Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran remained indifferent after seeing Millie create two different arrays.

The crowd, on the other hand, were left speechless.

It was not a surprise that most felt awed at witnessing Millie's move.

Creating a single array took a lot of mental strain on the mage. One wrong formula would cause the array to collapse and backfire on its creator. When that happened, the mage would either be fatally wounded or even crippled for life.

For this reason, Array Specialists never attempt to create two arrays simultaneously.

Aside from this, it was the same reason that another array could not be created inside an already active array. The new array would disrupt the magic energy flow of the already active array, and the whole formation would collapse. When that happened, the magic energy in both arrays would get rebounded, and the creators of the arrays would receive the brunt of it, resulting in either a fatal wound or even death.

The first array Millie created and pushed toward Kyran was now fully activated.

Three circling fire pools shot off from its center straight at Kyran.

Still wearing an indifferent expression, Kyran swung his wooden staff horizontally. Light golden runes emerged from the staff's shaft and hovered around him before flying toward the incoming fire pools.

As the runes got within two meters from the fire pools, Kyran waved his hand, and in an instant, the runes stopped. They spread out before forming a one-meter radius array.

A thin golden veil appeared in front of it as the fire pools slammed on it.

SHATTER!

Millie's first array shattered when the fire pools slammed on the veil.

The array Kyran created flickered and dispersed after serving its purpose of blocking the fire pools.

But Kyran did not stop and watched. When the veil was formed, he already whirled the staff in his hand and slammed it on the ground. Several light golden rune writings shot off from the bottom of the staff and spread on the floor. Each rune writings were five feet long, and in every twelve inches, a golden ring with one rune could be seen.

These runes lit up one after another. As they lit up, a golden line extended from its side and connected to the ring beside it. In a second, all these lines connected, and the rune writings now looked like a complete array formation.

When the array was completed, Kyran's eyes glowed. He pushed his feet on the ground and dashed toward Millie. Seemingly attracted to him, the array emerged on the floor and followed, hovering an inch beneath his feet.

Millie's eyes widened, seeing Kyran's fast approach. She was still in the middle of creating her two arrays. However, judging Kyran's speed, Millie only had three seconds to complete her arrays before he closed in on her.

Gritting her teeth, Millie roused her magic. She incorporated her own magic energy into her brushes to stimulate them. A second later, both arrays glowed, indicating their completion. She waved her arms and willed each array to block Kyran's path.

Without stopping, she once more took out another set of crushed materials and created a new array.

Kyran raised his staff toward the first of the two arrays.

Even without using his magic sense, Kyran recognized the formulas Millie had used in both arrays.

Both were offense-type arrays. The array in front was a fireball, while the one behind it was an earth lance attack. Millie's strategy was simple. Even if Kyran blocked the fireball with a barrier, the piercing nature of the earth could break the barrier. Once the barrier was destroyed, she would strike again using the array she was currently creating.

Kyran sighed in his heart. The way Millie was fighting was too expensive! Although she created only low-tier arrays, they were all offense-type arrays and required mid to high-grade materials.

In any case, if a mage fought like this, once his materials were exhausted, then he would lose.

Kyran knew Millie had enough materials to last for more than five minutes. That was their agreed time limit, after all. Nevertheless, Kyran had no intentions of prolonging their match.

With this in mind, Kyran raised his glowing staff and touched a point on the array before him. In an instant, the array crumbled before it could even activate.

Millie's eyes widened.

She had seen Kyran change and even destroy magic arrays. But magic arrays were different from arrays. One had to decipher the array first before one could destroy it.

"This...!"

Kyran flipped his staff and let the other end hit the following array. Just like the first one, it crumbled even before activating.

Because Millie had been distracted, she failed to complete the array she was working on.

"W-Wait—!" Millie shouted, immediately stopping what she was doing to run back.

Kyran, on the other hand, stopped abruptly. However, he did not do this because Millie asked him to 'wait.' He stopped to jump back.

This time, the golden array that seemed to be attracted to his feet did not follow. It flew and went straight at Millie.

Millie clenched her fists and raised both her hands. She ran backwards while hastily creating a defensive array using her brushes. Since she did not have enough time to take out more of her crushed materials, she used her own magic energy as the materials to create the defensive array.

It was unfortunate, but Millie's innate magic was weak. Too weak that she could not even summon a proper magic array. Thus, she could only rely on arrays to summon magic.

"Millie!"

Millie heard someone call out her name but ignored it. She poured all her concentration into completing the defensive array.

But.

"Ah—!" Millie gasped as she slipped backwards. She turned and realized too late that she had arrived at the arena's edge.

Kyran, who had just landed, looked at Millie with a slight smile. At the start of the match, he had already noticed she was a bundle of nerves. That was why he decided to keep their match simple. While he agreed to fight her with Array, he would definitely end up hurting her. He did not care what happened to her, but if she got hurt and was sent to the infirmary, there was no telling if the Crown Princess would leave her be.

After what Millie did yesterday, it would not be a surprise if the Crown Princess decided to mark her ahead of time. When that happened, Kyran would not be able to do the same thing he did with the members of the Blacksmith Order to Millie. The latter would be around the Crown Princess more frequently than the Blacksmith Order members, after all. The Crown Princess would definitely notice her mark had been tampered with, and it would be easy for her to narrow her list of suspects. All she had to do was know who Millie made contact with after she had marked her. And Kyran would definitely be included in the list.

When that happened, and the Crown Princess investigated all the people she had already marked, she would find the ones she gave the Blacksmith Order members had been changed.

Kyran would definitely be her main suspect.

Besides, the Crown Princess tried to mark Kyran but failed. So it was not a stretch to think he had a way to counter her mark. If that were the case, it would be hard for him to gain her trust— or at least, it would be hard for Neo to gain her trust and infiltrate the Royal Family.

To avoid all that, Kyran decided not to hurt Millie. As a matter of fact, he made such a spectacle when creating the array he aimed at her when in truth, the array was only a...

Millie's expression turned serious as she spun her body in midair. She might have failed to study at a magic school because of her weak innate magic; instead, she studied in a military school.

She was physically fit and had more physical combat experience than most mages!

While in midair, Millie waved her hand and took out a long sword from her storage ring. She grabbed the sword and flicked her wrist, aiming to pierce the sword at the side of the arena to stop herself from falling.

But.

Kyran's array finally arrived at the edge.

TING!

The tip of Millie's sword slammed on the array and was pushed back.

"No—!" Millie gasped as her hand holding the sword got flung backwards after getting deflected by the array.

Which turned out to be a simple defensive array!

Unable to regain her balance from being deflected by the array, Millie fell off the arena.

The timer above the arena stopped, and the announcer, though a little reluctant, shouted, "Participant Millie had... fallen off the arena. In the first match of the Solo Competition, between the Conclave and the Courtenay Family, the winner, Tyr from the Conclave!"

"..."

"..."

The hall had fallen into an awkward silence. This was not the result they had been expecting!