The only puzzling thing for Layla was how Kyran mastered the use of Void magic in a short span of time. Initially, she was convinced that the current Time Keeper had a hand in his improvement. But after thinking it through, even if Stella manipulated time and let him train his magic, it would be impossible for him to improve this much, especially if little information about Void magic was available. Apart from this, no training partner was strong enough for him to practice with. The Conclave was not short on powerful mages, but even their most powerful one— Malek— Layla believed he was not good enough to put pressure on Kyran.
Layla slightly shook her head and put aside all her doubts. Now that she had a better understanding of Kyran's mastery over his magic, she realized how disadvantageous it would be for her if they fought.
For one thing, she could not use his clan as hostages. Since Kyran knew how to send souls into the Void, Layla was sure he knew how to free others under her Soul Control. Apart from this, she had little control over the Macabre Glacier.
If Layla could return Haylee to her original body, her control over the Macabre Glacier would definitely improve. But it appeared that Kyran had already gone to the Tower of Conclave to stop Osric from taking the girl.
An ironic smile appeared on Layla's face as she thought of Caelan again.
Caelan had been protective of her before, and now, as the new Void Master, Kyran appeared to be protective of the girl who was supposed to be the next Soul Emperor.
Such irony.
"You appear in good spirits even though your complexion says otherwise."
White Lily's voice brought Layla out of her musings.
Layla evaded the continuous bombardment of energy beams that shot off from the numerous lilies on the ground.
"What about you?" Layla taunted while glancing at White Lily, hovering in the sky on her huge diamond lily. "Aren't you tired of summoning these lilies that can't even hit their target?"
White Lily did not respond to Layla's taunting and only continued to focus fire on her.
Meanwhile, True Void could no longer see the confrontation between the two because he had already entered Ravenpass.
The moment he entered the Ravenpass's premises, his body shivered involuntarily. This surprised him. After all, his consciousness was only occupying the shapeshifting plates, and even if he made the plates appear like a miniature Void Armor, technically, he could not affect it 'emotionally.'
Err.
Actually, True Void was not even feeling emotional at the moment. That was not quite right. He was feeling a particular emotion, but it was not strong enough to make him shiver the way he did just now.
Obviously, his reaction had something to do with the Macabre Glacier hanging above Ravenpass.
True Void stopped abruptly and looked at the Macabre Glacier. His eyes narrowed, their color dimming slightly after sensing the ominous aura coming from within. He could already sense that aura from afar, but it had gotten worse now that he was closer.
As soon as True Void looked at the mirror of the Macabre Glacier, he felt his illusory insides churn.
From the mirror, he saw countless 'human bodies' wrapped in silk threads, making them appear like cocoons. A black mist oozed out from the bottom of the mirror, and True Void could sense life energy coming from that mist.
It made one think that the black mist was basically the converted life energies of the 'humans' inside the cocoon.
Seeing this scene worried True Void. His desire to get his body back grew stronger by the second. If he was in his true body, he might be able to do something about the Macabre Glacier. Of course, he did not believe he could destroy it. If he could, he would have done it before when Caelan fought the original owner of the mirror— the original Dark Sage.
However, True Void did not have that ability. Thus, Caelan could only seal the Macabre Glacier and hide it. Still, True Void could at least isolate its influence. Maybe if he did that, he could find a way to take those 'humans' out of the mirror.
True Void did not need to be well-versed in what the Macabre Glacier could do to understand that those 'humans' were the Regis clan members and Euan's people that Layla had 'taken.'
However, True Void did not know what the Macabre Glacier was doing to them. It seemed to be 'feeding' on their life energy, as seen in how those black mist oozed with life energy, but he also felt that it was doing something more to them than that.
The light in True Void's eyes dimmed further as different possibilities of what the Macabre Glacier was doing to those humans flashed through his mind.
'No! Don't think about such grim thoughts!' True Void scolded himself as he vehemently shook his head.
True Void put all unnecessary thoughts aside and continued inside Ravenpass. Others might wonder why he would bother going there when it was apparent there was no longer a single soul inside because the Macabre Glacier already took them. But True Void had an inkling that it was not the case.
If his guess was correct, those 'humans' in those cocoons were only representations of its target. Basically, their real bodies were still somewhere in Ravenpass, and those cocoons were their souls.
The Macabre Glacier was a magic weapon that targeted one's soul, not one's physical body.
With this in mind, True Void flew inside and searched for the whole place.
'ARGH! This is too troublesome! Really troublesome!' True Void complained as he flew at a low altitude while searching the whole Ravenpass. 'If I can use my magic energy, I probably found where they are already. Alas, if I used my magic energy, that annoying mirror would detect me, and I might also get cocooned.'
The thought made him shiver involuntarily once more.
From a distance, True Void could still hear the explosions from White Lily's attacks against Layla. However, compared to the frequency of explosions from before, he noticed White Lily's attacks had decreased. This only meant that the latter was near her limits.
True Void only hoped that the one not nearing her limits was White Lily's contractor. He heard their conversation and how Layla guessed that White Lily's human contractor was Kyran's mother, Rin. If this was true, and something happened to Rin, True Void was worried about how it would impact not only Kyran but also his father, Cade.
True Void thought of it because he knew Cade had already succeeded in Azaloth's Inheritance, and it was only a matter of time before he returned.
If Cade returned and Rin was put at risk— or at worse, fatally injured— he might not be able to control his newly found strength. When that happens, the Human plane might suffer.
Might— because if Cade's threat did show that he would end up destroying the Human plane, Nolan would be forced to make a move. After all, as the new Sovereign of the Human plane, he was bound to his new responsibility: to protect the plane from certain destruction.
Such a turn of events would be a sad one.
'Right,' True Void suddenly remembered something and sighed inwardly. 'Nolan is Rin's twin brother. It will be a tragic one if that does happen.'
True Void immediately shook his head, 'Argh! Stop thinking about ominous thoughts! This is bad! Really bad! I think the Macabre Glacier is already affecting my thoughts!'
True Void's worry was actually correct.
The moment he entered Ravenpass, he also entered the Macabre Glacier's magic influence. Although he was not directly facing the mirror, or he was not reflected by it, it could still influence his thoughts slowly.
'I had to move fast, or else I'll really be cocooned like them!' True Void thought and picked up his pace.
*
In the Tower of Conclave, Kyran busied himself with restoring the tower's defensive array. He had to restore the defensive array because he needed something to withstand the next wave of attack from Osric's side while he warped them away.
Since Kyran could only warp a certain number of people at a time, he would not have to do it several times.
Previously, it took him five or more times before he finished warping all of Euan and Mannick's people. Although a great deal of their numbers had been reduced, they now had to include those from the Conclave, so the headcount was pretty much the same as before.
In any case, Kyran had to create a barrier that would allow him to warp all the members of the Conclave and the Army while under siege.
That was right. Under siege because Osric had already mobilized all the Grand Masters on his side and they were already marching toward the Tower of Conclave.
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