Legacy of the Dark Sage

The Council was known as the most powerful faction, but the truth was that the relationship between the member clans was unstable.

The Emperor's and Dragon Emperor's clans had a minor clash recently. The two emperors did not participate. Nonetheless, it was evident how the Dragon Clan easily outpowered The Emperor's clan. The result ended with the Dragon Clan successfully forcing The Emperor's clan to retreat. Both sides did not suffer heavy casualties, but the damage done was nothing to scoff at.

The damage dealt in that clash did not affect the two clans' military strength per se. Instead, it was their reputation.

Discussions started circulating about how The Dragon Emperor's clan was far superior to The Emperor's clan. The discussion only happened between clan leaders and their trusted aides, but this was precisely what caused The Council's instability to worsen.

Several clans started taking the Dragon Clan's side, and even those who swore allegiance to The Emperor's clan had second thoughts.

Alta belonged to the Blade Dancer clan that had been under The Emperor's clan for thousands of years. She was part of the rising generation that would eventually take on the mantle of an older generation. Her future in the clan and The Council should have been secured from this.

But the rise of the Dragon Clan and the switching of allegiance happening among the clans in The Council threatened her future.

It was evident that the Blade Dancer clan's influence within The Council would be affected once the Dragon Emperor reached the same level as The Emperor. In fact, the whole Higher Realm's hierarchy would likely experience an overhaul. When that happened, the Blade Dancer clan would suffer.

Before that happened, Alta wanted to secure a future for her clan, and claiming the portal in this unnamed plane was her first step. Fortunately, the first one to find the portal did not belong to any faction. Not to mention, they were known as a neutral clan— the Ogen Clan.

Nonetheless, Alta had to tread through the situation carefully because the Ogen clan might be neutral, but their leader was still an Overlord— Oceanus.

If Oceanus had made his move, Alta would never have stood a chance. For this reason, she had to make it sound as if The Council was involved in claiming the new portal. However, the truth was that only the Blade Dance Clan was currently dispatched in that plane.

They were also the ones attempting to claim the region where the plane was located so Oceanus would not attempt to fight over the portal's ownership.

Everything seemed to be working according to Alta's plans— until the appearance of the unknown mage posed a threat to it again.

The unknown mage definitely came here to scout the area. Atla's initial guess was that Overlord Oceanus had sent the man there. However, the latter looked nothing like Overlord Oceanus's people. A few who worked under him did not originate from Ogen, thus having different hair or eye colors, but she knew all of them. After all, all other clans had extensive intelligence about all Overlord-ruled clans.

The mage's physical appearance that showed up on Alta's radar did not look familiar. Even if Overlord Oceanus recruited a new member, it would have been impossible for him to keep it under wraps especially when that member seemed to possess the rare concealment ability.

All other clans would have already received this news because they would be dying to recruit that person.

In any case, Alta did not see Overlord Oceanus making a move that would make an enemy of The Council. For this reason, she was convinced that the unknown mage was from another clan. A clan that obviously did not belong to The Council.

Very few clans did not belong to The Council, and most of them either belonged to independent factions or were neutral clans.

Neutral clans were already off Alta's list of suspects because they would never cross The Council because of their leaders' peace-loving nature. Besides, none of the neutral clans in the Higher Realm had a member who possessed concealment ability. That left her wondering if the mage belonged to any of the independent factions.

Alta gritted her teeth in annoyance as she hacked her way out of the marshland beast's encirclement. She could not afford to battle them at this point. Her level might be higher than them but they had a certain immunity to her Sound magic because of their innate magic's nature. Besides, her target was the unknown mage and not these beasts.

As Alta tried to escape the marshland beasts' encirclement, Kyran successfully gained some distance. Of course, he did not slow his pace after gaining them and instead increased his speed even more.

Since Kyran could not afford to be hindered by the marshland beasts, he continued to use his Void Scales fully. He could not help but let out a sigh of exasperation, remembering how he had drank a few potions to remove the effect of his cloak-like ability.

For the record, Kyran still did not know much about the Veil of Nothingness, which was why he had to resort to drinking potions to remove its effect. In truth, if his mastery over the veil increased, he could freely activate and deactivate it by will.

[Kyran, you're losing magic energy too fast. You need to undo your Void Scales.]

Shaiha continued to give her warnings. She was still frightened about the possibility that Oceanus and the woman who came after them had already caught on to Kyran's magic, but she could not allow this to cloud her judgment.

She needed to provide assistance to Kyran and ensure he could escape to safety.

'The potions are still in effect,' Kyran told her, explaining the reason he could not lower his Void Scales.

As he said this, another marshland beast sprang out from the murky waters and pounced at him. But just like the first others, he ignored it and continued forward.

Like the marshland beasts before it, a huge hole appeared on its body as Kyran passed through. It did not even know what happened before it fell into the murky waters and sank.

[Those bodies... you're leaving far too many physical evidence of your magic, Kyran.]

Shaiha reminded him.

Kyran did not respond. He obviously knew that it was not good to leave the bodies of the marshland beasts just like that because the Void magic's nature was too obvious in them.

For one thing, the marshland beasts' bodies would not bleed out from the hole created by the Void Scales. While their injuries appeared similar to a powerful fire mage burning a hole in their bodies, the singed part was different from the ones that resulted from Fire magic.

More importantly, the residual magic energy on the bodies was nothing like the one from Fire.

[Although the only ones who are familiar with Void magic energy are those mages from that generation, Oceanus is one of them. If the woman also got hold of one of the beasts' corpses and examined it, then...]

Shaiha's voice trailed off. She honestly did not want to think what would happen.

'Do you think The Emperor has already returned to the Higher Realm?'

Kyran's question caught Shaiha off guard.

[What are you...?]

'I don't mind exposing myself as the Void Master right now... No. Actually, I don't have any choice,' Kyran told Shaiha with furrowed brows.

The feeling of being alone and powerless did not sit well with him. He truly believed he would have enough time to improve his strength and then find his way to the Dragon plane.

But as fate would have it, he was only given a month to understand the basic knowledge in the Higher Realm. He had not even taken advantage of Leif's interest in him to forge a partnership with their clan.

Kyran never believed in fate, even more so with the Fates. But he wondered if the damage he did to one of them kind of pissed them off, and now they were openly messing with him. He might not believe them, but he had witnessed their power over overriding one's fate back in Somuli.

If not for his Void magic's nature that seemed capable of severing their influence, Flos and Obstruction would have returned from death, and the events that followed would have been very different.

The Emperor's visit to Somuli... Discovering Kyran and chasing him into the Land of Desolation... Kyran meeting with the previous Higher Being...

Kyran felt that the Fates had a hand in everything that had happened to him.

[That may very well be true.]

Shaiha voiced her agreement after sensing his thoughts.

[But it is not your fate they were messing with since they have no control over you... Instead, it is the fates of the people around you that they were trying to ...manipulate.]

'...'

[I know you don't want me to say this...]

'Then don't.'

[... but you have to. If you accept your identity as the Realm Scion, you can prevent the Fates from overstepping their authority.]

'... I sense a fluctuation nearby.'

Kyran suddenly changed the subject.

[Don't change the subject—.]

'Though it is my intention, I really sensed a fluctuation, and it is similar to the black hole.'

Shaiha's eyes widened.

[No... could it be... we're close to the portal?]

She observed their surroundings and realized they had long left the marshland region. The surroundings were now filled with thick trees that made it hard for one to walk around.

'I think so,' Kyran agreed, his eyes glowed silver as he observed the area up ahead. 'It's still a distance away, but I can see it.'

Atop a clearing, a hundred meters away from them, was a black portal. Reddish-purple lightning crackled at its core as a swirling mist of red and purple constantly appeared every second from it.

But.

Crackle! Sizzle!

Suddenly, the swirling mist spread out, seemingly infecting the black portal, turning its color to reddish-purple.

Kyran's eyes widened, realizing what the change in the portal's color meant.

'It's open.'

Shaiha shook her head in disbelief. Nevertheless, she did not voice her disagreement because she had seen what happened through Kyran's eyes and knew what he said was true.

[... that's right... You possess two of the greatest works of the Ancients. The Tower must be calling for you...]

'... didn't you consider the portal may have opened because I am the Void Master?'

[!]

Kyran was not really waiting for an answer when he asked that question. Seeing the portal up ahead and sensing no one nearby, he immediately switched the main magic energy he was circulating. His eyes turned reddish-purple as he teleported right in front of the portal.

'Oceanus did not say I can't claim the portal today, right?' he thought before stepping into the portal.