Lorien suffered a hard blow, but she reacted quickly nonetheless, her body shattering into a pink mist only to appear to another fist in her gust.
It was unrelenting.
She tried to escape, only to suffer again, and then again.
Sylas drained his Aether like he had no limits, his Glassvolt Comprehension blooming as his Intelligence surged to untold levels. He was limitless, and his stores seemed to come with an endless supply.
A Skill that should have taken up everything to use just twice or thrice was like a candle in his palms, easily lit and just as easily snuffed out.
Lorien bounced around like a pinball through the skies, her telekinesis unable to stop the barrage with any sort of effectiveness. It was like her mind was lost in a warp, constantly being beaten and badgered.
'Focus!' she roared in her head, her palms slapping out in two opposite directions as a sphere of pink took shape around her.
BANG!
Sylas' body, having turned into a bolt of lightning once again, was stopped dead in its tracks.
Blades appeared in Lorien's palms again and she slashed out.
Sylas should have been disoriented and unable to focus very clearly at all, but he regained his bearings near instantly, his mind so tough that it shook Lorien to her core.
Just what level was his Wisdom at right now?
Sylas side-stepped a blade and caught the wrist swinging the other. He took a strong step forward, his thighs shooting between Lorien's as he pivoted. Their hips slammed against one another as he turned his back to face her, throwing her over his shoulder so violently she felt like a meteor falling from the skies.
And that she was.
Lorien's telekinesis did everything in its power to exert influence and slow her fall, but she still formed a mushroom cloud when she hit the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Her heart beat erratically in her chest, not understanding what was happening. She could feel that her strength and power were actually above Sylas' right now by as much as 20% or so. That margin was rapidly falling as Sylas took control of more and more of the Aether Treasure, suffocating her ability to take control of the world.
But that was a very real gap nonetheless.
So how in the world was Sylas outplaying her like this?
His Wisdom was already mostly occupied by the formation he created. If he activated Glassvolt Comprehension at the same time, how much more could he possibly have? He wasn't even using Madness right now to bolster his Will and telekinesis because it wasn't worth the expense.
How could he possibly activate another Comprehension? It didn't make sense.
Sylas could almost see through all of Lorien's thoughts.
Had he run out of Wisdom? Sure.
But what did you do when you ran out of something? Didn't you just go and get some more?
—
[Wisdom: 24,421]
-
[Wisdom: 50,412] (Semi-Fusion)
—
Not only was Semi-Fusion far less taxing on his Will, leaving it free to continue acting on his formation… it could be very useful in situations like this.
In the past, activating even just two Comprehensions at a time was difficult. But somehow, after reaching Common from Fragmented, instead of becoming harder to activate, his Comprehensions became easier. And now, his Wisdom was so overwhelming that had he not had to man the formation, he could easily activate all three at the same time.
With the Basilisk King's Wisdom added to his own, though… he could do it just the same.
Mixed Demonic Arts.
Sylas had spent too long observing the methods of the Mist Race. Now, he only had to deal with one of them and he had his Mixed Demonic Arts Comprehension on top of that.
Everything she did, he was easily two or three steps ahead of.
Lorien might have been the superior Rune Master in the past, but the one thing that she hadn't been able to overwhelm Sylas on was combat.
Sylas had gone from a layman who didn't know much to someone who had been steeped in one bloody battle after another. Now that he had this Comprehension to back him on top of that, not to mention the fact he had fought her before, he knew that she didn't stand a chance.
Laying down in a heap of broken bones, Lorien began to wonder…
Was she really going to lose here? Was she really going to fail her Race before she could even succeed in taking just the first step?
She hardly finished the thought when Sylas' fist had already appeared above her head.
So fast…
BANG!
Her head was driven into the earth, a second crater even larger than the first one she had formed causing rippling waves to spread out in all directions.
Her cheek deformed, half of her face collapsing.
A second fist rained down, then a third. An unrelenting barrage, savage and almost unholy pelting on her from above.
She had snapped out of her daze long ago, the pain rupturing the very core of her being.
Even when she tried to phase away, she sensed Sylas swap his martial arts Comprehension for another. His Will seemed to reach an all-new level and she was smashed right back down into the ground.
She couldn't understand it at all. At this point… just kill her… was there even a need to humiliate her in this way?
Lorien felt her Will on the verge of collapse, her body mere moments from giving out.
But then the eyes of her little sister, her mother, her aunt… they flashed in her eyes one after another.
'I can't… I can't…'
Her Will, moments from breaking to pieces, seemed to solidify once again and a notification that she had reached A Shaped Will flashed across her vision.
However, it hardly seemed to change anything…
Other than giving her the strength and presence of mind…
To send a System Link contract to Sylas.
Only then… only then did the pain seem to finally stop increasing.
Deep inside, she couldn't help but wonder… was this what he wanted from the very beginning?