Genetic Ascension

One pair of eyes after another shot toward Zolte. But what shook them the most was the fact they didn’t see anything wrong with him at all, not initially.

But then it became clear that he was standing in silence for too long… not moving a single inch.

Then, slowly, he toppled over, his body collapsing to the ground, limp and lifeless as though he had always been dead from the very start, or like his puppet master had finally released his strings.

The sound of his collapse echoed through the hall, the echoes reverberating through the walls.

Byahmad slowly stood to his feet, his looming presence akin to a bat hanging from a cave ceiling. It was the first time Sylas had truly felt the aura of what it meant to be a part of the Bat Lineage, but it was also quite ironic that it had taken so long to finally get a sense for it.

After suffering so many losses in a row, it seemed that they were finally on the verge of breaking.

“You killed him. It’s proof. You killed him the same way Vaernon died,” Byahmad said slowly.

“I killed him?” Sylas looked over toward the C-tier as though he didn’t feel the sweeping presence and suffocating menace radiating from him. “Did you see me kill him?”

Byahmad’s pupils practically spit fire, their black depths becoming a radiant crimson in an instant. Illusory, black bat wings flickered on his back, half taking form and yet half not at the same time.

“It seems to me that the people of your Bat Lineage are just a bit fragile. I had yet to settle scores for the destruction of my glasses or the targeting of my eyes, but he fell of his own accord.”

Gwenu rolled her lips over themselves, stifling her own laughter before it came out.

Evil. This junior brother of hers was evil.

He could have admitted it openly, but he both didn’t care to and felt like not doing so was far more beneficial to him.

This sort of ability to piss his enemies off was second to none.

After saying this, Sylas no longer paid attention to Byahmad. The latter was about to say something else, but this time… it was Prione who spoke.

“Enough.”

The booming voice of the 713th Lion Warlord peeled across the air like a clap of thunder.

“Byahmad Kaelthar, you have already been assigned the title of 713th Bat Warlord. As such, you must follow our protocols and our rules. If you would like to accuse another Lineage of something, come forward with your proof. Until then, we were all here when it happened.

“It was your aura that targeted a junior, and according to the rules that govern our Sanctum, even if Sylas Grimblade did kill your junior, he would have had every right to do so after levying an official challenge.”

Byahmad’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t a fool; he could feel it as well. The Sanctum’s winds were no longer backing his sails.

Slowly, he sat back down and didn’t say a word. His expression, once just the slightest bit ugly, became unreadable.

Prione was about to speak again, but he was cut off by Erethea, the 713th Whale Warlord. Her blue skin shimmered as she rose to her feet, or maybe that was an illusion caused by the ripples across her fat.

Even so, despite her heft, she had a lovable face and kind eyes. Well, if one was able to ignore the dense blackhole of light and energy that seemed to sink into her.

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Most who stared at her felt nothing but fear. But Sylas, he saw something else… something that fascinated him.

He had actually ignored the Whale Lineage for the most part, though he more or less had an opinion of the other three of the four strongest Lineages. This was the first time he was actually seeing and observing a Whale Warlord in the first place, so it was no wonder.

But seeing her now…

‘Curious.’

Sylas had some plans brewing in his mind, and they gained some extra legs upon seeing this Erethea.

“Now that these matters are settled for the time being, I’ll take the reins and steer us toward where we should go. There’s no time to waste, so we will rip the bandaid off now.

“There’s been a change. The Warlord Crown Sanctum is being opened ahead of time. We do not have information on why an event that should be taking place years from now has been moved forward, but we can only speculate that it is related to the turmoil in this quadrant of the universe. This is an ideal time for the rise and fall of geniuses, and those that can capitalize should.”

Sylas’ gaze flickered.

While others were thinking about how this might have come about, his thoughts were actually on Scarval.

There had to be a reason the Core Sanctum had stepped out of line to save that man’s life. Clearly, they had wanted an extraordinarily powerful F-tier for reasons unknown to Sylas.

Now, it seemed more obvious why that was.

Honestly, Sylas still didn’t know exactly how strong Scarval was. When they fought, the latter hadn’t even gotten a chance to use his Armor.

To Sylas, though… he would never spend time worrying about an F-tier from this Sector. If he did, would he even be worthy of the Primus Imperium Conquest Title?

Even so, he couldn’t help but connect these two matters.

“Many of you wouldn’t have participated in this matter before and don’t know much about the Warlord Crown Sanctum. In simple terms, the Warlord Crown Sanctum is the core that connects all of our Sanctums across this quadrant, tying us to our Emperor Warlord Sanctum.

“As the 713th Warlord Cycle draws to an end, there will always be a re-ranking, and this will decide the group of those who are promoted to the Core Sanctum, those that become the 714th Cycle of Warlords, and those who can gain great rewards.

“In the rarest of instances… it can also decide those that will be promoted to the Emperor Sanctum itself.”