Genetic Ascension - Chapter 2015: I Hate You

Chapter 2015: I Hate You

Sylas felt as though something inside of him snapped. He had felt it before. It had happened twice when he killed off two of his own Contracts. He knew what it meant.

Nosphaleen had fallen. He didn’t need to see her body go limp to feel it.

This time, Yamero didn’t have a single quip to make. He watched in silence, feeling the heft of the matter just as much as anyone else. For some reason, Earth itself found that it was silent.

Those that could watch had somehow felt that this matter was more important than they knew, but it was too difficult for them to put into words exactly what they were experiencing.

—

Nosphaleen’s father swayed, catching himself before he fell. He slowly closed his eyes, letting the waves of the ocean take him deep.

He didn’t feel any rage toward Cassarae. In the culture of the Clypsians, this happened often. And quite frequently it wasn’t even for the sake of love itself, but instead lust.

He didn’t think that he would ever have to watch his daughter make such a choice, but maybe no Clypsian father before him ever had either.

In their youth, it was a point of pride, even amusement when women fought over them. But maybe this was his own Karma.

As the leader of an entire bloodline Clan of the Clypsians, he had watched his fair share of women die for him. Never had it affected him… until now.

His eyes shut closed, his tears being carried away by the currents that shrouded him.

Sylas took a slow breath and finally took a step forward. He descended from above, landing on the battlefield.

Cassarae’s wrist trembled slightly and by circumstance, Nosphaleen’s corpse fell from her blade.

Blood trickled down, but the blade was so perfectly sculpted and polished that it fell from its surface in waves, right down until the last droplet, too, dripped to the ground.

There wasn’t a single blemish left on the weapon, but the same didn’t go for Cassarae herself. She met Sylas’ gaze without a single sob, but the tears streaking down her cheeks seemed endless. They poured out from infinity, bubbling up in her eyes and pooling down in rivers of their own making.

She didn’t know what to say.

Somehow, she both regretted and didn’t regret what she had done, she both blamed and couldn’t blame the man who stood in front of her.

She pointed her sword at Sylas’ throat, her hand trembling wildly, too wildly. She nicked Sylas’ skin, drawing blood that pooled down his adam’s apple.

On instinct, she lowered her blade as though regretting it, but then she raised it again, her eyes flashing with emotions that ranged from fury, to sadness, to helplessness.

Life was so fragile. She couldn’t bring such a person back.

Cassarae was so distracted she couldn’t even react to being pulled into a hug. Her sword pierced right through Sylas’ chest, but he reacted as though he hadn’t felt a single thing.

The moment her head touched the warmth of his chest, his blood pooling down and soaking her through, her lack of sobs ended.

Cassarae couldn’t remember the last time she had cried. Maybe it had been that fateful day they broke up.

In reality, that wasn’t true. She had cried when she told her story to Olivia, and every time she had ever told it. It was a sinking anchor in her gut that refused to go away.

And today it had finally disappeared. Sylas chose her.

No. He had always been choosing her. He had been choosing her for a long while now. From their marriage, to giving up his easiest path to advancement, down to this very moment.

He had always been choosing her, she just didn’t believe it.

The cost was just too heavy.

She had never hated Nosphaleen before today. Though, the moment she challenged her, Cassarae had felt a fury the likes of which she had never felt before, one she wasn’t sure she could ever feel again.

“I hate you, Sylas… I hate you so much…” she sobbed, her shoulders trembling. It felt like years of feelings were pouring out all at once.

Sylas didn’t say a single word, he didn’t have to. He didn’t even look down at Nosphaleen’s corpse. It was easier to pretend as though it wasn’t there at all, maybe that way he wouldn’t have to think about what he had done so much.

Sylas couldn’t remember ever truly facing a moral dilemma. He always did what was necessary. The only things that could bother him were his own inadequacy and worry for those he cared about. This was somehow both.

This was his fault and he knew it. If he never made that mistake all those years ago, Cassarae wouldn’t have felt so insecure to the point of pushing things this far.

Who else could he blame if not himself?

Nosphaleen’s life was the only way to atone for that mistake, and it was a price heavier than any he thought he might ever have to give, not after he had just felt he could sit atop the world.

He wasn’t strong enough, he didn’t know enough, he hadn’t seen enough. If he could still suffer so much, it could only mean he wasn’t even remotely as good as he deemed himself to be.

All of that arrogance, all of that pride, and yet what could he do with it?

A darkness swirled around Sylas’ mind.

He needed more strength, more power.

Cassarae’s sobs slowly ebbed, her shoulders settling down. She hugged him back tightly, the last of her sniffles being carried away by the wind and into a silence.

For a long while, they just stood there, blood soaking their matrimony. And yet, all either of the two felt was the warmth of it all.

And then there was nothing but the sway of the winds and the ray of the sun, the destruction of the battlefield feeling like a distant memory.

“… I love you, Sylas.”

Cassarae’s words came out in a breathy whisper.

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