Legacy of the Dark Sage

Light did not answer Kyran at once— not because the former did not know who organized the war, but because it was a very complicated subject to discuss.

The War of the Sovereigns was not organized by one person or an association. It was an affair that would occur after certain requirements were met. As for who would announce its commencement, there was no one. Sovereigns were only aware that it would start soon by instinct.

Regarding the requirements, there were two that needed to happen. First, the alignment of every plane in the Lower Realm and second, the number of Sovereigns it birthed.

Alignment of every plane did not mean a linear formation of every plane, but their 'time' and magic law.

Each plane had differing times. When a Sovereign entered a plane, and stayed there for a day, once he or she returned to his or her original plane— depending on the location of the plane and the distance between the two planes— more days might have passed, or only a few hours since he or she left.

When all planes began their alignment, the time difference would disappear.

As for the matter of alignment in magic law, every plane had differing magic laws. Because of this, some outsiders who ended up entering a plane might have their magic restricted. This restriction was different from a Sovereign's Cradle because even those planes with no Sovereigns would restrict outsiders' usage of their magic.

The only plane that appeared to not have any restrictions to outsiders in terms of that was the Human plane. It was because of this that Ruin and the others could freely use their magic albeit their magic output was restricted because their levels were suppressed by the Sovereign's Cradle.

However, as long as all planes completed their alignment, these restrictions would also disappear.

Obviously, the reason behind this was to ensure all participating Sovereigns would not have any advantages especially when it came to the time difference.

A good example of how one could take advantage of the time difference was war planning and preparation. If one Sovereign faction used a plane with a longer time difference, they could have more time strategizing and preparing for the war. They might even have a chance to nurture more 'pawns' and have them advance to Magus before participating.

The next requirement was the number of Sovereigns in the Lower Realm.

The Lower Realm had to produce enough Sovereigns to form several factions. A faction would normally have ten Sovereigns at a minimum and twenty-five to thirty at a maximum. If the Lower Realm only had five factions with a minimum of Sovereigns each, the War might not happen.

'Might not happen,' because there was also a possibility it would happen, depending on the strength of every Sovereign and the planes they govern.

Clearly, if there were only five factions with a bare minimum of members, a large-scale war might not be possible. A five-way war could already be considered 'large-scale,' to be honest. However, those beings in the Higher Realm might not feel the same. In their vocabulary, such a war was not worth their time.

That was right. Even those in the Higher Realm only saw the war as a form of entertainment. But it was not something they would bother organizing. Besides, the Higher Realm had its own affairs that these powerful beings had to focus on.

When Light did not reply to Kyran even after the latter waited for more than a minute, he said, "Forget it if you don't want to tell me."

Light frowned at the unspoken meaning in Kyran's words and said, "It's not that I don't want to tell you... I just don't know how to explain it."

"What's there to explain? I only asked who organized the war. I didn't ask you to disclose any information on the war itself."

"I know, but," Light's frown deepened, sensing their discussion might go south if Kyran's questions were not answered satisfactorily.

With a sigh of resignation, Light finally decided to say, "The truth, is the war will happen on its own. We don't know when it started but every Sovereign in the Lower Realm as well as those beings in the Higher Realm only know that it will start soon."

"Basically, no one organized it."

"That's right."

Kyran frowned slightly. He understood why Light chose not to answer because there was no answer, to begin with. Nevertheless, he still managed to wring a good piece of information from Light's response.

When Light referred to the beings in the Higher Realm, Light did not use the word 'Sovereign.' Meaning, the level of those beings from the Higher Realm was higher than a Sovereign.

It answered a previous thought Kyran had regarding if there was a higher level than a Sovereign.

Kyran sighed inwardly as he thought of the Dragons that once lived in the Human plane.

When the Human plane was on the verge of falling into the hands of the Soul Emperor, who joined hands with the outsiders, the Dragons did nothing. The only time they had truly interfered was after the Demon General— Ruin— almost ended up finding the Shaiha.

Kyran even had an inkling that the Dragon King favoring Zane, the Regis Ancestor, was only an excuse to have them use humans to fight off the outsiders and force them out of the Human plane. The other dragons then used the excuse of 'bonding' with the Regis family members and taught them dragon techniques, but in truth, they did not want to lift a finger themselves.

Of course, this was only Kyran's speculation. He did not have proof and was not invested in knowing the truth.

Just as he was thinking this, Kyran thought of something and asked Light, "When did the last war happen?"

"More than a thousand years ago," Light answered without any qualms. As if recalling something, Light added, "At least, to most planes it happened more than a thousand years ago."

"To most planes?"

"That's right."

Light proceeded in explaining the requirements in order to trigger the War of the Sovereigns.

But Kyran was only half listening to Light because he was beginning to understand the truth of what happened during the Chaos Era. He already had an inkling even before learning about the War of the Sovereigns. But now he felt he was getting closer to the truth.

Kyran guessed that the reason the Dragons could not make a move themselves during the invasion of the demons was because of the War of the Sovereigns. They were originally from the Higher Realm, if they made a move it would obviously change the war's outcome. And once it was discovered by the other beings residing in the Higher Realm, at first they would likely think that the Dragons were playing favorites. However, their focus might change and they would instead focus on the question 'why were the Dragons— especially the Dragon King— in the Human plane? When that happened, there was a possibility that the Shaiha would be exposed.

The more Kyran thought of this, the more he was convinced his guess was on point.

Ultimately, the Dragons left the Human plane before any news about them 'bonding' with humans spread to the outside.

Kyran could not help but break out in cold sweat, knowing the Shaiha was now inside his body. When it entered his body, he felt indifferent about it. But now that he learned more things about what happened during the Chaos Era, he was beginning to understand Zephyr's reaction when the Shaiha entered his body.

Initially, Kyran considered 'causing trouble' to the people who organized the war which was why he asked Light about them. But since there was none, he was thinking of directing his focus on the beings in the Higher Realm. He felt that as long as he could step into that realm, he could warp there anytime. And when that happened, he would cause some 'disturbance' just to vent his annoyance.

However, that idea was no longer appealing to Kyran. He believed that once he entered the Higher Realm, those beings with higher mage levels than the Sovereigns would definitely know that he had the Shaiha. His reasoning was based on the fact that the Dragons did not stay in their own realm to hide the Shaiha and instead chose to hide it in the Human plane. When they left, they did not even take it with them and instead, left a few of their servants to guard it.

Kyran could not help but groan inwardly in exasperation.

Being the predecessor of the Void Master a.k.a. the Dark Sage already gave him a hard time and it became worse after learning he was technically the predecessor of the Dragon Lord as well. Now it seemed, having the Shaiha in his body was far more dangerous than his not-so-welcome inherited titles.

Kyran pushed aside all his thoughts and contemplated his next move. First, he decided not to have anything to do with the War of the Sovereigns because he did not want to endanger everyone he hold dear.

Although he was talking to Light, Kyran never considered joining them. In the first place, he only thought of detaining Light and buying time for his father, while also letting his people do what they had to do without worrying about being targeted.

Second, Kyran was starting to see Light in a different 'light.' He did not find the latter a bad person and felt it best if they stayed on good terms.

'But if I don't join their faction, this guy will definitely turn hostile again, and when that happens...' Kyran looked at Light and felt regretful if they did end up fighting for real.

'Looks like, I could only do that,' Kyran thought while looking at Light with a complicated expression.

Kyran was now considering taking Light as a Sigil. But the latter was a Sovereign while the former was undetermined, which meant turning Light into a Sigil was a risky move.

If Kyran failed to turn Light into a Sigil, the latter would definitely turn hostile.

'Then... let's not fail,' he thought with eyes full of determination.