Legacy of the Dark Sage

Lucian met with several leaders in the morning. After that, there was a break before the meetings started in the afternoon.

Throughout his meetings, Lucian barely contained his excitement. Obviously, the cause of his excitement had nothing to do with what the leaders he met said. Instead, it had to do with the time drawing closer to the meeting he had been looking forward to all day— his meeting with the Dragon Clan.

Why was he looking forward to it?

It was because that time was when everything would start.

The beginning of the end.

Whose end?

Obviously, the Dragon Clan.

Lucian had already received a report that the Dragon Emperor’s aura was barely visible within the Dragon Plane. The fact that his people managed to infiltrate the Dragon Plane’s powerful array formation and search for the Dragon Emperor proved that the news about the latter’s failed ascension was accurate.

Although Lucian had little reason to doubt Ames’s word, that did not mean he would believe everything she said 100%.

Anyway, he needed to confirm the Dragon Clan’s military strength before he could order his people to attack. So, it was not strange for him to ask them to infiltrate and observe them from the outside.

Observing a plane from the outside using Divine Sense was only possible with high-level mages. Apart from that, if a mage with the same level as them was around, there was a risk of getting exposed.

Since none of the Aides that stayed in the Dragon Plane noticed the infiltration of Lucian’s people, then it went without saying that their level was higher than the Aides of the Dragon Clan.

Knowing that did not mean Lucian should be complacent. In fact, he ordered his people to continue observing the plane. He did not want any problem to arise once he ordered the attack.

The Palace of the King was too far from the Dragon Plane, so Lucian could not join them immediately. At most, it would take him a week, and that was after he went to the nearest Junction Port and transmitted there to the one near the Dragon Plane.

Lucian would not be going to any Junction Port. This was because he was not going there alone. He would be taking several others with him, and obviously, he would not go there without a ship.

If there was something Lucian learned about going to war against the Dragons, that was to be generous when spending his war funds.

Dragons could easily overwhelm similar-level mages without reverting to their original form. Their stamina was also monstrous. Considering these things, Lucian could not waste his manpower to deal with the dragons one-on-one. He needed to use several warships to cause as much damage from a distance as possible and support the mages that would fight the Dragons nearby.

For this reason, Lucian could no leave his ships behind.

Could he not just change into his original form and overwhelm the dragons?

While this was possible, Lucian was only one being. The dragons were numerous. Moreover, when Lucian overwhelmed the Blade Dancer Clan, he succeeded because the latter had no intentions of deying him. If faced agaisnt a clan that would retaliate, not to mention, having good synergy with each other, he would also be burdened.

’...Just a little bit more...’ Lucian thought, while pretending to listen to the leaders who were in the middle of some unimportant matter.

*

Ducal furrowed his brows while watching the monitor inside the military district. The dragons, seated on the panel just in front of the monitor, who were also Eissen’s subordinates, looked at it with sweat trickling down the side of their faces.

It could not be helped. Their reaction was reasonable, especially if one would see the scene being shown on the monitor.

Several warships, with active array formations circling them, and combat mages with massive bodies in white and gold armor could be seen outside the Dragon Plane. Ṙ₳ꞐổВĘ𐌔

They were still a distance away from the plane and were hidden behind concealment spells and invisibility arrays; however, because of the enhanced array formation of the Dragon Plane, they were readily detected and were now shown on the monitor.

"Fortunately, Cade asked us to enlarge the array formation’s surveillance range, if not, we will not be able to find them," one of the dragons responsible for monitoring activities outside the plane said.

"But that number... that is not a force that has been dispatched recently," another commented.

Ducal took a deep breath, his eyes remained stuck on the monitor.

"We have anticipated The Emperor to send a small force to feel us out... but given this is... different from what we had in mind," he admitted with a frown. He then observed the combat mages hovering at the frontline, which looked imposing and threatening just by merely being there.

’Those combat mages... the Divine Sense they sent out are also impressive,’ he thought, recalling how one of the specialized formulas of the plane’s array formation reacted when those massive combat mages used their Divine Sense to scout the situation inside the plane.

Fortunately, Rae, one of Kyran’s people, helped improve the array formation, saying it was too weak and unimaginative.

Ducal barely understood what Rae added to the improved array formation. Still, he guessed that one of the specialized formulas— just as Rae called it— could counter and produce an illusion-like result to confuse outsiders who were trying to spy on them.

"Send a message to the palace. Inform them about the arrival of The Emperor’s forces."

"Yes."

*

Inside the conference hall of the palace, which turned into a war room, leaders from different tribes assigned to devising war strategy were gathered. Eissen was also assigned there, but since he was also chosen as one of the representatives to protect Ames in the Inter-Clan Conference, a temporary commander replaced him.

Experience tales at empire

Celestine was the Aide in charge of the Dragon Clan’s Crafts and Smith. He might not be as good as Eissen regarding military strategies, but his battle insights were just as good.

In fact, all Aides were good in combat. They would not have become Aillos’s aides if not.

At the center of a long table, the whole map of the Dragon Plane and the outside was being projected through magic. There were miniature representations of the Dragon Clan’s forces shown on the map, while new representations of The Emperor’s forces were being added according to the report they received from Ducal’s side.

"...That is a lot..."

Someone commented among the tribe leaders after the representation of the enemy’s forces was completely projected.

"Not only that... those massive combat mages..."

"Yes," Celestine replied with a frown.

"Those are The Emperor’s Sentinels." His face distorted slightly before adding, "I never expected him to send those right from the start."

"Fighting them without releasing our true form would be hard..."

"It is quite unfortunate that only a few of us can fully utilize Anahita’s technique—."

"The enemies haven’t made their move," Celestine cut them off before they started spouting more negative thoughts. "Fortunately, we’ve found them first. Now, we have to prepare accordingly."

He turned to one of the younger talents assigned to relaying messages and said, "Inform the rest and send a visual of the projected enemy number."

"Yes," the young dragon focused on the panel before him and manipulated the runes on the panel’s surface to relay the message as Celestine instructed.

*

Aron received the message from the war room, and his expression turned solemn.

Seeing his reaction, Jared, who was with him, asked, "Have they come?"

Instead of answering, Aron turned and went to the room’s balcony.

Below, the Regis Family, who completed their training in the Tower of the Ancients this morning, were gathered.

Kyran’s people were among them and were distributing black coats that Kyran personally enchanted.

On the other side, Kyran’s people were also lined up. Since they were the first to complete the training in the Tower of the Ancients, they had already changed into new coats and robes that Kyran enchanted.

As if sensing Aron’s gaze, everyone looked toward the balcony. Even though they had yet to hear anything, their expressions had hardened at once.

"...We... from the Lower Realm can be considered weak in the eyes of the Higher Realm mages," Aron started.

Though his words were demeaning, none reacted because it was the truth.

"However, I’ve seen how you strived to improve and finally complete the last part of my grandson’s plan. We were thought to be a liability if a war broke out between mages of the Higher Realm. But that is no longer the case.

"Today, we will show them what humans of the Lower Realm can accomplish."

Aron did not know it then, but his words carried more meaning than he would have known.

"Get ready. We will depart in half an hour."

There was no shout or cry of encouragement after Aron gave a short talk. He was not expecting one, either. The determination reflected in each others’ eyes was enough.

As soon as Aron said his piece, he turned and returned inside the room.

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