"What—?" Tobias looked at Neo with wide eyes. A thought crossed his mind, and his expression turned ugly.
Before he could say something, Matias screamed at Neo in disgust.
"Y-You... You lied to us, did you not? Y-You are not a Master mage! Y-You hid your true mage level!"
"..."
"..."
Neo and Tobias looked at Matias, speechless.
"Matias—."
"An Exalted would have been affected by that spell!" Matias continued spouting in disgust. "Y-You are already a Magus, aren't you? No wonder I can't get the upper hand! You have advanced your level but you did not gain a two-level advancement! You broke through the Magus level! Did you have fun bullying those below you? You b*stard?"
Neo looked at Matias with an incredulous expression. As a puppet, his expressions and emotions reflected what his programming deemed appropriate in his situation. And currently, his programming deemed Matias's assumption absurd and regarded the latter as a complete idiot. No wonder his master could not be bothered to take this person seriously.
His master will only lower himself if he strikes an idiot.
"Stop talking, and do not interfere for now, Matias!"
Tobias could no longer tolerate Matias's blabbering and flicked his hand. Two talismans flew out of his sleeves and went toward Matias. The latter did not even have the chance to react as the talismans stuck to his forehead.
"C-Cousin Tobias, what are you—?"
Matias's shock was cut short as the talismans lit up and activated. His eyes rolled, and he fell unconscious to the ground instantly.
One of the talismans was a protective spell created with Tobias's magic, preventing Matias from being harmed by the Gravity magic's nature. While the other was a Sleep talisman, similar to the one Tobias threw at Neo.
Neo watched them in silence. He approved of Tobias's decision to silence Matias; else, the latter might spout more nonsense that would overload Neo's processor because of its absurdity.
Tobias turned his attention to Neo.
"You are not Disciple Tyr, " he said through narrowed eyes. It was not a question but a statement.
Initially, he had no doubts that the person before him was 'Tyr.' With Deputy Marshal Ingrid's mark ability, it was impossible to miss her target.
Going back a few hours ago, after the meeting that the Lumley Patriarch organized with the Courtenay and the Montgomeray Families, he had a private talk with Deputy Marshal Ingrid.
It took a while to convince the latter he had no ulterior motives in approaching her. In the end, the Lumley Patriarch swore allegiance to put Ingrid's doubts to rest. Only then did she tell him, along with a few Lumley elders, the truth.
Just recalling what they learned sent chills up Tobias's spine. After all, the appearance of a new Dark Sage was a matter they could not take lightly.
After learning of the truth, the Lumley Patriarch ordered Tobias to keep an eye on the Conclave. Because he had an inkling that the latter might have already made contact with the new Dark Sage, and with the Lumley Patriarch's foreshadowing ability, they could not ignore his instinct. Apart from this, they were bothered by what Disciple Tyr had said to Emperor Euan after a chunk of land from Noser landed in the Courtenay Land. Tyr sounded as if he was already aware of the new Dark Sage's existence.
Ingrid agreed with the Lumley Patriarch's plan. Thus, she used her mark ability on Disciple Tyr. This ability enabled her to monitor Tyr's movement. While she could have used it on one of the Conclave Council Members, Ingrid chose Tyr because he was also someone the Crown Princess needed to ensure her plans succeeded. In any case, the Conclave had placed great importance on Tyr, so there was a big chance that following him would let them learn more about the Conclave's intentions.
Ingrid also gave Tobias an additional order; if the situation turned at an unpredictable course, he was to detain Disciple Tyr and bring him back to her.
It was then that the Lumley Patriarch realized that Deputy Marshal Ingrid had been eyeing their family's cooperation right from the start. Because only they had the ability to follow someone and bring them back in a short period of time without arousing suspicion.
To be more precise, the Lumley Family heirloom had that ability.
The Lumley heirloom is a relic that can only be used by a pureblooded Lumley blessed with high-level Fire magic. Currently, only two people in the Lumley Family can use it; Claudias and Tobias. The three Magus in the family are not qualified, even if they have improved their Fire magic to the highest level they could reach. Because, compared to them, Claudias and Tobias's flames have manifested as two of the top fire legendary beasts; the Roc and the Pheonix.
The relic had the ability to travel from one location to another in a short period of time. It was not teleportation, nor was it the infamous 'warping.' It was because the relic could record a location and have its wielder open the door to that place whenever he wanted.
With the Lumley Family heirloom, Tobias could have Matias use it and move around the empire as long as the location they wanted to go was recorded in it.
In any case, that was the least of Tobias's concerns. After all, the Disciple Tyr Ingrid had used her ability on was not the real one.
Unlike Matias, Tobias already guessed why the talisman did not work. Considering what Disciple Tyr was good at, it was easy for Tobias to guess that the one before him was not a real human. After all, talismans would only work on living beings.
"You're a puppet," Tobias finally said, still feeling a little hesitant. Frankly, though he had guessed the identity of this 'Tyr' before them, he was having trouble accepting it.
As far as he knew, puppets' movements were a little clumsy and, at times, predictable. However, the one before them was not. Tobias was even convinced the latter was really Disciple Tyr.
Neo's eyes constricted as he processed Tobias's words. An action code appeared on his system, and after scanning through it, he sighed dismally and said, "Ha... master will be mad at me for failing."
Tobias's eyes widened because 'Tyr' had started to stand as he said those words. It was as if the latter was not affected by the Gravity magic's nature.
Crackle! Crackle!
Lightning-like magic energy fluctuations appeared on Neo's body as he straightened up.
'Not good!' Tobias thought and immediately made a move.
A three-layered enormous magic array appeared above them as the gravity around Neo multiplied tenfold.
The crackling sounds on Neo's body intensified.
"Executing Emergency Action Code: Destroy. Do not leave any witnesses."
Neo's eyes turned reddish-purple as his energy core's magic output changed.
"No—!"
Tobias waved his hand at once, willed the unconscious Matias toward him, and flew out. Now, he regretted forcing Matias to sleep. They could have escaped in an instant if he had been awake by using the relic.
The magic energy in the surroundings surged into Neo's energy core. Then he released a powerful magic pressure that sent out shockwaves in the surroundings.
BOOM! CRACKLE!
The immense pressure from the shockwave shattered the three-layered magic array Tobias created.
"Guah!" Tobias spat out a mouthful of blood after receiving the backlash of having his magic array destroyed. He was so focused on escaping that he forgot to release his magic array.
No, that was not entirely correct. He did not forget it. He had believed his magic array could restrain 'Tyr' for a few minutes until he could escape with Matias.
Neo's reddish-purple eyes locked on to the escaping Tobias and Matias.
"Target, escaping. Activating, warp ability."
Neo's energy core whirled with purple magic energy that filled every point on his body. In a blink of an eye, he disappeared and reappeared in front of Tobias.
Tobias's eyes widened as soon as Neo appeared. In that instant, time seemed to have slowed around him as a thought crossed his mind.
Tobias was hailed to be the most intelligent member of the Lumley Family. If he had been born in the Patriarch's line, he would have been a candidate to be the next Patriarch. Alas, he might be from the main family, but the one born directly under the Patriarch's line was Matias.
At that moment, one could say that Tobias was the first one to realize the truth about Disciple Tyr's identity.
Because of this, he had to survive no matter what!
Tobias's eyes turned dark violet as he released his magic pressure. When Neo paused to protect himself from receiving the magic pressures' raw energy, Tobias summoned two magic arrays on both of their backs. Two two-meter diameter black spheres appeared from within the magic array behind them.
Like a huge black hole, a powerful suction force came from the two spheres, pulling both backward.
Neo's eyes narrowed as he realized what Tobias had done.
By utilizing the suction force of the black spheres, Tobias succeeded in distancing himself from him.
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