Vayu swung down a swift sword right at Sylas' neck just as River's counter Skill descended.
However, it was then the situation changed.
Sylas didn't seem to see Vayu's sword at all, his gaze blazing with a green light.
River felt his mind shake.
[Stunning Spike (FF-) (Skill)] (Silver)
[Young mind is sharper than others, so much so that you strip them of even their own ability to think and reflect clearly]
[Cost is 7 Units of Aether in exchange for 1 second of confusion. For every 10% gap in Will, Cost will decrease by 1 Unit, with the lowest Cost being 0.1 Aether Units]
Sylas' timing was perfect. River's counter Skill was only half-way done when descended, drilling into his mind.
Sylas had already learned how to use his telekinesis to interrupt Skills in the past. But after observing River's counter Skill twice, he couldn't find the crucial Runes to target. That was when he realized that it was because it was a mental attack and he was looking in the wrong place.
At the moment activated, he poured his tangible Will into it, boosting it tremendously. The instant it landed, streams of blood rushed from River's nose.
Vayu didn't have time to realize what happened. His sword cut into Sylas' neck, with a twist of his wrist, he was ready to send his head flying into the air…
Only for a pauldron to appear right at his wrist.
Again, it appeared from nowhere, and once again, it was in a perfect blind spot.
Blood spurted from Sylas' neck, but the vicious blow to Vayu's wrist slowed his slashing strike.
Sylas leaned backward, sending out a kick toward Vayu's chest.
At the same time, Lolaleen's two icicles were successfully formed, catching her two teammates off guard and piercing right through their heads.
Sylas stumbled backward at the same time Vayu did, but he was ready unlike his opponent. In a swift motion that seemed to all happen in one breath, the entire situation reversed.
A thick layer of Aether stemmed the flow of blood from his neck, another pauldron and two shin guards appeared, and as though that wasn't enough, the icicles that seemed frozen in the air suddenly reversed their direction.
was only able to freeze attacks for a brief instant. So why did the icicles stay in the air for so long?
It was because in that brief pause, Sylas had already stripped them from their caster's control. The others thought that this was the effect of his defensive Skill, when in reality it was the actions of his telekinesis.
However, not only did Sylas take the icicles for himself, he poured most of the effects of his Domain into them, strengthening them from the Frostbane Rune of the Sylphs to his own Freeze Rune.
The Skills became his own, gaining the boost from and zipping out even faster under the control of his telekinesis.
They appeared before the four remaining members, ignoring Vayu and River.
Too fast. Too sudden.
They had all been encircling Sylas, looking to bite out a piece of his flesh. They had even weaved around the icicles, trying to get closer to him.
None of them could have ever expected to be pierced from the back.
Some of them reacted fast, using defensive Skills, but it wasn't enough. Those that managed to survive the instant death found the Ice-Poison rushing through their veins, and the element they thought they had such immunity to suddenly became the bane of their existence, freezing them completely in place. With his mind, Sylas commanded Lolaleen again.
A flood of energy fueled his body as his stats were boosted by 50% once again all while Lolaleen rushed toward the frozen River with only one obvious intention in mind.
Blood flowed down Sylas' body but he appeared before Vayu who was standing in a bit of a daze. He couldn't seem to understand how all of this had happened. In one moment, victory was in hand… and in the next…
"It's all your fault…" Vayu's eyes bulged with a sudden fury. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
He roared, swinging down his sword like a madman. But he realized quickly that his Ice-Poison wasn't listening to him.
Pauldron and sword met, a fiery blaze of green light enveloping their crimson hue.
They rebounded away beneath Vayu's strength, but they recovered quickly, lashing out again and again.
Vayu was on his back foot, a vicious series of sharp combinations coming from Sylas. Every time his fists moved, the pauldrons descended. Every time his feet whipped out, the shin guards would slice through the air with the edge of blades.