Legacy of the Dark Sage

"MEx-δ 54 is right. You are a failed subject of the Demon Clan," Deus remarked while looking through the fissure. "Azazel."

The demonic-slitted red eyes that stared back at Deus narrowed as a broad smile appeared on his handsomely devilish face, "Ah~ such a nostalgic name. I have long forgotten how it sounded. Alas, to hear it coming out of your mouth... sickens me."

CRACKLE!

A flash of red flew out from the fissure and straight at Deus and his automaton.

Without a change in his expression, Deus raised his hand, and the huge automaton's eyes lit up with a dazzling blue glow. A circular crystalline barrier appeared just before the flash of red, which was a thick bolt of lightning, struck Deus.

BOOM!

The barrier shattered, and the red lightning continued forward. However, its momentum was reduced by the barrier's interference, giving the automaton enough time to weave out of its path. It then raised its hand, holding the long silver spear, as a terrifying concentration of golden magic energy formed on the spear's head.

With lightning speed, the automaton aimed its spear toward the fissure and shot out golden beams of energy in succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each beam of energy that struck the fissure collided with an invisible barrier, making it explode without hitting its intended target.

A seventy-meter diameter golden ring of magic array appeared behind the automaton, and a string of glowing light blue rune writings whirred around it. The space around it crackled as the magic energy in the surroundings converged in the middle of the magic array. Before the magic array could form a substantial golden sphere from the magic energy, light strings shot out and aimed toward the fissure in another bombardment of concentrated attack.

A series of explosions followed, instantly rendering the visibility in the surroundings close to zero from the smoke and shockwaves it produced.

"You guys have lived too comfortably in your high thrones, you have forgotten the rules of the Lower Realm."

Standing on the automaton's shoulder, Deus twitched as he heard Ruin's voice behind him. Nevertheless, he remained calm and ignored the voice. Instead, a rune appeared on the automaton's forehead, and a beam of golden light struck Ruin, who had suddenly appeared there.

Ziiiing!

However, Ruin had already somersaulted away when the beam of light struck.

'How did he manage to pass through MEx-ε 04's barrier?' Deus thought, his mind reeling at how easily Ruin's essence snuck behind him.

Deus then turned to look at Ruin. And it was good timing that he did because when the latter evaded the automaton's beam, a black python had slithered out from nowhere and snapped at him.

Once more, Deus remained still, and instead, the rune on the automaton's forehead struck with another beam of light and aimed at the black python.

But.

At that moment, when the beam of light incinerated the black python, Ruin's shadow appeared once more. He held a black and red sickle that crackled with ominous red charges and thin swirling black mist.

Since the rune on the automaton's forehead had only attacked the black python, it needed at least a couple of seconds to recharge and aim again. With that period, Ruin swung his sickle and aimed at Deus's throat.

"Dimension."

"Dimension."

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted as fragments of space around the area Deus and Ruin were shattered.

When Ruin's sickle effortlessly destroyed Deus's passive magic barrier, Deus knew the sickle would slice through his throat, and that would be the end of his visit. Though he would not die or suffer backlash from getting killed in the Lower Realm, he would be transported back to the Higher Realm. After which, it would take quite some time before he could go down to the Lower Realm again. That was something Deus wanted to avoid.

That outcome was one of the rules that protected the Lower Realm from beings of the Higher Realm. Deus wanted to avoid it because a few days' delay from acquiring their his in the Lower Realm was already troublesome; what more if he got delayed for a month or two? His target might decide to leave Somuli and hide in some obscured plane. When that happened, the only way for Deus to track the target again was if he used his Draconic signature.

Knowing that someone was after him, he would not brazenly use it unless he was in a life-or-death situation. Given Deus's target's physical, magical, and even intellectual prowess, such a situation was unlikely to happen.

Deus considered these thoughts in a split second and was forced to act in the best way he thought would prevent him from getting killed.

Using a Dimension.

Unfortunately, Ruin anticipated Deus's move and also used his own Dimension. Thus, the collision of two Dimensions created a phenomenon that caused the space wherein these two converged to explode and shatter.

When space was shattered, a vacuum would follow, sucking anything and everything within its radius.

Mutual destruction.

This was Ruin's answer.

A burst of maniacal laughter bellowed from the fissure even as the suction of the shattered space pulled it in.

"Like I said, you have lived far too comfortably~ HAHAHAHAHA!"

"D*mn you, Azazel! Do you have any idea what you have done?" Deus bellowed in anger. His beautiful face contorted in absolute rage. "That young man you want to protect is someone the Emperor desires! Even if you sacrifice your life to kill me now, you have only delayed the inevitable!"

"Ah? Me? Sacrifice my life for him? AHAHAHAHA! That is a nice one, Deus. You have truly developed good humor!"

Zap! Zap!

Suddenly, the fissure where the demon Azazel was in started to close. Even his essence, which the suction force had pulled before Deus and his automaton, turned into a black mist, successfully escaping from getting destroyed. It then flew and entered the fissure.

At the same time, the automaton's wings were pulled into the shattered space and started to crumble.

Seeing this happen further enraged Deus.

"AZAZEL!" he bellowed, unable to intricate himself from the shattered space's suction.

"It's Ruin~ I have long thrown away that name. But I must say, I am touched that you like to say my former name so much; could it be that you felt a sliver of remorse for what you have done in the past and, thus, could not forget the name you have betrayed?"

By this time, the automaton's body had already entered the shattered space, with half of its body in pieces. Deus's clothes started crumbling from the suction, and his skin peeled, revealing his flesh.

"The Emperor will not forgive you—!"

"That b*ttface will not forgive you for failing first."

"Having me come down is His Majesty's way of showing mercy! With my failure, he will definitely order others far more powerful than I after that young man!"

"Don't care."

"You are making a huge mistake for protecting him!"

"I am merely protecting what is mine."

Suddenly, Deus's eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

"You... You know he has it! You say he is your prey, but in truth, you know he possessed it! YOU want it for yourself! After all these years, you still want to fulfill your clan's desire!"

Ruin's slitted red eyes flickered in amusement within the now small fissure. Frankly, he did not care why the Higher Realm was after Kyran. But hearing Deus reveal this much information, he now understood everything.

Ruin did not need Deus to elaborate on what it was.

The Demon Clan, or, to be precise, the previous Great Antitheus King, only ever coveted one ancient inheritance:

The Heart of the Cosmos.

A few thousand years ago, a young, talented mage from their Realm discovered the whereabouts of the Heart of the Cosmos. The Higher Being then formed an elite team of the most powerful clan leaders to accompany the young mage to locate the Heart of the Cosmos.

When they located it, the Great Antitheus King suddenly attacked and oppressed every clan leader. His motive was apparent: he wanted the Heart of the Cosmos himself.

Before he succeeded, however, the young mage who led the expedition took it and fled.

Ruin had little knowledge of what happened after that because he was only a mere aid then. But because of that incident, the Realm entered a time of turmoil.

As for the young mage who took the Heart of the Cosmos, some said he managed to deliver it to the Higher Being before dying. Others believed he died before that happened, and the Heart of the Cosmos was lost again.

No one knew for sure.

Time passed, and more than a thousand years ago, rumors that one of the ruling Dragon tribes from the Dragon Clan found the Heart of the Cosmos and went to the Lower Realm to hide it.

That was the turning point in Ruin's life.

In any case, Ruin cared little about the Heart of the Cosmos, contrary to Deus's belief. Besides, as far as he was concerned, Kyran did not have it when they first met. All he knew was that Kyran carried his friend's scent.

That was why Ruin was obsessed with Kyran.

Now that Ruin thought of it, Kyran possessing the Heart of the Cosmos might be why he could no longer sense the mark he gave him. Initially, Ruin believed that the odd new Sovereign of the Human plane destroyed the mark, but that might not be the case.

'So~ he still has my mark...' a mischievous smile appeared on Ruin's face at the thought.

If Deus knew Ruin's thoughts had already strayed from the topic, he might have exploded in anger and died before the suction could destroy him.