Mummy Evolution

Blood leaked through Sett's cut legs, dripping onto the floor.

Sett looked at Egrith silently.

The current Egrith was far from the one he had fought some time ago. This person was mature in the mind, strong in body. And ruthless in conduct.

There was an air of rulership to him.

There was no longer the depth of confusion to his brows.

This was a man who knew what he wanted. A true enemy.

Sett had been prepared to get cursed by Musson.

He had readied his heart for a new life where he would have to work with some sort of curse making it more difficult. He had been ready for all of it, but Egrith had solved it all for him with such ease, it was dizzying.

Both of them exchanged wary glances. Then, Egrith's gaze moved from Sett to Zainah.

"Long time no see, Miss Zainah."

Zainah's expression became strained. The sight of the bloodied, legless Sett made her almost faint, but she barely stood straight.

Then, she nodded. "Long time no see."

Then, Sett felt his vision distort.

"I couldn't do this last time," Egrith said coldly.

He appeared right behind Sett, looming over Zainah.

His hand went directly for her, but before he could reach Zainah—

"The moment you touch her, any hope of me ever helping you will vanish. I am not afraid of death, I will fight you bitterly till the very end. As of now, we have no irreconcilable conflict, Egrith—think about it."

"We have no irreconcilable conflict?" Egrith turned—

Sett felt an arm grip around his neck, lifting him into the air.

Egrith looked coldly at him. "Is annihilating my family not an irreconcilable conflict?"

Sett held Egrith's wrist, feeling the incredible power in it.

More than power, there was sharpness and heaviness.

A truly terrifying Battle Axiom.

He can kill me.

The Black Arm, especially, made Sett feel destruction close.

Yes, his body could handle being heavily wounded and still survive for a long time, but if his head or heart was crushed—even he would die.

Blood pooled down from Sett's stump legs.

"Do not lie to yourself, Egrith," Sett said with a strained grin. "You never liked a single one of your family members.

"The Pharaoh, your dead father, wanted to control you. Your late brothers saw you as nothing but a competitor. Everyone knows that you hated all of them. If anything, I did you a service by killing them."

Egrith's grip tightened. "Service?" He made Sett's neck bleed by his grip. "Others, I agree. But my first brother was one person who you should not have harmed."

"Don't joke with me," Sett said. "That person was a battle maniac according to the intel I got. He was also a training maniac. You barely met him throughout your life, if ever. How can you love such a person?"

Egrith became silent.

"There are no eternal enemies, only eternal benefits. Let's ally, Egrith Ramses. You help me, I help you. Then we go our seperate ways."

Egrith's expression changed. "How did you know my mother's name?"

As I thought, Sett's mind snapped. He is the First Pharaoh of the Ramses Family. The first Axiom Holder in history.

"Didn't you learn my full name from somewhere as well?" Sett asked. "You called me Sett Ramses when you appeared. I never revealed that name inside this Tomb."

Egrith became silent again.

Sett continued: "I am your descendant, Egrith. Not the descendant of a failed empire like Kemet. I am the descendant of the mighty Ramses Family. The Empire of Ehyut! We never killed our own brothers, never betrayed our own sons.

"You are my ancestor. I am the result of the Empire you built!"

Egrith let go. "You can stop your show—you are not my descendant and neither is this Ehyut you talk about my empire. The 'real' version of me might have done that, but they are not me."

Sett coughed, rubbing the back of his head as he breathed heavily. Immediately, Zainah and Zarah covered him, looking incredibly panicked.

"So, answer a single question of mine. If you answer in the affirmative, I shall help you. Otherwise, you will die a pig's death, descendant or otherwise."

"Ask."

"Can you help me leave this Tomb? Can you transform me into a 'real' being?"

"I can."

"Prove it."

Sett grinned. "Do you know what Axiom I have?"

A woman walked into the dimly lit room.

"What Axiom do you have?" she asked sweetly.

"Faceless, stay out of this."

"I was curious, Egrith. Let me watch."

Sett clenched his hand and made someone appear in the room. The two people stared at the weak thing in curiosity. It was a transparent soul—a monkey.

"This is my Axiom. The Axiom of Reincarnation. I can transform living beings into their soul forms and then send that soul form into the River of Reincarnation. I can reincarnate the dying.

"There is a secret side effect to this reincarnation skill of mine. If I ever use it on someone born inside a Tomb, they will also gain a new life. They can then leave the world of Tombs and exist in the real world."

"Interesting," Faceless said. "So is this monkey still alive? I know this thing, wasn't this the guardian of that C-tier Tomb nearby—I was always afraid to enter there due to the weird vibes I got."

Sett blinked.

How did it know about the Monkey King when anyone who sees it had to die?

Do they have some sort of prophetic Axiom in their midst? Was that how Egrith learned my full name?

Sett nodded at the earlier question. "The monkey is still alive, but it needs energy to rebuild its body. If I send it to the River of Reincarnation, the river itself will act as the energy source, but I can't pull it back out once I throw it in—it will revive at a random point after that. So, I will need to use corpses to heal it without the help of the River."

"What are you going to do after healing it?" Faceless asked again.

Egrith smiled. "It's simple. He just has to show us that this monkey won't die even if it leaves our Tomb."

He waved his hand—using his most powerful Axiom Ability.

Dimensional Barrier Breaker.

A barrier was broken right into the dimensional barrier of the Kemet Tomb and the outside world became visible.

Sett stared with incredible, unhidden greed. What a great power!

If he could somehow turn Egrith into a Tomb Slave, that would make Sett completely unstoppable. After all, even if Egrith entered a Tomb, he could leave at any time!

Not to mention, Egrith was amost impossible to catch. If he wanted to run, almost no one other than Tier 5 forces could catch him. In fact, even regular Tier 5 Tomb Raiders would not be able to catch Egrith.

The Ramses ancestor's Axiom truly was a powerhouse.

It was supreme at movement and sharpness!

Egrith noticed the greed and grinned.

"Now wake up the Monkey, don't you have enough corpses inside that pocket dimension of yours, use them."

Egrith's gaze tore right into Sett's Inner Tomb.

He could see through dimensions, and of course—Sett's Inner Tomb was also a dimension. Seeing how it worked made Egrith wonder if he could emulate its workings to create a pocket Dimension for himself.

Sett sighed to himself and used all the corpses he had gained from hunting in the ocean world C-tier Tomb to use his Axiom Ability.

Death Begets Life!

The energy rushed into his bleeding legs and a new, fresh pair of legs grew in their place. He stood up with some effort, took out a new pair of pants from his Inner Tomb, and then used the same Axiom Ability on the monkey.

In a few seconds, the monkey's soul form began to become tangible.

Then, it fell with a thud on the floor—a new, reddish body having grown out of the soul itself.

Due to its body having just been born, it stank.

Immediately, it opened its eyes and looked around.

"Where is this?" it asked blearily.

Sett said calmly: "Listen to me, Monkey. These people want you to leave this Tomb through that gateway and reach outside."

It looked at him funny.

Then, it slowly became aware of its own situation. It looked around.

Currently, it was in an unfamiliar, dimly lit room. Surrounded by more than five people—Zainah, Zarah, Sett, Egrith, and Faceless.

He was no longer in the Temple of Musson.

He was free from his curse.

He was free from Musson.

It felt dizzyingly alien to the Monkey.

Was freedom something that truly existed for it?

Was it allowed to breathe the air outside the temple?

It slowly, but surely, fell to its knees. It bowed its head right against Sett's legs.

It kissed Sett's feet in gratitude.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Tears streamed down its eyes.

"Monkey, it's enough," Sett said, pulling him up. "Stand up."

Egrith and Faceless clicked their tongues in distaste.