Stella did not the ability to read minds to know what Cyneah was planning. She had seen the look on the latter's face countless times in the past— whether it was reflected on Caelan's or the mirror she was looking at.
For this reason, Stella was aware that Cyneah planned to leave the security of the Tower of Conclave.
Others might automatically think Cyneah's plan was to use herself as bait to save Kyran. After all, she already heard from Stella that the enemy boss had ordered her capture long before the empire's situation escalated. Since Cyneah cared a lot about Kyran she would definitely not hesitate to sacrifice herself if it would mean he would be saved.
However, it was precisely because Cyneah cared a lot about Kyran that Stella was convinced the former would never sacrifice herself.
Cyneah was aware of the significance of her person to the enemy, especially their boss. Although Stella did not directly tell her, Cyneah was a clever girl. She only had to recall all the things she had heard and put pieced them together to come up with the reason why the enemy boss wanted her.
Two key points in all this were, one the possibility that she was an essence, and two the enemy boss's other identity being the Crown Princess.
The Crown Princess wanted Cyneah to return to her, the reason being, the former would only be complete if she retrieved her missing essence.
Initially, Cyneah was distraught by the possibility that she was an essence. Only after talking to Stella, was she able to affirm that she was not an essence.
In the first place, there were ways for a mage to locate his or her essence without having to actively search for them. One such way was when Cyneah's soul could not return to her body and got attracted to the Crown Princess's body. If Cyneah was an essence, she would have already returned to her original body when that incident happened.
Kyran, who did not know how to create an essence, did not know this. Nevertheless, he instinctively believed that Cyneah was the original body after she woke up by the mere fact that her body did not disappear after having lost its soul.
Anyhow, being the original body, Cyneah could retrieve her essence. But she knew the risk of retrieving an essence who appeared to have gained her personality. Not to mention, her essence possessed the Soul core.
If Cyneah retrieved her essence, there was a chance her essence could influence her thoughts. That was what Cyneah wanted to avoid. She did not want to become Kyran's enemy.
Looking at Cyneah's train of thought, it could easily be seen that she would never do anything that would jeopardize Kyran's plan. Thus, her plan to leave the confines of the Tower of Conclave was not to use herself as bait but to aid Kyran.
How would she do that?
Simple.
Remove Kyran's fatigue and enhanced his magic.
Cyneah knew Kyran was already near his limits. The latter was not aware of it yet, but Cyneah sensed it.
How?
It was because the void that usually shrouded Kyran's presence in Cyneah's eyes had weakened. She still could not see Kyran's light, but she was able to sense his presence, which she normally could not.
It was pretty contradicting, but that was just how it was.
Moving onto the main topic, it was good that Stella stopped Cyneah. Because, not long after she prevented her from using the token, they heard an ear-deafening explosion outside.
Their initial reaction was to panic. However, soon after the explosion, Cyneah sensed the magic aura that suddenly engulfed Kyran had weakened. After that, she sensed Kyran's presence once more.
Stella, who could not use magic sense did not know what was happening but as soon as she saw Cyneah's relieved expression, she also relaxed a bit.
"Be patient and stay put," Stella told Cyneah, sensing the latter's restlessness.
It was obvious Cyneah still wanted to go outside and aid Kyran.
"I know you are worried he might collapse any moment, but you don't really have to," Stella added with a smile. "Ky— um… Nar has a special body constitution so even if he doesn't rest for days, he will be okay."
Cyneah did not respond and only smiled slightly.
Stella inwardly let out a sigh of relief after seeing Cyneah did not seem to noticed her slip of tongue. Then again, she sensed something wrong behind Cyneah's smile. The latter's smile actually looked a little sad.
Could it be that Cyneah did not entirely bought Stella's explanation about Kyran's body constitution?
It was not like Stella said that just to comfort Cyneah. Kyran did possess a special body constitution after drinking a intaking a portion of the Elixir.
'Wait,' Stella paused for a moment to study Cyneah's expression. Soon, she realized something and could not help but took a sharp intake of breath. 'D-Don't tell me… its not because she did not believe what I said but because I almost— have she known all along?'
Stella shook her head and smiled wryly.
'Why am I even surprised? She is blind, not deaf, nor dumb… Alas, why haven't you tell her the truth, Kyran?'
Taking a deep breath, Stella looked at Cyneah and said, with the intention to change the subject, "When he comes back, let's scold him together for not keeping his promise, okay?"
"Ah!" Cyneah let out a short cry at Stella's reminder. Her expression turned stern and said, "I almost forgot about that! Yes, let's do that."
Meanwhile, Hugh and Vaness stood on top of the tower near the entrance of the Tower of Conclave and was looking at the huge dark purple half-sphere and felt their scalps turned numb after it shrank in size.
They initially thought it was a half-sphere, but as soon as it shrank, it left a clean half-sphere crater behind.
"This is… the power of the Void," Vaness could not help but matter.
It could be said that this was his first time seeing Kyran released such a huge sphere using pure Void magic energy.
Hugh, on the other hand, had seen it before albeit he only saw the aftermath and a small-scale one. It was during Kyran's first visit to the Tower of Conclave. He probably used the same move to destroy the Tower of Conclave's defensive array.
"Such a huge concentrated magic attack… is Kyran alright?" Hugh wondered aloud.
Vaness looked at him before looking back at the huge crater. He more or less knew what Hugh wanted to say.
The huge sphere was truly impressive. If Kyran had used it from the start, he could have eliminated at least a quarter of the enemies at once. But he did not do so. Why? Obviously, because this move was kept as a last resort.
Kyran using this move meant whoever it was he was fighting had forced him to use it because he was already up against the wall.
If this move managed to deal with the situation, then it was all good. But what if it did not resolve the situation? Kyran considered this move as a last resort because it probably place a huge toll on his body. If the situation was not resolved, could he still escape by himself?
"Let's go take a look."
Before Vaness could suggest their next course of action, Hugh already voiced his suggestion.
"Please dont."
Hugh and Vaness almost jumped after hearing a voice speak behind.
Standing behind them was Aki and Len with an indifferent expressions.
Hugh and Vaness were dumbfounded. They did not even notice their arrival!
"The distortion and magic fluctuation that came after using such a concentrated Void magic energy will affect both of your physical bodies," Aki explained. "There are no defensive spells, nor items that will protect you from it. If you go there now, you will suffer internal and external injuries."
Hugh and Vaness exchanged glances. They wanted them to elaborate further, but before they could say anything, at the corner of their eyes, they saw space at the center of the crater that the sphere had already shrank to, distorted.
They immediately focused their attention to the center of the crater.
Kyran stood at the center of the crater. His left arm was raised and the dark purple sphere hovered above.
On the ground a few meters away from him was Gael, who looked disoriented and miserable. His cloak was in pieces, and blood and flesh oozed out from every part of his mangled body. He was looking at Kyran as if he was looking at a monster.
"H-How… y-you never really countered my magic… so how…?" Gael stammered in shock.
Kyran ignored his rambling. His expression remained indifferent, but if those who knew him well saw him they would immediately know that he was pissed off.
Initially, Kyran wanted to slowly study Gael's magic. But since Gael confirmed the Soul Emperor intended to absorb Cyneah, Kyran changed his mind.
"Answer me—guah!" Gael's sudden screaming aggravated his wounds and blood spurted out of his mouth.
"You still won't shut up, huh," Kyran said with a hint of annoyance.
Without waiting for Gael to say anything further, the void sphere hovering above Kyran shifted. The air crackle and a huge fissure replaced the sphere. Soon, a suction force pulled Gael into the fissure.
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