Chapter 2362: Teach

For several seconds, the feathered Serpentes simply stared at Sylas.

His mind seemed to stall as he tried to understand who the young mortal could possibly be speaking to with that tone, because there was only one existence in this entire region who would warrant such a command. When the answer finally clicked into place, his expression shifted for the first time.

"Nosphaleen?" His voice remained polite despite the disbelief beneath it. "Surely you aren’t speaking to the Goddess?"

Sylas ignored him.

The feathered Serpentes raised an eyebrow, waited another moment, then chuckled as though Sylas’ silence had confirmed some private joke. "I suppose when a little mortal finds some fame, arrogance comes quickly, though perhaps I should thank Gentrixaul for causing such an enormous disturbance."

His emerald-gold feathers bristled gently.

"Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to use even this little ten percent of my strength down here."

The skies changed.

There was no explosion of force and no obvious burst of Aether, yet the entire region seemed to become his domain in an instant. Pressure rolled outward from his body in layered waves, distorting the Mesmeryx clouds while the atmosphere warped around him, and even Yamero dipped sharply beneath the sudden weight.

Vaelith caught herself against his back.

Yamero twisted, his spatial Runes flashing as he fought to stabilize himself, but the pressure continued dragging his enormous body downward as though an invisible world had been tied around his neck. His expression tightened, right up until Sylas glanced down.

"Steady yourself."

The words were quiet, and once again, the world obeyed.

A strange magnetic majesty spread outward from Sylas, settling over Yamero’s body and snapping his flight back into place. The Rune Serpentes blinked, then coughed into one hand with as much dignity as he could gather.

"Well, that was embarrassing."

Sylas ignored him too.

For the first time since arriving, he looked directly at the feathered Serpentes.

"Go down."

The command rolled across the skies.

Will moved with it, but not Sylas’ Will alone, because the aura of an entire city seemed to rise behind him. For a heartbeat, Sky Roaming itself appeared to loom across the horizon, not physically present and yet impossible to deny, its authority gathering around Sylas like the shadow of a throne.

In the presence of his crown, who had the right to remain above him?

Dragons would lower themselves. What was one God?

BOOM.

The feathered Serpentes dropped.

His expression finally cracked as his wings and feathers flared, every attempt to regain altitude collapsing the moment it began. He twisted through the air, forcing more and more strength into his body, but each correction only seemed to drive him farther toward the planet below.

The distant Mesmeryx watched in stunned silence.

Their reverence for Nosphaleen had been great enough that none of them dared interfere while this God lingered outside her cave, whispering sweet words and refusing to leave. Yet now they watched that same existence plummet helplessly from the skies because a mortal had told him to go down.

Sylas stepped from Yamero’s back.

His hand closed around empty air.

Emerald lightning cracked across the heavens.

The beautiful clouds of the Mesmeryx homeland trembled as thunder rolled through them, green veins spreading across their pink and violet depths like poison sinking through flesh. Sylas pulled once, and the lightning hidden throughout the atmosphere gathered into his palm.

He took another step.

Then threw.

The heavens and earth connected.

A pillar of emerald lightning tore downward with enough force to illuminate the entire region, swallowing the feathered Serpentes while he was still attempting to regain control of his descent. His body vanished inside the blast as thunder rolled across the planet and the ground beneath him ruptured.

BOOM.

Sylas never checked whether he was dead. He didn’t care.

His steps carried him toward Nosphaleen’s cave as the storm behind him continued raging, his expression colder now than it had been even when he entered the Beast Heaven. He landed before the entrance and moved forward without hesitation.

A second explosion sounded behind him.

The feathered Serpentes burst from the crater.

His body spun violently through the air before stopping in a single sharp motion, the momentum sending every strand of emerald lightning still coursing through his feathered scales spiraling outward in an endless rain. His plumage was scorched in several places now, and beneath his elegant expression sat a fury so deep that even his usual politeness could barely contain it.

"Who do you think you are?"

Sylas stopped.

The Serpentes’ eyes narrowed.

"Step away from that cave."

His feathers spread.

"My woman is in there."

Sylas didn’t move for several seconds.

Then he slowly turned his head.

"Repeat that."

The feathered Serpentes stared at him.

That was when he finally understood beyond any doubt that Sylas had come here for Nosphaleen, and apparently the mortal was angry enough to take offense at something so simple and obvious. His expression twisted into a sneer as he prepared to answer.

Sylas started walking toward him before the words came.

He didn’t know why he had bothered asking such a stupid question.

Sylas took another slow step, and the skies above the Mesmeryx world began to darken, the beautiful pink and violet clouds twisting inward as though the heavens themselves were being dragged toward him. Thunder rolled through the atmosphere without lightning, while far below, mountains trembled and the earth groaned beneath a pressure that spread farther with every measured movement he made.

Another step followed, calm and unhurried.

The oceans shuddered against their shores, cracks raced through distant stretches of stone, and the entire planet seemed to recognize that something had changed. Sylas kept walking toward the feathered Serpentes as the world around him rumbled in answer, his expression empty of everything except the cold fury sitting behind his eyes.

It had been a long time since he was truly furious, long enough that perhaps the world had forgotten what that meant. Or maybe the world simply hadn’t learned enough about Sylas Grimblade yet to understand that there were some lines one did not cross.

He would just have to teach them, then.