Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2002: No Chance [Bonus]

[Bonus chapter thanks to ‘ol scrooge mcduck, Eeshoo. May he rest in peace. No way he survived that dive bomb into a vat of gold] Sylas appeared beyond the dome that protected the Sanctum’s planet, above its temple, and amidst the stars. A scythe rested on his shoulder, his clothing having been replaced once more at some unknown time.

A black leather trench coat fluttered behind him, dark grey slacks and a black as night turtleneck completing his new look. A pair of shades covered his eyes, hiding them from the world. And somehow, every step he took echoed through space as though he was stepping through hollow halls rather than a vacuum that shouldn’t have transferred sound at all.

Much of those hovering around had long since scattered. But, there was only so far they could make it on their own feet without ships to rely upon.

Everything they took out in hopes of accelerating their path out was destroyed under the Rune Suppression.

Sylas hadn’t been ignoring them because he planned on letting them go. He had been ignoring them because no one there was capable of crossing light years on their own.

There wasn’t a single powerhouse on the Mortal Plane capable of doing such a thing without the help of an external aid or treasure.

Not unless they were a Rune Master.

But good luck finding a Rune Master that could cast much of anything here.

The only one who could?

Sylas himself.

Primus Luminaria had had a suppression ability that was completely worthless to Sylas for a long while now. So… he just made his own.

Sylas’ blade flashed and the head of a C-tier fell before they even understood what was happening.

One arc after another filled the skies and distance seemed entirely meaningless to Sylas. He hardly moved at all, but he attacked across what must have been tens of thousands of kilometers.

Space didn’t have any Will to restrict him. There was no world here to weaken his existence or limit how much distance he could cross in a single go.

The downside was that everything was reliant on his Will alone to be strong enough to sustain his life and existence.

But when you could literally craft yourself from the foundation up in the blink of an eye…

If you couldn’t sustain yourself, then who could?

It was a complete massacre.

The weak canon fodder that the Buri and Sona had chosen to use as their vanguard fell like weakly strung up chickens.

Yet, all the while, Sylas’ footsteps never even really turned toward them. He had been walking in the same direction the entire time, a direction that Riqo, Ziel, and their retainers were all too aware of.

They had been trying to run as fast as they could as well, and to their credit, they had made it further than most. Their plan was simple: find the nearest world.

So long as they could, it didn’t even have to be habitable or form life. All it needed was a Will of its own. That should bring them far enough and give them enough distance from Sylas’ Rune Suppression for them to forge a new way home.

The problem with that, of course, was that even if the nearest planet fit the bill, that was still countless light years to travel. They were powerful, but not powerful enough to move such large distances under their own power.

It was like they were moving in quicksand. As fast as they thought they were going, the world they aimed for was still the very same size in the distance.

Though they continued to run, they had to hope for something else. They prayed that if they just moved far enough away from Sylas’ formation, they could activate Runes again and accelerate away from here.

The Sanctum seemed to be infighting, so there was certainly a chance… right?

But then they sensed the death around them.

They looked around only to find one existence after another falling in the most horrid of ways. Many of them didn’t even see it coming before their heads were separated from their shoulders.

It was almost agonizing to witness, not just because of the death, but also because of how their Wills were sucked dry, their souls rended apart, their very existences stomped and snuffed out as though being added to a pool much larger than their own.

Indeed… if Sylas didn’t want to rely on the pool of Pride from the universe, why couldn’t he just craft his own…?

One forged by the deaths of his own enemies.

His own personal hell that he oversaw.

After all, he was the Reaper.

Riqo and Ziel both snapped their gazes back toward where Sylas was coming from and their hearts shuddered from head to toe.

He truly did look like a reaper, an endless inky blackness around him even down to his very clothing. Every step he took was like it was taken right on their hearts.

Ziel growled, flames sputtering out from the corners of his mouth.

“This fucking arrogant bastard. He really came out here alone.”

Despite his words, Ziel’s blood had run ice cold. He had already admitted it. Sylas had every right to be the arrogant bastard he was.

He told them that he wouldn’t move and he would defend the Sanctum to the end, and somehow it was they who had ended up running from him instead.

A monster. A true monster.

Sylas crossed the rest of the distance between him and the Thryskai. Their numbers weren’t just around 50 or so total. In their midst, probably all of them were B-tiers, B-tiers of exceptional strength and power.

The strongest of them all were the six right in front of him, though. Riqo and Ziel along with the two protectors they each had.

These six in particular were probably no less powerful than some weaker A-tiers.

It was unfortunate that in the current situation, they were at too much of a disadvantage.

Still in range of Sylas’ formation, they couldn’t use Runes or any treasures. On top of that, the Demi-God Aura was

still leaking just enough that Sylas could use some of it to suppress them even further.

Quite honestly…

They stood no chance at all.