Legacy of the Dark Sage

Midnight withdrew her magic sense at once. Her innate ability to observe without being seen might seem omnipotent, but it was not. In the face of genuine raw power, her innate ability was nothing. And she suspected that something she almost made contact with was a power she must never entangled with.

Unfortunately, before she could retract her magic sense, that something possessing genuine raw power had already sensed her. Knowing it would be dangerous if that something were to find her, she immediately blended into the night sky and left the plane.

As soon as Midnight arrived outside Somuli, she did not stop. She continued to retreat, wanting to gain some distance from that unknown presence. Only when she felt somewhat safe did she finally stop and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Did you think you can run?"

Midnight caught her breath, and before she could do anything, her whole persona was caught inside a pressure that almost choked her to death. A feat that should not be possible given how she blended into the night.

It did not last long, as the moment that thought came to her mind, her persona shattered.

In a diamond platform that hovered in the middle of space, far from the Lower Realm, a woman with long dark hair, wearing a similarly long black dress that shimmered with her movement, fell down and vomited blood. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, her blood was the color of light gold, where bits of shimmering diamond dust seemed to be mixed in.

As she vomited, her blood slowly turned into dust that scattered into space. It then slowly turned into stars that filled the darkened space.

This woman was MIdnight, and the platform was her throne that usually floated around the Higher Realm.

Midnight straightened, revealing a beautiful face that seemed to be carved in a delicate milky white jade. Her skin was smooth and appeared to have been sprinkled with diamond dust, a normal feat that a woman with higher status in the Higher Realm possessed. Her delicately shaped brows were as dark as the night, and her irises looked like a miniature milkyway.

"Who... who was that?" Midnight wondered aloud. The voice that spoke to her sounded like a woman. But she felt that woman did not belong to the Lower Realm.

No. That was not quite right.

After all, Midning was from the Higher Realm. No one in the Lower Realm, even among those Sovereigns that belonged there, had the power to destroy her persona in one move.

The only exception was Ruin because he originally came from the Higher Realm. The base of his abilities, magic, and even skills would still conform to that from their realm. It was for this reason that he could still use Domain even though he had been in the Lower Realm for a long time. In any case, obviously, the voice did not belong to him.

Midnight might not be as overly familiar with Ruin as Deus was, but she at least knew he did not have the ability to change voices. And even if he did, the pressure he could manifest would not be overbearing like the one she experienced just now.

"I need to tell this to Deus," she muttered.

Now that her persona was shattered, it would take her some time before she could return to the Lower Realm. Apart from that, her core suffered quite a bit from the attack that shattered her persona.

"He may have an idea who that woman is."

Midnight immediately called Deus. But it took a while before she could actually speak to him since he had been preoccupied with his automatons.

Once Deus learned of what happened to Midnight's persona, he frowned and felt an incoming headache.

Seeing Deus's reaction, Midnight could not help but ask, "Do you know who that woman is?"

Deus did not reply immediately. But after a moment's pause, he sighed and slowly nodded.

"I might have an idea... No... I am sure it is her— it can only be her."

"Who?"

Deus shook his head at once, "There is no need for you to know. Doing so would implicate your clan and I'd like to avoid such conflicts."

Midnight fell silent. Although Deus did not give her a direct answer, his words gave her a rough idea of who that woman might be.

In the Higher Realm, there were only a few clans that Deus would not dare get into conflicts with. If she listed those clans, she could narrow it further by the magic they possessed.

A power that could easily shatter her persona, not to mention they were both in the Lower Realm.

Since they were from the Higher Realm, there were some limitations to the strength one could unleash in the Lower Realm. Midnight's persona might not be as powerful as the persona she created in the Higher Realm, but it was enough to overwhelm a group of peak Sovereigns. Nevertheless, her persona had been destroyed in one move. Apart from that, she failed to grasp the woman's signature. These things were a testament to the latter's strength. Add these points to the fact that their target was first seen as a silver humanoid dragon; Midnight already had her attacker.

'So the Dragon Clan has also sent someone.'

Deus looked at Midnight's expression and guessed what was going through her head. He immediately warned her, "Do not do anything or say anything about this matter."

Midnight looked at Deus with a slight frown, "But if they made a move that is against the Emperor's wishes—."

"We don't know yet why they are also there," Deus cut her mid-sentence.

"That is..." she started. In the end, she fell silent as what he said was true.

Midnight was only observing the Armakea border and had not seen anything yet when she sensed that woman's presence. Because Midnight was afraid her probing would lead to a misunderstanding, she retreated at the first notice. Unfortunately, she had not retreated far or even fast enough, which destroyed her persona.

"Let's not jump to conclusion," Deus continued. "You know the Emperor does not like it when us in the council point fingers at each other. Besides, we don't have proof. There is also a possibility that that clan sent someone to investigate the origin of our target as well."

Midnight slowly nodded. What Deus said was possible. The Dragon Clan might want to know which tribe that silver humanoid dragon came from.

Why they would do that might be to clear their name. After all, the Emperor had already set his eyes on them because of this incident. There was also a possibility that they wanted to protect that dragonling. Regardless of their reason, with minimal data— as a matter of fact, this incident could not even be counted as data since they could only assume— it would be impossible to make any conclusive argument.

If they raised this to the Emperor, it might backfire on them if they could not produce any evidence.

"Still, this does not bode well," Deus sighed after a short pause. "MEx-δ 54 is still under reprogramming, and I can't send MEx-δ 55 and have it resume locating the target."

"Shall I send one of my people?"

"No need," Deus shook his head. He leaned back on his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose before declaring, "I'll go down myself."

"What about Ruin?"

"I don't know which plane he is hiding, but it will also take him some time before he could allow his essence to return to Somuli."

"What if he decided to go there personally?"

Deus shook his head, "He could not do that. The rules of the Lower Realm would not allow him to use his real body to appear in Somuli."

Seemingly understanding what Deus meant, Midnight started to nod in acknowledgment.

Going back to the Lower Realm in Somuli.

Ames could not help but frown in annoyance. Seeing her expression sent shivers up True Void's spine.

"W-What? Why are you making such a scary face?" True Void asked.

Just a few seconds ago, while the two of them were preparing an array formation wherein Ames would help speed up Kyran's recovery, she suddenly stood up and looked up. After that, she had been silent. Then her face distorted, making True Void scared out of his wits.

"An annoying fly tried to probe this place."

"W-Which fly? Gah! What should we do now? What do we do now?" True Void asked in a panic.

Frankly, he did not mind going up against Sovereigns of the Lower Realm. But if that annoying fly was someone from the Higher Realm, then... actually, he did not want to think about it.

"It's fine. I already destroyed her. Let's continue," Ames replied so flippantly that True Void and Jita could not help but gawk at her blankly.

Ames frowned and growled, seeing their reaction, "Why are you not moving your hands? Move! We need to finish the formation as soon as possible!"

At that exact moment, in a different location in Armakea, the group Achim sent out to scout the surroundings had sent out a coded message:

K-F spotted. 200, at least. Estimated point of contact: five days.