Legacy of the Dark Sage

While Cade was immersed in studying the ancient ruins, the hall started to change. The hallway vanished and instead, it looked as if he along the metal door had been transported into a very dark room.

Calling it a dark room might be an understatement. Due to the darkness, it was hard to determine whether there were walls or a ceiling beyond the darkness. Apart from the area where Cade was sitting cross-legged, everything else was pitch black.

Previously, when Cade was still in the hallway, faces on the walls, which were made of runes, observed him in silence. Now, these faces were still there. But instead of appearing on walls, which the room likely did not possess, they were all hovering in midair, creating a circular barrier around Cade.

As Cade's understanding of the ancient runes around the metal doors deepen, the layers of faces made of runes increased. Each time a layer was added, it add more light to the darkness.

After almost an hour, one could now see that Cade was sitting on top of a steep slope, resembling a mountain. Crude stone steps could be seen behind him going down the slope. Each of the steps had a strange rune on them, however, only three were lit in a golden light.

With each passing minute, whenever a new layer of rune faces appeared around Cade, a new rune would appear down the stone step. It glowed faintly at first but then would glow brighter whenever Cade's understanding of the ancient runes on the metal door deepened.

Cade was oblivious to these changes. He only had his full attention on the metal door's ancient runes. It was not that he found these runes interesting. As a matter of fact, he found them strange. Not because the meaning behind the runes was too profound, but because, each time he felt he grasped the meaning of the runes, it would contradict the previous meaning. Whenever it happened, he would go back to reading the previous runes and would realize that the runes' meaning had changed completely.

In the end, Cade stopped re-reading the runes from the start. Instead, he focused on reading them slowly and whenever he felt their meaning would contradict the previous statement, he would still keep on reading.

After doing this for some time, Cade realized that the ancient runes appeared as if they were entries in a person's research journal. The more the person who wrote them discovered new things, that person would not hesitate to change his or her way of thinking to adopt the new idea.

If Cade had to describe the person who wrote them, he found that person flexible, unrestrained by normal standards. Most importantly, he found that person a true genius.

As time went by, the dark room started to grow brighter. The light slowly illuminated all the unseen objects that surrounded the steep slope.

Objects that resembled stone-like giant legendary beasts, their eyes all trained at where Cade was seated.

*

Kyran was like a human cyclone that broke through the enemies' line in an instant. With Bo and Esme out of the picture, it was easy to recover the west flank's formation.

Frankly, Kyran did not expect to find Bo and Esme the moment he warped in the west flank. He initially planned to catch the enemy's rear off guard by reducing their number before the two noticed anything. To think that both were standing at the rear, seemingly relaxed as they casually talked about their 'plans.'

Kyran was a little annoyed at their attitude of acting as if they had the whole situation under their control. That was why he killed them before they even knew he was there.

Recalling how the two idiots planned to use the anti-cast stone on Mannick if he arrived made Kyran sigh inwardly at their ignorance. Mannick's magic was related to pure magic energy, a mere anti-cast stone would not be enough to stop him from using magic.

As Kyran killed another enemy, he stopped midway through cutting another one after seeing a faint golden shield symbol hovering above the soldier's head.

The soldier also retreated in fright. Clearly, he realized how close he had been to losing his head for trying to help the mysterious man. He with the rest already received an order to move out of the latter's way. But he found it unreasonable to let one person deal with the enemies alone.

Actually, the soldier was part of the group that replaced the previous group who were already worn out from the battle. Thus, he did not know the terrifying might of the mysterious man.

Kyran lowered his two swords and studied his surroundings. At the moment, there were only a few enemy soldiers engaged in battle with Mannick's men. Unlike earlier, where he could barely distinguish each side, Kyran saw a faint golden shield hovering above the heads of the other soldiers.

The shield had Mannick's aura, so Kyran knew they were his men.

Because of those symbols, it was now easier for Kyran to attack without hurting Mannick's men.

Before Kyran could continue dealing with the rest of the enemy soldiers, he felt a prick on the back of his hand as the mark of the Sigil appeared.

[Void Halfling?]

True Void sensed the change in Kyran's demeanor as he looked at the mark.

Kyran's brow furrowed. The mark on his hand was the number two written in Draconic rune. It was Zephyr's representation being his second Sigil. The rune lit up, for a second, before slowly dimming, then would light again after a few seconds.

Noticing the rune on Kyran's hand, True Void's expression also turned solemn.

[Is he in danger?]

Kyran did not reply immediately. He probed the seal first and after confirming that the reason why it started to blink was that Zephyr had changed back to his real form.

To be honest, it was the first time Kyran had seen the Sigil react.

'No,' he finally answered as he lowered his hand. 'At least not for now.'

[I know you're worried. But we still have to—.]

'I know,' Kyran cut him off. 'But...'

Kyran returned the two black swords to his pouch as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

At that moment, an enemy soldier behind ran toward Kyran. With a flaming sword in hand, he attacked.

Kyran's eyes slowly opened. Because of the mask, whenever his eyes turned silver, 'Nar's' dark brown eyes would appear dark gold. But now, they had turned almost black, as his eyes underneath the mask turned reddish-purple.

"DIE!"

The enemy soldier cleaved his flaming sword down at Kyran. However, the enemy soldier hit nothing but air.

"What—?"

Before the soldier knew what happened, a searing hot pain broke through his chest. He did not even have the time to understand what happened as he fell to the ground, dead.

Kyran looked at the young man's body. A hole appeared on the latter's chest, but there was no blood that seeped out.

[Oi, oi! Void Halfling, what are you doing?]

'Zephyr has been forced to change back to his original form. It means, the situation there is bad. Even if Ezra joins, given their level and numerical disadvantage, I'm afraid they will not last for long.'

[So what? Are you now going to reveal your identity and lure them again? What about Mannick and the emperor? If Lira and the others know that you are helping Mannick and the emperor, you will only give the Crown Princess a reason to turn the whole empire against you and the emperor!

[Right now, the Crown Princess's actions are still discreet. But once it gets out, she can use this incident as an excuse to make the emperor and you the bad guys. Then she can convince the other factions to fight by her side!]

Kyran smiled bitterly, 'It will happen eventually. Why not do it now?'

[O-Oi, are you serious?]

'If she can get the other factions to her side, fine. At least, I can openly use my side as well.'

True Void fell silent. Kyran had a point. However, it also meant that an all-out war would happen.

No matter how True Void looked at it, Kyran's side was not ready.

For one thing, Cade was still undergoing the Inheritance. Secondly, Nolan was still in a stalemate against Ruin. Then there was Zephyr, who already failed in pretending to be Kyran and now had to reveal his true form. The Montgomeray Family and the Spirits had yet to arrive in Noser. Styx, Dante, and the rest of the mercenaries with Hamish and Owen had yet to complete their covert task of destroying the army's supplies. The Courtenay Family had not yet completed their preparations in disrupting the army's transport. Tritus was on standby. And even if Kyran decided to use him, Tritus might not necessarily be able to order the Templar Code to battle because by then Kyran and the emperor would have become the empire's new evils. As a matter of fact, now that Zephyr had revealed himself, Tritus's secret might also be revealed soon and he would lose the Templar Code altogether.

As for the Royal Army, they might be scattered right now, but there was still the Royal Family's own military force. Not to mention, there were still hidden high-ranked mages among their ranks.

Thinking of all these, True Void regretted not forcing Kyran to find his real body first. If he had his real body, even if the Crown Princess had the numerical advantage, he alone was enough to bridge the gap.

'Don't worry,' Kyran said as he looked in the direction where Lira and the rest of the enemy soldiers were gathered. 'Even if I reveal myself here as long as there are no witnesses, there will be no immediate danger, right?'

Kyran's eyes glowed reddish-purple beneath his mask. Although he agreed to bring Euan along once he confronted Lira and the others, he changed his mind.

True Void shivered inwardly. Although he could not see Kyran's expression, the dense killing intent he exude was enough to scare him.

That's right. Dead men don't talk.