Legacy of the Dark Sage

Deception struggled to free herself from the particles that forced her to return into her human form but to no avail.

'Just what kind of magic is this?' She thought through gritted teeth.

In less than three seconds, Deception had reverted unwillingly to her human form and the particles that surrounded her also took form. They turned into a multicolored thick wire that wrapped around her body.

Deception's real self let out another indignant wail as she retracted the dagger from the crack before drilling it back with added fervor. She did not believe that she would not be able to force her way into the Human plane!

DING!

A loud metallic sound rippled through the sky as the dagger collided on an enormous black shield with gold and silver accents.

The black shield was the huge tong that held the dagger in place just a few seconds ago. When Deception pulled out the dagger, the huge tong returned to black, gold and silver particles and changed form into a shield almost instantaneously.

"IF YOU INSIST ON INTERFERING I WILL KILL YOU AND THROW YOUR PITIFUL HUMAN BODY TO THE ORCUS!" Deception bellowed from the within the crack. Her voice was like thunder that shook not only the sky but also the land below.

Simultaneously her essence echoed her words as she glared at Nolan.

All evacuated citizens of Noser along with the local city guards and leaders, trembled in fear. Everyone living in nearby cities who already noticed the anomaly in the sky, also heard Deception's bellow, were equally spooked. They were spooked not only by hearing such a voice filled with immense power coming from the above but also her words. To be precise, when Deception mentioned the Orcus, it invoked vivid images of a dark wasteland where order was non-existent and every inhabitants were being tortured in thousands of ways.

None of them knew what Orcus was. Was it the name of that dark wasteland? Or was it the name of the people living in that place who were torturing the rest of the inhabitants? Regardless of what Orcus was, the images that flashed through their minds was enough to strike fear to their very core.

Nolan was no exception. He also saw vivid images of that wasteland. However, he did not fear nor was he affected by it like most people.

He had been there before, so there was no need to fear.

Nolan sneered and replied with a voice similarly magnified, "I don't f*cking care what you f*cking say, you f*cking b*tch. Go back to your f*cking plane and f*ck yourself."

True Void and Zephyr who heard Nolan could not help but look at him in exasperation. Just how many times would he used the word f*cking in a sentence? This man's tongue was as audacious as ever! Was he not afraid to face the wrath of a Sovereign?

RUMBLE!

The whole sky shook violently as Deception's magic pressure erupted. It seeped in from the crack, sending everyone within a thousand meter radius keeling over and vomiting in blood.

"I'LL SHRED YOU TO A MILLION PIECES!"

Deception's essence echoed her real self's words as she continued to glare at Nolan.

Nolan's expression turned serious as he looked at Deception's essence.

"I'd like to see you try," he said. This time he did not magnify his voice but simply uttered them normally.

However, his voice was just loud enough for Deception's essence to hear, thus, it was still transmitted to Deception, sending her into a fit of rage.

"YOU—! GUH! AAARGH!"

Deception's bellow turned into a pained muffled cry as her essence burst into a cloud of flesh, blood and bones.

The thick wire that was wrapped around Deception's essence had turned into several spikes that riddled her body with holes. After which the spikes rotated like a meat grinder turning her body into ground meat in a matter of seconds.

Nolan did not even blink when he watched Deception's essence exploded.

From the side, True Void and Zephyr watch the whole thing with wide eyes. While they did not feel squeezy by seeing such a scene, both were looking at Nolan in a different light.

Although True Void had seen this man killed his own nephew without even a shard of compassion during their torture session— err, training session— in the tower, he could more or less guess that Nolan's attitude stemmed by the fact that Kyran would not really die because that space's had a special array. But this time, although Nolan only killed an essence, that was still an essence of a Sovereign. His decisiveness in killing her was testament that he was not afraid to offend a Sovereign.

'I knew about the saying like father like son, but this… To think Kyran's temper was closer to his uncle,' True Void thought randomly. Then he recalled Nolan was Rin's twin. Could it be that Kyran actually got his temper from Rin?

On the other hand, Zephyr gulped nervously. Was this still the same guy he used to threaten to cut off his tongue because of his foul mouth? Maybe he should tolerate his insolence more.

Nolan might have only killed an essence, but it was at the maximum level of essence a Sovereign could produce, possessing close to half of her real soul. Deception definitely suffered a huge backlash. She was forced to withdraw her dagger while her muffled cry was echoed from within the crack.

With an exasperated expression, Nolan picked his right ear with his pinky finger before looking at it then blowing a non-existent earwax.

"You're too f*cking noisy," Nolan grunted.

Sensing Deception's withdrawal, the Sovereign's Cradle second purpose activated. It glowed and immediately started to repair the distortion in the Human plane. Visible changes could be seen as the crack in the sky began to close, as if an invisible hand was stitching it back together.

Nolan did not retract the huge black shield in the sky in case Deception attempted to force her way again. Besides he did not believe that she received a fatal injury after her essence was killed. At most, her magic core would receive a small crack, thus, requiring her to slow down her magic energy circulation until it healed. Nevertheless, this would buy them some time and prepare for what was coming. Because the real threat was not Deception but the guy his essence met.

Nolan lowered his gaze and with a smirk, tilted his head slightly to the side and said, "How long are you going to pretend to be in a daze there, huh?"

Ten to fifteen meters away from where Nolan was standing, which was a bombed-out buiding, Kyran stood motionless. But unlike earlier where he was looking straight ahead, his head was now raised as he looked at the sky.

Kyran turned to look at Nolan. His eyes had already turned to dark gray and he was wearing an exasperated expression, "Looks like I worried for nothing. Having your essence fatally injured didn't seem to affect you at all."

Kyran regained consciousness around the time when Deception— her original self— used her dagger to widen the crack in the sky. Before he made a move, he had sensed Nolan's aura nearby, and so he decided to stay put. Judging from the intensity of Nolan's aura, Kyran knew he was the real deal. Besides, with the level of Nolan's essence, it would have been impossible for him to deal with Deception's real self and essence at the same time.

Nolan raised his brows as he looked at Kyran.

"That superficial wound?" He snorted in disdain before adding, "An annoying itch on my back."

"Annoying itch my ass, you were looking pale when you arrived at the cottage."

A female voice spoke from behind.

"And what's with your introduction earlier? Nolan's magic? How childish. Just say it's Elements magic!"

"Don't spoil my fun," Nolan grunted and looked at the owner of the voice.

Kyran also looked and was surprised. Then again with the stone he gave her, it could easily camouflage her aura. At the moment, her aura actually blended with Nolan that was how he did not notice her.

"Godmother."

Anette walked over to Nolan and stood by his side before looking at Kyran with a stern look.

"You should've said something before making a move," she said. But then her face soften and added, "I know you don't want to expose my identity knowing that Deception is one of the outsiders, but did you really think I will become a burden?"

Kyran did not respond. Frankly, he could not answer. It was not that he thought she was a burden. He only want to make sure she would not be exposed to danger. Because if something happened to her, Cyneah would definitely be sad.

Kyran cringed inwardly. He did not realize how much he cared about Cyneah's feelings.

'Right,' he stopped short upon realizing something. 'If Anette and Zephyr are here, what about Neah?'

"Where's Neah?"

"Neah?"

"You f*cking kidnap another one?"

Anette and Nolan said at the same time.

Kyran's brow twitched. He subconciously called Cyneah 'Neah' just like in the illusion. Knowing Nolan, Kyran would definitely suffer some teasing once the former realized the latter gave Cyneah a different nickname.

Anette glared at Nolan, "Will you stop with that kidnap nonsense?" She then looked at Kyran with a knowing smile. She did hear him mention that he would rather call Cyneah 'Neah' than 'Sisi.'

"Don't worry. She is in the cottage, waiting for our return."