Legacy of the Dark Sage

"How do you plan on dealing with that guy?" Styx asked, gesturing toward Kairo.

The latter had already stood up and approached the arena with a slight smile. He swaggered as if he had already won the competition, and Styx had an impulse to rush over and punch the living lights out of him.

Kairo's arrogance was really getting on Styx's nerves.

Kyran looked over at Kairo, "The usual?"

His nonchalant reply, coupled with a noncommital shrug, almost made Styx slip out of the bench.

"What do you even mean by that?" Styx asked in exasperation. He thought he already understood Kyran's character. But now that he thought of it, maybe what he understood was 'Tyr's' character but not the real Kyran. If it was the case, then what exactly was Kyran's usual? What was even Tyr's usual?

Kyran looked at Styx and smiled. Then he telepathically replied, 'I can only deal with him using Tyr's capabilities, thus the usual. Several eyes are watching, after all.'

"Weapons are not allowed," Styx reminded him with a scowl.

As far as Styx understood, Kyran used the wooden staff to establish 'Tyr's' battle style. Without it, how could he utilize his Array creation? Though Kyran could take out ready-made materials from his storage space, rearranging them according to the mixing procedure of formulas would take time. Styx might not have the identification of an Array Specialist, but his Array knowledge was above average. If he wanted, he could easily pass the test of becoming one.

Kyran raised his brows questioningly, "Do I need a weapon to deal with that guy?"

Styx's brow made an involuntary twitch. The way Kyran asked the question while wearing a genuine innocent expression almost made Styx cough out blood. He did not know whether Kyran's arrogance was part of 'Tyr's' character or genuinely his own.

If Styx knew Kyran was genuinely asking and not trying to act cool or arrogant, the former would have flipped from anger. His anger was reasonable, though. After all, he was unaware that Kyran's body was now comparable to a dragon's. Few magic attacks could actually hurt Kyran. Apart from this, while Kairo's magic aura was comparable to a half-step Exalted because of his dual-innate magic, such a level of magic attack could not put a scratch on Kyran.

It should be noted that Tritus, a half-step Legendary, failed to wound Kyran. What could a Grand Master even accomplish?

Then again, Kyran could not blame Styx's way of thinking. To the latter, his mage level was not that high. He only seemed powerful because of his clan's techniques and innate magic.

Still, Kyran's real mage level was something he, himself, did not know. All he knew was he could hold his own against a Sovereign in a one-on-one battle. Winning was out of the question, but he could survive or escape. But if against two, he would have to employ everything he had, including True Void's ability, just to escape.

One thing Kyran was sure of, he was not yet a Sovereign. If he were, the Human plane's stability would have already suffered because it already had a Sovereign it recognized.

True Void once told him that the Human plane already had a Sovereign, but that person was useless at the moment. Nevertheless, the Human plane still recognized that person as its Sovereign. To be honest, Kyran did not know what would happen if a plane suddenly produced two Sovereigns. So far, he had not encountered a situation like that on the planes he had visited.

Multiple Sovereigns coming together in a plane was common. But that was only possible on a plane that had no Sovereigns. To planes already ruled by a Sovereign, others would not be able to enter without suffering a decrease in their mage level.

"I can craft a new one using Array," Kyran hastily added after seeing Styx's annoyed expression. Seriously, this guy had a strange temperament. Not that he minded really. Compared to Nolan, or Sigma, Styx's temperament was more honest and straightforward.

"And you think that guy will let you?"

"I don't see how he can stop me, to be honest."

Styx's fierce glare greeted Kyran's nonchalant reply.

"Even if you glare at me like that, what else do you want me to say?" Kyran said in exasperation.

Without waiting for Styx to ask further questions, Kyran stood up and went to the arena.

The male announcer watched Kyran make his way to the arena. He did not force him to hurry because there was still a little over five minutes left of the thirty-minute break. Honestly, he did not understand why they had to call for a thirty-minute break. To him, a five-minute break would be enough.

Though Kairo and Styx had just finished their match, it was not as if they had used up all their energy and would require Kairo to rest. Besides, with Chairman Malia's potions, he could easily recover even if he sustained some injuries.

Even fixing the arena did not take thirty minutes.

Alas, the male announcer could sense the head committee's bias over the Royal Army's side. Initially, he thought the thirty-minute break was meant to let Kyran recondition himself since he was juggling between two competitions. However, a break did not mean much. He might be able to recondition himself, but since he was sustaining his puppet's activity, he could not conserve his magic energy.

The audience cheered as the two participants stood at the center of the arena. There was a thirty-meter distance between the two. This distance was neither far nor close to starting an attack. But it would all depend on the range each could summon their magic arrays.

A mage could summon magic arrays at most at a distance of ten to twenty meters away from them. Any farther than that would reduce the magic attack's stability and become useless. Of course, if the mage's magic sense level were higher, then that would be a different story. Unfortunately, most mage's magic sense was at level two only. That was why, at most, the range they could summon their magic array and still manage to land an effective magic attack was ten meters, with twenty meters as the known limit.

The timer above appeared. However, with a few minutes left from the break, it was still stuck at 25:10.

Kairo looked at Kyran with a slight smile. He had never imagined he would end up fighting him. If their plan had gone accordingly, Vanadin should have taken care of him. He never imagined the result would get reversed. Kyran took care of Vanadin instead.

Because of this, Kairo's interest in Kyran was piqued. Initially, his interest was all due to anger. But now, it changed. The reason was that Deputy Imman contacted him during the thirty-minute break and told him to thrash Kyran seriously.

Kairo was surprised at Deputy Imman's words.

Earlier, when Ganza mentioned taking out one or two of Kyran's limbs, Kairo did not think much of it. After all, the Crown Princess valued Kyran's Array talent only. If Ganza succeeded, his actions could be considered 'thrashing' Kyran.

However, to Deputy Marshal Imman, 'seriously thrashing' Kyran was different. He was practically telling Kairo to half-kill him.

Why would Imman ask him to do that? Was he not worried about the Crown Princess's wrath? Or did the order come from the Crown Princess?

Regardless of the real reason, as a soldier, Kairo would not ask questions and would carry out his mission.

"Disciple Tyr," Kairo suddenly spoke after a few seconds of silence. "I look forward to what you have in store for me."

Kyran raised his brows at him and tilted his head to one side. However, he did not respond. There was nothing to say anyway.

"Too bad I will not be able to experience the might of your weapon," Kairo continued, seemingly unperturbed by Kyran's unresponsive character.

This time, Kyran reacted and smiled, "Is that so? Should I make one as soon as the match starts? That way, you get to experience it."

Kairo chuckled, "Ah, but the things your wooden staff can do is still better."

Kyran chuckled in response. He replied with a smile that did not meet his eyes, "I see. Seems like you have a wrong perception there."

Kairo kept his smile. However, the subtle twitch of his brow meant Kyran's words piqued his interest.

"How? You're not going to tell me that even without using the wooden staff, you can still display the level of strength you've shown during your match with Osman."

Kyran shrugged, "There's no point in correcting your perception. You won't believe me, anyway."

Kairo's brow furrowed. He did not sense any deceit in Kyran's words.

No. This might very well be the latter's way of messing up his rhythm. He was a Major General and already a Grand Master. Did Kyran really think he could fool him?

Just as he was thinking this, the timer above had already started.

Seeing this, the male announcer raised his hand and declared the start of the match.

"Quarterfinal match between Tyr of the Conclave against Major General Kairo of the Royal Army, start!"

Kairo made a move at once. A red magic array appeared before him, and he immediately pulled out a blazing long sword.

During the break, Kairo saw Kyran and Styx talking. It was not a stretch to guess that the two had talked about how to counter his magic array. If that were the case, Kairo would have to summon his magic array as soon as possible and produce his long sword before Kyran could act.

Murmurs spread to the gallery at the same time that Kairo had already pulled out his long sword.

Ignoring the noise made by the audience, Kairo looked at Kyran and was about to taunt him. Instead, what he saw rendered him speechless.

Kyran had not moved from his position. He was only looking at Kairo with a smile.

No.

Judging by Kyran's nonchalant stance, he did not seem to be looking at Kairo alone. He was actually waiting for the latter to finish summoning his long sword!