Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1942: Stat Asymmetry

The Hydra realized what was happening too late. In one moment, it was just about to completely swallow Gogoʼs Will and take over his body. And in the next, it felt like it saw the gaze of the reaper.

”No!”

Its Will was instantly split in two, sucked away into the very blade that ripped it to shreds.

Sylasʼ Grim Blade solidified from its previously illusory form just as he landed softly on the ground. His bones didnʼt so much as rattle.

”No! Stop! Stop! Stop!” the roars of the Hydra were endless, but it was continuously ripped apart, step by step, moment by moment.

It felt every inch of its life being ripped unceremoniously from it. It was like it was back in the belly of the World Serpent, fighting and clawing for every chance to survive.

But it had sacrificed too much of itself to accelerate Gogoʼs evolution, and then even more when it made a move to swallow Gogo in hopes of taking over the body.

It was an S-tier, it couldnʼt just easily take over an E-tier body no matter how broken the lineage it shared was. But it also couldnʼt just easily reverse its tier on a whim either.

Because of that, the Hydra had to use its own special abilities, splitting its Will continuously as only a Hydra could do. On the one hand, this split it across Gogoʼs body so that it could more efficiently accelerate the healing, but on the other every time a refinement was complete it lost another part of itself in sacrifice.

It didnʼt care about this before because it would eventually whittle it down until Gogoʼs body would withstand its presence as its new owner.

But in action, it took only a single swipe of Sylasʼ scythe to end everything.

And as Sylas devoured the Hydra, weaving lines of his flesh began to appear in the world once more, layering him almost as though he was being knitted together by Fate rather than brought back to life.

”Let me go! Let me go! FEAR ME, BOY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I CAN DO TO YOU!”

Sylasʼ deadpan expression returned as his eyes and face were fully reformed. It was like he simply couldnʼt hear the Hydra at all.

All things considered, this worked out about as he expected. The only variable he hadnʼt quite accounted for was how perfectly it could work. But for that, he had to thank the Ruby Ouroboros for forming an ability as broken as Bloodburn.

Sylas had used Semi-Fusion, taking the skill for his own usage just before the Hydra killed him. But the thing about Bloodburn was that it practically sacrificed your life in exchange for immediate potential.

Sylas was someone whose future self had faced off against the Monkey King. So just how much potential was he burning in a single go?

Too much to measure.

It was as Sylas had said, though. One of the reasons he chose the Ruby Finger Serpent was because of stat asymmetry.

As much as people talked about the importance of singular stats, in reality, it wasnʼt all that easy to separate them. That was why they were branched into categories.

What good was great Strength or Speed without Constitution? If your knuckles were as soft as clouds, did it matter how hard you punched? And if you couldnʼt withstand the force of your feet stomping against the ground, could you really run that fast?

It wasnʼt often thought of, but Sprinters were power athletes. The harder the force they generated from striking the ground, the faster they went.

However, everything needed a balance. What great was Strength or Speed without Dexterity? How you coordinated your limbs, your form, your timing, could very well dictate your max weight lift. Any sprinter could tell you the importance of form and it hardly needed to be expounded upon.

How you used your body, its flexibility, everything was too important. It all meshed into one.

Mental Stats only got more complicated.

In the end, the summary of it all was that it was almost impossible to rely on just one powerful stat. If the others were too weak, the others would plummet off a cliff... Except for the Ruby Finger Serpent, apparently.

Of its Physical stats, probably 90% of it was Speed. Everything else had plummeted off a cliff.

Given how fast its Speed was in relation to everything else, it should die even if it used half of its speed. The G- forces its body experienced in accelerating and turning alone should have shredded it apart.

And yet it was here, alive and well.

There was something unique about the evolution of the Ruby Finger Serpent that couldnʼt easily be explained with Sylasʼ knowledge, and that intrigued him.

Somehow, the creature had formed a body around a single stat that managed to not need the others to give it its power at all.

Taken to its logical extreme... this felt little different from a break in causality.

Stats should have been a constant chicken and the egg situation. Were you fast because you were sturdy? Or were you strong as a byproduct of your Speed? Which was it?

The Ruby Finger Serpent crushed that endless loop all on its own, almost like its Speed existed separate from its body, separate from even the reality it resided in, separate from all limitations.

And that was exactly what Sylas wanted.

Did the Hydra really have an infinite number of heads? If it did, then wouldnʼt it be a creature that consumed the entire universe? How could it have an infinite number?

Unless, of course... all of its heads, all of its lives and existences, werenʼt all present at the exact same time...

Exactly like the Ruby Finger Serpentʼs Speed.

And so, when Sylas used Semi-Fusion, activated Bloodburn, pulled on his True Pride Seed, and then poured every aspect of his Potential right into his Will....

His body didnʼt even react.

And why would it?

He had transcended the limits of his stat, he had transcended the limits of causality, he had transcended his limits.

Period.

And for that, he had killed a God.

[Title Upgraded]

[King Slayer > God Slayer]

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