Genetic Ascension

Sylas raised an eyebrow when Gwenu started telling him the news, the juice of his most recent fruit still lingering in his mouth for a moment before he swallowed.

Was he wrong? This didn't feel like the sort of plan that was last-minute. Was this always their intention?

Interesting…

"This must be punishment for both parties, not just us, but the Leava Clan as well. Maybe this has been brewing since then."

The Thryskai had their hold on the Leava Clan but then ended up losing it because of Sylas. If they wanted to regain control of things, they still had to do something drastic.

"Oh, I see…"

It seemed that they hadn't given up on the challenge at all. Instead, they were using a loophole that Sylas had mostly ignored.

These Challenge Rites came in various forms. But not all of them had to be battle. The trouble was, replacing the usually sanctioned battle with something else was a bit difficult. This was because things needed to reach a certain threshold in order to be recognized.

In this case, it seemed that the Bat Lineage wanted to skip all the potential pushback and fanfare and go for something that would be easily accepted by the Sanctum… a leaderboard that existed across the entire Sector and had been well understood and well-vetted for countless generations:

The Rune Master Leaderboard.

It was a clever move, honestly. And it reduced the odds of Sylas massacring their people to near zero.

There were no battles in a Rune Master competition to begin with. And their odds of winning, well… it was exceptionally high.

That was because, in a situation like this one, it couldn't just be decided by one person but instead had to be decided based on an average.

Meaning, Sylas would weigh just as much as anyone else. Even if he got first place, there was no higher that he could get in the first place. It didn't even matter if he blew second place out of the water, he would still only be one spot ahead while being dragged down by all the other F-tiers in the Scorpion Sanctum.

This also explained why they hadn't chosen the Combat Matrix Leaderboard instead. For one, that leaderboard required actual bloodshed, and it had real numbers attached to it which could skew things more considerably.

"Technically… the Rune Master Leaderboard also has numbers…" Sylas' gaze flickered for a moment as a few thoughts came to mind to try and counter this situation.

The irony was that he had thought of this path. In fact, that was exactly why he had told them he was a Spark Master—to deter them away from it.

But they had not only not believed him, they chose to take this route anyway.

The Rune Master Leaderboard was actually based on the same things as it was back in the Milky Way. There were Secret Realms one would enter, and one would be ranked based on them.

It was just that it was hard to put an actual number to them because the peak an F-tier reached in this Sector was the Vitality level.

"There can still be some… negotiation at this point."

Sylas looked back over his shoulder and saw Gralith looking at him. They both understood the problem.

Even if they forced a point system, the real issue was that the Bat Lineage and the Thryskai would have already accounted for this.

No matter how powerful Sylas was, even if he was by some miracle really a Spark Master, he wouldn't be able to help out the E-tier.

By then, the Bat Lineage would sweep the E and D-tiers all on their own. As for what would happen at the C-tiers, Sylas didn't know. He had no understanding of what was going on up there.

But what he did know was that without a genius like himself who could skew the points heavily in their favor, E and D were certainly out of reach.

C-tier would be split into two battles—one between the lower C-tiers, and one battle between the C-tier Lineage Heads. The former was probably also lost. Whether Gralith was good enough to win on his own… Sylas actually wasn't sure.

This path was more than a little shameless, but the challenge had already been levied. With things being like this, even if Sylas had an outstanding performance at F-tier, the Bat Lineage would smoothly ride to a best three out of five victory.

Now, the Scorpion Lineage was painted into a corner.

—

Cassarae stood in the middle of a bustling hub. By her side, there were four others: Megean, Lorien, Olivia, and Nyssa.

The group of five drew more than a little attention, the classic uniforms of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn being prominently displayed.

The floral cheongsams, the open backs revealing the tattoos that adorned their bodies, and the bands of red, gold, and silver that graced their arms, wrists, and ankles.

This place could be considered the center of the entire Sector, a neutral region shared by the strongest Clans and various powers.

It was simply known as the Central Hub.

Many merchant groups and such had a presence here, and it was also the place the main headquarters of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn was set. Well, it was the place their main location for correspondence with the public was. Their actual main headquarters had a world of its own.

It had been months since the last time the group of five were here, having been sent off on a mission, only to return now to a certain commotion.

As for the mission they had been given, it was related to the Thryskai. In fact, the Petals of the Seeing Thorn were quite invested in wanting the Kaelthar to win the positional battle for next Demi-God Clan.

If they did, then the Petals of the Seeing Thorn branch here would gain a decent boost, as one of their best was married to one of these Kaelthar Thryskai.

Cassarae's specific mission was one thing. What she actually chose to do was another thing, though.

"Are you sure this is smart?" Nyssa asked for the millionth time.

Cassarae looked back at her. "This is why you're not even qualified to be a side bitch. Always bet against whoever Sylas hates."