Genetic Ascension

1590 Finished [Bonus]

[Bonus chapters thanks to bboy4312, aka bottom boy <3 once again, we do not judge]

The light came to a stop, lighting up a youth who suddenly felt as though the world was crashing down around him—especially when he looked across the bow to see that it was a member of the Lion Lineage of the 087 Sanctum who was selected.

Finished. They were all finished. And he would be the one to take the fall for it all.

In his state of complete panic, he didn’t realize when a figure instantly appeared by his side, grabbing onto his shoulder-hard.

The force that was about to rip him away was slowed to a crawl.

The youth looked over to see Sylas looming over him to his side, his pupils constricting into pinholes. He could feel the bile already coming up from his throat, his knees shaking and nearly falling toward the ground if not for the fact Sylas’ grip was far too strong.

In reality, the youth might have been only sixteen or seventeen years old or so, but he was the one who was actually towering over Sylas. Though he felt like Sylas was looming over him, that was little more than a trick of his mind. His Will subconsciously shrank himself in the presence of Sylas.

This wasn’t just because he had heard of Sylas from afar, but because he had personally experienced the carnage left behind by him. The Rhino Lineage’s F-tiers had been completely decimated by Sylas’ actions. The only reason someone as young as him was even such a prominent figure in the Lineage was precisely because Sylas had killed all of their elites.

As a result of this, though the Rhinos didn’t plummet to becoming the weakest of them all in a single bound, the effects would undoubtedly reflect Sylas’ imprint in the coming decade or so. Their well of talent would run dry, and it would be extremely hard to make up.

The youth knew that Sylas was a madman who killed without blinking. If he came here to threaten him to succeed, what could he even do?

All at once, though, the youth’s mind went completely blank. He looked into Sylas’ eyes just a single time, and it was as though all his fears had been entirely wiped away.

Sylas’ lips began to move, a rapid series of Ancient Ithkuil characters forming from the cadence of his tone.

He was lucky in one respect: he was already somewhat familiar with the Rhino Warlord Armor. It wasn’t a perfect understanding, but all he needed was a breath.

First, he used Reaper Sealwright to sense the Rhino Spirit’s connection with this youth. Then, he fixed the Armor’s Runes in his mind.

All of this took not even a split moment.

Then, Sylas began to speak. He didn’t hide his voice; he didn’t have the time to. His Will needed to penetrate the youth’s very essence-his being down to its deepest core.

He trapped the youth’s Will in a cycle of time and space, forcing his Will into a suffocating loop that made him feel out the Runes being drawn again and again.

The aura of a rampaging Rhino exuded from the youth in lines of silvery grey. It grew more and more menacing-more savage and all-consuming.

This youth was such a greenhorn that he hadn’t even had the chance to integrate with the Rhino Warlord Gene yet. In fact, as far as Sylas could tell, he was only Level 37.

There was no chance in this battle at all.

So he would make one.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Restrictions shook, pulling harder on the youth to teleport him to the battlefield, but Sylas held strong, elongating the time dilation and manipulating the spatial Runes.

Sylas’ fingers clawed into the youth, drawing blood. His lips moved faster and faster, trapping the Rhino Lineage disciple into a death spiral of his own Will.

And then…

Chi.

Sylas’ hand slipped through air, the youth having vanished from his control.

Everything happened so fast that most people hardly had time to register what was happening. As for those strong enough to do so, they were separated by so many layers and mechanisms that they could only frown, not understanding.

Some even thought that Sylas was attempting to kill the youth to force a redraw. But considering the impatience of those overseeing things this year, this would have had a higher likelihood of disqualifying the Sanctum than anything else.

The words of the overseer were correct. In the real world, no one had an obligation to give you a fair chance. Even on Earth, you couldn’t just walk up to any company and ask to be interviewed.

While they might feel like it was unfair-that the Emperor Sanctum owed them this as their overseeing force-the reality was that they had no obligation.

They didn’t expect much out of the lower-ranked Sanctums, so why waste days watching them fight a war of tens of millions for what would ultimately be utterly worthless placements?

It was much easier to send in just one of them and end this matter in minutes rather than days.

If they had been in the shoes of the youth, they would have likely done the exact same thing.

But Sylas had no intention of falling so simply.

He coughed, his expression paling. His breaths came out a bit shallow, but his improved [Maddened Enlightenment] was already working overtime.

However, it didn’t seem like his efforts had paid off at all.

The young Rhino Lineage disciple appeared in the arena still in a complete daze. In fact,

he was already injured, blood oozing out from his shoulder.

“Hm?”

High above, the Emperor Dove put on a rare serious expression. Something odd was happening.

The Lion Lineage disciple of the 087 Sanctum didn’t hesitate, rushing forward with all the speed he could muster.

By the words of the overseer, so long as he won this battle, the absolute lowest ranking they could have was 085. That was already higher than their baseline-how could he give up such a chance?

He appeared before the young Rhino Lineage disciple in a flash, his claw slashing down and leaving arcs of sharp gold in the air.