Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1228: Last Chance [Bonus]

Sylas moved right through the flames, his fire affinity suddenly getting a substantial acute buff. He pulled on his Gluttony Seed and [Primal Gut], churning through the blood as fast as his body would allow.

All of the power was used up in practically an instant, but it was enough to surge right through the curtain of flames. Ebison was so enraged by the bones attacking him and the arrogance of Sylas’ actions that he didn’t even notice. Or rather… Sylas had done too good of a job at hiding himself.

Ebison had only just shattered the bone shards when a familiar scene played out once again.

His chin spun to one side, his head snapping so hard that this time, even the sounds of snapping ligaments rang out.

Ebison reeled, but once again, he suffered a kick to the groin that left him hissing in breath.

He crumpled to the ground, his pitchfork being ripped out of his hands by a tug of Sylas’ arm. His grip around it had weakened so much that he couldn’t hold on even if he wanted to—especially not when a familiar knee slammed against his head again.

“This is your last chance to save him,” Sylas said just as indifferently. But his hand was already spinning, the pitchfork raising up in a spiraling torrent.

By the way he wielded it, one would have never guessed that Sylas was a person with no experience with a weapon, and even further, no ability to actually use one without it combusting in his palm.

However, his Mixed Demonic Arts went far beyond just hand-to-hand combat. And… he happened to let go of the pitchfork at just the right moment.

The momentum of his arm and his telekinesis fused into one. Taking control of the F-Grade Runes he could sense within the pitchfork, he Chrono Cast and Spatial Cast at the same time, multiplying them through time, and shrinking them all at once.

BANG!

The pitchfork drove into Ebison’s chest.

For a moment, there was silence as the Blazara was pinned to the marble ground. But then came the final result.

Ebison’s body blew apart as his pitchfork self-destructed, the Runes within deconstructing into waves of concentrated flames that even his body couldn’t withstand.

Sylas weathered the waves of fire with his Rune control and the last of the affinity the weaker Blazara had given him.

The words he had spoken were still echoing out as waves of fire spread in all directions. Powerful, pulsing tsunamis of heat covered everything, and most had to rely on the protection of their elders just to weather the storm.

’So that works too.’

Sylas, however… was focused on something else.

The self-destruction of Runes when he compressed their sizes had been self-defeating before. That was because it took place in the Mesh of Reality, and the backlash was basically entirely on his own Will.

But what Sylas had thought of just now was applying that ability to a treasure where the Runes were already tied to a body in the physical world. In that case, it wouldn’t just be the Runes that self-destructed, but the treasure itself.

The backlash on his Will was also greatly minimized.

Sylas had ended up basically bloating the treasure with his Chrono Casting, then compressed them all at once to 1%.

The weapon was already sharp enough to pierce Ebison’s flesh, which Sylas hadn’t been able to do on his own. Its self-destruction was even more powerful than that.

It was thanks to Sylas’ calculations, controlling the waves of explosions to focus on Ebison’s body and away from himself, that he was able to stand here so calmly.

And now…

The fires dissipated, revealing Ebison’s chest splayed open like a charred, blooming fire. The man was hardly recognizable.

… There was a dead Demon at his feet.

Sylas reached a palm to his face, swiping down as though wiping blood and sweat away. But instead, he ended up peeling a layer of his skin off.

The flesh flaked away, revealing the healed skin beneath his once desecrated countenance.

He flicked his wrist and what remained of his injured face fell away, though the rest of his body was still a terrible mess.

Whether he cared or not was near impossible to tell.

Then, he turned and left, leaving the corpse there.

The Duchess’ father was still looking at Ebison’s body as though he was well and truly surprised by what had happened. As for Sylas, he seemed to have forgotten why he had come here at all and directly left, not waiting to hear the secrets at all.

The Duchess herself seemed to try and say something, but she hesitated too long, as Sylas was already gone. Then there was Ansla, who looked toward Sylas, wanting to stand, and yet worrying about what it would mean for her family if she did so.

The dilemma of the two women seemed to completely ignore the fact there was a corpse on the ground right about now.

“Well, well, well!” the Duchess’ father chortled. “Now, wasn’t that interesting?”

The head of the Blazara Race and Ebison’s father looked at his son’s corpse with something between rage and disgust. This was a stain they wouldn’t be able to get rid of for a while.

Whey covered her lips, stifling her laugh.

“… How embarrassing…”

She left the last part of her sentence unspoken. At this point, what woman would dare to fight the Duchess for a man? She was far smarter than her brother.

’A shame, a shame. He would have probably tasted very good…’

Whey sighed. Why did her brother and father have to be such weak men?

“Ah, well, now that the entertainment is completed, how about we get to business?”

**

Sylas peeled the last of the burnt skin off his body, chewing on more Demon meat as he forced his body to accelerate his healing.

He had spent the entire night trying to fix what Ebison had broken. By now, he was back up to 70% or so, but it wasn’t good enough.

Suddenly, his eyes flashed. A moment later, there was a knock at his door.