Genetic Ascension

1594 Brilliance

Nosphaleen walked slowly out of the battlefield, Sylas hovering in front of her on a slightly curved bed of silver. There wasn't the slightest hint of blood on her other than the blush on her cheeks that underlined the barest hint of fatigue.

No matter what, tens of millions of enemies were still tens of millions of enemies. At a normal pace, even if you killed one every second, it would take hundreds of days to finish.

Nosphaleen had ended a battle like this in just three hours. That was how long it took before what hope they had fully collapsed and they began to directly give up one after another.

But the amount of death on her hands was unfathomable, and yet right this moment, she seemed as pristine as always.

When she returned to the group of the 073 Sanctum, beams of light appeared around them as they ascended beyond the lower tiers to the same tier as those Sanctums ranked from 030 to 011.

The gazes on them didn't fade. If anything, they only multiplied, but Nosphaleen remained lost in her own world, finding a seat and then laying Sylas' head to rest on her lap.

A light smile curled her lips as she stroked his hair. It was rare she got to see Sylas' expression so relaxed, and it felt even better that he was all but leaving his life in her hands right now.

It was hard to say how long he would sleep, but she had every intention of doing her best in the meantime.

"Welp, that didn't go how you expected, now did it?" Emperor Dove asked with a smile on his face.

Elbrum didn't say a word, but he also didn't go back on what he had said. He didn't expect for Sylas to have such a powerful Summon on him.

It wasn't exactly rare for a Rune Master to have a powerful Summon. In fact, it could be said that Rune Masters were the largest demographic of Summoners to begin with.

However, those of the Beast Sanctums weren't exactly the typical Rune Masters. As Gralith had said many times before, they were predominantly Masters of Will rather than Rune Masters.

Even so, having a Summon was one thing. Having such a powerful Summon was a completely different matter.

This Nosphaleen-by the power she had displayed, she was at least a match for the experts in the 020 range of Sanctums, even without Sylas being conscious.

This was a shocking realization to anyone, let alone the 073 Sanctum who had seen Nosphaleen before but had yet to see her in action. They must have thought that, given all the danger they had seen Sylas in before, it would have made sense for him to use Nosphaleen long ago if she was so powerful... But he never had.

To the side, Ekear exhaled. He had no idea how long he had been holding his breath for, but he had really thought that things were over for a moment. Even after Sylas managed to skirt by the first hurdle through unfathomable means, he had been worried that the Emperor Scorpion would give him trouble.

It turned out that there was trouble to be dealt with, but somehow Sylas had managed to deal with it once again.

The 073 Sanctum might be weak, but they still had D-tiers and powerful C-tiers. Yet right this moment...

It felt like Sylas had become the center of them all.

...

High above them, Robareda frowned as she looked at Nosphaleen. She could feel something faint, but she wasn't exactly sure what it was.

Of course, she wasn't gawking at Nosphaleen like all the men around her were; she was feeling something much deeper and sharper than that. But she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

However, just as she was about to dig deeper, Nosphaleen suddenly looked up at her.

This startled Robareda. They were separated by so many layers of Runes, and Nosphaleen had looked so focused on Sylas' well-being, gently stroking his hair and making sure that he was comfortable. For her to suddenly look up at her like this, even though she shouldn't be able to see her in the first place... Had she really sensed something?

How could she sense something from so far away?

"What's wrong, Robareda? Jealous you're not the center of attention anymore?" a young woman of the Serpent Lineage teased.

Despite looking of smaller stature and lesser status than Robareda, she was actually much older than Robareda. But for whatever odd reason, she was still in the F-tier.

Robareda smiled and poked at the F-tier's head. She didn't try to deny it because there was no point. Something like this would never bother her. If anything, it was a good thing she had fewer people gawking at her-it was quite annoying.

"What do you think?" the young woman asked.

"About?"

"Have you ever seen a Summon like that? I don't even think Betrix's Summons are that powerful."

"..." Robareda's eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure it's a Summon."

"Hm?"

Despite the questioning look, Robareda didn't explain. It was just a feeling, and she didn't have a strong hold on it. But what was especially odd to the Jade Race beauty was the fact that no one else seemed to notice. How was that possible?

That was when she thought of a possibility, and her pupils constricted.

There was only one reason this would happen.

Right here, right now, she was the most sensitive to the Serpentes Lineage by far. She might not be the strongest of the Serpent Lineage here, but she was the only Emperor Serpent.

Yet, even she could only barely sense Nosphaleen's existence. It was so subtle that without this deduction, she wouldn't even be sure.

For Nosphaleen to be able to hide even from her B-tier seniors, but not from her... it meant that Sylas wasn't a Summoner-he was a Beast Master.

A Beast Master with a Serpentes so powerful even an Emperor Serpent couldn't see through her completely.

Robareda's eyes flashed with brilliance.

What could she learn by dissecting such a specimen? How much more powerful would her Serpent Emperor Armor become?