Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2116: Combination [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to Rikstingray <3]

Four's pupils constricted into pinholes when she saw Sylas. She honestly couldn't believe that someone could possibly be so bold. She also couldn't understand what the hell Sylas could possibly be thinking either.

Sylas had already escaped the first time, had he not? If he just wanted an opportunity to kill her, back then would have been the best chance.

But now, he had even less support, and he was here alone…?

No.

Her eyes rapidly scanned the teleportation platform, lingering lines of Aether becoming clear and obvious to her. There had been two people that came through that portal, not just a single one. Sylas wasn't alone.

But even then, that was just two people. And though the second was an A-tier, they had many A-tiers in their headquarters. What the hell was Sylas thinking? What did he think he could accomplish with this?

Unfortunately for Four, she was misunderstanding something.

It was true that Sylas didn't have the raw strength to defeat an A-tier with ease. He would probably have to go all out against a B-tier—assuming that they were an actual powerhouse of their tier with decent strength, that is, and not the three weaklings that had just tried to take his life.

But the Sylas that had burned his potential to the limits and fried his brain beyond the point of return and the Sylas of now were two different individuals.

Sylas hadn't chosen to leave back then because he felt he would never be able to deal with them. He had decided to leave back then because he was simply too tired.

Even he had his own limits. He wasn't quite yet ready to face the challenge that the Cryst Heaven provided.

But now… he was well-fed, well-rested, and in the best mood he had been in since maybe his childhood itself.

That wasn't the same sort of Sylas at all.

And that was a Sylas who had no fear against these people.

"I'll kill him!" Six growled.

"Stand back." Four said coldly.

Six froze in space as though something had clutched at his very throat, his body seizing beyond his control.

He wasn't the only one. Every member of their Guild that had come rushing out found themselves frozen, an icy cold pooling out from Four with every step she took.

Her peacock feathers danced in the wind, icy blue eyes hovering from their depths as they bore down onto the world.

There was nothing Four hated more than to be treated as the object of One's affection. But One was too powerful, his family was too powerful, and she was under the umbrella of the same race.

Their marriage wasn't one she could escape, and his "care" was especially heavy whenever she was hurt.

Because of Sylas, she had experienced too much of that care in the last several days. She couldn't have dinner alone, her baths were drawn for her and he sat there as she bathed to "make sure she could get along well," even her breakfast was spoon fed to her one forkful at a time.

Every waking moment until the last day had been spent with One constantly poking and prodding at her patience. And every time she nearly snapped, she remembered whose fault it was, whose fault it was that her lip had bled that day.

"Sylas Grimblade." Four spoke the words with an icy chill that came directly from the depths of her heart.

Sylas stood with his hands in his pockets, his hair dancing in the winds that blew from Four's Will. There was an indifferent glint in his eyes as he felt the city itself begin to shake.

Aether rolled in like a storm, and it was like Four had become more than just a woman scorned, she was practically a force of nature, a powerful weight ready to fall like a meteor from the starry skies above.

And then she moved.

A fan sword appeared in her hand and it was instantly at Sylas' throat a blink of an eye later. The Aether following after the blade's tip almost looked like the long, dragging veil of a scorned bride, the plumes of energy pulled in sheer fabrics that rippled as though real and tangible.

Reality warped and the power of a tsunami pressed down in howling gusts.

Sylas took a step back that seemed to open a wide gap and he punched out. Runes danced around his fists, his Genes lighting up with an emerald gold as he pulled on his Core Physical Stats to execute a punch so perfect it seemed like it flowed from the ground itself.

BOOM.

Fist and sword met. Or, rather, they almost met. Both seemed surrounded by an endless chaotic rush of energy, the teleportation platform beneath them exploding with carnage and destruction as though to make more room from the six inches that separated knuckle and blade.

Four unleashed a furious shriek and her body bent back as though she was losing in the confrontation of strength before it exploded forward. Her tails doubled in size, her arms pulsing with veins that writhed with silvery blue energy.

BANG.

Sylas' fist whipped back on impact, his arm flailing and almost ripping itself out of its socket.

Four closed in the rest of the distance, her sword dancing through the air in four, five, six combined arcs that formed a combination that left no stone unturned and no path to escape.

Sylas' gaze flickered.

This Four was quite decent. Her sword wasn't just fast, it was powerful. But her combat style was unique to anything he had seen before.

These Cryst Emperors were Cryst Emperors in the truest sense. Salivar had leaned far more heavily on Will than he probably should have, even splitting personalities and emotions so that he could manage his three different paths.

But this was the first time Sylas was truly seeing a style of combat that went beyond what Will alone could provide. It was more raw, more straightforward, and it was fueled with a more barbaric sort of power that pulled on the universe not with Will, but instead with an understanding of the energies that formed its mesh.

It was also far more predictable and all too easy to break.

The thing with a path like this one was that it followed its own sort of rigidity, one decided by the Aether they chose.

And Aether was just the byproduct of Runes in Sylas' eyes.

He pressed a finger forward.

Chi.

Four's combination attack shattered.