Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1902: Ask Me

The 713th Lion Emperor tried to step forward, but the barriers of the Monkey King Mountain blocked him. His eyes flashed with rage, and even the 713th Ape Emperor seemed ready to step forward, but they were halted by the surging river of the 713th Whale Emperor's Spirit.

"Stop," she said coldly.

There was an edge of rage to her voice as well, despite how calm she tried to remain.

This flaw had been hidden in plain sight, and yet it was such an impossible thing to point out so easily that not a single one of them had realized the issue until it was too late.

Who could have guessed that this particular set of circumstances—where they were pressured by the Thryskai Mortal Clans to rush the 713th Gathering-would end up snowballing into the events of today?

It was like they had been placing their own heads on the chopping block all the while Sylas-someone who should have been little different from a child running around with a knife to them—had placed that very blade on their necks.

Sylas met the gaze of the 713th Whale Emperor. He hadn't even reacted to the surge of the 713th Lion Emperor or the threatening momentum of the 713th Ape Emperor.

In reality, both had more than one reason to be enraged with him.

He had only just nearly killed the two most promising children of the 713th Lion Emperor, and as for the 713th Ape Emperor, Sylas had stepped on the corpse of one of his most promising disciples in order to kick all of these events into gear in the first place.

Amende had been someone the 713th Ape Emperor had great hope in. If not for his obsession with defeating that Primus Imperium he had at no time been able to overcome, he would have long since become an official disciple of the Spirit Beasts.

However, compared to those grievances, this was on another level entirely. This was truly existential.

"What do you want, Sylas Grimblade?" the 713th Whale Warlord asked slowly.

By now, the shadow of Sylas' figure loomed heavily over them.

He was the one who took the Karma of their Gathering for himself. He was the one who single-handedly raised the 073 Sanctum to the 001 Sanctum. He was the one who defeated a Cryst Emperor a Tier above him, and then somehow escaped the grasp of the Seeing Eye Guild while a Quicktime Event crafted with the sole purpose of taking his head was active.

He raised them to Demi-God, and now he was trying to take away everything they had built.

If they treated Sylas like a normal E-tier or child, they would be foolish beyond fools, idiotic beyond idiots.

The 713th Whale Warlord could only hope that Sylas had a purpose-something that he wanted to accomplish.

Sylas, however, ignored her. Instead, he looked from one Emperor to the next, one by one.

There were more than he thought. The number of Lineages was more than just a few dozen; it crossed into the triple digits.

Sure, it was fine enough to believe that there were so many Beasts worthy of having Wills here. But the truly surprising thing was that the Sanctum would have accommodations for them all.

Were they not stretched thin? How did the Mirror Dungeon manage to reflect them all?

'It seems I'm likely to be correct,' Sylas thought calmly.

"Not a single one of your Ancestors is here," Sylas said calmly as his eyes finally landed on the 713th Scorpion Emperor.

The man was completely ashen by this point. He tried to hide it, but there was hardly a drop of blood left in his face.

And yet, Sylas gave him a glance no different from any of the others. As his words confirmed, he had only been making sure that he was right.

Their Ancestors weren't present right now, and probably for good reason. Even Maldrith wasn't here, and he should have had the biggest bone to pick with Sylas after being humiliated like he had been.

The 713th Whale Warlord stiffened. At first, she was worried that Sylas would see this as a form of disrespect. Then she felt a bit ashamed.

Had this boy really cast such a large shadow over her heart? Why was she so afraid of him already?

Was their appearance as the 713th Cycle of Emperors not enough for him?

But she had misunderstood Sylas, clearly. He wasn't speaking to her at all; his words were spoken almost more for himself. He had even said them while looking at the 713th Scorpion Emperor, someone who was a step beneath the four main Lineages.

Clearly, his intent wasn't to start communication with them.

Finally, Sylas looked to the 713th Whale Emperor.

"If you want to be free, I'm sure you already know the answer."

The 713th Whale Emperor stiffened again. "Impossible!"

Obviously, all of this was only happening because their system was taking matters into its own hands. It was doing this to stop potential selfishness on the part of one person-or a handful of them.

But in practice, if every Emperor of the Sanctum wanted to do something, it wasn't like the system created for them, by their Ancestors, could possibly override them all.

All they had to do was destroy it. Problem solved.

But was that such an uncomplicated decision to make?

Between watching all of their young die and ruining everything their Ancestors had ever built...

What would they choose?

It was an impossible choice. It felt like both paths led to death.

They didn't even know how to protect themselves once they ascended to the Demi-God Realm. What would they do without their system?

"I don't have time to play games," Sylas said calmly. "I know well what the flaws in my own plans are. I know how to foil them. I know how to reverse them. I know how to turn things back on me so that I'm the one who suffers.

"Probing me is a worthless endeavor. Whatever you've thought of, I've thought of ten times over.

"So ask me the question you really want to ask."

Sylas' voice paused for a moment, the harsh call of the wind the only thing that echoed for a short time before he spoke again.

"Ask me how much skin you should peel from your backs to satiate my rage."