Legacy of the Dark Sage

Different sizes of earth rubble flew toward the dark violet magic arrays. When the rubbles touched the array, a ringing sound could be heard, and the rubbles would then be compressed into a tight ball before turning into dust.

In just a few seconds, the whole surroundings were filled with a cloud of dust from all the destroyed rubbles.

Standing at Tobias's right, one of the white-robed Grand Master waved his staff, and a three-meter wide light brown magic array appeared behind him. In an instant, the cloud of dust converged in front of Kyran, slowly materializing into a ten-meter tall earth golem.

Kyran's eyes narrowed. Before he could lift the hammer in his hand to disrupt the forming earth golem, Tobias raised his golden staff and roused his magic. The red spirit stone on his staff glowed, and the rune writings on the dark violet magic array behind the black hole began to spin crazily. All the magic energy in the surroundings was sucked into the black hole, increasing its size.

"Ergh…!" Kyran gritted his teeth as the pull from the black hole increased.

The other white-robed Grand Master was not idle either. He twirled his silver staff, and a red magic array appeared horizontally before him. Several fireballs appeared within the magic array and flew toward Kyran, attacking him on all sides.

"Disciple Tyr!"

Members of the Blacksmith Order watching inside the building exclaimed in fright.

Kyran's 'aquamarine' eyes glowed, and a five-meter light golden magic array appeared beneath him. As the magic array appeared, the pull from Tobias's black hole lessened, and Kyran stopped in place. The moment he had stopped, he stomped his feet on the ground as he lifted the hammer above his head and once again slammed it on the ground.

Unlike what had happened earlier, only earth rubbles exploded from the impact of the hammer's force. A massive shockwave of magic energy spread out this time, which countered the incoming fireballs.

The dust that formed the earth golem before him was blown from the shockwave.

Seeing how Kyran managed to counter the attacks of the Grand Masters with him, Tobias's frown deepened.

It was then that he belatedly realized that the pressure his gravity magic possessed seemed to not affect Kyran!

'Does this mean he was only feigning earlier?' Tobias wondered, further increasing his deep impressions of Kyran as well as his annoyance.

When the patriarch announced his intentions to attack the Blacksmith Order's Disciple Tyr, Tobias had his misgivings. He did not understand why the patriarch wanted to waste the resources and time of the Lumley Family to defame a lowly Array Specialist.

Although Disciple Tyr had started to make a name for himself, it was not worth the time and effort of the Lumley Family to pay any attention to him.

Not long after, the ban statement happened, and Tobias sensed something was definitely not right.

Why would the Conclave protect Disciple Tyr? Even if he was the disciple of a Conclave Council Member, banning one of the Three Noble Families was not something they would have normally done unhesitatingly.

Tobias felt something was definitely up. His speculation was further fueled after the patriarch approved Matias's plea to lead an attack on the Blacksmith Order, with the primary objective being to injure Disciple Tyr fatally.

It made Tobias think that the patriarch would not approve of this move without thinking it through.

True enough, as Matias and his men left the Lumley residence, the patriarch summoned Tobias and told him that the Crown Princess had asked for him. At that moment, Tobias finally understood the patriarch's actions.

The Royal Family was involved in everything that had happened.

Nevertheless, Tobias felt the Royal Family and the Lumley Family conspiring against one Array Specialist was too excessive.

But now, he somehow could understand why the Royal Family was paying attention to this lowly Array Specialist.

Because Disciple Tyr's strength was too abnormal! He was only a Master mage, yet he could stand the pressure of an Exalted mage like Tobias. Apart from this, he could easily counter a Grand Master's magic attack while only rousing the magic energies in the surroundings!

This would not do. Tobias's pride as a forbidden magic-user and an Exalted was on the line!

"If one black hole is not enough," he muttered under his breath. "Let's see you deal with a dozen!"

Tobias's eyes glowed as his magic energy increased. He raised his staff and summoned eleven additional magic arrays that appeared surrounding Kyran in almost every direction. A couple of seconds later, black holes also appeared at the center of all these magic arrays.

Seeing Tobias's move, the two Grand Masters also moved. However, they did not attack but made a joint summon and aimed at the semi-transparent black violet spheres below where Matias and the rest of their people were.

The space distorted around the spheres, and almost in an instant, all of them disappeared.

Kyran frowned at this.

Not because their move was unexpected but because he had not given Matias a fatal injury yet!

If others knew what he was thinking, they would have paled at Kyran's idea of a fatal injury. But, honestly, Matias's injury was far worse than Emmet's because the former might suffer brain damage!

"Partial Collision!" Tobias shouted, and all black holes emitted a powerful magnetic pull.

Because the pull appeared on almost every side of Kyran, each time a magnetic pull's area of effect collided with another a distortion in the surrounding air appeared.

Kyran's eyes widened as he realized that the distortion increased every time a new magnetic pull collided. If his guess were correct, he would be blown into pieces once this distortion neared him!

'This guy…' Kyran ground his teeth. However, he was not really annoyed. Proof of this was a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

After returning to the human plane, this would be the first time he felt the thrill of fighting someone. But, of course, this feeling was only possible because he had to hide his actual abilities.

When Kyran fought Rhys, who was also a Grand Master, he was seriously bored. Maybe the fact that Rhys possessed fire magic which Kyran found too easy to handle, was the reason for his boredom, and Tobias's magic being different had been a significant factor in the thrill he felt right now.

Regardless of the cause, Kyran was glad he forced this guy out. He would love to see how far 'Tyr's' abilities could fair to someone like him.

Meanwhile, while Kyran was feeling thrilled, the members of the orders watching felt the opposite.

They were all frightened for Kyran.

As soon as the black holes had appeared, all the Array specialists who returned to the working area and were now watching the happenings outside from behind the working area's huge doors wanted to step out to help Kyran.

A higher-level mage fighting a Master mage was bullying! Of course, the Array specialists might not be able to hold a candle against any of the mages outside, but at least they could lift some of the burdens off Disciple Tyr if they stepped out.

With this in mind, all the able Array Specialists moved towards the door.

However, two dark figures flashed past them and immediately stood before them, blocking their path.

These two figures were none other than two of the three puppets that came out with Kyran earlier.

"Please, stay inside the building," the one standing on the left had said.

One Array specialist clenched his fists as he stepped forward and said, "We can't just stand idle and let Disciple Tyr face those people! He had already done enough! We are also part of the Blacksmith Order and if they want to mess with one of us then they will have to face all of us!"

The other Array specialists nodded in agreement. They all had been in the order longer than Disciple Tyr and should be the ones protecting the rest. But now, they had to leave everything in the hands of a junior, and it was rather frustrating.

Disciple Tyr might have a higher position in the order, but he was only a Master mage and also from a younger generation. However, being the older generation, they could not let him suffer alone.

The puppet on the right shook its head and said, "It is unwise to step out. Even one of the mages outside is far too powerful for all of you to face combined. Rest assured, master is not a reckless person. He will not stay outside if the odds are against him."

Every Array specialist, even the blacksmiths who heard the puppet, gaped at them with an expression of both awe and unbelief.

Awe, because they could not believe the puppets Disciple Tyr created were so advanced that they were able to converse like real humans. But also unbelief because of how they said their master was not reckless.

Every since Disciple Tyr decided to appear in public, his moves had all been reckless, in their opinion.

Seemingly reading what they were all thinking, the puppet on the left also said, "Master's actions may appear reckless to all of you, but he has a plan. Right now, the urgent matter all of you must work on is ensuring all of the injured members are stabilized."

Hearing the puppet mention the injured members, they turned their attention to the area where they were resting in makeshift beds.

Most of the blacksmiths tended to the others while the third puppet was busy stabilizing Emmet's condition. They had applied first aid to his wounds, but he was severely burnt, and they did not dress his injuries because the dressing might stick on his flesh and worsen his condition.

The Array specialists could rouse the magic energies in the surroundings and help stimulate the natural healing abilities of their fellow members. They all knew this, yet they could not help worrying about Kyran outside.

While this was happening inside, the distortions created by the black holes outside had reached a critical phase.

Tobias sneered as he watched Kyran, who seemed to have frozen in his spot after seeing dozens of the black holes.

This reaction was not new to Tobias. All the mages he fought in the past had been rendered frozen in fear after seeing such a spectacle before them.

To be honest, Tobias felt Kyran should be grateful to have even witnessed a display of great power. After all, the latter was only a Master and would not have any opportunity to fight mages at Tobias's level.

Too bad Tobias had no idea that this display of power was not impressive to Kyran. Besides, Kyran had fought Sovereigns before; how would such a display make him freeze in fear?

The only reason why Kyran did not react, was because it was no longer needed. He sighed inwardly, feeling a little sad because he wanted to fight Tobias badly.

Well, he could always find a reason to bully— err— compare notes with him in the future.

Kyran settled on this idea while watching the distortion finally close in on him.

"Disciple Tyr!"

VHOOOOM!

A vacuum-like ring erupted, which was followed by a soundless explosion that resulted in several shockwaves spreading in all directions.

A blinding light filled the surroundings, forcing everyone nearby except Tobias and the two Grand Masters to close their eyes while covering their heads with their arms.

"Hahahahaha! This is what you get from acting insolently!" One of the Grand Masters with Tobias shouted in glee, as soon as the blinding light subsided.

The other Grand Master also laughed and chimed in, "Hahahaha! What can a puny Master support-type mage do in front of sir Tobias? Serves him right for hurting young master Matias!"

"Is that so?"

A beautiful female voice spoke softly and yet made all of them tremble.

Tobias immediately raised his staff and summoned a magic barrier protecting himself and the two Grand Masters.

Finally, the light had lifted and in the spot where they had thought Kyran had exploded, stood two people.

One was Kyran, standing with the huge hammer on his side, looking unscathed. He even appeared bored. And standing in front of him was a beautiful woman with long wavy black hair tied in an elegant bun and mesmerizing reddish-brown eyes. The woman wore a long figure-hugging black dress that would make most men prostrate before her.

The woman was none other than the Mercenary Hall's Hall Master, Celine.