Legacy of the Dark Sage

Black mist-like beasts were either evading from or lunging toward several small black spears moving around in the air.

Ruin also dodged a black spear, which was bigger and thicker than the flying spears that was after his summoned beasts. His red eyes flashed as he turned to face the black spear that wheezed past him. With a wave of his hand, a red glow enveloped his right arm, he punched out, sending a red beam of light toward the spear. Just before the red beam touched the spear, the spear swerved to the left then turned one hundred and eighty degrees back at Ruin.

A smile appeared on Ruin’s face. He did not plan on evading the spear this time. His red eyes flashed. A faint red glow enveloped his whole body before he rushed toward the spear. He reached out his right hand and made a grabbing motion at the spear and suddenly, an invisible force like a huge hand seemed to grab hold of it.

“Break~,” Ruin muttered under his breath, and in an instant, the black spear exploded into black smoke. Just as he was thinking of going after the man who had summoned the spears, the air around the cloud of black smoke caused by the spear’s explosion suddenly shifted and whirled around like a small tornado. The smoke turned into pieces of black materials before transforming back into the black spear again.

Ruin’s eyes narrowed the moment he saw the black spear had reformed. If one was only looking at his eyes, they would likely think he was annoyed. But the amused smile on his lips betrayed such notion. It appeared he was enjoying his encounter with the man in black.

‘You forced your spear to explode before I could destroy it. Interesting,’ Ruin licked his lips. ‘Initially, I thought these spears are real weapons, but it seems all these spears are made of magic. Human plane’s magic law is really interesting.’

“Haven’t you gathered enough intel on what I can do?” Ruin asked, addressing the man in black standing on the silver barrier protecting the Regis Estate’s inner wall.

The man in black only looked at Ruin in silence. He looked relaxed and even appeared like he had no intentions of fighting Ruin in close combat, as the black spear flew back and hovered beside him.

This man was none other than Cade. And just as Ruin had said, Cade had summoned several spears to test the waters. With little information on the enemy, Cade would not attack blindly.

Of course, Cade had been observing Ruin from when he started attacking the barrier. Jax also provided initial intel of his identity. However, it was not enough to understand the full extent of Ruin’s magic.

Cade sighed inwardly as he recalled how much Jax had suffered just to inform them about the ‘outsiders.’ The latter’s face was full of blood and bruises when he called Cade. Apparently, the Emperor discovered the Royal Army’s attempt to destroy the Regis Clan after suspecting that they were hiding a person with forbidden magic. Gael plead innocence and Jax was made as the scapegoat, being the highest ranking officer leading the attack. After detaining Jax, he was tortured and barely managed to escape. Initially, Cade had thought the army discovered Jax had been working with them and let him escape on purpose to catch him red-handed, but after learning about the outsiders’ arrival, Cade realized the current situation in the army and the Royal Family was not that simple.

When Jax mentioned Gael’s change happened after meeting the Crown Princess, who had just returned from the Winfrey’s Ancestral Lands, Cade and the rest of the Regis Elders already guessed the gist of the situation. Their suspicion was further realized when Jax told them the Emperor knew the new Void Master was not a Regis but a different ‘made-up’ person by Gael.

After letting Jax inside the barrier, Cade sent Raya and Myst to get Jax’s family and take them back to the estate. They managed to take them before the army arrived to raid Jax’s home.

As for the group of officers they detained during the army’s first attempt to infiltrate the inner walls, the Regis no longer need to worry about them. After staying within the inner walls for weeks, these officers realized the ‘injustice’ of the army’s higher-ups decision in attacking the Regis Clan. They realized that if the army had not attacked, the so-called threat of the ‘Dark Sage’ would not have happened. After all, Master Cade had been doing a good job in sealing his magic. Also, when they discovered the new ‘Dark Sage’ was Master Cade’s son, they could sympathize to the Regis’s decision of hiding the truth. A family with genuine bond would definitely not sell out their own flesh and blood.

Another cause for the officers’ change of heart was due to the fact that the Regis did not treat them as prisoners. They were not locked up in cells but was staying in a house with decent accomodation. Although they were being closely watched and their magic were sealed, they were treated humanely. They were eating three times a day and was served delicious food. It even felt like they were there for staycation. Nevertheless, when Jax arrived and they discovered the truth, as well as the current affairs outside, they were determined to fight alongside the Regis if a war would ensue. They expressed their desire to Patriarch Aron. But the latter only smiled and thanked them.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Cade recalled the little information they had about Ruin and included it on his recent findings. Frankly, he found the latter’s magic troublesome. It was not easily measured and understood like the six basic elements; air, earth, fire water, light and dark. Ruin’s magic could be considered special in the Human plane, but Cade knew better. As someone who had been to other planes, Cade was aware of different magic ang magic laws from other planes. Though he did not know which plane Ruin had come from, Cade could more or less guess that Ruin’s magic had already ‘evolved.’

Magic evolution occured when one attained high mastery of their magic’s nature. A mage would normally take hundreds of years before they could achieve such mastery. Unfortunately, not all mage could achieve a breakthrough in mage level and be granted more lifespan. Because of this, mages who achieved a high master of their magic would also have a high mage level.

Ruin spread out his arms and black mist spread out of his palms. These mist flew toward the summoned beasts and in an instant their eye turned red, their bodies growing in size.

In less than five seconds, the beasts swept over the flying spears and destroyed them, causing bits and pieces of black dust to explode in the sky. The explosion in the sky looked like a painting of a red sky with black clouds.

𝒐𝒱𝗅xt.𝔠𝔬𝔪

“Come on, don’t be a sissy. Let’s play,” Ruin coaxed.

Cade chuckled, “You say play, but your wearing your murderous aura like a damn coat.”

Ruin grinned, “What better game to play than a game with one’s life on the line?”

Cade did not respond but his expression turned serious. The truth, he had no way of defeating this guy. He was aware that he was a Sovereign and although Ruin’s level had been suppressed, he still had no chance of defeating him. Cade was only buying some time until all surviving non-combatant Regis members escaped.

When Ruin failed to get a reaction from Cade, the smile on his face disappeared. It was then replaced by a sinister expression, as his aura rose.

“You look so much like my prey, but unlike him, he is more responsive to my wishes.”

Cade’s brow furrowed at once, upon hearing Ruin’s words. But he was not given time to digest this information. Ruin had suddenly disappeared from his line of sight!

Cade’s dark gray eyes instantly turned into slits as he unleashed the Regis Blessing.

BAM!

Cade lifted his left arm just in time to block a huge black fist coming from the left with such ferocity.

“Ergh…!” Cade gritted his teeth as his body absorbed the fist’s power. However, alhough he succeeded in blocking it, the attack’s momentum was too fast and heavy that he was thrown several meters away.

Cade lowered his stance and slammed his right fist on the silver barrier to break the momentum. A deep gash was left on the already crack-filled barrier from where his fist had dugged.

Three of Ruin’s summons, which resembled a large three-eyed wolf, pounced at Cade before he could make a full stop.

Cade’s eyes glowed silver as the black spear moved and sped toward the three-eyed wolves. However, the spear was still a few meters away.

Black obsibian particles circled Cade, forming a semi-circle barrier around him just as the wolves’ claws slashed down. With the sturdiness of the obsidian barrier, the wolves claws failed to dug into it and only managed to leave a superficial scratch. Before the wolves could retreat, black spikes shot out from the surface of the barrier, piercing them and destroying them.

Ruin squinted his eyes. The man’s magic felt strange. He clearly did not have a high mage level and yet, it managed to destroy his summons.

“Good!” He exclaimed in glee, “Its no fun if you fall easy. Entertain me more!”

Ruin appeared above the black barrier. He raised his fists, which he had joined together, a faint red glow wrapped around them. He slammed his fists on the barrier just as the spikes retreated back.

BAM!

Cracks instantly appeared on the barrier.

But before it got completely destoryed, the black spear arrived and attacked Ruin.

Ruin jumped back to avoid the spear. However, the exact moment he jumped, the black barrier exploded and three black swords shot out from within, hurtling toward him.

He waved his right hand and black mist came out of his palms. It turned into hands that grabbed the swords’ hilt, stopping their progress.

Ruin landed on the silver barrier. The black spear already flying toward him again.

Ruin raised his right hand and a reb beam of light shot through the spear. This time, the spear did not explode. Instead, the momemnt the red beam of light pass through it, the spear turned completely red and fell on the ground.

Cade’s brow furrowed. He lost control over the black spear. Although it was only a molded spear, for him to suddenly lose control over it made him wary of Ruin’s magic.

Ruin raised his left hand and another red beam of light shot toward Cade, who had just retreated from where the black barrier had been. Cade barely managed to dodge the beam of light and the side of his coat got caught in it. That portion of his coat had turned red and an instant, it crumbled into dust.

‘This…’

Seeing how Ruin’s red beam left a red mark, Cade was suddenly reminded of a passage in the broken tablet they discovered. That passage talked of a scene in the past, where a demon managed to infiltrate the human’s last stronghold. That demon wreck havoc in the western continent and Cade remembered it because one of the places it destroyed was the Regis’s previous Ancestral Land.

That demon was called the Red General.