Gael's Devour ability was definitely not the same as True Void's absorption.
Kyran more or less guessed that this was Gael's last resort move rather than a trump card. Apart from this, the latter was forced to use it now because it required something that he did not have when they were within the stone wall.
People.
As much as Kyran did not care about what would happen to these soldiers it would not be wise to let Gael do what he wanted. It was not because he was not confident he could win against Gael, but because he did not want to alert Ruin.
Kyran was Ruin's prey. If anyone tried to touch him, the latter would definitely go to great lengths to ensure no one gets ahead of him.
It had been the case with Deception. If not for Cade stopping Ruin from going to Noser at that time, the latter would have already clashed with Deception and Noser would not only suffer but literally be wiped out of the empire's map.
Even if Ruin could not sense Kyran's magic with the Shaiha concealing it, Ruin believed Kyran was there. If another mage suddenly powered up, the only cause would likely be him.
With this in mind, Kyran did not hesitate and charged at Gael. At the same time, he summoned a five-hundred-meter radius purple ring above Tracomill. This size roughly covered the whole field where most of the soldiers were gathered.
Upon seeing the purple ring above, the soldiers' felt their scalp tingle in fright. Nevertheless, even if they were inexperienced, they were still soldiers and knew they could not retreat just because they were afraid.
The grandmasters immediately barked out orders to the support side to summon a magic barrier. They also ordered the rest of the soldiers at the back which formed the offensive formation to launch range attacks.
However, before the soldiers could even do anything, the black shadow that wrapped around their bodies started to feel heavy. As if the shadow itself was made of lead. After that, they felt their feet sink into the shadow.
"W-What is happening?"
"I-I can't move my body!"
"H-Help! I-I... My magic energy is— AAAHHH!"
"AAAHHH! G-Grand Marshal! W-Why?"
Miserable cries suddenly filled the air as the soldiers were swallowed by the black shadow.
Kyran's eyes glowed reddish-purple as the purple ring above filled up, turning into a huge disc at an alarming speed. It then lit up and shone down on everyone below, with a brilliant purple light.
As the purple light descended, all those who were touched by it disappeared one after another.
Since he would fail to kill them because of the black shadow's protection, Kyran could only warp them away. However, he could not summon a huge purple disc on the ground with the black shadow dominating it. He did try but failed. And it was then that he realized why. The black shadow was not a large-are magic attack nor was it a passive ability of Gael's Shadow magic but his domain.
It was the first time Kyran had seen such a domain. Normally, a domain could not be seen but felt. Only when a mage had already entered another mage's domain would he see what kind of domain the latter had.
In any case, Kyran had no intentions of sparing the soldiers. To prove his point, the place where he warped them was at a place that would kill them in an instant; The Misty Forest.
It took the purple light a couple of seconds to warp the soldiers it shone upon because Kyran could not warp several people at once. At most, he could warp 5,000 in one go but even then his magic energy would almost be depleted. If there were more than 5,000 people then he would need time to replenish his magic energy before he could continue. It was because of this reason that he needed True Void's help when they warped Euan, Mannick and the rest to the Tower of Conclave.
In any case, the soldiers in Gael's domain were more than 10,000. Although Kyran could warp almost half of them in one go, he did not want to end up depleting his magic energy. Thus, he resorted to summoning a huge disc above and letting it warp the soldiers in a timely fashion.
Basically, the side of the disc that shone down on the soldiers could warp them, while the other side, which was facing the sky, was attracting the magic energies in the surroundings to naturally sustain it.
It was the only way Kyran could think of to prevent Gael from devouring these soldiers while also preventing himself from exhausting his magic energy.
Gael's eyes turned bloodshot as he realized what Kyran was doing.
"YOU DARE!" He growled as the time it took for his domain to devour the soldiers doubled.
By this time, Imman, who had left to contact Ingrid and Mannick had come out of his tent when he heard the commotion. When he saw what was happening he was petrified. At the same time, he felt outraged at the enemy's action.
Alas, after Imman saw Gael in a different light earlier, he failed to understand the truth of what was happening. In his eyes, Gael was trying to protect the soldiers while Kyran was killing them using the light from the purple disc in the sky.
"What inhumane thing are you doing? To think you came from the Regis Clan!" Imman demanded as he charged to the battlefield. He glared fiercely at the man wearing a full dark purple armor with purple and silver rings circling his whole body.
In a blink of an eye, Imman equipped himself with all the magic items he had. A red-painted metal armor materialized and covered his whole body as a long golden staff appeared on his right hand. He also wore a set of accessories, a ring, a necklace and a bracelet that boosted his magic output while reducing his magic energy consumption.
Imman roused his magic and summoned stone golems that charged at Kyran before he could approach Gael.
Kyran's brow furrowed. It was not hard for him to understand that Imman had misunderstood the current situation. However, he had no intentions of explaining himself. After all, he was warping the soldiers to their death.
Seeing the incoming Stone golems, Kyran lifted his left hand. Three purple rings circling his forearm shot off toward the direction of the golems while turning into purple spheres.
The purple spheres expanded and hit the Stone golem's torso, destroying it at once.
However, Imman did not stop. He continued to summon Stone golems and even huge cold weapons made of stone that flew toward Kyran.
As if the purple spheres that destroyed the Stone golems had a mind of their own, they flew back and went after Imman's newly molded golems and weapons.
Kyran did not stop to watch. He vanished into thin air, only to reappear right before Gael. His left hand was already pulled back, and the silver ring had already turned into a huge gauntlet that overlapped with the Void Armor's gauntlet.
The middle of Kyran's slit pupils flashed silver as he delivered a punch at Gael.
Gael only sneered under his cloak as he turned into a cloud of smoke to evade Kyran's melee.
"I am immune to physical attacks!" He shouted gloatingly at Kyran.
Kyran did not respond. As a matter of fact, he had expected Gael to use his armor's ability to evade. But that was unimportant. After all, he was not really delivering a normal physical punch.
Kyran's fist landed on air, but, as if an invisible force was compressed within his fist, a violent shock wave went straight to the ground, which was covered with Gael's domain.
BOOM!
"What—?"
Gael and Imman were shocked when they saw how Kyran's missed punch instantly destroyed the ground.
At the same time, Gael spat out a mouthful of blood as he sensed his domain crack.
"Impossible!"
Earlier, Gael noticed that Kyran's summoned weapons failed to penetrate his domain. How come his single punch could easily leave a crack on it now?
Gael's eyes contracted as he stared at the silver gauntlets wrapped around Kyran's hand.
'Could it be that Void magic has several levels and this silver color can be said to be its concentrated state and had far more destructive power?'
Just as Gael thought this, he rejected it at once. Although they had close to nil information about Void magic, it was impossible for it to produce such destructive force. As far as Gael knew, Void magic could destroy without producing shock waves. Kyran's move just now obviously produced one.
A thought crossed his mind as his eyes narrowed.
'Or did he combine Void magic with the Regis Blessing to produce that effect?'
Alas, because no one knew that Kyran also possessed Draconic magic, Gael could only give a half-assed guess.
Meanwhile, a few thousand miles away, Ruin's eyes flashed as he sensed something. His eyes narrowed as he looked up at the sky.
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