Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2029: Don't Mind Me

Sylas was sure of the conclusion. The series of connections was too much, almost like it had stared him right in the face all this time.

Cassarae probably hadn't pushed her conclusion to this extent, but she had been right about one thing. The connection between the Golden Races and the Thryskai wasn't small.

In fact, it might be even greater than anything Sylas was expecting. If Sylas was correct, it might exceptionally well be the case that the Golden Races weren't alone in trying to combine the aspects of the Real and Demon Worlds. They may very well have collaborated together toward the end result.

Or, if it wasn't a direct collaboration between the Golden Races and the Thryskai, then it was certainly something between the former and an ancestor of the latter. Regardless, there was some connection.

The Mortal Clans probably had no idea, and the current state of the Golden Races was likely in the dark as well.

But Sylas was sure about two things.

Rhykan almost certainly knew, and so did the Demi-God Clans. In fact, this might be exactly how Rhykan had managed to get a few Demi-God Thryskai under his thumb. This was a secret that was little short of shocking.

However, unlike what another person might conclude, Sylas wasn't yet ready to stamp the Thryskai as unbearable evils that needed to be stamped out.

Of course, he was still enemies with them, but that was a small matter in a vacuum compared to the scale that this matter was on. Sylas would take exception to anyone who wanted his life, but he wasn't the sort to feel enraged by it except under a extremely specific set of circumstances.

This was all to say that Sylas wasn't yet sure if the Thryskai were simply here on some crusade to wipe out the best of the Real World and claim some evolutionary advantage over them.

The fact that they were his enemy and the fact they were Demons didn't necessarily mean that these two facts could be spliced together to make them out to be a greater boogie man than they were.

The Thryskai might very well be victims of circumstance as well. Otherwise, their position when faced with the Angels wouldn't be so weak.

But this didn't mean one thing even if he couldn't conclude such a thing.

The Thryskai might be stuck in the same quagmire everyone else was.

Maybe they were running from something in the Demon World. Maybe they were trying to get out from under the thumb of the Angels. Or maybe they were striving to pierce a hole through the crimson ceiling that formed a dome above them all.

Regardless of the truth, this information was invaluable, and it was yet another reminder of something.

Sylas really didn't pay nearly enough attention to those around him.

His family, Cassarae, Alex...

Nosphaleen...

Sylas bent down, the tips of his shoes being soaked through by Alex's blood. He pulled on the latter's shoulder, pushing him over until he looked up, his eyes vacant.

For a moment, Sylas squatted there, his mind not thinking of much. There was a slight peng in his chest, something reminding him that the Madness Key was very much still hungry and that wasn't going anywhere.

The more it pulled on him, the more erratic his emotions seemed to become, and the less of a grip he had on his own strength. So much of his power came from his Dao, and it felt like one piece after another was tumbling down a path he couldn't control.

When you built your power on something so intangible, the moment what gave it substance fell away, the strength it gave would likewise take an enormous dip.

And now it was likely that the reason the system struggled so much with carving out a proper path for Will was because its representative Race was actually from a world it wasn't built to service in the first place.

It was no wonder the Thryskai were so interested in the Madness Disciples. They were the only ones that seemed to perfectly fuse Will and Demonic Will.

Maybe it was because of Madness Disciples that the Thryskai could be here at all.

"I don't like this feeling." Sylas said almost as though he was speaking to Alex's corpse.

There was nothing at all around, nothing but destruction, collapsed buildings, a swath of failure as far as the eye could see.

Whatever they had wanted to take from Alex, they had long ripped it clean. What was left now was... emptiness.

Sylas slowly reached forward, his fingers landing on Alex's eye lids. He made a motion to close them when his pupils constricted.

A hand shot up, grabbing his wrist on nothing but reflective instinct.

There was a strong suction that came from the tips of Sylas' fingers and large swaths of his Will were ripped out of him.

Alex gasped, his body abruptly sitting up.

Before Sylas could react, Alex's jaw practically unhinged and he took a large bite, ripping his entire hand off and swallowing it whole.

Sylas' eye twitched with a bit of pain, truly caught off guard. Alex was dead, he was sure of it. He had been a vacant husk moments ago, he didn't have any Will left-.

That was when Sylas' eyes widened.

Alex was about to take another bite when he suddenly snapped awake.

He looked down at the arm in front of him, and then up at Sylas.

He cleared his throat, smiling a bit sheepishly.

"Oh... hey... psycho Syl... how's life been? Treating you well, I hope? Don't mind me. I'll just..."

He patted the stub that was left of Sylas' arm and made a move to slip away.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't make it very far before Sylas had hooked a finger of his uninjured hand into his

collar.

Alex froze, clearing his throat again.

"Listen, Sylas, buddy, pal, we've been together a while, right? You wouldn't kill me over such a little thing, right?"

Sylas met Alex's gaze without the slightest flicker.

"How do you have Demonic Will?"