Legacy of the Dark Sage

When Ruin and The Emperor clashed, Kyran remained hidden inside the lodging on the outskirts of the City of Blade Chakram. He admitted feeling shocked at Ruin's appearance.

But more than Ruin's appearance, what truly intrigued Kyran was the strange nature of his presence. It was like him, yet different as if he possessed two presences that overlapped with each other.

Kyran would not have cared if Ruin had just suddenly exuded two different presences at the same time. There were a few methods of how the latter could have accomplished that.

A good method was if Ruin used an essence and allowed it to possess or integrate himself into another mage. The result would be similar to the state of Ruin's presence at that moment.

Another method was if Ruin devoured another mage and his presence to the latter rather than removing it completely. This method was usually used by mages with loose screws to escape detection. To be honest, the latter method fits quite well with Ruin's personality, and Kyran did consider it as the most likely method— however, this was only if Ruin used the method with a random mage.

The thing was, Ruin's presence appeared strange because the other presence that overlapped with him was someone Kyran was very familiar with, and it made his blood run cold upon realization.

His mind reeled at Ruin's audacity, and at the same time, it made him angry at himself for not asking his whereabouts.

'Neo!'

That was right. The body that Ruin hijacked so he could force his way to the Higher Realm by the Land of the Desolation's route was none other than Neo.

Aki said that he, along with Kyran's other creations, searched for his traces in both the Lower and the Higher Realms.

When Cyneah insisted that Kyran was in the Higher Realm, True Void also agreed with her, which was why Ames agreed to take them to the Higher Realm when she decided to return.

Kyran assumed that True Void and Neo came with Cyneah and the others to the Higher Realm. The only reason he did not meet them in the Dragon Clan was likely due to them searching for him outside— much like how Cyneah and Aki joined the Tower of the Ancients' hunt in hopes of finding his traces.

Now that Kyran sensed Neo and Ruin, his previous assumption hit him very hard.

Why did he assume that True Void and Neo were in the Higher Realm as well? Why did he not doubt why Aki was the one with Cyneah when clearly Neo was the first and most complete among Kyran's puppets and would have been able to protect Cyneah better? Why did he not question Aki where True Void and Neo were?

No.

Aki told Kyran everything he knew. The one who did not ask sensible follow-up questions had been him, Kyran. Chapter Explore:

While Kyran's mind was assaulted with all these questions, Ruin and The Emperor started a dialogue that made him stop.

When Ruin and The Emperor exchanged dialogues, their voices reverberated in the surroundings, allowing most of the mages nearby to hear them.

Of course, hearing what they were saying and understanding them was different.

Most mages heard them if not all. However, few were able to understand what they were talking about.

Actually, that was wrong. Rather than saying a few, the only ones who understood their exchange were the two of them: Ruin, the Emperor, and Kyran.

Thus, Ruin's meaning when he said— "I don't really care what happened to this plane~ but if you unleashed that spell, you will regret it~" —had something to do with Kyran himself.

Basically, Ruin warned The Emperor that if he unleashed those miniature suns and ended up destroying Ruin's borrowed body, The Emperor would regret it because Kyran would definitely be pissed.

No one had seen Kyran pissed before, but Ruin believed that it was a spectacle that he would not want to miss. In fact, there was a possibility that Ruin came to that plane and provoked The Emperor simply because he knew Kyran was hiding there somewhere and wanted to see how he, Kyran, would react if The Emperor destroyed Neo.

All of these were Kyran's conjectures at that point. Nonetheless, he was convinced it was close to the truth, given Ruin's personality.

Ruin's personality was far too twisted for Kyran to understand completely. Yet, predicting his moves and thought processes was also quite easy because of this.

It was quite contradictory, but thus far, Ruin had done things that Kyran did not understand completely.

Ruin acted as if he wanted to torment Kyran before killing him, but he also did things that would help or save him. Ruin would say that he did that because he wanted to be the one to kill Kyran or because he was his prey, but Kyran found it too strange.

In any case, Kyran was convinced that Ruin was aware he was in the Blade Dancer Clan plane and went there even though The Emperor was present.

Ruin mentioned something like being capable of finding Kyran even when Shaiha's concealment was in effect— of course, Kyran did not believe this. Anyhow, Kyran believed that rather than using whatever skill Ruin had in tracking Kyran, Kyran was convinced that Ruin found him through Neo's connection.

Kyran had an inkling that Ruin only cared about making things complicated for everybody, which was why he chose to appear before The Emperor rather than observe what Kyran was up to.

Kyran's thoughts were further reinforced when Ruin asked The Emperor a rhetorical question:

"Would I really appear here in my real body?"

In the end, no matter how bold and grandiose Ruin seemed when he confronted The Emperor, he did that not because he was confident in his own capabilities and strength. Instead, it was because he had nothing to lose.

Ruin would suffer heavy repercussions after his essence was killed in the process of The Emperor obliterating Neo and the Blade Dancer Clan plane. But so long as his real body was intact, then he would be fine.

The logical part of Kyran's mind told him to abandon Neo and escape from the plane before The Emperor unleashed his miniature sun spell.

Neo was only a puppet. True, he managed to birth a sentient, but at the end of the day, he was still only a creation. Kyran had Neo's programming recorded in his memory, and he could create him from scratch again. It would not be a problem. In fact, being in the Higher Realm and having more quality materials to choose from would make Neo's body even more powerful.

However, the irrational part, which was connected to his morality and emotions, did not want to abandon Neo.

While Kyran was torn between the two thoughts, a sudden turn of events had him reeling in shock.

A familiar energy spread out from above, and following that was the appearance of a purple veil that enveloped the whole plane.

Kyran could not see it because he remained inside the lodging. Nonetheless, he was somehow aware of what was happening, and he knew what the veil was.

It might appear similar to a Void Barrier or the Void Domain, but the range and the amount of magic energy contained within the veil this time was far too great in comparison.

Void Dimension.

Kyran did not know how he knew it was a Dimension, but he just knew. It was similar to how he learned to warp the first time or summon the Black Hole when he barely knew what his magic could do.

The knowledge of the Void Dimension came from the experience left by his predecessor.

Surprisingly, Kyran sensed that this experience did not come from Caelan.

Moreover, the Void Dimension that covered the whole plane was not his doing.

It was summoned by someone else— someone far more powerful and knowledgeable about the Void than Kyran!

'Who...?'

*

Lucian's expression turned solemn upon seeing the purple veil covering the sky. He was aware that the veil covered not only the sky where he was but the whole plane. Nonetheless, there was no fear nor panic reflected in his eyes.

Contrary to the calm Lucian exuded, Geir and the rest of the Blade Dancer executives and house leaders with him had already fallen in despair.

Geir, in particular, was already aware of The Emepror's plan to destroy the Blade Dancer Clan. The latter was not even trying to conceal his displeasure with them after absorbing Alta's soul thread.

From this, Geir was convinced that The Emperor saw something from Alta's memory that he should not have.

Geir wanted to appease The Emperor's anger by ensuring that his clan did a good job in whatever task he gave them. It would be impossible to make The Emperor place his trust in their clan again, but at the very least, they would not be destroyed.

Alas, everything went downhill the moment that black mage appeared. And now, it appeared that their inevitable demise was fast approaching.

"You... Who are you?" Lucian demanded as he looked at a specific spot in the sky.

No one answered his question. Instead, the spot he was looking at crackled, and the space split in two.

An eye, very much like Kyran's when he was using Void magic, peered from within and gazed down at Lucian.