Legacy of the Dark Sage

The next round of the round-robin bracket got postponed for five minutes. The short break was due to the arena getting destroyed by Kairo's fire hurricane and Styx's boulders. The Courtenay activated the arena's array. At the moment, the array was restoring the arena to its original state.

Styx sat on the bench while glaring at the Royal Army's corner. He was not satisfied with the outcome of his match with Kairo, and it peeved him after realizing he had fallen into his scheme.

"A forced draw. That f*cking bastard! I'll skin him alive," he growled before downing the high-grade energy replenishing potion one of the Courtenay representatives handed after the first round of the round-robin bracket matches.

"Tyr said that's their likely plan now that their first plan failed," Rake replied while fixing the bandage around his mouth. He had only finished drinking his share of energy replenishing potion.

"I don't know about you, but I think they will only adapt that move with both of you," Tilda differed and downed her share of high-grade healing potion. Since she did not use much of her magic energy in her match, she decided to reserve her share of energy replenishing potion for later. "They will definitely try to eliminate both me and Tyr."

Styx's furrowed brows deepened at her words. He felt the same way. However, knowing Kyran's real strength, Styx was not worried about him. The actual cause of his displeasure was when Kyran eliminated those guys, including Osman, before he could make them pay for hurting Deo and Tilda.

If Rake and Tilda knew what Styx was thinking, they might have flipped on the spot. They might even tell him that if Kyran did eliminate Osman, it also counted as revenge for Deo.

"Hm?" Styx grunted as he realized something. He looked at the two and asked, "Where in hell is he, anyway?"

Tilda chuckled and pointed her thumb to her side. Where she had indicated was Kyran's location. Right now, he was hunched on the floor, preoccupied with crushing different materials scattered around him.

"What the f*ck?" Styx blurted. He abruptly stood to have a better look at what Kyran was doing.

Rake and Tilda could not help but smile wryly at Styx's reaction.

"He used up too many materials just to create that small-sized transportation array, he said. Now he had to replenish the materials inside his wooden stick," Tilda explained.

"I can't believe he created an array of that level in a few seconds," Rake commented, his voice tinted with awe. "I've seen him use his innate ability, but those had been low to mid-tier arrays."

"I'm also surprised he could auto-create a Transportation array," Tilda agreed. But then she shook her head and said, "Actually, I'm more surprised by the fact he had materials to create a Transportation array!"

Styx did not respond to them. Now that he knew Kyran's identity, Styx knew that the Transportation array was just a camouflage. Using Kyran's real magic, warping that wooden stick was as simple as breathing. Seeing the latter's serious expression while diligently crushing different materials around him, Styx thought trying to camouflage magic was more troublesome than making a real array. So maybe, Kyran did make one, and the speed at which he managed to do that was astonishing.

Then again, Kyran was a Regis. The clan to whom Cade Regis, known as the most powerful Abjurer of their generation, belonged. As an Abjurer, Cade's Array knowledge definitely would not fall behind President Sigma of the Blacksmith Order. It might even be on par with Chairman Noir.

Anyway, Styx was convinced that Cade had taught Kyran about Array.

Of course, this was only Styx's idea. If Kyran knew what the latter was thinking, he would only give him a wry smile.

"Humph," Styx sat back and crossed his arms. "He pulled a fast one on me. I can't believe he eliminated one of those army dogs before I did!"

Rake laughed uneasily, "You're not seriously angry about that, right?"

Tilda snorted, "Of course he is serious. As if you don't understand his character, Rake."

Styx ignored them and returned to glaring daggers at the enemy's side. That was correct. At this point, he already sees those people opposite them as his real enemies.

Meanwhile, Kyran was busy refilling the small tubes inside the wooden staff with crushed materials while contemplating his next move. He already had the whole arrangement of their next opponents in his head.

The clue had been the arrangement of their opponents versus how they were called.

When the list of matchups was shown earlier, there were only numbers from 1-10. These numbers had been provided to them before the start of the competition. The list also showed their side only. Meaning it had been enchanted to only show information about their team's match.

It was not that hard to predict which number belonged to who. They only need to note the number of who their member had fought; from there, they could write down a rough list.

Unfortunately, the matchup list was only briefly shown, and none of them had the leisure to examine their fellow members' opponents.

Except, Kyran, that is.

Kyran was given the number 10, and his opponents were listed as 5,4,3,2,1.

Tilda's number was 9, and her opponents were listed as 4,3,2,1,5.

Deo was 8, with opponents listed as 3,2,1,5,4.

Rake was 7, and his opponents were 2,1,5,4,3.

Finally, Styx's number was 6, and his opponents were 1,5,4,3,2.

Just from looking at this, Kyran could see a pattern. According to their number and their opponent's number, it appeared 'Tyr' was considered the 'weakest.' This made him smile bitterly.

That was right. The numbers they received were their 'level' rankings.

The number 1 had been given to Kairo. Rivka was number 2, Osman was 3, Ganza was 4 and Vanadin was 5.

Though the announcer did not call them according to their ranking, the pattern was easy to see.

In any case, Kyran did not want Rake or Tilda to end up like Deo, and according to the number of their next opponent, Rake would be matched against Kairo, while Tilda would face Osman, the guy who burned Deo.

For this reason, Kyran had to convince them to forfeit the match.

As for Kyran, he would be against the man who hurt Tilda, Ganza. That guy would definitely try to eliminate him after what he did to Vanadin.

Not that it mattered.

Kyran would welcome any hostile act from them. That way, 'Tyr' would have a valid reason to retaliate.

Truth be told, it was getting harder for Kyran to hold back his killing intent. These people were the Crown Princess's people, after all. Once Kyran set out to save his clan, these guys would be dispatched along with Ruin and Deception's army to murder his clan. Reducing the number of his enemies before that happened was a wise move.

Alas, Kyran could not do this while disguised as Tyr. At most, he could only aim to half-kill them, just like when he broke most of Vanadin's bones.

With this in mind, Kyran racked his brains on how he could 'half-kill' his next opponent. It was a pity he could no longer use the move he did with Vanadin because he had already exhausted his materials in creating a Transportation array.

At this point, Styx had guessed right. Instead of trying to camouflage his 'warp' ability, Kyran had created a genuine array.

One and a half minutes before the match resumed, Kyran finished replenishing his materials and thinking up his next moves. He returned to his seat, where the other three seemed to be waiting for him.

Kyran's intuition was spot on.

Instead of discussing with Rake and Tilda their next move, Styx chose to wait for Kyran to return and speak his mind first.

In the span of a minute, Kyran shared his thoughts. Afterwhich, he told Rake and Tilda to forfeit their next match.

After hearing who their opponent for the next match might be, Rake and Tilda exchanged glances. Reflected in each other's eyes was determination.

"If what you say is true, then we have more reason to fight," Rake replied while looking at Kyran. "We can't let them do as they please. Besides, you said it yourself. They may aim for a draw or take us out. We can adjust our movements now that we know what they are after."

Tilda nodded her head, "Yes. Deo said it earlier, and I agree with him. We are mercenaries. We don't cower just because the odds are against us."

Kyran frowned slightly. He respected their strong will to fight, but right now, they were only being stubborn. And there was a fine line between stubbornness and stupidity. If they kept spouting nonsense about wanting to fight, they would only receive a fatal injury and give the other side more free wins once they ended up retiring the whole competition.

"Let's listen to him," Styx finally spoke after staying silent since Kyran began to explain his thoughts.

Rake and Tilda looked at him incredulously.

Styx then responded with a glare of his own, "What? Do you want to get your ass kicked and retire like Deo? F*ck, are you guys those army dogs' spies? Are you here to sabotage the Conclave? You want to give them free wins?"

Hearing him say those words, Rake and Tilda fell silent. They already knew that. But wouldn't they still be giving them free wins if they forfeit?

"Tyr has a plan," Styx added after seeing their reluctant expressions. He looked at Kyran and said, "I'd rather do it myself, but with the current lineup you mentioned, it's unlikely. It pisses me off, to be honest. But, as long as we get to fight each other in the finals, then it's fine."

Kyran could not help but scratch his head at Styx's last sentence, but then he smiled and nodded, "Yes. I do have a plan."

He looked at Rake and Tilda before adding, "But it will only be worth something as long as you both stay in the competition."