Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1292: Minced Meat

Udone wasn’t even sure what he was seeing. Sylas was just standing there, unmoved by their numbers. Was he really that arrogant?

His mind a bit blank, he sent out his messages, alerting the others that Sylas was here about 80% of the way through the middle lane. However, this ironically threw their plans off a bit. They hadn’t outlined the exact paths to get here.

Ironically enough, since Sylas was so close to the edge, the best path would actually be for them to go right down the left and right lanes completely, exit toward the bell tower, and then turn down the middle lane.

On the one hand, that made things easier. But on the other, this would not only take longer, but it was easier to find holes in a situation like this one if there was no one in the minor lanes.

The fact that Udone, the weakest of them, was here made it obvious that they thought the middle lane was the least likely option for Sylas to pick. This wasn’t just because the middle lane just seemed too... default, but it was also the lane that was the easiest to launch a pincer attack from. It had the most minor lanes feeding into it, and because of the symmetry, the armies coming from the left and right lanes could easily crush Sylas from both sides.

By comparison, if he had taken the right lane, for example, both armies would be coming from the left, giving him more options and a location to focus on avoiding.

None of what was happening right now made much sense at all.

BANG!

Udone’s eyes suddenly opened wide as a head exploded by his side. The blood splattered across his face, the tangy, metallic taste filling his mouth before he could understand what happened.

"You..."

Udone reached for his weapon, only to hit nothing but air, his hand grasping at the wind.

His head snapped up into the air, only to find that his heavy, curved scimitars had launched themselves into the air. The realization of what happened left his heart beating out of his chest.

Sylas’ telekinesis... took his weapons without him even noticing? How was that even—?

BANG!

The flat of his blade slammed onto the head of another, splattering it across the air.

"Do I have your attention now?" Sylas asked.

Udone’s pupils trembled. Sylas could have easily used the edge of the blade, but he didn’t. He used the heft of it instead, slamming it down as though it was some sort of hammer and killing two Rhino Lineage disciples—a Lineage well known for their defenses—with nothing more than his telekinesis.

"Good. Then we can begin."

SHIIIIIIING.

Chi. Chi. Chi. Udone’s blades danced, one head after another flying into the skies. In the blink of an eye, dozens had died, the blades moving so quickly and so erratically that it felt too difficult to track them.

They lagged through time and jumped through space. Sometimes it would seem as though one would be targeted, only for another to die dozens of meters away.

Sylas didn’t even move as the blades multiplied in the skies, only two real, and yet all of them somehow just as lethal.

It was after over 10% of them had died that Udone seemed to finally snap out of it. He unleashed a roar, Runes blooming to life across his body.

There was a flicker in Sylas’ eyes.

The Rhino Warlord Armor was crushed before it could even take shape, his Unravelling Pupil twisting it into an unrecognizable mess.

Slowly, Sylas pulled a hand out of his pocket, pointing a claw forward and then swiping it down.

Chi.

A bloody gash seemed to suddenly explode into existence across Udone’s chest. Flesh, blood, and bone rained as the Rhino Lineage F-tier fell to a knee.

His twin heavy scimitars fell from the skies, impaling him through the back and pinning him to the ground.

Taking a step forward, Sylas’ eyes trembled with a fierce light. Even at his slow pace, his irises left lines of emerald in the air.

SHU. SHU. SHU.

One after another, the Rhino Lineage members found themselves losing control of their weapons. And then...

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The ground rumbled, the treasures self-destructing in real time.

The layered explosions fused into one, a blazing inferno raging across the seas of them.

Roars filled the air and the Rhino Lineage geniuses entered a desperate charge, rushing through the flames and toward Sylas for any chance they had.

As though he didn’t notice their heroism, Sylas slipped his hand back into his pocket as the first one managed to make it through. Their skin was charred to black, the sparse pockets of blooming red looking particularly sticky and grotesque.

He lifted a leg as they fell toward him, the flat of his foot pressing against the latter’s face.

With a push, the pitiful strength of the so-called genius was halted, their neck and back arching in the opposite direction of their momentum until Sylas’ foot slammed down.

A sickening squelch echoed as the head was shattered into blood and flesh.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

It was absolute carnage.

Sylas strolled into the cascading explosions, his body vanishing into the clouds of red, orange, and black.

Akin to a ghost, he flickered about, reaping one life after another. While their visualizations were filled with pulsing echoes of violent Aether, his own could see as clear as day, cutting through the chaos with an indifferent chill.

And then it all suddenly stopped.

Sylas stood there as the clouds of chaos dissipated, Udone’s body still pinned to the ground. It was hard to tell just how damaged he was by the flames when his skin had already been as black as obsidian, but the blood that managed to survive the carnage told enough of its own tale.

If he didn’t let them use their Rune Armors... they really were far too weak to be of any entertainment.

Chi.

The scimitars within Udone’s body suddenly twisted, shredding his inner organs to minced meat.