Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1597 All of You

Nosphaleen didn’t say a word toward the taunting. Most of her worries were still aimed toward Sylas, but since he wasn’t showing any signs of waking up anytime soon, she was just going to have to take on the burden herself.

“With this concluded, we’ll move onto the next round then. I hope everyone is satisfied with the results.”

Elbrum’s voice echoed over the gloomy atmosphere hanging around the bottom 60 Sanctums. There was little they could say in reply, though. Many had tried to get out of the situation in the end, but just like Elbrum had said… he only gave them a single chance.

The higher you got in the rankings, the larger the gap between Sanctums became, and such a thing had never been as obvious before as it was right this moment.

“Good,” Elbrum said with a sneer. If nothing else, he had to thank Sylas for this opportunity. Originally, he was just being lazy. But now there wasn’t anyone who could find fault with him.

As overseers, they were given a great amount of unilateral power. So long as they were careful with the faces of the top three Sanctums, they could pretty much do whatever they wanted with the others.

Knowing that, Elbrum was very comfortable with the result.

Unfortunately, his own superiors would care a lot more about the results for the top forty since this was the range where the real rewards started to be handed out, so he would have to be a lot more cautious with his approach.

That much was fine, though. He had already saved a considerable amount of time.

“Congratulations, 073 and 064 Sanctum. You’ve managed to reach the next round where the real games begin.”

The skies shook, and Elbrum’s posture was projected for all to see.

“As you all know, the rules change every year, but the requirements are always much the same. We are testing for improvement, for overall performance and strength, but also skill. During the last gathering, every Sanctum was given a city to manage, and victory was decided in order of which cities progressed the most and how long they lasted beneath the rampage of beast tides and the attacks of fellow Sanctums.

“This was a good way to test the all-around attributes of the Sanctums, not only measuring your personal strength, but also your skill in Rune Mastery and things of the like.

“Your ability to manage the territories of the Emperor Sanctums is very important to us, and this year, little is different.”

Elbrum paused, letting his words hang in the air for a small time.

“This time, you will not start with a city. You won’t even be guaranteed to have one. You will be sent into a simulation of the Demon World where you must survive much like our Ancestors had to. There will be no system to help or guide you. The only objective is to survive.

“Every day, there will be a Demon Army of increasing strength that sweeps through the territory. In addition, during the same time frame, the territory you are allowed to occupy will likewise shrink.

“During this battle, external items will not be allowed. Elixirs, Treasures, Templates, and anything of the like will be stripped from you. You will only have your own abilities and what you can personally create on the spot.

“If you can figure out how to create a City Stele of your own, more power to you,” Elbrum said with a chuckle.

“Each Sanctum will be given a vague border territory. There will be some overlap, and this overlap will only increase as the overall territory shrinks.

“During the Demon Army wave, you will be tasked with defeating all of the Demons in your territory. Failure to do so will eliminate your Sanctum from proceeding to the next round. Though, I would say it is in your best interest to try and kill as many of them as you can.”

Elbrum’s words seemed to have an underlying meaning, but he didn’t elaborate.

“Good luck.”

Elbrum clapped, and all of the F-tiers from the remaining unranked Sanctums felt something grip onto them.

002 Territory.

A young woman appeared in the midst of a sea of youths. As one of the highest-ranked Sanctums, the F-tiers participating were all teens.

In truth, they had much younger F-tiers that could participate, whose stats would put any F-tier beneath the fifth Sanctum to shame. But they didn’t want to send them into the battlefield, so they only sent the relatively older ones.

It could even be said that because of this, the talent of the F-tiers of the top three Sanctums wasn’t actually representative of their best at all. If using a normal distribution, these talents here were at about the 60th percentile, maybe 70th, in terms of the Sanctum’s talents as a whole.

With the exception of the young woman.

This young woman was quite familiar—she had been the F-tier teasing Robareda earlier. Her stature was just as small as one remembered, and her aura remained just as… odd. It was almost difficult to pinpoint her true age.

However, as the other members of the 002 Sanctum looked to her for orders, she was a bit lost in thought.

“I wonder why…”

After a while, the young woman shrugged. Since Robareda had asked something of her, she might as well follow through. How hard could it be to kill a Summon?

Nosphaleen’s eyes cleared with her still sitting cross-legged on the ground. The region around them was quite dry and barren, the skies painted in blacks and violets, while the trees looked like they were works lifted from an eldritch horror. Of course, her lap still held the sleeping Sylas. It seemed Elbrum had no intention of leaving him be.

Much like every F-tier of the 002 Sanctum looked toward a particularly young woman, so too did every F-tier of the 073 Sanctum look toward Nosphaleen.

Nosphaleen took a breath and exhaled.

This wasn’t going to work.

“All of you forfeit.”