Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2176: Heaven (3) [Bonus]

[Bonus chapters thanks to chronotitan <3]

Sylas' horns arched out from his forehead, blooming in a deep black and pulsing with waves of power. His body stayed tall and in control.

He reached out a palm, his scythe taking shape in a sudden pulse of Runes. The Death Seal vanished from beneath him, the Life Seal expanding with waves of undulating might.

Kairos didn't seem to be in a rush to do much of anything, but even as he watched, his neck cracking, something within him seemed to be building.

Around his feet, a subtle ring of golden cloud had begun to form, and yet, rather than being slow and languid, it almost moved like a calm gust of wind. It expanded and expanded until it vanished, but then another formed after it, and then another after that.

Every time this happened, Runes accumulated into larger and larger pieces. They smacked into one another as though magnetized, their meshes growing more and more complicated with every passing moment until Sylas' transformation suddenly finished and Kairos reached out.

Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi.

The crackle of lightning reached a fever pitch as Kairos grabbed a bolt out of the air. It writhed in his palm like an unruly serpent, and yet no matter how it bucked and weaved, Kairos never seemed to actually struggle with it.

It had become such a dense mass of Runes that it was impossible to see through them very clearly at all. At a glance, Sylas could tell that whatever it was, it was no less complex than the Life or Death Seal.

Kairos suddenly spun it in his hand and the world became sparking lines of golden lightning.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Kairos' white hair stood on end as he caught his staff of lightning.

It seemed that both of them had made their weapons out of their Runes, and both weapons seemed to have a fathomless depth to them, one that could not be easily seen through by outsiders.

It was fair enough. However…

Sylas simply didn't have any plans of losing to this man.

He didn't have any intention of losing to anyone.

Flames bubbled out from the corners of his mouth. With a step, he closed the distance, swinging his scythe.

BOOM.

They both seemed to vanish, their bodies moving in an array of spatial Runes and speed that was simply untrackable.

They split apart and Sylas' body multiplied across several timelines. Without even missing a beat, Kairos' eyes flashed, forming a radiance that observed like an endless bundle of golden lightning.

Their Rune Paths deviated. Sylas added time, Kairos added lightning. However, despite realizing that Sylas combined both Space and Time and understanding the implications, Kairos didn't flinch, nor did he seem to care in the slightest.

He hadn't added time to his Rune Path because he didn't care to, it was never his path, it wasn't how he saw or learned Runes.

And technically… he didn't add space either.

What others could easily confuse as space, he didn't. The concept he used was far loftier than space.

Space was just a point in space, but it was flexible, it could warp, it was dependent on time and references of others. It meant different things to different people, but the only definition Kairos cared for was his own.

His Rune Path wasn't built on a concept of space. It was built on the concept of the Sky.

A Sky that was utterly under his control completely, a Sky that could form a dome above anything, could form a ceiling above anything.

Chi.

Red lightning suddenly flashed, lacing into Kairos' gold. Cracks began to appear in his skin, blood forming from the corners of his mouth and drizzling down his eyes.

As far as he was concerned, Sylas' Path was inferior to his own. Sylas only sought to combine Space and Time to comprehend the universe as best he could and maybe even reflect his own.

He, Kairos, would be a Heaven above Heaven itself. It would be the Heaven. He would be untouchable, untraceable.

He would become the ceiling of all of existence.

The threshold no one could ever pass.

And in an irony of ironies, whether it was Sylas or Kairos, neither had managed to injure the other. Instead… it was their own comprehensions shredding them apart.

And neither of them had even the slightest intention of losing.

BANG.

Their weapons met and the glass they stood on cracked, the dome containing their power whining and threatening to shatter.

They didn't seem to notice, their flurry of blows growing more wild and violent, relentless and fervent.

Sylas' arms blurred, as did Kairos'. A wild grin met a deadpan expression, both with a different approach, and yet both with the very same mindset.

Their Pride Seeds bloomed, their Wills clashing in the air as though two giants clasping palms. Their fingers intertwined, their Wills roaring as they pushed against one another.

Their bodies flickered and vanished, the echoes of their strikes being the only sign of their life. They moved too fast to track, and by the time the echo of their power filled the skies, they had already moved on to a location three steps ahead, a catalyzed reaction of circumstances following in their wake.

They pushed and pushed. Every time the other seemed to improve, they would take another step forward as well as though they had an endless reserve of energy.

Kairos looked as though he could have been blown apart by a breath, his body looking like a broken vase gingerly glued back together.

Sylas looked as though he was being burned from the inside out, his skin bubbling beneath his flesh, burns crawling up the side of his face.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Sylas' scythe spun in his hand as Kairos thrust his spear at his throat.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Sylas kicked out at Kairos' chest, only for the latter to pivot and swipe at the outside of his knee.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

And then, suddenly, the dome around them couldn't withstand it anymore.

It shattered to pieces, its Runes scattering out into the howling solar winds of the starry skies.

In that moment, a stone silent until now shifted just the slightest bit and then cracked.

Chi.