Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2154: I Didnʼt

The Duchess felt like the world slowed down around her. The seas of gold, white, and blue became a pale grey and black, the only outline of red being the enemy right across from her. It was like she could see Sylasʼ very heart pumping, every shift and twitch of his muscle reflected in her eyes.

She crossed her daggers, blocking the path to her liver. She could feel his fist and exactly where it would land almost as though there was a push and pull of gravity between their two blood streams.

BANG.

A fist landed across her chin.

Her head spun to the side, her eyes widening in shock.

She had been so sure of where the attack would land.

”No!” her body swayed off the branch, panic taking hold in her heart. But she barely had the time to think before her brain shut down and instinct took over.

Sylas landed on the branch deftly, about to make a move to catch her when his eyes narrowed.

The Duchess flipped through the air, stabbing out and catching the trunk of the tree with one dagger. She slipped down for a short while before her momentum came to a stop. Using it as a pivot point, she flipped back, landing on a new branch for only a moment before she shot forward.

The branch quivered like an arrow and in a blink, she was in front of Sylas.

The world was even darker in her eyes now. She could hardly see the outline of Sylasʼ body. All she could see was the crimson of his heart and the network outlining his blood vessels. Her senses grew sharper, and her blood pumped through her veins with a savage momentum.

Her eyes were entirely glazed over as though something ancient had taken over her reactions.

She slashed out at Sylasʼ neck.

Sylas bent back in a dodge, one he was sure he succeeded in. And yet, his blood was drawn out of his body, slicing his neck open itself.

Blood gurgled out and his breath was snuffed out. It was drawn into the Duchessʼ dagger as she landed on a branch to his side.

Her power surged, sparks of lightning, a chaotic twist of space, and Runes dancing through the air as though she had snatched all of Sylasʼ abilities.

Before Sylas could even react, she was upon him again, even faster this time.

Sylas didnʼt even think about using his position as her husband to suppress her. That wasnʼt the sort of domination he wanted right now.

Blood pooled down his neck and his gaze turned an icy cold.

He met the Duchess, swiping out a palm at her wrist. He slapped it down, sending her dagger in a downward arc as he took a strong step forward between her legs.

Her second dagger, aimed at his own liver, arched too wide, not expecting the sudden closing of distance.

BANG.

The dagger just missed his back as Sylas drove his forehead into the Duchessʼ nose.

The echo of a crack filled the air as he hooked his foot behind her ankle in the same fluid step. He elbowed her arm out of the way and slapped a palm at her chest with a lean back.

She was sent toppling backward, a fountain of blood spraying from her nose.

And yet, she flipped back as though she had planned it all, landing a kick right on Sylasʼ chin as she somersaulted to her feet.

Sylas felt like his head was being knocked clean off his shoulders, the tear in his neck widening.

The blood was ripped out of him even further, pooling into the Duchessʼ daggers as she flipped them in her hand.

She threw one out the moment she got back to her feet.

Sylas made a move to dodge, but a line of thin blood attached to him. She pulled it back in one fluid motion as she spun, throwing out the other with even more force.

Sylas just barely pivoted to dodge that one, but it still cut across him, ripping even more blood out.

The Duchess yanked her dagger back, her body entering a spinning, dancing cadence of throwing and retracting blades. She became akin to a budding rose, every throw and return of her daggers leaving wide arcs of blurring crimson in the air. And every one that completed looked like yet another blooming petal.

Chi. Chi. Chi.

Sylas suffered one savage cut after another, each one growing deeper and deeper than the last, and with every one that landed, it was like she grew better at drawing out his blood and ripping him to pieces. If not for his healing factor having increased significantly in the Demi-God Plane, he would have already bled out entirely.

Yet, his emerald, gold-ringed eyes looked as though they could pierce through anything at this moment.

He reached out a hand and the Duchessʼ body slowed just the slightest bit. It was small, but the opening was enough in a battle between geniuses of their caliber.

He blinked forward, catching her wrist and slamming out a knee into her body.

She gasped for breath, trying to break her wrist free. But Sylasʼ grip only tightened.

Her second dagger tried to take out his head, but his elbow crossed her chin like a slashing blade.

Her brain rattled in her skull.

”A husband… wouldnʼt… do that…” she said, still half unconscious.

”I didnʼt use my abilities as your husband.” Sylas said coldly.

His Runes surged and she found her limbs tied down by a heavy space. Her body began to weigh as heavy as a mountain, the world only spinning more and more around her until it went black.

The Duchess collapsed into Sylasʼ arms.

Sylas shook his head, stopping her before she fell off of the branch and down toward the planet below. Then he picked her up and strapped her onto his back, looking off to see Gogo going on a furious rampage.

Sylas figured he should help.