Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran stopped and watched Vera gain another hundred or more distance from him. He could not help but applaud her decisiveness to run away. Initially, he was surprised to find she had enough magic energy to escape because he was convinced she had already used it up. If not, she would not have let Kairo or Ganza die. But after seeing her throw an empty bottle before using her magic to gain more than a hundred meters, Kyran realized she had used up her remaining magic energy to gain some distance and use that time to replenish her reserves.

Most people who had witnessed someone ruthlessly slice up people would have already panicked or lost their will to fight. Especially when that person killed people who were considered 'powerful.'

But Vera did not panic nor lose her will. She even acted on her instincts in an instant and ran. Coupled with her magic, she could become a powerful asset. Alas, she was a member of the army. So regardless of her potential, she would have to die.

Kyran turned his attention to the escaping Vera. By now, she had already gained a distance of more than five hundred meters, nearly half a kilometer. Logically speaking, that distance was good enough to shake off her pursuers.

But not Kyran.

Dragon Step!

With a single step, Kyran reduced the distance between them by a hundred meters. He took another step, and the distance went further down to less than four hundred meters.

Vera shivered involuntarily.

'This feeling,' she thought, as an ill-boding feeling racked her body. What Vera was feeling at the moment was similar to a feeling she felt when a fugitive they were after had turned the tables and began killing her men one after another.

Keep moving. Don't look back. Use your magic again.

These thoughts repeatedly swam through Vera's thoughts. The moment she had these thoughts was also the moment she realized why she felt this way.

The mysterious man was catching up to her!

Vera gritted her teeth. She had thought gaining more than five hundred meters distance was enough. But the mysterious man's strange movement technique could easily catch up to her.

With more than half of magic energy, Vera decisively used her magic, distorting the space between her and the mysterious man again. She pushed her magic to the limits and gained a distance of three hundred meters.

Bam!

"Stop running," a deep male voice suddenly spoke. He was so close Vera almost felt his warm breath on her ears.

Vera's eyes flashed, and a dagger slipped from her hand as she turned and slashed the space behind her.

Kyran leaned back, easily evading Vera's dagger. Holding the swords in a reverse grip, he aimed the hilt of her dagger with his right sword and deftly flipped it out of her grip.

"Ngh!" Vera gritted her teeth as she crushed a teleportation token she had taken out at the same time she turned.

Kyran's left sword hit the air as Vera disappeared before him. He sighed inwardly as he stopped and looked behind him, deflecting two daggers that suddenly flew toward him. Vera had thrown these daggers after she teleported ten meters behind him.

Vera turned to her right before breaking another teleportation token. She teleported ten meters to her right and drank another magic energy replenishing potion before using Space magic to gain about a hundred-meter distance from the mysterious man.

Kyran watched Vera's retreating, his eyes glowing coldly in the darkness.

[This is getting annoying, Void Halfling. She thinks fast on her feet and is pretty resourceful. Of course, she can only survive this far because you're not using your Void magic. But if this continues, there's a good chance she will lead us into a trap. Probably an ambush.]

'I know,' Kyran replied.

[Just use your magic, and kill her. It is not like she will detect your magic, right? With the Shaiha concealing your magic energy, no one will be able to detect the nature of your magic.]

'Being detected isn't the problem,' Kyran explained as he turned and continued pursuing Vera. 'I detected a magic veil on her and its pretty powerful. And this magic appears to be watching her.'

True Void frowned.

[Why can't I sense it?]

'It's faint,' Kyran replied. 'I barely detected it whenever she used her magic.'

[Ah! Come to think of it, her magic is also forbidden, right? Could that veil watching her is the army's seal or something to keep tabs on her? Unlike those mages caught possessing one of the three most forbidden magic, those possessing low to medium-risk forbidden magic are being watched by the army instead of getting killed, right?]

'If they agreed to join the army, they are not killed,' Kyran replied. However, if it was the case, then killing Vera would alert someone from the army. The veil was quite powerful, so it must have been placed by a high-leveled mage.

Kyran felt an incoming headache. Unfortunately, all the things he learned about the army from the Conclave were rendered useless. After learning about Mannick's identity, Kyran wanted to learn the new structure of the army. Unfortunately, they didn't get the chance to talk.

[Anyway, dealing with her will be tricky then.]

'I only have to be careful not to leave a trace of my magic on her.'

[Oh, that also works. But didn't you change the property of your swords?]

'I did. But as long as I don't infuse them with magic, they're considered normal weapons. In any case, alerting someone from the army is least of my worries.'

[Right.]

True Void agreed. With many things happening, especially with the supposed threat in Noser from the new Dark Sage's appearance, they would not pay much attention to Vera's death.

[What you have to worry about right now is being lured into a trap.]

Kyran did not respond. Instead, he performed the dragon step again to close in on Vera.

The truth, he was not worried about being lured into a trap. He preferred to be lured. This way, he did not have to run around looking for the others. But apart from taking out daggers, potions and tokens, Kyran did not see Vera take out a communication device. She did not even seem to attempt to send a message.

Why?

Vera's nape tingled. As if the god of death's scythe were always hanging close to her neck. Cold sweats trickled down her face as she took another replenishing potion and used her magic again. If she had not turned to the right, she only had to endure for another twenty to thirty minutes before returning to the others. But since she changed direction, she needed another ten minutes or so.

Vera did not attempt to message Fiona because she was busy running away. But seeing she could not shake off the mysterious man's pursuit, she decided if she got caught, at least she had to inform them about him.

A sudden thought crossed her mind while taking out the regular communication device and a teleportation token from her storage ring in case of emergency.

That was right. Just who was this mysterious man? What was he doing in front of the Regis Estate? Wasn't the Outer Walls deserted? Vera had been part of the first group to infiltrate the estate, so she was sure of that. Why did the man suddenly go after them and attack?

To be honest, when they sensed the man, they had planned on circling around him. However, the man was shrouded with such intense killing intent that Kairo and Ganza decided to attack.

'His combat strength is clearly above average. Could he be a Regis clan member?' Vera wondered while she hastily entered a brief report on the communication device.

She was about to send the message when the cold feeling she had constantly been sensing grew intense, and a flash caught her peripheral view. She turned her head to the side and dodged the man's sword. However, the sword still grazed her cheek as an intense pain racked her mind.

"Ugh!" She winced and reflexively crushed the teleportation token she was holding.

But.

Whoosh!

As soon as she teleported ten meters behind the mysterious man, something glinted from her right, and a sword struck the side of her neck.

An unbelievable pain racked Vera's body as she fell to the ground, a black sword stuck out from one end to another on her neck. No blood seeped out from the cut, but that did not make her feel any better. She wanted to pull out the sword but could not move her arms. As a matter of fact, her whole body started to go numb.

"Ah.. ah..." Vera tried to speak but to no avail. How could this be possible? Why did she not notice the man had thrown his sword?

Tears fell from Vera's eyes, both from shock and disbelief. Somehow, the man's sudden attack was familiar.

True Void whistled in Kyran's head.

[I do find it amazing how you throw things randomly at times and still hit your target.]

Kyran ignored him as he looked at the item Vera dropped before she teleported. He picked it up before turning his attention to her.

Vera started to convulse on the ground. Her senses started to muddle.

Kyran approached Vera and looked coldly at her profile. He pulled the sword out from her neck and said, "You know. I hit you once with a broken wood and spared your life. But you just had to appear before me again and cause trouble."

Vera's eyes widened as she heard the mysterious man's voice. When she was running away, she did not pay much attention to it. But now that she was on the verge of death, she found it familiar.

It overlapped with the voice of a young man she had chased a few months ago.

"Look, lady. I'm not looking down on you by saying this, but I really don't want to kill you."

Vera could not believe what she was hearing. No, it was simply impossible!

However, it was too late for her to process anything as her consciousness drifted away...