As the man followed the young Numa, he soon found traces of his lost mutated beast's aura around him. Instead of getting angry, the man kept following him. His curiosity turned into anticipation, the anticipation of knowing how this young Numa killed off his mutated beast.
Yes.
The man had long confirmed that something had killed his mutated beast. As soon as he entered the area where he let that particular beast roam free, using his divine sense, he searched for it. He found its carcass mutilated and some of its parts missing. That was the reason he initially thought a new mutated beast had killed it. After all, the Numas were far too small to kill his mutated beast, especially mutilate it. At most, the man had thought that a new king-level mutated beast had emerged. He would subdue it and make it his new pet if that were true.
And that was the man's train of thought when he met the young Numa. Knowing that the young Numa had extraordinary strength, the man even thought of taking him as his successor.
Only someone capable of facing danger at such odds and prevail would enter the man's line of sight. As such, he had yet to choose his successor even after a thousand years.
But then, that young Numan turned out to be a human. The same as the one who had created the obelisks.
That damnable race.
It had been a thousand years since he had met them. And even then, he only went because of another human's summons. As much as he did not like humans, ignoring that particular human was troublesome. He did not like troublesome things, so he went. It did not occur to him that the reason why that human summoned him was precisely to destroy the man he despised.
Since they both shared the same interest, he assisted that human.
The man's red eyes glinted malevolently as he stretched his right arm to his side.
From the direction he aimed at, a growling sound appeared. The ground trembled, and the air hissed with the aura of death. Soon after, a medium-sized beast with the body of a stag and the head of a lion appeared.
A black mist wrapped around the beast's body as it got dragged to the man's position. The beast roared in anger, struggling to break free.
When the beast was only ten meters away from the man, the black mist turned into a huge hand gripping it. The man's right hand aimed in the beast's direction made a squeezing gesture, and the beast roared in pain. Its eyes turned bloodshot as its life force gradually squeezed out from it.
A visible change appeared on the beast's appearance as its body started to wither, and its golden mane began to fall.
The man's glowing red eyes grew fierce as he drained more of the beast's life force.
His action was just an insignificant detail of what he wanted to do when he found the 'human.'
The beast he captured soon became skin and bones. However, the man did not stop taking in the beast's life force until its body turned gray and slowly ashed. Before the ashes crumbled to the ground, the black mist circled it, assimilating the ashes, taking everything within.
When the black mist completely transformed the ashes, the black mist flew toward the man's outstretched hand.
The man opened its palm, and a slit slowly appeared in the middle. The slit widened and soon turned into a mouth with razor-sharp teeth. It opened its mouth wide as it sucked in the black mist flying toward it.
Thick reddish veins appeared on the man's arms as the mouth on its hand sucked the black mist. It pulsated, and a violet tint seemed to blend into the man's glowing red eyes. A faint black aura seeped out from his body, instantly making the air and the ground tremble.
The man emitted pressure that swept through the whole area, affecting everything in the vicinity. All the beast carcasses around crumbled as cracks formed on the ground.
However, within the black obelisk's area of effect, the man's pressure had no effect whatsoever. The glowing magic array formed a faint purplish half-sphere that protected the whole area, neutralizing the man's pressure.
Finally, the man closed his eyes while lowering his arm.
As always, his power had no effect around a fully activated obelisk. Only when the death aura in the land began to recover did the obelisk's energy start to wane. By then, he had already gathered his mutated beasts and tried to do everything to destroy or disrupt the obelisks' purpose.
Alas, he only managed to disrupt two obelisks even after almost a thousand years, and now someone had arrived trying to revive them.
Unforgivable!
The man took a deep breath calming his raging emotion. The young human's vanishing figure flashed through his mind, and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
When the man opened his eyes, it no longer glowed malevolently. Instead, his eyes filled with a silent coldness that could petrify anyone who looked into them too long.
"That ability… could it be after a thousand years… you have returned?"
The man's shoulders shudder as a soft chuckle escaped its lips.
"That bitch failed in the end. It seems I'll have to visit her soon. I hate it when someone breaks promises. But first…"
The man looked up. A black aura burst out from him and directly shot up in the dark skies. Soon, a black veil slowly spread above to enclose the land below.
Howls and roars of mourning appeared one after another when all of the mutated beasts around saw the black veil cover the skies. Their cries reverberated, filling the air like a choir singing a chorus of death.
The man's lips moved. He did not shout when he spoke—however, his words reverberated in the air like thunder, shaking the whole land.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU."
During this time, Kyran was still immersed in his study of Void creation. He only had the obelisk as a reference, but it was enough for what he planned to create.
A formless dark purple energy hovered before him as he tried to shape it into a new object. It proved to be very hard to do, though. He was missing something, and he was unsure what it was exactly, only that it was something very fundamental.
Suddenly, the ground quaked, and once again, Kyran heard the man's voice.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU."
A cold shiver ran up Kyran's spine when he heard the man's voice. Same as before, it shook the whole land, but there was a slight difference. The man's voice appeared very close this time, as if he was right next to Kyran, whispering directly into his ears.
Kyran felt his Void core tremble. It was not the same tremble when it resonated with his emotions.
"Argh!" Kyran doubled over as he felt a searing hot pain spread in his body. The pain started from his heart and slowly spread outward, filling every part of him.
Cold sweats trickled down Kyran's face and back as the pain intensified. He belatedly realized that the pain he was feeling now was almost the same as when he had taken the Elixir.
"Guh!" Kyran coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Before his blood touched the ground, the formless dark purple energy moved and drew the blood in. Slowly, the formless dark purple energy began to take shape. However, it appeared unable to sustain its activity and returned to its formless state.
Though Kyran was in pain, he managed to witness this, and his eyes widened.
This sudden turn of events overturned the emerging fear he had when the man's voice reached him. His attention had shifted entirely back to what he was doing.
'D-Don't tell me the missing item is… blood? My blood?' He wondered. As the thought flashed through Kyran's mind, his Void core stopped tormenting him, and the pain subsided.
It dawned on him that since he failed to understand what he was missing, his Void core took it upon itself to tell him the answer.
'T-This… can't be right. I mean… my Void core only carried the experiences of my predecessor so why is it… acting like this?' Kyran thought, his mind reeling at this realization.
He had thought when he was in danger, and his magic energy appeared to move on its own, it was because it was due to it acting based on the experience his Void core had.
Now…
'Focus, Kyran!' Kyran suddenly told himself as he got up on his knees.
'Blood. I'm missing blood with this…'
His expression suddenly turned sour. Once again, he needed blood… Just how many techniques required his blood?
'No… not exactly my blood,' Kyran suddenly thought.
His Void core hummed in agreement after he realized he did not have to use his blood. He could use others, but…
If this was true, no wonder his predecessor was also named Dark Sage! This kind of technique was too dark!
With eyes full of determination, Kyran stood up and left his makeshift workroom, leaving the hovering formless dark purple energy inside.
If he had to be honest, he did not want to leave this place. Who knew what kind of trick the man he met had to locate him. But since he had a lead on how to complete his first Void creation, then he would see it through.
'There are a lot of beast carcasses here,' Kyran thought, remembering how easy it was for him to gather blood as an alternative to water.
'After I finished this, I'll find the obelisk around this place and see if I can replenish my magic energy. No, I have to replenish it, or else I'll be doomed if that man do find me.'
However, even as Kyran resolved to do this, it seemed he had overlooked something.
It was unfortunate that the location where he was had few beasts.. If not, he would have heard their wails as the black veil filled the sky.