Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kairo positioned himself at the center of the arena. With the flaming long swords on his sides, he closed his eyes and began accumulating the fire and wind magic energies in the surroundings.

The fire magic energies were especially easy to draw because of the constantly bursting flames from the cracks on the floor.

Magic fluctuations rippled in the air as the magic energies gathered around Kairo.

Meanwhile, roughly fifty meters away from him, Kyran was still busy fending himself from the balls of flames.

Or at least, that was how it looked from the outside.

Within the thick cloud of smoke, Kyran's silhouette was slowly getting hard to see because of the continuous explosions of the balls of flames. After more than a minute, the audience could only hear the explosions and no longer see him.

Unbeknownst to them, Kyran had already stopped moving inside and had sat cross-legged on a still intact floor. As for what was taking care of the balls of flames, apart from the erupting flames from the cracks, seven golden metallic spheres were flying around, eliminating them.

These seven metallic gold spheres were the same items Kyran used to bind Matias's blazing roc. Apart from binding, they could also force activate magic attacks with specific requirements, such as the balls of flames exploding after hitting their targets. Unfortunately, these spheres could only work on 'magic attacks,' not people.

It was for this reason that Kyran only used it to bind Matias's blazing roc. Nevertheless, he found it curious that the arena's array did not seem to recognize the spheres as 'weapon.' Because as far as Kyran was concerned, these spheres were considered auxiliary weapons. Or maybe, it was not considered a weapon since it would only work on magic attacks?

Regardless of the reason, Kyran was not about to complain. With these, he could rest and plan his next move. His match against Kairo had already gone for too long and he was worried about Six. He had to go back to the Array Creation side as soon as possible.

Kyran was not worried that Six would not be able to do the array. He was actually worried that Six would do a very good job! Although he told Six not to finish the array, he forgot to mention 'delaying' the array's creation. Six might end up finishing at least 80% of the array all by himself and in a short span of time.

That would definitely rouse the Royal Family's curiosity.

Alas, Kyran thought he could handle participating in both competitions at the same time, however, it seemed his focus was already slipping.

Kyran took a deep breath and cleared his mind. He only had to win this match and then he could focus on the Array Creation. Afterwhich, he would use the rest of the afternoon to relax and catch up on sleep. As for whether he would participate in the Solo Competition Finals and the Field Operation tomorrow, it would depend on what Mannick had to say.

The air in the surrounding bagan to churn as the magic fluctuation intensified.

Kyran opened his eyes and looked at Kairo. Though he was still within the cloud of smoke, he could clearly see what the latter was doing.

Kairo began to wave his long swords and started to summon a red and green magic array. At first, the magic array was only at one-meter radius around him, but as he turned, new rune writings started to appear half a meter around the original.

A smile tugged at the corner of Kyran's lips as he 'look' at Kairo's magic array, using his magic sense.

'Finally he's going to summon that whirlwind,' he thought and stood up. He tap his space pouch which he always hid under his coat, and True Void's miniature Void Armor appearance appeared.

[Gah! Finally, fresh— cough! cough! What in the world is this place?]

True Void complained the moment he came out and saw they were surrounded by thick cloud of smoke.

'Bear with it for a while,' Kyran told him. 'I have some food for you.'

The moment True Void heard the word 'food,' the armor's eyes glowed in excitement.

[Food? Where? Where?]

True Void asked while looking around. He might have complained about the thick smoke around them, but it did not really affect his eyesight and well... he did not really have 'lungs.'

However, as soon as he realized where they were, he gasped and wrapped himself on Kyran's head.

[Oi, Void Halfling! Why did you take me out when the Royal Family is right there!]

He exclaimed while pointing to the direction of the booth where the Royal Family was. Then he saw the Crown Princess's standing close to the edge of the booth and his glowing eyes turned dark red.

[GAAAH! That woman is looking right at me! She has sensed me! Take me back! Take me back!]

Kyran pulled True Void off his head with a slight frown.

'Relax. She can't sense you. No one can. I have the Shaiha remember?'

[Fine! Fine! Even if no one can sense me, what about seeing me?]

'A few minutes ago, I just revealed to everyone 'Tyr' has a puppet. Compared that that puppet, your current self look... ordinary and unimpressive. Don't worry— oi! Stop that!'

True Void started hitting Kyran's head with his small hands.

[Just you wait! After I return to my majestic form, you will eat your own words!]

Black lines appeared on Kyran's head. He did say 'current self,' right? Why was he throwing a tantrum?

Kyran chose to ignore True Void's hits since it did not really hurt.

'There are only a few balls of flames left. Change into gauntlets,' he started. 'I'll rush in and—.'

[Wait.]

True Void stopped hitting Kyran.

[Those balls of flames look delicious.]

Kyran's brow twitched, 'You can't eat them. They are our cover.'

[But—.]

'Let's go!'

[Argh! Stingy! So stingy!]

True Void complained but disengaged the shape-shifting plates anyway. He changed into two dark blue and purple gauntlets, covering Kyran's fists and forearms.

The magic array Kairo was preparing had already grown to forty-meter radius in size. The crack area on the floor did not appear to affect the magic array. However, flames no longer flew out from them.

The whole gallery, as well as the VIPs watching from the executive booths had fallen silence. After all, creating a forty-meter radius magic array was something a Grand Master would have trouble making. Not only that, it appeared, the size of the magic array was still increasing.

"There are no longer explosions inside the smoke!"

Someone from the gallery shouted.

True enough, explosions had stopped from within the cloud of smoke. Even the smoke had began dissipating.

Kairo finally stopped and lowered his long swords. He looked at the cloud of smoke just as Kyran dashed out from within.

Everyone held their breaths upon seeing Kyran wearing a dark blue and purple gauntlets. They all guessed that was how he managed to hit the balls of flames. However, what made all of them surprise was the fact he looked the same.

There was not even any burnt marks on his clothes!

Kairo smiled, "Impressive. You managed to survive that unscathed."

"Stop talking and activate your magic array. You're done preparing, right?"

"Still acting pretentious," Kairo said through narrowed eyes. "We'll see if you can still act that way after! Fire Gale!"

In a blink of an eye, another twenty meter worth of rune writings was added at the edge of the forty-meter radius magic array.

Kyran's eyes widened seeing as he unknowingly entered Kairo's magic array. Before he could react, a blazing whirlwind erupted from the magic array, completely engulfing him.

The audience gasped in horror as Kyran could not even manage a scream before the flames ate him up. They did not even see his silhouette, meaning that Kairo's attack was too concentrated that anything inside, except for him, would be obliterated.

Stella let out a soft gasp after seeing the fire whirlwind. The other council members also looked at the scene below with grim expressions. They knew Kyran could withstand that flames. However, he was not 'Kyran' right now, but Tyr. If he managed to survive that, how would they explain it?

Haylee's delicate brows furrowed at the scene below. Before she could look at the Royal Army's booth, she noticed something strange in the direction of the fire whirlwind.

"W-What is that?"

"Hey, there's something strange about the flames."

"Does any of you notice how the flames seem to drop in size?"

Doubts started to spread among the audience.

Kairo's smile also froze. Since he was the one controlling the flames, he had better grasp of what was happening within his flames.

"This...?"

True enough, the direction of his flames seemed to be slowly gathering at one point. What was more, that point was where Kyran had supposed to have been 'eaten' by the flames!

[GAHAHAHAHAHA! This flames are actually composed of two magic energies! It's pretty tasty!]

Black lines appeared on Kyran's forehead after hearing True Void's ecstatic voice.

Right now, he had his arms outstretched, while True Void in gauntlets form, absorbed the flames around them.

[Gahahaha! This is a real treat. A treat, I tell you! Then again, that guy's attack is a feast. I want another feast Void Halfling!]

More black lines appeared on Kyran's head. Though True Void did not mention the 'guy's' name, Kyran knew he was talking about Ruin.

In any case, this had been Kyran's target all along. To have Kairo summon his flames and let True Void eat.

Alas, if Kairo knew Kyran only saw his 'powerful' flame whirlwind as True Void's food, he would likely faint in anger!