Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran sensed a great change in a Sigil's ritual. Before his body's enhancement from the Elixir, it would take Kyran some time to bind and subdue his target. After the enhancement, however, he only needed to trigger the ritual and the intertwined dragons would bind his target. Then his target would fall into a trance-like state. During that state, the dragons would enter the target's consciousness, where they would fight until one side emerge as a victor.

If the target won the fight, then the Sigil ritual would fail. Likewise, if the dragons won then the target would be forced to submit and receive the Sigil's mark.

The Sigil's mark also received a change. Previously, the mark was considered a double-edged sword because once a Sigil thought of betraying his master, then the mark would automatically punish him, or even kill him if his killing intent was too powerful.

This time, the latter would no longer occur because the mark would devour any of the Sigil's malicious thoughts against his master. Doing this, allowed a Sigil to judge his master's character without biases. If a Sigil still ended up not wanting to follow his master, then the mark would gradually vanish and free him.

The change on the mark might appear disadvantageous to the master. But Kyran did not think this because as long as the Sigil could properly understand his master's character, he would always end up becoming a loyal subordinate.

As a matter of fact, the moment a Sigil received the mark, their loyalty to his master had already been established.

It should be noted that Sigils were meant for beasts, rather than humans.

Kyran could easily turn Filren into a loyal Servant by absorbing him as he did the two aides. In the end, he decided against it because Filren's Divine Armament was not with him. If Kyran absorbed the latter without a Divine Armament, then he might end up becoming a normal Servant. Simply because his Divine Armament did not undergo a rebirth from the Void.

The two aides Kyran defeated just now, was a little different. Though both their Divine Armament was broken, they were not physically detached from them. Thus, as long as the two recovered, then their Divine Armament would also recover. But for Filren, whose Divine Armament was missing, the moment he underwent a rebirth from the Void, his connection to it would be removed and he would end up without anything that resembled a magic core. When that happened, how could he summon magic?

Kyran could try providing an energy core, but thus far, energy cores were only meant for puppets. He had yet to experiment on humans— a task he would never consider.

In any case, because of Filren's condition, Kyran chose to make him his Sigil. Besides, he felt that the Sigil's blessings would be more beneficial to Filren's growth, than the Void.

When the dragons wrapped themselves around Filren's body, his eyes glazed over as he fell into a trance. After that, Kyran broke the chains that bound Filren. Without the chains, the latter dropped to the ground with a thud.

The rest of the knights inside Kyran's domain were petrified. A few seconds ago, they already feared him, but they still had a sliver of dignity left in them. But when they saw the intertwined dragons, what was left of their dignity was shattered.

They were now convinced that Kyran was truly an Imon-spawn. Moreover, they believed he was a mix of beast-like with dragon blood and a powerful complete being. 

One's imagination was truly a fascinating thing. They could just about come up with their explanation for things they do not understand.

Kyran more or less guessed that was going through the minds of every knight. But he could not be bothered to deal with their misconception. Why he did not absorb them now that he had them under control? The answer was simple. He did not plan on making every knight his Servants of Sigils. It was not because he did not have enough capability or stamina to change them, but because there was no need. Besides, he had Achim and Kesiah to lead them. Thus, changing them was unnecessary.

Before Filren's body fell face-first to the ground, his eyes regained their focus. He then raised one knee, kneeling in front of Kyran, and said, "Filren greets his new master."

An inaudible gasp escaped most of the knights as they stared at Filren in disbelief. They could not believe what the latter had said. To them, the pact an aide had with the King was far more powerful than the pact they possessed. How could Filren, who was also considered the second most powerful aide to the King easily change master?

To be honest, although Filren— even the rest of the King's aides— were under a pact and were loyal to him. That did not mean they approved of the King's behavior at all times. Their loyalty to the King was more of a responsibility as someone possessing a pact, rather than being genuine loyal subjects.

After Filren received the Sigil's mark, that pact was removed. He was then able to sense some of Kyran's intentions after forming a connection with him. From this, Filren felt following Kyran was better than becoming the King's aide.

Kyran smiled and activated the Sigil's blessings.

Filren immediately sensed his injured body recovering at an alarming pace, which shocked him to his core. He never expected to receive such treatment right after becoming Kyran's Sigil.

"Stay here and rest," Kyran ordered Filren. "Keep watch over the others while I go meet the King."

Filren's eyes contracted after hearing Kyran. He expected the latter to order him to go inside the castle and confront the rest of the King's aides, instead, he was ordered to rest and guard the others.

Was that something a master would order its subordinate?

Filren had only been Kyran's Sigil for a minute, yet his loyalty to him grew by the second.

"There are still eight remaining aides to the King, Master. Going alone is—."

"It's fine," Kyran assured Filren. "I already know their strengths based on the things I've seen from your memories. I can deal with them alone."

Filren had a blank expression on his face.

If others heard Kyran say those words, they would think he was an arrogant prick.

But Filren did not think so. Since he did not bear any biases over Kyran's intention, he knew the latter's words were not meant to brag or mock, but simply stating a fact.

"You're Divine Armament, it is inside the castle, right?" Kyran asked as if they were only discussing a very trivial matter.

Filren furrowed his brows after being reminded of this. He answered, "Yes. King Aran knows my pact has disappeared and may take this chance to destroy my Divine Armament. Doing so will prevent me from posing any threat to the others."

When he spoke of the others, he meant the rest of the aides. Since he was the second most powerful, he had the strength to overpower the others below his level.

"He can go ahead and try," Kyran chuckled. "Don't worry. Even if he wanted to destroy your Divine Armament he would not succeed. Since it is technically still part of you, it will also receive a blessing now that you are my Sigil."

Kyran looked at the castle's front doors, "I'll find your Divine Armament and will let you know. That way you can summon it back."

"That's..." Filren was rendered speechless.

The more Kyran speaks, the more Filren finds him an atypical master. If Filren had to make a comparison, Kyran had some similarities to Lord Ravan.

BOOM!

Before the two could finish their talk, three powerful auras appeared right outside the edge of the Void domain's range.

Filren's eyes narrowed as he recognized the owner of those auras as the King's aide. He stood up and looked in the direction in which they appeared and told Kyran, "Master, King Aran has eyes everywhere in the castle. He knows exactly what is happening here in the courtyard. Now that he knows I have defected, he will send more of his aides to deal with me. Those three are only the first—."

"I told you to rest, did I not?" Kyran reminded him and stood in front.

"But—."

"I haven't warmed up yet," Kyran said. "Don't spoil my fun."

Filren was rendered speechless. The others inside the domain were dealt a devastating blow, realizing that they could not even be considered a warm-up.

Kyran disappeared from his domain and reappeared right before the three newcomers. As Filren said, they were also the King's aides. Moreover, their level did not differ from the two from earlier.

Kyran sighed. Frankly, he was a little disappointed. He initially believed it would take him some time to deal with the knights guarding the castle, especially the King's aides. Alas, after his body was enhanced, and his magic underwent a tremendous boost after learning more of the Void's theories, he no longer felt the threat of the King's forces.

The only ones who might make him feel threatened were probably Filren and the top aide of the King.

Maybe the King, too, if he was not ill.

'No use dwelling on it,' Kyran thought as he looked at the three aides. 'Let's get this over with.'