Legacy of the Dark Sage

When Kyran and Dusk first met, Dusk left in the direction of Armakea. Thus, when Kyran warped to his location, Kyran knew he was inside Armakea’s territory. If not, Kyran would not have succeeded in warping to where Dusk was due to the warp’s target distance limitation.

Considering this, Kyran disguised himself as Achim when he left Dusk’s hiding spot. He could have a number of people from Armakea he could change into, but going for Achim gave him a wider width to move around. After all, Achim was a Prince, and he could be arrogant, and no one would dare defy him given the King’s favor. Moreover, Achim was his Servant.

Although Kyran’s location was closer to the border, which could be considered under Kesiah’s jurisdiction, Kyran could not change into her for obvious reasons.

The sword in Kyran’s hand was also a disguise. To be more precise, it was True Void changing into Achim’s sword. As to how True Void retained the golden color of Achim’s sword, it was an array formula Kyran activated. They could not very well make the same mistake they did when True Void pretended to be Kesiah, after all.

After Kyran declared his intentions to Deception, the red mist around her swirled at once. By the time he dashed forward, the red mist had already covered her body.

Boom!

Kyran’s struck downward, the force at which left a deep crevice on the ground. However, his sword only cleaved at the red mist without hurting Deception.

Following this, Deception’s body dispersed and escaped the strike. She did not want to fight Prince Achim for obvious reasons. Being an essence, her mage level was a couple of levels below Prince Achim’s. Her Illusion would not be that effective. As a matter of fact, the reason she was not assigned to infiltrate Armakea was because her magic would not be effective against their Knights.

Initially, Deception was supposed to infiltrate the Eidums since her magic could be classified under support-type magic. Unfortunately, only those with recommendations could enter the Abbey where the Abbot mostly resided because it had a special barrier that would only allow those he recognized to enter. Deception could not even fake a recommendation because the Eidum families that gave such recommendations had to request the document parchment from the Abbot himself. It was rather annoying, which was why Deception was assigned to negotiate with the Kingdom of Cretea instead.

Kyran knew about Deception’s ability to integrate her whole being into the red mist, making it almost impossible for anyone to physically hurt her. Still, he did not hesitate to attack her because Achim had no way of knowing that. Besides, as much as he wanted to kill her right now, that was not his priority. If he truly aimed to kill her, he would rather do so with her real body, not an essence.

Killing an essence would be troublesome as well. Since they would not die, the Sovereign could come back and exact revenge.

Kyran would not allow any unwanted hindrances while he was busy conquering Armakea. If this meant he had to let Deception escape, it could not be helped.

“I do not wish to fight, Prince Achim. I did not realize I was already inside Armakea’s territory.”

Contrary to Kyran’s expectations, Deception did not escape. She reappeared a few hundred feet ahead and kowtowed at once.

Kyran wanted to rush in, but doing so would mean leaving the ancient tree’s radius. If Deception noticed he did not have an aura or presence, it might lead to trouble. As much as possible, he wanted their encounter to be brief. He also did not want to give her reasons to suspect anything. While Achim’s appearance could rouse suspicion, others would only think he was there to check on Kesiah since they were both candidates for the King’s heir. They were siblings but also rivals.

Frankly, Deception might not even care. She probably did not even know the situation in Armakea.

Before Kyran could think of another way to force Deception to leave, the latter waved her hand, and a gold parchment appeared before her. It then flew toward Kyran as she said,

“Please take this as a token of my apology.”

Kyran stopped. He grabbed the parchment as soon as it was within range. However, he did not open it at once. There was no telling if the parchment was a magic scroll that would unleash a terrible offensive magic spell upon opening.

“I believe what is written inside there will be beneficial for you, your highness,” Deception continued.

“How?” Kyran asked, looking at her suspiciously.

Because Deception had her head lowered, she did not see the look of doubt on his face. However, it was easily discernable from the tone of his voice. Apart from this, since he was asked her how the parchment’s contents would benefit him, it meant he had not opened the parchment yet. If he had, he would have asked her where she got it instead.

“As expected of King Ehud’s favorite nephew. You are—!”

Boom!

Deception broke out in a cold sweat as she slowly turned her head to her left. A deep crevice had appeared on the ground after Kyran struck his sword in her direction. He did not approach her, though. He remained standing a few hundreds of feet away from her.

“You will only answer what you are asked. Don’t talk crap.”

“Yes, your highness. I am sorry,” Deception apologized once more, sounding like a docile slave who wanted nothing but to appease her master’s wrath. Inwardly, though, she was reeling in anger. She was a Sovereign. How dare a lowly prince act treat her like this?

In the end, Deception could only reign in her anger. She could not make another mistake, especially when they had yet to win over the Somuli’s Sovereign. Her task in Somuli was her last chance to prove her loyalty after her failed conspiracy in the Human plane. If she did something that would jeopardize their overall mission, Flos would destroy her and her planes without hesitation.

“That gold parchment is a lost technology my family had kept hidden all these years. It has the ability to show the whereabouts of people you wish to find and even know what they are doing. Unfortunately, I cannot fully use the gold parchment as it requires blood to activate it, and it will only accept a certain type of blood.”

“You are giving me an unreliable piece of parchment as a token of apology? It looks like you are not sincere enough, Lady D.”

Deception raised her head just in time to see Kyran raise his hand, holding the sword. Judging the trajectory of his strike, it would not miss this time.

“It will only accept someone’s blood from the Original Family!” Deception hastily explained.

“Your highness’s blood came from the Original Family, thus, you can make full use of it!”

Kyran paused and frowned slightly. He read about the Original Family in the Eidum’s archive.

According to their history, Somuli’s inhabitants were mainly beasts and only a handful of complete beings. These complete beings were what they called the Original Family. After a few years, the Original Family expanded. Unfortunately, as new generations added to their family tree, a clash of ideals occurred, resulting in the Age of Terror. In that age, the Original Family split up, forming the Somuli’s future nations. Throughout the years, though, the Original Family found ways to procreate in several ways, and they were capable of such because of their Lost Technology. The beast-likes then came into existence. Because of the procreation, however, the Original Family’s blood began to thin, which then disappeared in time.

Armakea claimed that their Royal Family still possessed the Original Family’s blood. For this reason, they claimed to be the sole inheritors of the lost technology. No one dared rebuke their claims because it was written on a tablet they discovered a few years ago.

Kyran did not know how much of the things Deception said were true. But if it were, it would definitely be useful to him. Still, he was skeptical about its activation because he did not believe the Royal Family’s claims were true. Actually, Kyran did not believe the story about the Original Family. Far too many things about their existence did not make sense because they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Putting the matter about the Original Family aside, Kyran narrowed his eyes at Deception.

“How did you know what this parchment could do if it can only be activated using our blood?”𝔬𝗏𝓁xt.𝒸𝑜𝓂

Deception averted her eyes slightly, but then she looked at him again and replied, “We… have gone to Howling Pass to conduct some tests.”

Kyran scowled. There was a rich collection of inhabitants in Howling Pass. Even humans ended up living there. It would not be impossible for a member of the Royal Family— probably an exiled one— to take refuge there.

Then again, he still did not know how much of the things Deception told him were true. For all he knew, she might have made up that story, and the parchment was something her faction prepared to bait Armakea.

“Please show mercy, your highness. We only asked for a few drops of blood from your people to conduct the—.”

“We do not have people in Howling Pass,” Kyran interrupted her explanation. He did not want to continue their talk if she called for reinforcements. Since she came here after someone, she was definitely accompanied by others.

“I’ll take this for now. In addition, do not breathe a word about seeing me here. If you do, your head is mine.”

Deception lowered her head to the ground again, “Yes, your highness.”

Still, she cursed him inwardly, thinking she would have his head instead once the Somuli Sovereign joined them.

“Leave.”

Deception need not be told twice. She already left and retraced her steps out of Armakea’s territory.

When Kyran confirmed that Deception had truly left, he heaved a sigh of relief and returned to the ancient tree.

Dusk was still there, looking at him strangely.

“Pack your things and leave this place. It’s a good hiding spot, but now that Deception saw this place, it is useless to return,” Kyran said before he could say anything.

“And whose fault is it?” Dusk complained grumpily. However, He was not really annoyed because he heard Deception and Kyran’s exchange and knew why she was there.

Kyran ignored his complaint and said, “You’ve heard what she said. The information she provided is definitely something that has to be reported to Axil post-haste, don’t you think?”

As much as Dusk wanted to deny it, he knew Kyran was correct. This would not affect his mission, but the information would allow Axil to reassess Somuli’s situation.

“Fine,” he finally relented. “But first, we need to find a safe location.”

“I know a place.”

Without waiting for Dusk’s reply, Kyran touched the token of the Eidum’s Border HQ and activated it. In a flash, they disappeared.

Meanwhile, a silvery mist slowly descended from one of the ancient tree’s thick branches. It then materialized into a person in a silver-white hooded robe.

From under that person’s hood, it could be seen that the person possessed smooth, porcelain-like skin. Nevertheless, from the person’s frame, his or her gender could not be determined.

“Strange,” the person muttered. “Just now, I sensed some presence here. Where did they go?”

The person’s voice sounded like a woman or a young man, making it even harder to confirm his or her gender. One thing was sure, though, that the person’s silhouette resembled the one tasked to investigate the silver humanoid dragon.

Kyran tweaked the token he got from Hilam and made it so it could now be used like a transmission array. However, he was the only one who could use it, and its range was not as large as most transmission arrays. Apart from that, it only had one destination in the Eidum’s Border HQ— his room.

Kyran used the token instead of warping to avoid leaving a trace because the Shaiha could not mask any magic energy residue he left behind.

Dusk gave Kyran a blank look after guessing where the latter had taken him.

“Really?”

“Just call her.”

Knowing arguing was pointless, Dusk obliged and took out his communication device. He entered Axil’s code— while ensuring Kyran could not see the movements of his hand— and soon after, Axil’s silhouette appeared as a projection.

“Kyran? Why are you with Dusk?”