Sylas' head tilted to the side, the air cannon that was Moose's fist missing him. His hair fluttered, but he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
He knew that they were powerful now, but it certainly shouldn't be enough to make him feel threatened from the air pressure of an attack alone. Even a fighter jet taking off could at most knock a human off his feet if he was taken off guard.
Moose's power was great, but not to this extent. His stats would easily have to be ten times that to succeed. But even then, that would be assuming that Sylas' stats didn't also improve.
Moose, though, was shocked for his own reason.
It wasn't intuitive to dodge an invisible fist at all, but Sylas made it look easy. The size, the shape, the direction, even, all changed far too much.
Plus, normally, when those across from him felt his aura, their bodies would stiffen at least the slightest bit, making their reactions slower and labored. Why was Sylas so…
Relaxed?
Had he underestimated this man still?
Honestly speaking, he wanted Sylas to be the very last he handled for good reason. He was no doubt the very best of the Earthlings he had to cull to forge his Demon Empire, and this was also no doubt the best place.
Right before the Summoning, in a secluded place where all the heroes of Earth were forcefully gathered… it was the perfect plan.
But… what he hadn't ever truly considered was losing.
Until now.
"Oh…" Sylas only said this word as though he finally understood something. And that he had.
Moose had Demonic Will. And if there was anything Sylas had learned about Demonic Will, it was that its ability to exert influence on the world around them was much greater. But what Sylas hadn't considered was what its weaknesses were.
When he got Demonic Will, the strength output of his telekinesis more than doubled despite the fact his Will level remained the exact same.
But… it seemed that Demonic Will had its own weaknesses too, that being that it was wild and was difficult to shape.
Sylas had never noticed because he had Will to back up his Demonic Will. So together, his telekinesis not only had strong ability to exert influence, but he could also freely shape it and mold it to his desires. This was why, other than Aetherflow, he could freely form fingers, or palms, and grasping hands even from hundreds of meters away.
Moose, though, couldn't do this.
His "air canons" were only mistaken as such by Sylas because they were so flimsy. They couldn't even manifest at a distance; they always started from Moose's hands as well.
Were they powerful? Yes. Even more powerful than if Moose's fists landed on him personally.
But so what?
Trying to use ranged attacks that he could easily detect while not having the prerequisite speed of a ranged attack was, well… foolish.
How could the speed of a fist match up to that of an arrow?
Since Sylas could detect the pulse of Will with ease, he had basically clipped Moose's wings.
Sylas took a step forward and punched.
Moose's gaze flickered as though he was ready for something, but then…
BANG!
The fist landed solidly, right in the middle of his chest. Moose's protective barrier of Demonic Will shattered, and he took a heavy step back, almost collapsing to the ground.
Although he wasn't heavily injured, he was stunned nonetheless.
Sylas nodded lightly. Moose's Constitution was about as shocking as he assumed it to be.
But it wouldn't be enough.
Sylas' body had already pretty much recovered all of his stats. But the irony was that he had only returned to Level 20 or so. The cost to raise him to Level 50 had cost practically all of Earth's Aether, so one could imagine how far he would need to go to unlock things.
Luckily, he had had a million or so Silver Genes left over after unlocking Vipermancy.
Right now, with his Scorned Wraps involved, his Constitution was no less than Moose's. But, if he added his Scorpion Warlord Armor on top of that…
Sylas' body flashed with a wrapping of violet. He took a strong step forward again, and this time he truly vanished.
Moose reacted quickly, but not quickly enough. His Strength and Constitution were great, but his Speed and Dexterity, though… that was a completely different story.
Moose thought that he had already made up for this with his telekinesis and Demonic Will, only for those weaknesses to creep up once again.
Before Sylas, his strong Demonic Will was worthless.
BANG!
Sylas drove a fist into Moose's gut.
The enormous man keeled over, hacking up blood. He felt as though all of his inner organs had been minced and mashed to pieces, his body almost collapsing on him right then and there.
How could… the gap be so big?
BOOM!
Sylas grabbed Moose's hair and drove his face into the ground. His claws sank into Moose's skull, but his eyes narrowed when he met resistance.
It was only a moment before Sylas realized that the resistance was actually the pads of his own fingers. Moose's skull was so thick that even his elongated claws couldn't make it to the flesh of his brain.
'No, it's not just that… his bones do get denser the deeper you go too…'
"What are you?"
The words should have come from Sylas, but instead, they came from Moose instead.
Sylas didn't reply. Of course, he wouldn't have responded to a question like that to begin with. Who had the upper hand and who should be asking questions was obvious.
But no. The real reason he didn't respond was because he had gotten a notification that made his eyes narrow and honestly… his heart quake a bit.
—
[You have found a Demonic Envoy—]
—
The screen glitched and was replaced by something else.
—
[An Invitation from Legacy has been extended to you. Please accept at your earliest convenience]
—
Did Legacy just… override the system?