The shadow minions that emerged from the shadows looked different from the ones Gael had summoned the first time Kyran fought him.
Previously, Gael's shadow minions wore oversized all-black cloaks. But now, they wore varying clothes. Some wore cloaks, others wore army uniforms, and even a few wore suits or short dresses, making them appear somewhat out of place. The only thing that remained was the color of their clothes: black, like the color of a shadow.
But this difference was unimportant compared to the other difference Kyran noticed.
A magic energy different from Gael's Shadow magic was actually circulating inside the shadow minions.
'This...!' Kyran's expression turned grim as he recognized the magic energy circulating in them was Soul magic.
As far as Kyran was concerned, Gael's shadow summons was pure magic energy and relied solely on Gael's magic. With this in mind, the latter would not have to worry about his magic energy getting depleted if there were a different energy in his summons that would serve as their core and energy source. The only thing Gael had to worry about was maintaining the shadow minions' form.
But how could Gael's Shadow magic even be combined with Soul magic?
Unfortunately, Kyran was not given a chance to ponder this question because the shadow minions had already launched their attacks.
Surprisingly, when the shadow minions attacked, they used different types of magic. Apart from this, there was no magic array when they launched their attacks.
Others would not have noticed that the shadow minions' did not use Shadow magic because the color of their attacks was black. However, as someone who continuously and indiscriminately absorbs magic energies in the surroundings to replenish his magic energy, Kyran had noticed the shadow minions absorbing different magic energies. Moreover, they were not absorbing Shadow magic energy nor Soul magic energy but Fire, Wind, or Earth magic, which should not be possible because they were only summons. They should not have magic cores to attract these energies.
Black flames in the form of huge birds attacked Kyran from above. At the same time, black sickle-like wind attacks rushed at him from different directions while black spikes sprang out from below.
Kyran's reddish-purple eyes flashed, and the Void Armor instantly covered his whole body.
SIZZLE! SIZZLE!
As soon as the shadow minions' magic attacks touched Kyran, they disintegrated and turned to nothingness.
Kyran jumped back and manipulated the purple orbs.
CRACKLE!
In a blink of an eye, the purple orbs turned into Void Knives that flew toward the shadow minions.
"This again?"
Gael's voice echoed in the surroundings while Kyran evaded another round of the shadow minions' magic attacks.
Kyran ignored Gael's taunting and focused on evading the magic attacks while observing the shadow minions pierced by his Void Knives.
Since the shadow minions seemed to possess intelligence this time, Kyran had to thoroughly control the Void Knives before he could successfully cut one. After that, he would channel his magic sense on that shadow minion before it disintegrated completely to observe it in detail.
If not for Osric and the thousand mages with him actively releasing their magic pressure, Kyran would not have to be careful when using his magic sense. Since this was the case, he could only manipulate a certain number of Void Knives and channel his magic sense in a short amount of time to his targets, to avoid suffering a backlash. In any case, because he could not actively maximize the use of his magic sense, studying the shadow minions and figuring out how to deal with them more efficiently had become tedious work.
"I know you can do better than this, new Dark Sage. Why are you holding back?"
Gael's voice sounded once more. But this time, it did not echo in the surroundings but sounded right behind Kyran.
Gael materialized behind Kyran, his hand holding the scythe raised above his head.
SLASH!
Gael brought down the scythe and aimed at Kyran's head. But before the scythe's blade could even touch the tip of Kyran's head, Kyran's body flickered and disappeared.
"Tsk!" Gael forcefully stopped his downward swing and dematerialized at once, turning into dark mist before merging with the shadows in the surroundings.
Just as Gael did this, a figure with two black swords appeared behind him.
The figure was none other than Kyran, who now held the two obsidian swords he had modified. He swung the swords horizontally and aimed at Gael's waist. However, by the time the tip of his swords touched Gael's sides, he had already turned into black mist.
Nevertheless, Gael still felt a sting on his sides from when Kyran's swords touched him. He then realized that the swords Kyran had used differed from the Void weapons he had summoned.
Gael observed Kyran's swords from the shadows and could not help but frown. He still felt his sides sting from that slight touch, which meant the swords in Kyran's hands could be his very own magic weapon.
Gael's guess was not entirely wrong. Since Kyran indeed modified the two obsidian swords when he was in the Regis Terram, changing them into weapons with Void properties. However, these two could not be considered magic weapons but elemental ones. The reason was simple; these swords could not produce Void magic energy. They could only absorb a certain amount— or else, they would disintegrate— and even then, they could not release the absorbed magic energy into a magic attack. The absorbed magic energy would only serve as 'fuel' to them, nothing more.
Kyran decided to use these two rather than summon a Void weapon simply because Void weapons had no real physical form and required him to mold them with the help of his magic sense. Creating another one or two Void weapons would mean he would have to remove a few Void Knives that were dealing with the shadow minions, and that was something he could not do if he wanted to understand the mystery behind them as soon as possible.
After missing his target, Kyran did not launch another attack. Instead, he stood still and silently observed his surroundings.
Seeing this, Gael could not help but burst out in laughter. He knew why Kyran's movements were somewhat lacking.
Obviously, the magic pressure released by Osric and the other mages on their side disrupted Kyran's use of magic sense.
A few minutes earlier, when Osric and Lira were discussing how to force the Crown Princess's other half to come out of the Tower of Conclave, Gael arrived. He did not use the transmission array but his Shadow's travel ability.
After that, he told them Layla approved his use of the Army's Research Department's Trump Cards to deal with Kyran so Osric could focus on finding a way to capture the Crown Princess's other half and the current Time Keeper.
Still, Gael more or less guessed that Kyran's magic sense had achieved an incredibly high level. If that was the case, he was sure the Army's Research Department's Trump Cards might not be enough to keep him busy.
After learning about this, Osric devised a plan to disrupt Kyran's magic sense while Gael dealt with him. As for how they would lure the Crown Princess's other half and the current Time Keeper... well, they already came up with a plan.
Back in the present time, Gael looked at Kyran's profile and taunted, "What's wrong new Dark Sage? Where's your overbearingness from before?"
Kyran continued to ignore Gael's taunts and focus on observing his surroundings and the shadow minions that the Void Knives had destroyed.
'No,' Kyran thought, frowning inwardly. 'Some of the shadow minions had not been destroyed.'
This discovery helped him better understand what the shadow minions were.
Basically, the shadow minions that had been destroyed were the ones where the Void Knives successfully pierced through their core. This core was where the Soul magic energy was gathered.
From this, Kyran confirmed his initial findings that Gael only housed these cores with his Shadow magic. As long as Kyran aimed at the cores, their 'housing' would no longer reform.
The Void Knives continued to attack the shadow minions.
At the same time, the shadow minions also continued to launch magic attacks toward Kyran.
Unfortunately, their attacks were either intercepted by the Void Knives or disintegrated after making contact with Kyran's Void Armor.
Seeing that Kyran had no plans of responding to his taunts, Gael pushed for another attack. Shadow mists appeared from the shadow on the ground behind Kyran. Afterwards, Gael materialized from the chest up, his height only reaching around the back of Kyran's knee. He then swung his scythe horizontally, aiming to cut Kyran's shins.
This time around, Kyran did not bother to move. Instead, the pupils of his eyes turned to silver slits while his irises remained reddish-purple.
Since he could not utilize his magic sense, he would then use his Draconic magic to heighten his senses and deal with Gael.
Before Gael's scythe could touch Kyran's shin, the Void Armor that covered the latter shifted, turning into a deep shade of purple with glowing silver linings.
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