Legacy of the Dark Sage

Information of what happened to the other events a team participated in were available through the disc provided by the Courtenay Family. It included footages and list of the partipants including a brief information on them.

On the other hand, if they wanted to gather information on the results of other teams they had to collect it themselves. It was one of the reasons why they allowed other members; participants or non-participants, to watch the matches of others.

Kyran did not participate in the discussion of who would scout the other team's matches.

The Conclave Council Members made their own preparations to ensure they could get enough data, by assigning some of their members to watch the matches.

"Is he... really a young man? His build is that of a boy and yet... To actually have a Spirit of that level..." Malia voiced her doubts after the footage of the first match of the Solo Competition ended.

Vaness waved his hand and the orb flew back to his hand.

"Yes," he agreed. "I also found it hard to believe. But this is exactly what happened."

Dante raised his hand to which Callan looked at him, "Yes, Dante?"

"Sorry, President Callan. While I understand that it is alarming to know that the Montgomeray Family can employ the help of Spirits, its not like we really have to win against them, right?"

Kyran glanced sideways in Dante with a slight smile.

He had a point.

In the first place this competition was only a show to showcase each faction's strength. Apart from bragging rights when one side wins, there was nothing much to gain.

At least, that was how most of the members of the Conclave saw this.

"Is that why you guys only aimed for a draw?" Styx chided Dante.

Dante furrowed his brows, but still replied respectfully, "No. It is really hard to win against them with their abnormally unlimited stamina.

"To be honest, if not for the nature of my defensive wall, we would have lost in the end."

"Your innate magic is Earth magic which has a negating effect to Fire magic if used correctly," Carol commented.

"Yes, but their Fire magic is destructive and can easily pierce through my defensive wall if I only used Earth magic. So, I combined it with my version of Fire magic, to add a certain level of immunity against their attacks."

"In the end the timer stopped, deeming your match as a draw," Emir surmised.

Dante nodded, "Yeah."

Kyran remained silent during the whole discussion. As much as possible he did not want to participate in their discussion because he already had a plan of his own and the council members already knew of it– at least some of it anyway.

However, he did not want the members of the Conclave to keep averting their eyes on what was really happening in this competition.

They were aware of the injustice of the whole thing, that was true, but because they never doubted the Conclave would protect them no matter, they unknowingly 'accepted' everything as if everything was matter-of-fact.

With this in mind, Kyran knew he had to join in the discussion.

"The match could have ended with our win, in my opinion," he said.

All eyes zoned in on Kyran at once.

Styx looked at him with a raised brow but did not say anything.  After witnessing how he single-handedly dealt with the Lumley members yesterday, he developed a certain respect toward him.

Dante, on the other hand, frowned as he said, "You got something to say Disciple Tyr?"

Kyran did not miss the irritation in his voice.

Though Dante acted civil around Kyran, that did not mean he acknowledged him as one of their own. Proof of that was how he put emphasis on the word 'disciple' when he addressed him. To him, Kyran was first and foremost Chairman Noir's disciple before a mercenary.

Of course, Dante was only acting this way because he did not witness the Solo Competition against the Lumley Family. He heard what happened, but he was convinced people had exaggerated it.

"All I'm saying is that, there is another way for you guys to force them to forfeit," Kyran replied while raising his hands to show he meant no harm.

"But we can discuss that amongst ourselves later. We still have to hear the reports from the Alchemy and Array Creation competitions," he hastily added just as Dante opened his mouth to refute.

The four council members understood Kyran wanted to avoid unnecessarily conflict or them veering out of topic. Although, they could not help but think that if he had not made that remark in the first place, Dante would not have reacted.

Still, they knew Kyran did it for a reason, and the only reason they could think of was to change the mindset of their members.

Dante's comment earlier was enough for them to understand that there were members who were not really taking this competition seriously.

"Tyr is right," Noir agreed, putting a stop to Dante's attempt to confront Kyran. "We'll have the Alchemy report next."

Reigning in his indignation, Dante leaned back on his seat. Though he shot Kyran a sharp look before looking at Emir.

Emir nodded at Noir's direction, before respectfully bowing his head toward the rest of the council members. Finally, he looked at the rest of the members and started his report.

The Alchemy Competition ended with not much 'drama.'

The Courtenay Family also excelled in Alchemy and was able to produce good results. However, the level of their potions were still underneath the Alchemist Association's alchemists. Thus, it ended with them winning— as expected.

Finally, it was Kyran's turn to report the Array Creation's results.

With a slight smile on his face, he addressed them and said, "I don't think we need to go through the details. You guys just need to know that because of the Lumley Family's representative's hotheadedness, they got disqualified and we won."

Black lines appeared on a everyone's forehead as they looked at him grimly.

Almost all of them already heard what happened because the Courtenay Family sent a reminder to everyone, reiterating that though the matches between the Royal Army and the Conclave against the Three Noble Families were considered a friendly one, everyone must still follow the rules.

Because of the message, all those who did not witness what happened in the Array Creation competition asked around.

Soon after, they all found out what happened and felt somewhat sorry for the Lumley Family for falling victim again in Tyr's hands— the fact that it was Hamish who participated in the mock battle and not 'Tyr' did not matter to them. Apparently, anyone from the Blacksmith Order was now synonymous to 'Disciple Tyr' in most people's eyes.

Noir cleared his throat, breaking the sudden awkward silence that befell them after Kyran finished speaking.

"Allow me to compliment what the three of you have done earlier, by telling the rest of the strategy you three came up with against your opponent," he said with a gentle smile.

Kyran's brow furrowed as he said, "No need for that Master—."

"I actually want to hear what exactly happened in that mock battle," Vaness interjected.

Kyran wanted to let out a groan at these two older men's insistence. He wanted to move on this topic and get down to business.

But then he thought that he could use this chance to change the mindset of the other members.

"Fine," he finally relented after a short pause.

"Basically, the Lumley Family requested a change in the rules even before the match started…"

Kyran then explained what happened to the match. He also explained the enchantments he, Owen and Hamish did to their items.

The reason why Hamish pulled off the Field Array was due to the enchantment Owen placed in the headgear.

Basically, the effect of the headgear's enchantment was to continuously attract the magic energies in the surrounding, supplementing the mage with an almost infinite supply of magic energy. Of course, it was only an 'almost' infinite supply because it would only last for ten minutes.

That was why Kyran told Hamish to go on the offensive.

Unfortunately, Hamish's innate magic was also fire. And compared to Matias's it was obviously weaker.

But Kyran instructed Hamish to avoid rousing his own magic energy and only focus on unleashing sword attacks.

He then explained that the weapon he enchanted would be able to draw enough magic energy in the surroundings to unleash an attack that could counter Matias's flames.

Owen's enchantment played a big role in this part. Since it actively attract the magic energy in the surroundings, Kyran only had to include an array formula into the sword that would allow it to 'draw the water magic energy' the headgear would attract. This water magic energy then supplemented the sword to unleash water-attacks.

But Kyran knew water attack was not enough to counter flames, powered up by the Udrium. Thus, he changed the sword's composition— after it broke accidentally, to possess 'ice' nature.

It was because of this that when Hamish attacked, the sword unleash an ice attack instead of water.

Kyran did not explain the intricate details of how the sword could unleash an ice attack strong enough to freeze the powered up flames of Matias. If he did, he would somewhat reveal that the formulas he used were saint-tier level.

To be honest, he knew the reason why the 'head committee' requested to meet him right after the match was because of this.

"You might be wondering why we went through all the trouble just to defeat the Lumley Family, to the point where we have to reveal cards which you probably deemed unnecessary, like the Field Array," Kyran suddenly changed the course of the discussion.

Decan nodded, "I… actually think it is not good to reveal that early in the competition."

"True," Kyran agreed. He actually did not expect Hamish to go for a Field Array. But because he did, it boosted his attack further, rendering Matias's flames ineffective.  "But this is necessary to ensure the Lumley Family will not underestimate us."

His statement made the other members fall silent.

Kyran let the silence drag for a bit, before continuing, "You all know how unfair this event is. If we don't show them what we can really do, then they will keep on stepping on us.

"The Conclave is a neutral faction, yes. But for how long?"

Another silence befell the room.

The four council members exchanged glances. As they expected, this was what Kyran was aiming for.

"In the first place, the purpose of a joint military exercise is to showcase each side's military strength, as well as, exchanging of information. The Three Noble Families said they only want to participate in a 'friendly match' but in my opinion, pitting their best members against us is by means not to have a friendly match, but to assess us for real."