Sylas didn't reply immediately.
He stood in the void with the message hanging open in front of him. Each pass turned up something he didn't like.
The words themselves were the least of it.
The first thing that mattered was that Rhykan Purvon knew about his little sister, and the implication ran deeper than even that.
He not only knew of her, but he knew enough to find the thread that led to her, knew enough to reach her cleanly, and likely knew that she was located in a place not under his umbrella of protection.
Sylas took his time to explore the Nexis after seeing the message to see where his sister might have left her fingerprints and what crumbs there might have been to follow. It was incredibly easy for him to do so. He had a Legendary City Stele in his body, he didn't need to go off to buy a device.
What he didn't expect was that not only were his sister's actions not hard to track, they were mind numbingly easy, including one post that directly called her out by name.
Reading the slanderous posts about his sister left by a certain Thryskai Clan, Sylas' gaze turned bone cold, the void itself trembling as though it wasn't made from nothing.
Rhykan's message wasn't exactly a threat, but it was a clear implication that Sylas wasn't paying enough attention and that there were some things that he ignored due to his Pride that he certainly shouldn't.
Even so… not exactly a threat didn't mean that it wasn't one… and Sylas had never taken well to those.
Even so, he also had to concede, in fairness, that Rhykan may have simply been being practical.
Because it was true that Sylas never checked the Nexis. He had no idea what the Skai Heaven Mortal Plane's Nexis was saying about him, but it was quite a lot. There were fan clubs and hatedoms, entire articles dissecting his strengths and his rise, some information about him sold for as much as entire worlds.
He had gone entire months without opening it. He ignored messages from Cassarae with some regularity, and she had long e up with her own techniques on how to make him pay attention.
The only reason this one had reached his eyes at all was because he was worried about his sister.
So perhaps Rhykan had gone to Elara because Elara answered.
There was a second implication, though: Legacy was interested in the Beast Sanctum.
It was an unwele variable, especially when their hands seemed to be stirring so many other pots already. But it wasn't the shock it should have been.
He had gone into this expecting to stand against the whole of the Skai Heaven to take what he was after nonetheless. This only meant the thing he wanted was worth more than he had assumed, and the things he wanted he would get regardless.
Slowly and a long while later, Sylas raised a hand and typed a single word.
[Explain.]
The reply came fast, fast enough for him to know that Rhykan had likely been prepared for his answer already.
The substance of it was straightforward, and Sylas recognized the shape of it immediately, because he had done something of a similar ilk before.
A clash of Karma at this scale worked the same way the war between the Seeing Eye Guild and the Weaver Guild had worked. An enormous quantity of Karma, poured into a contested space was far more easily manipulated than gathering it the normal way.
Still, Sylas frowned.
This wouldn't work. The only thing it would do was accelerate the Beast Sanctum's rise to the Demi-God Plane. Dragging it up early would strip away the only thing he still had, which was time. And he didn't have much of that to begin with.
Legacy was firmly entrenched so deeply Sylas had yet to see its limits. The Thryskai Clans were likewise entrenched. Every enemy that might appear realizing the value of what was right before them would react in the very same way.
It wouldn't help, it made everything a million times worse.
[No]
It was the only reply Sylas made and he prepared to turn the messages off, but Rhykan replied again even faster than the first time.
Sylas read the message slowly and a realization slowly overcame him.
'I see…' he thought to himself. 'Karma favors the young…'
It divided into two forms: Latent and Active. Latent Karma protected what already existed, it wrapped around what had been built and held it in place, and protected it to be passed down, waiting for someone to inherit it.
Active Karma did the opposite. It moved and could be far more easily lost. It generated Luck and manufactured potential where none had been before. It was what allowed someone like Sylas to rise up.
The older a person or organization, the more Latent Karma it carried.
The younger a person or organization — the more unspent potential still sitting in front of them, and the more Active Karma they held.
But most importantly of all…
Active Karma took precedence over Latent.
An event of this size churned up both in enormous quantity, all of it swirling loose in the same pot. But if the balance could be tipped, if Active Karma could be forced to the front of it, the system would respond the way it always responded to a change in conditions. It would rewrite the parameters such that it could adapt to what would force the largest evolutionary change.
The result would skew toward the young.
The implication of this was something similar to the Quicktime Event Sylas was already in… a Level cap. Or, maybe most accurately, an age cap.
And if Sylas could go from facing off against potential S-tiers to only those capped at a certain age…
Sylas' eyes settled.
That was a game he was willing to play, but he had a feeling that setting up this sort of game wasn't easy. Otherwise, Rhykan would never contact him.
However, there was one silver lining… the system favored the Skai Heaven. Not because they were the ones being attacked, it didn't give a damn about that. What it did care about was finally being perfect and forming a Path of Will that was on the same level as the others.
As such, pared to what it would take as a member of another Heaven, it would be slightly easier for Sylas to tip the balance here.
The question was… how?
And that was when the final message came.
They could tip the balance, Rhykan wrote, if Sylas could bring the rest of the Milky Way up to the Demi-God Plane.
Within the week.
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