Legacy of the Dark Sage

Lucian's complacent attitude stemmed from his belief that he had complete control over the situation. In a sense, his deployment of Dimension did give him an overwhelming advantage. But even without it, being a Supreme Overlord already gave him the edge in an all-out battle.

Then again, without the Dimension, Lucian would not be able to stop Kyran from using his escape skills. Lucian knew other ways to prevent Kyran from casting teleport or warp. But if Lucian only focused on that, and Kyran fought back like his life was on the line, he might truly end up risking his life, and that was something Lucian wanted to prevent.

This was because Kyran's death meant losing the Void Core as well.

Lucian had been searching for the Ancient Magic Cores for more than a thousand years and finally found clues to two of them. He would not waste this rare opportunity.

Besides, it was said that all four Ancient Magic Cores would appear at the same time. However, if one of them were destroyed, the vessels that possessed the other cores would suffer and eventually die. This was only speculation, yet Lucian had a feeling it held some truth.

How else would such a rumor spread if there was no basis for it?

In any case, Lucian wanted to retrieve the Void Core while its vessel was alive. He would no longer care what happened to the core's vessel afterward.

"I have been patient with you for some time now, so I will only offer this chance once. If you refuse, I will no longer hold back and show you the gap between us," Lucian warned the Void Master. While he did not want the Void Master to die, he could still half-kill him and retrieve the Void Core.

Ruin landed on the ground and looked toward Kyran's direction at the corner of his eye. As things stood, escaping was no longer an option. They could not even hope to wait until The Emperor grew exhausted because the latter could replenish his magic energy and continue to use his Dimension.

'...Can he maintain his Dimension that long, though?'

To be honest, Ruin was not that familiar with The Emperor's Dimension. That was not to say that he never knew about it. When Ruin was still in the Higher Realm, or to be more precise, while The Realm was still intact, The Emperor's Dimension was already famous.

'...He was called The Second rather than The Emperor back then because he was the Higher Being's disciple. But that's unimportant... Dimensions, unlike Domains, can be improved because the rules can be changed depending on one's style. Because of this, fights between mages are decided mainly by their Dimension. However, even if one wins today, that may not be the case the next time they fight....

Ugh....!"

Ruin inwardly scratched his head in exasperation. What the hell was he even thinking? He should think of a way to escape from The Emperor with Kyran!

Ruin never expected a day would come when he would wrack his brain to help his prey.

...

Right, he had been helping his prey even in the Lower Realm. However, that was only because he did not want anyone else to steal his prey. Ruin was the only one allowed to torment Kyran after all.

While Ruin had those thoughts, Deus landed behind The Emperor and went on standby. As much as he wanted to assist the latter, he would only be a hindrance because of the Dimension. Thus, the best course of action was to stay out of The Emperor's way and only make a move when an opportunity presented itself. Deus knew The Emperor wanted to keep the Void Master alive before extracting the Void Core.

As for Ruin, Deus would do everything to prevent him from interfering again. At the moment, that was the only thing Deus could do.

Kyran straightened his back and looked at Lucian without any fear.

Lucian could not see the Void Master's expression, but he still sensed the latter's fearlessness and could not help but applaud his bravery.

"My patience is running thin," he warned the Void Master while tilting his head slightly. "Return the Void Core, and I will spare your life."

Kyran's brow twitched yet again at Lucian's declaration. He noticed it earlier, but the way Lucian spoke of the Void Core seemed as if it belonged to him, and Kyran was a thief who took it from him.

It was a little unnerving. Alas, even if Kyran was unnerved, there was nothing much he could do then.

[I'm sorry, Void Halfling, I also can't find any weak spot within the Dimension.]

True Void informed Kyran after further observing Lucian's Dimension. He thought that if the latter's dimension had a weak spot, they could attack it with everything they had to create a crack. True Void was confident that he could help Kyran teleport or warp if they put a crack in Lucian's Dimension. True Void could only help Kyran while they were near the crack, but that was more than enough.

While True Void was about to resume his search, the words he heard Kyran speak next made him do a double take and nearly shout in shock.

"Why don't you f*ck off?"

[OOOI! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU IMITATING YOUR UNCLE NOW OF ALL TIMES?]

Lucian's eyes flickered at the Void Master's response, and his hand moved reflexively.

Orbs of golden light formed around Kyran and, in the blink of an eye, exploded in spot.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"..kuh!"

Typically, those explosions would not have inflicted any damage to Kyran. This was especially so when he was wearing True Void— who had already recovered his original body— as armor.

However, with the nature of Lucian's Light magic, the explosion had a far more piercing nature that easily penetrated Kyran's armor. Ignoring most of the nullifying nature of the Void, Kyran's insides received a blow from the explosion.

[Gah! What the hell is with the penetrative nature of his magic?]

True Void was also affected by Lucian's attack and suffered almost the same amount as Kyran.

True to his words, Lucian stopped talking and started attacking. Before the explosions could subside, he summoned several spears molded from Light magic and launched them toward the Void Master.

"Agh, damn it!" Ruin cursed after seeing The Emperor move.

Because Lucian's attack came out of nowhere, Ruin could not act in time to assist Kyran. He was only able to move when the former launched his second attack.

"You're not allowed to interfere!"

Unfortunately, Deus, who had been standing by behind The Emperor, also decided to move to prevent Ruin from interfering.

"I will be your opponent!" Deus shouted as he summoned three automatons. He could not waste his inner magic energy, but his automatons had a separate inner magic energy that he did not mind wasting. Besides, he had several thousand automatons in his storage. He only needed to use his magic energy when summoning them.

"That's cheating~!" Ruin could not help but complain as he evaded the automaton that came rushing at him with a spear in its hand.

Ruin also did not want to waste his remaining magic energy, so he dealt with the automaton without using magic. Luckily, he was currently in an automaton body and would not bleed even if the weapons of Deus's automatons pierced him.

Moreover, the automaton Ruin was using had an anti-magic attack barrier deployed independently. That was how he survived The Emperor's surprise attack earlier. Furthermore, the barrier did not require any magic energy.

Ruin evaded another incoming attack from Deus's automatons. He then spun his body with minimal movement and grabbed the lower end of the shaft the last automaton held. He yanked the spear out of the automaton's grip before spinning his body again and hitting the same automaton's back with the spear's blade.

Crackle! Crackle!

The blade slashed through the automaton's defensive array, its mechanical insides exposed.

Before the two other automatons could assist their fellow automaton, Ruin raised his hand, holding the spear, and pierced it through its exposed back.

Crackle! Boom!

Whoosh!

"!"

Ruin's eyes widened as he felt something enter his body— or, rather, the automaton body he was using— right after the automaton was destroyed.

'This... is magic energy?'

Ruin was not that interested in the automaton that Kyran created. But still, he was pretty fascinated at how sturdy it was and its ability to absorb the right magic energy he needed to use his magic. Apart from that, its ability to deploy an anti-magic attack barrier on its own was something that he truly appreciated.

However, what Ruin experienced after defeating one of Deus's automatons made him even more fascinated with it.

'..This body can absorb magic energy from automatons it defeated?'

Ruin was on point with his observation.

In the first place, the energy cores of Kyran's puppets were created from the reward he received in the Tower of Tribulations. And the energy core's primary function was similar to True Void's glutton ability.

It could absorb magic energy in the surroundings and even from enemies.