Legacy of the Dark Sage - Chapter 966: Alastor

“What I do is none of the Coven’s business, Alastor,” The Emperor said without even trying to look at the person who had spoken just now.

Alastor, the one who had warned The Emperor not to tempt the balance between the two realms, materialized a few meters behind Kyran and in front of the Emperor. He was wearing a long black leather coat with glowing runes embedded over its sleeves. His hair was dark red, and a glowing red and gold falcon mask covered his upper face.

Nothing was noteworthy if one would only look at him at face value. Nonetheless, from the way he carried himself, it was apparent that his strength could not be underestimated.

How The Emperor appeared guarded while looking at him also affirmed that Alastor’s identity was not simple.

Alastor waved his hand, and an undetectable and invisible force pulled Kyran away from The Emperor. Kyran was rendered speechless at how effortless and unassuming the former’s move was. It would be the first time someone had tried to pull him like it was nothing.

Kyran did not even sense Alastor’s magic influence enveloping his body.

No, wait. Maybe the only one who had done something similar and succeeded was Nolan. But Nolan was an existence that Kyran still could not understand, to be honest. Nolan was already the Human plane’s new Sovereign, but for some reason, Kyran felt that this uncle of his had yet to show the full extent of his Elements magic.

In any case, that was a different matter altogether and was entirely irrelevant to the current situation. Thus, Kyran forced them out of his mind and focused on the situation before him. He did not attempt to fight Alastor’s pull because he planned to retreat after getting hit by The Emperor’s piercing glowing rays.

Kyran succeeded in suppressing the pain he felt after getting pierced, but he felt his internal organs were being roasted even at that moment. He never expected The Emperor’s seemingly simple attack to have such a devastating aftereffect. And to think that his body had already undergone an enhancement.

The Emperor’s attack reminded him of Light’s magic. However, its level was on a whole different level. After all, the penetrative capability of Light’s magic did not have an aftereffect like roasting the insides of those it hit.

The Emperor did not attempt to stop Alastor from taking his target. If Alastor were interested in the Heart of the Cosmos, then The Emperor would make a move. But since he knew that Alastor was uninterested in it and only wanted to prevent anyone from the Lower Realm and the Higher Realm from breaking the balance between the two realms, or even anything, he did not make a huge fuss over his target being taken.

“You are The Emperor of the Higher Realm,” Alastor started to say, “But in the Lower Realm, you have to abide by its rules. You cannot randomly assault one of its inhabitants.”

“I don’t remember a rule that prevents one from the Higher Realm from retrieving an item rightfully theirs that accidentally fell in the Lower Realm,” The Emperor responded as soon as Alastor finished talking.

“‘An item that is rightfully yours…'” Alastor rephrased The Emperor’s words from earlier. “As far as I remember, the Heart of the Cosmos belongs to the person it acknowledges.”

The Emperor’s eyes flashed under his robe’s hood, revealing a blinding golden light. In a heartbeat, several concentrated golden beams of rays flew toward Alastor.

Alastor remained unmoved as he raised his hand. The space in front of him and Kyran rippled as the golden beams of rays arrived. These rays then seemed to sink right into the ripple, disappearing into oblivion.

Kyran, who was standing quite close to where the ripple had appeared and effortlessly subdued The Emperor’s golden rays, furrowed his brows.

The ripple had no magic fluctuation, meaning it was not produced with magic.

Kyran, not sensing any magic fluctuation from the ripple, was different from him, unable to sense the magic fluctuation from The Emperor and Alastor when the former used magic or the latter pulled him away. Because even if he did not sense it, he knew both used their magic or magic sense. It was just that he was unable to detect the magic fluctuation around them because of their impeccable control over their magic and probably because their experience and level were far higher than his.

If so, how did Alastor summon those ripples?

Kyran’s doubts were answered soon after.

The Emperor scowled at Alastor as he said, “Apparently, your stay in the Lower Realm allowed you to have enough influence over its rules.”

“I am merely asking the Lower Realm to lend me its power to ensure the balance would not break from your unruly behavior.”

Kyran’s mind reeled at Alastor’s words. It was good that he was wearing full armor; if not, his shock would have been apparent to Alastor and The Emperor.

The last thing Kyran wanted for the two to realize was how he could understand them.

That was right.

Kyran belatedly realized that the two were not talking in the universal language of the Lower Realm. As a matter of fact, they were talking in the Ancient language. Kyran only failed to notice it until now because he had been studying the tablets Axil and her faction found and had been exposed to its language for some time.

Though hearing others talk in Ancient language was different from reading its text, the tablets, even if they were copies, had an effect wherein the more one delved into it, it was as if they were speaking to its reader.

This was also why Kyran realized that he would not understand certain things unless he saw the real tablets. A copy’s effect was minimal, and only the original one could relay the message on several important points in its full context.

“Speaking as if the Lower Realm is alive…” The Emperor snorted. “Need I remind you how the Lower Realm came to be? I hope you have not forgotten that the Higher Realm is the heart of The Realm. If not for those traitors wanting to save the ruined planes from the outer part of The Realm on that day, we would not have such a huge problem of keeping the two realms at an equilibrium.”

“The War of the Sovereigns existed for this matter,” Alastor replied, unperturbed at The Emperor’s ranting. His voice lowered slightly as he continued, “However, there are planes that must be preserved. If those planes are destroyed, The Realm will—.”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Emperor unleashed another volley of golden rays toward Alastor as if annoyed at the latter’s prattling. He then charged forward while raising his hand toward his target.

Alastor waved his hand in succession as he summoned those ripples once more, aiming to counter the volley of golden rays that attacked in every directions. Because he got his hands full at countering The Emperor’s attacks, his hold over Kyran loosened a little.

Although it was only a little, it was enough for The Emperor to take advantage of. With his raised hand, he grabbed his target and pulled him.

Alastor’s eyes narrowed after seeing this. As much as possible, he wanted to avoid fighting The Emperor head on because the latter was the peak existence in the Higher Realm. If Alastor used his magic, it could be viewed as him openly opposing The Emperor.

Alastor might have been staying in the Lower Realm, as the leader of The Coven, to preserve the balance between the two realms. However, he was still a mage from the Higher Realm. If he attacked The Emperor, his clan in living in the Higher Realm would be implicated.

While Alastor was put in a dilemma over preventing The Emperor from taking Kyran, the latter would definitely not stay idle and let the two treat him like an object they could snatch at any time.

Kyran erupted with the Draconic magic as he unleashed 50% of its strength.

“This…!”

Alastor and The Emperor were shocked after sensing Kyran’s magic energy.

The Emperor, in particular, already sensed him unleashing 30% of Draconic magic, but he only brushed it off as a lesser dragon possessing more Dragon magic than per usual.

No one could really blame The Emperor for feeling this way because the Shaiha concealed Kyran’s aura. Because of this, The Emperor failed to sense that the magic energy Kyran emitted was Draconic magic. The Emperor simply assumed that the magic energy that erupted from Kyran earlier was Dragon magic, given their initial assumption that he was a lesser dragon.

However, this time around, the 50% Draconic magic Kyran released allowed the two to sense that his magic energy was not lowly Dragon magic but Draconic. While they still could not sense Kyran’s aura, which was why they could not prove this yet, they were too familiar with the Dragon Clan and could easily differentiate the quality of magic energy their kind emitted.

“You—!”

Sensing that his body could still take the amount of magic energy after unleashing 50% of Draconic magic, Kyran released another 20%, bringing it up to 70%.

Because of the surge of magic energy from Kyran, The Emperor’s control over his magic sense was disrupted, and he failed to pull the former into him.

A silver, with a tinge of purple glow, enveloped Kyran’s body, mixing in with his black armor. It resembled dragon scales embedded in the surface of the black armor.

Soon, Kyran’s armor resembled the one he wore as a humanoid silver dragon. However, there were obvious differences. One was its color, which was black rather than silver, with silver scales. Second was the overall look of the armor. Previously, Kyran was mistaken as a silver humanoid dragon because his armor did resemble a dragon, albeit in human form. The black armor did not have this look. Instead, the only reminiscent look it possessed that resembled a dragon was the silvery scales that embedded themselves on the armor’s surface.

“This… you are not a lesser dragon!” The Emperor exclaimed in both anger and shock. “This magic… yet having the body of a human… You have the Draconic core!”