Both women showed grit, holding their screams in the depths of their throats as veins popped along their necks and foreheads.
“A forgotten branch, and yet rather than trying to make yourselves useful, you’ve forgotten what it means to be grateful. Do you not benefit from what’s been left behind here enough already? How pathetic can you be?”
Thin layers of their skin began to peel off as though they were bathed in a chemical path. It was exfoliation at its most painful, red and bruised skin beneath revealing itself as though they were being slowly boiled alive.
“However, the chance to provide the organization a potential Progenitor…”
These words were like a lifeline to the mother-daughter duo, but they were also smart enough to feel the amount of strings that would be attached.
Neither of them were fools. A Progenitor of a Galaxy—no matter how poor said galaxy was—was practically guaranteed to become a C Grade. At that point, even if her talent was inferior, Soryntha might have a chance to be a threat to this woman.
People held grudges, and humiliations like the one today—no matter how deserved—weren’t something people would easily forget.
They would be controlled, or riddled with so much litigation, debt, and chains that they would never be able to escape in a lifetime. All because of one mistake.
Soryntha grit her teeth.
“But the organization doesn’t like to get involved in these sorts of matters personally. What I can do is extend to you some information that can help you out. Of course, this information will come at a price. However…”
The Venom Clan woman looked toward Soryntha with endless disdain.
“Even if I give you this opportunity, you will waste it. You are third on your little Titans Leaderboard, and you are nothing compared to first and second. If your assumptions about how you ended up with the True Chosen mark are correct, I can only say that you are lucky and nothing else.
“If it wasn’t for the fact the mark could only be transferred to residents of this galaxy, I would have long replaced the likes of you with someone else. So, things cannot continue like this. Not if you are so pathetic.
“You will also need to pay for an improvement. Otherwise, this would be an unacceptable waste of time.”
There couldn’t have been words spoken any clearer. It was outright penning their subservience.
And there was nothing at all that they could do about it.
**
Sylas took deep breaths. Soon… I have to be ready…
The logic to him was pretty simple. To the Petals of the Seeing Thorn, the chance to wield a Progenitor under their power would be too great. Maybe they had one already, maybe they didn’t. Sylas didn’t know—but he also didn’t care.
One could never have too many Progenitors. Especially not one that could become the Progenitor of an entire Galaxy.
In such a situation, they would have to do something to level the playing field. However, interfering directly wasn’t something they could do.
The Petals of the Seeing Thorn was an information network. And though it was an open secret that they exploited the people they worked with, there was a difference between an open secret and a direct flouting of the rules the organization was built on.
However, the Trakar had entire armies, while the Petals of the Seeing Thorn would be smart enough to know that they couldn’t possibly just hope the Kaelthar wouldn’t take the risk to send in external reinforcements.
And of course, it also had to be mentioned that the Petals of the Seeing Thorn couldn’t just casually send help in either, for the same reason the Kaelthar had to be so cautious. The only reason they could even interfere this much was because of the Taboo that had been triggered.
This was all to say that the Petals of the Seeing Thorn would only have one path ahead, one chance.
Eliminate all external variables and force a battle between the True Chosen, one that outsiders couldn’t interfere in. As for how they would do it?
Well, they were an organization known for knowing all the dirty details of superpowers, no? Sylas was sure they would find something.
That left an obvious question.
Why not use this to just directly force the Trakar and Kaelthar to hand over their marks? Could Sylas actually be handing a chance like this over on a silver platter?
No.
Sylas was confident in his deductions.
The first and most important point to Sylas was that only one of the two had to be convinced. If one of the True Chosen got their hands on two marks first, it would put the other at such a large disadvantage that it was impossible for anyone to choose to abstain from such a chance.
But there were deeper deductions as well.
For the Trakar, they were a Clan formed in this galaxy. They hardly had any dealings with the outside, and the information that could be used, as a result, to make them give up a chance like this so easily was minimal.
Finding information that could strong-arm them into participating was possible. But finding information to do more was unlikely, especially since they were already offending the strongest powers in Skai 11331 just by existing right now due to Thalrik’s True Chosen mark.
And then there was the Kaelthar. Right now, they were in the middle of preparing to vie for the vacant Demi-God seat amongst the Thryskai. No matter what dirty secrets the Petals of the Seeing Thorn had on them, they would be highly likely to tank it for this chance alone. It was far too valuable.
Plus… convincing the Thryskai likely wouldn’t take much effort. As for why, the answer was obvious.
Zoryx had suppressed an entire generation since the moment he was born. Why would the Thryskai not be exceptionally confident in him to take home victory in this situation?
That was right. Sylas had done all of this to force a level playing field for himself.
While the galaxy was churning with changes, the one responsible for it all lay on his back in the middle of a floating asteroid.
Soon, victory would be his.
A thought came to Sylas’ mind at that moment. There was one other part of his plan that was likely in motion right about now. There was only way he knew of for Soryntha to have even a the slightest remote chance in this coming battle, and the woman that birthed her was going to have to pay a dear price to allow it.
