Chapter 2408: Help

Tomoe followed them out of the World of Spirits almost immediately, appearing behind Sylas with so little hesitation that it was obvious she had never seriously considered remaining with the Beast Sanctum.

The only thing she had wanted from the beginning was a fight, and now that the event was over, there was nothing left standing between her and the person she had chosen.

Elara looked back at her, glanced toward Sylas, then tilted her head as though something obvious had just occurred to her. "Why don’t you fight Rhykan? He just got way stronger, and he stole something pretty valuable too."

Tomoe blinked, then looked toward Sylas before turning her gaze back to the fading entrance of Rhykan’s world. Her eyes moved from one to the other several times as her brows slowly drew together, and it became increasingly obvious that she had genuinely never considered that possibility until Elara mentioned it.

A moment later, Tomoe turned around and headed straight back.

Sylas looked toward his sister, and Elara immediately smiled at him with a sheepish little expression. "You’re welcome."

"I was more worried about you," Sylas replied as he continued forward. "Less time here means you have to face Mother and Father sooner."

Elara froze in place as the meaning settled in, then a small whimper escaped her before she slowly turned away and began skulking toward the deeper sections of the Hollow Ship. The confidence she had shown while stealing one of the five Representative Thrones vanished surprisingly quickly now that the consequences waiting for her at home were much closer.

Nosphaleen greeted Sylas with a smile when he returned to the main section of the ship, though his attention shifted past her almost immediately when he noticed Vaelith was nowhere to be seen. That didn’t surprise him either, especially after what had just happened within the Beast Sanctum and what Rhykan’s victory now represented.

If Sylas was right, Rhykan’s success would soon begin benefiting every Thryskai across the Demi-God Plane, though only if they were willing to subordinate themselves to the path he had established. Anyone who followed Slovenly Madness through Rhykan would naturally strengthen his position as Progenitor while tying their own futures more tightly to him, which meant the real cost of those benefits wouldn’t be obvious until much later.

When Rhykan finally rose toward the God Plane, there would probably be quite a show.

The Thryskai had spent too long believing their bloodline and inheritance placed them above most forms of submission, yet Rhykan had just created something valuable enough that refusing him would now come with a very real cost. Sylas had little doubt that many would bend, while others would rather tear the entire structure apart than acknowledge that someone else now stood above them.

More importantly, that same development meant much of the heat that had once been concentrated on Sylas had shifted elsewhere. Rhykan was now the Progenitor of a new path, the future ruler of a world with a direct route into the God Realm, and the center of an inheritance that could eventually reshape an entire Plane.

Compared to that, Sylas leaving quietly after losing the Beast Sanctum suddenly made him far less interesting to many of the powers watching him.

For the first time in what felt like far too long, Sylas found himself in an odd position where nothing immediately demanded his attention, and he decided not to manufacture a problem simply for the sake of having one. So he returned home with Elara, Nosphaleen, Fanelei, and Yamero following along.

**

Cassarae looked up when Sylas appeared and immediately settled her gaze on Nosphaleen, though there was no surprise in her expression at seeing the woman alive. Sylas had already told her that much, but the situation itself was still apparently enough to make one of her brows rise. How one went from fighting entire Heavens of geniuses and still somehow managed to flirt at the same time was beyond her...

Nosphaleen stiffened slightly when Cassarae approached, clearly expecting aggression or at least some reminder of how their last meeting had ended. Cassarae had killed her the last time they stood across from one another, and while circumstances had changed since then, that wasn’t the kind of memory that simply disappeared.

Instead, Cassarae smiled. "Welcome back."

That caught Nosphaleen off guard far more than hostility would have, and she studied Cassarae for several breaths before answering. "You don’t seem particularly upset."

Cassarae glanced toward Sylas with a faint smile still on her face. "I’ve had time to get used to him coming home with problems."

Sylas chose not to acknowledge that comment, but Nosphaleen’s expression had already started to relax before something else caught her attention. Her senses brushed against Cassarae’s Will almost by instinct, and with how sensitive she had become to the smallest changes in Will, she didn’t need any visible sign from Cassarae’s body to understand what she was feeling.

Her eyes widened slightly as her gaze dropped toward Cassarae’s stomach, then returned to her face. Cassarae noticed immediately, and the faint satisfaction that appeared in her smile confirmed the realization before Nosphaleen had to ask anything.

Then Nosphaleen sensed another presence nearby and turned toward the Xarvenya, only for her expression to shift again once she understood what she was looking at. It wasn’t enough that Cassarae was ahead of her, there was someone else as well, and when that realization settled she slowly looked back toward Sylas with grievance written so clearly across her face that he hardly needed her to say anything.

Sylas sighed inwardly as he met her gaze, though he considered himself fortunate that his mother was occupied elsewhere. Her voice could already be heard carrying faintly through the house as she reprimanded Elara, and if she had been standing here instead, Sylas had no doubt she would have enjoyed every second of this, especially now that the thought of grandchildren had already put her in a mood he had no interest in encouraging. ℴ

Nosphaleen continued staring at him, waiting for some explanation, and Sylas opened his mouth even though he hadn’t yet decided whether answering would improve the situation or make it worse.

That said, he had promised Nosphaleen a baby. She must have known that Cassarae was pregnant already, but seeing it personally must have triggered something in her. Clearly, the influence of the Envy Seed was very much still there.

Before he could speak, however, his expression changed as an ancient presence suddenly brushed against his mind.

The weight of it was old enough that Sylas recognized it almost immediately, and when the voice followed, there was no mistaking who it belonged to. Slithering Madness had reached out to him, which was already strange enough on its own, but what the ancient Serpentes wanted was even more unexpected.

Slithering Madness was asking Sylas for help.