Legacy of the Dark Sage

Fortunately, Dilitrio's misunderstanding gave Kyran time to assess the situation further. Besides, Dilitrio said something that piqued Kyran's interest.

It was about how he knew Kyran's proficiency in Array.

Aillos had yet to reveal the truth about Coelus's corpse. Only a select few elders from different tribes knew that his body was sealed underground. Even then, those elders did not know that the seal that prevented his corrupted magic energy from leaking had been damaged recently.

They were also unaware that Kyran had taken that opportunity to change the seal's calculation and create a new array formation so he could use it to improve his family's strength. The only ones who knew about it were Aillos, his aides, the Array Saints who assisted in the new array's creation, and a few other trustworthy members from the departments or divisions the Aides were in charge of.

They were also confident that no one would leak the information because they made a pact never to say a word about it until Aillos revealed it at the closed-door meeting on the final day of the Grand Gathering. This pact was made between dragons; thus, no one would dare break it.

The consequences of breaking this pact, the dishonor and the loss of trust, were too severe for dragons to consider, especially after what they had been through when Coelus was still alive. They did not want to cause another war that could potentially destroy their race once more.

Dilitrio had the innate ability to read through others' thoughts, but there should be a limit to it. Kyran could guess several possible limitations to Dilitrio's ability. He guessed the latter's ability would only work depending on his affinity to his target. But if that was the case, then he should not have been able to read Kyran's thoughts since their affinity was non-existent.

Then there was the range limitation. Dilitrio might have to be in a specific range from someone to read their thoughts; if not, then specific measures should have been placed around him to ensure he would not misuse his ability.

Another limitation Kyran thought of was that Dilitrio could only hear the thoughts of beings with the same mage level or lower than him. Kyran felt that it was the most possible limitation to Dilitrio's ability because it was impossible for Aillos not to put up security measures around him to ensure information about Coelus would not be leaked due to his ability.

Of course, it was also possible that Aillos believed Dilitrio would not be bold enough to use his ability right under his watch.

There were other things to consider, but Kyran knew that Dilitrio had not heard about his Array proficiency through his ability even after considering all those things. If that was the case, and there was also no information leakage from those who knew about it, then Dilitrio or the Venom Dragon Tribe would have found it through other means.

In any case, that was something Kyran would have to find out after the match.

Kyran looked at Dilitrio, who returned his gaze with an expression full of doubt. He could not read thoughts, but he could almost hear the latter coming up with absurd reasons as to why he could not hear his thoughts or what he was doing with all the barriers he was summoning.

Since Kyran only used the array formulas on his clothes to hide the remnant magic energy from the Void, the range was not that big. However, it was more than enough to allow him to move around.

After observing Dilitrio for almost a minute, Kyran was convinced he had no plans to attack in close quarters. This might be because Dilitrio was not confident he could close the gap between him and Kyran. It might also be why he decided to use Area magic to restrict his movement with poison before attacking in range.

He might even be thinking of wasting time and ending the match in a draw after fifteen minutes.

No.

Dilitrio was definitely up to something.

A dragon's pride would not allow him to end the match without doing anything.

Just as Kyran was thinking this, Dilitrio's body started to merge with the poisonous air in the surroundings.

Kyran let out a wry smile. As he expected, there was more to Dilitrio's decision to cast Area Magic right at the start of the match. It was either to restrict his movements, slow down his reaction time while he fought at a distance, or launch sneak attacks.

Judging from how Dilitrio's body started to merge in the poisonous air, he intended to do the latter—slow down Kyran's reaction time to the poison's effect and launch sneak attacks.

Kyran proved his endurance by surviving all his matches. Even if he was given a five-minute break after each match, there was little one could do to recover his physical and mental fatigue in a short time. They might not have known about Cyneah healing his wounds, but they knew that no healing ability could recover one's physical and mental fatigue.

Dilitrio observed Kyran as his body became one with the poisonous air. All mages could do this if they successfully understood their magic in-depth.

'This...' Dilitrio frowned as he realized that he could not find an opening even after observing Kyran and merging with the poisonous air. 'Is it all because of the layer of barriers around him?'

Dilitrio did not get to dwell on this because as soon as this question flashed, Kyran's gaze fell toward him.

Found you.

Dilitrio barely made out the words Kyran left his lips. Instinctively, he moved out of the way. It was a good move because Kyran's figure flashed past him right after that, his hand outstretched, emitting an ominous-looking purplish glow.

Upon closer inspection, the purplish glow was shaped like a dragon's claw.

Dilitrio furrowed his brows, realizing that his adjustment to his poison did not prevent Kyran from using his magic.

No.

Rather than his adjustment being useless, could the barrier around him truly be capable of preventing the poison from affecting him?

Impossible.

His poison was so potent that it could easily erode one's magic barrier

Whoosh!

"Tsk."

Dilitrio flew to the side just in time before Kyran's claw-like fist was about to land on his face.

Wait.

Hit his face?

That should not have been possible because his body had merged with the air. He did not have a solid form that Kyran could land a blow. Nevertheless, Dilitrio's instincts told him that he would receive an injury that would never heal if he did not dodge.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

His instincts were indeed on point. This was because Kyran's fists were covered by Void magic. It would have been impossible even for a dragon to recover injuries resulting from Void. It would heal, yes, but the skin or part that was cut off would never return.

Just as Dilitrio thought he had successfully dodged Kyran's claw-like fist, the latter stopped his momentum midway and changed his movement from punching forward to swiping his arm toward the right. And that side just happened to be where Dilitrio had moved to dodge Kyran's fist.

"..Kuh!"

Dilitrio barely moved out of Kyran's range. Nevertheless, the tips of the latter's claws managed to graze his torso, tearing his armor.

Because of the unexpected contact, he failed to maintain his formless state and became visible.

The Venom Dragon Tribe's patriarch, Vish, who had short silver hair, the same shade of green eyes as Attor, and five horns like the rest of the patriarchs, furrowed his brows upon realizing that Kyran could actually follow Dilitrio's movements even after he merged with the poison air.

"But attacking him in that state is a double-edged sword," Visha, who bore an uncanny resemblance with Vish, except had a more feminine air to her, muttered. She was the Venom Dragon Tribe's second in command and Vish's twin sister. Her eyes narrowed as she added, "Because his body had completely turned into poison, and anything it touched would be affected by it."

SIZZLE! SIZZLE!

Just as Visha said, as soon as Kyran's claws scratched Dilitrio, even though he barely grazed the latter's skin because of his armor, the poison enveloped his claw in an instant.

Thankfully, his claw was made of Void magic. Thus, the poison was instantly disintegrated upon contact.

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"You—!" Dilitrio saw how easily his poison crumbled on Kyran's claw-like fist. "How come your magic signature was different!"

Apparently, his armor and skin were not the only ones destroyed upon making contact with Kyran's claw-like fist.

Kyran also realized too late that the barrier he was trying to circulate his fist to hide the Void's remnant magic could no longer bear the poisonous air. Its effects were reduced, and once it collided with Dilitrio's formless body, it started to erode and leaked some of the remnant magic energy from Kyran.

Aillos's eyes narrowed as he watched what was happening in the arena. He furtively scanned the expressions of the patriarchs and the seconds-in-command to check if they caught on the change in Kyran's magic signature.

The center of the arena was covered in poisonous air, and the visibility was terrible. But it was not as bad that dragons would not see what was happening, except, after Dilitrio merged with the surrounding poison, they could only see Kyran moving around.

In any case, they could still hear what the two were saying, which was why they were all confused by Dilitrio's remark.

Kyran furrowed his brows and tried to reinforce his barrier. However, just like how his Void magic could destroy anything without the hope of it being recovered, Dilitrio's poison had destroyed his barrier.

"What kind of trick are you playing at?"