Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1879: Blood

Faneleiʼs eyes narrowed. But her reaction wasnʼt like everyone elseʼs. In fact, she accepted what Sylas said easily, waiting not on an explanation, but instead for exactly what he wanted her to do.

After Sylas grasped Infinite Void Rune Mastery within the F-tier, he had gone on to easily comprehend the E-Grade Life and Death Seals. He hadnʼt even needed to give it personal time. Since he had seen it already, the voids and gaps in his understanding shrank all on their own.

However, Bulese was no E-tier, she was far more powerful.

But that didnʼt matter in the slightest.

Sylasʼ aura flickered and Maldrithʼs gaze narrowed as he sensed Reaper Sealwright progress from the E-Grade to the D-Grade seamlessly, leaping one level after another as though it were fluid water.

There wasnʼt the slightest trouble. It was like Sylas had done it now not because he hadnʼt done it before, but because there had been no need to do it before.

There was one thing that a Progenitor couldnʼt suppress... and that was the system itself. And what was one thing a person relied almost entirely on the system for...?

Their Profession.

There were limits to this, of course. Sylas could, for example, trigger Fusion had he not been so heavily injured. However, that wouldnʼt change the fact that Maldrith could stop him from communicating with the world. So, such a Fusion would be worthless.

Sylas could also use his eyes to observe the world around him. In fact, he might even be able to push it a little and use Weave or Unravel to a much lesser extent than usual.

But if he couldnʼt consciously use his own Path of Rune Mastery, this was worthless. The Runeweaver Profession was a good supplement to Sylasʼ abilities, but it could never be the core.

Luckily, there was still Reaper Sealwright left. Of course, much like with Runeweaver, Sylas wasnʼt able to use his own comprehension freely. The real reason his E-Grade comprehension of the Seals was mentioned was because this was what had allowed him to progress to the D-tier version of the Profession so easily.

After that, Sylas only needed the system to summon the Life Seal itself.

And once the Life Seal was formed, that was enough.

Compared to Vipermancy and Runeweaver, Reaper Sealwright was a Profession on a level all its own. The fact that Sylas could comprehend the Seals at all was a testament to how broken his talent was, not of Reaper Sealwrightʼs level.

Even without any input at all...

Reaper Sealwright alone was enough to strike fear.

And the best part?

Even though Sylas couldnʼt use his Comprehension of the Life and Death Seal directly, what he could do was use said Comprehension to direct the Seal that the system summoned for him.

Fanelei was still paying most of her attention to Maldrith, but the aura of the Life Seal was quickly becoming suffocating. Despite its name, she detected a danger from it as though a scythe was hanging from her neck like a chain.

She couldnʼt help but look over and the sight she saw sent a shiver crawling up her spine.

It felt like those Runes held the secret of life itself.

Sylas took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Then the world seemed to go entirely dark.

”Kill him.”

Fanelei felt as though Sylasʼ words held some sort of compulsion to them. She reacted on instinct and was already moving through the air.

Maldrith was confused. Were they serious?

He raised a hand to retaliate, only for his eyes to widen.

BANG.

Faneleiʼs fist landed on his chest and he disappeared into the distance in the blink of an eye.

For a moment, Fanelei was stunned.

She was sure that she was stronger than Maldrith by a decent margin, but that was only accounting for him without his world. With his world in effect, the idea of sending him flying away in a single strike was—.

Sylasʼ violent cough shook her awake from her thoughts. She looked back to find that he had fallen to a knee, his body ragged and broken from the strain. She was so distracted by his sudden fall that she didnʼt even notice the blood coating her fist.

Had she really killed him in a single strike?

”Dammit.”

Sylas coughed again, his blood coming out blacker than before, his grip on Buleseʼs hair weakening.

Fanelei was shocked. She had never heard Sylas say such a thing.

There was an explosion in the far-off distance and Faneleiʼs head snapped back toward where Maldrith had vanished. She looked down at her fist, and then back toward Sylas.

Then she made a decision.

With a step, she appeared by Sylasʼ side and took him by the shoulder. With another, she appeared on the very same teleportation channel that Bulese and Kalem had used to arrive.

Her aura surged, and before what was left of Maldrith could do anything, they vanished.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Maldrith flashed, appearing back in the skies high above the city once more.

He looked more beast than man, having grown to double his original size. His hair spread out wildly, canines growing from his maw.

In a flicker of pulsing white-gold light, his face changed, forming a snout as his canines grew even further.

However, what was clearer than anything else was the hole that revealed his beating heart in his chest. In fact, if not for the supportive energy of his world, he would be in a critical state right now.

Maldrithʼs head rose to the skies and he howled in fury. The sound spread across the atmosphere, sending wildfires that swallowed up the clouds and even extending beyond to the moons and surrounding planets.

He had been in silent meditation for so long. He had spotted peace, found restraint, found calm.

And it had all been erased in a single day.

He had forgotten what it meant to be furious until this very moment.

He wanted blood.

If Fanelei saw him in this state, maybe she wouldnʼt be so confident in her earlier conclusions on Maldrithʼs abilities without his world as support.

This was ultimately a man who had come far closer to the S-tier than she had.