Genetic Ascension

Sylas stood on the peacock's back high in the skies. He was looking down toward a city that wasn't too familiar to him.

He knew quite well that every Territory had three System Cities-or at the very least, this was a pattern he had picked up on. But this was still the very first time he had been to this Sarap City.

As far as he could tell, only Guiz City had targeted Cassarae outright, so this meant one of two things. It was either that there were no Sylphs in this City at all, or, they were a trump card lingering in the shadows, ready to strike.

It was hard to tell what the truth might be without personally investigating it. But even then, had it not been for Lucirius, Sylas probably wouldn't know with any certainty about Guiz City either.

As far as he could tell, at least from the outside, Sylphs looked no different from Humans here. The fact they could hide from the system said everything that needed to be said.

However...

Sylas took a step, falling from the skies.

BANG!

He landed heavily, slowing himself just enough to not harm himself, but not enough to fail to leave a lasting impression.

A squad of four horses reeled back beneath the sudden change, and Sylas calmly locked eyes with a man protected in the middle of them.

Duke Guiz.

This man was the one member of the Guiz family that Sylas hadn't interacted with at all. From the start, he had been silent, and even after the deaths of Lucirius and Plinli, he seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Logically speaking, Sylas should have definitely been able to cut him off long before that. The only way for Duke Guiz to have succeeded in vanishing was if he had escaped before the battle between himself and Plinli even began... as though he knew what the outcome would be ahead of time.

Sylas had managed to find him thanks to the bird's eye view ability of the Guiz City Stele. But...

"It looks like I failed." He said softly.

There was a reason Sylas hadn't gone after the Duke immediately. The bird's eye view City Ability was only usable before the System City was conquered. That meant that Sylas had already found this man, but then ended up returning to Casstle Main instead of dealing with him immediately.

The reason for that was plainly evident to him the moment he stopped this group.

It was a facade. This man wasn't Duke Guiz. Sylas could easily tell by the fluctuations in his Will, or rather, lack thereof.

This was a husk, though a different sort than the ones he had seen in the Grimblade family. This was a clone meant and designed to distract.

It was very difficult to find individuals with the bird's eye view method. Finding large deposits of Aether or resources was still well within their means, but people were too small. If you zoomed in enough to find them, it would take forever to scan the entire region, and by the time you got to the next location you wanted to scan, you had no way of knowing if the section you just went through now had who you were looking for.

The bird's eye view method was also limited. There was only one camera angle, and it couldn't see underground. Hiding from it wasn't impossible if you knew what you were doing.

The only reason Sylas had been able to "find" the Duke was because he checked the obvious routes he would take, one to Sarap City, and the other to Ulite City.

Obviously, though... Duke Guiz hadn't taken the obvious route.

In fact, if Sylas had to guess...

He ignored the group of four before him, his eyes landing on the portal in the far-off distance.

... Duke Guiz had probably already escaped to Earth and was meeting up with Professor Broussard.

Sylas had only come here for two reasons. The first was to cover all his bases. After all, if this really was Duke Guiz, it would be idiotic of him to not at least check.

And secondly, since he was here, he might as well deal with Sarap City.

"Kill them." Sylas said.

A black tail came from nowhere, and in a blink, the group of four had become a misty trail of blood in the forest.

Sylas reached out a hand and a small wooden box shot into his hand.

'Interesting.'

He tossed it into his Madness Key, not caring much for it. It was this Treasure that allowed Duke Guiz to disguise himself, but with Nosphaleen, Sylas was unlikely to need to crude methods.

The Basilisk King vanished into Sylas' Hiberation Realm before he shot into the skies and back onto the peacock's back.

With a flap of the broad peacock's wings, they accelerated toward the horizon.

...

The sounds of Sarap City were odd. It should have maybe been that of clanging armor, sharpening blades, and discipline. But instead, it sounded more like a flea market crossed with a concert hall before the music began.

Squadrons of Humans ranging all the way from Level 15 up to Level 35 formed little cliques, finding comfort in their numbers as they prepared to march off for Casstle Main.

It was clear at a glance that they had no idea what they had gotten themselves into.

It was under these circumstances that Sylas appeared high in the skies.

He didn't say a word, his peacock Symbiote just calmly flapping its wings in the air, its violet,

Dark blue, and black tail feathers leaving a trail of brooding darkness in its wake.

And yet, one after another, more people began to notice his presence until...

An eerie silence fell over the city.

When the quiet was to Sylas' satisfaction, he opened his mouth and spoke slowly.

"This will be the one chance I give you all. If you step into Casstle Main territory... I will kill

Without mercy."

The peacock soared into Sarap City.

[Sylas Grimblade has claimed a Commerce Victory]

[Sarap City has been Conquered]