Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran crashed into the ground, and a massive explosion rang out. Shockwaves spread out, which in turn instantly destroyed every delicate structure within a thousand-kilometer radius.

"I'm coming."

Nolan's voice was not loud but echoed throughout the gray space.

Even before he said the word 'coming,' a massive hand had already formed above the spot where Kyran had crash-landed. It turned into a fist that smacked down on the ground.

Another massive explosion rang out as web-like cracks spread out on the ground. Clouds of smoke filled the air that almost hid the gigantic fist.

"Here's another one," Nolan said once again, and a huge black hammer formed above, smashing into the fist.

BOOM!

The force of the hammer broke the ground, creating a hundred-meter radius crater.

Shockwaves erupted, which obliterated what was left of the structures standing on the ground.

A deep sigh echoed in the air. Clearly, it was Nolan, and disappointment filled his sigh.

"Is that all you got?" Nolan asked.

Before Nolan could finish his question, a soundless force pierced through the massive hammer from below, instantly rendering it into pieces.

​ An almost tangible magic sense erupted that filled more than a 100,000-kilometer radius of the gray space. It bore down on everything within the space.

A dark purple vortex appeared at the center of the 100,000-kilometer radius and instantly pulled everything within. Air, rubbles, and even remnants of magic attacks and energies were drawn into the vortex.

The vortex movement was similar to a massive forming cyclone from above.

Nolan whistled after seeing the vortex. He felt the immense magic energy in creating that vortex and could not help but smile.

"It seems you've got a lot of magic energy to spare."

"I do."

Nolan sneered. Without turning around, he unleashed the full extent of his magic pressure.

Kyran, who had appeared behind Nolan, had purple discs hovering on each of his palms. He was about to unleash a powerful magic attack when Nolan's magic pressure bore down on him, which halted his movement for a second.

That one second was all Nolan needed. With eyes glowing bright blue, his cloak sprang to action and whirled off from him. It flew toward Kyran and wrapped itself around him. In an instant, Kyran's movement, as well as his magic energy, had been sealed.

"And with that, you're dead," Nolan said as he turned around to face Kyran. As he moved, a black and gold greatsword formed in his hands, and he cleaved it toward Kyran's side.

The greatsword sliced through the cloak, and there was no hint of hesitation from Nolan's eyes. Instead, there was only cold killing intent reflected in them.

However, instead of the blood and internal organs he expected to find after slicing through the cloak, the greatsword only cut through the air.

Nolan sneered, and he expanded his magic sense. The greatsword in his hand turned into countless particles and seemed to blend into the cloak. Then the cloak flew back at Nolan, covering him.

Kyran appeared out of thin air on the ground three hundred meters away. His complexion had gone pale as he fell on his knees and suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood.

To think he sustained internal injuries after receiving the brunt of Nolan's magic pressure. Its intensity was far greater than the magic pressure of the Sovereign of Ruin's essence!

Once again, Kyran wondered what level was Nolan really currently at.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk... Just that, and you already sustained internal injuries? Come on. Have you ever learned anything from Cade?" Nolan mocked as he flew down and sauntered toward Kyran.

Kyran wiped the blood off his lips, and he looked up glaringly at Nolan.

Going back three hours earlier...

After getting transported into the gray space, Kyran was shocked to find Nolan.

At first, Kyran thought Nolan was an essence, similar to Cade's. But after confirming that the man under the cloak had the same age and feature as the Nolan he knew, Kyran was convinced he was not an essence.

Nolan then explained why he was there and that he was Kyran's next 'training partner.'

Without giving Kyran a chance to ask further questions, Nolan gave Kyran a pill and told him to rest well because he would 'fix' Kyran's greatest weakness.

As for True Void, he really went 'out' just as he said and had not spoken to Kyran since then. Moreover, he had not even spoken to Kyran telepathically. It was as if he had just vanished into thin air.

The truth, True Void had gone back into Kyran's Void core and was currently hibernating. The reason was simple. Due to Cade's gruelling five-day training, he had used up a lot of his saved magic reserves. That was why when he saw Nolan and realized why he was there, he immediately ran away. Because if he had stayed, it would only be a matter of time before he entirely ran out of magic energy and would once again fall into 'sleep.'

In half an hour that Kyran rested, Nolan roused his magic and instantly filled the gray space with different structures. He explained that the gray space was similar to his domain but was not. It was a space within the tower specifically created to train Kyran.

Thirty minutes later, without uttering a word, Nolan suddenly attacked Kyran. His killing intent surged, almost creating a palpable form that suffocated Kyran.

At that moment, Kyran realized his greatest weakness, which Nolan wanted to fix.

It was killing intent.

It was not that Kyran had no killing intent, but it was too lacking. The cause of this was Kyran's personality. If he realized there was a way to avoid killing someone, he would immediately move in that direction.

Kyran's sensitivity to a person's killing intent was also the main reason he tended to be 'soft.' If he found his enemies did not have any killing intent, he would only aim to disable them. With not having enough reason to kill, Kyran would not kill.

Of course, if Kyran decided to kill, he would not hesitate to do so.

Unfortunately, Nolan found it as a great weakness.

In a world where Kyran's magic was rejected, he could not show any weaknesses. If he spared even one person who initially attacked him because that person had no real killing intent, Kyran might end up getting backstabbed by that same person.

This was the fact that Nolan wanted Kyran to understand.

And so, for the past few hours, Nolan had been aiming at Kyran with the intent to kill him.

"Do you... really have to take this training that far?" Kyran asked. His breath came in short gasps.

Nolan's eyes narrowed at once. He spread his arms, and several black orbs shot out from under his cloak. They changed midway and turned into countless swords that rained down on Kyran.

'Tsk,' Kyran gritted his teeth, and he slammed his hands on the ground. The ground shook as patches of purple light appeared on the ground around his hand.

These lights crawled out in different directions, and after moving away for three meters, they shot off from the ground and blasted off every sword that neared Kyran.

Nolan then stomped his feet. A fissure appeared on the ground from where his feet landed, and it crawled toward Kyran. Black particles erupted from the fissure, which instantly filled the surrounding air.

'This...!' Kyran's eyes widened as he realized that the black particles contained toxic elements. He instantly roused his magic and was about to warp away from the black particles when a set of black particles appeared underneath his feet. They now solidify, shooting upward and piercing Kyran's legs.

"Argh!" Kyran gritted his teeth in pain as he fell forward. His focus had been disrupted because of the pain, thus halting his warping plan.

"And you died again," Nolan announced with a dull voice. "How many f*cking times are you planning on dying? You think you have nine lives or something?"

Kyran could only grit his teeth in response. He grabbed his legs that were still pierced by the black particles.

"What? Cat f*cking got your tongue? Are you mad now? Do you want to get even?" Nolan taunted as he continued to walk leisurely toward Kyran.

Some black particles in the air had now entered Kyran's system, and he began to feel dizzy. The combination of the elements was too potent that his immunity to some poisons was rendered useless. Nevertheless, his eyes remained clear. As if the pain and the poison had now become a passing thought. Right now, all that mattered to him was how he could... kill Nolan.

"F*ck you," he told Nolan as his magic surged out from him.

In an instant, the black particles around him disintegrated.

Seeing this, Nolan stopped in his tracks with a sneer on his face.

"That's more like it," he said, as his eyes glowed bright blue. "Come at me."

Kyran did not need telling twice. His eyes glowed reddish-purple as his magic pressure rose. Then, while he was still on his knees, he spread out his arms, and numerous purple rings appeared in every direction around Nolan. A dark purple concentrated magic energy started to form in the middle of the rings.

Dark purple beams shot out from the purple rings and went straight at Nolan a second later.

Nolan simply snorted as his cloak moved. It circled him and instantly formed into an orb-like shield, "Reinforce!"

The cloak hardened just before the dark purple beams rained down on him.

===================

In one of the quarters within the palace, a woman with short brown hair in a red officer suit sat on a chair by the window. She had her eyes closed as if she was in deep meditation.

After a few minutes, she snapped open her eyes which glowed faintly in green as she stared off to space.

She lifted her hand and a white orb appeared above. For a moment, she stared at the swirling mists within the orb. Her expression slowly turned grim.

'Not good,' she thought as she retracted the white orb and took out a golden medallion from her storage ring.

The gold medallion had the Aureole symbol on it.

With the use of her magic sense, she sent an imprinted message into the medallion and when it was completed it glowed faintly.

A minute later, she took a deep breath and looked out the window.

'Something is about to happen. You have to meet me soon, Nar.'

The woman was none other than Aureole's Deputy Head, Olivia.