Legacy of the Dark Sage

"What?"

"How—?"

"Then young Dilitrio's claim—!"

"Wait a moment."

Eldir, Patriarch of the Flames Dragon Tribe, magnified his voice using a sound boost spell to get everyone's attention. Once he got their attention, he looked toward Aillos as if asking permission to continue.

Aillos gestured for him to go on with his hand.

With a nod of appreciation, Eldir looked at Kyran before proceeding, "You say you are the Void Master. Does that mean you are the one who caused the downfall of the Blade Dancer Clan?"

"Eldir, why are you asking about that?" Vish, Patriarch of the Venom Dragon Tribe, questioned while also turning to Kyran. "Rather than ask that, you must first confirm his identity."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"That is such an ironic suggestion, don't you think, Vish?" Ickle also interjected. "Is it not Dilitrio who claimed that Null here has a second innate magic? Now that he has confirmed he is that Void Master, does it not prove Dilitrio's claim? Besides..." he looked at Kyran with complex emotions and added, "The magic energy he conjured... that is no Chaos."

"I know, but..." Vish frowned and looked at Kyran as well. "You all know that The Emperor has declared war against the Void Master."

"Are you afraid of war, Vish?" Asherah, Matriarch of the Water Dragon Tribe, asked, looking at Vish disdainfully.

"That is not the point."

"Wait for a moment," Eldir said once more. He then looked at Vish and said, "I do understand why you are worried. But instead of getting ahead of us, don't you think it is best to discuss what is important first?"

Vish looked at him in disbelief, "And what is more important than an impending war against us?"

"Nothing is set in stone yet," Eldir insisted. 'Besides, some things do not add up yet, and thus, we need to tackle that first."

"I agree with Eldir," Velctor voiced his thoughts and wryly looked at Kyran beside him. "Kid, can you not drop such a giant bomb on us like that? We're dragons and rarely get scared, but we do get surprised, oh, and confused."

Kyran looked at him apologetically and said, "I'm sorry. I just thought it's best to be on point."

"Lord Aillos may have said to only talk about important things, but that kind of declaration... we need some brief introduction or something to prepare us," Asherah told Kyran. Though she seemed to reprimand him, the way she looked at him in amusement showed otherwise.

"Then allow me to explain," Kyran replied, smiling at Asherah.

Kyran acted respectfully around the tribe leaders to build a good rapport and relationship with them. He had a reason for doing that, which was also crucial for their next plan.

"First, I'll address Patriarch Eldir's question," Kyran continued, turning his attention to Eldir.

Eldir also looked expectantly at him.

"I did not cause the downfall of the Blade Dancer Clan," Kyran answered without beating around the bush. "However, I was there when The Emperor destroyed their plane."

Hearing his answer prompted the tribe leaders to talk amongst themselves again, but they did not do it excessively because they did not want to be rude or cut off Kyran's explanation.

After a brief conversation amongst themselves, some questions popped up, and they voiced them one by one. Kyran, in turn, answered them as much as he could.

"Why were you in the Blade Dancer Plane?"

"I have some urgent business there. I don't want to go into details now, but I will explain later."

"The incident in the Blade Dancer Plane happened recently, and we heard The Emperor pursued the perpetrator— which was supposed to be you, the Void Master— so, how did you end up here?"

"I can't answer that yet. To be precise, I can't entertain questions about what happened in the Blade Dancer Plane right now. If I did, you will all just get confused."

"Then tell us, why did The Emperor not come here if he already knows about you?"

"Are you asking based on what Lord Aillos said about The Emperor, knowing I have the Draconic core and Shaiha?"

"That's right."

"The Emperor does not know that the new Dragon Lord and the new Void Master are the same person."

"!"

"How does that even make sense?"

"The Emperor did not get a good look at me as the Void Master. Besides that, as far as he was concerned, he dealt a fatal blow to me when he blew up a plane I was hiding in the Lower Realm. He was probably convinced that I wouldn't last long. But I did. However, when he tried looking for me and failed, he, unfortunately, sensed a residual magic energy I used to escape.

I'm sure you already guessed how I escaped."

"Shaiha can only conceal your aura and presence," Eldir started. "But if you used your magic, any residual energy would not be concealed."

"Yes. I warped, and The Emperor caught the residual energy of the Void," Kyran agreed and explained. "I'm not entirely sure why, but he chose to chase me, who used the Void, rather than confirming if me, as the new Dragon Lord, survived his attack."

"The Emperor focusing on following your— as the Void Master's— trail is actually a smart decision. Compared to you— as the Dragon Lord, who has a connection to us dragons— you as the Void Master is a complete mystery.

It is best to secure you as the Void Master first since he can harass us for information about you as the Dragon Lord at any time—" Ickle paused after a lengthy explanation and sighed, "—all those yous can be very confusing."

Kyran looked at Ickle and lowered his head in appreciation for his explanation, "Thank you, Patriarch Ickle. I have the same thoughts. But I don't know The Emperor well and can't confirm if that is the only reason."

"Hm," Aillos finally reacted, nodding at Kyran's words. "I am one of the few who can be said to know The Emperor. However, even I can't understand his thoughts in its entirety. In any case, I believe he chose to prioritize the Void Core because securing it can give him a better chance at gathering all the Ancient Magic Cores faster.

The Void's nature defies all our known magic laws and rules, after all."

"Indeed."

"Then it is fortunate that The Emperor believed the new Dragon Lord and new Void Master are two different people. If not, he would have already come here and waged war," Vish remarked.

"...True."

"It is fortunate indeed."

"And?" Asherah looked at Kyran again, "Because you are also the Void Master, you successfully entered the Higher Realm. How did you find your way here then? I remembered Ames brought some of your family here because they said you came here— I assume you are that person they were searching for."

"Yes, that's right. They came here to look for me," Kyran confirmed Asherah's assumption. "As to your question: how did I find my way here? Well, I got some help and ended up participating in the Tower of the Ancients' hunt."

"You participated in this year's hunt?"

"Wait... does that mean the tragedy of this year's hunt..."

Kyran looked at the tribe leader who had just said that and smiled wryly, "Yes. I'm sorry for implicating the clan back then. I can't say I didn't do it on purpose. However, I made sure to divert The Emperor's attention before he started harassing the clan."

"Since we are on that topic, I will explain some things on my side," Aillos interjected as soon as Kyran paused.

The two exchanged glances before Aillos proceeded. He explained what transpired when The Emperor came to the Dragon plane over a month ago. The tribe leaders remembered that incident mainly because some of their members were shocked at the pressure The Emperor exuded upon his arrival. However, Aillos did not give the full details of what happened back then.

What he did tell them was The Emperor's demand to surrender their clan representatives because they were suspected of instigating the tragedy of the hunt.

In the end, the Emperor ended up leaving without taking the representatives, and even his attempt to pressure Aillos into attending a meeting he said he would host soon had yet to happen.

"Rather than say the meeting had yet to happen, I should say the unexpected appearance of the Void Master forced The Emperor to adjust his priorities," Aillos said at the end of his explanation.

The tribe leaders contemplated the things they had heard thus far before looking at Kyran again.

"So when you said that you diverted The Emperor's attention, you meant to say that you deliberately showed up."

"...I had helped."

"...? What do you mean?"

"Before Null answers that, there is something you must know first," Aillos stopped the tribe leaders from questioning Kyran again.

The atmosphere around them tensed instantly as they saw Aillos's solemn expression.

"I will now tell you about an incident after Null arrived here."

Aillos then proceeded to tell them the truth about Coelus's corpse.