Chapter 1014: Journey (1)
“The rest of the puppets will only start moving once the last puppet from the current batch is destroyed,” Kyran answered Leif’s last question, his tone conveying the urgency of the situation. “If the last puppet is destroyed, then the number of puppets that will start moving will double, bringing the count to sixty-four. We can’t afford to waste time dealing with them as their number increases.”
“Thus, detaining the last one will stop the process… I think I get that now. But, just who are you—?”
“As I said,” Kyran cut her midsentence, aiming his hand at the struggling puppet. Then, he started manipulating the magic energies to form an imprisonment array to properly detain it. “We can’t afford to waste time here.”
But Leif’s attention was already diverted elsewhere after she saw the array formation being created from nothing. Only then did she realize something as she returned her attention to the destroyed puppets on the ground.
Because she was too busy dealing with the last puppet, she could not see what caused them to explode. But recalling that Ias was already struggling to fight a couple of puppets by himself, it would have been impossible for him to destroy the other puppets.
Which meant the one who destroyed the rest of the puppets had been Kyran.
“You… destroyed the other puppets singlehandedly… and in an instant…”
Kyran sighed inwardly. He knew Leif was too focused on the last puppet to see him deal with the rest of the puppets. But the delay in her reaction was making him feel a little uncomfortable.
“Let’s continue,” he said, not even giving Leif any chance to digest what was happening. He did not even seem to want to give her a proper explanation.
With that, Kyran continued walking down the hall. Ias, who was actually Aki— one of Kyran’s puppets that recently gained a sentient— followed suit.
Leif snapped out of her initial shock and looked at the two, “N-Null! Stop right now and properly explain what exactly is happening here—?”
Fooom!
A sudden burst of pressure enveloped her, forcing her to stop what she was saying.
Cold sweat trickled down Leif’s face as she looked at Ias, who turned to look at her.
“Master said, ‘We can’t afford to waste time,’ so keep moving,” he said.
“Stop, Aki. She’s not exactly the person you believed her to be.”
“Master?”
“She’s… well… ah, damn it, I’ll explain while we walk,” Kyran looked at Leif, who remained rooted in spot.
“Are you coming? We’ll talk while we move to the next area.”
After Kyran said his piece, the pressure that held Leif on the spot lifted, and she was finally able to breathe properly once more. She wanted to glare at Kyran and even moved in for a sneak attack just because she could not take the humiliation she felt at that moment, but the moment she saw Ias keeping a close eye on her, she could only swallow her humiliation and followed them.
“By the way,” Kyran pointed a thumb toward Aki. “This is Aki, not Ias… He’s… well… how to say this…”
He looked at Aki with a complicated expression and asked, “How come you’re body is different.”
“The Dragon Emperor gave us a new body. He said having a body with Draconic energy will help conceal our origin.”
“It did,” Kyran agreed. “I didn’t recognize you until I saw you attack those puppets.”
The moment he pointed this out, Aki suddenly seemed embarrassed. He scratched his head and said, “Ah… I may have disgraced you with my limited attack patterns. Forgive me, master. I can only rely on the battle logs saved in my programming based on your past battles. Thus, my combat is far from comparable with Senior Neo’s, who has most of your recent battle logs.”
Now that Aki said this, Kyran, indeed, was only able to update Neo’s programming. This was not about him giving the latter preferential treatment, of course. It was just that Neo was his double as Tyr.
“I’ll have to update that then…” Kyran’s voice trailed off as he thought of something. “Wait, Neo could have transferred more data into you and Len. Did he not come here with you?”
“He also came with the rest of the Regis Clan’s Special Forces,” Aki replied at once. “But there is a lock in his programming that far exceeds his ability to unlock. Thus, he cannot transfer data as he pleases.”
“Ah… right,” Kyran inwardly scratched his head. “I did put something like that. But… I thought since he already has a sentient, he probably outgrew that lock or something.”
“That should have been the case,” Aki agreed. “However, with our bodies remaining puppet grade… well… we still cannot freely do as we please.”
“…”
Seemingly realizing what he had just said, Aki hastily added, “That is not a complaint, master. Please do not shut down my system.”
“What do you take me for?” Kyran could not help but retort in exasperation.
He remembered Neo acting as if he was some evil lord that would destroy his own creation if it so much as said something that displeased him.
“Please forgive me, master.”
Leif was speechless as she heard the exchange between the two in front of her. She had wanted to start interrogating Kyran once she caught up with their pace, but the two started talking as if she did not exist!
Then again, their exchange sort of answered some of Leif’s questions while also raising more. But something in their exchange caught her attention, and that was the fact that Ias— or rather, Aki— mentioned the Dragon Emperor and another clan that had only been tagged as a rumor from the old generation, the Regis Clan.
Kyran knew Leif was listening intently in their conversation. Since he could not be bothered to have a Q&A with her, he decided to feed her with information while he caught up with Aki.
“Enough with that,” Kyran dismissed Aki’s plea because there was no reason for the latter to ask for lenience.
Kyran had no plans of shutting down Aki or any of his creations at that, especially when they had already produced their own sentient.
“I kind of guess how you guys managed to come here. But why is she also here?”
To avoid giving out Cyneah’s name, Kyran intentionally did not say it. Not even the nickname that others usually call her by.
Aki’s expression lit up. He understood who Kyran was referring to, and he replied, “The young mistress convinced Lady Ames that she is the only one who can find you, master. Lady Ames also seemed to believe this to be the case and brought her along.”
He then looked at Kyran’s profile furtively and added, “I hope you are not angry, master.”
Kyran did not respond immediately. To be honest, he felt conflicted about Cyneah’s presence in the Higher Realm. If he put aside his concerns regarding the Macabre Glacier and the Dark Sage’s body, he preferred her to be closer. At least he could come to her rescue if something happened.
The image of Cyneah ordering Ladon and Thorn around so naturally flashed through Kyran’s mind, and he was suddenly plagued with an uneasy feeling. He had yet to decide if her blending in with the Dragon Clan so easily was a good thing or not.
At the very least, Cyneah did not seem to be a damsel who would be in distress. It even felt like she would be the one causing distress to others.
“To be honest, I haven’t come to terms with how I feel about her being here,” Kyran admitted after a short pause. “In any case, we need to meet up with them as soon as possible.”
Aki nodded, “I agree. To be honest, we have confidential information about this tower.” He looked toward Leif before adding, “I am not sure if you would allow her to hear them as well?”
“It’s fine,” Kyran told him. “As I said, she is not the person who you believed her to be.”
“Am I allowed to speak now?” Leif could no longer stay silent and asked begrudgingly.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t,” Kyran replied with a deadpan voice.
Leif’s brow twitched slightly. She had always sensed a cheeky side in Kyran, but to witness it and be on the receiving end was a little… Actually, she had yet to decide if she was annoyed or amused. What she did know was that she had become increasingly interested in him.
“I would have already dealt you a killing blow if you had been anybody else, you know.”
Kyran only smiled in response, resulting in Leif shaking her head in both annoyance and amusement.
“Getting back on topic,” she veered the conversation back on track while looking at Aki. “Aki, is it?”
“Yes.”
“Let me introduce myself properly. I may not look it at the moment, but I am Leif, daughter of Overlord Oceanus,” Leif paused as she looked at Kyran. “I met your master… in Ogen a few days ago. Although, I have had my eyes on him for some time.”
Aki raised his brows, “As expected of master. However, please keep your interest in our master on a business level because we already have the young mistress.”
Leif was dumbfounded. She initially thought revealing her identity would have made Aki seek forgiveness for his rude action a while ago, but apparently, he only cared about the fact she had eyes on their master!
“She’s the same age as Ames, Aki,” Kyran told him. “Don’t go assuming stuff.”
Did Neo’s character affect Aki and Len after birthing their sentients? Kyran was suddenly worried about the future.