Genetic Ascension

1564 Your Ending

The Territory was just as Sylas remembered it... albeit through a filter of black and violet.

It felt as though all the greenery had been tinted through an amethyst lens, shifted on the color spectrum until the pine needles and evergreen foliage all looked as though it was being projected out from a fever dream.

The bark of the trees had always been dark, but now they felt a touch too dark, as did the soil. It felt unnatural, not quite like they had chiseled it out of cast iron, but close.

Nothing about the Territory felt like it was truly out of place, and yet it felt particularly... Wrong.

Sylas imagined that this would be how it would feel to step into the Demonic World, a world that was a perfect mirror of their own, except broken in a fundamental way you couldnʼt quite put your finger on.

Yet, maybe that was precisely how Demons looked at their worlds as well.

It made one wonder why one of the fundamental requirements of the Madness Disciples was comprehending the Path of Demons when it was so very much antithetical to all it meant to be path of the Real World.

Sylasʼ eyes suddenly flashed. He held out a hand and blocked Cassaraeʼs path forward.

BOOM.

A steaming hot air spread through the air as the ground shook. This hot air wasnʼt from a geyser, but instead of the flaming nostrils of a minotaur that had seemingly fallen right out of the air so fast Syals almost didnʼt register its existence.

How strong did a body have to be for it to fall with such force and yet be completely fine?

The thought only briefly crossed Sylasʼ mind before he flicked out a finger.

CLANG!

An arc of Will and a swiping battle axe clashed in the air. Wind blades deflected off both attacks, shuddering hurricane-force winds slicing into the surrounding trees and sending them wildly swaying.

The minotaur creature took a heavy step back and Sylas finally got a good look at its figure. He had only vaguely seen its face before, the force of its exhale and the piling steam of its nostrils having made it difficult to see much more than the vague outline of a bullʼs head.

But now, he saw the creature in full.

It towered at just over three meters, its heavy hooves shimmering in plated bronze along with the rest of its armored body. It held a weapon by the same sheen, and its stats... —

[Cast Minotaur (EEE+)]

[Level: 61]

[Physical: 72,133]

[Mental: 68,388]

[Will: 70,111]

Its stats were entirely unimpressive. What caught Sylasʼ attention instead was the fact it was already of the E-tier.

That shouldnʼt be possible.

THe number of E-tiers on Earth should be very few, if any at all. As far as Sylas understood, the lingering E-tiers from the previous Summonings should be all that was left.

This was definitely no E-tier from a previous Summoning. It was a new creature, likely leaking from the Demon World Portal, and now it was here.

A glow of green suddenly wrapped around the minotaurʼs battle ax as it tried to lunge forward into another attack, its feet lifting off the air under the same effect.

Sylas pointed his finger down and it accelerated toward the earth.

PUCHI.

The battle axe embedded itself into the dirt, the head of the minotaur swiftly following suit. It felt on its own blade, decapitating itself.

Sylas reached a hand forward and pulled. However, he shook his head a moment later.

His Extricate Path Talent didnʼt work on Demons. He had already known this, but he wanted to see if the upgrade to Bronze had made any difference. It seemed the answer was no.

”Letʼs go.” Sylas said, moving the minotaur to the side with a wave of his hand and continuing forward.

Now that he was here, he knew exactly where to go.

...

Moose watched with blood trickling down his body. He looked like he had suffered a considerable number of lashings, but his expression couldnʼt help but be solemn.

He had just sent that minotaur, and it was dead in a matter of seconds. No, it felt like even seconds was an exaggerated timeline for what the truth was.

There was no difficulty at all.

”He is too powerful.” Moose said again.

The sultry voice didnʼt reply. In fact, it hadnʼt said anything since the first time Moose told it to just watch things unfold.

Moose continued to feel one soldier after another fall. It was his Territory, even though Sylas was the Progenitor, he could still feel the man moving through it and toward him.

Every death was like another hammer on Mooseʼs heart.

He was intelligent, he had always been. In fact, Moose was so intelligent that before the Summoning, his body had to protect him from his own brain, causing him to be quite slow. Doctors put him on a spectrum, he needed handlers and his motherʼs guidance in everything.

It was only after the Summoning, as he began to Level up and those restrictions slowly fell from him that he was able to take another step forward.

It could be said that there were only two people in Sylasʼ entire life that had managed to out maneuver him.

One was the mysterious figure of the Purvon Thryskai Clan.

The second was Moose.

But out smarting Sylas when he wasnʼt aware of your existence was one matter. Out smarting him when he knew exactly who you were was a completely different beast entirely.

The last time Moose met Sylas, he almost lost his life. It hadnʼt even been a battle. It was like Sylas was tossing around a ragdoll.

This time, even with his improvement, it felt like more of the same.

Moose clenched his fists harder and harder. He was doing all of this for his mother, and yet the people he had confided in were turning their backs on him in such a critical moment.

”If Legacy doesnʼt hold up their end of the bargain right here and now, I swear Iʼll make sure the system knows of your part in all of this. Your ending will be no better than the Thryskai Demi-Gods!”