Stella knew Kyran wanted Flos's attention away from Cyneah when he made True Void change into the Macabre Glacier.
Though she did not know True Void had that ability, she knew Kyran well enough to guess what he was thinking. The thought that he still had the time to think of a way to ensure Cyneah's safety made her extremely jealous. She coughed out blood just a moment ago, but he did not even react.
But unlike before, when Stella's jealousy got the best of her and ended up being affected by the First's memories of Layla, she did nothing. It felt as if, for the first time, she had a clear view of her own emotions.
Maybe the fact that the First's consciousness had exhausted all her energy and had already dissipated, or maybe she had only fallen into a deep slumber, had helped remove those lingering feelings the First had for Caelan in the Time core.
Thus, Stella could finally see how she truly felt for Kyran. She told him before that her feelings were not affected by the First; that was her honest opinion. However, now that she was free from the latter's lingering feelings, she could surely say that her confession was true.
Stella was in love with Kyran. While it still felt similar to how the First felt for Caelan, Stella knew it was also different. At least she did not feel heartbroken just because she knew how much he cherished Cyneah.
Yes, she was jealous. But that was a natural reaction.
What Stella told Kyran earlier about Cyneah were her honest feelings. She had truly come to terms with her feelings after waking from a deep sleep.
It was called deep sleep, but in Stella's opinion, she merely took a nap while her consciousness was awake enough to observe the First's interaction with Cyneah. It was also through their interaction that she understood why Kyran never doubted that Cyneah was different from Layla.
For this reason, Stella would not be blinded by her jealousy. However, she did fear that Kyran would think otherwise after this event.
After all, even when Stella interfered, she had already seen the possible outcome of her action.
'No, this should be a trick!' Layla thought, her mind reeled at seeing two mirrors in the sky.
Different from Stella, Layla was still in the midst of debating with herself.
'The mirror would not have reacted from Haylee's magic energy if it was not real. Apart from this, the mirror's sentient had pestered her right after awakening it to an extent. So, True Void becoming the Macabre Glacier is impossible!'
'Are you sure? Haylee is only an essence. It should not have been possible for her to awaken the mirror as she is. Even with the help of the Soul core... Haylee's central core is not complete.'
An inner voice countered Layla's thoughts when she tried to reason True Void's appearance was fake.
Common sense dictated that having two mirrors with the same abilities was impossible. But her intuition told her not to trust her limited knowledge of True Void's abilities because that would likely result in misjudgment.
In the end, Layla could not decide whether to trust her common sense or her intuition.
At the same time, Flos had finally gotten serious. His eyes narrowed, and he said to Obstruction, "You're right, Obstruction. This is not the time to be amazed."
He did not mention it, but he also thought that Obstruction fearing True Void rather than the Macabre Glacier was reasonable.
"I'll go ahead. Do try to keep up."
"I am ready."
Flos took out a magic device made of diamond with golden rune writings covering its surface. Inside the diamond was an orb that suspiciously looked like a closed eye. And then, as Flos inserted his magic energy into the device, the eye started to open.
"Come out and heed my call," he muttered, and in an instant, the eye snapped open, and an ominous pressure filled the whole estate.
Cade and the rest of the people inside the estate also felt it, and their insides churned. Those with low-level mage levels even fell to their knees and vomited blood.
'This is not good,' Cade thought as he activated the Regis Blessing and roused his magic.
Now that he no longer had to worry about his damaged magic core, gathering the surrounding magic energy that corresponded to his magic had gotten easier. Not to mention, with Azaloth's Inheritance, his understanding of magic energy had grown to the point he could manipulate them to a certain extent, notwithstanding whether the magic energy he gathered had a particular element.
When the dragon blood in his system awakened, Cade used the Dragon Step to go to where Kyran and the others were.
He was not the only one. All Regis members who could withstand the pressure also activated their Regis Blessing and rushed toward Kyran.
They would not let their young master bore everything alone. No matter how much Kyran appeared to have grown. Most of them still saw him as a young, innocent boy that barely knew the outside world.
The only one who did not move was Aron. But his inaction was not because he did not care about Kyran. As a matter of fact, he was the one who was more worried about him. Nevertheless, he could only let Cade do what a father must do. At the same time, he should do the same.
That was right. As a father to Cade and Jared, he had to ensure that no one would distract them. And at the moment, the Soul Emperor's forces outside the estate had already made a move.
With the veil gone, they no longer had to maintain the array. Now that they knew their mistress was in danger, they immediately gathered and went straight to the Regis Estate.
Aron took charge of the Regis Special Forces, who left the estate and rendezvous with the Aureole and Kyran's Sigils to destroy the Soul Emperor's array.
Now that there was a sudden change of plan after the arrival of Flos, Aron prepared them to engage the Soul Emperor's forces.
They were outnumbered, yes. However, that did not stop them from facing going.
Lauren glanced at Olivia in one of the Aureole's makeshift forts and said, "Did it occur to you that we will end up going to war when you decided to meet those two?"
Olivia did not glance at her and kept her focus straight ahead.
"Yes."
"Then did you ever consider that the Aureole might end destroyed after?"
"So what?" Olivia shrugged. "We'll get destroyed once that b*tch wins the war. We're only taking the initiative to be destroyed now rather than later."
Lauren chuckled and turned her focus upfront. She said, "Sometimes you say things that I could agree with."
Olivia frowned at her words and snarled, "Don't give me that cr*p."
"We might end up dead after this," Lauren's expression turned solemn suddenly. "At the very least, I wanted you to know that I really did not cause the master's illness. However, I have found some clues as to how to heal her."
Olivia, who refused to look at Lauren, finally glanced at her without a word.
"No matter what, you have to live," Lauren continued. "After this war, go to the east. Find a person named Gustaf, he will let you know what I found."
Olivia raised her brows after hearing Gustaf's name. She did not know him per se, but she had heard of him. He was one of the few who decided to continue returning to the Tower of Tribulations as a merchant, after all.
Chuckling at the thought that Lauren's lead could very well be the same as hers, Olivia said, "No need. I've agreed to help that guy because he knew how to heal my mother."
Then she paused before adding, albeit begrudgingly, "For the record, I already know it is not your fault. I just found your presence annoying, which is why I hated your guts."
Lauren blinked at Olivia's words as she looked at her in surprise.
But Olivia had already looked away before Lauren could see her expression. In the end, when she saw that the latter had no plans of saying any more, she laughed out loud and said, "I see. You hated my guts. I see."
Just as she said those words, they saw a great multitude of mages rushing toward their side.
Their expression turned serious as they braced for the incoming enemies.
Similar scenes could be seen at several makeshift forts around the Regis Estate's periphery.
And in those forts, Zephyr, Bas, and Mera were also waiting. Byron, too. However, he was not in front; instead, he was busy doing something else.
Back to the floating Ravenpass, as soon as the eye on the magic device in Flos's hands' opened, Kyran, who was close to it, felt his Draconic core tremble violently.
'That eye...!' His eyes widened as he realized that the slits on the eye looked similar to a dragon's!