Legacy of the Dark Sage

The reason Kyran did not go after Gael when he escaped into his domain, the answer was simple: Kyran could not enter Gael's domain. It was easy for Gael to miss this important fact and only think that Kyran would react to killing intent. However, if Gael had considered Kyran's summons, he would have realized that if Kyran were reacting to killing intent, then he would have been attracted to the amount of killing intent from where his beasts and the army were currently engaged in a fight.

Alas, Gael was unaware that in Kyran's state, he could not distinguish between friend and foe and was purely reacting to any hostility directed at him. One could say that Kyran was like a puppet with only one program: to kill any hostiles around him.

The last of the twenty-seven officers dropped dead as Kyran severed his head. Like those before him, no blood oozed out from the body. If one looked closely at these bodies, one would discover that the wound from where the head had been cut off was scorched, preventing the blood from flowing out. Such was the result of being cut off by Kyran's Void magic. Because of this, anything it touches would not be healed or regenerated. The only ones who would probably have the ability to recover after suffering from a Void magic attack were those possessing Draconic magic. After all, the latter was also Ancient Magic, and its healing attribute was second to none.

With no hostiles around, Kyran again stood straight and remained unmoving.

From a distance, Mera and Iss growled and hissed in concern as they looked at Kyran. Others could not see it, but as a special and mutated beast, they could see that a red mist enshrouded Kyran. They knew their master was under the influence of someone else's magic.

Whoosh!

A red flash emerged from the shadow five meters away behind Kyran. A delicate hand holding a crystal red dagger swept through, aiming for his neck.

It was none other than Deception, who had already recovered 90%.

Sizzle!

However, the blade passed through the Void Armor and sizzled. It was impossible to land a hit on Kyran as long as he wore his armor.

"Tsk!" Deception clicked her tongue in annoyance. This would be the first time she had encountered such troublesome armor.

As an Enchanter, Deception had to have other means of dealing damage to her enemies. After all, others were either immune to illusions or possessed unique body constitutions that could counter her medium. Because of this, she had trained her body for combat and specialized in the use of daggers. Few could master the use of daggers. Its short length and reach were best for sneak attacks. But if one had to use it for sneak attacks, they had to kill their enemies in one strike. For this reason, Deception went to great lengths to have a unique dagger crafted for her.

Deception's dagger was no ordinary one. It was a magic weapon crafted from the blood and scales of a Tanagran, a legendary sea creature from her original plane. Tanagrans were famous for their sharp scales, and their blood was corrosive. All those who were sliced by her dagger died without them knowing.

And yet, this boy's armor withstood her dagger's corrosive effect. Not only that, her dagger appeared to have been damaged!

Deception instantly turned into a mist as Kyran twisted his body with one arm extended, aiming for her head.

Sizzle!

"Ugh..!" Deception winced when Kyran's armor swept past her mist form.

Kyran's reddish-purple eyes flashed. In an instant, the armor on his extended arm turned into mist and intermingled with Deception's mist form.

"Aaargh!" Deception shouted in pain.

Why did she forget that this boy could also do this? No. It was not that she had forgotten. She did not think his armor could change form at will. Not to mention, he could do it while still unconscious!

Deception retracted her mist form at once and did multiple back somersaults to escape from Kyran.

But Kyran would not let her. He did a half-turn and stomped his feet, instantly closing the gap between them. He reached out his right hand to grab her head.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several black tentacle-like substances emerged from their shadows and pierced through Kyran's bare forearm. Blood splurted out from his arm. Then the black tentacles wrapped around his arm and body to hold him in place. More black tentacles emerged from the shadow to replace the disintegrating tentacles.

Deception turned into mist again and disappeared, reappearing twenty meters away.

Beside her, Gael emerged from the shadow and bellowed, "Don't be rash! His armor is made of Void. Unless we understand the nature of his magic, we cannot do anything to him!"

Deception glared at him, "You said he was unconscious!"

"He is!" Gael growled back. "He is only reacting to our killing intent!"

Deception frowned at this. She looked back at Kyran, currently destroying the seemingly endless black tentacles. She heard he was part of a powerful clan full of combat mages, which explained his physical combat. But for him to have such a monstrous reflex even after falling unconscious, what kind of environment did he grow up in?

"I don't think he's reacting to killing intent," she said after a short pause.

Now it was Gael's turn to frown, "What do you mean?"

Deception did not reply. Instead, she closed her eyes and spread her magic influence. True enough, she found Kyran still trapped in her illusion. It was quite a spectacle.

For the record, Deception's illusions were not pre-made. She had no control over what her target saw. Using her medium, she could only stimulate her target's dark secrets and their most hidden emotions. The more traumatizing a memory or important an emotion was, the deeper her target would fall into the illusion.

A smile appeared on Deception's delicate face. She opened her eyes and looked at Kyran with renewed interest.

"I wonder what he is reliving right now," she muttered. Initially, she only wanted to make him suffer until he confessed where he had hidden her things. But seeing his state, even under her illusion, made her want him too. Besides, he was the new Dark Sage. Having him under her control would increase her chances of winning the upcoming War of the Sovereigns.

'Is this why Ruin is also interested in him?' She wondered. Haylee's image crossed her mind, and her smile vanished instantly. 'That little girl as well. She wanted him alive... could it be that she also...'

Deception's expression turned solemn. The air crackled as her magic pressure increased.

Her sudden change made Gael's frown deepen.

"Oi. I already told you not to--."

"Silence."

Deception flicked her hand, sending a whiff of soft wind toward Gael.

A sweet smell infiltrated Gael's sense of smell, and his eyes glazed over instantly. He could not even put up any defences and had fallen into Deception's illusions.

That was right. It was hard to guard against her illusion because she used scent as her medium. Not many were aware, but the scent was the most effective way to trigger one's emotion or memory. It could easily let someone recall emotions and memories as vividly as if it was happening in real life.

For this reason, Kyran could not discern the fake from the real.

Gael fell to his knees. But then his scythe glowed, activating his domain at once. His shadow darkened and swallowed him whole.

Deception did not make a move to stop his escape. She did not care if he planned to tell that human girl Haylee about what she had done. In the first place, she was only here because she wanted to get back the things Kyran took from her. But now that her interest in him was piqued, she might as well take him too. If he became hers, everything he had would automatically be hers.

After Gael had escaped, the black tentacles keeping Kyran busy stopped reproducing and were destroyed in a few seconds.

Deception did not approach and maintained her distance. She watched Kyran in silence with a curious smile on her face.

With the lack of hostiles in his surrounding, Kyran stopped moving and straightened again.

The air continued to crackle around her, and the night sky started to distort.

Everyone in Noser felt the sudden change in the air.

"L-Look! The sky!"

Someone shouted.

Those not engaged in fighting the manticore and the mutated basilisk looked up and saw cracks appearing in the night sky. Magic fluctuations spread throughout the city, sending everyone trembling in fear. Such magic fluctuations only occurred when a Magus was about to unleash a powerful spell.

Most of them knew Gael was there. But for reasons unknown, they felt that the magic fluctuation was not because of him.

At that exact moment, Mannick snapped his eyes open. He looked out the carriage's window, and his eyes narrowed at once.

A golden net could be seen up in the sky from a distance.

The Sovereign's Cradle had been activated.