Sylas looked up to the skies.

In that moment, it felt as though he could see a hole to the God Realm itself. The power was so large and looming, hanging above and lingering for a moment as though in a faint warning.

Sylas sneered.

If they could have targeted him like they had Three just now, they would have done it.

BANG.

Sylas' palms slapped together, his Hibernation Halo rippling out from him in waves.

At that moment, the shadow of a city appeared behind him.

A Legendary City.

The world shook and his Glassvolt rocked the air.

What made Sylas so powerful now wasn't just an understanding of Aether. Ironically enough, what made him so strong was a power very similar to the one he had rejected from Arcane Madness.

However, to Sylas, this was very different.

Arcane Madness offered him a chance to tap into the Pride of the universe itself. But to Sylas, his own Pride was enough. He had no desire to taint it with other things.

However, tapping into the Glassvolt of the universe was just fine with him. It still allowed him to use his Aether as the tool he saw it… It was just a far more powerful tool now.

The reason it felt like One, and even Four, had been manipulating reality was because this was almost quite literally what was happening. They were distorting the world around them with the comprehension of their Aether to breed an environment conducive to its proliferation.

Sylas' Glassvolt was now at that same level… and it was a far more powerful Aether than they could fathom.

A perfect D-tier Aether.

Not all Cryst Emperors were created equal, and even though One was nearing the limit of what was possible for most in the Mortal Realm… Sylas wasn't a normal mortal. In fact, he was no longer a mortal at all.

Glassvolt was a True Emperor's Aether. It wasn't his throne, but was instead the foundation of his Throne. And using the power of the universe, Sylas was able to do something only the system should have been capable of.

Under normal circumstances, his Hibernation Realm was floating in an in-between state, hovering between the planes of his current location and the Beast Heaven.

But right now, using the fuel of his Glassvolt Aether's True Name, Sylas was able to power the projection of his Hibernation Realm into his current plane of existence.

It was for but a moment, but it was all he would need to completely cut off this location from the influence of the Angels.

Over such a large distance… the presence of a Legendary City Stele took precedence over all.

This was the truest essence of Glassvolt, the truest essence of what it meant to rule, the truest name of an Aether that stood at the pinnacle of perfection.

Lucent Dominion.

The presence of a Legendary City bloomed, pulsing waves of bold lightning streaking across the skies.

Chi. Chi. Chi.

BANG. BANG.

BOOM.

The planet shook on its very foundations. Continents cracked and mountains collapsed.

Sylas stood beneath the projection of his city and suddenly the power boost of a City Lord flooded his veins. He hadn't even noticed such effects until this very moment.

It seemed that the power a Legendary City gave its City Lord wasn't small in the slightest. He must not have earned the right to feel this change until he passed his trial. But he hadn't spent much time in his city after the fact.

It felt like if he wanted to destroy the world of the Seeing Eye Guild right this moment…

It would take but a single fist.

"Now." Sylas said slowly, walking toward Two until he stood beneath the latter's shadow. And yet, it somehow felt to Two as though he was the small one.

Without hesitation, Two kneeled, and as though feeling this didn't make him small enough, he lay flat on the ground, his forehead pressed to it. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Answer my question." Sylas finished calmly.

"We were told by the angels to come here millennia ago. We weren't told why until recently, then we were directed to enter the final phase. The plan was to cause a destabilization of the Purvon Clan which was best positioned to advance to Demi-Godhood, allowing The Sanctum to take their place instead.

"But before we could, you did so. This accelerated our plans forward and we were somewhat caught off guard. The figurehead for this should have been Salivar, but Salivar never got the chance to grow. Instead, he was killed by you and this ultimately led to The Sanctum advancing earlier than we expected it to be possible.

"Then, Rhykan took action, accelerating the timeline all the more and now it will only be another half year or so before The Emperor Sanctum successfully progresses to the Demi-God Plane."

"What is so special about the Mancy Scape?"

"I don't know. I really don't know. We were only told that it was a special place where Intelligence and Will were showing signs of a True Merger."

"It's a state that the Gods claim to be the true pinnacle of existence, a way to break beyond the peak that's been long reached but never breached.

"They say that by combining all the Core Stats until they truly work as one in the same instead of individual branching parts is the path to true Godhood beyond the limitations of the human body."

There was a flicker in Sylas' gaze.

All of the Core Stats had a lot of overlap. You couldn't be strong unless you could throw a punch with decent speed, and force was literally a measure of acceleration and mass. Dexterity probably also incorporated some aspects of how well you could use the strength you had, and the harder your body, the more punches of the same strength probably hurt.

Those were just the Physical Stats, but the Mental Stats were probably just as if not more complicated.

But this True Merger seemed to go beyond just the slight overlaps. In fact, Sylas grasping the true strength of being a Cryst Emperor seemed to only give a fraction of the strength Two was implying here.

'I see… But…' Sylas' pupils constricted into pinholes, his heart skipping a beat as he realized something.