Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1842: Explode

Runes exploded all around Sylas. He reached out with his severed arm as though it were still attached to his body, an emerald green glow wafting from it that not only quickly enveloped the rest of him, but was also slowly being tinged with an abyssal black.

Then he moved.

Xalor swung his blade quickly and sharply in response. There was a large bite taken out of it, but its construction was far too sturdy to fall so easily.

And yet his blade seemed to pass right through Sylas' body.

A fist connected with his face as Sylas took a step to his side. Sylas' entire body became an engine of torque, his abs flexing and revving as his fist struck down.

BOOM.

Xalor was in the air one moment and plowing through the ground the next.

Sylas didn't follow him, his hair dancing with a menacing black fog. His eyes were nothing but abysses of darkness, his Monkey King Armor radiating with a brighter and brighter light with every passing moment.

The Runes of Earth and the Milky Way heeded his call and they formed larger and larger structures.

And then he grinned, a pair of canines forming along his top and bottom rows with such length that they nearly pierced his lips through.

BOOM.

The earth split as Xalor erupted from below, his strength seemingly having been boosted yet again.

SHUU.

He appeared before Sylas, his great sword thrusting right through where he had just stood, but Sylas sidestepped almost as though he had always been twisted to the side.

The blade passed by his belly, and between it and his arm. He pivoted and twisted back to face Xalor squarely, leaping up and driving his knee right through the latter's bronzed jaw.

The sound was akin to stone booming against stone, mountains collapsing, moons crashing against celestial bodies.

But to Xalor, all he could feel was his brain rattling in his skull.

His body went flying upward, but not before Sylas caught his ankle. Sylas' Madness Seeds raged in his body, his telekinesis reaching current peaks and severing past endless valleys.

He roared and he slammed down.

Xalor was thrust downward with such speed he vanished into the abyss of his own creation. And yet, once again, Sylas didn't go after him.

Stretching out a hand, Sylas seemed to wait for but a moment for something to happen.

A single blink and one would have missed it.

Xalor's great sword thrust upward again, his movements even faster than before once more. The tip of his blade looked to rip through Sylas' palm, but in that moment Sylas pinched.

His claws came together and caught the tip of the blade.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

"Explode," Sylas said calmly as air currents formed a wild tsunami around them. The sudden start and stop at such great speeds was nothing in comparison to the collapse of Xalor's weapon.

It was ripped to shreds from the inside out, and yet done so perfectly and systematically that it all blew backward onto Xalor himself.

The Valentrix was riddled with holes in an instant. From his skull to his torso, to his eyes and neck, there was hardly a place a hole couldn't be found.

He shot backward, colliding with a mountain in the distance. It collapsed around him. And yet, once again... Sylas didn't follow.

It really did quite a lot to make him angry. It wasn't an emotion that he experienced much of.

Self-deprecation, annoyance, disgust... those were more like him in his worst states.

This, though... this was very different.

A roar shook the air as a pillar of golden light erupted from the rubble.

Xalor manifested, his hair disheveled, his armor no longer as pristine even as it quickly self-healed. His hands formed fists as he roared into the skies, his power increasing, and then increasing again, and then again after that.

As though he were constantly receiving buffs, he blew past his limits and then stomped the air, appearing before Sylas in the blink of an eye once more.

BOOM.

Their fists met and they both took a step backward.

Xalor recovered quicker at the expense of a snapped Achilles tendon that just as quickly repaired itself. He grew even stronger once again, shifting past Sylas' guard and throwing a fist at his stomach.

Sylas blocked with a raise of his knee, taking a step back in his next fluid action, both dispersing the power and dodging at the same time.

Xalor tried to follow up but the moment Sylas' foot planted, he was already shifting forward, shifting past Xalor's attempt and grabbing the latter's gauntlet.

"Explode," Sylas said calmly.

BOOM.

Xalor's arm shattered to pieces, golden blood raining from the skies.

It reformed so quickly Xalor didn't even miss a beat as a roundhouse kick came for Sylas' head.

Sylas seemed to have foreseen the future. He ducked beneath it, sweeping Xalor's planted foot with a heel.

In the same fluid motion, he rose back up to his feet, catching the end of Xalor's roundhouse with a hand to his ankle.

"Explode."

BOOM.

Xalor's leg was ripped to shreds. But this time, it was a far larger limb. It was too slow to reform in time. Too focused on trying to catch his balance, Xalor couldn't do both at the same time and could only watch as Sylas' hand landed on his helm.

A sinking crunch echoed as Sylas squeezed down, the pain of his splitting skull nearly making Xalor pass out. And yet, Sylas didn't finish.

He held onto the helm, pulling it close until Xalor's pair of eyes were barely half a foot from his own.

He looked into those burning brass orbs with a mass of black fog, his eyes entirely unreadable despite the wild grin on his face.

It was the look of an apex predator who had gained awareness, a savage who only garnered pleasure from blood.

And then his lips slowly parted.

"Explode."

BOOM.