Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2296: Truly Arrogant

Sarethvane's grin only widened. The coils in his body tightened to an extreme before he suddenly exploded out.

In one moment, the enormous serpent that looked formed of dull grey stone was dozens of kilometers away, and in the next instant he was right before Sylas. They were practically nose to nose.

But when they were about to clash, he vanished as though he was little more than an illusion, and instead a coffin appeared before Sylas.

Its lid opened up and then suddenly slammed down, its lid closing over Sylas and swallowing him whole.

In the last moments before the coffin closed over, Sylas only took a single step forward. His body seemed to warp and phase.

BOOM.

The slamming echo of the stone lid of the coffin shattered the space around it.

Sylas, however, stood behind it.

Sarethvane's grin didn't fade, and Sylas looked down at himself, feeling as though a bit of his Will had been ripped away just now nonetheless.

The coffin spun around and a crack appeared in it. Not one of damage, but instead of the lid opening once more.

A man appeared. Sylas could see without even looking back. His body was shaped exactly like his own, with broad, sweeping shoulders and a tall frame. However… its head was that of a serpent, with a slithering tongue and scales as green as the emerald of its eyes.

The man reached toward its back and pulled free a scythe from the depths of space before swinging at Sylas.

Sylas didn't even move. He didn't even look back. His attention remained on Sarethvane as though nothing to his back was all that important at all.

The man froze before his scythe could even touch Sylas. It stopped an inch from him as though it couldn't budge a single centimeter more, a rolling wave of pressure coming from the blade, and yet not a single hint of an injury forming in sight.

Sylas' gaze finally shifted from Sarethvane and he looked down at the scythe blade trying to wrap around him. He reached a hand up and tapped it.

The blade shattered and the man behind him crumbled. The Will collapsed and then fused back into Sylas' body as though it had never been taken.

"Trying to use my own Will against me?" Sylas asked, his head tilted just the slightest bit. "I can see it quite clearly… you think a bit too highly of yourself…"

Sarethvane blinked. The words being spoken to him now were words that he simply never thought he would hear said to him. He was the one who always said those words to others.

"I…? Am full…? Of myself…?"

A voice far deeper than should have been possible for such a young Serpentes echoed. It rippled through time and seemed to have the heft and weight of death to it.

And then it was suddenly tinged with unbridled fury.

Until now, Sarethvane was only having fun. He wanted to see how this would go, and how far he would have to push Sylas before that foolish Pride broke.

But now Sylas was taking a mere test as a victory?

And had even said such words to him?

Sarethvane roared, his coffins rattled. One after another, they began to open, pooling black fog exuding out of each one of them.

Large amounts of Will poured into the atmosphere, but they were completely unattached. The cemetery below seemed to almost feel like a kid's playground in comparison.

This was the very first time that Sylas was running into someone with black Will. All sorts of people had Wills colored in all sorts of different ways.

Sylas' own was green. His wife, Cassarae's, was blue. He had seen many other green and blue Wills, but none were any one particular shade, he had never seen two that shared the exact same shade and hue either. He had seen pink Wills before, purple ones, red ones, all sorts… But never once had he seen black.

What was even more fascinating was that this black Will didn't seem to be all Sarethvane's either. Yet, his Will was the center of them all. It was like through all the people he killed, or the corpses he spent time around, he accumulated powerful Wills of the dead. And because they weren't tethered to anyone else, he could more easily control them.

All of a sudden, without having Infinite Will, Sarethvane perfectly mimicked Infinite Will. And not only that, but his Will stat didn't reflect the true vastness of his reserves.

This was why Sarethvane was so interesting. He had done three things that should be impossible.

First, he mimicked a Will level far higher than his own.

Second, he stole the Wills of those far stronger than him after their death simply by comprehending and understanding the essence of their life.

And third, he found a method to store that Will and use it whenever he wanted.

The reason he used his coffins to fly instead of telekinesis wasn't because he couldn't… but because why should he waste his own Will if he didn't have to? All he needed to do was direct the Wills of the dead to move for him.

He didn't think it was necessary to use his own precious Will to do anything.

As much as he hated the arrogant… maybe no one but Sylas himself was more arrogant.

So, Sylas would show him just how arrogant a person could be.

Sarethvane's roar shook the planet.

CLING. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The black Will solidified and formed an armor around him, black wings extending until they blocked out the skies.

However, the Will began to press down on him. The echoes of shattering bone filled the air.

Sarethvane crushed himself until he took the form of a human. He reached out and his black Will took the shape of a scythe in one hand and on his back, a calligraphy brush laid.

Sylas paused, the hand he raised hovering in the air for a moment.

He had just been about to start using Death Runes because that was what Sarethvane would use. But to think that Sarethvane would think to try and mimic him instead.

"Truly arrogant."

They both spoke at the same time.