Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2303: End Goal

Elara read the notification twice, and her lips pressed into a thin line.

"… Why can't I ever just relax."

She seemed to have forgotten that it was her idea to leave home. But maybe her idea of relaxing was less to do with doing nothing and more to do with being able to do nothing the way she wanted to do nothing… Still, this was a problem.

The Quicktime Event was whatever. But she didn't actually want to have to move. This beach was nice.

She had just spent a ton of time arranging things so that she wouldn't have to move, threading information, twisting narratives, making sure the Grimblades were painted in the best possible light. And of course, now all of that might come crumbling down.

Her brother's doing. Obviously.

Who was the little sibling here again? Was it really her? Shouldn't she be getting pampered with ice cream and stuffed teddy bears?

She let her eyes drift shut and sighed. She found, with some satisfaction, that if not for her timely intervention, shit would have most definitely gone very, very south with this announcement.

Thanks to her, people believed that Sylas had uprooted an organization of Madness and torn out their Seeds before they could become a problem.

By now, the rumors and explanations had grown their own legs and had spread far and wide already. She worked fast, and it was an already-entrenched narrative. Though, it was quite easy considering a powerful mid-tier organization had just been wiped out overnight.

It was even easier since she was riding the wave of speculation about the Grimblades too. Everyone was looking for answers, and the moment they found something plausible, they latched onto it.

Plus, the few who doubted the Grimblades' strength had really been put in their place… especially since you definitely couldn't hide the furious rampage of a pair of S-tiers racing across the universe.

As far as the world was concerned now, the Grimblades had the ability to kill S-tiers.

So when the sky broke and the system decided to start a bloody war between Heavens, nobody was going to stand at the forefront and say that this was all Sylas' doing.

In truth, they might have been right to. This was all because of Sylas. It was far easier to blame him than it was the God actually responsible.

But instead, Sylas was now not only the head of a snake of unknown, fathomless strength, but also someone public sentiment was behind.

Elara allowed herself a small, private moment of appreciation for her own work. Well, there was nothing "small" about the moment. She had been giddy for ages already.

However… because the public was fickle, that sentiment she had built up for her family and brother wouldn't last very long.

Her brother wouldn't care. He had never once cared, which was precisely why she had to be the one to do all of this. Sylas understood people well; manipulating the public would have been easy for him if he cared to do it.

Still… if this continued the way it was going, the Grimblades would end up at war with the entire Heaven, and no amount of clever placement was going to hold that back forever.

Right now, their enemies could do very little, and Elara found that genuinely funny. The Karma of the whole Heaven sat in the balance. Every Clan head who wanted Sylas dead wasn't in a position to do much about it, at least not openly, not when they should all be banding together and Sylas had public support.

In fact, Sylas and the Grimblades performing well would only help them.

Elara had never once doubted her brother, but she knew that Sylas would have his limits. If not by whether he would succeed or not, then in how long it would take him to. And if it took too long… 'The good news,' she thought, 'is that I can probably go home. The chaos is too great for anyone to notice my movements at this point.'

She sat with that for a moment, then she straightened. There was something to do first.

People would still come for Sylas, even now. People could be shameless. Plus, the benefits of a God were on the line. They simply had to be more covert about it now.

Which meant the experts would move in the dark, in numbers, at the moment his back was turned, and whenever Sylas least expected it, since they would also expect the strength of someone who could kill S-tiers.

So the question was simple. How would she tie up a large number of experts long enough for her brother to deal with the actual problem?

Her mind went to work.

'No… no… Too slow… Too obvious…' Her mind trailed off, then her eyes suddenly flickered.

There it was.

She was one thought from the end of it when the Nexis chimed against the edge of her mind.

A message.

Elara's eyes narrowed.

From Rhykan Purvon.

**

Sylas read the Quicktime Event notification without any particular reaction.

Something was still off.

This wasn't it either. Whatever Gentrixaul was reaching for, a clash of Heavens couldn't be it. That wouldn't change much about the final result.

The Karma of the whole Heaven now rode on kill count. Though the Beast Heaven was stronger, they were the invading party. Because the system was now sanctioning it, there wouldn't be a huge dip in their strength, but this was still their home territory. They would understand it better; their Clans, Sects, and organizations would also be here, meaning they'd have the advantage of formations and defenses.

Plus, if the Beast Heaven had enough losses, Sylas wasn't 100% certain, but there had to be some correlation and connection between the Heavens if you could rise from one to the other. Its loss of Karma might even weaken the Beast Heaven of the God Realm.

Plus… a God wouldn't care about the ire of a few Demi-Gods. That much was normal, but the Skai Heaven had Gods of its own, and there was a stronger connection between the Demi-God Skai Heaven and the God Plane than most other Planes because from top to bottom, the Mortal, Demi-God, and God Planes of the Skai Heavens were ruled by a single Race.

Would they take kindly to their Karma being wagered because one World Serpent was holding a grudge? Would the Thryskai stay quiet?

Sylas fell deeper into his thoughts.

What was the end goal here, exactly?