Genetic Ascension

Cenk rushed in, his heart doing backflips.

He had ended up returning to the tower to check on the situation first. He realized that if there were any changes to the dungeon, anything would have been reported to his communication device there, since he couldn't take it out with him.

Communication between the dungeon and the tower obviously had to be held close to the vest. There were no signals that could travel in and out casually, which was why a specially constructed communication device was needed.

In fact, that communication device worked the very same way the Coupled Runes did. This was the only way messages could make it out.

But Cenk had no idea that by the time he read that message, Sylas had had all the time in the world to delete or disrupt it, and yet he had chosen not to.

As Cenk rushed into the hall, seeing the bloodied scene—the son of a noble about to die right before his eyes—he ignored everything to stop Vaelmyr.

Nosphaleen's father could only freeze in place. Cenk might not have Will that was as powerful as Vaelmyr's, but the Aether Suppression alone was enough to make the Clypsian feel as though everything in his body had frozen to ice.

Aether Suppression was something that Sylas had faced many times before, the first time coming from his battle with the Violet Rose Brush Heart. However, that had just been suppression within Tiers, something Sylas brushed off all too often.

The real suppression happened between Tiers… and right now, Vaelmyr was practically a frog in already boiled water.

Inwardly, he sighed. Suicide mission indeed.

What else was there left to do but die?

He remembered at that moment that Sylas had said if they had someone that could possibly deal with a D-Grade, then they should be alright. But there had never even been any confirmation on that front at all.

The idea that Sylas had known that this was likely to happen, and yet still moved forward with things anyway, made Vaelmyr feel bitter…

But what could he do about it? He had done his best. At the very least, with their deaths, maybe the plans of the Sylphs would slow considerably. If Sylas hopefully survived, then maybe he could pass on the news and they could find new ways of improving that didn't come hand in hand with helping their enemies.

With his speed of thought, Vaelmyr completed this entire train before Cenk even reached him, his life flashing before his eyes.

And then Cenk's suppression suddenly vanished.

Vaelmyr found that he could move again and a commanding voice echoed in his ear.

"Take him."

Vaelmyr didn't know what was happening, but he was smart enough to know that Cenk cared about the young boy. He snatched him up as quick as lightning, holding the boy's neck as he pressed the latter's back to his chest.

Cenk's eyes widened in horror. He wasn't moving as fast as he could right now because of the same worries he had outside. Although he was still far faster than Vaelmyr could fathom, the distance played too large of a factor.

Vaelmyr had been a step away from the boy, while Cenk was still streaking across the entire hall.

"You need to come to me," the voice echoed in Vaelmyr's ears again.

This time, he had his wits about him enough to know that it was certainly Sylas speaking like this.

However, how was he going to do that?

Just as Vaelmyr was wondering what sort of ridiculous suicide mission Sylas was trying to put him on this time, Runes began to swirl around him.

Vaelmyr's eyes darted around. He wasn't a Rune Master because he didn't have systematic training, but his ability to see and sense Runes was as strong as one might expect from someone with Will as strong as his.

He understood what Sylas wanted instantly and poured his E-Grade Aether out in as many waves as the Runes could take.

BANG!

Cenk ran into a wall and was suddenly rebuffed. By this point, the D-Grade's eyes were so wide he felt like he was stuck in some sort of dream.

Did an E-Grade just… just block him?

"Run."

Vaelmyr didn't have to be told twice. He shot out like he had been fired from a cannon, his body streaking through the air.

Cenk tried to catch up, only to be rebuffed again.

"FUCK!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The Runes around Cenk trembled, cracked, and then finally shattered, but Vaelmyr was moving fast enough that he was already out of eyesight by this point.

Cenk stomped a foot, almost shattering the entire ground as he shot ahead to catch up, but…

BANG!

Cenk's nose flattened against yet another barrier, only to see Vaelmyr vanishing around another corner up ahead.

A suffocating rage was building up in the D-Grade's chest, but he went as far as he dared to go in shattering the Runes before him, not wanting to bring down the ire of the world onto himself.

It felt almost like a plastic bag was pulled over his head. He had never felt so aggrieved in his life.

Under normal circumstances, a single swipe of his hand would be enough to deal with these Runes. But the number of disadvantages he was facing today were simply too numerous to count.

But his rage fueled him.

He pulled out a weapon and slashed once, then once more before shattering it cleanly.

He rushed ahead, running into one barrier after another. But by this point, Vaelmyr was pouring so much Aether into the Runes that he was running on empty. Having nothing left to give, he could only push himself forward with everything his telekinesis had to offer, streaking ahead at a pace well into the tens of thousands of stat points.

Deep inside, he could only hope that Sylas had a plan as he rounded the final corner, only to see Sylas pulling himself out from a hole.

"Throw. Now."

Vaelmyr obliged, throwing the F-Grade over…

Only for Sylas to rip a claw right through the teen's chest just as Cenk rounded the very same corner Vaelmyr just had.

The world froze.