Chapter 128: 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.

"... What did she just take from you?"

He needed to know. The thoughts were consuming him.

Just now, he had replayed every interaction he had ever had with Lauren, but they were so few and far in-between that he couldn't glean anything. Their most substantive interaction was the first morning he had spent in Casstle Main, but the conversation took place on an abstract plain. It felt... there was nothing tangible to grasp from it.

There was only one point of oddity that he zeroed in on.

That day, the one where he, Olivia and the others set out on their mission against the gnoll village, his Madness had enveloped everyone. Everyone had their own reactions to the situation, but when he thought about it... Morgan and Olivia were much more subdued, Alex was enamored with his ax, and Lauren, she felt into a ball on the ground, hiding her...

Sylas' gaze suddenly sharpened. He moved before anyone could react and he cast Astral Bind.

The illusion chain of Aether constricted Alex into place. The cheery young man was entirely stunned, taken off guard, much like everyone else was. But before he could react, a blade fragmented was already pressed against his throat.

"Who are you people?" Sylas asked coldly. "The next thing out of your mouth better be an answer, or else the first thing to go will be your carotid artery."

Sylas realized that he had been a fool. It was staring him right in the face, and he hadn't even noticed it.

That day, Alex had looked like he wanted to bed his ax, as though it was a voluptuous woman rather than an inanimate object. Then there was Lauren, who dropped to the ground as though she was experiencing the greatest fear of her life.

He hadn't thought much of it back then because it was the first time he had enveloped anyone with his Madness, but how many battles had he fought since then? He had been able to see how Madness interacted with humanoid creatures again, and again, and again.

Fear and lust weren't the appropriate responses. Unless...

You felt an assault on your mind you could resist, but weren't sure of exactly how to pretend like you had been affected in the first place.

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.