Genetic Ascension novel Chapter 2433

Chapter 2433: Rat

The five Fallen Madness Disciples changed almost at the same time. Their Wills had already begun layering, but what followed was less controlled than the resonance Sylas had been observing before, with Greed pouring through the cracks between them and returning several times stronger until the other Fallen Madness Disciples throughout the region began screaming and clawing at themselves as though something inside their bodies was being dragged toward the surface.

Sylas’ emerald domain trembled under the first wave, while Caelum’s gold didn’t fare much better. The creatures that had previously been little more than obstacles began growing stronger by several degrees at once, their fragmented Wills tightening as they tore into one another before turning toward the two sources of resistance still standing within the madness.

An enormous claw struck one of Sylas’ Spatial formations and left a crack across it.

Sylas’ gaze flickered. The Fallen Madness Disciples were growing stronger. Not just the five that Caelum had just taken out, but all of them. It was like they were feeding on the frenzy of Greed Will leaking out from the doors.

Caelum had entered B-tier Heaven Rune Creation less than half an hour ago, yet the growing resonance was already producing creatures capable of meaningfully interfering with his Runes.

Sylas drew several loose Strokes through the air and folded the nearest group away from himself, but another wave immediately filled the opening. Caelum responded differently, layering Time until the creatures charging him were caught between delayed moments, yet even those restraints were beginning to bend beneath the weight of their growing Wills.

Neither of them could ignore the five anymore, and Sylas’ gaze passed over them again as he reconstructed what he knew. Caelum had arrived in Hell carrying a device designed to keep these particular Fallen Madness Disciples not only imprisoned, but isolated from one another, and he had valued them enough to sacrifice two Silver Acolytes rather than allow them to die.

There weren’t many reasonable explanations for that, especially when Sylas considered who Caelum was. The Professors valued personal evolution above almost everything else, Caelum was an Acolyte preparing to become one, and the strange mixture of machinery and Runes in his container matched the same construction now becoming visible inside the opening doors.

All of that pointed toward one possibility. Whoever he was working on behalf made him not dare to allow these five to die.

A mission from a Professor was the simplest answer.

Sylas didn’t know what Caelum had been ordered to collect or why these five had qualified, but their Wills gave him a place to start.

Another of the five lunged toward Sylas, and its body disappeared beneath emerald light as Space folded around it. Instead of crushing it, Sylas held it still for just long enough to inspect its Will more carefully, allowing his senses to sink beneath the fractured outer layers until he found something uncomfortably familiar hidden underneath.

The Rat... but not quite.

It wasn’t exact, but that difference bothered Sylas more than a perfect match would have. He had encountered that Will enough times that forgetting its texture was impossible, but what he sensed now felt like an imperfect version of the same thing, less like another Path and more like someone reaching toward the same destination from the wrong starting point.

The creature broke free before Sylas finished studying it, forcing him to redirect its momentum into three others. Their bodies collided hard enough to tear apart the obsidian below, but even with limbs twisted and flesh missing, their Wills continued growing as the resonance spread deeper into Hell.

The doors opened farther at that moment, and Sylas’ attention shifted toward them as the Will spilling through the widening gap finally reached him clearly. The instant it touched his senses, several thoughts that had remained separate collapsed into one another, because there was no similarity to consider this time and no room for uncertainty.

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