Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2157: Crushed

The Duchess couldnʼt believe what she woke up to.

For one, she never expected to be on a manʼs back. For a moment, she thought she had been on a soft pillow. The curls of Sylasʼ hair were impossibly soft, and the strong scent of oak and live wood coming from it shifted something within her she immediately ignored and stamped out the moment she realized where she was.

For some reason, she had never expected Sylas to take such good care of himself. Though, it was hard to care about something like that when you were getting punched in the face by a man who seemingly didnʼt have any tender feelings for the opposite sex at all.

Yet, she said that, but didnʼt realize that they were in the middle of what could only be described as a war until several long seconds later.

The noise hardly reached her, she barely budged or jostled on Sylasʼ back, and she would have thought she was in a luxury sedan with the smoothness of the ride.

It took her an embarrassing amount of time to finally piece all these sensory events together to realize she was on Sylasʼ back.

Her first instinct when she realized was some vain attempt to pull herself free. But before she could even act on that, her eyes opened wide.

ʼ… What is… this?ʼ

Sylas and his beast moved like a pair of gods through the skies. Large swaths of enemies fell beneath the rain of their terror. Runes danced in impossible ways, forming, reforming, and reforging themselves so quickly it somehow went beyond just Spark Mastery.

Sylas breathed and Runes took shape. They shrank and collapsed space, split apart flesh like wet tissue paper, warped reality in the palm of his hands like putty in the hands of a child.

The Duchess had seen powerful Rune Masters before, but she had never seen such a powerful Rune Master at the D-tier.

The Rune Masters she had seen display this kind of control were at a much higher tier, purposely lowering their own standard so that they could draw faster and with more control.

But Sylas had only just become a D-tier, and yet he was wielding power that felt like it was well beyond him.

This was a sort of display she would have expected from the best of the best C-tier Rune Masters.

ʼThis is… Pure Spark… no… this is beyond Pure Spark…ʼ

Her heart was beating rapidly out of her chest, and for a moment, she found herself frozen in awe as she could do nothing but watch.

…

Sylas didnʼt seem to notice the Duchess wake up. His eyes darted back and forth along the battlefield.

His pupils dilated and a pair of Spatial Runes snapped together in weaving lines of control. The golden monkey trapped between them was flattened into a meaty paste.

His eyes shifted and a golden monkey commander swung out a staff toward an oncoming spatial Rune, only for the weaving shades of emerald in Sylasʼ eyes to shake.

The Rune separated and split apart, forming arcing lines of blades from the shield it had once been. Two of them splintered the head of the commander from opposite sides, four more splitting his chest into a rain of pieces, and eight more shredding his limbs apart.

Gogo roared, a line of grey-black flames leaving a line of carnage in his wake.

The golden monkeys turned to stone and then crumbled to ash, their life force sucking upward and fusing into the Hibernation Halo.

A halo of black formed around Gogoʼs horns, blazing with black flames as though to remind the world of the fallen. The halo flipped, moving from a position parallel to the ground to perpendicular. Its circular face faced off against the enemies, moving until it paired over Gogoʼs maw.

Gogo roared again and concentric circles of destruction echoed.

Pa. Pa. Pa.

Blazing curves of destruction fell in ever-increasing circles of fire.

The city was wiped out one block after another, and somehow, rather than every battle becoming harder as they grew more tired, it instead became easier.

Every death was like another line in the painting, another tidbit of information Sylas added to his Seals. He shared the information with Gogo and the two worked based on what they were given, finding the weaknesses of the golden monkeys faster and faster until they had a dedicated system for how to slaughter them one after another.

BANG.

Sylasʼ palms slammed together.

The stairs to the palace opened up between them, a slate of heavy space smashing down from above and flattening out the last of the army that protected it.

Sylas looked up toward the palace above them. There was no doubt that it was the goal, it was what everyone was likely aiming for, and what they would be aiming for as well.

He exhaled a breath.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Four heavy stone guards that stood as tall as 50 meters appeared on the stands. They stood in pairs, each pair standing side by side with one another.

The foremost pair stood right before the first set of stairs, the backmost pair halfway up the stairs.

It was almost insulting.

Was this enough to protect them? Or was this just the beginning?

Even if it was just the beginning, it wasnʼt nearly enough.

Sylas took another breath and exhaled.

It was time to kick it up another notch.

His Pride Seed bloomed and the Duchess shifted on his back once again.

Now, unfortunately, wasnʼt the time for him to pay much attention to her.

Sylas pulled his palm back, his eyes radiating a deathly cold.

And then he pressed it down.

The clouds split apart. For a moment, those that remained thought they saw a throne, but soon that throne had vanished into what truly remained.

A palm.

A palm that blotted out the skies and commanded the clouds.

Sylas had comprehended too much of the Will of the golden monkeys. Anything even remotely reflecting their strengths was suppressed beneath that palm.

And he crushed it.

BOOM.