Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2348 What Need?

Sylas stepped onto the jagged edge of the hole he had torn through the warship as the vessel continued falling toward the chaos below, then lifted himself back into the air with a single step.

He hovered there while twisted metal, broken formations, and the corpses of the Kiver vanished beneath him, carrying himself as though the destruction behind him had nothing to do with him.

Vaelith watched from nearby with the corner of her lip twitching, while even Yamero had gone quiet for a moment.

Not far away, the remnants of Vaelith's Clan attendants stood aboard their own vessel and stared.

At first, none of them had understood who the young man was that had managed to make their ice princess leave her ship personally to greet him, but now they didn't need anyone to explain. An entire Guild's representatives had just been wiped out in minutes, and as some of them replayed what they had seen, they realized it might not have even taken that long.

Even Vaelith was looking at Sylas differently now. She had known his Rune Mastery was absurd, but outside of that first step onto the ship, he hadn't seemed to use much of it at all, which somehow made what happened even harder to understand.

Turning an A-tier warship's formations against itself while only displaying C-tier Rune Mastery was already ridiculous enough, yet he had slaughtered everyone aboard before the ship even finished falling through the depths of space.

At least Sylas' killing intent had faded enough that Vaelith could think clearly again.

"Where is the Vaelryn ship?" Sylas asked.

Vaelith shook her head. "I don't know their exact location, most of the powerful Clans separated once they reached the battlefield because there are significant rewards tied to increasing kill tallies. If everyone piles into the same region, those benefits become stretched too thin."

Yamero leaned slightly around Sylas and looked toward her. "Interesting strategy, worrying about rewards when you can't even protect yourselves. You aren't a match for the Beast Heaven, so shouldn't survival come first?"

Vaelith smiled without the slightest embarrassment. "The Thryskai aren't so weak."

Sylas looked at her.

Vaelith didn't strike him as the sort of person who relied on blind confidence, though she had certainly overestimated herself when they first met. This didn't feel like the same thing, because there was none of that quiet uncertainty hidden beneath her expression now, only a calm certainty. And that was more than a little bit peculiar.

His thoughts moved quickly.

Sylas already knew the Thryskai were Demons, but most Thryskai themselves didn't seem aware of that fact. Keeping a secret on that scale would be impossible if everyone knew, which meant even within their own Race the truth had to be compartmentalized, but Vaelith was hardly an ordinary member of the Thryskai. It was possible she knew more than most.

Normally, revealing their Demonic nature would make little sense, but if the Skai Heaven was about to have its Karma crippled, then perhaps they would decide there was less left to lose. While they would still have the God Plane itself, Sylas was fairly certain that losing such a massive amount of Karma on the Demi-God Plane would affect the God Plane as well. If that wasn't the trump card Vaelith was relying on, then there had to be something else.

Sylas ran through the possibilities and came up empty.

Then his eyes narrowed.

He looked at Vaelith for a long while, studying the calm smile on her face, but she didn't squirm beneath his attention. If anything, she seemed almost pleased to let him look for as long as he wanted, as though she believed every extra moment of his attention was another step toward ingratiating herself with him.

"What does the name Rhykan Purvon mean to you?"

Vaelith's smile widened as though she had been waiting for that exact question.

"I knew you couldn't have possibly become this great without crossing paths with him on the Mortal Plane."

Sylas remained silent.

"You are an untouchable genius, Sylas Grimblade, and you defy logic, reason, and understanding in ways that most people will never be capable of following." Vaelith's golden third eye slit opened slightly as she watched him. "But you aren't the only one who does, and some of the others are far more patient than you are."

Sylas' expression didn't change, so she continued.

"Even Rhykan doesn't know this, but his journey has been watched by those on the God Plane for a very long time now, just as the journeys of two others have been watched by their respective Ancestries." Vaelith folded her hands behind her back as she spoke. "They don't help him, and in fact they actively hinder him whenever they can, suppressing him at every stage because what they want is someone capable of reaching the peak despite that adversity."

She paused, her gaze sharpening slightly.

"What makes you interesting is that you don't have an Ancestry like the other three."

The smile returned to her face.

"There is no one waiting for your successful arrival on the God Plane, no ancient Clan preparing a place for you, and no Ancestry watching from above to see whether you've met their expectations." Vaelith tilted her head, curiosity brightening her eyes. "So what will you do when you finally get there and realize why so many Gods there are watching and waiting?"

She watched closely for even the smallest change in Sylas' expression, but when she found nothing, she didn't seem disappointed. Instead, she turned her gaze back toward the battlefield, where the unfinished bridge continued to churn beneath the pressure of two Heavens trying to tear at one another.

"The Skai Heaven won't fall because Rhykan won't allow it to." Vaelith's wings shifted behind her. She said it simply, as though it was just a fact of life. He existed, so they could never possibly lose.

Then she looked at Sylas once more.

"But lucky us, you happen to be here too." Her smile became almost playful again. "Doesn't that give us two people capable of holding up the skies? So what need is there to be cautious?"