Chapter 847 Nothing
Sylas' gaze was a dancing array of lights until suddenly it wasn't.
The echo of a droplet of water reverberated, and his sight cleared to reveal a world of black and gold. The waters beneath his feet were nothing but an endless darkness, almost as though he was standing on a vat of oil.
But whenever a droplet would fall onto it, it would radiate out with gold that would highlight the region. That, and the location right beneath his feet, was radiating the same pulsing gold.
He turned to his right and saw someone a distance away. It didn't take much for him to recognize Malachi. He had only seen the man a few times before, but Sylas' memory had always been his strong suit.
He turned to his left and was unsurprised to see yet another person.
Astrid.
The two both had tight frowns on their brows. Obviously, they weren't fans of these changes either.
What was especially odd to them was that they had been planning on directing their battles from their cities. They weren't allowed to leave in the first place, so they never thought they would just be directly plucked out and deposited here like this.
With the information they had about Sylas, this made them especially apprehensive. Maybe they might have stood a chance if they'd had preparation and the cities they had spent so much of their time investing in.
What they didn't know was that Sylas had a very different feeling about this situation than they did. And soon, his thoughts were proven quite correct.
He looked down at his hands. Maybe it was due to the sensitivity given to him by Extricate, or maybe it was his understanding of his own body through all of his training, but he could immediately feel the shifts and changes.
It didn't take a genius to figure it out. The system had its own sick, twisted sense of humor.
It was trying to pick out the leader of the Grimblades. That meant it would be testing the Grimblade Lineage, not others. And by extension, that meant it was picking on Sylas' greatest weakness.
His Grimblade Lineage Gene was considered Fragmented. His Blade Aura was entirely Unranked. It could be said that this sort of test was the absolute worst sort of test for him.
And yet, even now… his gaze remained deathly still.
He only gave each one of them a single glance as they seemed to slowly figure out what was going on as well before he stared forward, ready and waiting for what might come.
One after another, he felt bits and pieces of his body shut down. His Class, his Profession, his Unique Genes, his Gene Talents…
Every shift and change was a reminder of just how much of his strength was directly reliant on the system, how many of the accomplishments he had certainly wouldn't have been accomplishments at all without it.
A different sort of intent flashed in Sylas' eyes when he realized this… an intent that only grew deeper when he felt what hadn't been suppressed.
Or, rather… couldn't be.
Another droplet fell from above. Golden ripples spread out through the darkness, layering onto one another until they fused into a mass.
CHI.
There was a strong ripple through the world, and a blade shot out. In an instant, it was at Sylas' throat.
It slowed in Sylas' perception.
The blade was practically invisible. If not for the slight ripple of gold around it, and the spike of danger that came from his Luck, Sylas might have missed it entirely.
However, what Sylas noticed from observing Astrid and Malachi was that they had still detected it before he had.
'Blade Aura? But how is it related?'
Sylas' thoughts spun.
It had been a long while since he had even thought of using Blade Aura, but he knew what it did. The Grimblade family's unique Gene Talent essentially allowed them to coat weapons to strengthen and sharpen them. Simple enough.
But why did this help them detect an oncoming blade?
'Hm… I see…'
Sylas understood that he was indeed just looking at the tip of the iceberg of what Grimblades were capable of. Maybe Lucius had shown him some of what that was, but the man had been too weak for it to make a difference, or for him to care to note it.
It wasn't that Blade Aura had a sensory aspect as well, but that the ability itself was more domain-like than Sylas had given it credit for, and there also seemed to be a Comprehension-like aspect too. It wouldn't be too surprising if the original Grimblade Lineage actually offered a helping hand to the owners of its full self in gaining a Comprehension.
As expected, Sylas could feel the ripples coming from the two. Their Blade Auras activated, and they countered the oncoming stream.
Sylas, however… knew that he couldn't do such a thing.
His own Blade Aura only worked directly with touch. He couldn't even activate it through Aetherflow as a workaround because that Unique Gene had been suppressed by the system.
Sylas continued to stare at the blade mere moments from his throat.
It was quite unironic, but this was how things in this world were. One moment, you could be at the top of everything, sitting on your own little hill, unbothered and unmoved by anything.
And in the next, you could find yourself dancing with a death completely out of your control just because some arbitrary code decided that it should be so.
He had long since grown tired of this. He had lost count of the number of times he had already had that exact thought.
Time and time again.
No matter how much he progressed, he seemed to always end up right back here.
This time, though…
No, not just this time.
Nothing would stop him.
Extricate.
Sylas pulled his own morphed and mutated Blade Aura out of his body. His eyes glowed fiercely as the world around him rippled.
His Profession might be suppressed... but it seemed to be so within himself. CHI.
The blade at his neck shattered.