Legacy of the Dark Sage

But that was not why Styx and Zuri were a worse possible match-up.

It was because Zuri knew Styx had a monstrous strength that compensated for his lack of powerful magic attacks.

If she were not careful, she would get caught up in his momentum and be defeated without the latter exerting an effort.

'Now then....' Zuri thought, the wry smile on her face turning impish. 'Do I proceed as planned? Or...?'

They already made contact with 'Disciple Tyr,' and further entanglement with the Mercenary Hall's people was unnecessary.

As a matter of fact, they wanted to avoid facing members of the Conclave as a whole in a match, which was why Lev told Ignis to attack the floor and force Rake— Zuri recalled his name was Rake from the information they had on them—out of the arena.

By doing so, they could avoid getting on bad terms with the Conclave in the future. Disciple Tyr seemed to be on good terms with them, and it was in their family's interest to avoid getting on their wrong side.

Anyway, Lev had kept quiet about what he and Tyr discussed within the wall of flames, but he confirmed Tyr agreed to meet with them after the competition.

Apparently, Tyr was interested in meeting with the Snow Mountain King's messenger first. Though he had not confirmed his identity yet, the fact that he could coerce Ignis into submission without so much as a fight spoke volumes.

Zuri was aware of Lev's doubts regarding Tyr's real identity, but she did not share the same sentiment. She always felt something was off about him, especially with his impossibly strong support magic and absurd innate ability of spontaneous Array creation.

Tyr was too abnormal.

Because of this, Zuri was convinced there was more to him than he let on. So it was easy for her to accept the possibility that he was the person they were waiting for.

But she also understood Lev's doubts. Some of their people were also skeptical and asked questions such as: how Tyr could use Strengthening magic when it was not his innate magic, or how he could easily make Arrays so long as he had the required materials on hand.

With Patriarch Ezra's strict order to listen to the Snow Mountain King's messenger, they had to suppress their discontentment and complete what they were tasked to do.

Their mission actually ended the moment Lev succeeded in making contact with Tyr and the latter agreed to meet them.

But since they had to keep up appearances because the Royal Family was closely watching them, they had to continue with the competition.

If they were not careful, they might get Tyr in trouble if the Royal Family suspected anything about their purpose.

'... Better end this at once,' Zuri thought, sighing inwardly as she approached the arena.

They might have appearances to uphold, but she also knew every member of the Montgomeray Family wanted to meet Tyr as soon as possible.

Something far more important was at stake with this meeting, after all.

The timer started as soon as Zuri stepped onto the arena.

Unlike the previous match, where Kyran and Lev started talking upon entering the arena, Styx and Zuri only looked at each other.

As the timer neared the 25:00 mark, the announcer lifted his hand and shouted, "Third match of the Solo Competition, begin!"

Styx's eyes instantly glowed dark red as he spread out his arms. His sudden movement made the large scarf around his neck flutter. Two one-meter radii dark brown magic arrays appeared at the same time on his right and left sides. It was followed by several smaller magic arrays on his torso and arms.

The way these magic arrays appeared on his bare upper body made them look like he was covered in tattoos.

"Nemean armor," he muttered under his breath, and a translucent armor that resembled a giant lion enveloped his whole body.

Two large translucent bouche shields made of pure earth magic formed at the center of the magic arrays on Styx's right and left sides.

Zuri was not idle either. She raised her right hand and summoned her long staff.

The staff's shaft was made of pure gold, and a glowing crudely shaped icosahedron reddish-orange crystal was attached to its head.

Magic energies gathered around her, forming a gentle whirlwind at first, that soon turned fiercer as more and more of the energies were attracted to her.

Her short wavy dark violet hair blew around her head along the whirlwind.

A smile tugged at the corner of Styx's lips as he slammed his fists together.

BAM!

A metal-like sound rang out, which made some of the audience grind their teeth and cover their ears.

"Give me your best shot, kid," Styx told Zuri.

Zuri's brow furrowed at Styx's words but decided to ignore them. She was not a kid but compared to Styx, she was indeed one.

Focusing on gathering as much magic energy she could get from the surroundings, her eyes soon glowed red, and a one-meter radius heptagon magic array began to form above her.

One after another, fire magic runes filled the magic array. The glowed fiercely from the huge amount of magic energy it was absorbing.

From the Conclave's side, Kyran watched the scene indifferently.

Because this was a 'friendly' competition, it was not necessary to go all-out at the start. Styx and the others were also adamant about gathering intel on the Montgomeray members, thus Kyran understood this lack of action.

However, time was of the essence, and he wanted this match to end as soon as possible.

He wanted to meet with the Montgomeray and find out whether they were his allies or foes. Because he still considered the Spirits a threat after his encounter with one of them at the cottage, as long as they posed a threat to his people's safety, he could not rest easy.

The whole place shook as a blinding gold light formed in the middle of Zuri's magic array.

"Isn't that...?" Mimi gasped as soon as she realized what the gold light was.

One after another, the audience also realized what the gold light looked like and was equally astonished.

Kyran also gazed at the gold light and smiled.

There were interesting people among the Montgomeray Family, and if he could get their support, he could put them to good use.

Indeed, it was interesting to find a low-ranking mage— in Kyran's standard, anything below a Magus was low-ranking— that could summon a miniature sun!

"Senior," Zuri called out at Styx while the gold light above increased in size. "This is my most powerful attack. If you can withstand, I will admit defeat."

Styx cocked one brow and grinned, "Are you looking down on me, kid?"

"Not at all. I am only being practical. In a battle of attrition, I will definitely lose, because my magic reserves are limited. As for you, I know it takes minimal magic energy to maintain your Nemean Armor."

Styx's expression did not falter even after hearing Zuri named his armor. The Nemean armor was one of his signature defensive moves, after all.

"So, instead of acting stubborn and saying something along the line of 'I will fight to the end,' or 'I will not admit defeat until I die,' I'd rather end this in one move."

"That is what I f*cking meant when I said you're looking down on me, brat."

In an instant, Zuri was labelled as a brat by Styx.

Ignoring the sarcasm in his voice, she continued, "My little brother has suffered internal injuries after Ignis fell, and I want to take him back as soon as possible."

It was unknown who reacted first, but some of the audience exclaimed in shock upon hearing her reason.

"I knew it! Disciple Tyr will not lose to anyone! He inflicted a fatal attack on that boy by destroying his Spirit!" Millie also exclaimed in excitement. Apparently, in her eyes, Lev's Spirit 'falling,' was equivalent to it getting destroyed. Thus, confirming that Kyran did something incredible.

Mimi regarded her with an inward sigh. She had already long lost all hope of saving this younger woman from her one-sided infatuation.

Back in the arena, Styx's eyes narrowed at Zuri's words. He cast a sidelong glance toward Kyran and once again wondered what he did to defeat Lev and his Fire Golem.

Kyran who caught Styx's look only shrugged. However, he soon noticed several eyes boring down on him from the audience and felt an incoming headache.

The last thing he wanted was people coming up with an absurd story like how he 'killed off' a Spirit and rendered his master on the verge of death.

Looking at the woman before Styx, Kyran made a mental note to have a good long talk with her later.

"I am coming, senior," Zuri said, the miniature sun before her reaching a three-meter radius in size.

"Humph," Styx snorted and crossed his arms, without budging an inch.

Lifting her staff above her head, the miniature sun rose higher in the air.

She shouted, "Heaven's Fall!" and swung her staff downward.

The miniature sun came crashing down toward Styx.