Legacy of the Dark Sage

Cade's silver eyes glinted as he saw the incoming short blade. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he snorted.

'Too naive,' he thought as a silver magic array crept on his outstretched arm.

Black spots appeared on his arm, spreading rapidly. It formed into an inch-thick gauntlet protecting his arm.

Kyran's eyes narrowed as his short blade touched the gauntlet. The gauntlet should be incapable of countering the short blade's Void property. But to Kyran's surprise, his short blade failed to cut the gauntlet.

Ping!

As if his short blade collided with a solid metal, Kyran's hand got brushed off.

In that short lapse, Cade's palm had smashed Kyran's chest, and once again, he got thrown back.

Kyran's eyes glowed reddish-purple as he slammed his feet on the ground. Dark purple sabatons formed on his feet. Spikes extended at the sole of the sabatons and pierced on the ground, breaking his momentum.

When Cade saw this, he raised his brows in surprise. Not because his challenger managed to stop his momentum but because he did not use any magic arrays. Initially, Cade thought the summoned short blade was a real weapon. Seeing the color of the sabatons and how the spikes formed in thin air on its soles, Cade realized both the short blade and sabatons were not items but made from magic.

His Obsidian magic could do the same, but he would have to use magic arrays.

'He is not a Magus... how come he's not using magic arrays?' Cade wondered. 'Apart from that, as a Regis, his physical ability is only so-so. Why isn't he using any Regis Techniques?'

Cade found the new challenger a little strange. If he was right about the identity of this person, there was no way he could not know how to use the Regis Techniques. Too bad Cade's probing array failed to gather any information about him. The information would have helped him better grasp this person's ability and identity.

"What's your name, young man?" Cade asked.

Kyran had just regained his balance when he heard Cade's question. He hesitated only for a second before answering, "Kyran."

Cade nodded and said, "Kyran. Don't you know how to use the Regis Technique?"

"About that—" Kyran stopped midsentence as he saw Cade moved again.

Cade's eyes glowed as he bolted forward at an incredible speed toward Kyran.

"Wait! Aren't you asking a question?" Kyran complained. Why couldn't he wait a few seconds for the answer before suddenly attacking?

Cade only chuckled in response as seven silver magic arrays formed vertically behind him. The magic arrays glowed and rotated swiftly, creating ripples in the air.

Black obsidian spears emerged from the center of the magic arrays and flew toward Kyran, who had already begun retreating.

With brows furrowed, Kyran waved his right hand and summoned seven purple discs. He controlled the discs forward, aiming to block the incoming spears.

Before, Kyran would have used a Void barrier to protect himself from the spears. But since he had no idea what kind of material the black spears were made of, he wanted to test it out first. Besides, he recalled how his short blade got easily repelled earlier.

If the spears' material was similar to the black gauntlet that covered Cade's arm earlier, his Void barrier would fail to counter them.

There was also a possibility that the spears could do what Sigma did to breach his Void barrier.

The purple discs rotated and intercepted the spears.

A cold glint flashed in Cade's silver eyes. He made an abrupt stop and spread his arms. Similarly, the spears flew out, covering a larger area as they zoned in on Kyran.

The purple disc moved as Kyran controlled each of them to follow one spear each. At the same time, he wracked his brain with ideas on how to deal with Cade's strange magic.

Honestly, it was Kyran's first time seeing his father use his magic. Cade never used his magic during their spars and only utilized the Regis Techniques. As Kyran observed the spears, he was reminded of Nolan's 'Elements' magic. Although it seemed his father's magic consisted of only one element. As to which element, Kyran had no idea.

Just before the discs and the spears collided, Cade dashed forward again and pointed at Kyran.

A small silver magic array suddenly appeared behind Kyran, catching him off guard. Before he could even curse at his negligence, another black spear emerged at the center of the magic array and shot toward him.

Kyran twisted his body to avoid the spear.

The tip of the spear's blade brushed past his chest. Just when Kyran thought he had managed to avoid it, dark purple energy formed around it, instantly slicing a chunk out of his coat.

"Argh!" Kyran winced as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. This instantly made him break out in cold sweat.

It should be noted that the toughness of Kyran's skin was comparable to a real dragon. It was almost impossible for magic attacks to graze him. However, the energy that formed around the spear actually cut his skin. Just what kind of energy was it?

[Void Halfling!]

True Void had almost disengaged the shape-shifting plates to cover Kyran earlier because he had sensed an impending crisis when the spear appeared behind them.

Truthfully, True Void could not believe Cade would actually aim at Kyran's vital point. As the champion, Cade would not have to worry about dying for real because he was just an essence.

Kyran, on the other hand, once pierced by the spear, would mean possible real death!

'I'm fine!' Kyran assured True Void after sensing his thoughts. To him, Cade's action was normal.

Even during their spars back at the Regis Estate, Cade never showed Kyran mercy.

Cade's eyes narrowed at Kyran's narrow escape from the spear's attack. If Kyran had used a Regis technique, he could have avoided it easily.

'Why didn't you use it?' Cade wondered with a slight frown. His interest in Kyran became stronger by the second.

The seven spears and discs finally collided at that moment, and deafening sounds of metal grinding at each other filled the air.

Hearing the sound confirmed Kyran's guess that the spear did have the ability to ignore the other property of Void, which was to turn everything it touched into nothingness.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In just a few seconds, the spears and discs exploded one after another after consuming each other.

While this was happening, Cade had stretched out his hand and beckoned the spear that Kyran avoided toward him. Instantly, the spear wheezed through the air, the dark purple energy rotating around it growing thicker as it neared him.

A powerful magic pressure erupted from Cade as he unleashed the fullness of his magic level.

The moment Kyran and True Void felt it, they sensed a looming crisis.

'This...!' Kyran had never felt such pressure from his father before. He knew something happened to his father twenty years ago, which stopped his magic from developing.

The strength of the essence left by Cade in the tower represented his strength when he was at his peak. Nevertheless, because he was only an essence, he could at most exert half of Cade's real strength. If an essence could already exert such pressure, Kyran could only imagine how strong his father really was.

Cade grabbed the spear's shaft, twisting his body to add more momentum to it before releasing it once more toward Kyran.

[Incoming!]

True Void warned Kyran.

Kyran did not need telling twice. A dark purple fissure appeared before him. His reddish-purple eyes glowed fiercely as the air around him crackled. Instantly, everything within a fifty-meter radius from him shook and got drawn into the fissure.

Bits and pieces of stones, minerals, and even the air itself flew before the fissure, forming a vortex. However, all these items did not enter the fissure. They merged within the vortex, and it grew at an alarming speed.

Kyran spread his arms and moved his hands. He twisted and turned his hands that were facing each other. Simultaneously, the vortex also rotated and turned as if imitating the movement of Kyran's hands.

At that moment, Cade's black spear was closing in on Kyran.

Twenty meters.

Fifteen. Ten.

Soon it was only five meters away.

At this moment, the vortex had finally merged, forming a similar spear, albeit its color was dark purple. It flew out and collided with the black spear.

BOOM!

A massive shockwave erupted from the collision of the two spears, and everything within a 20,000-kilometer radius trembled. Clouds of smoke spread out immediately, rendering the visibility of the surroundings almost zero.

Kyran kept his guard up.

"Good. You didn't lower your guard."

Cade's voice suddenly sounded from behind Kyran.

Kyran's eyes widened. Without turning, he roused his magic and created layer upon layer of shields behind him.

However.

CRACK!

The shields were shattered in an instant as Cade unleashed a punch toward Kyran's lower back.

Once again, Kyran was thrown a few hundred meters, crashing into several boulders in the process.

Cade was not done. Even as Kyran got thrown, he followed closely by. He suddenly appeared in front of Kyran, who had just crashed into a boulder, and with clenched fist, struck him on the head.

Kyran barely lifted his left arm to his head to somehow block some of the fist's force. Still, the moment the fist landed on his arm, a few of the shape-shifting plates shattered at once.

[OW! OW! Spare my old bones!]

True Void yelped in pain. Although he was only yelping, he was not really in pain.

Kyran felt the tremor from the fist shake his brain, and he almost passed out as he was flung to the side. If the Elixir had not strengthened his body, he was sure his head would have exploded in that instant even when he tried to block it with his arm.

Honestly, Kyran's arm would have been blasted to mincemeat as well.

Even though his head did not explode or his arm turned into mincemeat, Kyran still spat out a mouthful of blood from the strike and even felt a few of his teeth had been broken.

Kyran's mind reeled.

This was his father's real strength.

No.

To be precise, this was half of his real strength, and it was beyond what Kyran had expected.