Matriarch Valeria rushed into the hall to find it in complete and utter chaos. It could be said that in the history of this Petals of the Seeing Thorn branch, this was the worst event to ever happen.
Honestly, the Matriarch was floored. Just what had been protecting that little girl that it could cause this much carnage?
She wanted to blame Soryntha for giving her poor information, but there wasn’t an ounce of the Matriarch that believed her daughter would make such a rudimentary mistake. There was no way she would mistake an F-Grade for something else. It was well within Soryntha’s capabilities to see through at least that tier.
Unless there was a treasure to hide Tier that Matriarch Valeria wasn’t aware of or familiar with, that snake was most definitely an F-Grade existence.
But it was also quick and efficient and had somehow skated by all of her most powerful warriors.
No, that wasn’t true. There was one who had died.
Lise.
Lise had died so quickly that there was no report that could be given. That made Matriarch Valeria believe that this snake was even stronger than what it had already displayed.
But… where was it?
Matriarch Valeria spread her senses out and turned silent when she felt nothing at all.
Gone? That was impossible. There was…
Matriarch Valeria’s head snapped back to the maze as she thought of the one and only way that could have happened. But that was impossible too. That snake didn’t have their Unique Gene. How—?
Her eyes opened wide.
Somehow, Nosphaleen had made it in here with the snake. Who was to say that she couldn’t make it out?
Soryntha claimed that Nosphaleen was almost certainly dead, but the Matriarch knew how tricky it was to nail down such things.
This was trouble. A lot of trouble.
Had Nosphaleen just been a normal woman, it would be fine. But the rules of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn…
‘Dammit.’
The Matriarch’s greatest regret was that she hadn’t been able to raise an heiress with her talent. Soryntha seemed like a shocking genius, but she was just one Titan of one generation—and not even at the top of the list either.
With how long the Matriarch had lived, how many iterations of the Titans Leaderboard had she seen? How many Sorynthas were there? There was at least one a decade.
But while Soryntha had decent enough talent, she was too ambitious.
Ambition wasn’t a problem normally. It became one when that ambition was overblown in comparison to one’s actual abilities. She was constantly chasing levels she couldn’t reach, and that made her miss opportunities that were right in front of her.
Now all of that had boiled over into her finally taking a chance on something—but it was a chance that would put everything the Valeria Clan had ever built in great jeopardy.
And then there was her younger daughter. Nyssa was smarter than Soryntha, in the Matriarch’s opinion. She was sharper, better at taking small advantages, and as disdainful as Soryntha was of her little sister, there were hundreds—if not thousands—of Nyssas in their Clan, but only Nyssa herself had managed to reach her current standing.
Personality-wise, if not for the inferiority complex that came from being constantly suppressed beneath her sister, Nyssa was actually far more like the Matriarch than Soryntha was.
If only she could fuse her two daughters together.
If only.
And now, this mess had been placed at her feet.
‘What to do. What direction to take?’
The Matriarch closed her eyes for a moment, the scent of blood hanging in the air assaulting her senses. But it didn’t seem to bother her nearly as much as everything else.
What she cared most about was whether or not she would be able to maintain control of her power.
She had felt like she was being schemed against already, and she could feel it in the very depths of her bones that this was true. Right now, she felt like the trap was closing in and she was running out of time to make a decision, but there were too many variables and too little she knew.
Taking a step, the Matriarch vanished.
…
Soryntha froze when her mother suddenly appeared before her. Although Nyssa was barely over five feet tall, the Matriarch herself was a truly towering woman, standing at over 6’2″ even without her heels. With them, she stood as tall as 6’8″ without the slightest hint of instability.
“Show me.”
Soryntha shivered, and because of the fear, it took her a small while to understand what it was her mother was saying. But soon enough, she grasped it.
Closing her eyes, she pulled on what she felt was the True Chosen mark, and soon it was pulsing around her forehead.
Seeing this, the Matriarch relaxed a bit. It was the real mark.
This was what she was most worried about. If her daughter’s eyes had been fooled, then this would be entirely unsalvageable.
After doing this, she ignored her daughter for a moment and looked at the Titans Leaderboard.
—
[Skai Galaxy Titans Leaderboard]
–
[1. Zoryx Kaelthar | Lv. 50 | (Thryskai)]
[2. Thalrik Dazeth | Lv. 50 | (Trakar)]
[3. Zalysra Kaelthar | Lv. 50 | (Thryskai)]
[4. Soryntha Valeria | Lv. 50 | (Florineth)]
—
‘Indeed. He’s gone…’
“Explain your thoughts to me.”
“Matriarch, from what I could tell, the woman that came here is likely from Sylas Grimblade’s Summoned World.”
“Why do you think this?”
“Because she hails from a Race I have never seen before, and she has the True Chosen mark.”
“That is all?”
“I believe that is enough. Those two can prove everything.”
“Explain.”
“The simplest answer is probably the most correct one. Sylas Grimblade suddenly disappeared a week or so ago, and his whereabouts were entirely unknown until he suddenly appeared again recently—only to vanish once more.
“If I had to make a guess, a world that can produce Sylas Grimblade is likely to produce more than just one substantial talent…”