"Who is Haylee?" Ames demanded, shifting her piercing gaze to Aron.
It was only then that the latter saw her and was taken aback.
As the Patriarch, Aron knew almost every family secret that the Regis Clan had. That included why and how the Regis Terram appeared in the Human plane.
At that moment, Aron recognized the woman from an old portrait that the third Patriarch was safekeeping.
Ames, the White Dragon and only daughter of the Dragon King.
But why was she here? According to the journal entry of the third Patriarch, she had stopped appearing in the terram after the Dragon King deemed it was for the best if they cut all communications with Zane's descendants. There were no details about what the Dragon King meant by his words, but because of that, Ames had truly stopped coming to the Regis Terram.
Thinking this, Aron reflexively looked at Kyran sideways.
Could it have something to do with Kyran's presence? Or was it because Kyran took out the Heaven's Conch, and Ames, upon sensing it, appeared at once?
Hopefully, it was not the latter because they could not deal with the other Venerate Dragons' wrath, especially in their current situation. Although, Ames appeared because she sensed Kyran's presence was also not good.
Dragons are very territorial and hate another powerful existence entering their territories.
Kyran might be a Regis but he was also the new Void Master.
All of these passed through Aron's thoughts in split seconds. He was also able to process the scene before him in an instant and deemed that although Ames's power was looming over the whole terram, ready to bore down on them at any moment, with Kyran still in one piece, then it meant she had yet to see him as an enemy.
Aron respectfully lowered his head toward Ames and replied, "Haylee is the name of the current Soul Emperor, Lady Ames."
Kyran, on the other hand, did not register that his grandfather knew Ames. Instead, he was still reeling over what he had said about Haylee because, as far as he was concerned, the latter had just broken down and—.
Realization hit him as he recalled what had happened to Stella.
After Stella exhausted herself from going to the future and trying to change what would happen, 'Stella' took over.
If Haylee was in a similar state, could it be that 'someone' also took over her body?
Kyran gritted his teeth in frustration. He thought he already understood how the magic cores passed on to them worked. But to think that he still failed to anticipate such a possibility from happening— it was very frustrating.
To be honest, it was not an oversight on his part. Because when his magic core went haywire and he fell unconscious, such a thing did not happen. Caelan did not take over, nor did Zane. The only reason Stella's and Haylee's bodies were taken over was that both 'Stella' and Layla not only left pieces of their consciousness into their magic core but also their 'soul.'
"Let's go," Kyran did not bother to ask Aron for details. He could ask for it once they got out.
"Wait," Ames stopped them before the two could turn to leave.
Without waiting for both to say anything, she continued, "You kept saying a new Soul Emperor has appeared, but that is impossible."
Kyran frowned. But Ames did not give him a chance to react and said, "The Soul Emperor never died in the first place. How can she appear again?"
Aron and Kyran looked at Ames dumbfoundedly.
*
Osric looked indifferently as he stood in the middle of the wreckage.
Burnt or mutilated bodies littered the ground while the tents burned or got blasted to pieces.
Looking from above, the saint-tier barrier had been shattered after Osric destroyed it from within.
That was right. After a mishap which led a Grand Master to step inside the Conclave's barrier, Osric and company realized that the barrier's sole purpose was to prevent magic attacks from the outside from passing through. It did not prevent outsiders from entering.
The discovery annoyed Osric because if he had realized it sooner, he would not have wasted his magic energy creating a huge Water Cage, nor did he have to sacrifice so many Grand Masters.
He had to admit that the Conclave made a complete fool of him.
But that was unimportant now.
With the barrier out of the way, the real battle finally started.
No. Frankly, it could not be called a battle but a one-sided slaughter.
Hugh, along with the other council members and leaders of each squad, tried their best to fight back, but the sheer number of Grand Masters with Osric was enough to sweep through their ranks.
In the end, Hugh and company were forced to retreat into the Tower of Conclave's gates, and now Osric and the Exalted leaders with him were on their way to destroy yet another barrier.
A middle-aged man in a red robe frowned slightly after looking at the defensive array around the tower.
They were aware that the defensive array of the Tower of Conclave boasted as one of the most powerful ones in the empire. It was, after all, created by the one Array Master in the empire, Chairman Noir.
However, every noble family in the empire had been hiding their Array Specialists, and some had already nurtured their own Array Masters. Although they admit they were still lacking compared to Chairman Noir, with them working together, it would not be a stretch to say that they had the means to decipher or even destroy the most powerful array Chairman Noir could create.
Or at least, that was what they believed until they stood before the real deal.
"Did Chairman Noir really create this defensive array?" the middle-aged man asked no one in particular.
Hearing his comment, Osric looked at the man and asked, "Why? Is there a problem with it?"
"That's the thing," the middle-aged man replied as he turned to look at Osric. "I don't see any problem!"
Osric scowled at him. Before he could reprimand the man for sounding in awe, the rest of the Exalted with him, who were also the hidden Array Masters of the other noble families, nodded their heads in agreement.
"He is right," another middle-aged man agreed.
The previous one had short dark brown hair and light green eyes, while the other had shoulder-length ash blonde hair and dark brown eyes.
"I've seen a rough draft of the Tower of Conclave's defensive array, and it is very different from what I see right now."
Another man, who seemed to be in his late twenties with short brown hair and dark brown eyes, chimed in and said, "According to our intel, the Conclave recently enhanced their defensive array. Initially, I had thought the saint-tier barrier Senior Osric had destroyed was the result of that enhancement, but it seems that is not the case."
Osric glowered at them and said, "I don't care what you think."
He looked at the gates of the Tower of Conclave, now covered by a powerful multi-colored magic barrier. The gates were not made of stone, so they should have been able to see what was happening inside. However, because of the multi-colored magic barrier, they could only see what the gates looked like but could not see past through it.
This was definitely caused by the defensive array possessing an advanced formula within its formation.
"Do your job and destroy that array!"
The other Array Masters did not refute and only lowered their head in respect toward Osric. After that, they approached the barrier and took out each of their own devices to start deciphering it.
Osric glared at the tower's gates. He did not believe Noir could make such a highly advanced defensive array. If his guess was correct, that blasted young man enhanced this defensive array. Or if not him, maybe Cade.
Because Osric knew that one of the things the Regis Family was good at was Array Creation. Even if there were only a few Array Specialists among them now, it was only because most chose to become Abjurers.
Cade was one of them, and based on what Osric read about him, if his magic core was not destroyed in an accident, he would have been the youngest Magus Abjurer in the empire.
With this in mind, Osric believed Cade would not be idle after his magic core got destroyed. He might have developed his Array and had already surpassed Chairman Noir.
The more Osric thought this, the more he was convinced that Cade was the one who enhanced the Conclave's defensive array.
But if it was the case, then the Regis Clan had been plotting with the Conclave against them for a long time. After all, why would Cade enhance the Conclave's defensive array if the Regis Family had no good relationship with them?
In any case, these thoughts passed through Osric's mind as he stared at the Conclave's defensive array.
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