Legacy of the Dark Sage

'W-What is this...? W-Why does this voice... sound so familiar...?'

True Void did not understand why he could hear the silhouette's voice in the mirror. Apart from that, the voice was familiar. Where did he hear it before? Why was he the only one that could listen to it?

RETURN TO ME....

'...I...'

...I... HAVE WAITED... FAR TOO LONG...

'...'

True Void's body started to move as if in a trance. As the voice only he could hear filled his ears, something within him stirred, and it intensified with each passing moment.

..iiir!

YES... THAT IS RIGHT.... COME...

True Void was far from the mirror, making it unsurprising if he encountered disruptions on his way. Meanwhile, everyone else present— including the shield-wielding automatons guarding The Emperor, The Emperor's companion and Ruin, the armored female mage, the winged automatons, and even Cyneah— was preoccupied and appeared to have overlooked True Void's presence.

No.

It was not that they had overlooked True Void; they were just too focused on what they were doing and could not spare any moment for him. Enjoy more content from empire

The shield-wielding automatons were busy protecting The Emperor, who probably was also busy recuperating after suffering from the backlash after his Dimension was destroyed. Frankly, the latter might even be in a very fragile state because he likely could not understand how someone like Cyneah managed to destroy his Dimension. The Emperor probably could not believe it and was shocked beyond belief.

After all, he was the most powerful mage in the Higher Realm. It never occurred to him that someone, probably apart from the Dragon Emperor, could hurt him.

Another angle to consider why the shield-wielding automatons were focused on protecting The Emperor was because the latter was busy preparing something inside. After all, his purpose, Kyran, was with him. The Emperor might be preparing to 'escape' now that he got what he wanted.

Whatever The Emperor was doing, the shield-wielding automatons were adamant about protecting him no matter what.

Deus and Ruin were also entangled in a fierce confrontation. It was already hinted that the two detested each other. Both viewed the other as a traitor. Whoever's side was deemed in the right, only the two knew. Then again, the truth probably did not matter as both believed they were in the right.

Alta was also busy keeping the winged automatons at bay. She was a powerful combat mage, and even if the quality of her magic far surpassed Deus's Winged Series, their number was far too many. She could keep them occupied, but she could not do anything else unless she reduced their number.

Finally, there was Cyneah. She was likely the most preoccupied among those present in the scene. Not only was she keeping the Macabre Glacier from running amock, but she was also trying to look for Kyran.

For the record, Cyneah was able to sense Kyran's presence earlier because Shaiha removed her concealment. But as soon as Deus summoned his defense-type automatons and they protected The Emperor, Cyneah stopped sensing Kyran.

It was to be expected.

The defensive barrier deployed by Deus's automatons prevented any magic energy from leaking out, preventing Cyneah from sensing anything beyond their barrier. She could have known that Kyran was trapped with The Emperor inside their barrier, but it was quite unfortunate that her lack of sight prevented her from grasping the overall situation and placement of everyone below.

Cyneah's magic sense was high. However, that was only within the Lower Realm's standards.

With all the magic disruptions and fluctuations and the high governance over magic energy mages in the Higher Realm, Cyneah couldn't gain any superiority. After all, she could only use Magic sense, while beings in the Higher Realm used Divine sense.

At most, Cyneah could roughly see forms and shapes, and even those were all in black and white. She had no problem using her magic sense in the Dragon Plane because everyone around her did not exude any powerful or intimidating auras. They also did not emit any murderous intent that could easily affect the surrounding magic energy.

Because of this, Cyneah could not find Kyran.

True Void could tell her. Unfortunately, the silhouette within the Macabre Glacier was messing up his mind. Whether it was intentional or not remained a mystery.

YES... COME TO ME...

The voice from the mirror's silhouette continued to beckon True Void, but the latter could not break free. Or maybe he lost control over his senses after the voice took over his hearing senses. It was as if the only thing he could listen to and react to was what the voice said.

But it was then...

Whi.... r!

... That a different sound tried to overlap the voice's hypnotic sound.

... ME... DO NOT GO ASTRAY... ONLY LISTEN TO ME....

Whiii.... rr!

"...!"

True Void's eyes, which had gone a little misty, stirred at the sudden whirring noise that sounded in his head. The whirring was faint and even seemed distant, but it was enough to make him snap out a little and halt in his steps.

"W-What was I...?"

NO... DO NOT STOP... COME...

"!"

True Void shivered as the voice kept ringing in his head.

Whiiir!

But simultaneously, the whirring sound increased a few decibels, disrupting the voice's control over True Void.

"..ugh...!'

Unfortunately, the overlapping sound and influence from the two sounds were too overwhelming that True Void felt his head would split apart.

"...S-Stop it!" he grumbled, grabbing his head with his hands and doing his best not to keel over from the pain.

WHIIIR!

However, the whirring sound ignored True Void's plea and got louder.

TO ME... COME... LISTEN ONLY TO MY VOICE...

Furthermore, the voice did not want to be overtaken and continue calling out to True Void.

WHIIIIR!

"GAAAH! I KNOW! I GET IT! STOP FOR A MOMENT!" True Void shouted as he finally recognized the whirring sound. To be precise, he could finally understand what she was saying.

Shaiha— the whirring sound came from her, and she called out to True Void, not because she noticed he was in a bind. As a matter of fact, she was the one who was in a bind— or, instead— it was Kyran.

Whiir! Whiir! Whiiiiir!

Noticing True Void had finally snapped out of whatever he was preoccupied with, Shaiha explained the situation to him.

'!'

True Void's eyes widened and almost yelled aloud, 'What did you just say?'

...LISTEN TO ME...

"...Ack...!"

True Void's head reeled once more as the voice tried again to influence him.

"...I said to stop...!" True Void shouted as he glared at the Macabre Glacier behind Cyneah.

"!"

That was his mistake.

As soon as True Void looked toward the Macabre Glacier, black and gray fog shaped like hands stretched out from the mirror's surface and flew in his direction.

"?"

Cyneah perked up as she noticed strange movement from the Macabre Glacier. She turned just in time as the hand-shaped black and gray fog brushed past her.

"!"

The foul stench from the fog had filled Cyneah's body and even entered her lungs. It was so overwhelming that it suffocated her.

"..Ugh...!"

"Milady?"

The stench from the mirror was so pungent that even Alta, occupied with the winged automatons, sensed it. She intended to ignore it; however, after hearing Cyneah's agonized voice, she could not ignore it anymore.

"!"

Alta was taken aback as the black and gray fog also passed through her. When it did, she had the feeling of being sucked inside... To where? She did not know. However, the feeling was very familiar.

Yes.

The feeling was similar to when The Emperor took a thread of her soul forcefully.

'No...!'

Instinctively, Alta panicked. The trauma she felt after having a part of her soul extracted was still vivid to her, after all.

The hand-shaped fog continued forward and went through the winged automatons.

In hindsight, the fog's influence should not affect these automatons. From Cyneah and Alta's experience, the fog affected something within them. And from Alta's perspective, it was not wrong to think it was their soul.

Automatons did not have souls. Unless they formed their sentients, they should not be affected.

Thus far, the automatons summoned by Deus did not have sentients— or, to be more accurate, they had yet to complete the formation of their sentients. However, the moment the fog went through them, the light in their eyes flickered, and the barrier around them fluctuated. After that, their energy cores dimmed.

Soon, all of them seemed to have lost their life and lost the ability to stay afloat. One after another, they fell to the ground.

Deus and Ruin also felt the foul energy that began to dominate their surroundings. Dues, too, noticed his Winged Series suddenly losing energy. He wanted to focus only on Ruin but could not ignore what was happening to his automatons.

Ruin, too. However, unlike the others, he expected something like this to happen. All involved parties were present, after all. Something similar happened in the Human plane. But Cyneah managed to take over the mirror and even subdue it so that the situation did not escalate to this point. However, there was a slight difference between what happened then and now.

The most apparent difference was Kyran's state.

Ruin only had a rough idea, but he felt it— just before The Emperor's hand touched Kyran's neck.

Next was True Void's state.

Back in the Human plane, the Macabre Glacier affected Kyran simply because of its connection to him. However, Kyran could still break free because True Void had not recovered his original body.

Now that True Void had his original body... and with Kyran in an unknown state, the Macabre Glacier could likely accomplish its true purpose after all this time.

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