Legacy of the Dark Sage

The space behind Deus crackled and distorted, slowly revealing a crack in space. Soon after, a gigantic hand broke out from the crack, shattering the space like fragile glass.

Kyran, who heard Deus's remark before the fissure appeared, was momentarily stunned. He had heard about the Higher Realm before but never expected a day would come when he would come face to face with someone from there. More importantly, why would someone from the Higher Realm be interested in him?

No. That was a stupid question. The white-robed man had practically stated the reason he was after him.

The Heart of the Cosmos!

This thought crossed Kyran's mind in but a breath's time, but that time was enough for the gigantic hand from the fissure to shorten the distance between it and him.

As soon as Kyran regained his composure, the gigantic hand was already upon him.

If this had been any other time, he would still insist on acting the part of 'Nar,' the Eidum's suspected Imon-spawn benefactor. But after learning the white-robed man came from the Higher Realm and he was there for the Heart of the Cosmos, Kyran no longer cared about appearances.

Dragon Steps—!

Or, at least, Kyran planned to execute a Dragon Step to evade the gigantic hand. However, before he could do so, a massive Array Formation appeared on the ground, which then triggered several other formations in different sizes and shapes written on the walls and the ceiling.

It should be noted that a part of the ceiling had already been destroyed by the gigantic automaton, Breira, and the others' arrival, and lastly, the timely explosion that caused a rift in Deus's Domain to appear. Yet, when the massive Array Formation appeared and all other formations were triggered, those written on the destroyed ceiling still appeared. From this, it was not wrong to assume that those formations were not written on a surface but were made to hover around the underground.

The pupils of Deus's eyes contracted as he felt a powerful binding force that instantly restrained his automaton from coming out of his Dimensional Storage. Giving a quick look around the Array Formation around him, Deus realized that there was a formula in it that restricted the use of any ability, magic, magic item, and spells that could connect the caster to the outside or a separate space.

For the record, when Kyran created the temporary world, the Array Formation was not triggered simply because it could not determine if the temporary world was outside its range or a separate space. As far as the formation's calculation was concerned, the temporary world could not be considered outside because it was connected to the space where the formation was within range. But it also could not be considered as a separate space because it was 'parallel' to Somuli's plane.

'This array...! It seems it is truly a treasure left by the Ancients!'

This discovery annoyed yet excited Deus.

Annoyed because the array dared to defy him, Deus, who was the most powerful Array Transcendent in the Higher Realm! Even if it was a formation created by the Ancients, who were known to have reached the pinnacle of Array Creation in the Realm in the past, times had already changed. With their civilization destroyed and their legacy gone, their influence in the development of Array in both Lower and Higher Realm was no longer there.

Nevertheless, Deus was also excited precisely because this would be the first time, after thousands of years, that they from the Higher Realm could get a chance to study a complete working Array Formation of the Ancients!

Because of the Array Formation's interference, Kyran successfully escaped the gigantic hand's trajectory. Still, since he had already decided not to keep up with appearances, he would no longer hide his strength— or, to be precise, his strength when using Draconic magic!

The dark purple color on Kyran's armor was instantly removed as its overall look changed, turning into the same one he wore as the silver humanoid dragon. After which, he used the Dragon Step to appear directly in front of the white-robed man.

Although Kyran planned to take the white-robed man by surprise, he never planned to underestimate him. Thus, he had already activated 50% of the Draconic magic in his body.

Unfortunately, Kyran's estimation of the white-robed man's reaction time was still way off as a silhouette appeared protectively in front of the latter, the same moment Kyran did after using Dragon Step.

Boom!

Kyran's fist collided with the silhouette's own fist, and an explosion filled with magic energies erupted from the impact.

But the explosion was not produced only by the collision of their fist, it was also because half of the silhouette's body exploded!

Deus narrowed his eyes at the scene before him. They had assumed their target was part dragon, albeit a very lowly one. Thus, when he created a puppet to block the latter's punch, he placed great importance on his puppet's defenses.

In the end, Deus's puppet still exploded. Moreover, he sensed his target did not put all his strength into that punch!

Deus had already retreated before his puppet exploded. After that, he reinforced his Dimension to ensure none of those complete beings and automatons inside would dare escape.

Not that they had the ability to do so.

As far as Deus was concerned, his target was likely the only one who could take advantage of the explosion that caused a rift in his Dimension and escape from it.

Alas, Deus's view of what transpired earlier was too shallow. Because the moment he stepped back, a huge coffin appeared right above his head.

Deus's eyes widened as he looked up.

As if in slow motion, the huge coffin opened, and a powerful restraining force kept Deus in place.

"This...!"

"Nice, Armak!" Kyran could not help but commend Armak for his timely assistance.

Armak, who, along with the other automatons who went with him, could be seen standing at the edge of one of the destroyed ceilings. After hearing Kyran's compliment, Armak was left feeling a little abashed. After all, Aran never complimented them; thus, Armak was not used to it.

For the record, the reason Armak and the other automatons arrived there was because they sensed Breira and the others suddenly appearing there. Not only that, they also sensed a sudden surge of powerful magic fluctuation, thus deciding to return to the lowest level of the castle and see the situation.

Armak's decision had been the right one. If not, he and the other automatons would not have been able to cause a rift to appear in Deus's Dimension.

Normally, others would not be able to see the Dimension, but the automatons with Armak possessed an advanced database that included what Dimensions were and how to counter it; thus, they immediately conveyed the message to Armak, who helped them create an explosion powerful enough to cause the rift and free their Master.

As a matter of fact, Kyran had been trying to communicate with Armak. Unfortunately, he could not establish a connection. Deus's Dimension seemed to have blocked his ability to communicate with his Sigils. But that did not seem to be the case with the automatons. After realizing that he could communicate with them, he already asked for their assistance.

That was what Kyran had been doing while Deus blabbered on earlier.

"Humph," Deus snorted as he raised his hand.

The air around him crackled as a magic array appeared above his head, after which a huge face of a puppet slowly emerged from it. It opened its mouth and let out a muted scream toward the opened coffin.

A muted sonic-like wave erupted, which rattled everything within a thousand meters around Deus.

Armak did not hear anything, but he felt as if his eardrums were about to explode. This was especially so since the Sigil's Blessings had enhanced all his senses.

Kyran was no different. But unlike Armak, whose body did not receive an enhancement from the Elixir and could barely hold on after hearing that soundless wave, Kyran was fine.

He ignored the soundless wave, which was like an itch that passed through his ear and appeared directly between the coffin and the massive puppet's face.

The retraining force from the coffin did not affect Kyran's movement. Raising his left fist, he punched the massive face of the puppet and destroyed it in one move.

However, by then, Deus had already moved to another location. As he did, he continued to create more puppets that flew toward Kyran.

Knowing his master's 'weakness,' Armak immediately willed his Divine Armament to close and moved it right below the spot where Kyran would require a foothold.

That was right.

Kyran's weakness was still his inability to levitate. He stepped on the coffin before using Dragon Steps to get close to the white-robed man once more. However, Kyran changed his trajectory midway the moment he saw a shift in the latter's movement. Thus, he still appeared in front of the white-robed man.

Deus could not help but frown. He had made sure to use his movement spell just as soon as his target used his strange steps. Yet he still failed to get rid of the latter's pursuit.

Fortunately, Deus had created quite a number of puppets to keep his target busy.

Armak continued to assist Kyran by moving the coffin around wherever he required a foothold. Frankly, it was a little exhausting to do this because the latter was moving too fast. If not for the Sigil's Blessing, Armak admitted that he would not be able to follow Kyran's movement. Still, it was truly a task to move around his Divine Armament.

To avoid giving the enemy a chance to predict Kyran's movement based on where the coffin would appear, Armak decided to unsummon and resummon his Divine Armament instead.

Kyran felt a little aggrieved as he continued to destroy the puppets that kept coming out of the white-robed man's magic array. He did not expect the latter to possess such a deep pool of materials to actually create so many puppets without even blinking an eye. While he, Kyran, would feel his heart breaking whenever one of his puppets got damaged because of the materials he would need to repair them.

True, his Void magic could easily recreate those materials, but the amount of magic energy he would need, as well as ensuring he was in a plane where those materials were available when doing so, was truly troublesome. Thinking about the hassle he had to go through made him remember the Regis Terram and miss it greatly.

Alas, after his last visit, the Regis Terram had been inaccessible.

Reigning all of his grievances on materials, Kyran continued his pursuit of the white-robed man. He believed the latter would soon exhaust all his materials and would no longer be able to create those puppets.

"I know what you're doing," Deus suddenly said with a slight smile. "You believe sooner or later, I will eventually exhaust my resources at the rate I am creating all these puppets, right?"

Deus chuckled, "Then you're in for a disappointment."

He spread his arms as the magic array behind him grew bigger, and the head of an armored puppet emerged.

This puppet was very different from those skinny ones that kept pestering Kyran. It even gave off a feeling like one of those automatons.

"I don't blame you, really. What does a lowly lifeform in the Lower Realm know about Array Creation? Don't think that the Array Formation of the Ancients can stop me from summoning my automatons!"

The armored puppet, which was actually a bonafide automaton, flew straight at Kyran. Raising its hand, a concentrated magic energy started to condense while he aimed it at the latter. The next moment, it released the magic energy that appeared like beams, shooting at Kyran relentlessly.

Kyran evaded the beams while destroying the puppets that continued to rush at him.

By this time, Armak had stopped using his Divine Armament to assist Kyran because the latter had already used the puppets around him to propel himself around.

Meanwhile, inside the Dimension, Breira and the others were unaware of what was happening outside.

When the Dimension was destroyed, Breira saw Kyran rushing out of the rift and then disappearing. Even the white-robed man had vanished.

But since the Dimension was still there, he knew they never really disappeared. Most likely, their surroundings were already different from the one they had been to.

Breira could not put it into words, but the fact that when his Master slipped out of the rift and he lost connection with him once more, it was proof that they had been 'separated' by some sort of barrier.

Mo also had the same thought. Initially, he had thought he could easily regain control over his body, but up till now, he was still immobile. This was a disgrace to him, to be honest. Thus, he continued to accumulate magic energy inside him to break out.

Similarly, another figure— and a huge one at that, was already doing something to break out of the Dimension's influence.

This was the gigantic automaton.