Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2375: Can I Really? [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to TheHonoredOne69 <3]

Nosphaleen couldn’t slow her heartbeat no matter how hard she tried, and the strange freedom spreading through her mind only made controlling herself more difficult.

The endless pulses of anger and Envy that had once sat behind every thought had faded into the distance, no longer crowding against her consciousness or coloring every emotion before she could even decide what she felt.

She couldn’t understand what Sylas had changed, but for the first time in longer than she cared to remember, her own thoughts felt like they belonged entirely to her.

Her eyes burned before she realized what was happening, and then the first tears slipped free.

Nosphaleen buried her face against Sylas’ chest as the restraint she had maintained collapsed all at once, her shoulders trembling while sobs escaped faster than she could suppress them.

She tried to stop more than once, embarrassed by how completely she had lost control of herself, but every attempt only seemed to loosen something else inside her until her fingers tightened around Sylas and she cried harder.

Sylas didn’t tell her to stop, nor did he offer some empty reassurance that everything was fine now when both of them knew that wasn’t true. He simply held her there while the storm worked its way through her, allowing Nosphaleen to cling to him until the shaking gradually weakened and her breathing finally began to settle.

By the time she managed to lift her face again, her eyes were red and wet, but the oppressive haze that had once sat behind them was nowhere near as strong.

Nosphaleen hugged him tighter.

She had always believed in Sylas, or at least she had thought she did, yet what he had just done felt like something she should have expected from the man he would become at the end of his journey rather than the one standing before her now.

He had reached into something that had controlled her across Karma, Faith, Will, and even time itself, then shifted it just enough to return a piece of herself that Nosphaleen had begun to think was gone forever.

The realization left her strangely hollow. Had she still underestimated him?

When she challenged his wife to battle, had some part of that choice come from the same failure to believe? She had told herself that she only needed an answer, that she couldn’t endure another day without knowing whether there was truly a place for her beside Sylas, but now she couldn’t stop wondering whether patience should have been enough.

Maybe she should have simply trusted that Sylas would eventually reach her. Maybe she should have trusted that when he did, whatever stood between them wouldn’t matter.

Nosphaleen lowered her gaze, the thought leaving her more broken than the pressure of Envy had in some ways, until Sylas finally spoke.

"Let’s go."

Her head snapped up.

"I can... really go with you?"

Sylas looked back at her with the same calm expression he seemed to wear for almost everything, but he didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to.

A beautiful smile slowly spread across Nosphaleen’s face, so bright that the lingering redness around her eyes only made it stand out more. Maybe that really had been her problem all along, and if so, she would never make the same mistake again.

From today onward, no one would believe in Sylas more than she did.

The extension of Nosphaleen’s spine began retracting as soon as the thought settled, drawing back from the waters beneath the lotus while the cocoon at the bottom of the oasis trembled.

The second body rose through the clear water under an invisible pull, and at the same time, the tether stretching all the way toward the Mortal Plane snapped apart.

The two Nosphaleens came together with a sudden whir of power.

Their bodies struck one another without impact, flesh, Will, Genes, and Aura flowing together as though the separation had never existed in the first place. The Demi-God power that had been stored in the cocoon rushed into Nosphaleen’s true foundation, and her aura climbed so violently that the oasis shuddered around them before settling into a new balance.

B-tier.

Nosphaleen opened her eyes again, and the woman that looked back at Sylas seemed even more radiant than the one from moments earlier. The translucent scales across her body had become clearer and more defined, each one carrying a faint sheen that shifted between the colors of the Mesmeryx without overwhelming the softness of her skin.

Sylas turned and walked toward the cave exit with Nosphaleen beside him.

By the time they stepped into the light outside, her scales had thickened further, spreading along her shoulders, ribs, hips, and limbs until there was something distinctly draconic about her appearance. Somehow, the harder lines only made her beauty more striking, giving the softness of her features an almost regal contrast.

Nosphaleen suddenly tugged on Sylas’ hand.

He looked back.

She hesitated for a moment, something rare enough on its own, then looked up at him with a sheepish expression that didn’t quite match the newly oppressive B-tier aura rolling from her body.

"I want a baby too."

Sylas blinked.

Nosphaleen’s face warmed, but she didn’t look away.

The corner of Sylas’ lips curled upward by the smallest amount, such a faint change that almost anyone else would have missed it entirely. Nosphaleen knew him far too well for that, and the instant she saw it, the tension in her body seemed to melt.

"Okay."

Her smile became even brighter.

Sylas turned toward the path ahead and prepared to take another step, but before his foot could come down, space twisted directly in front of him. Black and red spiraled together into a rotating portal whose edges seemed to chew through the surrounding world rather than open cleanly through it.

Sylas’ expression cooled.

He shifted half a step forward without conscious thought, his broad back placing itself between Nosphaleen and whatever was coming.

A figure stepped through.

The man was tall and unnaturally lean, his body wrapped in layered black robes whose hems looked soaked in dried blood despite carrying no scent at all. His eyes were little more than narrow slits at first, but as his gaze landed on Sylas and then drifted toward Nosphaleen behind him, those slits widened into enormous serpent-like pupils that seemed to consume an unsettling portion of his face.

The pressure that followed was far worse.

S-tier.

The ground beneath the Efivara’s feet blackened before he even finished stepping through, thin red veins spreading across the stone as though the planet itself had been infected by his presence.

He carried no weapon, yet the way his long fingers rested at his sides made it feel unnecessary, while the black-red portal behind him continued to churn beneath an Aura that made the surrounding Mesmeryx world groan.

Kessryn of the Efivara looked past Sylas once more and his serpent-like eyes locked onto Nosphaleen.

Then he slowly lowered himself to one knee.