Overlooked
Unlike the other beasts, it didn't attack Sylas immediately. It loomed tall and proud, as though disdaining his presence. And then, its Will pressed down.
Sylas looked up indifferently. His hair rustled slightly as though a breeze had just passed by, but he felt nothing else at all.
After feeling the attack of the lesser minion, Sylas had already grasped how to counter it. His Madness gave him full control over himself. That was precisely what it pursued: absolute freedom at the cost of a perfect understanding of oneself.
The most protected portion of Sylas' body was his mind. The earlier slip-up that almost lost him his head was just a poor application of his Madness Comprehension.
It wouldn't happen again.
The snake that fancied itself a king was immediately enraged by Sylas' indifference. Sylas could feel the fury emitting from it, almost as though they were palpable waves.