Legacy of the Dark Sage

Deus frowned as soon as he saw Ruin. He recognized him because of the magic energy he emitted. However, he still had some doubts because there was something different about him.

Mages changing their appearance with array formulas, magic spells, or relics were common. They could even change the appearance and form of their essence. But no matter how a mage changed their essence's appearance or form, they would still possess part of their 'core.'

At the moment, Deus could not sense that core in Ruin. As a matter of fact, he could not even say if the Ruin before him was an essence.

During Deus's recent encounter with Ruin, he knew the latter could not appear in his original form before him. Which was why he assumed the one before him was also an essence. But he should have been able to sense Ruin's essence because he was an essence, yet he could not. It seemed confusing, especially when he was 100% positive the one before him was Ruin.

Unfortunately, Deus did not get the chance to mull over the mystery of Ruin's strange condition because the latter already made a move.

Concentrated magic energy in the form of red pillars of light fell from above and toward Deus.

Everything the light touched was not destroyed immediately, as magic attacks using concentrated energy did. Instead, it painted everything red, and they slowly rot away from the inside.

Deus maneuvered the automaton he donned and evaded the red pillars of light. Seeing those lights and what they did, he was more convinced of the Ruin's identity.

"You and your inventions are still as annoying as ever!" Ruin growled as he summoned more red pillars of light. These pillars did not fall from above this time but appeared from several red magic arrays and zoned in on Deus. From afar, they looked like beams of light with minds of their own as they followed Deus's around.

Meanwhile, True Void merged on Kyran's body, turning into armor even before Dues could have a good look at him.

"Go now while he keeps that guy busy!" he urged Kyran.

But.

"You are dying here for messing with our clan!"

All combat mages charged inside the room and attacked Kyran from different directions. Their confidence was ignited at Deus's arrival. Moreover, with the original intruder, who they deemed far more dangerous, occupied, they believed they had a better chance at incapacitating the one who imprisoned their Lady.

Unfortunately for them, they acted without understanding what Kyran was capable of. More importantly, they forgot that he was the one who summoned the domain that completely stopped them from circulating magic energies.

Kyran deftly evaded three combat mages bearing down on him with their fists. Their fists passed his body, landing on the ground or hitting nothing but air. He then moved and knocked out the combat mages in the split second that followed.

"Release Lady Estrid!"

Another combat mage demanded as he attacked with a dropkick at the spot where he predicted Kyran would come after evading the last combat mage.

But Kyran also predicted this and spun his body just before he got to that spot, missing the combat mage's dropkick by a large breadth.

Bam!

The combat mage's feet landed on the floor, destroying it and creating a hole. While the combat mage was distracted, Kyran had already completed his spin, raised his leg, and kicked him, knocking him out cold.

The rest of the combat mages witnessed this and were shocked at how Kyran easily disposed of them. They realized then that it would be impossible to overpower him with sheer brute force or their number. They also discovered that, like them, he was a combat mage. However, unlike them, he seemed experienced with fighting several opponents at the same time. Apart from that, he was pretty powerful.

Nevertheless, that did not stop them from attacking. Their Lady was still imprisoned, and they could not forgive themselves if they could not punish this brute who dared lay his hand on her.

"What the hell are you even waiting for?" True Void asked Kyran, making it evident that he was still in a panic even though Kyran was not having any problems fending himself against several combat mages. "You don't have to waste your time with these small fries! Let's go already!"

In True Void's opinion, Kyran did not need to deal with the combat mages. It was best for them to escape while Ruin kept Deus busy because the Emperor would arrive sooner or later if they did not move fast.

However, Kyran had a different take on their situation. He knew Ruin could not fully use his magic because he only used a makeshift body. If not for that, Ruin would have already caught up with Deus or caused great destruction all over the inner city by summoning all those pillars of light.

For short, Kyran was aware that Ruin was reaching his limit of what he could do with a makeshift body. Twisted as their relationship might be, Kyran was grateful for Ruin's help since his arrival in the Higher Realm. Besides, they had a common enemy, and Kyran wanted to ensure that Ruin survived because his strength would greatly help him.

"Oi! Oi! Are you even listening?" True Void asked Kyran when the latter continued to dodge the combat mages as they charged at him in every direction.

By then, Estrid's room was already riddled with holes from the combat mages' attacks, along with the mess Kyran made before their arrival. There was also the Void Sphere, which was still pulsating as the commotion inside the room continued.

"Halfling! What the hell? Seriously, what is wrong with you?" True Void asked yet again. He wanted so badly to take charge of Kyran's body and teleport them away, but unlike when Ruin donned him as armor, his liberty to do as he would was no longer there. This was because, at the moment, he was now Kyran's weapon, and his action would depend on him.

Unless Kyran allowed him free rein, he could not do as he pleased.

True Void was not entirely unable to defy Kyran's will, though. But at the moment, with all those combat mages attacking them from every direction and Kyran counterattacking and making them pass out, he could not bring himself to mess up the latter's rhythm.

No matter how reckless he believed it was to stay longer in that place, he did not think the latter opted to stay rather than escape as soon as the chance presented itself simply because he was being reckless— even though Kyran did have a reckless streak in the past.

Crack! Crack!

Just as True Void was contemplating how to make Kyran respond to him, even if through telepathy, he was suddenly distracted by cracking sounds coming from the direction of the Void Sphere.

Kyran looked at the sphere and frowned after seeing some mages coming in from the holes in the ground, attacking it. Since they could not circulate magic energy inside his domain, they used their brute strength to attack the sphere. Their raw strength was weaker than the combat mages, but they compensated with their number.

Kyran frown deepened after seeing this. He did not expect brute strength would work against the Void Sphere. Then again, it made sense since he created the sphere like a cage, not a mass of nothingness. It would have already disintegrated the floor and anything in its surroundings if it had been the latter.

While creating the Void Sphere that way might have been more effective when he attacked Estrid earlier, he had an inkling that it would not work. Estrid had so many relics under her disposal, and she was aware of the Void Master running loose in the Higher Realm. She might have considered the possibility that he would come to her for help or some other reason and made preparations.

Anyway, Kyran sensed his Void Sphere would not have dealt much damage against Estrid even if he used it as an offensive move rather than a defensive move.

Putting that matter aside, Kyran was now put in a dilemma of dealing with the other mages. He could deal with them faster if he did not hold back, but he did not want to kill anyone unless necessary. For this reason, he only attacked the combat mages by knocking them out cold in mind.

"You! What are you doing?"

"What the—? Stop!"

Kyran heard some mages shout. Soon, he realized discord was happening among the mages attacking the sphere.

The combat mages attacking Kyran also noticed this, and some stopped in their tracks to berate their people, "Oi! What are you guys doing? You must work together and destroy the sphere to free Lady Estrid!"

Just as one of the combat mages shouted this, more members of the Crepuscule Clan arrived.

"Ack! My goodness! And I mean my goodness! This is why I told you to escape at once! See? Now they have multiplied to an unbelievable number that no matter how good you are, you will not be able to handle them alone...!"

True Void's voice trailed off as he soon realized something was amiss.

Among the newly arrived members of the Crepuscule Clan, one mage, a young fox in human form, said, "Thank you for buying as much time as possible, sir Null. Let us assist you from here on."

Kyran recognized the mage and was quite surprised at the sudden change in her presence, "It's you?"

The one leading the newly arrived mages were none other than Marigold.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!