Chapter 27: Come At Me

'Let's see if you can argue your way out of that!' Celine thought with a sneer.

To her dismay, however, she heard Kyran sighed in relief.

"I thought I had to keep doing this until you ask that question. As expected of Hall Master," he said.

"What –?"

Celine was caught off guard by Kyran's words.

What happened next seemed to go in slow motion for Celine.

She watched as Kyran undid the purple dragon scales around his right hand that was hovering near her face. Then he pulled her closer to whisper in her ears.

However, before she could make sense of what he said, he already pushed her toward the hole on the floor.

"Hall Master!" Dante and other mercenaries exclaimed.

As if time returned to its right motion, Celine used her magic to stop her fall and turned around in midair. She saw that Kyran already started running at full speed toward the gallery to his right.

"I'm fine. Focus on him!"

She commanded the mercenaries.

"Yes!"

Dante and the rest of the mercenaries who already had their magic arrays activated launched their magic attacks at Kyran.

Kyran directed the purple dragon scales to cover him. All attacks that came at him were decimated at once. He jumped and before he could land on the rail of the gallery, three light-brown magic arrays appeared near his back, left side, and right side.

"Stop now!" Dante shouted.

Lava-like arrows shot out from the arrays.

Kyran ignored the attack. The purple dragon scales simply danced around him and destroyed all incoming attacks.

The mercenaries at the gallery where Kyran landed were bravely aiming at him with their magic at first, but after seeing how all attacks that made contact with his barrier were completely destroyed, they backed away.

They also saw parts of the rail where he landed and was hit by his barrier sizzled and was left hollow.

"Move back," Kyran told the mercenaries that were standing near the back wall of the gallery.

The mercenaries did not need telling twice, they immediately moved the moment he jumped down the rail.

'Those damn cowards!' Dante thought and glared at the mercenaries who stopped attacking.

Dante created several smaller arrays and surrounded Kyran again.

Kyran looked up and saw the arrays.

'Really annoying,' he thought. He turned to face the stadium and spread his arms. The purple dragon scales expanded, forming a half globe around him.

Lava-like boulders shot out from the arrays and aimed at Kyran in all directions. But all of it sizzled and vanished the moment it touched the scales.

Celine's bright red eyes narrowed as she flew in the air toward Kyran. Magic fluctuations surged around her.

"Come to me," her sultry voice resounded in the stadium, but it was directed at Kyran.

Even inside the purple dragon scales, Kyran felt that weird sensation once again as his body made an involuntary move forward.

"Tsk," he gritted his teeth and the purple dragon scales fluctuated.

Celine's magic was too much for his scales to fully counter.

[What are you still hesitating for? I told you to run wild.]

Nolan's voice suddenly appeared in Kyran's mind.

That's right. Earlier, he only needed to use the new form of his magic because he had to show something as proof of his magic. Now that he was at the crucial junction of their plan, he no longer needed to hold back.

"Release your magic and come to me now," Celine's voice resounded once again. She was now at least twenty meters away from the gallery where Kyran was.

"No, thanks," Kyran replied as he looked at Celine.

"How –!" she exclaimed when instead of releasing his magic, more purple rings appeared on top of Kyran's barrier.

What was more, these purple rings gave off a more concentrated magic fluctuation.

The air crackled around Kyran as the purple rings expanded and circled the purple dragon scales. The moment the rings passed the scales, it was absorbed and fissures started to appear.

"R-run!" The mercenaries who were in the gallery with Kyran started to run in fright.

Dante stopped in his tracks the moment he saw the change in Kyran's barrier. Once again, he felt an inexplicable fear while he looked at it.

Celine's brow creased. She could not believe that Kyran was able to resist her magic. Back when they were in her office, she felt that he could resist her magic to a certain extent. But that was only because she was not exerting her real strength. Right now, however, she was using almost 80% of her strength and yet he was still able to resist.

'But when he summoned that black hole, he stopped the moment I used my magic. Was he only pretending back then?' She wondered in frustration.

"Kyran Regis! Are you really going to make the Mercenary Hall your enemy?" She demanded and stopped in midair, ten meters away from Kyran and his half globe purple barrier.

"You attacked first. I am only trying to defend myself," Kyran answered as the density of the purple barrier decreased.

"Humph," Celine sneered. "This time you acted first and avoid answering my question."

"No. I'm not avoiding it. But I realized that once I answered your question and I remained standing in the middle of the stadium, it will be harder for me."

"What are you talking about?" she frowned.

"What I mean is..." Kyran started as the purple rings reverted into their small size and were circling around his wrist, "...this."

He removed his cloak.

The moment everyone saw Kyran's face they were all shocked. Because he looked younger than what they expected.

"I-Isn't he just a young man?"

"Wait. Does that mean a young man actually received a legendary platinum badge?"

"That's not important! Don't you think he looked familiar?"

"Now that you said that..."

All sorts of comments were heard from the mercenaries.

Dante in particular was very surprised. He had been fighting Kyran but he never thought that the person under the cloak was so young.

Celine also was very upset, she clenched her fist and glared at Kyran.

"Y-You! Aren't you just a kid! You may be good-looking, but you are too young! Take responsibility for me now!" She glared and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"H-Hall Master..." Dante and the rest of the mercenaries felt a little embarrassed by Celine's outburst.

Dark lines appeared on Kyran's forehead as he looked at Celine, incredulously.

"That's not really the point here," he said with a sigh.

Ignoring Celine's glare, Kyran looked at the mercenaries around and said, "Remember my face well. I am Kyran Regis. You best know me as the 'One-Million-First-Grade-Spirit-Stone-Target'."

Boom!

Suddenly the mercenaries were in an uproar.

Looking at Kyran, he did look like the one from the poster. However, in the photo, he looked much younger and skinny. But the most important point was, he was a Regis and someone issued a generous bounty for his capture?

Celine's eyes also narrowed. All sorts of ideas flashed through her mind. Was the one who issued the bounty the Regis Clan? Was Kyran a traitor? Did they make the request anonymous because they did not want such a scandal to spread about their family? And the magic Kyran possessed, was it a hidden teaching of their family?

"I'm sure all of you are interested in that bounty. But it seems the Royal Army left quite a few important details," Kyran continued.

Almost everyone in the stadium gasped after hearing his words. They did hear him say the Royal Army raided the Regis Clan, but were they really the ones who issued that bounty?

"Royal Army?" Celine's eyes grew wide.

"Who else would put such a huge reward on my head? The Regis Family?" Kyran's eyes flashed as his heart was filled with mixed emotions of anger, frustration, and hopelessness.

"The Royal Army raided the Regis Estate just to get me. Right, to be specific. The Forbidden Magic Control Squad of the Royal Army raided the Regis Estate," his voice deepened as he revealed this very important information.

Once again the crowd was in an uproar.

"Why does the army have to hide this information?"

"He is a Regis. Imagine how the whole empire and the other nobles will react if they found out that the Regis was raided by the army?"

"No. That's not the important point here. It was the Forbidden Magic Control Squad that raided the Regis Estate!"

They all looked at Kyran with fear in their eyes as they remembered how powerful yet strange his magic was.

"Your magic..." Celine finally spoke. The way she looked at Kyran changed the instant he mentioned what division of the Royal Army was after him.

"That's right," Kyran lifted his right hand and looked at the purple rings circling around his wrists.

Then he looked at them once more. His dark gray eyes slowly turned reddish-purple as he started to move back toward the wall.

"I came here today to warn you. If you still dare to come at me after knowing all these, then..."

He looked at Celine, who had fallen silent. She met his gaze with her own glowing red eyes.

Kyran touched the wall behind him. Immediately, the purple rings on his right wrist hovered on the surface of the wall. The rings expanded at least five-meter in radius at an alarming rate, and a black hole formed in the middle. It also expanded and instantly engulfed the ten-meter-thick wall.

Everyone inside the stadium watched in silence.

None dared to move.

"...I will not be polite. Come at me. I'll be waiting," Kyran finished his words still looking at Celine.

The moment he said those words, the black hole vanished and revealed a now hollowed wall behind him.

From outside the Mercenary Hall, people who were walking in the street had seen a black hole appearing on the third-floor outer walls of the building.

As soon as the black hole vanished, they all gasped after seeing that the walls of the Mercenary Hall building had been hollowed. They then saw a silhouette of a man standing a few meters away from the edge.

Kyran turned and started to walk over the edge of the wall. Then a thought came to him and he stopped and looked at Celine and the others once more.

"Right. In case you're still wondering," Kyran spoke again. A black mist started to appear in midair behind him.

"I have void magic," he told them and jumped into the black mist.

Huge purple rings circled the black mist and after a few seconds, it completely enveloped the black mist and vanished in the air.

Everyone who witnessed the scene, either inside the Mercenary Hall or outside were all shocked.

Dante and the rest of the mercenaries were also very frightened as they remembered Kyran's last words.

Void Magic.

The magic they witnessed today was that feared and most terrible magic of all.

"Hall Master," Dante looked at Celine, who was still in the air looking at the spot where Kyran had been.

Celine's eyes had now returned to normal, but while the others were frightened, her eyes reflected anticipation.

"'I'll be waiting', huh." She repeated Kyran's words almost in a whisper.