Legacy of the Dark Sage

The complete beings that appeared before Malek and the others were elders from the Royal Family's previous generation. They were not directly connected with Aran's line like Ravan, but their influence, military strength, and magic level should not be underestimated.

Even so, they did not dare provoke Aran simply because they knew about the real inheritance he would receive after becoming the King of Armakea. As a matter of fact, these elders were far more knowledgeable about the real inheritance than Aran and his aides were.

The Elders' knowledge was not limited to what the Automatons could do but also how they could be activated.

Contrary to what Aran and his aides knew, the Automatons could be activated by anyone possessing the right blood and activation formula. If not for these two, the Elders would have long dared fight for the ownership of those Automatons.

In the current generation, Aran and his brother, Ravan, are the ones possessing the right blood. However, Aran was the only one who knew about the activation formula.

For the next generation, Achim and Kesiah possessed the qualifications for the inheritance because they were Ravan's offspring. Opposite to what others believed, one of the main reasons Aran favored Achim was not because he truly wanted him as his heir but because he was wary of the threat he posed.

Achim already possessed the right blood. If he were to discover the activation formula, then he could take over ownership of every automaton at any time. It was the same with Kesiah if she ever decided to take the throne for herself.

But those things were of no concern to those Elders anymore. They could not take the King of Armakea's inheritance, but they believed those automatons were not the only ones in Somuli.

After years of research and secret expeditions, they finally discovered another treasure trove of lost technologies— including those automatons.

As a matter of fact, the crates in the storage room were filled with those. It was for this reason that the Elders decided to move themselves and take care of Malek and the others. The sooner they dealt with them, the safer their trump cards would be.

Frankly, Malek's group was at a disadvantage simply because of the level gap they had against the Elders.

Malek's magic and mage level might be equal to the Elders, but the fact that he was alone put their group at risk. They might have the assistance of the Eidums, but even the Saint— who boasted of having support skills that could even exceed the Abbot— could not even out their disadvantage. Besides, they were inside the enemy grounds. They could easily call for reinforcements. As for Malek and the others, if they wanted to retreat, they needed time for their people to activate the Transmission Array.

Would the enemy allow them to do that?

Of course not.

Malek looked at the Elders of the Royal Family. There were seven of them in total, and they wore black with gold assets long robes with matching golden masks.

All seven Elders— five males and two females— stood at the edge of the destroyed ceiling and were looking at Malek with disdain.

"I know you," a female elder, standing at the third spot from the right, said. "You are that infamous twisted Wind user from Howling Pass."

Another elder scowled after hearing the female elder. He said, "So Achim and Kesiah have employed mercenaries from Howling Pass? No wonder their numbers far exceeded our expectations."

"He doesn't look twisted to me, though," the other female elder remarked while eyeing Malek curiously. "Are you sure he is that person?"

"I am sure—."

FOOOM!

"!"

The air around the seven elders thinned at an alarming speed as an invisible veil covered the hundred-meter diameter space around them. It caused the sound around them to be suppressed and made them feel as if they were inside a space vacuum.

A hundred-meter diameter light green with swirling yellow assents magic array appeared, hovering beneath their feet with Malek at the center. His eyes flashed slightly green as he raised his hand, and a long diamond staff with a dark green stone attached at the top end appeared.

The long staff looked similar to the one he held when he and Kyran first met. At the same time, it looked a little different. For one thing, the staff's shaft was completely made of diamond, and the dark green stone was no longer a spirit stone. Instead, its crooked shape made it seem like a normal stone. However, the green flashes pulsating from within meant it was extraordinary.

"This is...!"

All the elders were shocked at the huge magic array on their feet. To them, it appeared like a lost technology array formation.

It was not. But because they did not know the difference between their magic law from the Human plane, they did not know a magic array was different from an array formation.

"Quick! Take out your—!"

"Guah!"

Suddenly, the weakest among the elders fell to his knees as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt his insides churn as if an unknown pressure was currently compressing his internal organs.

The other elders slowly realized what caused the elder to spit out blood because they, too, started to feel their insides churn.

Immediately, the elder in the middle summoned his Divine Armament, which was a golden bell. He weaved his hands, manipulating the bell to hover above his head before activating its special effect.

DOOONG!

Though the space around them made them feel as if sound had been suppressed, it was not the case. It was only a feeling because of the pressure filling inside.

As the bell chimed, golden veils appeared and covered the elders separately. The veil acted as a protection against the crushing pressure all of them were experiencing.

Nevertheless, the golden veil only alleviated the pressure a little.

Still, it was enough for the rest to recover and summon their Divine Armaments as well.

The two female elders summoned fan-like weapons. The first one held two small ones, seemingly made of jade green material, while the second held a large one, made of steel. The latter raised her huge steel fan and spun several times before aiming the accumulated wind attack at Malek. While the former followed after the wind attack, with her hands holding the jade fans, poise to strike.

Malek remained calm as the two incoming attacks approached him. He waved his hand at the incoming wind attack, dispelling it in an instant.

"Such stupidity. You think such a low-tier attack can do me harm?"

"What?"

Both female elders were shocked at how easily Malek dispelled the wind attack. Nevertheless, the female elder with the dual jade fan did not retreat. She struck her fans consecutively in Malek's direction, sending out wind blades that seemed to tear through space.

Malek evaded the first wind blade and raised his diamond staff to deflect the other.

However, the two female elders were not done with their attacks. As if the female using the dual jade fan could manipulate the wind blades at will, she swirled in place as if in a dance, and the wind blades that Malek evaded and deflected returned. Apart from that, they multiplied, increasing their number to four wind blades.

On the other hand, the female elder with the large steel fan sprinted forward before abruptly stopping. She used the sudden shift in momentum to add on her weight before spinning to produce a fiercer whirlwind with her steel fan.

Meanwhile, the other elders, apart from the one with the golden bell, also summoned their Divine Armaments.

One was a silver sword with a thin blade, while another was a golden broad sword. They jumped in midair, circling around Malek to attack him from behind.

As for the remaining two elders, one held a long silver chain with a diamond blade at the other end, and the last one manipulated several small golden knives that hovered behind him. These two did not go after Malek, though. Instead, they jumped over the edge, wanting to deal with the rest of Malek's group.

Malek's green eyes flashed as the magic array beneath their feet glowed more fiercely, resulting in the pressure they felt to double.

"Ngh...!" The elder with the golden bell frowned at the strain of maintaining the veil to protect the other elders beginning to consume him. It made him wonder how Malek could maintain such a powerful lost technology.

Unbeknownst to the elder, what Malek activated was not an array nor a magic attack.

It was his domain that he also used against Kyran when they first met.

The effect of Malek's domain would have been greater if not for the fact that all these elders had the same mage level as him. Not to mention, his domain's strength was being suppressed because he was using a different magic law from Somuli. Although the array formation Noir invented could somehow reduce the effect of that suppression while also allowing them to replenish their magic energy without worrying about Somuli's thin magic energy production, there was a limit to it. The limit would depend on how long the ingredients used to create and activate the array formation would last.

Fortunately, the miniature array formation Malek was using was prepared by Kyran. And because of the latter's newfound Void theory knowledge, he was able to find a way to continuously supply the array with magic energy, which also allowed those under its influence to use their magic without worrying about magic energy depletion.

But that was a discussion for another time.

The two elders who wanted to deal with the others in the storage room were forced to stay inside Malek's domain.

As for the four elders, the female elder preparing for another whirlwind attack was shocked when her attack disappeared before she could release it. The same happened with the female elder, who sent out those wind blades.

On the other hand, the two elders with the thin silver sword and broad sword appeared on each side of Malek. They ignited the blades of their swords just before they cleaved it down.

However.

"GAAH!"

The two elders shouted in pain as the flames on their swords went out of control, exploding right in front of their faces.

They had a certain immunity to fire, but the sudden outburst caught them off guard, and they received slight damage from it. Besides, the flames' power seemed to have increased before it hit their faces.

All the elders wore a grim expression as they looked at Malek. They were now beginning to understand the truth behind the latter's magic.

"Your magic... it is not Wind," the elder who owned the golden bell said.

Malek's expression remained calm. He replied, "Did I say it was?"

His green eyes glowed fiercely as he hummed, "Lightning Storm."

CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

Sparks of green lightning crackled above and, without warning, struck the elders inside Malek's domain.

From the storage room, the others could not help but look at the ensuing battle with gaping mouths. Most of them witnessed how crazy Malek had been when he fought Layla at the fort. But none of them had seen him cast a lightning storm.

Even the Conclave members were shocked. They only knew their Head Master was powerful, which was why he was the Lord of the Tower's right-hand man, but, like the others, it was the first time they had seen him truly go all out. They had seen him display the might of his Air magic before but never expected there was more to it than using air pressure to attack his enemy's internal organs.

While everyone was in awe of Malek's display, only one showed concern.

Cyneah.

Cyneah could not see the spectacle happening above. Instead, she saw their lights, which represented their life force.

Currently, the lights that each of the Royal Family elders possessed glowed brightly, while Malek's started to dim.

It seemed to her that Malek was putting his life on the line with every attack he unleashed.