Chapter 613: Red
Sylas felt like all the bones in his body were about to shatter, a dense friction burning at layers of his Aether skin and real skin beneath, trying to turn him into a falling ball of flame.
But the intent in his eyes didn't shift or fail for even a moment.
In the instant he had shortened the distance to just 10 meters, his intent pulled on his Madness Key and a stone attached with a chain appeared beneath Jake.
The boy slammed into the stone just as Sylas violently pulled the chain back with a palm.
Jake was sent rebounding upward and into Sylas' arms. Sylas caught him beneath his armpit, releasing a haggard breath that exuded the air of his fatigue.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to relax. He might have had Jake now, but he was also still plummeting fast.
However, this time, a second stone and chain appeared in his hand, but this time from above him.
He suppressed his intent to use it as a weapon, suffocating the Will of the Scorned Wraps and erupting with all the torque he could muster from his torso up to his hand.
Then, he hurled the stone beneath him with all the might he could muster.
This time, he would rely on Newton. If every force had an equal and opposite reaction, he would have to bet his life on it.
The stone was sent hurtling downward and Sylas found his downward momentum come to a near stop.
He didn't allow himself to lose the momentum. He kicked at the air, leaping across platforms of ice again and again.
His Aether was running dry and his Will had already slammed into a hard wall, making it more and more difficult to summon skills and execute them, but he pushed, minimizing his usage to the greatest extent until he was once again within 200 meters of the platforms above.
Normally, this sort of distance was easy for him to see through, but with the blaring bass in his ears and the lines of red coloring the skies, it was hard to see much of anything. He could barely make out the outline of people, but it was hard to understand the exact situation.
However, that was exactly the sort of thing that he needed to take advantage of. If they could see him coming, Lauren and her group would almost certainly attack him. But like this, he could even potentially take advantage...
If he didn't run out of Aether first, that is.
Whatever these red lines were, he found it difficult even to use his visualization in this region, let alone the others.
Sylas' head suddenly snapped backward as he felt a great amount of danger coming. He reacted on instinct, punching out with all his might.
A red ball erupted against him, but rather than causing physical damage, it seemed to seep into his psyche, trying to corrupt his mind.
Sylas' mind shook and the corruption of the red ball shattered apart. He was going to expel it from his body entirely when the Greed Seed pulsed and swallowed it up.
A great amount of energy poured into Sylas' body and he felt refreshed. However, by the same token, he felt like the Greed Seed had grown a great deal more powerful, even more so than when it had absorbed those Sylphs.
Another ball hurtled over, and then another.
Sylas threw the extra thoughts to the back of his mind, aiming his fists downward and using the momentum to accelerate up even faster.
The balls began to fly around faster and faster, until they appeared all over the skies.
And then, at that moment, the red lines that clouded their visions suddenly opened up.
Furious red eyes looked down everywhere, covering every corner of the world.
The eeriness was enough to make one's blood run cold. Even though the eyes were incorporeal and Sylas could pass right through, every time he did, the chill only deepened.
That moment was when Sylas finally locked eyes with his platform.
With Jake in one arm, and his other continuously punching out to protect him from the red orbs, he bounded upward.
He could feel the shudders of Jake's body every time they passed through one of the eyes, but neither said nor did anything. He had done enough to protect his own conscience. Whether Jake could make it the rest of the way would be entirely dependent on him.
Sylas soared up and finally grabbed onto his platform, gasping for breath.
When he checked the situation of the surroundings, he found that no one had the bandwidth to even worry about if he was alive or not. They were all stuck in a battle within their own heads, the pressure of the red auras around them suffocating them.
'Let's go.' Sylas thought to himself.
The Greed Seed had pumped his Will up until it was almost spilling over. His Aether might not be in the same quantities anymore, but it was still enough.
SHUUU!
Their platforms shot out of the encirclement.
Lauren, who had likely been saved by one of her team members earlier, couldn't even spare the attention as she too was trying to rush toward the statue as quickly as possible.
At this point, not a single one of them could spare the time to fast.
Sylas left them in his dust, more than doubling their speed as he rushed through the last leg.
Barely 10 minutes later, he leapt forward, landing on the staircase that wound around the statue and feeling a cold aura seep into his bones.
However, that was where it stopped. The red lines and balls couldn't seem to affect them anymore where they stood.
Lara and Cole rushed toward their son and Sylas let him go, looking up seemingly without the intent to explain himself.
Something about this place worried him. If he was correct, then this might not be the great opportunity he thought it was. In fact, he might be rushing himself right into the lion's maw.
If the Greed Seed reacted like this... could it be that this statue was related to the person who had corrupted and tampered with it in the first place?
...
As Sylas was having these thoughts, there was a shudder many miles away from the statue. The three Monarchs had appeared.