t even understand how Sylas was still alive, let alone how her father had died in the blink of an eye.

Wait, how had Sylas even made it in here when there was a barricade outside? It couldn’t be that—

Her eyes widened.

Were they all as good as dead?

Her shock became unwillingness. And her unwillingness turned to rage.

Was this all her fault?

She couldn’t understand how, but somehow she knew that her actions had led to this moment.

She clenched her fists, a red aura radiating out from her as her vast stores of blood practically boiled over. The power she was radiating increased by onefold, then two, then three, then more.

It didn’t seem like her body had a limit at all. Her fair skin didn’t even pulse with the slightest hint of vascularity. It was like her body wasn’t straining in the slightest.

In a blink, her power had already shot beyond what an E-tier should even reasonably have, crossing into D-tier, and then quickly approaching C.

Maybe to the Sanguara at their peak, this power was only natural for an E-tier to have. But to the Sector they were currently in... this power was seemingly already approaching what it would take to rank alongside Gralith.

A shocking power, indeed. And more proof of the gap between the Races and starting positions.

It was unfortunate that none of it mattered.

Like Sylas had said... he wouldn’t need his hands at all.

BANG!

The Duchess was faster than reason, space bending around her as she seemed to appear before Sylas in a single instant.

SHUUU!

Her fist didn’t seem to carry any sort of noise to it at all. Instead, a vacuum of space formed around it, swallowing everything.

She thought a strike like this would be able to obliterate the entire world, let alone Sylas.

Yet, she realized too late that rather than appearing before Sylas, she hadn’t even moved forward. In fact, she had been sent backward, the power of her fist vanishing in front of her and—

BANG!

Her back exploded, her eyes widening as she looked toward Sylas in despair for a moment.

”... How?”

The power erupted in her, and she shattered into a rain of blood and gore.

Sylas watched this in silence, blood leaking from his eyes as they began to pulse wildly, threatening to dim.