Every one of the Emperors froze, but none more than the 713th Scorpion Emperor.
Never in all his years would Oron have thought that this day would come. He still remembered the words he spoke to Sylas back then, still remembered the harsh truths he had tried to burn into the child's psyche.
He remembered telling Sylas that a single generation wasn't enough to change his fate, that he had potential, but that he should nurture it within his limits, raise a family, and then maybe one day his descendants would be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Oron's own.
Of course, Oron had only spoken those words perfunctorily. Even the benefits he had given Sylas back then- something that had been a huge boost to Sylas' Wheel of Fortune Foundation at the time-had been nothing more than a drop in the bucket to him.
He was an A-tier. The treasures he had that could benefit an F-tier were innumerable. It would have practically been like he was spitting on a patch of grass on the side of the road and expecting Sylas to be grateful for it.
Back then, maybe he had convinced himself that he was being kind, that he was doing more than someone else in his position would have ever done.
There were so many in this world who just took and didn't think twice about it. His son had the potential to become a God Beast. Why should he care about a small fry like Sylas at all?
With that sort of mindset, he truly did believe that Sylas should thank him. He had been sure that Sylas couldn't absorb the Legendary Gene anyway. His starting position was far too low.
And yet, here Sylas was now.
At any moment, the Ancestors could learn that this was all his fault. At any moment, Sylas could expose the entire Scorpion Lineage and lead them down the path of destruction.
Last time, they had managed to escape being eradicated by the other Lineages. But would they be so lucky again?
What filled Oron with the most anxiety was that Sylas wasn't even looking at him. He had his life in his hands, and yet Sylas didn't seem to care enough to pull the trigger.
To make matters worse, Sylas was correct. Ancestor Pedraeg wasn't here right now, and neither were any of the other Ancestors. They were tied up in something supremely important, something that made it even more impossible for them to make the decision to destroy their system right now.
One might think that just erasing a system was a simple matter. After all, it wasn't like this system was built for the sake of strengthening the Spirit Beasts. For that, they relied on the Heaven System.
Most systems of organizations were just templates. It was the equivalent of creating niche software for a robust operating system, the operating system being the Heaven System.
An organization system was basically just the maid of an organization from an outsider's perspective.
But it wasn't that simple, especially not when it was deeply ingrained into the Rule Book of an organization.
Destroying the system for the Emperor Sanctum also meant losing their largest reserve of Karma. It meant damaging their Mirror Dungeon and even the Spirits that had accumulated their strength over 713 Cyclic Generations.
The cascading downstream effects were even worse and impossible to account for. There were too many variables involved.
Sylas was right in saying that destroying it was all they needed to do.
But this simple solution might as well not have been a solution at all.
And that was when it clicked for Oron.


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