Legacy of the Dark Sage

Noir and the others were astonished at the scene that greeted them following their release from the spheres.

For the record, all those imprisoned inside the spheres were partially aware of their surroundings, which was why none of the knights at the Military District and Mo's group were surprised at suddenly appearing in a different location.

Although they could not communicate with each other and exchange information, they already gleaned that there was someone capable of creating and using lost technology among the rebels.

The proof was quite evident for those knights sealed inside the Military District because the array formation that sealed them inside had not been there from the start. This meant it was created only recently.

To Mo's side, they had not witnessed Kyran create Arrays, but the fact that he successfully ventured deep into the underground section of the castle, which was full of formations and traps, proved that his knowledge of lost technology could not be underestimated. Obviously, Armak and Breira guiding him around helped lessen the chances of them encountering traps, but Mo was aware of how treacherous the underground section's array formations were. Knowing the way was not enough. Without King Aran's recognition, no one could venture around safely into that place.

Since they did not know how advanced Kyran's Array knowledge was, they had given him a pretty high evaluation so they could prepare for the worst. Thus, when imprisoned in that sphere and appeared in an unfamiliar location, they assumed they had been transported using a large-scale array formation and were unsurprised.

If anything, the appearance of puppets surprised them more.

On one side of the battlefield, Mo only focused on Filren. He never imagined the man he acknowledged as his equal to betray the King. Thus, Mo's hatred towards Filren far exceeded the ones he harbored for Armak and Breira.

The force of attraction that filled Mo's Divine Armament was only a tiny manifestation of his hatred. As much as he wanted to kill Filren in one strike, he knew the latter would not go down quickly, especially when he decided to summon his own Divine Armament.

Frankly, Mo had only seen Filren use his Divine Armament once. And even then, he had not seen it in action. As far as he knew, King Aran was the only one who had seen what it could do.

Unfortunately, Filren did not seem to be in a hurry to summon his Divine Armament and took Mo's attack using his bare hands.

BOOM!

The shockwave from the collision made Noir and the others turn their attention to the confrontation between them.

Noir and Sigma were quite familiar with Kyran, but even so, they could not fathom how he convinced one of King Aran's aides to fight for him. They heard how powerful, loyal, and, at times, ruthless King Aran's aides were from those mercenaries in Howling Pass, which was why they could not imagine how an aide like Filren would agree to fight against the King he served.

Noir and Sigma were not the only ones who were stunned at this. At first, they did not know who among Kyran's group would be crazy enough to challenge Mo, but after hearing the exchange between the two and learning that the crazy guy was Filren, they were all shocked.

Kyran ignored their reactions and glanced at Filren's side. Seeing the latter had already engaged Mo and his group, Kyran immediately instructed Armak, Breira, and ten other automatons to assist him.

While the Legendary-level Knights with Mo seemed hesitant to attack Filren, they were still bound by Aran's pact at the end of the day. Eventually, they would attack him, and no matter how powerful Filren was, with Kyran assisting him through the Sigil's Blessings, he would exhaust himself.

Armak, Breira, and the ten automatons went to assist Filren as soon as Kyran ordered them. Frankly, Armak and Breira wanted to re-engage Mo and his group in a battle. But after seeing the other side, where the rest of the knights clashed with the puppets, they could not decide which side to go first. In the end, they waited for Kyran to give out his orders. Besides, they knew Kyran had a plan, which they might jeopardize if they moved according to their judgment.

If there was one thing Armak and Breira learned about Kyran after observing him for a short time, it was to avoid getting ahead of him. If something happened that they deemed should be dealt with as soon as possible, yet Kyran seemed indifferent to it, chances that he had already devised a plan to deal with it and likely even resolved the whole situation were high. There was also a good chance he anticipated several scenarios that could hinder them from getting the best result and had devised backup plans to counter them.

Armak and Breira believed that their current situation was something Kyran had expected. For this reason, rather than making things complicated by acting independently, Armak and Breira decided to wait for Kyran's instructions.

After receiving Kyran's instructions, Armak, Breira, and the ten automatons left without hesitation.

Noir and the rest had blank expressions upon learning Armak and Breira's identities and who those black armored knights were. In particular, Noir and Sigma had already gone numb from anything that Kyran did.

Rather than being surprised again, they waited for Kyran's instructions.

They did not wait long because, after Armak, Breira, and the ten automatons left, Kyran gave out more instructions.

Sigma, the fort leaders, humans, and the rest of the knights and officers would assist the puppets. In contrast, Noir and a few Array Specialists from the human side would create and maintain an Array Formation, with their target being the gigantic automaton.

Kyran did not need to teach them the formation because it was a simple Restraining Array. At the moment, dealing with the gigantic automaton was not the priority. If he did, the others would only take advantage of the situation while the gigantic automaton was on a rampage.

It was better to put a leash on the gigantic automaton's movements while Kyran handled the remaining automatons that had yet to emerge from the sphere's imprisonment.

Noir and his group did not question Kyran because they also believed dealing with the gigantic automaton would be tricky and would allow the enemy to take advantage of it.

After giving out instructions, the only ones left at the bottom of the cliff were Kyran, Cyneah, the remaining automatons, and the female Spirit that had now returned to sit on top of Kyran's head.

Kyran had also sent her to the void because he could not take her along. Besides, he was in a hurry then and could not be bothered to take care of others.

"Master," the great sword-wielding automaton turned to Kyran. "If you infuse your innate magic energy into the remaining automatons, they will willingly follow your orders."

Kyran looked at him with raised brows, "You're talking about the Void magic energy, right?"

"Yes."

"Is this what you meant back in the castle underground? About me being different from Aran?"

"Yes."

Kyran frowned. He was curious about the origin of the automatons and wondered if there had another civilization in Somuli prior to it became the present Somuli. Apparently, the first occupants of Somuli could be related to the Ancients, especially if the automatons would respond to Void magic energy. Somuli might even be similar to the Human plane, a remnant of the Land of the Ancients.

Several questions swarmed around Kyran after hearing the automaton's response, but ultimately, he pushed them to the back of his mind and said, "Thanks for telling me."

The great sword-wielding automaton did not reply; instead, he inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement.

Meanwhile, Cyneah, who had been observing the movements around, felt her head throb and decided to close his eyes. Her advantage in such an environment was how she could absorb Soul magic energy from others on the verge of death. However, although there was an ongoing battle before her, she could not absorb any Soul magic energy and could barely sustain her magic sense. If she continued to observe the battle, she would end up using up what little magic energy she had. In the end, she stopped observing and decided to use her remaining magic energy in case of emergency. Nonetheless, doing this stressed her out. Because without anything else to do, she felt like a burden.

Then again, not doing anything was actually good. Because this meant no one was injured or in a life-threatening situation that would require her healing.

Sensing Cyneah's conflicting emotions, Kyran whispered, "You don't have to worry. We are only tying up loose ends. The battle itself could even be considered a ruse."

Cyneah frowned.

"A ruse?" she repeated, "How can you say that when there is a possibility of people dying out there?"

"That's the thing. Killing them is not on the menu. But we do need to show what we are capable of before we can negotiate."

"In the end, you plan to resolve everything through negotiation?"

"Not exactly. Because Aran will definitely not agree, actually, I don't think he will be capable of negotiating anymore."

Cyneah could only frown at Kyran's words.

Not bothering to explain, Kyran took her along as he and the remaining automatons dealt with the other automatons.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between Filren and Mo had finally gone up a notch.

After Mo realized that Filren could counter his Divine Armament while using only his raw strength, he decided to use gigantification.

The pressure on Filren increased, with the other Legendary-level Knights joining in the fray. And with Mo using gigantification, Filren also decided to summon his Divine Armament.