Chapter 818 Such Information
Blood and flesh fell akin to a hail and rain of crimson. The splashing along the ground and the heavy thuds drew a grotesque squishing sound that made one's skin crawl.
Sylas lowered his hands, looking at them for a moment as though he found it hard to believe what he had done as well. But even so, it didn't reflect in either his expression or his eyes.
Telekinesis was a manifestation of Will, and because of that, it was particularly difficult to use on living beings. Usually, when Sylas pushed or pulled at someone in combat, it had to either be in a short spurt or in a sudden attack they weren't ready for. And, just as limiting, he could only use such tactics against those with Wills far inferior to his own.
The closer one's Will was to their body, the greater control and effect it had. Likewise, the vice versa was also true.
For the same reasons, using telekinesis to target the inside of someone's body was even more difficult. In fact, it was ultimately impossible.
Until now.
With the effect of the crown, it was like Sylas had become a true god of Earth, an existence that commanded the laws as he pleased and claimed dominion over a sliver of the sky.
His Will had crushed their outer shields, pierced through their skin and flesh, gripping their hearts, and they exploded from the inside.
The devastating, brutal death allowed them only the briefest instant of fear before they were no longer of this world.
Professor Broussard stood there in silence, his hands still up in the come-here motion that had summoned the shadows. His gaze still seemed calm, but the slight stiffness in his movement painted a completely different tale.
Sylas' cracked crown slowly faded away, and he too stood there. His posture was much different from Professor Broussard's.
"Ha…" Professor Broussard exhaled a breath. "… It seems that even after all of this, I have still underestimated you."
This Professor Broussard had no idea the kind of monster he was facing. If Sylas had truly had the same near year everyone else had had in the Summoning, maybe he might already be in the E-Grade.
If one compared the number of real months Sylas had experienced since the Summoning began, he might have experienced three months total, if he was being generous.
The first time—the very first time—he was able to leave the bounds of Earth without suffering a time penalty, he had come back so far beyond anyone else that it was impossible even to shine his shoes.
Sylas began to wonder… if it was even worth the effort to summon his Scorpion Warlord Armor to begin with.
This Professor Broussard was pathetic.
At least, that was what Sylas was thinking until the man suddenly spoke again.
"Your power is far beyond my expectations, so much so that I'm certain you've experienced quite the upheaval in these two days. According to my records, you often vanish for months at a time—the last time this happened, you suddenly shot up to the top of the Merit Leaderboards inexplicably despite there not being any reports of any King Beasts being killed in such substantial numbers.
"I'd say that you've probably experienced at least one off-world incident. That much I have proof for. If I were to actually make an educated guess, you've experienced three of them, the most recent one in these last two days.
"But considering the time dilation, you would have experienced, what? Maybe half an hour in the outside world? That's not enough for such a change to take place in you."
Professor Broussard smiled, his gaze darkening just the slightest hint.
"So if I were to take a leap of faith, you've found a way to circumvent the time dilation… haven't you?"
Sylas didn't reply, his gaze not so much as flinching. He was as calm as the bottom of the sea, but inwardly, he decided to take back his assessment of Professor Broussard.
This was the first time that he had met someone with deductive reasoning abilities comparable to his own.
Well… maybe that was giving Professor Broussard too much credit. Given how much more information he had about this world than Sylas and most others, he should be able to do at least this much.
And if Sylas was correct, he almost certainly had spies within Casstle Main. He didn't mention this—likely on purpose—but Sylas would be a fool to think otherwise with the coordination between Gregory and the traitors.
In that case, he should be well aware of the fact that Sylas had disappeared within Casstle Main for those two days, in some sort of seclusion.
It would be far easier to reach such conclusions, then.
Professor Broussard clicked his tongue, seemingly taking Sylas' silence as a quiet affirmation. Though, Sylas knew that men like them didn't really need the confirmation of others to begin with. Any sort of dissension would just make them more firm in their opinions.
"Truly fascinating. I was interested in you before mostly for your Genes… but this… this sort of treasure would be invaluable. The things I could do with such a thing…"
The darkness in Professor Broussard's eyes deepened, but his smile was just as bright. However, as he continued to speak, the truest threads of his personality began to ebb and flow out of him like tendrils of black seeping into the world.
Rumble.
The ground shook, and right then, Professor Broussard moved. Rather than attack, he suddenly tapped at the air several times, ripples of an odd technology and blue circuits surfacing for a short instant before fading away just as quickly.
It looked like he had just typed across the surface of an invisible keyboard.
"Such information, I would love to keep it for myself. But… I'm a man who likes contingency plans. In case I have to escape here today, I think maybe the world should know of your little treasure, no?"
Rumble.