Legacy of the Dark Sage

Within the temporary world, the Echidna was still restrained by the Chains of Ercé— which was then connected to the energy core to absorb the beast's magic energy.

Kyran sat on a boulder a few meters away from the Echidna with his eyes closed. True Void, currently formed into several short dark blue and purple blades, circled him.

Overhead were three translucent projections of what was happening outside. Currently, it shows three locations on the island. The right projection showed the panther with butterfly wings, while the lizard with spider limbs on the left. Last, the center projection showed the Sovereign of Savagery, who was fastly approaching their location.

"That guy really came..!" True Void whimpered. His apprehension was evident from how the short blades shook.

Because True Void used most of the plates to create the short blades, the only plates left Kyran had on was the panther mask. True Void could only help him by providing additional offense when things got too dicey.

But with how he was trembling in fear of the Sovereign of Savagery, Kyran doubted he could be of help at all.

Not that it mattered.

As long as the Sovereign of Savagery entered the temporary world, Kyran could have the advantage.

Fighting the Sovereign of Savagery in the Human plane was not a bad idea. With the Sovereign's Cradle restricting its power, Kyran was confident he could fight her on equal footing. He could win as long as he could freely use his Draconic and Void magic.

Well, that was, if the other two outsiders could not provide back up the moment he got the upper hand.

For this reason, Kyran decided to bait the Sovereign of Savagery into the temporary world. At least he had more control over this world. He was not even afraid that the Sovereign of Savagery would not take the bait because he knew her attitude when it came to her creations. She would never let anyone have one of her greatest creations for fear of that someone finding a way to reproduce them.

Kyran opened his eyes and looked at the projections on both sides before looking at the middle. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and he said, "That guy really has a unique taste when combining beasts. You think those two will be useful as a Sigil?"

"Are you serious? Genuinely seriously asking that question?"

Kyran looked at True Void, who had stopped circling him, "Relax. I can let you lead them too."

"You..." For the first time, True Void was speechless. But then, as if realizing something, True Void tilted his imaginary head to one side and asked, "By the way. Why are we still calling 'her' 'that guy'?"

"...? Because we don't know 'her' gender...?"

"Is she a woman, though? I mean she did not sound female nor male when we first heard her speak."

When the Sovereign of Savagery went after them, she did not appear before them and only spoke to them from afar with a powerful gender-neutral voice.

"Some natives in the Beast plane are hermaphrodites," Kyran replied, recalling that the Sovereign of Savagery was a native of the Beast plane who became its Sovereign. "We can't be too sure."

Thinking of this reminded Kyran of the Human plane's Sovereign.

True Void once said that the Human plane's Sovereign had become useless. But he or she was adequately 'protecting' the Human plane by employing the Sovereign's Cradle, so Kyran was not sure why True Void said that.

In any case, he hoped to meet him or her in the near future. While becoming a Sovereign of a plane would prevent that person from meddling directly in the Human plane's affairs because he or she would have to focus on protecting the plane from other Sovereigns, it did not hurt to befriend him or her.

Maybe becoming friends with that person would help Kyran deal with the Sovereigns who were after him.

Pushing the random thought to the back of his mind, Kyran stood up and said, "Now then... Shall we welcome our guest of honor?"

True Void shivered inwardly and complained, "Stop that. You're making me feel even nervous."

Kyran chuckled while raising his hand toward the projection showing the Sovereign of Savagery.

"I will use 30% of the Regis Blessing to start. Try to keep up," he told True Void as a dark purple vortex slowly appeared at the center of the projection.

Outside, the Sovereign of Savagery was about one hundred meters from the Echidna's last location.

"Hm?"

The bits of rubies above her eyes crunched, making them appear as if those were her non-existent brows.

"A distortion in space... this feeling... a domain? No... it is different, but..." Her eyes glowed maliciously as her magic aura exploded, "My missing baby is in there!"

Soon, a five-meter dark purple vortex appeared in her line of view.

Raising her right hand, she roused her magic and summoned three three-meter rings made of runes with the colors yellow, green, and red. The distance of each ring was five meters. She sped into them, making her body glow depending on the color of the ring she passed.

These rings were buff spells, increasing her magic output, speed, and defense. She did not know why, but when she looked at the vortex, it felt like something— or someone inside was looking back at her.

Someone whose aura and presence she could not determine.

The more she stared at it, the more her senses tingled. As if whatever it was inside that vortex would be her undoing.

'If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.'

A very old saying crossed her mind.

The vortex was nothing like the abyss. However, the longer she looked, the more it did appear to be one.

'Nonsense! I am Savagery, the Sovereign of the Beast plane! I will not be afraid of a mere thief!' She thought and sped right into the vortex.

The moment she entered the vortex, an invisible veil covered her body, stifling her.

Her eyes, as well as the rubies on her face, glowed, and at once, her whole body exploded with a bright red aura dispelling whatever it was that stifled her.

As soon as it did, a blinding light appeared in front, forcing her to close her eyes.

"Piece of advise, never close your eyes in front of your enemy."

A deep male voice suddenly spoke, which made Savagery snap her eyes open.

BAM!

As soon as she did, a huge translucent clawed fist smacked her from above, hurting her to the ground.

"Gwah!" She spat out a mouthful of blood as she got buried a couple of meters on the ground.

Snapping her eyes open, she stared at the silhouette above with anger and disbelief.

The silhouette above was none other than the entity with the panther mask.

"YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!" Savagery roared and, in an instant, got off the ground and flew toward the entity. She spread her arms wide as three silhouettes of beasts formed in front of her.

The one on the right looked like a lizardman. In the middle was a whurtiger, and a comodo.

"That's disappointing," Kyran said, loud enough for Savagery to hear. He was disappointed because she summoned three normal beasts. To be honest, he really considered making some of Savagery's creations into his Sigil.

Or he could also keep them and have Max tame them.

With a quick flick of his hand, Kyran created three Void needles and threw them in the still-forming beast silhouettes. It had been a while since he used the needles, but it was one of the covert moves he created that appeared anything but Void magic.

BOOM!

Savagery gasped as her beasts exploded even before they finished forming.

'Then!'

A red ring made of runes appeared behind Savagery. In seconds, it expanded into a ten-meter radius ring where magic energies converged at the center.

RAWRGH!

A huge head of what appeared to be a bull emerged from the ring, followed by two huge scaly, clawed hands that grabbed the ring's edges.

Judging from the size of the head, Kyran guessed the beast coming out from that ring would be as big as the Chimera or the Manticore.

A cruel smile appeared on Savagery's face as she looked at Kyran. Then she said, "I also have a piece of advice for you. Don't just look ahead."

HIIIISSS!

Suddenly, a similarly ten-meter radius red ring appeared behind Kyran. From the center of the ring filled with magic energies, a huge basilisk slithered out, its huge fanged mouth wide open as it came at Kyran.

Too bad Savagery could not see the wry smile on Kyran's face because of his panther mask. If she had, then maybe she had chosen a different approach in attacking.

"Too bad, I would have liked to have a pet minotaur and basilisk," Kyran said and snapped his fingers.

SPLAT!

RAWRGH!

HIIISSSS!

The magic energies generated within the red rings disappeared instantly, cutting the two beasts in half.

Several glittering dark blue and purple short blades appeared in every direction on the half-cut beasts' bodies, slicing and turning both into minced meat.

Blood, flesh, and internal organs rained down from the mutilated basilisk and the minotaur bodies.

SIZZLE!

A translucent silver and purple scales circled Kyran, causing the blood and flesh raining down on him to sizzle and disappear into nothing.

Savagery gawked at the scene before her eyes. She had not expected her summons to be cut off yet again. It was simply impossible.

Seeing the Sovereign of Savagery's disbelief, Kyrana could not help but chuckle and say, "This is my domain. Do you think I will let you do as you please?"