[Bonus thanks to Rikstingray <3] 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Too predictable, too simple, too obvious.

Aether had its own Will as well. Four comprehended it, used it like a tool, but the Will wasn't her own, and it showed. It was just there, wide open to be taken control over, to be commandeered and stripped of all its character with a single thought from Sylas.

All he needed to do was to grasp the Will of her Aether. It was a C-tier Aether, and it should have been extremely difficult for a D-tier Rune Creator like Sylas… except for the fact that Sylas was a Fathomless Rune Creator of the D-tier. He could step into the high levels of C-tier Rune Mastery whenever he wanted.

Grasping the Will of a single Aether was as easy as breathing, especially since he didn't need to comprehend it enough to grasp control of it… He only needed to understand it enough to shatter its rhythm.

Sylas' fist blurred through the air as he popped his other shoulder back into its socket. It was like he didn't see a beauty in front of him at all, her body broken down into equations and shifting lines of Will in his eyes.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three quick fists landed on her torso, an elbow struck across her chin, a knee caught her jaw.

Sylas leapt through his attacking knee with a calm grace. He landed on the ground, his body leaving afterimages in its wake as he comboed into one attack after another.

Four couldn't even find the time to press another advantage. A single mistake and it was like she didn't even have the right to stand in front of Sylas.

It shouldn't have been like this. She had already seen Sylas' strength before, she was sure that she could handle it. She had just been too furious, too careless. If she just had a single chance to pull back, a single hope at flipping the situation, she was sure that she could turn the tides.

She wouldn't get that chance. At least not without outside interference.

Sylas simply peppered her with one attack after another, the cascade of booms building up in a violent tempest that left her roaring in winds that ripped her asunder.

Her dress tore, her hair was shredded in the howling air, she coughed up a mouthful of blood as a fist landed in her gut, nearly ripping through to the back of her spine.

Sylas' eyes narrowed as he felt a shift in the air.

BANG.

Four soared out like a speed bullet. For a moment, Sylas' control over the battlefield slipped as Six and Five appeared to his left and right. The former, an enormous Royal Blue Troll, wielded a twin pair of axes that descended with an oddly deft ferocity. While they seemed to only have one gear, Sylas could sense a myriad of changes within them.

The latter lashed out with a vine-formed whip. It left blooming flowers in its wake, and then its tip arched almost like a blade thrusting down from above. It cut through one illusory flower after another, the rippling waves causing the petals to spin in relation to one another.

A gorgeous rainfall of blossoms fell from the skies.

One attack was vicious, the other painted in beauty.

Sylas slid back, only for an illusory flower to block his path.

He tapped a foot, his body twisting. The whip cut past his chest, carving through his white shirt.

Sylas' gaze remained calm and placid, a free hand pulling at his black tie as though to loosen it mid-battle and make himself more comfortable.

He slammed out a palm, the flat of his hand landing against the body of one of Six's swinging blades. They clattered against one another, sending Six into a spin that turned him away from Sylas.

Sylas slid back along the ground, using the momentum he generated from his palm to slip out of the way of another curve of Five's whip.

With a twist of his wrist, Five sent out another strike. The blossoms multiplied and the falling petals began to crackle like they had become individual whips themselves.

'I see.' Sylas thought. He reached out a finger and tapped at the air.

The array of blossoms shattered to pieces.

Five's pupils constricted into pinholes and Sylas vanished in a carving line of space, appearing behind him like he had been there the entire time.

Sylas' claws ripped at the air and he grabbed at Five's back, taking hold of the latter's spine and tearing it out. The bone flailed through the air as Five flopped to the ground, his eyes wide with shock. Dead.

Six roared, fury painting his features as he crossed the distance.

Four recovered and tried to return to the battlefield. But she was too slow. Far too slow.

PENG. PENG.

Sylas appeared before Six, his fists blurring through the air as he met the sharp weapons as though his body was carved from the ores that formed the sun's core itself.

He forced the Royal Blue Troll's arms apart and then clawed at his wrists. Runes swirling with black and the heft of gravity formed on his claws, each one sinking into skin, and then deeper flesh, before carving into bone as though it was as soft as cloud and as malleable as clay.

Six roared in pain, but Sylas had already kicked forward, the length of his foot just barely enough to connect with the enormous giant's torso.

BANG.

Six's body wanted to shoot backward, but his arms wouldn't follow.

Sylas' strength was perfectly balanced, perfectly curated. It was just enough to rip the giant's arms from its sockets, and just weak enough that the Royal Blue Troll only stumbled a single step back.

Six was in a daze formed by his own pain, the world spinning around him.

He looked down, only to find that Sylas had already buried his own arm shoulder deep into his chest.

"Oh…" he mumbled out his last words as he fell to a knee, and then another before his eyes went blank.

Four shrieked with fury.