Chapter 2174: Heaven (1)

Genetic Ascension

Thessa grabbed onto Sylas' wrist with what strength she had left, but it was all worthless. Her arm went limp, and so too did her body soon afterward.

However, Sylas didn't kill her immediately. He stood there even as portions of his neck and face burned with bubbling flesh from his own breath.

He wanted to seal Thessa away the same way he had The Prince and The Duchess, but he couldn't, not without understanding her bloodline as well as he did theirs. She was limp now, and he could use the Life Seal to comprehend her, but it would take too long and he honestly didn't know how much longer he would be able to withstand this transformation.

It was clear that his Charisma had grown strong, but it wasn't yet sturdy enough. Or maybe it was that his Will wasn't strong enough or a high enough level to force this transformation to be permanent.

It was unfortunate. It seemed that he would just have to let her die the normal way.

He had wanted to seal her away only for the sake of understanding the Thryskai Bloodline better. There was definitely some sort of secret related to them.

But whatever it was, he didn't have the luxury of learning it right now.

'Maybe there'll be a way later. We will see.'

A sickening crack filled the air as Sylas shattered Thessa's neck. He squeezed so hard—or rather his telekinesis did—that she was decapitated in the same motion.

Sylas shrank down by a foot, his horns receding into his head. His expression went pale, but he still stood tall, his blood slowly circulating within him as his stamina worked hard to keep up.

In the same moment, what was left of Thessa was absorbed through the ground and taken into the tree. The stone that was the Monkey King glowed with a pulsing radiance and then fell to silence.

"Well, well, well…" Kairos responded slowly as the last barrier faded away.

He stepped onto the battlefield with a calming sort of ease to him. It didn't even look like he had come to battle, and more like he had just come to exchange a few words with a dear friend.

Sylas looked at him with an indifferent gaze.

"It's a shame she underestimated you so much, but it doesn't seem like that would have mattered in the end, anyway. I know pretty well not to underestimate you, though, so I can't promise you the same ease, unfortunately.

"Taking Earth past the Summoning and finding a way back in time in just one generation… truly a feat. You didn't even have to wait till the S-tier to do it either. I have to say that I am very impressed, Sylas." Kairos didn't seem to be being sarcastic. He spoke candidly and from his heart.

But there was no underlying fear in him either. He had seen Sylas' Charisma and seemed simply… unmoved. He could see through Sylas' talent, his Rune Mastery, his abilities, and he simply… didn't care.

It wasn't a lack of care that came from ignorance. It was one that came from the utmost self-confidence, a Pride that…

Kairos' body shimmered and Sylas' Pride Seed bucked.

A chuckle came from Kairos' lips. "How fascinating, indeed. The sorts of things that playing with time can cause. I wonder, Sylas. What happens when two Virtue of Prides exist in the same space when there should only ever be one?"

"For a second to have appeared, it can only mean the first already failed." Sylas said calmly, not reacting to his Pride Seed at all.

"Or, had long since evolved beyond the need of it. What do you think that point is, Sylas? What level do you think lives beyond the Virtue of Pride?"

Kairos' smile suggested he didn't doubt himself for even a moment. Someone else might have already had a mental collapse the moment they sensed Sylas' Virtue of Pride and realized he came from the future.

But to Kairos, all this meant was that he had evolved beyond the need for it. That was the only explanation that made sense, the only one that was an acceptable timeline of things that could ever possibly happen.

No other thing even had a chance to occur.

"It's possible." Sylas said.

Kairos' smile deepened. He knew well that Sylas wasn't saying this because he believed in him. Sylas was saying this because he had reached the point of ceasing to view time in a linear path like others did.

That meant one thing to Sylas.

Having someone in the future gain the Virtue of Pride Seed was just as ridiculous as someone gaining it in the past to him. The only reason he, Sylas Grimblade, wasn't the one and sole possessor of the Virtue of Pride Seed across all time, space, and era was because he was the one who had superseded the need for it in the future… not Kairos.

"I like you, Sylas." Kairos said with a grin.

"You are not bad." Sylas replied simply.

"It is unfortunate, then, that there can only be one King."

"There can only be one Emperor."

Kairos' hands flashed out. He held them before him, his wrists blooming with a loop of Runes that extended and grew to gauntlets that seemed fit for a giant three times his size.

"I would really like to see how long you could last in a battle against me. Do not disappoint me, Sylas. I have a date with the person who thinks it's appropriate to set all of this up for a person not named Kairos Heaven."

His voice was booming by the end as though he wasn't just speaking to Sylas but to the entire world around him instead, to the one who dared to listen in. .

"In all of Existence, there is but one sky, and I sit upon it. There is but one earth, and I suppress it beneath me. There is but one ocean, and I dictate its waves.

"I am Heaven."

His white hair danced wildly.