Legacy of the Dark Sage

Cyneah's brow furrowed as she sensed the scene below. Like she could not see Kyran's light, the numerous spheres below did not emit light. They were instead covered in boundless darkness.

Soon after, the darkness that covered these spheres was replaced by lights with varying intensity.

It was the varying intensity of lights, as well as their numbers, that caught Cyneah's attention, resulting in furrowing her brows.

"Kyran, how do you plan on dealing with all of them?"

Before Kyran could respond, a mechanical roar reverberated in the air, causing every knight behind him to feel goosebumps up their arms.

This roar was followed by the reveal of what was inside the massive sphere.

Their expressions instantly turned grave after seeing a gigantic automaton emerging from the massive sphere. It tore out of the sphere like a fierce beast unable to contain its thirst for blood.

Kyran's eyes narrowed at what the gigantic automaton did. Though the spheres were only meant to imprison them and possessed no offensive capability, they were still made of Void energy. Kyran had an inkling that the gigantic automaton had a specific immunity to Void energy, but seeing it once more made him wonder how it differed from the other automatons.

Pushing aside his doubts, Kyran raised his hand and aimed at the gigantic automaton. Another oppressive pressure fell upon it from above, resembling an invisible object that weighed several tons.

In an instant, the gigantic automaton was forced on its knees while it raised its hands, trying to support the weight of that invisible object. The ground beneath it cracked as the invisible object continued to press down.

Kyran's move was reminiscent of Dusk's move during their first meeting on the Human plane. Previously, Kyran did not comprehend the spell Dusk used to attack them. He initially believed it had something to do with the nature of Dusk's magic. Still, after a year of wandering in other planes and even joining Loar and Wings to gather resources at times, he discovered that Dusk's move back then was made purely out of his magic pressure. He learned this because Loar and Wings had sometimes employed similar moves using their magic pressures.

Kyran had wanted to try it out, too. Unfortunately, using the Void magic's magic pressure was too dangerous because its target could get turned into nothing if he exerted a tad bit too much Void magic energy. For the Draconic magic, the problem was Kyran's body. He could not take the pressure he released himself— an embarrassing and pitiful reason, to be honest.

After his body had undergone enhancement, however, Kyran did not have to worry about getting crushed by his own magic pressure. Nonetheless, using magic pressure to attack was not advisable. Because it used one's raw, pure energy, resulting in one's magic energy getting depleted faster.

A Sovereign's magic core could store far more energy than those with lower levels. Thus, the danger of them experiencing energy depletion was low. Besides, they only used their magic pressure as a form of intimidation and not to kill.

On the other hand, Kyran used his magic pressure to restrain the gigantic automaton. Because he still had something to do and could not immediately confront it.

"That's... a lost technology?"

"I have heard rumors about mechanical complete beings, but I imagined them to be the same size as us... not like that..."

"How are we going to deal with that enemy?"

One after another, the knights behind Kyran spoke their minds. But he did not bother with them. At least, based on what he heard them say, they had not planned to backstab him yet, and that was all he needed to know.

"T-This...! Kyran, that... that person...? W-Why is he there?"

Cyneah's question made Kyran pause. He saw her looking at the gigantic automaton in disbelief. Her eyes showed no fear; instead, it was pure incredulity.

But then a thought flashed through Kyran as he tried to recall if Cyneah could see lights inside automatons. As far as he remembered, the lights she saw were human life force. Could an automaton's sentient also possess lights? Kyran knew Cyneah could perceive the gigantic automaton's silhouette using her magic sense, but why did she refer to it as a person?

"Tell me what you see."

"A person... there is a person inside that giant..." Cyneah replied at once.

Only then did Kyran make sense of some things: why did the gigantic automaton's voice sound like metal; why did it keep spouting nonsense about vanquishing traitors; and finally, where did Aran go?

Mo and the rest of the knights were still under the pact, meaning Aran was still alive. However, Kyran did not find him in the underground section of the castle. Initially, he thought he might have been taken away by Deception— believing it was her whom Armak saw at the lowest level of the underground section when they arrived there.

"Hold on tight."

"W-What— N-N— Kyran—!"

Cyneah yelped in fright as Kyran jumped from the cliff to the ground below. He did so without even giving her time to adjust, resulting in her feeling as if her stomach had been left behind.

The moment Kyran jumped, a massive magic array also formed around the whole perimeter of the battlefield. He then forcefully released the spheres that hid Noir and the rest before summoning the rest of his people— or, to be more accurate, puppets. Most of these puppets were not his creations but the ones inside the crates in the underground shelter.

When Kyran arrived at the underground shelter earlier and used his enhanced senses to check on everyone, he heard faint whirring sounds inside the crates. The sounds were feint that even a human with exceptional hearing would not be able to hear them, especially from inside those thick, steeled, soundproof crates. However, Kyran's hearing could no longer be judged using human standards. It could not even be evaluated using the standards of powerful humans. His hearing was now comparable to a young dragon— yes, not an adult, but a young one— an upgrade to his baby dragon state previously, at least.

After discovering these puppets, Kyran sent them to his Void World. He did this without alerting the others.

Since they were puppets without a sentient, reconfiguring their program was far more manageable. Even Kyran's puppets in the Void World could do it by themselves.

Adding these puppets to his side was one of Kyran's preparations. When he appeared leisurely conversing with the others in the underground shelter, he made preparations behind the scenes without anyone noticing.

Even Ruin, who had followed Kyran and Cyneah and was observing everything from a distance, was unaware of what Kyran was up to. Proof of that was his amused expression after seeing the appearance of those puppets.

Several still naked puppets appeared in midair and surrounded the multitudes of spheres where most of the Armakea Knights were congregated. Although the puppets numbered almost a thousand, the contrast in the number of the Armakea Knights was still visible. After all, the Military District had at least three to four thousand Knights sealed inside.

Nevertheless, Kyran was not worried. Compared to the Knights, the puppets were made of sturdier material. Though their energy cores had limited magic energy, that would not hinder them from accomplishing their task.

As for what their task was, they only needed to restrain all three to four thousand knights before them.

Alas, this task appeared simple, but to the others, it was a tall order.

By the time Kyran and Cyneah landed on the ground, all the people in the spheres had already been released.

In an instant, the side where the puppets and the Armakea Knights congregated erupted into a fierce melee. The knights summoned their Divine Armaments and attacked the puppets. Some of their attacks were rendered useless, while some did scratch the surface of their body frames. Nonetheless, the puppets were undeterred by the knights' attacks and engaged them fiercely.

On the other side, the gigantic automaton, which Aran controlled, still struggled from Kyran's magic pressure. Meanwhile, Mo and the Legendary-level Knights with him finally escaped from the spheres and prepared to engage the enemies.

Mo's eyes immediately glowed with killing intent as he looked at the figure that stood a few meters before them.

"Filren... you have also fallen, I see," he growled through gritted teeth.

Filren did not reply and looked at Mo and the rest of the Legendary-level Knights.

While Mo appeared pissed and was raring to fight Filren, some of the Legendary-level Knights were a little hesitant.

In the first place, compared with Mo, they found Filren easier to approach and a respectable aide to the King. Of course, all respected Mo, especially with his status as the top aide to the King, but Filren had a certain charisma that made the other knights respect and trust him.

"It is not too late to return to your senses, sir Filren."

One of the Legendary-level Knights tried to talk it out with Filren.

"He had made his choice," Mo growled, not allowing Filren to respond to the Legendary-level Knight's plead.

"Yes, I did. And it is a wise one," Filren replied solemnly.

"Traitor to your King!" Mo snarled, summoning his Divine Armament instantly and cleaving it toward Filren.

Filren remained calm as he watched the approaching blade of Mo's dual-blade battle axe. His green eyes glowed with a tint of silver as he raised his hand and caught its blade.

With Mo's Divine Armament infused with Gravity magic, its force of attraction was ten times more than usual. When Filren caught its blade, a loud boom erupted as its pressure exploded, forcing him to sink a few inches to the ground.