Sylas pulled on his Will as hard as he dared, pouring it all into larger and larger Rune formations.
The Africor Monarchs were simply the gift that kept on giving. In this situation, if he needed a method of stopping Lorien from overtaking the world… then didn't he just need to disconnect her from it?
Separating the Aether Treasure from this projected world was a far simpler task than separating the Glass City from the purview of the system.
Sylas was not only far stronger than the three Monarchs combined, but his task was far easier. How could he not succeed?
Originally, he hadn't thought of this solution because the situations weren't perfectly analogous. But after he ran out of options and came to this conclusion, it seemed only natural.
Back then, he hadn't been able to get close to the three Monarchs because of the sheer control they had over the region. Wasn't control exactly what he needed right now?
It was also for this reason that Lorien had been so confident in rendering Sylas' Rune Master capabilities useless.
But now, she wouldn't have such an option anymore.
BANG!
Sylas' pupils constricted.
Fast.
A woman, with hair of mist pink, looking more goddess than human manifested before him in a line of rose. She practically painted the skies with her Will, her palm appearing at Sylas' chest in an instant.
Sylas had yet to fully take control of the region and was still locked in a wrestling match with the Aether Treasure. At most, he had gained about 10% of the control back, but that still left Lorien with a majority of the control over the region.
His Rune forging ability was severely limited, and even with the sharp increase to his Wisdom recently, the control of this formation took up practically all of it.
But not everything.
Sylas' eyes sharpened.
His current stats were far beyond Lorien's. Her ability to control the world was far beyond his own.
Now it was just a matter of who would win this tug of war.
And he had no doubt in his mind that it would be him.
He had lost to this woman once before. Unprepared, and thrust into a world far beyond his understanding, he had struggled, only to be crushed.
Once again, he was unprepared, not even having expected his Progenitor Quest to involve others in this way.
But it didn't matter.
This world didn't allow for excuses, it didn't allow for ignorance, it didn't allow for weakness.
He would win.
And he would win no matter what.
His Will flourished.
BANG!
Lorien thought she was fast enough to catch Sylas off guard, but she was very wrong.
The two crossed palms in the center of the sky, a complex magic circle beneath their feet.
A whirlwind of pink and a cascade of green clashed in the air, their Wills practically taking tangible form. But Lorien's was quickly swallowed up, unable to withstand Sylas' until it made a roaring comeback, supported by the world around her.
Sylas pulled again, stripping another percentage point to his side.
Lorien's expression changed once more. She knew that she had to end this quickly.
When they first met, her Will was so much more powerful than Sylas' own. But since then, Sylas had undergone three upgrades while she had yet to have even a single one.
She was still stuck at Shaping Will and Sylas had left her far behind at Forged.
The difference between them was palpable. Without the help of the Aether Treasure, she would have long since lost.
But by extension, if she hadn't been so focused on raising the Aether Treasure to begin with, her stats wouldn't be so limited either and she would have been able to put up a far better fight.
Ultimately, they had both just taken different paths.
Whoever was stronger, whoever was more right, would be the one that won.
Lorien took one heavy step back before her palms flared out. She picked out Sylas' weakness immediately. Unlike her Aether Treasure that was mostly working on its own, Sylas was controlling this formation personally.
Every time she attacked it, he would have to reform the Runes. And every time he tugged, it would have to come from his own Will. He was quickly draining his strength at a pace far beyond herself, and because she had reacted so quickly, he was still far from success.
She would take advantage.
Chi. Chi. Chi.
Two blades appeared in her palms. She wasn't even adept at dual wielding, but it was the path she chose nonetheless, assaulting the formation around her.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Glass shields appeared in the path of her blades as Sylas took a step through the skies.
She might have her advantages, but he had his own.
His telekinesis was far stronger than hers, and in the air…
He was the predator.
Lorien's gaze flickered and she dispersed into mist, dodging out of the way and appearing a frozen ten meters from Sylas with her blades already raised once again.
Sylas became a bolt of lightning, activating [Glassvolt Shift] as though he knew exactly where she would appear.
His attack had been nothing more than a feint. He understood the abilities of the Mist Race inside and out by now. While the strongest of them with the greatest control could freely shift from Mist to corporeal, none of them could attack in the former form other than to use their Will directly.
Lorien no longer dared to clash with his Will directly, so how could she dare to attack in that form?
Every time she took it, she would use it to evade in this battle. That was something he could guarantee.
In that case, he only needed to follow exactly where her Will locked onto and appear there first…
Something his insight into the Mesh of Reality made as easy as breathing. He could see the shifts in the Runes in the region through time and space. The instant Lorien had the intention to move, he could get there before she could.
BANG!
Sylas' fist drove right into her gut the instant she took form, his knee shattering her nose when she keeled over.
Blood splattered around the skies.