Legacy of the Dark Sage

During Kryan\'s discussion with True Void about the possibility that Caelan planned everything so his successor would be born into the Regis Family, he guessed that his ancestor— Zane—  knew about it along with White Lily. But if Caelan died before the war truly ended, when did the planning happen?

Even as this question crossed Kyran\'s mind, he also thought of a possible answer. And the answer he thought of seemed absurd. At the same time, it was the only explanation he could think of as to why Stella suddenly started telling him this story.

As if reading what was on Kyran\'s mind, Stella smiled and said, "Something seems to be bothering you."

Kyran looked at Stella without saying anything. He might have suspected that Caelan planned for him to be born as a Regis, but that was it— a suspicion. There was no definite proof apart from the seemingly deliberate development of things around him.

After a short pause, and Stella still waited for Kyran to respond, he said instead, "I\'m just thinking why you decided to tell me all these things."

"What\'s wrong with sharing it with you at this point in time?"

"I don\'t understand what you mean about \'at this point in time.\'"

Stella chuckled, "You don\'t have to make me say things. You only need to ask, and I will answer. I won\'t hide anything from you."

"Then answer why did you tell me all of this."

"As I said because we are already at this point in time."

Before Kyran could reply in exasperation, Stella continued, "As you already suspected, Stella—  my successor, peeked into the future. The reason she had Styx and the rest go there, was because your precious puppet was destroyed before you arrived in the villa."

Kyran did not respond. He had guessed as much but he still did not see why Stella would suddenly tell him about the past.

Most of the people he knew who truly know what happened in the past had been trying to avoid saying anything, but Stella— this Stella—  after meeting her for the first time, had started spilling what she knew.

She definitely had a reason and Kyran guessed it was connected to what Stella saw.

"When that happened, Haylee seemed to have— for the lack of a proper term I\'ll use the word \'snap.\'"

Kyran frowned at once. He remembered how Haylee broke down after he revealed Tyr\'s real identity. He initially thought the reveal was too stimulating for her and could not handle the truth. But after hearing that she actually \'snap\' because Neo— who was posing as Tyr—  was destroyed.

Was it because she discovered they captured a puppet?

"Do you know how Neo was destroyed?"

"It blew itself up."

Kyran\'s frown deepened. If Neo blew himself, there was a possibility that Haylee did not discover he was only a puppet. But why would she snap just because \'Tyr\' blew himself? Was it because she lost the person who could create the bodies of her undying army?

But even if there was no Tyr, as long as Haylee joined Light\'s faction, there were plenty of options to be her undying army\'s bodies. As a matter of fact, her options would have been better. Even if she would not be able to find an Automaton master to create human puppets, just like how Layla used what the demons provided for a temporary body, Light\'s faction would definitely be able to provide her with what she needed.

"What happened after Haylee snapped?" Kyran asked, pushing aside his doubts. It was best to gather more information before coming up with a conclusion.

"She unleashed the Macabre Glacier."

Kyran\'s heart immediately turned cold. If Styx and company did not arrive in time to cause a commotion and Neo blew himself up, then a great calamity would have befallen the Human plane one after another. Because at the time that Neo decided to blow himself up, Kyran was still confronting Light...

No, wait. Styx and company\'s arrival was not the reason Neo was interrupted. Based on what Kyran had seen in Neo\'s system as soon as he located him back in the villa, the one who interrupted Neo\'s decision to blow his system was the arrival of the sea serpents.

"You\'re right," Stella suddenly said as if answering Kyran\'s thoughts. "However, there had been no sea serpents fighting in the villa when your puppet wanted to destroy itself."

"Then a change already happened."

"Yes."

"Don\'t tell me Stella did not peek into the future once but—."

"That\'s right. The first time she peek and intervened, she managed to stop Neo from blowing up from Styx and company\'s arrival. However, while she saved Neo, she sacrificed Styx and the others."

Kyran clenched his fist. Basically, Styx and company died in exchange for Neo\'s safety.

Although Neo\'s worth could be said to be higher than Styx and company because of the things Neo could do, it was not a reason to justify their deaths. They were real humans and their lives were far more important than a puppet.

At least, Kyran thought so, too. It would pain him to lose Neo, but he would never exchange its safety for Styx and company.

A thought crossed Kyran\'s mind as his expression darkened, "Don\'t tell me she had done something to lure the sea serpents to the villa."

"That\'s right," Stella responded at once. Just like she said, she seemed to be willing to answer any question Kyran asked as long as she knew the answer. She had no intentions of hiding anything.

"By doing that, she also gave you enough time to deal with Light."

Kyran suddenly felt bad. He knew how powerful Time magic was and felt it was too risky for Stella to use. It was, for this reason, he only asked her to use her magic for \'small\' things like when he needed to train and he did not have enough time, or if he needed to create something but did not have enough time.

Basically, Kyran would only ask Stella\'s help when he did not have enough time. He never asked her to go back in time or peek into the future so he could better prepare his strategy against his enemies. Besides, if he asked her that, who knew what the Fates would have done?

Kyran had heard about them countless times, especially how they would do anything to prevent others from meddling in future events.

In any case, Kyran did not expect Stella to have done so many things behind the scenes while he was busy \'absorbing\' and \'learning\' Light\'s magic.

"You asked me why I did not kill Haylee then. Does that mean, Stella created the situation back then?"

"Yes. After trial and error, she finally found the correct move to ensure you will have that chance."

"\'After trial and error,\'" Kyran repeated, his expression darkened even more. "How many times did Stella actually peek into the future?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Forget it," Kyran replied somewhat feeling irritated. "In the end, I didn\'t take the chance, she\'s probably disappointed."

Stella shook her head, "She knew you would not do it. But she did it anyway."

"You should have stopped her."

"I can\'t."

"Why?"

"Because I am only a sliver of consciousness that was left in the Time core. To be honest, I could only appear before you like this for a short period of time. This is why I wanted to tell you about the past as much as possible."

This led Kyran back to the question of why Stella suddenly told him about the past which actually gave him more questions...

Kyran suddenly realized something.

With narrowed eyes, he asked, "You... did you do the same in the past? Peek into the future?"

"I did," Stella replied with a smile.

Kyran felt as if he had been doused with cold water. He had initially thought Caelan was the one who planned everything but what if it was not him but actually the woman— or, to be precise—  the first Time Keeper?

Of all of the things Kyran heard about the past, they were things about the Dark Sage, the Dragon Lord, and the Soul Emperor. There had been no \'exploits\' made by the Time Keeper.

But the reason behind her apparent inaction was all because she had been doing things behind the scene without people realizing it.

"Are you the one who..." Kyran could not help but grit his teeth just thinking about what he wanted to ask.

Stella did not rush him. She waited patiently for him to continue.

"...Are you the one who made it so that the new Void Master appears in the Regis Clan?"

Stella shook her head, "That is not my idea. However, I did have a hand on that."