Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2010: Peace

Sylas sat on a mountain peak in silence, his gaze hard to read. It didn't feel as though he was thinking about much of anything.

Part of him was realizing that if he just stayed right here, he would probably get what he wanted.

He would be strong enough that no one could bother him, but weak enough that he wouldn't have to worry about never having a challenge at all.

For the first time since the Summoning began, he almost felt like his truest self. The self that lived with his parents and little sister, waking up early in the morning for a run before showering and heading to work. Then teaching a sea of teens, grading papers, and then walking back home to enjoy the peace of family.

It was a state where he felt like he could take whatever he wanted, but was confident enough in his ability to do so that he didn't really feel the need to prove it to anyone else.

He could just... stop, and everything would be fine.

Any Demi-Gods that descended would be too limited to do anything to him, and the same would follow for Gods maybe even all the more so. Maybe there would be some plots or changes that could really push him to the edge, but they would inevitably fail as all plots against him did.

It had been quite a long time since he had had this level of confidence. It made his Pride Seed thrum and then settle down into a calm darkness.

Sylas looked down at his palm, a novel Virtue Madness Key sitting there.

[Madness Key (Treasure)]

[A key leading to a fortune of Madness. Detects other Madness Disciples and enlightens your path. Contains small spatial world within. Can answer one question in exchange for <1 Fragmented> Gene] [Virtue Status: Relentless Greed. Swallow one unique <Common> Bloodline to maintain Happiness. Requirements grow by the day. <7 days> remaining until Hunger increases] —

He tossed the three-dimensional key up into the air, spinning it on a single finger.

It was odd. This one didn't seem intent on forcing him to put it on. It was like it was his, and yet not at the same time. The Madness Key was in limbo.

That would change if he actually put it on, but Sylas didn't see a reason to restrain himself like that.

He just felt so... free. And that was the feeling he had been chasing ever since the Grimblades appeared that day.

And yet, it was still only a part of him that wanted to stop. The other part of him wanted to see that crimson lightning again. Not just a kernel of it, but its truest form.

Back on Earth, he had always believed that he could just have anything he wanted, but it was couched by the idea that there was probably always more he didn't understand.

There was so much of their own oceans they didn't understand, let alone the starry skies above.

He could have whatever he wanted in relation to human society, but there had always been that caveat. He could be content so long as he didn't think much of it... ironically enough, for such an introspective person, he sounded to do that a lot.

But this was different. This crimson lightning wasn't like the night skies he used to look up at back on Earth, wondering if there were worlds or beings beyond.

No. This crimson lightning, that sky beyond the sky and ceiling of all, was truly the end.

Maybe there was something beyond it, but whatever it was had to be the end. They were the ones that stamped the ceiling into being, and forced everyone else below it.

And that... that made Sylas want to see it.

Down one path was a return to his peaceful life, to grow old with Cassarae and care for his sister and parents. Maybe to watch the little brat eventually find a man she also loved, to watch her forge her own path, her own family. For him to be content in controlling himself to the fullest extent without a care to chase for something beyond.

But then there was the other path.

To ride this out to the end, and to risk one day being the very one who sat beyond that crimson ceiling... to know that he would never have another opponent, another challenge... Unwittingly, an entire day went by, and then a second.

Sylas was so distracted that he wasn't paying much attention at all to the Lust Virtue Madness Key around his neck. But it didn't seem to seek to devour him either, almost like his very existence was charismatic enough.

Sylas couldn't remember the last time he had actively sought out to clear the missions of his Madness Keys. They just came to him naturally.

The Virtue of Pride Key always seemed satisfied, and maybe because his Virtue of Lust was under the umbrella of the former, it too had remained silent and obedient.

Regardless of what the answer was, he wasn't actively aware enough to even figure it out.

He just enjoyed the rise and set of the sun, allowing the world to pass him by in silence.

At some unknown point, a woman had sat by his side, though. Maybe because she was so peaceful, so gentle, Sylas hadn't realized that the real reason the Virtue of Lust hadn't bothered him was because of her existence.

Nosphaleen sat there in complete silence, almost harmonizing with him. And the longer she sat there in that peaceful umbrella, realizing that if Sylas was here she would truly never have a single thing to worry about, the more tears seemed to threaten to well up in her eyes and fall from her cheeks.

She felt like she couldn't continue to live like this, not without telling him.

So, the day Yamero finally returned, the furious roars of the Emperors filling the skies, she took Sylas' hand as he was still in a daze.

He only had time to look at her before she pulled him along and they returned to Earth.