True to his words, True Void completed the activation of the tree obelisk in five minutes.
However, just when Kyran was already preparing to restore the plane, he sensed faint auras nearby.
True Void also sensed them.
[The Numas are approaching, Void Halfling.]
Kyran turned his attention to their left, where he felt the approaching auras and felt an incoming headache. He was not expecting to meet any of the inhabitants of this plane. Accurately speaking, he did not want to meet them.
He had a few reasons why. One of which was, he knew his presence definitely would not be welcomed.
From what little information he gathered from the Sovereign of Ruin about the Numas, they were separated into different tribes. But Kyran did not know if they were loyal subjects of the Sovereign of Ruin or not. Regardless of the answer, it was still bad for Kyran. Because he could not speak their language.
Kyran and the Sovereign of Ruin understood each other but that might have been because the tower made Kyran understand him. There was also the possibility as a sovereign, the Sovereign of Ruin knew a spell to make any creatures within the plane understand him.
Whatever it was, Kyran knew the Numas had their own language. A plane having its own language was a given. Aside from this, Kyran knew that the reason why the Numas' invasion of the human plane had gotten from bad to worse, was due to the language barrier.
If the humans knew why the Numas wanted to invade their plane, there might be room for negotiation. The humans then might have agreed to let the Numas have a place to stay within the human plane. After all, the human plane back then was not divided into so many nations and still had many uncharted places to which the Numas could occupy.
"Release the puppets and have them return to the floating island first," Kyran immediately told True Void.
True Void did not ask any questions and did what he was told. He released the puppets at once, turning back into the shape-shifting plates. Some flew and returned to Kyran's floating island, while the others went to True Void, who also turned into the shape-shifting plates. True Void controlled the plates and flew back to Kyran. Instead of joining the rest of the plates, turning into the floating island, True Void circled Kyran's body and turned into a full-body armor.
Kyran did not tell him to turn into armor, but True Void could tell that something was wrong with Kyran. In particular, he could sense that Kyran was deliberately avoiding any magic energy circulation in his left arm. Besides, even with a similar body structure, the humans looked different from the Numas. They would immediately brand Kyran as an outsider and might even think he caused their plane's destruction.
…
Okay, so Kyran was indeed at fault. But right now, he was doing his best to restore the plane and they were pressed for time. They could not afford to waste time if unnecessary fighting erupted.
Donning the dark blue and purple full-body armor, Kyran sat cross-legged on his floating island while looking at a distance. A few hundred meters away, he saw seven silhouettes flying in midair.
It only took a couple of minutes for the silhouettes to arrive within twenty meters from the edge of the tree obelisk's area of influence. But there were still less than a hundred meters from the edge to the tree obelisk.
From this distance, Kyran managed to see the incoming silhouettes. Normally, he would need the use of the Regis Tempering Technique to enhance his eyesight. Surprisingly, the full-body armor was able to improve his sight. Kyran guessed True Void utilized the void to distort the distance, making it easier for Kyran to see at a distance.
As Kyran had imagined, the Numas had the same features as humans. But their skin looked very different. Their skin looked as if they were made from jade, because of its unusual smoothness and greenish hue. It also made them look like automatons, that Kyran had seen in a book before. The Numas clothes were not that different from human's, but there were intricate patterns embroidered all over them. The men wore vests or coats but they were bare-chested, while the two women wore tight-fitting short-sleeved vests.
Their clothes were not what got Kyran's attention though. It was the rune tattoos seen from their exposed skins.
The rune tattoos of each numa had different colors; red, blue, green, yellow, gold, silver, and black.
Kyran guessed each color represented a tribe.
'But it is not necessary that there are only seven tribes. Most likely, they represent seven bigger tribes in this plane,' Kyran thought.
When the seven numas reached the edge of the tree obelisk's area of influence, they all stopped. There was a moment's pause before one of the men stepped into the barrier.
This numa was the biggest and most fierce-looking among the group, with ugly scars all over his body and green color rune tattoos.
Kyran's expression remained indifferent as he watched the man enter without any problem.
The man flew for a few minutes and when he was about forty meters away from the tree obelisk, he finally noticed Kyran sitting on the floating island. Immediately, the man's bushy brows creased and he halted in his tracks. He eyed Kyran furtively, sizing him up.
Kyran refrained from saying anything. He did not want to reveal his human identity at the get-go and decided to let the numa speak first. Besides, what would he tell the man? His presence near the tree obelisk already looked suspicious.
But given the language barrier, how would Kyran explain that he was here to restore their plane? It might be a little different if he could imitate the Sovereign of Ruin's appearance.
Add to the current condition of their plane, if Kyran had spoken and exposed his human identity, the man would automatically brand him as the prime suspect of their plane's destruction—which was actually true.
Finally, the man had spoken.
"Which tribe are you from?"
Kyran stopped himself from sighing in relief upon hearing the man speak the same language. It seemed, he did not look odd by donning full-body armor.
Instead of answering the man's question, Kyran had a sudden idea and replied, "I am here to fix this place. All of you back off."
[What's this? What's this? Are you planning to pick a fight? We don't have much time!]
True Void immediately scolded Kyran. He felt a little disappointed, thinking that Kyran had returned to his 'old' state.
'I'm not. Let me handle this,' Kyran replied.
The man's face turned sour as he glared, "Who are you to—."
"I'm the one who should be asking you that question," Kyran cut off the man midsentence, sounding impatient. "Do you want this plane to be destroyed?"
The man's expression turned somber upon hearing Kyran's reply. Initially, he got annoyed when he interrupted him, but his question made him tremble.
"If you don't back off, then instead of fixing this plane, I'll destroy all the obelisks," Kyran continued, trying to sound as high and mighty as he could.
Then he roused his magic and purple rings appeared vertically behind him. The purple rings glow appeared menacing as they rotated in silence.
When the man saw the purple rings, his eyes widened.
True Void also froze in disbelief.
[Oi! Oi! Are you serious?]
Black lines appeared on Kyran's forehead.
Could True Void not tell he was acting right now? Or did he sound too convincing?
"Y-You… a-are you that man's subordinate?" The man asked, his whole body shivering. The reason why he was convinced Kyran could destroy the obelisks was those purple rings.
There was a story that had been passed down by their forefathers about the person who created those obelisks. The story mentioned that the obelisks appeared within the glowing purple rings summoned by that person, and the obelisks would also return from there.
If the man clad in armor said he could destroy the obelisks, then the purple rings were enough to convince them.
"If you understand then leave," Kyran scoffed.
The man nodded and bowed with clasp hands.
"Yes! We will. Thank you!"
With that, the man flew back to where the rest of the numas were, excitement, and relief was evident on his face.
[What? What? What just happened?]
Kyran did not reply and remained unmoving until the man reached the other numas. It was only then that he heaved a sigh of relief.
The idea he thought was to let the man misunderstand his identity. Depending on what the man would interpret from his action, Kyran planned to play along. Even if the man thought he was the Sovereign of Ruin's subordinate.
Because he did not want to fight and waste even a small amount of magic energy.
Apart from this, Kyran did not want too much exposure from the numas presence. He did not know why, but he had a feeling that if he stayed around them for too long, he would disrupt something; like the balance of each plane.
"I'll explain later. Let's start," Kyran told True Void.
When he was sure the numas had left, Kyran controlled the floating island and flew down, before jumping down and willing the floating island to return in their plates form. Then True Void also left Kyran's body and turned into plates, joining the rest.
The shape-shifting plates circled Kyran, forming a loose barrier.
When the plates stopped moving, Kyran finally sat cross-legged on the ground, and with True Void channeling all his magic energy into him, Kyran started.