Legacy of the Dark Sage

Even with all the commotion happening around her, Cyneah ignored it all and focused on what she set out to do. Casting and maintaining an active spell was no easy feat. Even more so when one planned to cast a complex active spell. Because of this, Cyneah had to give her full attention to every Soul Rune she summoned.

"Focus on the Saint! Stop what she was doing!"

The elder with the bell Divine Armament ordered the others inside Malek's domain once more, even though he saw the two female elders had just been dealt a huge blow after their Divine Armaments exploded.

The two female elders could not help but glare at him. They knew what they had to do, but what could they do with a damaged Divine Armament?

Sensing the two female elders' temper about to explode, the remaining elder with the dual scimitar Divine Armament shifted his target from Malek to Cyneah. They were still in control of the situation. If the four of them had a falling out, allowing an internal discord to disrupt their momentum, their enemy would capitalize on that and shift the advantage on their side.

Although the enemy pulling off a reversal was small, given how great their disadvantage was, a small chink in their armor could grow given enough time. The elder wielding the dual scimitar had considered this before changing his target from Malek to Cyneah.

Unfortunately, the elder failed to consider what would happen if he left Malek, who was the owner of the domain they were trapped in, unattended.

The moment the dual scimitar-wielding elder changed direction, Malek already guessed what he intended to do. Thus, with a flick of his hand, he applied his domain's effect on both the two female elders. Because the latter two had just received a grievous injury from having their Divine Armaments destroyed, they failed to defend themselves against Malek's attack.

The two female elders felt an overwhelming pressure that battered their internal organs and aggravated the injuries. They spat out several mouthfuls of blood as their eyes turned bloodshot from the pain.

At the same time, Malek summoned a lightning strike toward the dual scimitar-wielding elder.

The dual scimitar-wielding elder tried to evade Malek's strike. Unfortunately, the speed of lightning was not something the former could evade with his current speed, and he was unceremoniously struck three times.

"GAAAH!" The dual scimitar-wielding elder yelped pitifully.

"Ngh...!" The bell-wielding elder made circular movements with his hands as the hovering golden bell before him multiplied. He then exerted even more energy and forced the two bells to multiply once more.

Once the elder saw the four bells hovering before him, he waved his hands and willed the two outer ones to move toward the two female elders. After that, he controlled one of the remaining two bells to fly toward the dual scimitar-wielding elder.

When all four elders had a golden bell hovering before their heads, the bell-wielding elders' green eyes flashed, and all four bells rang.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The bell's sound reverberated in all directions, causing the bell-wielding elder's allies and enemies alike to receive a jolt.

What the bell-wielding elder did was a special combined defensive and offensive attack of his Divine Armament. The defensive aspect of the bell was to protect anyone possessing its clone, while the offensive attack was the sound waves it erupted with each ring the bell did.

If possible, the bell-wielding elder would never use his Divine Armament's special move because he could only create three bell shadows. Without the bell shadows, anyone who heard it would be affected, receiving a fatal injury.

"GAAHH!"

Everyone within two hundred meters of Malek's domain heard the bell and screamed in pain. The mouths of a few low mage levels started to bubble as they fell to the floor unconscious.

"What?" The bell-wielding elder let out a cry as he noticed that those who were affected by his Divine Armament's special move were his allies!

He looked at Malek and saw the latter wearing a placid expression.

"How...?"

However, before the elder could even form the question in his head, his eyes already caught sight of Cyneah behind Jita and Malek.

A two-meter radius golden magic array was already rotating behind her. Her mirror-like eyes glowed with a mystical light as a symbol akin to a reddish-golden phoenix hovered above the heads of all her allies.

Malek, Nahir, and the rest could not help but gape in shock as they felt their injuries— internal or external— healed at a pace visible to the naked eye. Apart from that, their natural magic energy replenishing ability seemed to have undergone a huge boost. But what truly shocked them was the cool sensation that filled their whole body and actually relieved them from the mental and physical fatigue from fighting non-stop.

"This...!"

"How could such a potent magic exist in this world?"

"The blessing of the Golden Phoenix, is it not only a legend?"

It was unknown who said that, but the moment those words were uttered, the Royal Family Elders and their people, along with most of Malek's side, reeled in wonder.

Only those who were aware of Cyneah's magic remained calm. Nevertheless, they felt somewhat conflicted since they were aware of how terrifying Soul magic could be. This was especially true with Malek, who had first-hand experience fighting Layla. He had already sensed it earlier, but the two truly used Soul magic differently.

But that was not the reason Malek felt conflicted. It was the fact that Soul magic— or, rather, all Ancient Magic— could be used for good and evil. And its use would all depend on who wielded it.

On the other hand, Eikin and Jita sensed a foreboding after estimating their Mistress's magic fluctuation.

Cyneah did not have the Shaiha. Thus, using her magic to such an extent would allow others to sense her magic. 

It was one thing for complete beings to sense it. But at the moment, there were outsiders scattered everywhere in Somuli. If those outsiders were quite a distance away, they might not be able to sense Cyneah's magic, but if they were close enough, they would definitely be tempted to have a look.

"So this is where you've been hiding all this time."

Eikin and Jita's blood turned cold as they heard a serene-sounding voice, yet possessing a penetrating power that pierced through each and everyone in the underground shelter.

KRRSHK! BOOM!

All the upper floors' ceilings caved in along with the eruption of pressure from where the voice had come from.

"What in the—?"

Malek, whose complexion paled the moment that serene-sounding voice had spoken, immediately deactivated his domain and waved his magic weapon. With the help of Cyneah's active spell and the miniature array formation that continuously replenishes his magic energy, he summoned several magic barriers to protect all his allies.

Cyneah clenched her fists as she also strengthened the magic barriers summoned by Malek. With the magic barrier possessing the nature of Air magic, all the debris that fell on them turned to dust from the high pressure coming from the barrier's surface.

It was not only Malek who reacted at once. Nahir and the rest of the Eidums also cast defensive spells on all their allies.

The bell-wielding elder also moved. He released the bell shadows and reinforced his Divine Armament. Seeing his move, the rest of the elders and their minions rushed to him. By the time they had all gathered close to the bell-wielding elder, his golden bell had grown several meters. It turned translucent as it covered everyone and protected them from the falling debris.

"You have a very interesting Divine Armament there. To actually expand its size to such an extent and protect your people... very interesting.'

The serene-sounding voice had spoken once more.

"Hm? What is this? A magic array... It seems you have found a few of your kind in Somuli."

Cyneah, who had kept an indifferent expression all this time, had now turned pale. She had tried her best to contain her magic when she cast the active spell. But never did she expect that someone— especially him— to be that close to where they were.

"You have managed to escape from us previously, but now... you have nowhere to go, new Soul Emperor."

It was at this scene that Chrysanthemum and her group had found Malek's side.

Chrysanthemum's eyes widened as she realized that there was not one but two Ancient magic users in Somuli.

Moreover, they were the new Soul Emperor and Void Master!

Thankfully, Chrysanthemum's experience as the leader of the Spirits made her control over her emotions better than most. She immediately snapped out of her initial shock and immediately ordered one of her brethren to contact Kyran.

While she could do this herself, Chrysanthemum had to focus on hiding their presence from the outsider. For this reason, she could only let another spirit inform Kyran of the situation in the secret underground shelter of the Royal Family members.