"I'LL KILL YOU!" The Prince roared.

His muscles bulged, his body expanding in size and ripping at his black-red robes.

There was a flicker and a flash, and The Prince appeared in the arena that only The Duchess and Sylas had shared just moments ago.

BOOM.

The Prince rocketed forward without the slightest hesitation, his spear appearing at Sylas' throat in a flash.

Sylas side-stepped, his gaze languid. He could read The Prince like an open book. It almost felt like he was playing a video game that he had all the combinations down for.

The problem the Prince faced while battling him was that he understood the limits of the Sanguara bloodline too well. He understood its peaks and valleys, its strengths and weaknesses, how best to attack it and how best to defend against it.

They were all so fast, so strong, their stamina reserves were near endless, but they lacked any real sort of ranged abilities. They weren't flexible enough to use Rune Mastery—at least not any form of Rune Mastery that Sylas had ever seen before, and because they relied so heavily on blood, if you ignored the feints and twitching cadence of their exterior muscles, and instead listened to the flow of blood roaring through their veins, you could predict exactly where their strikes would land, how much power they would have, and when it would strike true.

Of course, deciphering the echo of streaming blood was impossible unless you understood the inner workings of how they worked. Their control over their blood was absolute, and The Prince was an expert amongst their experts.

Unfortunately for him, Sylas' comprehension Abilities were simply off the charts.

As were his Comprehensions themselves.

Sylas' body flashed with a light of emerald. His Madness Comprehension bloomed and his Will advanced by more than 100x. In an instant, his telekinetic martial arts arrived with the full brunt of his presence, his Luscent Dominion flashed, arcs of lightning combining with his Will in ways that should have been impossible.

It was almost like his presence alone was enough to manifest the Aether from thin air.

With another side step, he drew an upper cut through the air, nearly sending The Prince's spear flying out of his control.

He took a quick step forward, but when the Prince thought he would attack from his right, Sylas' steps quickly shifted. He passed beneath the spear and unleashed a fist at the Prince's left flank.

BANG.

Lightning erupted out of the Prince's back but somehow left his skin and robes unscathed. His eyes bulged in their sockets, blood flying from his mouth.

Sylas exhaled a breath, and for a moment, it almost seemed like he had calmed and would retreat, only for his limbs to suddenly accelerate.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three quick strikes landed so fast the echoes nearly layered into a single blooming cadence. A fist against the Prince's belly, a sweep at the side of his knee, an elbow across his chin, all before he could even bring his spear back into his control.

Sylas' body blurred as the world became a dazed stream of endless nothing around the Prince. The latter's blood had been disrupted, and every one of the attacks Sylas had levied had layered his Will into them.

He used his emerald, Will-laced lightning to penetrate The Prince's exterior defenses. Then he forced his Seals to be applied directly into the latter's body.

The flow of the Prince's blood slowed, and by the time Sylas appeared behind him, kicking out a heel at the back of his knee, causing the man to fall to it, the Prince was already seeing little more than black.

Sylas' palm clasped onto The Prince's head, pressing down firmly. Lightning raged out of him as he looked ahead, his eyes a deathly shade of indifferent.

'Suppress.'

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The Prince's survival instincts suddenly kicked in. He fell into a similar daze as the one Sylas had seen from the Duchess not too long ago. His spear fell from his hands and he roared, his eyes turning shades of black and red, what whites there had been completely erased.

He fell forward, his palms slamming against the ground as he kicked back and up at Sylas' chin.

But Sylas' grip on his head remained. Instead of pulling back, he let the Prince pull him forward, taking a small leap up and flipping over the Prince's head.

Sylas landed on the ground and shook his head. That was the easiest moment to end the battle. He had been hoping for at least one easy victory.

But sealing someone like he had the Duchess didn't come easy. Even putting your Will into somebody else's body was incredibly difficult, even if they were far weaker than yours.

The Duchess was seen as his wife, and she hadn't resisted at all.

The Prince was clearly not so eager to be as accommodating, and the man was clearly not his wife either.

Sylas wanted to do things amicably because the Duchess obviously cared for her brother, but it seemed they were going to have to do things the hard way.

Whatever happened after that wouldn't be his problem to deal with. He had already tried to be nice.

And clearly, being nice had cost him.

If he had just taken The Prince's head off there instead, this battle would probably already be over. But now…

The Prince's claw lashed at his throat, swiping across the air so ferociously space sparked like metal shrieking against metal.

Sylas' eyes tracked it through the air, completely deadpan.

This wasn't the battle and challenge he was excited for. It was just the first step. The fact that he was chosen again without rest all but confirmed it.

What he thought was happening here was certainly happening.

If they wanted to target him in specific, they were free to.

He welcomed it.

Sylas' body danced with lightning.

BOOM.

His forearm met the Prince's, his other hand streaking forward in its own claw, only for the Prince to catch and clasp it.

Chi.

Sylas' wrist snapped with a twist from the Prince as a knee drove toward his chin.