In a crevice of darkness, the coughing sounds of a throat scratched by blood and globules of flesh resounded. The Rat had escaped once more, as they always did. This sort of life was common to them, and it only came naturally.
However, in the end, they knew that it would all be worth it. No matter how many setbacks, for a humiliated creature like them, it was only inevitable that they would come out on top.
What Hero didn’t have to make sacrifices to rise to the peak?
It didn’t matter how much they suffered—the end result would always be the same.
But it was at that moment that the eyes of the Rat flashed open.
“Impossible.”
The voice was gruff but carried the slightest hint of a squeak. That latter squeak wasn’t natural, likely the result of the Rat not having spoken in so many years.
They flipped a palm and looked at fluttering Runes of some sort. There, in the depths of the complexity that was beyond the current Sylas’ imagination, there was a light that had blinked out.
The Rat stared at it for a very long time as the other lights crawled through the Rune. It seemed as though they couldn’t believe what they were seeing at all.
It truly was impossible—more impossible than they could put into words.
Even an Enlightened Will wouldn’t be enough to break their Quasi Greed Seed. The real menace to the Seed was that it was formed from a piece of their own Greed Seed—a True Greed Seed—something those little Madness Disciples in training couldn’t fathom.
There was only one other True Madness Disciple, and it happened to be the one other Sin that Sylas hadn’t sensed—or rather, he mistakenly believed that he had sensed it when he hadn’t.
Wrath.
Sylas had never truly felt his own Wrath. Instead, it had bled into his Envy almost immediately. The Wrath he had felt wasn’t really his own, but instead that of the All-Seeing Eye. It wasn’t real Wrath.
That was the only person in this entire universe that the Rat deemed worth taking seriously. But right now, this boy…
“How did you do it?”
The Rat’s gaze seemed to grow more eerie, a dense bloodlust radiating from him. Their Greed was manifesting in waves, causing what little life remained in the area to wilt beneath their desires.
“I really want to… break your skull open and see what’s inside…”
The Rat slowly licked their lips, a Hunger welling up deep inside them as well.
**
“District Head Mospheral!”
A figure rushed into a familiar Thryskai’s office. Ulrik’s father sat there in silence, staring off into space.
His reaction seemed appropriate for a man who knew by now that he had long since lost his son. It was just that he had no idea how Ulrik had died.
Until now, no one knew that Sylas had been a part of that event… there was only speculation, speculation triggered after Sylas suddenly shot to number one on the Titan Leaderboard, leaving behind even the top genius of the Thryskai in humiliating fashion.
Since then, many had already been trying to find Sylas, especially since it was obvious that he was the third Chosen. Anyone with half a brain could tell you that Sylas was the easiest target among all of them.
But while Sylas was being hunted down by so many, the System Notification suddenly rang out through the universe.
Mospheral had been staring at it for who knows how long. Ever since it came down, to be sure.
He remembered seeing Sylas on the Rune Breath Leaderboards for the first time. He remembered calling Sylas arrogant for ignoring all of the invitations from the Rune Guilds. He remembered saying that Sylas would have to learn to play ball with the big boys, or else he would quickly find himself dying a horrible death.
When he said those words, he never expected that it would be his son who died before Sylas, never expected that Sylas’ name would continue to ring out so loud and suffocating for so very long.
Somehow, his own feat of being ranked on the Breath Leaderboards seemed utterly worthless before everything else.
A Royal Hero Bloodline… even the Thryskai only had a Royal Bloodline. Well, their Mortal Grade Thryskai did… and a low one at that…
Mospheral was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even acknowledge the man who walked in until he was called for a third time.
“What is it?” Mospheral said calmly. He didn’t say as much, but the attendant knew that it had better be important.
“There’s been another clash. The Trakar are growing more aggressive. It seems that they definitely take this as their chance.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Mospheral replied almost lazily. It was like he had lost all of his fire.
He was just a mere District Head. A District was just a piece of a Quadrant, which was just a piece of the Galaxy. The only reason he was even in the public eye right now was because Sylas had popped up from here.
His son wasn’t even alive to fight for Chosen status anymore, and one of their strongest Aether Treasures had been lost to the Mist Race of all races.
Their heads were barely bobbing above water.
It was clear the attendant didn’t even know what to say to this. It was his duty to relay the information, and the duty of all Thryskai branches to act in conjunction to ensure that it was Zoryx that came out on top rather than Thalrik.
Of course, none of them considered the possibility of Sylas coming out on top. As talented as he was… what good was that without the machine of an entire family behind you?
However, as Mospheral was lost in his own indifference, he suddenly sat up, his eyes glowing.
That was right… he was in the public light now… because Sylas… had appeared here.
That… that was valuable.
“Get me in contact with the main family,” Mospheral suddenly said.
“Right away—”
“No. I mean the Main family.”
The attendant’s eyes widened.
