Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran's wooden staff appeared on his hand as soon as the female announcer declared the start of the match. A loud yet soft hum shook the arena when the staff's tip hit the ground.

The audience from the gallery widened their eyes after sensing a powerful aura emanating from the staff. There was a difference between the latter's aura from Kyran, making them believe that the staff might have started to form its spirit!

How was it possible? Normally, a weapon would only form its spirit after being used by a single mage for several decades.

Clearly, Kyran was not more than twenty years of age. How could his staff form its own spirit? Even if he started using his staff at the age of eight or ten, a decade was not enough to master and advance his staff's level!

Several different-sized light golden arrays circled the wooden staff's shaft, with five of the larger arrays converging around the bottom.

An amused smile appeared on Ganza's face. He also noticed the aura from Kyran's staff, and it filled him with anticipation.

'It seems I'll get to have more fun than expected,' he thought and licked his lips.

To answer Kyran's display, Ganza also took out his spear. At the same time, a half-meter radius red magic array appeared behind him as seven molded fire spears with a length of 1.8 meters formed at the magic array's edges. The fire spear's head pointed outward, and they formed a half moon behind Ganza.

Ganza's display brought gasps of awe from the audience.

Indeed, he looked like a fire warrior ready for battle.

BAM!

A loud breaking sound filled the air just as Ganza was revelling at the audience's attention. He immediately switched into a battle stance and looked in front.

Ganza's brow furrowed after seeing Kyran make a powerful leap that destroyed the floor he had been standing on. What was more, the latter's leap had shortened the twenty or so meter distance between them in just a second!

Such a powerful pair of legs to have made such a high leap!

"Humph," Ganza sneered and jumped to meet Kyran midair.

Kyran's expression remained indifferent as he raised his staff. As he did, its tip, where the larger arrays had converged, glowed and rotated, and in a blink of an eye, a flat head of a hammer formed on its tip.

But this head was different from the one Vanadin did to his sticks because its size was dozen times larger!

"Wha—?"

Before Ganza could react, the head of the huge hammer hurtled down to him, slamming him back on the arena's floor.

BOOM!

Ganza crashed into the arena with a loud explosion.  The sudden attack was too sudden and too powerful that he failed to put up any physical defence!

The gallery was thrown into an awkward silence as they watched Kyran land on his feet with the huge hammer resting on his shoulders. They then looked at the small crater Ganza had crashed into, and blood seemed to have drained out of their faces.

Kyran only hit Ganza with that huge-size hammer and did not even summon his magic, yet it sent the latter crashing to the ground. What kind of attack did he do?

The female announcer looked at the crater, still covered with smoke.

"Oi."

Kyran calling to the female announcer broke the silence.

The latter looked at him, still in a daze, and said, "W-What is it?"

"Aren't you going to announce the winner?" Kyran asked.

"...?"

Kyran pointed at the timer.

"The timer has stopped."

His words snapped everyone out of their reverie.

What did he mean the timer had stopped?

The audience looked above the arena and saw that the timer did stop at 4:54.

Loud hissing sounds filled the gallery as most of the audience took a sharp breath. Six seconds in the match, and it already ended? It was simply impossible!

Kairo, who had been sitting calmly on the Royal Army's corner a while ago, abruptly stood with a look of shock on his face.

"You—!" He looked at Kyran glaringly.

Kyran looked at him and tilted his head with a shrug before saying, "What can I do? He's too weak and passed out after one hit. It's not my fault."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The gallery was once again sent into an awkward silence.

Even Rake gaped stupidly at Kyran's back. Only Styx had a small smile on his face. But realizing that Kyran had once again beat him into beating one of the army dogs, his expression distorted.

"Humph, annoying prick," he muttered.

Kyran looked at the female announcer and said, "What? Are you going to gape there in space again? Is it that surprising I can defeat my opponents in a few seconds?"

The female announcer reddened slightly. She did not mean to gape, but she could not believe that he had made his opponents lose consciousness in the two matches.

Those two were Major Generals, equivalent to High Masters, while Kyran was only a Master mage. It was simply impossible for a low-level mage to win easily against someone with a higher mage level!

The smoke had now lifted from the spot where Ganza had crashed. True enough, she saw the latter sprawled on the ground. His eyes were rolled back as he stared blankly into space. Blood seeped out from his ears and gaping mouth, and she could see a few of his teeth had been knocked off.

"This..." The female announcer was speechless. But she reigned in her surprise and cleared her throat.

"Sixth match, Tyr of the Conclave wins!"

BOOM!

The gallery erupted with cheers and shouts of disbelief.

Seriously. What just happened there? Kyran had only made one move, right? Or did they miss something?

Once the winner was declared, Kyran did not bother to confirm Ganza's condition and made his way back to their corner.

Kairo balled his fists in anger. Was their information outdated? How could 'Tyr' deal with two of their members easily?

Vanadin's defeat was still acceptable. After all, he was still half-step from becoming a Grand Master. But Ganza was different. He was already a Grand Master! This meant two whole mage levels of difference from 'Tyr.' Even if Ganza had been careless and did not put up any defensive spells, 'Tyr' should not be able to shatter the former's default defenses.

Before Kairo could say anything to Osman and Rivka, Osman suddenly stood up and jumped into the arena.

"Osman!" Kairo called back. However, it was too late.

"Stop, right there," Osman growled at Kyran when he landed on the arena.

The noise in the gallery suddenly stopped after seeing a new development happening in the arena.

Kyran stopped in his tracks and looked back.

"I don't like what you said," he said while slamming his fists together. "I'll teach you not to act rampantly in front of us. Let's fight."

At Osman's words, the audience erupted in excitement. It seemed Kyran's words had earned the ire of the Royal Army!

On the other hand, the female announcer frowned at Osman.

"Major General Osman, please refrain from acting on your own. This is a competition. And as I said in the beginning, we will now strictly follow the rules and will not allow any last minute—" she stopped midsentence as the four-leaf clover earring she had on blinked multiple times.

When Kyran saw this, a smile crept at the corner of his lips. He then looked toward the executive booth where the Royal Family was staying. There he could barely make out the Crown Princess speaking. Even Emperor Euan was looking at her and even nodded his head slightly.

The female announcer's expression turned grim. Clearly, she did not like being told what to do. But still, she looked at Kairo, then at Styx before saying, "Leaders of both teams. The Royal Family has decided that if both of you agree to let Disciple Tyr and Major General Osman proceed with their match, we will rearrange the next matches."

Styx's brow furrowed at once. He wanted to say 'F*ck no. I want to fight.' However, he knew that Rake's next opponent was Kairo. Truth be told, he did not want Rake to be matched against that guy. Kairo was a pain in the ass to deal with since he could levitate in the air, summon powerful flames using only his long swords, and unleash powerful flame attacks from a distance. Being a Wind mage and melee specialist, Rake would have trouble closing in to deal Kairo an effective attack. Not to mention, Kairo was a Grand Master.

Thinking of this fact, Styx suddenly thought of something and looked at Rivka over at the Royal Army's corner.

Rake held his own against Rivka because the latter did not make any powerful moves. But, according to Kyran, Rivka was given the number two, meaning he was the second among the Royal Army who had a higher mage level.

Styx pushed this thought to the back of his head. It was not the time to ponder over it, after all. He looked at the female announcer and said, "I'll let Tyr do what he wants."

As soon as he said his answer, the audience erupted in agreement.