Chapter 788 CHI.
Sylas was finding it hard to focus on anything other than the pain. If it wasn't for the fact his Will was so strong, he would have long since already collapsed, fallen to the wayside and unable to prop himself up.
This time, though, it wasn't a matter of Will. The Will attacks Nyssa thought he was suffering from were no more than a joke. Although they were steadily growing more powerful, Sylas felt that he could still continue to shrug them off with ease.
The real reason he was suffering so much was because those watching had vastly overestimated what his Constitution was. They could never imagine that this shocking man before them didn't even have 1000 Constitution.
It was only thanks to the Scorned Wraps that Sylas had double his 760 Constitution right now, but even then, it wasn't nearly enough to stack up to what these geniuses were capable of.
Although they hadn't noticed it just yet, they had all subconsciously stopped looking down on Sylas long ago. Or, rather, it was more accurate to say that none of them ever had. Even Voxena, who had all but bet everything against Sylas, wasn't making this choice based on a negative opinion of Sylas, but rather an acknowledgment to the behemoth that was the Thryskai.
Sylas felt his Will tremble.
It had been a while since he felt his Demonic Will urge him again. Well… it had only been a few days, but for some reason, it felt like a lifetime ago to him, as though the last time he had appeased it… he had shed off a layer of himself and allowed himself to be born into the state of a completely new Sylas.
The death of Lucius didn't seem to have come with much but peace… true peace.
But if Sylas thought about it, his thoughts flowed smoother, he was more purposeful with his actions, and he was even more decisive now than he was in the past.
Just the fact he was standing here, risking an entire 10 billion Hero Points on a gamble that would only put his life in the line of fire all the more so proved that.
Maybe before he killed Lucius, he would have never made this choice.
If one laid it all out, it was too foolish of him to be here. Even if he won, not only would he thoroughly offend the most powerful Race in the Skai Galaxy, he would also expose more of his talent, something that Gralith had already said he was lucky that he hadn't already done.
But this time, Sylas hadn't even hesitated to come, and he still didn't regret that choice—not in the slightest.
Now, however, his Demonic Will was bucking against his mind once more, like a wild horse with a blackened mane and silky coat, muscles cording within it in thick knots as tight, heavy, and hard as chain, it pulled against its restraints.
Stop holding back.
Was he holding back? Maybe somewhat. But he wouldn't say that holding back was the reason he was at death's door right now.
Speaking of which, where was the fifth Rune?
He couldn't remember feeling one after the fourth crashed into him. Could it be that his body was so injured that he could no longer feel? Was it that bad already?
Sylas strained, trying to look up, but his neck wasn't moving for some reason. Or rather it was, but it was doing so at an agonizingly slow pace.
It seemed that his situation was far worse than he thought.
Or so it seemed.
Because it was then that Sylas realized something else. His neck wasn't moving, but his perception was doing just fine.
And because of that, he could see the fifth Rune. It was still flying through the air, pulsing with 13 Foundations.
It looked so simple when he could see it so clearly.
But that was when it hit Sylas.
Why was the fifth Rune frozen in place? No, not frozen… slowed.
'My perception… it's so… fast?'
Confusion colored Sylas' eyes, but it had only just taken place when the frozen fifth Rune suddenly broke free of its slowed imprisonment, crossing the rest of the distance.
BANG!
The Rune barrelled into Sylas and he hacked up a mouthful of blood, spittle with a mixture of his own organs following suit.
However, there was a deep glow in Sylas' eyes, the likes of which was easy to miss with the blood running down his face.
The damage he had just experienced was far less than he should have.
'What is this, exactly…? Is it related to that?'
He had felt an odd change in him ever since he observed the timelock Aether Treasure activate. But he just had no idea what it was.
It felt familiar to him, and yet too distant, almost like it was a fog in the air he tried to grab at.
He hadn't been able to really sit down and figure out what it was. But suddenly, at the moment his Demonic Will was starting to become restless again, it reared its head…
BANG!
The sixth Rune slammed against Sylas, but even with its strength increasing from the fifth, the damage it brought him was even less than the first Rune attack he suffered.
'I see… is that what it is? Is this the unique ability that bloomed from my Will?'
It was said that every Progenitor Flame had its own unique ability. This was something Sylas had learned of when he first observed the Scorpion Warlord statue and gained a Poison Character to his Will.
However, compared to that…
This felt like it was on a completely different level. In fact, his Poison Character couldn't even be called a fledgling ability. But this…
This could bridge the gap that his lack of a Rune Master Unique Gene and Race specialty left.
Sylas' gaze flashed and the eighth Rune seemed to truly freeze in place in front of him.
With a pulse of light from his gaze, a Rune formed and then…
CHI.
The eighth Rune fell to pieces.