Legacy of the Dark Sage

The woman also turned her attention upfront.

At some distance from them, the space distorted, and a rift appeared. Its size was big enough to fit three grown men.

From the right, three silhouettes stepped out.

The woman already recognized the first two men, Cade and the Human plane's new Sovereign, Nolan. As for the third one, she guessed it was the person Loar had been talking about.

The new Dark Sage.

She already heard about him. After all, he made a ruckus when he escaped from Ruin— known as the black sheep among the Sovereigns in the Lower Realm— time and again. Nevertheless, it would be her first time seeing him in person. And the first impression she had was he looked too young.

Apart from this, the things she heard about him from the other Sovereigns who met him slightly differed from the one Loar talked about.

This piqued her interest a bit.

Still, from what Loar had said, his essence met this young man. And that was quite a long time ago. How could he still look this young?

Even when he made a ruckus, it had been several years since they had heard of him.

Because of that, some had thought Ruin might have already succeeded in 'preying' on him.

But Loar did not think so. Besides, Ruin had been quiet as well.

After some thought, Loar decided to search for the Human plane. It took some time, but finally, he got some clues after they heard of the news of Sovereign Savagery's death.

At that time, when Savagery died, several Sovereigns who coveted her planes took action. Some were surprised that her faction, the Radical Order, did not make a move when they took the former's planes one after another.

Of course, this was only their misconception. Because after those Sovereign took Savagery's planes, Flos, the leader of the Radical Order, finally made a move. He visited all those planes and easily took them back because the Sovereigns fighting for them were already exhausted.

It was then that they realized that the Radical Order not making a move was so these Sovereigns would exhaust themselves. After that, they would make a move and take back Savagery's planes while also defeating those Sovereigns in one fell swoop.

By doing that, Flos managed to gain more planes for their faction.

In any case, the clue Loar found was provided by one of the Sovereigns who survived Flos's counterattack.

From what the clue provided by that Sovereign, Savagery had left her plane for quite some time, and upon tracking her down, she was lost near the outer edge of the Lower Realm.

Loar was a little skeptical about this at first because the outer edge of the Lower Realm was close to where the Tower of Chaos was.

As a plane rumored to be the Land of the Ancients, Loar thought the Human plane was close to the inner part of the Lower Realm, which was close to the Land of Desolation that was rumored to lead toward the Higher Realm.

But recalling what his essence talked about with Kyran, one thing piqued his interest.

And that was how the humans in Kyran's plane did not accept him, as if his existence was a mistake.

That saddened Loar. In the Automa plane, Kyran, who possessed the power of Void, would be revered because they all believed that automatons were created from the Void.

From this thought, Loar finally decided to check that place. There was no harm in doing anyway. He would be wasting his time at most, but at least he might find unoccupied planes while he searched the outer edge of the Lower Realm.

After roaming the outer edge for almost a year, Loar started to get bored.

And that was when he discovered Deception suddenly appearing from a location his ship could not detect.

When that happened, Loar only had one thought.

'Why did I not think of that?'

Other Sovereigns looking for the Human plane likely ventured around the outer edge of the Lower Realm already.

How come they still could not find it?

Obviously, the plane could not be detected by their magic sense.

Loar believed the Human plane was protected by the rumored Ancient magic, preventing others from locating it.

Even the first time it was found was a result of pure luck. Or maybe not luck, but the result of unfortunate events that lead to that plane entering the Human plane from a rift.

That was right. The fall of the Demon plane led them to enter a rift that appeared from their plane. That rift happened to be connected to the Human plane.

With this in mind, Loar searched the vicinity where Deception appeared in such a sorry state. She seemed to be pissed at something, which piqued Loar's interest further.

When he arrived, however, he did not find anything. 

It was likely that the distortion where Deception appeared had already mended itself and left no trace.

But Loar had no plans of stopping. He lay in wait, feeling that Deception would return based on her pissed-off attitude.

And just as he guessed, Deception did return with two Sovereigns from the Radical Order.

Loar could not help but frown at this.

Now that Deception had brought two more members of the Radical Order, Loar knew if he interfered, it would escalate into a faction war. That was something he did not want to happen.

The War of the Sovereigns was nearing. If they exhausted their resources before the war even started, they might not last until the end.

Still, if Deception had come out from the Human plane, Loar could not stand by and watch. After all, his friend was in there.

Because of this, Loar called for the Sovereign of Dusk, who happened to be training at that time.

That was right. Even though he was already a Sovereign, he still wanted to train. And he happened to be training at the Tower of Tribulations.

In any case, Loar asked Dusk to visit the Human plane and warn Kyran of Deception's arrival.

Initially, Dusk did not want to, but he became interested after learning that the friend Loar was talking about was the infamous new Dark Sage.

Loar knew Dusk wanted to test Kyran. That made him laugh inwardly. He did not stop him and would not even console him if he made a great fool of himself.

In the end, Dusk entered the Human plane through the Tower of Tribulations. As to how he managed that, he received a card reward, which enabled him to go on any plane he wanted. Thus, the Tower would have to abide even if he wished to enter the Human plane.

In any case, their meeting had not been 'nice.'

Loar knew Kyran had a temper but did not bother to tell Dusk because he wanted to let the latter learn his own lesson.

After that, Loar and a few other Sovereigns outside the Human plane waited.

What happened next was what everyone already knew.

Loar correctly guessed that Deception did come out from the Human plane, and she was there because she received an 'invitation.'

When Obstruction came and forced Deception to leave and then decided to descend into the Human plane, Loar contemplated going.

His reason was still the same. Kyran was his friend and did not want anything to happen to him before they met in person.

Based on what Loar observed and what Dusk told him, war was happening in the Human plane, which involved Kyran.

Apart from this, Deception was brazen enough to bring more of her people because the Human plane's Sovereign was already in his last leg.

Fortunately, before Loar was forced into coming out— which would likely result in a war between their factions— a new Sovereign ascended into the Human plane.

Loar sighed after recalling all of these details.

His friend had gone through a lot.

"He looks too young," the woman beside him commented with a frown.

Loar chuckled as he willed the huge ship to approach the three.

"I know."

The woman looked at Loar, clearly dissatisfied with his answer.

Loar only shrugged.

What could he say? He, too, mistook Cade for Kyran because he thought he would be at that age. But seeing him now, he was also surprised at how young he looked.

Apart from Kyran's physique undergoing changes, he looked the same when his essence met him.

The ship had not even moved that far when the space behind Loar and the woman distorted, and the three appeared.

This almost made the woman jump in surprise, even though she appeared calm.

"Seems you are no longer hesitating in using your magic," Loar commented as he turned and looked at Kyran.

Kyran smiled slightly as he observed 'Loar.'

Loar also smiled, knowing what could be playing in the latter's head.

"It took some time, but at least we get to meet in person at last."

"You look different in person."

Loar laughed, "And you look the same from several years ago."