Chapter 393 Your Fault
Vayu swung down a swift sword right at Sylas' neck just as River's counter Skill descended.
However, it was then the situation changed.
Sylas didn't seem to see Vayu's sword at all, his gaze blazing with a green light.
River felt his mind shake.
—
[Stunning Spike (FF-) (Skill)] (Silver)
[Young mind is sharper than others, so much so that you strip them of even their own ability to think and reflect clearly]
[Cost is 7 Units of Aether in exchange for 1 second of confusion. For every 10% gap in Will, Cost will decrease by 1 Unit, with the lowest Cost being 0.1 Aether Units]
—
Sylas' timing was perfect. River's counter Skill was only half-way done when <Stunning Spike> descended, drilling into his mind.
Sylas had already learned how to use his telekinesis to interrupt Skills in the past. But after observing River's counter Skill twice, he couldn't find the crucial Runes to target. That was when he realized that it was because it was a mental attack and he was looking in the wrong place.
At the moment <Stunning Spike> activated, he poured his tangible Will into it, boosting it tremendously. The instant it landed, streams of blood rushed from River's nose.
SHIIING!
Vayu didn't have time to realize what happened. His sword cut into Sylas' neck, with a twist of his wrist, he was ready to send his head flying into the air…
Only for a pauldron to appear right at his wrist.
Again, it appeared from nowhere, and once again, it was in a perfect blind spot.
Blood spurted from Sylas' neck, but the vicious blow to Vayu's wrist slowed his slashing strike.
Sylas leaned backward, sending out a kick toward Vayu's chest.
At the same time, Lolaleen's two icicles were successfully formed, catching her two teammates off guard and piercing right through their heads.
BANG!
Sylas stumbled backward at the same time Vayu did, but he was ready unlike his opponent. In a swift motion that seemed to all happen in one breath, the entire situation reversed.
A thick layer of Aether stemmed the flow of blood from his neck, another pauldron and two shin guards appeared, and as though that wasn't enough, the icicles that seemed frozen in the air suddenly reversed their direction.
<Arctic Howl Mutant> was only able to freeze attacks for a brief instant. So why did the icicles stay in the air for so long?
It was because in that brief pause, Sylas had already stripped them from their caster's control. The others thought that this was the effect of his defensive Skill, when in reality it was the actions of his telekinesis.
However, not only did Sylas take the icicles for himself, he poured most of the effects of his Domain into them, strengthening them from the Frostbane Rune of the Sylphs to his own Freeze Rune.
The Skills became his own, gaining the boost from <Arctic King's Domain> and zipping out even faster under the control of his telekinesis.
They appeared before the four remaining members, ignoring Vayu and River.
Too fast. Too sudden.
They had all been encircling Sylas, looking to bite out a piece of his flesh. They had even weaved around the icicles, trying to get closer to him.
None of them could have ever expected to be pierced from the back.
Some of them reacted fast, using defensive Skills, but it wasn't enough. Those that managed to survive the instant death found the Ice-Poison rushing through their veins, and the element they thought they had such immunity to suddenly became the bane of their existence, freezing them completely in place. With his mind, Sylas commanded Lolaleen again.
A flood of energy fueled his body as his stats were boosted by 50% once again all while Lolaleen rushed toward the frozen River with only one obvious intention in mind.
Blood flowed down Sylas' body but he appeared before Vayu who was standing in a bit of a daze. He couldn't seem to understand how all of this had happened. In one moment, victory was in hand… and in the next…
"It's all your fault…" Vayu's eyes bulged with a sudden fury. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
He roared, swinging down his sword like a madman. But he realized quickly that his Ice-Poison wasn't listening to him.
CLANG!
Pauldron and sword met, a fiery blaze of green light enveloping their crimson hue.
They rebounded away beneath Vayu's strength, but they recovered quickly, lashing out again and again.
Vayu was on his back foot, a vicious series of sharp combinations coming from Sylas. Every time his fists moved, the pauldrons descended. Every time his feet whipped out, the shin guards would slice through the air with the edge of blades.
It looked as though he was shadow boxing with the air, and yet every attack was as real as it could get for Vayu.
The frustration was quickly boiling over. The heaviness of the armor was quickly depleting the Durability of his sword and Sylas was too far away to deal real damage to him.
A roar of frustration came from Vayu and a mysterious energy surged out from him. This time, it wasn't Ice-Poison, but rather seemed to be more pure ice than anything else.
His body cracked apart and suddenly shattered into countless pieces. Then, it suddenly reformed before Sylas and far out of the way of his pauldrons and shin guards.
The frosty energy bore down, cutting toward Sylas swiftly. It seemed that by taking a step back, Vayu had freed himself of the oppression of Sylas' Domain. It could work on Ice-Poison, but it was limited on other Paths.
However, Sylas' expression was as cool as Vayu's ice. He side-stepped the sword, unleashing a counter punch. He stepped forward again, drawing an elbow across Vayu's chin and sending his head snapping to the side.
His second elbow was about to unleash a vicious thrusting blow, but his visualization caught sight of a dagger appearing in Vayu's second hand, aiming right for his liver.
Sylas' elbow changed its path midair, turning from a piercing blow into another slash. His hips spun with it, dodging out of the way of the blade.
It wasn't enough. The blade drew across his skin. However, it didn't pierce into his organs.
An icy energy poured into him, eating into his body. Sylas felt it immediately, a vicious glint lighting his eyes.
He pinned Vayu's arm to his hip with an arm, stopping him from using the dagger again. Pulling back with Vayu still firmly in his grip, he threw the Sylph off balance before driving a knee right into his gut.
All the air in Vayu's body exited at once. His wrist had already been injured during that earlier pauldron strike. Greatly weakened, the combination attacks caused him to lose grip of his blade entirely.
Sylas suddenly released his arm and Vayu stumbled back, only for Sylas to unleash a violent round house kick right into his head.
Vayu's skull deformed beneath Sylas' shin, the sound of popping tendons and shattering bone creating a symphony of death.
Vayu's head whipped back so hard his neck snapped.
Slowly, his eyes dimmed, the last light of despair slowly fading.
He had been completely overwhelmed in a contest of skill.
Doom.
He fell to the ground in a heap, leaving only the sounds of the howling winds, Sylas' heaving breaths, and Lolaleen's sobs over River's corpse.