Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2441: Running

The reaction to Sylas’ Pride Seed came from far deeper within Hell than any of the Madnesses surrounding him, but he recognized the Will before it fully awakened. He had once been ninety-nine percent certain that the Monkey King was dead, leaving that final percent only because he had already seen enough of the man’s existence to know that ordinary distinctions between life, death, time, and distance weren’t necessarily meaningful to him. But now...

The presence latched onto Sylas’ Pride Seed without warning, drawing from its authority as though it had been waiting for precisely this opportunity. Sylas felt the drain immediately, but it wasn’t attempting to take the Seed from him or interfere with his control.

The Monkey King was using it as an anchor, borrowing enough of the Virtue to stabilize whatever remained of himself within Hell.

Sylas allowed it.

A golden staff pierced through the overlapping layers of Hell before the figure attached to it became clear, and even then the Monkey King’s body refused to fully settle. Golden fur, armor, and flesh shifted between translucent and solid states as Pride continuously flowed from Sylas, each pulse allowing the figure to become a little more real than before.

The Monkey King didn’t look at Sylas once.

His attention locked onto Two from the moment his eyes opened, and the playful arrogance Sylas remembered from their previous encounters was nowhere to be seen. There was still Pride in every inch of his posture, but it had been compressed into something far more deliberate, the kind of focus reserved for an opponent he had already spent a very long time thinking about.

Two recognized him just as quickly.

There was no confusion or surprise in his expression, only a slight adjustment in the way his red Will gathered around his body. The telekinetic arms that had been spread across the battlefield pulled closer together, several overlapping around the Professor while others remained positioned between himself and the three Arcane Madnesses.

"So that’s where you’ve been."

The Monkey King’s staff shifted slightly in his grip, but he still didn’t answer immediately. His unstable body continued drawing from Sylas’ Pride, growing denser with every passing moment while his gaze remained fixed on Two.

Two studied the process without the slightest hint that he found the Monkey King’s survival unbelievable.

"I knew something was limiting Pride’s representation, but I never cared enough to dig into it while there were easier paths available. Greed, Lust, Gluttony... there was much more useful work to be done elsewhere while you were being suppressed."

That explanation made considerably more sense to Sylas than any possibility that Two simply hadn’t known about the Monkey King. A man capable of restraining multiple Arcane Madnesses, modifying their bodies, and operating through Hell on this scale wasn’t the sort to remain ignorant of something as obvious as the representation of Pride.

The Monkey King moved before Two finished settling his Will.

His staff crossed the battlefield fast enough that even Sylas’ perception struggled to follow the transition, forcing hundreds of red palms to form along its path. The first layers shattered under the impact, followed by several more, but Two continuously compressed his telekinesis until the weapon finally stopped less than a meter from his body.

Neither looked particularly surprised by the result.

The Monkey King withdrew immediately instead of overcommitting, his staff shrinking as he stepped through the recoil and changed the angle of his second attack. Two reacted just as carefully, forming fewer arms this time but making each one substantially denser, meeting the attack without wasting strength on anything that didn’t need to exist.

Sylas watched the difference closely.

The Monkey King had mocked Gods, treated death as something almost beneath consideration, and once constructed an absurd path across time simply to deal with Sylas. Yet there was none of that casual carelessness here, every movement carrying enough restraint to make it obvious that he didn’t consider Two someone he could simply overwhelm.

Two treated him the same way.

The Professor wasn’t panicking, but the lazy pace of the previous battle disappeared entirely. His red Will moved with far greater purpose, every telekinetic arm positioned to protect against not only the Monkey King but Scurrying, Slithering, and Weaving as well, leaving no obvious gaps for Sylas to exploit.

That alone told Sylas enough about the relationship between them. The Monkey King had wanted Two dead for a long time. He simply wasn’t. strong enough to treat the matter casually.

Scurrying crashed into Two from the side under Sylas’ control while Slithering’s Gluttony Will made the attack carry far more weight than the cyborg’s already enormous body suggested. Weaving followed from above without needing any direction from Sylas, her metallic limbs spreading threads of Lust Will across the battlefield while the Monkey King’s staff descended from the opposite direction.

Two stopped all of them.

Red arms shattered and reformed in waves, sometimes losing entire sections beneath the combined assault before replacing them a moment later. The pressure forced him backward, but even surrounded by three Arcane Madnesses and the newly stabilized Monkey King, he never once looked overwhelmed.

The Monkey King finally laughed, though there was little humor in the sound.

"You really haven’t changed."

Two’s mechanical features shifted beneath his hood. "Neither have you."

The Monkey King rested his staff across one shoulder while his body drew another pulse from Sylas’ Pride Seed, allowing his feet to settle more firmly against Hell. "I’ve spent a very long time wanting you dead."

"I know."

That answer seemed to amuse the Monkey King more than anything else Two had said.

His staff expanded again as Pride rolled outward, forcing several red telekinetic palms to brace themselves before the attack even began. However, the Monkey King didn’t immediately swing, his gaze instead passing over Scurrying, Slithering, Weaving, and the machinery scattered throughout Hell before returning to Two.

"You’ve always liked this."

Two tilted his head slightly.

"Cutting things apart. Changing them. Watching what happens afterward and pretending that because you built the cage, you must be the one conducting the experiment."

For the first time since the Monkey King appeared, Two didn’t answer immediately.

The Monkey King’s grin widened.

"You still think you’re the one running the experiment?"

Sylas’ attention shifted.

The words weren’t directed at him, and the Monkey King still hadn’t acknowledged his existence even once, but something about them landed differently than everything else that had been said.

Sylas looked at Two, then at Scurrying Madness beneath him, followed by Weaving’s mechanical body and the wounds still covering Slithering Madness. His gaze finally settled on the Omnimous floating above his palm as several details he had been treating separately suddenly stopped looking separate at all.

Then it clicked.