Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1801: The Duchess

Gogo seemed surprised by how easy all of that was. Honestly, he half expected to die. He was so distracted by the boiling blood in his body that he hadn't even thought to check Sylas' state of mind.

Well, it was much harder for Gogo to read Sylas' thoughts compared to the vice versa. After all, Sylas was the Vipermancer, not him. However, it was still possible on the margins.

That responded, Gogo had stopped doing that because Sylas' thoughts rarely reflected anything other than calm and callousness.

Now was really no separate at all. He already expected this to happen.

Gogo hit the Duchess into the ocean so hard the water wasn't even greatly disturbed at first. And then...

BOOM.

A pillar erupted with such force it pierced the dense clouds above, dispersing them in a shining light of sun rays that the Duchess charged right out of and through.

Clearly, Gogo's attack hadn't harmed her. This wasn't a surprise-even without her True Blood, she had been shockingly powerful already. Sylas would go as far as to say that though it wasn't nearly as helpless now, he still didn't stand much of a chance against her in this state.

But he seemed all too ready for this outcome.

The Duchess looked down at herself instead of instantly attacking again. More and more memories of Sylas flooded her mind and her gaze couldn't help but flicker with fear, and then confusion.

"What did... what did you do to me?"

"You're a Demon. You should know better than me what I did to you." Sylas replied indifferently.

"You..."

The Duchess couldn't even bring herself to say the words.

If Cassarae had been there, in between her fury and tirades, she would probably be sympathizing. This would be the second person Sylas had forcefully made his wife without their consent for his own personal benefit.

In the Real World, the title of Wife was artificially given by the system. When Sylas became a noble of a System City and listed Cassarae as its overseer, she was logically granted the title of wife as a result.

The Demon World had its own system-it was just that Sylas hadn't been aware. In fact, he still didn't know-not quite, anyway.

Until...

"You actually... made me your wife..."

Sylas' eyes flickered, but after a moment, he relaxed. He probably shouldn't be blamed for this, right? It wasn't like he was fucking the Duchess again, it was just a useful label.

In reality, Sylas hadn't known that this was what the Demon World called it. When he said she should know better than himself what he had done, he was simply referring to the linkage of their bloodlines.

What he didn't realize was that this sort of subordination and fusion of bloodlines in the Demon World was exactly what it meant to be husband and wife.

It had to be remembered that the Duchess had no business awakening her True Blood. It was because Sylas had used her as a vessel to rid himself of his impurities through the Lust Seed and their intimate connection that he had inadvertently triggered this evolution.

In reality, the most talented member of their Sanguara Race was definitely her brother, who had been restricted and restrained from taking this step.

Regardless, when Sylas stepped onto the Golden Battlefield back in the E-tier strata, his senses had undergone a great rebirth. Not only was he able to gain a strong understanding of Spacetime back then, but he had also been able to sense things about the uniqueness of this battlefield that he hadn't been able to before.

Due to that, he had sensed a unique connection between himself and the Duchess that he felt he could take advantage of in the future. But he also realized that if he killed her, things would be reset.

There was no guarantee that Sylas would be strong enough or trigger the unique set of circumstances that would allow the Duchess' evolution again. And even if he did, there was no guarantee that he would be able to link her to his bloodline once more at the same time.

So he chose to risk it.

He bet on himself, believing that he would find a way in the future to take advantage of the fact their bloodlines were connected... and he couldn't have been more correct.

Back then, he had already had a Royal Hero Line. But now, he wasn't just any Royal Hero-he was the Progenitor, the Ancestor, and the origin of a Royal Hero Line a mere half-step from Demi-Godhood.

While this was still impossibly inferior to the Sanguara Bloodline by every metric, Sanguara was only a D-tier, and she wasn't the Ancestor of her own bloodline. In fact, they were incredibly far removed. That was why it took so much to awaken their True Blood in the first place.

And Sylas had one more trump card...

His Pride Seed and Infinite Will—namely, his Infinite Demonic Will.

The Gluttony Seed had been able to apply directly to Sylas' telekinesis, increasing the mass he could influence by a great deal. But the Pride Seed-especially the Virtue Pride Seed-had its own ability. But much like many of Sylas' most powerful abilities, he was incredibly reluctant to use them openly unless the situation required it. In fact, just now, he had only allowed it to leak just the slightest bit, yet the Duchess' strength was turned off like a faucet.

Its ability? To suppress and force others into submission, weakening their Wills until there was almost none of it left.

One could imagine how powerful such an ability would be in conjunction with [Hollow Call]. Sylas' restraint could even be called a form of kindness.

Of course, his plan wasn't just to control the Duchess. That could only take him so far.

Back then, Sylas had been planning much further into the future. Controlling one woman he couldn't even take out of here would never be his goal.

But now things had changed.