Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2263: Stony

Several gazes landed on Sylas the moment he walked in. His gaze remained even, his gait measured, but the intensity of the gazes only seemed to increase as though they could smell something on him.

Just as he was about to make it to the desk, a woman lounging on a chair not too far away, smoking something that smelled of tea and lavender from an extension, looked at him. Her lips were impossibly red to the point that it didn't quite feel like she was just wearing lipstick; it was almost like she had painted the color on.

Just the slightest shift from this woman seemed to have overturned the atmosphere. A chilly wind passed through, and almost every woman in the vicinity who had been looking at Sylas put their heads down instantly. The men that had lust in their eyes quickly followed suit.

The only ones left looking other than the woman herself were the men who had frowns on their faces and curiosity in their eyes.

Indeed… they took hierarchy very seriously, but what they were measuring was far less clear.

Sylas' steps, though, surprisingly came to another stop and he turned to look at the woman. There was a flash in his eyes and a crack echoed through the world.

Slowly, a drizzle of blood fell down the corner of her lips.

She, though, continued to look at Sylas with the very same lazy, languid expression as though she didn't feel the backlash at all.

Her robes were practically falling from her shoulders, just barely hiding her ample breasts. They moved with the ripple of her every breath.

The robes themselves continued into not just one split, but three of them, revealing her legs. The splits rose up so high that it was either that she was wearing a very unique set of panties, or not wearing any underwear at all.

The dips in her hip bones were visible for all to see, and every shift of her weight pressed and moved the soft flesh of her ass in the most intoxicating of ways.

The blood finally made it down her chin in a drizzle, falling to the ground with a slight pitter-patter.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

Her voice was slightly hoarse. It was hard to tell if it was because she had been screaming recently, or if it was because she hadn't spoken in a very, very long time.

Sylas simply met her gaze for a moment and then turned away.

"Know your place," he said indifferently.

There was a flicker in the woman's eyes for a moment, and the flashes of curiosity in the eyes of several of the men became rage.

In a sudden warp, a man appeared before Sylas and punched out.

Sylas didn't need to think much about this. The rules of no fighting were enforced between the guilds so as to maintain the peace. However, to the man across from him, he was attacking someone else from the Stormfall Covenant. This wouldn't break the rules at all.

Unfortunately, it would break him.

The fist didn't even seem to land. From a third party's perspective, it looked as though Sylas had just continued to walk forward unimpeded, but the man… He collapsed to his knees, holding onto his stomach as though he could stop his inner organs from spilling out.

The problem?

There were no inner organs left to stop.

Nothing but a vacant hole was left in his belly.

A C-tier crushed like dried leaves on the ground, and hardly anyone saw when Sylas attacked in the first place.

The man faceplanted on the ground, his eyes vacant. Yet, there was no scent of blood and no mess. He died, every part of his inner body eviscerated. It was like Sylas could have wiped him out entirely, but chose to leave the carcass of his being behind as a reminder.

Sylas ordered himself a room, took his key, and then vanished into the hotel. Nothing but a silence was left in his wake.

The woman on the chair watched his every step and then she slowly rose. It looked like her robes would fall from her shoulders, but they magically stayed attached.

Rising to her feet, she looked down at the corpse on the ground. Specifically, the fist-sized hole Sylas had left in the latter's body.

"… Fascinating…"

She looked up toward where Sylas had disappeared again.

Now, if the Stormfall Covenant had such a powerful disciple, how would one of their own not know he was well out-matched? That was impossible.

Sylas would have had to step out during at least one of the disciple recruitment ceremonies. Those were the rules. There were no exceptions.

So, it was either that Sylas had grown much more powerful recently, or there was something else going on here.

Her head tilted to one side.

She had heard that there were two Grimblades listed amongst the new disciples. In fact, they were part of a stolen batch from across the universe, picked up by their Guild Spirits.

Was it a coincidence that someone like this had suddenly appeared now of all times?

But what made this more interesting was that this person didn't just demand them to come back. Why was that?

And if there was something to be feared, then why would he appear so boldly and proudly?

None of it seemed to make any sense.

She licked her lips. It almost looked like she was getting turned on by the corpse beneath her, or maybe what had been done to it.

Was that man a Grimblade too? The odds of that were low and unlikely. But… whoever he was, she liked him.

In fact, it seemed far too many people did.

Her gaze swept across the room, and the ones previously looking at Sylas with lust cowered back.

She cocked her head back and laughed a springy, airy laugh.

Unfortunately, it seemed that this man couldn't be hers. His Will was too powerful.

But his aura… she knew someone who would be very, very interested in it.

…

Sylas took a seat in silent meditation, his eyes stony beneath their lids.

There was another Lust Seed here. Several of them, in fact. But how was that possible when he already had the Virtue Seed?