Legacy of the Dark Sage

A massive flower with eight petals appeared, wrapping itself around Flos just before Malek's lightning struck.

Crackle! Crackle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

Surprisingly, the petals were unaffected by the lightning and even appeared to be immune to it.

Malek furrowed his brows and waved his hand, summoning spheres of highly concentrated Air magic and hurling them over at Flos's.

The spheres whistled through the air, leaving a trail of white with green flashes of lightning.

The massive petals that protected Flos seemed to be made out of steel, yet the moment those spheres crashed into them, they pierced right through like bullets.

BOOM!

Flos's magic energy exploded, tearing the flower petals before they were riddled with Malek's bullet-like attack. He then spread his arms before making circular movements with his hands as more tentacle-like roots slithered out from the cracks in the ground, walls, and even the ceiling.

The Royal Family Elders and their minions were dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events. Initially, they believed that the newcomer was their enemy's helper. Because of this, those still abled Elders planned to launch a preemptive attack to ensure their enemies would not gain an advantage. However, before any of them could move, Malek beat them at it and attacked first.

What was happening here?

Ultimately, the Elders and their minions were experienced in battle and retained their wits about them. Knowing that the newcomer was not there to assist their enemy, their next course of action was to see if they could exploit the former.

Alas, before they could do anything, the newcomer actually attacked indiscriminately. Not to mention, his Plant magic looked very powerful.

It should be noted that most of them had encountered Plant mages and were familiar with the newcomer's vine attacks. But the vines summoned by Plane mages were not as thick as a tree's root and hard as steel. Moreover, the newcomer was not even holding a Divine Armament. How was he summoning those vines?

The Elders and their minions did not have the leisure to ponder their thoughts. Such was an ongoing fight. Every combatant had little to no time to ponder their next move. Most relied on their reflexes and fast thinking when making a move. Thus, they no longer considered exploiting the newcomer and immediately retreated.

Malek, on the other hand, remained unperturbed as he continuously summoned lightning to attack the approaching roots.

The roots seemed to be immune to lightning, but Malek already anticipated it and increased their frequency. Doing this, his lightning attacks developed a paralysis effect.

The knights, officers, and other Eidums with them were not idle either. They used their Divine Armaments to cleave and hack through the roots that got paralyzed.

As for the retreating Elders and their minions, they ignored all of them.

Among the people with Malek, there was one who courageously leaped around his lightning attack and directly aimed at the tentacle-like roots— Eikin.

He summoned his Divine Armament, which was a long silver spear with a dark purple blade, and spun his body with the spear in hand. The wind appeared at the tip of the spear's blade, forming a whirlwind as his momentum increased. Just as the height of the whirlwind had grown to ten meters, Eikin made an abrupt stop as he released it forward.

The whirlwind, which already possessed the Void's nature of nothingness, disintegrated everything it touched.

Those knights who were familiar with Eikin were shocked after seeing his whirlwind destroying everything it passed through without leaving anything in its wake.

Was this still the same whirlwind attack they knew? Why did it feel as if it had gotten more fearsome than before?

Malek, who saw the whirlwind, frowned slightly. He obviously realized that Eikin's innate magic was Wind. However, it underwent a mutation of some sort, and he more or less guessed why. He then took note of Eikin, as well as Jita, who remained beside Cyneah and continued to watch over her, knowing that these two were Kyran's people.

Malek was already suspicious about Kyran having the ability to control others when Gael appeared before them. But there was something different from the latter that was different from those people who were under control. Gael still possessed his old memories, but he did not harbor any ill intent toward Kyran. That was something Malek could not understand.

In any case, Malek did not know Eikin and Jita's history with Kyran, but he knew for a fact that their innate magic should not display a Void's nature. While Wind magic's destructive nature could turn anything it touched to dust, depending on its intensity, it would not disintegrate. From how Malek saw things, Kyran's ability to control others was not limited to one's will.

Flos's brow furrowed as he watched his attacks get destroyed. He already noticed the humans' mage level was not restricted by the plane, which meant they could use their magic to their full extent. But their magic energy consumption should still be limited, given Somuli's thin magic energy.

'So, how is he able to summon those lightning storms without caring about his magic energy consumption?' Flos wondered while looking at Malek. He then looked at Cyneah and wondered if it was because of her that the latter was not afraid to waste his magic energy.

Flos also looked at Eikin and was even more flabbergasted at his attacks. Malek's lightning storm burned his summoned roots to dust; Flos could just regrow them and continue attacking. But he could not do that to the roots destroyed by Eikin's whirlwind!

How did he do it?

Flos could not help but have a bad feeling in his heart. He realized that even if he had the advantage of being a Sovereign, since his mage level was being restrained, he could not fully show his might. If he dragged this on, he would end up getting overwhelmed by Malek and his people's momentum.

Luckily, Flos was still unaware that the Somuli Sovereign was fake. If he did and tried to unleash his full power, there was a good chance he could destroy the Sovereign's Cradle because it could be considered a faux.

Flos also considered the possibility of Cyneah making a move herself. If she did and attacked Flos with Soul magic, he was not confident in defending against it. After all, Soul magic attacks one's soul. That was one of the scary natures of Soul magic.

Not wanting to drag the fight, Flos took out a petrified plant he had prepared in case of emergency. This plant was immune to almost all types of magic and possessed a very potent poison.

Inserting enough magic energy into the petrified plant that resembled a mandragora, Flos threw it before him. At a speed visible to the naked eye, the plant came to life and grew in size.

KKKRRSSHK!

It let out an ear-piercing shriek as it simultaneously puffed out golden and green pollens that filled the surroundings.

"Not good!"

Nahir and the Eidums, who were familiar with the plant's attributes, shouted in fear.

"Don't breathe in those pollens!"

Everyone did not need to be warned. Seeing those pollens, almost all of them reflexively covered their nose and mouths in fear of being affected by its toxin.

Seeing their reaction, Flos only let out a smile and muttered, "Such a futile move."

His eyes flashed as he snapped his fingers, "Burst."

In the blink of an eye, the pollens that had already scattered all around exploded, turning into clouds of dust that fell straight toward everyone.

Even without anyone telling them, they knew it would be bad if those pollens-turned-powder touched their skin.

"Tsk," Eikin clicked his tongue as he spun his body and sent out one whirlwind after another, trying to remove as many powdered pollens as possible. Unfortunately, his whirlwind could only cover a small area, and he was also afraid to send one above everyone's heads for fear of hurting them. 

Malek was not idle either. He strengthened the magic barrier, protecting everyone. Unfortunately, the more he strengthened them, the smaller they became. Because of this, there were a few among them whose bodies were exposed to the powder.

With most of them sent into a panic over the plant's poisonous powder, Flos summoned another one of his plant creations that resembled a human body and willed them to go after Cyneah.

Jita let out a snort as she saw the approaching human-like plants. Did Flos think she was afraid of inhaling those poisonous powders?

Seemingly moving without regard for her safety, Jita swung her whip sword and sliced up the incoming human-like plants.

Flos's eyes narrowed as he once more realized that his creation could not regenerate after being cut by Jita.

'This...'

Cyneah, who had been silently observing the movements around her, failed to see the poisonous powder falling down from above. Nevertheless, from the things she heard, she knew why everyone was suddenly in a panic.

"It's fine. I'll protect everyone," she said in a calm voice. Though she did not say that aloud, everyone heard her loudly and clearly.

Right after Cyneah said those words, the symbol on their heads lit up, and the poisonous powder that was about to fall on their heads burst into flames.