Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1797: NO!

Sylas watched as this happened, his hands having been in his pockets from the very start. All things considered, he was wearing clothing that was far more casual than his usual. It was the sort of semi-formal wear he had liked for a Friday on campus where he might have only had a class or two.

Blue jeans that were on the darker side, a white collared polo tucked into his pants, with a brown belt tightened around it. And then a pair of tan loafers.

The only thing he was missing was a simple watch. But unfortunately, that didn't come with Alex's tailoring skills. He would have to look into crafting some himself with the Omnimous, or maybe he should just buy some himself. The problem was always figuring out whether they could withstand the torture of his battles first.

But all things considered, Sylas' reactions were about as casual as his clothing.

He tapped a foot and vanished into a series of afterimages, a golden palm landing where he had just been.

BOOM.

Shockwaves rocketed outward, but Zayreus was already following up. In an instant, he had already appeared behind Sylas, slamming down with even greater force than before.

The Aurans came across to have the special ability to increase the density and tangibility of their Aether. At first, Sylas thought this was a unique quirk of their golden Aether itself, but his eyes were much sharper now than they had been in the past.

This made it so their attacks were especially heavy, and also volatile. When a large amount of energy was concentrated into a relatively small region, any disturbance could lead to large explosions. It should have been something that made Zayreus' attacks hundreds of times more potent.

Just a single nick should have sent Sylas to the afterlife. But...

'It's too weak.'

Given Zayreus' current stats, he shouldn't be this weak. Sylas saw the problem immediately.

The issue wasn't that Zayreus' stats were empty, but that the D-tier Aether he was using was of an inferior sort.

If the peak of E-tier Aether was formed of 10,000 Foundations, then for D-tier it was a million. The gap between Tiers was well and truly that large.

Zayreus' Aether wasn't even in the six figures of Foundations, though. So, while his Intelligence stat wasn't technically empty, it might as well have been. He had filled up a luxury sports car with regular gas and expected great results.

As for Zayreus' movements, they were even worse. His Physical stats were enough for him to be extremely fast, but they were too predictable for someone with senses as powerful as Sylas.

Sylas couldn't keep up if he was chasing after Zayreus, but he could move to a location Zayreus was aiming for before him with far more efficiency.

The problem? Zayreus' Skills were too weak. They were probably D+ at the very best, and he certainly didn't have any Gene Skills or anything beyond.

The worst part was that Zayreus had only just entered the D-tier not long ago, so he hadn't even gotten used to these Skills. They still had Fragmented Mastery and were filled with flaws and mistakes that Sylas' Runeweaver Eyes could easily make out even if he couldn't understand their D-tier Runes.

As for why that was...

Zayreus swiped at the air and missed again.

BOOM.

He raised a hand to attack again, already moving, when-BOOM.

A bracelet on his wrist exploded, sending his arm flying off course. His skin was hardly harmed, and his body barely bled, but it was an opening enough for Sylas.

A fist landed right on Zayreus' nose. There was a flash of green and Madness bloomed from the depths of Sylas' soul.

The blow seemed to echo through the void itself and Zayreus' head went flying downward, his skull imprinting into the marbled ground with such force it left an imprint.

Sylas vanished once again as Zayreus roared in fury.

The reason Sylas could see through the flaws was the same reason that bracelet had just exploded. He could see the weaker Runes that made up the Skill thanks to Seeing Weaver.

Zayreus' D-tier Skills were so weak they made use of aspects of E-tier Runes.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Zayreus' aura billowed over almost like a pot of boiling water. Crimson streaks lined it and he shot ahead, leaving destruction in his wake as the world of the Golden Grove groaned in protest.

Space sheared apart and everything threatened to collapse in on itself.

But Sylas just stood there, seemingly finally too slow to react.

Zayreus plowed right through him, but he somehow hit nothing but air.

BOOM.

The ground cratered, large plumes of dust and debris rocketing upward. But as soon as they formed, they were wiped clear by a pillar of crimson light.

Sylas stood in the crater with Zayreus, the latter in the process of standing back up, his eyes red with menace and wild abandon. But, just slightly behind him, Sylas faced away from Zayreus and held a familiar curved blade to the latter's neck.

Zayreus didn't seem to dare to move, but Sylas, quite frankly, wasn't even looking at him.

[Curved Blood Blade (Legacy Treasure)]

Sylas had left this blade unattended in his spatial devices for so long that even he hadn't given it a single pondered in probably over a year. But he remembered what it was all too well.

This was the treasure that the Rat had tried to use to experiment on him with a false Seed of Greed.

What Sylas didn't expect was for Rhykan to give him such a convenient method of getting rid of an enemy he had been thinking of for a very long time.

Wasn't it about time the Rat stopped lurking over his shoulder?

Chi.

Sylas' hand swiped and Zayreus' throat was sliced apart.

"NO!" Niafon roared from a distance, but it was already much too late.

A large amount of blood was leaking from Zayreus. Or, rather, it looked like blood. Instead... it was something entirely different.

And it was being sucked right back into the curved blood blade.