Sitting cross-legged in midair right where the hole in the sky had been was Nolan. He had his eyes closed and was deep in thought.
He had been in this position after agreeing with Light albeit reluctantly about not pursuing the other Sovereigns.
Now that he was the new Sovereign of the Human plane, Nolan gained the ability to see almost any place in the plane he wanted to. It was a pretty neat ability, making it easier for him to monitor movements all over the Human plane without having to go and check in person.
With this ability, Nolan was able to follow the movements of the people on Kyran's and even the Crown Princess's side at the same time. It was like watching two separate live feeds of each side in third person.
Such an ability could be considered a cheat if an ongoing war was waging. But that only held true if that ability was being used by one side participating in that war.
Nolan was no longer considered a participant in the ongoing war because he was already the new Human plane's Sovereign. Thus, he found this ability pretty useless.
He was very pissed when he witnessed the Crown Princess's— ah, right, she was no longer the Crown Princess but Layla, the resurrected Soul Emperor— side gained advantage over Kyran's allies.
What was more frustrating was that, he knew where Kyran was but was not allowed to warn him of what was happening.
Then again, Nolan might be the new Sovereign of the Human plane but he was probably not allowed to enter the Regis Terram.
In any case, Nolan tried to assist Kyran's allies— in particular, the Conclave, when Osric succeeded in destroying the Tower of Conclave's defensive array and was on the verge of winning. He planned to provide Kyran and the Regis Special Forces time to get to them before it was too late.
Alas, when Nolan tried to use his magic, he felt the Fates's binding force, which prevented him from making any move.
It was because of this incident that Nolan understood Azaloth's, his predecessor's decision to fall into deep slumber and only leave an essence to watch over the Human plane.
For the record, Nolan learned Azaloth's story after becoming the new Sovereign.
As if it was part of the rite of passage of becoming the new Sovereign, Nolan received snippets of the latter's experience and memories during his reign.
From what Nolan understood, the previous Void Master, Caelan, helped Azaloth, his most fateful shield, advance. However, the latter was unaware that once he advanced to a Sovereign, he would no longer be allowed to meddle in the affairs of the Human plane.
So when the war where Caelan was killed occured, Azaloth had fallen in despair. He was supposed to be Caelan's shield, but he failed to protect him.
This would not have been enough to force Azaloth to deep slumber. However, he soon discovered that Caelan sealed True Void, his Ultimate Weapon, before going to war. From that, he realized that Caelan had planned everything all along.
From Azaloth's ascension, to True Void's sealing, Caelan obviously did not want them to meet the same fate as him.
Not realizing Caelan's true intentions were what pushed Azaloth to the brink.
Nevertheless, he did not abandoned the Human plane completely because he still left an essence to watch over it. After all, it was the plane that his master had risked his life protecting.
When it happened to Nolan, he admitted feeling the same despair as Azaloth had when he could not protect Caelan. However, Nolan had no thoughts of abandoning the Human plane even if the worst case scenario happened.
Because Nolan strongly believed that Cade, his sworn brother, and Kyran, his nephew, would definitely find a way to reverse the situation.
Nolan's brow twitched slightly after realizing he had just openly admitted his relationship with Kyran, albeit in his mind only. He shook his head inwardly and swore never to be caught dead in admitting it in front of Kyran!
CRACK! CRACK! SIZZLE!
Nolan's eyes snapped open as soon as he sensed a huge distortion appear in the sky near Ravenpass.
Soon after, a powerful magic fluctuation appeared which was followed by an oppressive magic pressure.
'This…!'
Nolan roused his the Sovereign's Cradle at once. But the moment he did, he heard a low emotionless voice reverberated all over the land.
"The Sovereign's Cradle will not work on me. Do not waste your time."
Nolan's eyes widened after hearing the voice. He was not shocked at what he heard but at how the voice sounded familiar.
"Sovereign of Obstruction!" He roared in anger.
As far as he was concerned, Ruin was confronting Obstruction. Although it was highly likely that the former had already stopped confronting the latter now that the threat to the Human plane had been halted with Nolan's ascension, Nolan did not think Obstruction would still persist on descending to the Human plane.
Even if that was the case, Ruin would not allow Obstruction especially if the latter could pose a threat to his prey, right?
Besides, Light said she would ensure her faction would leave and stop trying to enter the Human plane again. She would not renege on her word, would she?
No. That was not entirely impossible.
In the first place, Nolan did not know what kind of deal Kyran made with Light. She might be willing to help Kyran but would she risk her life for it? After all, would her voice hold power if she asked the true leaders of their faction to leave the Human plane alone? Of course not.
Nolan knew Light was far more powerful than the other Sovereigns who ascended the Human plane, but her strength did not reflect her ranking in their faction.
Obstruction was also present. If he decided to pursue the matter of descending to the Human plane, Light would never be able to defy him.
All these thoughts flashed through Nolan's mind in an instant and he unhesitantly left the Human plane to check the situation outside.
What Obstruction said about the Sovereign's Cradle not having any effect on him was surprisingly true. Which was why Nolan decided to check the situation outside instead of staying in the Human plane, wherein he could not do anything.
The moment Nolan appeared outside, he saw Ruin's sitting cross-legged, hunched back and was surrounded by several of his strange-looking beast summons.
The summons were not doing anything and only surrounded Ruin as if trying to protect him from something beyond their line.
"Oh? So you're coming out now?" Ruin asked without turning to look at Nolan. He knew the latter would come out once Obstruction appeared in the Human plane.
Frankly, Ruin was a little peeved when Nolan ascended, returned to the Human plane and did not come out soon after resolving the matter of the Sovereigns that managed to descend. Ruin thought Nolan no longer cared what happened to him as long as he kept Obstruction at bay.
Obstruction was not an easy opponent to kill after all. Ruin was risking his life but what did Nolan do? He forgot about him!
"Useless piece of trash, why did you let Obstruction go?" Nolan snorted at Ruin.
Ruin shrugged, not one bit offended at Nolan's attitude. Since he did not sense any ill-intent from the latter's words, he ignored it.
"What can I do? When these guys appeared?" Ruin snorted back motioning with his head at the spot up ahead.
Nolan immediately unleashed his magic sense to survey the whole area. His eyes narrowed as soon as he detected three powerful mages ahead.
Even with a magic sense of a Sovereign, Nolan actually failed to 'see' the images of these three mages. Meaning their defenses were far more powerful than him, or their magic sense could easily counter those with a lower level than them.
Regardless of what was the answer, both actually confirmed that they were much more powerful than Nolan.
Nolan suddenly felt an incoming headache. One of the reasons he did not want to ascend was because he knew the things he had to deal with once he became a Sovereign would be far more annoying than petty squabbles by low-level mages in the Human plane.
"Are they Obstruction's allies?" Nolan asked Ruin, while keeping a close eye on the movements of the three newcomers.
"One of them is," Ruin replied with a smirk. "The founder of their faction. The other two… well, I don't know. They appeared right after that founder helped Obstruction take that woman's invitation."
"'Invitiation'?" Nolan repeated with a scowl. He did not need Ruin to say it aloud to know that the woman he was talking about was Layla. However, he did not understand what he meant about an invitation.
Ruin raised his brows and looked at Nolan.
"You did not know? A mage can invite outsiders into their plane by using an invitation. That was how I entered the Human plane without triggering the Sovereign's Cradle."
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