Genetic Ascension

"Why are you still fighting it? I thought we already agreed that you were weak."

The laughter continued to echo in Sylas' ears, but rather than feeling worse...

It actually made him feel better.

Sylas realized that the pain was coming from fighting against the reality. But it was easier said than done to just stop.

On the one side, there was his idealized version of himself... the strong, capable man he wanted to be, or rather, thought he was.

And on the other, there was a mirror being held to his face, one that reminded him of his failures, his inadequacies.

Sylas struggled to lift his head, unable to make a decision as he gazed out into the world of lava.

Endless rivers of red gold spread out as far as the eye could see, sparse rock formations appearing from time to time. High above, the gaping opening of the volcano loomed, but the heavy soot that rose made it difficult to see the skies above. Whatever time of day it was, though, it would hardly matter because the shimmering shine of the lava would overwhelm both the day and night.

However, none of this was what Sylas was focused on. That was because in the distance, he found exactly what he was looking for all this time.

Hovering above a rock formation, Professor Fembroise was trapped in an egg-shaped, translucent gold barrier. She had just been sitting there previously, a hint of nervousness on her face. But she couldn't help but stand to her feet the moment Sylas appeared.

The Basilisk King understood Sylas' intentions without him saying anything. With a sway, it shot across the sea of lava, closing the distance between them and the Professor.

...

Outside the Portal, Sylas' drill of Glass landed.

The tip lanced into the snail's head, twisting violently and erupting with a shuddering might. The pained howl of the Snail Queen filled the skies, ripples of Aether spreading out in all directions.

BANG!

The head of the Snail Queen exploded.

The screeches of monkeys filled the skies as they pounced. They had no loyalty to the Snail Queen. All they knew was that they were now free and such a powerful creature had died right in front of them. If they could take its Gene Core, they would be the next King Beast born.

Unfortunately...

A ripple came from the Snail Queen's shell. A cancerous mass of cells bubbled up from the split in its head.

The Snail Queen had sacrificed its head on purpose. Between all the poison surging through it, and the addition of Sylas' attack, there was no easy path forward.

40 Foundation Poison with the support of Mature Aether was already incredibly difficult to deal with, even for this King Beast.

So it sacrificed over half its store of Aether, and in the blink of an eye, its head popped back up, a mass of flowing liquid oozing out from its pores as though to lubricate this newly grown body part just in time for the Fire Monkeys to pounce.

The Snail Queen howled and the Fire Monkeys all froze in the air at once before being forcefully ejected.

They shot out from the mist that hung over the battlefield, leaving streaks in the air before they exploded into a rain of blood and flesh.

Crimson sprinkled down from the skies as the powerful push of the Snail Queen's Skill cleared much of the battlefield in an instant.

The spectators in the shadows were shocked. It had been difficult to see what was happening earlier, but the sudden dispersal confused them.

Why were the Fire Monkeys attacking their master? Where was Sylas? He couldn't be dead because the Quicktime Event was still active.

The Portal!

...

Linzie came to the same conclusion as everyone else. She gave Butch a glance and grit her teeth.

"We have to go."

"Calm down, Linzie. He can't escape."

The archer that had saved Linzie from Sylas' stomp earlier appeared.

"Tim, I know what you're thinking. But don't you think he knows he can't escape from the range of the Quicktime Event if he's the target? So why do you think he thrust himself headfirst into danger he could have avoided? Why didn't he spend his time scurrying like a rat, hoping to avoid us in the complicated tunnels for half a day? Why did he come here?"

Linzie's rapid-fire list of questions was filled with agitation and rage, but they spoke to an underlying calmness. She might have been enraged, but she hadn't completely lost her head. Tim and Butch's eyes widened as they came to a realization.

In order to clear the Quicktime Event, they had to either kill Sylas or protect his target for 12 hours. So what happened if Sylas killed the target ahead of time?

Seeing that they understood, Linzie shot into the chaos. With the Snail Queen distracted, this was the best time to take action.

...

Under watched this from the side, his eyes narrowing. He hesitated for a moment before he turned toward a certain direction.

Taking a breath, he exhaled. This wasn't as clean as he wanted it to be, but it seemed that in this world, nothing would come easy.

He stood to his feet.

"Let's go boys. We're cutting up pretty government ladies today."

The members of the Grimy Blade gang lifted their weapons without hesitation, charging out

With Under.

The only one who didn't move was Sky, but that was because she understood what Under's decision meant. It seemed that she would have to trigger their trump card now.

She shook her head and chuckled to herself. "He really does like Handsome more than me. Is it worse to lose my man to a woman? Or like this?"

Under, who wasn't far, pretended like he hadn't heard anything, howling out instead.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" he roared out, cutting Linzie and her party off. "Where do you guys think you're going?"

**

BANG!

Sylas' fist crashed against the barrier. Professor Fembroise rushed into a retreat, but her back crashed against the other side of the egg-shaped vessel.

BANG!

The Basilisk King's tail whipped against its side, but the result was the same.

The barrier only sparkled slightly both times and didn't even show signs of deformation. By comparison, Sylas felt like he had almost shattered his own fist and wrist.

Sylas stopped punching, heaving out heavy breaths that came with a panting heat.

It seemed that the system had screwed him over again.

His gaze shifted up and landed on a status bar.

[<99 997 201>/<100 000 000>]

Even if he had infinite Aether and stamina, and could deal 10,000 Damage a second, it would

Take him almost three hours to shatter this barrier.

Worse than that...

It was regenerating at a rate of 1000 Defense a second.

[<99 998 201>/<100 000 000>]

That wouldn't add much time if he could maintain 10,000 Damage a second? But could he?

Between himself and the Basilisk King, they could probably maintain that output if they ignored reserving any Aether. But that was impossible.

If they conserved their Aether, they could probably only maintain around 3-5000 Damage a second. Even on the best side of things, that would take almost seven hours.

[<99 999 201>/<100 000 000>]

[<100 000 000>/<100 000 000>]