Birth of the Demonic Sword

Clouds began to fill the sky seen by the sensors of the Hive. That was the news that everyone living inside the separate dimension expected, but it only gave birth to another waiting period.

The sensors fell apart after the clouds came. The Hive went blind again and started to see the surface's situation only after days went by.

A fissure had opened in the sky once the leaders and the other higher-ups restored their sensors. A white light came out of the crack, and a peculiar aura reached the various inscribed items that kept tracks of the situation on the surface.

The Hive didn't have any doubt. Someone had gone through the Heaven Tribulation and had gained access to the Immortal Lands!

Everyone knew the existence behind that feat, but that signal didn't start a mass exodus just yet. The Heaven Tribulation was only one of three tests that King Elbas had to overcome.

The Hive waited for years. The first fissure closed after a while, but new ones didn't appear.

No one believed that King Elbas had decided to ascend right away. He was the type of existence that would settle old matters before traveling toward the higher plane.

Noah didn't deploy defenses nor prepared the population for war. A god was an existence that heroic cultivators couldn't face no matter how many methods they deployed.

If King Elbas wanted to settle the old scores with the three organizations, Noah wouldn't even waste time to think about that.

Time passed, but no fissure appeared in the sky. The sensors didn't catch any image worthy of the leaders' attention.

A tremor swept the separate dimension during that period. The traps didn't trigger, but an invader entered those hidden areas and spread his divine consciousness across the many tunnels and halls.

The higher-ups didn't even need to guess the identity of their invader. There was only one existence capable of gaining access to a divine sea of consciousness in those Mortal Lands.

King Elbas appeared inside the separate dimension and announced his arrival to the population. Short tongues of golden flames came out of his skin as his aura spread inside that fake world.

The Royal didn't need to make preparations anymore. He was a god now. Defenses in the heroic ranks couldn't even force him to deploy his energy.

"I only want Noah Balvan," King Elbas announced after chaos spread inside the separate dimension.

That line surprised the higher-ups, but they eventually tried to contact Noah with their inscribed notebooks. That effort was unnecessary since King Elbas' voice had echoed through the entirety of the dimension.

Noah came out of a teleportation matrix inside the separate dimension a few minutes later. His face radiated the pure determination that filled his mind, but there was no fear in his eyes.

King Elbas was a god now. Noah was a resourceful cultivator, but he didn't have methods to deal with an existence on that level. He had teleported there knowing that he couldn't escape meeting the Royals even if he relied on his many strategies.

Noah flew to meet King Elbas on the empty ceiling of the separate dimension. He had accepted death long ago, so the meeting didn't cause any outburst in his instincts.

His mind didn't feel any danger. Noah's centers of power had tuned with his mindset and didn't trigger any survival instinct. It was as if his sea of consciousness knew that he had accepted death as a possible outcome.

Noah knew that he couldn't escape that situation. He had hoped that King Elbas would leave the lower plane without minding his past grudges, but there was nothing else that he could do now.

If King Elbas wanted him dead, there was nothing in the entire plane that could save him.

Noah felt free when he flew toward King Elbas. For the first time in many years, he didn't feel the burden of the political environment in those Mortal Lands, and all his worries slowly abandoned him as he flew toward that meeting.

When he reached the Royal, Noah didn't feel like Defying Demon or the Hive leader. He was simply an existence meeting another powerful cultivator. All the restrictions and labels had gone away in a situation that could lead to his death.

"I thought you would have tried to resist this," King Elbas said when Noah reached him. "You might have gained a few years."

Noah smirked, and his ambition seeped out of his figure like an unstoppable wave. He even stopped controlling his aura before replying to the Royal.

"What's the point of delaying certain death?" Noah replied. "Kill me if you have to. I've never wasted time in my life. I won't start now."

King Elbas smiled at those words, and his arrogance spread through the separate dimension. His consciousness carried an energy that Noah couldn't wholly understand, and the sole blowing of his mental waves expanded the edges of the area.

Noah showed no fear at that show of power. He felt devoid of every emotion in front of that powerful existence. Feelings weren't something for an expert who had accepted his death.

King Elbas eventually retracted his aura when he saw that Noah didn't show any reaction. A tinge of disappointment appeared on the Royal's expression before he started to speak.

"You have understood your position too well," King Elbas said as a sigh escaped his mouth. "Even a god can't make you tremble once you give up on life."

King Elbas stopped speaking to analyze Noah's expression again, but he soon continued his speech.

"I'm not here to kill you," King Elbas said. "I've spent the last years exploring every spot in these Mortal Lands, and I've even ventured at the center of the other world. These planes have no more secrets for me, and my interest in them has already waned."

Noah remained expressionless, but part of him envied King Elbas. The Royal had reached a level of power when he could travel easily in every danger zone of the world and come back in a few years.

There wasn't a higher level in the lower planes. King Elbas had reached the very peak of that world.

"I've spoken with Shandal's will," King Elbas eventually said. "I should be outside of Heaven and Earth's system, but I can also be their missing piece. Even that failure of a god couldn't be certain about this. I can only go to the Immortal Lands and find out."

"Is this fear that I sense?" Noah said as his smirk widened. "Is the mighty King Elbas afraid of the rulers of the world?"

Noah didn't care that his words were offensive. He had stopped holding back since he couldn't beat King Elbas anyway.

"Yeah," King Elbas replied, and his smile faded to make room for a pensive expression. The Royal appeared bothered about that issue.

"You appear to be quite against Heaven and Earth," King Elbas continued. "Killing you gives me no benefit, but leaving you alive might help me one day. As much as I hate your confidence, I can only agree with your last farewell. We'll see each other again in the Immortal Lands."

King Elbas began to fade after he gave voice to that line, but Noah remained still as he waited for that situation to end.

"I've fixed the new continent," King Elbas said as his figure slowly dispersed among his golden halo, "Have fun conquering it. There is only boredom afterward."

Then, King Elbas vanished, and a mental message reached Noah's mental sphere. A fissure leading for the Immortal Lands had appeared on the sky again.