Neo tried to move his body but could not shake off the black sphere's suction ability behind him.
The energy core within Neo was created using the Ancient Teaching of Void Magic. It had the ability to absorb any type of magic energy in the surroundings and convert it into a specific type. The conversion was something Kyran had input within the energy core separately. The converted energy would differ if a certain code were activated in the puppet's programming.
For example, every time Neo's energy core absorbed the magic energy in the surroundings, it would be converted into the magic energy of Strengthening magic. The same concept was applied to Kyran's other puppets. Because of this, if there were a mage who had the ability to read another mage's magic energy, Kyran's puppets would not be found out.
Currently, Neo's program has started the emergency action code: Destroy. This meant that the magic energies it absorbed were being converted to Void energy. Nevertheless, Neo was not Kyran. He was still a puppet and could not use Void Runes. Thus, he could only use the Void's warp ability and certain nullifying effects against other types of magic attacks. It was because of the latter that Neo could move around Tobias's increased gravity attack.
However, the suction ability of Tobias's magic was far more powerful than the increase in gravity. Thus, Neo was unable to nullify it at once.
Seeing Neo being restrained by the black sphere, Tobias immediately released the black sphere behind him before escaping in the opposite direction.
Neo's eyes narrowed as they followed Tobias. His energy core whirled, giving out the same purple color energy before he disappeared.
Tobias felt something cold creep up the back of his neck. It was the same feeling when he knew danger was coming. By reflex, he turned around while leaning his head to the side. As he did, a light flashed and grazed the side of his neck. Tobias's eyes widened as he realized that the light was actually a spear's blade. It would have pierced him if he had not leaned his head to the side.
The moment Tobias accidentally evaded Neo's sneak attack, the latter did not stop his movement. He swung the wooden staff-turned spear horizontally, aiming at Tobias's neck.
Tobias might have been stunned by Neo's sneak attack, but it was not enough to make him lose his head. He ducked the moment he saw Neo's wrist shift slightly and barely dodged the spear's blade. A two-meter diameter magic array appeared beneath Neo, and the gravity inside its range multiplied, forcing him to a stop.
Without waiting for Neo to recover his bearing, Tobias took out a teleportation token from his storage ring and crushed it, instantly gaining a ten-meter distance.
Neo whirled the spear in his hand and slammed it on the magic array on the ground. Purple-colored magic energy erupted from the bottom tip of the spear, destroying the magic array at once.
"Guh!" Tobias spat out a mouthful of blood after his magic array got destroyed but chose to endure. He took out two more teleportation tokens and a scroll before crushing one of the tokens.
When Tobias crushed another token, Neo had already leaped forward with the spear raised above his head. His reddish-purple eyes flashed as he disappeared and reappeared above the spot Tobias had teleported before striking the spear downward.
BAM!
The spear's blade hit the ground, leaving a deep crack on the latter's surface from the collision. Unfortunately, Tobias had used the second token before Neo's spear could hit him, and he had already teleported another ten meters away.
Without looking in the direction where Tobias had teleported, Neo's eyes flashed again, and he disappeared.
By this time, Tobias had already activated the scroll in his hand, and a two-meter diameter golden magic array appeared above his head and beneath his feet. After which, he summoned several small black spheres around him.
The moment Neo appeared in front of Tobias with his spear in the motion of cleaving his side, the black spheres' suction ability activated, restraining the former's movement.
With narrowed eyes, Tobias said, "Did you think I would only passively escape? I'll be taking you with me!"
Neo's eyes flashed. However, before he could warp away, the golden magic array activated, and a blinding light enveloped them.
In a blink of an eye, they disappeared. No one would have known they had been there if not for the aftermath they had left behind.
A few minutes later, Styx and Dante appeared. Both wore grim expressions as they surveyed the surroundings.
Seeing the scorched ground, remnants of activated magic energies, and telltale of combat before them, it was easy to guess that a battle had happened not long ago.
"We're late," Dante said with a deep frown.
"Tsk," Styx clicked his tongue in annoyance.
When all of them had met at the rendezvous point, and Neo had not appeared at the agreed time, both already had a bad feeling. Especially Styx, who knew what Neo was.
Fortunately, he and Dante had experience in tracking and was able to find Neo's tracks.
Unfortunately, they were still late.
"Do you recognize the aura from the magic energy?" Styx asked Dante.
Unlike Dante, Styx was an Abjurer and had little knowledge of sensing another mage's aura. On the other hand, Dante, although he was a new Master mage, was an Elementor. They both had Earth innate magic, but Dante could also use Fire magic. It was not wrong to ask for his opinion in this regard.
Dante looked at the flames with narrowed eyes, "No. But judging from the color and intensity of the flames, it is of a high level."
He fell silent for a second as he recalled something and said, "The color of the flames... It is similar to Claudias."
Styx scowled and shot him a look, "Huh? Are you sh*tting with me?"
Dante's brow twitched as he looked back at Styx, "Will I sh*t about this stuff? I know what you're thinking. Claudias is part of the team investigating the matter in Noser, that's why I only said it is similar to hers. Besides, we've fought her, so I am quite familiar with her aura. This flame is similar to hers, but it is not hers."
Styx growled in annoyance but did not refute. Dante had a better say on this stuff since he got to fight Claudias during the team competition between the Conclave and the Lumley Family.
"Anyway, if this flame is similar to hers, then we can narrow down who had designs against Disciple Tyr," Dante added.
"No, sh*t," Styx replied in exasperation.
p-A- n-d-A-n-0-v-e-1、(c)om The only ones they knew who could possess high-level Fire magic were from the Lumley Family. And as far as they were concerned, one was still in Starhorn while the other was on their way to Noser.
Styx shook his head inwardly. His train of thought was a little off. While it was true that they had seen two Lumley Family members using high-level Fire magic during the Joint Military Exercise, it did not mean that there were only two of them. There was a possibility that more of them were hidden among the Lumley family members who had not participated.
Apart from this, the Lumley Family had a few Magus. They could have mobilized them as well.
In any case, the Lumley Family had bad blood with 'Disciple Tyr,' so it was not hard to believe they had really come for him. But if this was true, it also meant they had been keeping an eye on his movements.
Since they had followed Neo and not Kyran, they had only started after the incident in the Courtenay Land. Could they have also realized 'Tyr' was involved in the army warehouse sabotage incidents? Since they knew 'Disciple Tyr' was proficient in Array and could easily create teleportation arrays, it was not hard for them to be convinced that the latter could move around the empire quickly and infiltrate the army warehouses.
But this roused another set of questions. How did the Lumley Family track Neo's movement? How were they able to come here and even catch him off guard?
What about Neo? Did he get destroyed?
Just as Styx thought this, he rejected it at once. That was a puppet created by Kyran. It was impossible for anyone to destroy it easily.
'So, did they capture him? Why?' Styx wondered.
Based on the past actions the Lumley had done against Kyran, they wanted him dead. They would not capture him without reason.
A disturbing idea crossed Styx's mind as his expression turned grim.
'Did they realize he was not the real Disciple Tyr and took him?'
It was a possibility.
Styx took out his communication device and sent a coded message to Chairman Hugh, explaining what happened at once.
No matter the reason, they could not leave Neo in the hands of whoever had taken him. Even if they were not the Lumley Family, other existences wanted to get their hands on 'Neo.' Or at least, of what it was.
"I've sent a report to Chairman Hugh. We'll wait for further instructions on how to deal with Tyr. For now, we'll continue with the plan," Styx said after contemplating their situation.
Dante nodded, "Yes. We can't stay idle."
"Let's go."
Before leaving, they used their magic to remove the flames and clean up the traces of the skirmish. They could not possibly leave behind clues of what transpired in this place to ensure none of the other factions would try to exploit it.
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