Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1845: One Way

The Lost City of Greed shook into place and stopped moving. But when the curtain of gold reached Sylas, it froze in place, unable to move forward any further.

It was as though two Wills were clashing in the air.

The city shook once more and all of the light spilling outward came to a sudden stop.

Everything froze for just a moment before a spear appeared at the edge of Sylas' throat.

He barely managed to slip to the side, but that didn't stop a line of blood from arching through the air.

Sylas caught sight of the dancing crimson cloth tied to its body. As it streaked by his nose, the dense scent of blood and Madness poured into him, pressing down with a heavy air.

A familiar giant warrior stood before Sylas. He wore a beast-skin skirt, beads hanging around his neck, wrists, and ankles. He wore nothing to cover up his torso, tattoos etched with Runes covering him practically from head to toe.

Sylas felt something stir within him.

This wasn't the same giant warrior he had fought when he first challenged the Lost City of Greed at all. Though they were still about the same size, eight or even nine feet tall, their air was different.

There was more intelligence in their eyes and those Runes that coated their skin... 'Dogon.'

[Itzum (EEE+)]

[Level: 53]

[Physical: 1,344,444]

[Mental: 777,443]

[Will: -]

BANG.

The giant Dogon slammed the butt of his spear into the ground rather than sending a follow-up attack. The air beneath his feet rippled and a blue flame spread out in all directions before it suddenly snapped back into one ball.

Quickly, that ball formed into the body of a gorgeous snow-furred jaguar with the most radiant of blue eyes.

The jaguar became the giant Dogon's steed as the man tilted his head up to the skies, unleashing a billowing war cry that seemed to resonate with the flames around the jaguar's ankles and hidden within its mane.

The claws of the jaguar extended and they suddenly rushed toward Sylas with an even faster speed than before. It took no more than a moment for Sylas to register that the jaguar was no longer an independent beast like the first time he had fought their kind.

It was a combat mount.

A powerful one.

The combined stats more than doubled.

As the war cry filled the skies, one ancient warrior after another appeared. Each and every one didn't seem to have a Will at all. Somehow they both seemed more sentient and not all at once.

At first, it was just one. Then it was two. Then a dozen. Then six dozen. Then over a hundred, to a thousand, to tens of thousands.

They looked toward Sylas with burning eyes, sitting on the backs of their Combat Mounts.

Some of them stood in the skies. Many of them stood on the steps of the temple, wrapping around it but ultimately facing the one man who they felt to have all decided to give their utmost focus to.

Earth simply shouldn't have existences this powerful. Just one of them should have been far too much.

But Sylas seemed to look right through them, his gaze on the temple below as though he was waiting for something else.

It didn't come.

So it seemed that he would have to make it come out.

A Glass Throne appeared high in the skies. Sylas' mind whirred with thoughts of the lightning he had seen from the Valentrix, dissecting the Runes he had seen from their weapons.

It had only been for the briefest instances, but Sylas didn't need much more than that alone.

Today would be his own judgment day.

The skies rumbled.

"Die."

Chi.

A thick bolt of emerald descended from the skies. The odd Wills of the ancient warriors being ripped to shreds.

The first of them to step forward-Itzum, his name was-was blasted into ash and bits of emerald crystal formation, his war cry being cut short.

The air sparked with electricity and another bolt descended, and then another.

The ancient warriors howled and charged, one spark of lightning after another wiping out their companions. But their numbers were truly overwhelming, and they seemed to know no fear at all.

In a flash, they surrounded Sylas, bearing down on him.

Sylas caught a spear tip in the air with a hand, his other blocking a second.

A barrier formed to his back, blocking three more, and he just barely twisted to the side, the sixth that aimed to cut into his waist just nicking him by a hair.

PUCHI. PUCHI.

The two spears Sylas caught suddenly extended, their blades turning the white of bone.

It all happened too speedy and they were already piercing right into his chest a moment later.

More blood coated Sylas' body. He coughed and his jawline was flooded with an overflowing crimson.

A blue flame tried to rampage inside of his body, but it was like the moment the attacks reached his flesh, the Will sustaining them was entirely wiped out.

The flames couldn't catch hold.

Sylas took a deep breath. His Monkey King Armor had already winked out.

It sounded simple to use the Demi-God Aura he had accumulated for the Emperor Sanctum on himself. But between the distance and the pressure such an aura put on his current self, his Will had constantly been eaten away at with every step.

The real reason he hadn't Fused was twofold, actually. Not only did he not have the stamina to spare for yet another Will-based offensive, but he was an E-tier now, not an F-tier.

He had yet to form Legendary Physical Genes, so his understanding of his own body wasn't great enough to override the limitations of Vipermancy that he usually ignored... like being unable to Fuse while heavily injured.

And then, to make matters worse, he had gone and wasted so much more stamina upgrading his eyes, before then using its insights to forcefully burn away at his Progenitor Flames and accelerate Earth's Summoning.

Sylas exhaled a heavy breath.

It seemed that everything always conspired to put him on his very last legs.

That much was fine.

His grip tightened on the two spears lodged into his body.

He would only allow this to end one way.