Chapter 753: Lucirius (1)
The Sylph roared, his spear spinning and knocking Sylas' fist to the side. Then in the same sweeping motion, he cut toward Sylas' thigh.
Sylas raised his leg, kneeing the body of the spear upward and erupting with his own counter.
Streaks of violet and gold danced through the city streets and the booming cadence of their battle began to spread far and wide.
The two unleashed a flurry of attacks and counters, neither seemingly wanting to waste any time on defense.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Lucirius' lightning rebounded off of Sylas' armor, unable to penetrate. But Lucirius was too slippery and fast for Sylas to land a good shot on him.
The two weaved in and out of one another's attacks, dancing on the blade edge of death as though it was their mistress.
The longer they fought, the more flips Lucirius' heart did. Just when had Sylas grown so powerful?
BANG!
The Sylph quickly blocked a sudden tail attack, only to find it wrapping around his spear. At the same time, Sylas pulled on its body with a second hand, almost ripping the weapon out of the Sylph's control.
Lucirius wanted to focus on keeping his weapon, but he was forced to release a single hand, slamming out a palm to block an oncoming fist.
DENG. DENG.
Both took a heavy step back, but still connected by the spear, they snapped back toward one another.
Their foreheads clashed and their palms struck out at the same time.
A three-pronged struggle shook the air around them, rippling Aether spreading out in all directions.
The shock in Lucirius' heart only grew deeper. This armor of Sylas' was too strong. It felt like he couldn't even make a single dent into it-
BANG!
Sylas' fist suddenly changed, his wrist flexing downward and parrying Lucirius' palm up. He released his hold on Lucirius' spear at the same time, a pair of red-gold wings appearing to his back as he controlled the Sylph's free arm.
His hips torqued in a sudden bursting movement, his acceleration reaching its peak in a single instant of time.
Lucirius found the world spinning around him. Before he could register what was happening, his back slammed heavily into the ground and all the wind was knocked out of him.
He barely had time to feel Sylas' heel slamming down toward him from above.
With a rush of his intention, he poured Lightning Aether into a shield, blocking the guillotine-like ax kick.
A reverberating impact shattered the shield as Lucirius rolled to the side, and Sylas' foot stomped right onto the cracked, unkempt roads of the slums.
The ground shook and the already damaged concrete fractured.
A jolt ran up Sylas' leg, but his Scorned Wraps held true. In a fluid motion, his body leaned back, dodging out of the way of a spear that jetted toward his throat.
The spurt of sharp lightning passed overhead, piercing toward the clouds and causing the steadily darkening overshadow to spark with a brilliant light.
A thrum of thunder echoed through the skies as Lucirius used the awkward angle of his strike to rise to his feet once more. Seemingly not wanting Sylas to observe what was happening overhead any longer, the Sylph hurriedly closed the distance once again, his spear erupting in a flurry of fluttering strikes.
Streaks of lightning peeled through the air between the two of them, jagged lines of unpredictable, winding and turning bolts ripping through the air and attacking Sylas from all sides.
However, there was a depth of calmness in Sylas' gaze at the moment, one that was rooted in a confidence born from more battles than he cared to count.
There was no doubt that Lucirius was accessing far more of his skill now than he had during their first battle...
But so what?
Sylas' palm struck out, finding the spear body amidst the storm of lightning and slapping downward.
Lucirius' eyes sharpened, angling his blade up. But Sylas didn't change his trajectory in the slightest, meeting the blade head-on.
CHI.
The blade cut through the gauntlets of the Scorpion Warlord Armor, but found itself stalled soon afterward. And, as powerful as Lucirius' Mental stats were, his Physical stats were far from up to par with Sylas' current own.
It was clear that the Sylph was using Lightning Aether to keep up, but with that approach came its weaknesses.
Like now.
Sylas' overwhelming power drove the spear down, bending it out of his way.
Its forward momentum continued and sparks flew as it grazed against the leg plates of his Scorpion Warlord Armor, but that only diverted its path further. In fact, Sylas had so much confidence in his Defenses that he didn't bother to dodge at all, immediately lifting his leg in a torrential kick.
The wind whistled and Sylas' leg howled, a torquing power that started from the base of his feet, through to his torso, slamming against the side of the Sylph's head.
Lucirius' head was almost kicked off in that single motion, the vertebrae of his neck bending like a rubber band beneath the pressure.
Sylas felt a jolt course through his body, the slight crack in his armor providing an avenue for the lightning to course through.
His heart almost seized and his body froze for a slight moment as Lucirius was sent flying.
A flash came from his Glass Aether skin and the slight Earth characteristics of his Glass Aether countered it, grounding him.
Sylas adjusted and the crack in his armor healed, the swirls of Aether around them surging into their body.
The Amazonian Wilds had a particularly high concentration of Poison Aether. So though his Ice Aether was a bit limited here and he hadn't bothered to use it in the battle, his Scorpion Warlord Armor was able to recover much quicker here than it had in the volcano.
Now, he was used to this Lightning Aether and knew exactly how to counter it. That, and...
'This should be enough. Time to end this.'
A greenish glow fused into Sylas' surroundings, melding into his armor. Fogs of emerald emitted from their violet depths.
Just as Lucirius pulled himself to his feet, a trembling weight came from Sylas' leg as he rocketed forward, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.