Legacy of the Dark Sage

Gael tried to contact Haylee again but failed. After which, he reached out to Lira. But when he also failed to connect with her, he tried contacting Fiona. When that failed again, Gael started to feel indignant. It made him feel that they were doing something behind his back. Of course, he only felt that way about Lira and Fiona.

Since he could not contact them directly, Gael entered the army's main channel and tracked the army's recent activities. Prior to that moment, he could not connect to the army's main channel due to a lack of signal. The tower in Noser had long been destroyed and if not for the arrival of the army, which always had a mobile tower, he would not be able to connect.

With Gael's rank, he had full authority to check all channels. He could even see all private channels. But he did not plan on checking all of them. He only went to the army's recent assignments and logged dispatch history. Soon he found the information about Emperor Euan's arrival at Thunlough. Gael already knew that so he browsed through the content and checked the latest entries.

There were two new updates. The second to the last update was a confirmation of Imman's arrival in Mourchton. After that was the confirmation of Imman and five thousand additional soldiers' departure from Mourchton going to Noser.

Gael frowned in disappointment. He could not find any information about the Crown Princess.

After much thought, he checked the Headquarter's channel and finally found information that the Crown Princess went to the Meliora Headquarters with Lira. After reading through the entries after that, Gael was stumped. The last entry showed Lira ordered a dispatch of one hundred thousand soldiers and their destination was the Regis Estate.

Gael's initial reaction was anger. He could not believe Lira would take advantage of the Crown Princess's Royal Decree with his seal to order 80% of the soldiers in the HQ. His anger was reasonable. If something happened, with only 20% of soldiers left behind in Meliora, how could they defend it? Apart from this, as he looked through the names of the officers who went with her, Bo and Esme were included but the Crown Princess was not.

What were they thinking? Putting aside Esme, since she was Ingrid's subordinate, Bo was technically under Gael. When Gael was not around, Bo must resume the responsibility of overseeing the Meliora Headquarters. Why did he leave his post?

But then Gael stopped his train of thought when he recall their destination, the Regis Estate. As far as he was concerned, the Crown Princess ordered all remaining army stationed outside the estate's Inner Wall to assist in Noser. Why would Lira order one hundred thousand soldiers to go there and leave the Crown Princess behind?

Could it be that something happened in the estate that forced Lira to make this decision? Lira said the Crown Princess was occupied and from that, Gael more or less guessed the latter might have taken this chance to visit the underground chamber in the headquarters. Gael had no qualms in that regard. But if that was the case, and the Crown Princess gave Lira the authority to make decisions in case of emergency on her behalf, the latter's actions were reasonable.

Then what was the emergency?

It did not take long for Gael to come up with a possible answer. Thinking about the time he lost after being trapped in Deception's illusion, followed by the strange abilities 'Kyran' had shown which were very different from the 'Kyran' he fought, Gael started to see the big picture.

If Gael took into account Kyran being a Regis, who put the safety of their clan above all else if the latter knew what Ruin was currently doing, would he let it be? Thinking back on it now, why did Kyran decide to appear? Why in Noser?

Obviously, it was to divide the army. Once the army's military strength was split, he would then go to the estate and find a chance to save his clan. With Ruin the only one left there, he would definitely be at a disadvantage once Kyran freed his clan. It did not matter whether Ruin was more powerful than them. Gael knew the Regis had ways to deal with Ruin. They were able to create such a powerful barrier, there was no telling if they also have a powerful offensive array to deal with him.

Gael immediately took action after coming to such a conclusion. Although he did not have any proof, there was a way for him to test if the 'Kyran' inside Noser was the same. He only needed to summon some of his shadow puppets and see how the latter would react.

True enough, after sending a group of his shadow puppets once, Gael confirmed his doubt; the 'Kyran' inside Noser was an imposter.

If that 'Kyran' was the real one, destroying Gael's shadow puppets was as easy as stepping on ants. However, 'Kyran' needed the help of the four beasts to dispose of Gael's puppet. 'Kyran' did not even use his fist, but only controlled those orbs.

After this little test, Gael immediately ordered all Grand Masters to sortie. He decided to lead them personally and deal with the imposter. He did not wait for Imman to arrive. Knowing Imman, Gael knew that guy would only make things complicated because he wanted to find the opportunity to snatch recognition.

Anyhow, dealing with those legendary-level beasts would be a pain, thus, Gael would still need the restraining magic arrays. They would lure and restrain them while they deal with the imposter before the real one returned. Gael might now know how strong Ruin was but if the Crown Princess entrusted the destruction of the Regis Estate's barrier to him, then he was strong enough. In any case, Lira was already on her way with one hundred thousand soldiers. It was impossible for the real Kyran to deal with them all by himself. Even if the Regis Clan joined the fray, the army had the numerical advantage.

Although the Regis had the physical combat advantage, they were still human. They would be exhausted sooner or later.

With this in mind, Gael, along with almost fifty Grand Masters and several High Masters, marched into Noser.

Meanwhile, Zephyr already knew that things were going south when Manti and the others reported several high-level mages entering the city. To make matters worse, the one leading them was a Magus.

It did not take long for Zephyr to realize the mistake he did, which led to the army's decisive decision in confronting them directly.

Zephyr was put in a dilemma. If he continued to pose as Kyran, he would not be able to protect Manti and the others, much less fend for himself. As a matter of fact, he could sense that Manti and the others were nearing their limit. It might not be the case if Kyran was here. One of the benefits of being a Sigil was they could share their master's magic energy and healing abilities. As long as they were within Kyran's range, they would seem invincible.

Alas, Kyran was hundreds of miles away from them and could not take advantage of the Sigil's benefits.

Hiss!

Bas slithered back to Zephyr and told him the army was closing in. Based on their speed, they would arrive in less than ten minutes.

Zephyr closed his eyes and took a deep breath. They might have discovered he was not the real Void Master, but that did not mean he was afraid of them. Frankly, he was more afraid of what Kyran would do to him if he found out he had failed.

'No,' Zephyr thought as he opened his eyes. 'I haven't failed yet. No matter what, I will keep them here.'

Zephyr looked at Bas, Manti, Mera, and Iss and said full of determination, "I will face them alone. You guys stay here and rest."

The four immediately hissed or growled in protest, but Zephyr would not listen to any of it.

"When you guys have rested enough, you can join again. But with your current condition, you will only be a burden. You have to understand that if one of us dies here, our master will also suffer a backlash. So stay put and rest."

When they heard Zephyr tell them Kyran would suffer if one of them died, they had no choice but reluctantly agree. None of them wanted their master to suffer because of them.

With a nod, Zephyr stood up and levitated. His eyes glowed red as his magic energy exploded. In an instant, the air around him stirred, creating incredible magic fluctuations.

Slowly, his body started to grow as the black clothes he was wearing blended with his skin.

At the east part of the city, Gael's expression suddenly turned grim as he sensed a powerful magic fluctuation ahead.

The Grand Masters also sensed it and they all shivered involuntarily.