Legacy of the Dark Sage

Concentrated magic energy from Wind magic was comparable to a thousand blades being compressed in one form. Thus, among the five officials, one could say that the Wind mage could produce a lethal attack on his own.

Others might not agree with this, given how Fire could burn someone to death depending on its intensity, or that Earth could be molded into sharp objects that could cut or pierce someone. With its vine-like maneuver, the Plant could also be lethal if it was sturdy enough to squeeze someone to death. As for Water, if trapped inside a water ball, one could also easily die of suffocation.

But the latter three attacks only worked against those with weak to average magic and physical defenses. As for the last one, would anyone with high mobility or powerful momentum allow himself to be trapped inside a water cage? Of course not.

The enemy before them could not be compared to those weak to average mages or even combat mages. He might not even be comparable to the lower half of the King's aides. For this reason, the officials needed a far more penetrative attack than the other four elements could offer and they believed Wind magic could do the trick.

The other four officials did not stand idle while the Wind mage launched his attack. They amplified the latter's concentrated attack by allowing the nature of their own innate magic to merge with it.

Soon, the Wind mage's concentrated magic energy attack tore through the air, leaving behind a blazing trail that seemed to rip through space.

Kyran remained unfazed as he watched the incoming attack. Judging by the momentum of the attack, it could penetrate a powerful Legendary mage's magic and physical defenses, killing him in one strike. If the target was a Legendary-level Knight, its lethality might not be enough to one-hit kill him, but it would certainly leave a fatal injury.

Unfortunately, Kyran was neither a Legendary mage nor a Legendary-level Knight. At the present time, he still did not know his level, much more if he could be considered a mage, combat mage, or something else entirely different.

Kyran's reddish-purple eyes flickered, and the space at which the concentrated attack was traversing distorted. The air crackled, and in the blink of an eye, the attack disappeared.

Everyone inside the Throne Room was shocked beyond disbelief at what they had witnessed. Even the two aides, standing guard near Aran's throne, who normally did not show any emotions almost dropped the spear they were holding.

"You! That power...!"

One of the officials shouted while pointing at Kyran accusingly with his Divine Armament, which was a long wooden staff. The latter ignored the former's accusatory look, however, and continued to approach the throne.

"KILL HIM!" Aran shouted, his hoarse voice quivering as proof of his trepidation.

The five officials prepared another combined attack, even though they felt it would be futile. After all, they believed that their enemy had the ability to cancel out magic attacks.

That was right. Rather than recognizing Kyran was using Void magic, they only believed what he did just now was a specially rare innate ability that could cancel or nullify attacks.

Kyran did not care about their misconception though. Now that he had an idea of how Nobles fight, he did not need to dally any more.

Five fissures appeared on the ground where each Noble stood, as Kyran's reddish-purple eyes darkened.

Time seemed to have stopped for a moment for the Nobles as soon as they took notice of the fissures. In the next moment, a powerful suction force pulled them in, not even giving them time to process what was happening.

The two aides standing guard by the throne made their move when the fissures appeared. Unfortunately, they could not prevent the five officials from getting sucked into them. Since it was already too late to assist them, they changed direction and went straight toward the approaching enemy.

Kyran watched the two aides rushing at him. He noticed their aura did not belong to any of the three he fought at the courtyard and knew they belonged to the remaining five aides he had yet to meet. Nevertheless, he sensed that their momentum was far greater than those three, as well as the two he absorbed.

From this, Kyran guessed that King Aran did not necessarily send out his aides according to the strongest to the weakest. Rather, he sent out the five weakest to test the waters.

Then, did this mean that these two were considered at the middle rank, or higher? If so, where were the rest, especially those three who retreated earlier?

Were they sent to deal with the commotion in the Military District? If that was the case, then Kyran had less to worry about because Sigma and Chairman Noir were there. As long as they made full use of the miniature Array formation he created, in accordance with Chairman Noir's invention, then they could be considered unparalleled.

As for the Array formation that trapped the rest of the Knights inside the Military District, it would never pose any problem to Kyran. After all, he was the one who cast the formation. No one would be able to decipher and destroy it.

Back to the situation at hand, Kyran looked at the two incoming aides. The two brandished their spears as magic energies gathered at the end of the spear's head. Golden magic energies circled the spear's head and their bodies glowed with a similarly golden light.

Looking at the concentrated magic energies from the spears, Kyran could more or less guess how much damage they would inflict if unleashed at the same time. Not wanting to bear witness to such a devastating outcome, he circulated Draconic magic into his body as he employed the Dragon Steps.

In an instant, Kyran appeared before the aide rushing from the right. As if in slow motion, he saw the aide's green eyes behind the helmet's visor widen in surprise.

Kyran made an abrupt stop as he shifted his weight from his waist to his arm and finally to his right fist. After which, he punched the aide on the left torso, destroying his armor in the process before sending him hurling sideways.

The speed at which the aide was hurled sideways was far too fast for the other aide to avoid. They collided in an instant and were sent crashing into the wall.

BOOM!

The wall crumbled from the impact and the debris fell, burying them underneath.

Aran stood up in shock as he gaped at the outsider, who seemed not to care about what he did to the aides with a single move and continued to approach the throne.

With the speed at which the outsider closed in on one of the aides, Aran knew the former could easily approach the throne in the blink of an eye. Yet, he continued at a leisurely pace which unnerved Aran to the point of exploding in anger.

"An outsider's strength is truly unfathomable. I have underestimated you."

"No, you did not underestimate me. You simply could not be bothered to care and know about others that would not be of use to you."

Aran was dumbfounded at what the outsider just said. But then he laughed out loud and nodded, "Good. A very good observation."

His eyes narrowed and stared at the latter meaningfully, "Since you did not attack me directly, I take it you wanted to strike up a deal?"

Kyran stopped and raised his brows at Aran's question.

This guy... was truly hopeless.

"You think I'm an idiot? Why would I strike a deal with a puppet?"

Aran's eyes widened. For a moment, silence ensued between them. However, in the next second, Aran's laughter filled the Throne Room.

After that, the rubble where the two aides got buried, exploded as the two recovered and attacked once more.

Without bothering to look at the approaching aides, Kyran used the Dragon Steps to evade and come up behind them. He raised his left hand and swiftly struck the back of their necks with a knifehand.

"Gah!"

The two aides fell face-first on the floor, out cold.

Nevertheless, their attack just now was not entirely futile since they successfully gave Aran, who was only a puppet, time to escape.

Kyran let out an exasperated sigh as he looked toward the throne.

Truth be told, he did not notice Aran was already a puppet. Only when the two aides came at him did he sense that something was amiss.

It was indeed troublesome dealing with someone who had many tricks up his sleeves.

King Aran possessed a number of advanced array formations, magic items, puppets, and even automatons. However, he only made use of a few of the former two and had yet to deploy any of the latter two.

Kyran furrowed his brows as he looked at the two aides lying unconscious on the floor. To be honest, these two were powerful. However, they could not showcase their true might because they did not summon their Divine Armaments.

They only made use of hand-made magic weapons, which again, puzzled Kyran. They were also the ones responsible for concealing Aran's identity as a puppet. If not for these two, they would have definitely put up a fight against him.

In the end, Kyran could only scratch his head as he scanned the throne. He had to find Aran, as soon as possible, and end this farce.