Chapter 2356: Inferior

The first notification reached a battlefield several galaxies away, where two enormous figures stood ankle-deep in the remains of a shattered Beast Heaven formation.

The twin brothers belonged to the Vaulkyn Ape Clan, a lesser branch descended from a far greater Ape Race on the God Plane, though none of them would have tolerated the word lesser being spoken aloud.

At C-tier, both stood nearly ten meters tall, their bodies covered in white fur tinged faintly blue, while the crowns of their skulls were split open around exposed brains protected beneath a translucent membrane.

To the Vaulkyn, humans represented an inferior evolutionary branch that had sacrificed too much for intelligence.

Their own ancestors had kept the strength of beasts while developing minds capable of rivaling any humanoid Race, and the exposed secondary cerebral structure growing over the backs of their hands only reinforced their belief. Each brother possessed one such brain above either hand, allowing thought, instinct, and physical action to operate through separate centers without interfering with one another.

The older twin, Vaegor, looked down at the notification hovering before his face and scratched beneath one arm.

"Sylas Grimblade."

Beside him, Vaelor grinned widely enough to expose thick ivory teeth. "Human?"

"Looks like it."

Vaelor’s grin became uglier. "Good, I’ve been getting bored of Serpentes, too many scales and not enough screaming."

Vaegor barked a laugh while one of the brains atop his hands twitched beneath its membrane. "Maybe he’ll last long enough to play with, though if he’s pretty enough, we can decide who gets him first after we’re done breaking him."

Several Vaulkyn behind them shifted uncomfortably.

The twins were the greatest talents their Clan had produced in generations, but few enjoyed being anywhere near them once their attention settled on something. Battle lust and appetite blended together too easily in their minds, and the notification had just given both of them a new obsession.

Others of the Beast Heaven were either sitting on the sidelines or waiting to attack the Skai Heaven themselves. Only they had decided to take out their rage on the Serpentes themselves for pulling them into this mess...

**

Far away, beneath a sky fractured by constant lightning, a lioness slept atop a floating slab of black stone.

She belonged to the Thar Pride, a Race of lightning lions whose males carried enormous white manes threaded with blue electricity. The females lacked those manes, but the strongest among them developed something far more dangerous instead, condensing lightning into blue-steel blades around their claws and along the ends of their tails.

The young lioness lying before the gathered elders possessed countless such blades, far more than her tail and claws alone would suggest...

Her name was Caracos Thar.

The Heaven-wide notification appeared above her face.

Caracos yawned.

One eye opened, then the other, both glowing faintly blue as she read the name without bothering to raise her head. Sylas Grimblade meant nothing to her at first, and she almost closed her eyes again before something about the name made her pause.

Her head tilted.

Caracos stared at the notification for several long seconds as if searching through some distant memory, then the blue lightning woven around her claws began sharpening. Her sleepy expression faded completely as a particular Will resurfaced in her mind, one she had felt only once before, at the exact moment her elder brother’s budding Pride Seed shattered.

Her eyes narrowed.

"It’s him."

An elder’s ears flattened. "Who?"

Caracos rose.

Every Thar present froze.

She rarely stood unless forced, rarely fought unless someone disturbed her sleep, and had ignored challenges, inheritance opportunities, and even several direct orders simply because she found them inconvenient. Her laziness had become so notorious that the elders had stopped caring. Then at some point they realized that it was probably a blessing. She alone... was far too powerful.

Now she was standing on her own.

"The human who killed my brother."

An elder swallowed. "Caracos, wait."

She looked over.

The old lion immediately regretted speaking.

"If you’ve decided to move, this could become... troublesome."

Another elder’s tail stiffened while sparks crawled through his white mane. "A talent like yours should never have appeared on the Demi-God Plane in the first place, the only reason the Beast Heaven has remained balanced is because you never cared enough to take anything from anyone."

Caracos stretched, extending her claws until seven blue-steel blades screamed against the air.

"I care now."

No one tried to stop her.

**

Elsewhere, far beyond the regions where most participants of the Heavens Clash could reach, a Serpentes hovered before a vast palace constructed from layered crystal and clouds.

His body was covered not in scales, but feathers.

Emerald-gold plumage flowed along his serpentine frame, each feather ending in facets that resembled violet amethyst beneath the light. His presence didn’t belong to the Demi-God Plane at all, and unlike the countless geniuses reacting to Sylas’ name, he barely glanced at the notification before letting it fade.

His attention remained fixed entirely on the woman within the palace.

"Nosphaleen."

His voice carried a warm amusement as he drifted closer to the invisible boundary keeping him outside.

"You’ve ignored me for too long now, and I’m beginning to think you’re doing it because you enjoy hearing me plead."

There was no response.

The feathered Serpentes smiled.

"I would treat you far better than whoever has occupied your attention lately, you know that. There are entire God Clans that would offer half their inheritance for a union between our bloodlines, but I don’t even care about those things."

His feathers spread slightly as he leaned toward the barrier.

"I only care about you."

Silence remained.

He didn’t seem bothered.

Instead, he looked down toward the distant lower Plane, where the turbulence of the Heavens Clash continued growing, and chuckled when another wave of notifications rippled through the system.

"Goddess, who is better suited to you than another God? Do you not see how much chaos there is on a lower plane? Imagine... so much chaos for a little mortal, isn’t it unbelievable?"