Chapter 127 Betrayal

Chapter 127 Betrayal

Her gaze locked onto Sylas with a hint of surprise. She blinked innocently, a gaze that he hadn't seen from her before. She had been a gentle and mostly shy woman. She had a fierceness to her, honed through months in the Amazonian Wilds, but it was mostly ebbed by her days as a secretary.",

Now, however, she looked almost... playful. More like a woman that would let Sylas walk in on her naked on purpose rather than by accident, as he had thought.

She reached toward Cassarae that had her back turned to her and suddenly ripped an inconspicuous necklace she had worn around her neck away.

Then, she vanished as though a mirage in the desert.

Sylas came to a halt, his eyes wide. What just happened?

She didn't kill anyone, she didn't even really harm them. She just... took a necklace?

What was going on?

Sylas stood in silence for a long time, looking out in blank space. His heart was thumping wildly, even now. In fact, it was only getting worse. It somehow felt to him like what had just happened was worse than anything else could have been, and the worst part about it was that he had no idea why.

He was almost certain that this was all a result of his improved Luck stat. But he didn't like the push and pull of these inexplicable emotions. It felt like a different sort of manipulation of his mind, one that was an offshoot of Madness, but not quite the same. And the most poignant point was that while Madness at least helped him to understand himself to a greater degree, this did nothing of the sort. In fact, if it wasn't for Madness, he wouldn't even quite understand what was happening.

There was only one thing that was clear to him. Somehow, he had just lost a game he wasn't even aware he was playing... and that feeling threatened to send him into another spiral.

"Sylas? Sylas! Are you alright?"

Sylas didn't know how long he stood there for, but when he looked up, he found that Cassarae was standing right in front of him, looking up into his eyes.

Seeing the cold indifferent in Sylas' gaze, Alex's confusion vanished and his demeanor seemed to change as well. Clearly, he hadn't expected this outcome, but his reaction wasn't one of fear either.

"You're smart—"

PCHU!

Alex's eyes widened. This time, it wasn't an act, because it was too late.

The blade shard pushed into his neck, severing one of his carotid arteries. Blood splattered, and Alex found himself quickly losing large amounts of blood.

He had never expected for this to happen. He hadn't taken Sylas' threat seriously. Wasn't it just human nature to wait to hear him out first?

Alex's Aether suddenly rampaged and Astral Bind shattered. He shuffled backward with great speed, clutching onto one side of his neck.

"I've been careless..." he mumbled to himself in shock.

He had the strength to not fear Sylas, and yet he had actually let his bravado underestimate this man one more time. He was shocked enough when he couldn't read Sylas' stats, but after some time they came to understand that this wasn't because he was such a freak, but rather because he had gained some unique Comprehension that protected his mind better than most other things could.

After observing him for a time, they were quite certain of Sylas' limits.

What they didn't account for was his decisiveness.

Alex coughed, but didn't hesitate to rip large amounts of cloth off his body and jam them into his neck as he continued to retreat with frightening Speed.

Everyone was still in shock, not understanding what was going on.