Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah could now condense his dark world inside the Demonic Sword and unleash it when he completed a slash. Yet, that attack had multiple variants.

The blow that he had shown to Second Prince aimed to cover a large area, but the situation was different now. The Matriarchs had managed to uncover only a small part of the puppet's skin, so Noah had to unleash everything he had in that spot.

No slash came out after Noah's sword descended, but the Three-headed Dog trembled as something landed at the bottom of the tunnel dug through the flames.

The puppet slid through the mountains and created cracks at their bases as it tried to maintain its position after the impact. Something had landed on its body, and the power that it carried had threatened to fling the Dog away.

God's Left Hand showed a confused expression while staring at the opening that she had created in the puppet's defense. She didn't see Noah's attack, but the reaction of the other Matriarch told her that something had happened.

Great Elder Diana's reaction wasn't flashy, but her aura became tense when she witnessed Noah's slash. Her cultivation level was still a bit above the Hive's leader, so she had been able to see the true nature of Noah's attack.

Noah's slash wasn't invisible. It was simply tiny. A minute black shard had flown out of the Demonic Sword and had crossed the opening in the puppet's defenses to land on its skin.

The amount of energy contained in that shard was unfathomable. Noah had condensed the entirety of his dark world in that attack. When it came to sheer power, that was Noah's strongest slash.

The trio watched as the golden flames filled the tunnel created by the Matriarchs. They waited until they could get a good look at the red metal, and confident smiles appeared on their faces when they saw the damages inflicted by Noah's slash.

The attack didn't manage to pierce the red metal, but a deep white mark had appeared where the slash had landed. That was the only proof that the leaders needed to decide their approach with the puppets.

The powerhouses in the world had lost a lot inside the separate reality. Only a few of them had died, but King Elbas had burned most of their stronger items.

The weapons that allowed some of them to overcome the difference of power between the stages was no more. God's Left Hand still had her fan, but it had suffered damages, and she was the weakest leader.

The trio theoretically held enough power to deal with threats on the puppets' level, but the Elbas family had built them to shine in battle. With the right allocation of energy and protections, an upper tier item could be unbeatable with sheer strength alone.

That didn't seem to be the case for the Three-headed Dog. Noah's slash could damage it, so the three organizations could overcome that hurdle. It was only a matter of strategy now.

The golden flames slowly fixed the damage. Red metal replaced the white mark and brought the puppet back to its peak condition.

'Maybe if I amassed enough primary energy,' Noah thought as he inspected the puppet.

Noah had other attacks that could deal with the puppet's annoying abilities, but he didn't want to reveal all his assets. He had a new enemy now. The sole fact that Second Prince existed made him remember the danger that the cultivation world could bring.

Moreover, the Matriarchs had to play their parts. Noah didn't want to carry the weight of the war on his own. That approach would only hurt the Hive since it wouldn't learn anything about the other leaders' abilities.

"Shall we continue for a while?" Great Elder Diana asked before her companions could say anything.

The Council's Matriarch had a lot of experience in the political field. She didn't even try to trick Noah and God's Left Hand to make them reveal everything they had since she valued the integrity of the alliance far more than those small gains.

God's Left Hand and Noah nodded without adding anything else, and they immediately began to assault the puppet with the same strategy they had applied before.

Great Elder Diana destabilized the flames' structure, God's Left Hand made them crumble, and Noah attacked the opening that the two Matriarchs created. The only difference was that they didn't stop there at that time.

The trio continued to assault the Dog until it finished gathering enough flames. By focusing the same spot over and over again, they had managed to pierce the initial layers of red metal and damage the puppet's insides. Yet, the creature's counterattack forced them to stop their relentless offensive.

The Dog spread its mouths, and golden beams shot out of them. The attacks didn't aim for the leaders but converged in front of the puppet to create a massive fiery sphere that radiated golden light in the sky.

The invaders had already seen that attack multiple times, so Noah didn't feel any surprise at that sight. He knew that was about to come, and he placed his blade on his forehead as he focused on the environment.

A rain of fireballs flew out of the fiery sphere. The golden halo dimmed as the star shrunk, but the process continued until all the flames had flowed into attacks flying toward the leaders.

Noah closed his eyes and unfolded his consciousness. He could sense hundreds of fireballs converging in his direction, but he didn't move.

'I exist,' Noah said in his head as his ambition surged. 'I can cut one of those fireballs, so I can cut all of them.'

His cultivation level surged and reached peaks that he had to explore, and a tremor ran through his aura as his sharpness manifested in the world.

There were so many fireballs in the sky that the entire area was still golden, even if the main star had vanished. No other colors could exist in that environment, and even the air struggled to resist the pressure that those attacks radiated.

As an upper tier inscribed weapon, the Three-headed Dog could launch attacks that resembled a solid stage powerhouse's spell. Its fire wasn't normal either since it took inspiration from King Elbas' higher energy.

Yet, a large chunk of the array of fireballs went dark after Noah launched its attack. Fissures appeared on every fiery sphere flying toward him and divided them in half.

The light that they radiated instantly dimmed after they suffered that damage, and they didn't even explode after Noah's sharpness destabilized their structure. Their flames faded in the sky.

Great Elder Diana didn't have issues dealing with the attacks converging toward her either.

She had created a crackling orange sphere by gathering the lightning bolts launched by her lenses while the puppet still prepared its attack. Then, small but dense bolts shot out of her attack and seeped inside the fireballs coming toward her.

The fireballs initially didn't show any difference in their behavior, but they all exploded after a second passed. A flash of golden light filled her side of the sky before vanishing altogether.

God's Left Hand had to rely on her inscribed weapon to deal with that offensive. Her fan had suffered damages, but it still was a quasi-rank 7 item. The prowess that the Matriarch could express through it was immense.

Her gales swept the fireballs away and made them explode in different areas of the sky. None of them could touch her, and her feat put an end to the puppet's first offensive.

'This is annoying,' Noah thought when his eyes went on the Three-headed Dog after. He searched for the spot he had managed to damage, but the golden flames had fixed it while the trio was busy fending off the fireballs.

*****

Note: Next chapter will come when I wake up.