"I would advise you pay very close attention to what I'm saying, otherwise you might die before you understand what's happening to you and why."

Sylas didn't reply. Instead, his fist erupted like a rocket from his side. His gaze reflected an impassive almost carelessness, every aspect of his being pouring everything down to his very bandwidth for emotion itself into his knuckles.

BOOM.

The world folded at its edges.

One looked down at his rib cage, the location Sylas' strike should have landed, and by all rights, did land. But he didn't even move, or flinch, or even look like a decent attack had landed at all.

Even a toddler's punch to a mortal would have had some sort of reaction. But one might have thought that a gust of wind had passed by instead.

"Was that supposed to be an attack?" One asked, blinking at Sylas' fist as though asking him a genuine question.

Sylas retracted his fist. Oddly enough, even Sylas' expression didn't change all that much at the result. Anyone else would have reacted with panic at this point, but he hadn't. Instead, he seemed to be calculating something.

"This is the problem with you powerful Will users, all arrogant, all self-assured. I smelled the scent of Lust on you earlier, but now that I am close, I can smell Pride, maybe almost too much of it. No, definitely too much of it for someone so very weak."

There was finally the slightest flicker in Sylas' eyes. Even the A-tiers he had been around didn't so easily pick out his Seeds. It was hard to tell if One knew what he was referring to when he said these things, but in the event that he did, that could be more than a little bit troublesome in its own right.

However, once again, Sylas' reaction was quite limited. He didn't even make a move to step back from One's range, but neither did One seem eager to find an opening to attack. He wanted Sylas to know exactly why his life was going to end here first.

"In all your arrogance, you believe everything to start and end with Will, but this couldn't be further from the case. Energy is the center of all things.

"The Great Impetus, the Big Bang, the Sudden Surge, all these names for it across so very many cultures and worlds. What is it if not explaining the start of the universe itself as the impetus of energy itself.

"There is no deciphering between the two. Sure, Will is important, but only insofar as it is the kernel that is life. But without it, without life, the universe would still exist.

"Will and Rune Masters who try to distill everything into a matter of Will, trying to assign Wills to Aether of all things, is simply humanoids doing what humanoids do best—trying to make themselves the center of everything, trying to anthropomorphize everything into the living when 99% of everything in the universe wouldn't know what life was. 99% of what is in the universe simply exists. 99% of what is the universe exists without a so-called Will of its own.

"Only the 1% with a Will of its own somehow thinks that everything else should also have Will. Silly, is it not? Why should my Intelligence be called Willborne Intelligence and not my Will be called Intelligenceborne Will?"

One smiled. "Do you know why I am telling you all this? For one, I want you to understand when you lose, why your little parlor tricks and your Will were meaningless before me.

"I can sense it now. Your Will is quite powerful, having even crossed the Infinite stage, and it doesn't seem like Fragmented Infinity either—impressive.

"My Will on the other hand? It is barely at Forged, and only because it accidentally rose to that level while I was actively suppressing and ignoring it. If it were up to me I would have never progressed beyond the minimum level… "Because I simply don't need it."

The more One spoke, the darker his expression became and the deeper his speech.

"You use your Will to bend reality, to draw your little Runes, to carve out your little formations.

"I have no need to waste my time with such an unnecessary middleman. I control the energy of the universe itself."

One's hand danced in the wind, his peacock feathers fluttering in the breeze.

"I will crush you with ease."

BANG.

A fist landed on Sylas' chest in the same exact location on his body that he had tried to blow through on One's.

The result, however, was very much different.

His body was sent flying back so fast it felt like the wind was trying to skin him. The harsh hurricane forces ripped at him and his clothing, but before he could even land, One had appeared above him.

He didn't seem eager to attack, he followed Sylas' path through the air, taking one step at a time and crossing hundreds of meters. His robes fluttered in the air, the look in his eyes almost that of pity.

And then, he flashed ahead of Sylas, slowly raised a foot, and then stomped down.

The timing was perfect. Just as Sylas shot by below him, One's foot connected with the former's chest, driving Sylas so far into the ground he vanished into an abyss of his own body's creation.

One stood high in the skies, his arms clasped behind his back. This Sylas Grimblade had humiliated his fiancée, touched his woman, leaving that gorgeous body littered in bruises and wounds.

That… was just unacceptable. He wouldn't allow it under the slightest circumstances, and he certainly wouldn't allow Sylas to die an easy death.

It was then that Sylas suddenly appeared, adjusting his tie. He pulled it down, shifting it left, then right before securing it to his neck tightly once more.

When he looked up and met One's gaze, his eyes remained placid.

"I'm not sure why I would take advice from a man who glamorizes his own features."

One froze.