Birth of the Demonic Sword

The Eight-armed Titan defended part of the mountain chain that covered the central part of the new continent. Its region wasn't as crucial as the landmass's resources, but it was a guardian that the invaders wanted to defeat.

The three organizations wouldn't hold back anymore now that King Elbas had left the lower plane. The Elbas family had to leave the new continent and pay for what it had done to the world's previous overlords.

The powerhouses gathered above the region defended by the Titan. All the rank 6 existences of the invaders flew there to begin a joint assault to one of the last champions of the Elbas family.

They didn't have a proper strategy since they had yet to test the limits of the puppet. However, they were ready to unleash everything they had in that battle.

Noah approached that battle with a heavy mind. Part of him wanted to test himself against that puppet, but he knew he had to hide his power in front of the other organizations.

His instincts told him that he couldn't face the Titan on his own. Still, he felt close to its level of power. After all, his ambition alone brought him near the solid stage in terms of battle prowess.

Noah felt slightly conflicted about the whole matter, but he decided to test the puppet with the other powerhouses before choosing how to approach that battle.

His biggest issue was the golden fire protecting its red skin. Noah was unsure whether he could face it when it came to its physical might.

Noah and the others had gathered a lot of experience with the other puppets, so they knew how to coordinate themselves in those fights. He didn't even have to give orders to make them start the assault.

Flying Demon and Dreaming Demon covered the battlefield with their coordinated spells. White flowers spread everywhere in that chunk of sky, and heavy mental waves came out of the ice they generated.

Daniel and Faith had learnt how to make their attacks work together with the Demons. Their individualities had a wide area of influence, so they could use them to pave the way for the Demons' spells.

Faith's mental waves flew through Dreaming Demon's consciousness and faced the golden flames head-on. Their goal was to reduce part of its destructiveness.

Daniel did something similar. His light took the shape of dense white trails that avoided the flowers to attack the flames.

Faith and Daniel were only gaseous stage powerhouses, so their individualities couldn't affect the flames too much. Items in the upper tier were above their power, but their attacks managed to cause some changes in that defensive layer.

The flames didn't lose much power, but they slowly shrunk under the effect of those individualities. Drops of blood appeared inside them as Daniel turned them into their true form and made them unable to fuel the puppet again.

The Demons' attack reached the flames only after they underwent that process. The ice melted when it neared them, but part of Dreaming Demon's mental waves managed to seep into their fabric and weaken their structure.

Dreaming Demon even managed to make a few strands of fire fight among themselves. Yet, even the work of four gaseous stage powerhouses couldn't create a flaw in the flames.

Those were only superficial damages. The puppet generated new flames continuously, so the four only affected part of their external layers.

Elder Laura and Elder Regina had learnt to work together too. They both gave birth to various creatures with their spells, so they could create battle formations meant to counter the puppet's innate abilities when they cooperated.

The two of them also came from the same organization. They had the time to study and prepare techniques that could damage the golden flames in that period.

The tactic that led to better outcomes saw Elder Regina creating an army made of countless worm-type creatures and Elder Laura shooting snake-like beasts that ate them to apply a layer of protection around their bodies.

That gave the puppets enough time to reach the flames and detonate around the Titan. When paired with their companions' attacks, their spells could fly through the fire until they were almost above the red metal.

Elder Julia had gathered enough experience to make her attacks aim for the flaws that her companions created. She could condense her wind-slashes into small blades that pierced the weakened spots among the flames and create long paths that led to the Titan's skin.

The other gaseous stage powerhouses could only have a supportive role. Their individualities made them capable of powerful attacks, but that was a useless feature against flames that could surpass them in their raw form.

The best attack of a gaseous stage powerhouse couldn't even come near a casual spell launched by a being in the solid stage. The same went for the weaker experts. They could only cast techniques that worsened the flaws created by their companions.

The efforts of the gaseous stage powerhouses made them able to replace one of the leaders, but the Titan was different from the other puppets. It wielded long swords that forced one of the experts in the liquid stage to block the shockwaves that they created.

The powerhouses fought outside of the fiery swords' range, but they had to remain inside the reach of their shockwaves if they wanted their influence to maintain its power.

That forced Great Elder Diana to focus her offensive on destroying any harmful shockwave that aimed for the weaker powerhouses. She could launch attacks toward the puppet even with that role, but she didn't manage to inflict significant damages when she split her attention.

God's Left Hand helped the other Matriarchs with her new role, but her main job was to clear the weakened golden flames and create an opening that Noah could exploit.

The invaders had to use part of their power to defend. It was up to Noah to make up for that loss of firepower.

Noah didn't join that battle immediately. He remained at the battlefield's edges as his companions became used to the Titan's fighting style.

His ambition had already brought his aura to the quasi-solid stage level, but he waited before making his move. He had to see if the puppet gave them hope to win that battle before deciding how to act.

The Titan was relentless. It slashed with its swords and tried to hit the powerhouses at the edges of the battlefield, but it could only reach them with the shockwaves generated with its attacks.

The leaders blocked those shockwaves, so the invaders and the Titan remained in a situation where they were unable to hurt each other.

Noah activated the Divine Deduction technique to evaluate his options, but he soon understood that he had already grasped all the aspects of that battle.

His only option was to fly through the slashes and reach the Titan to exploit the openings created by his companions. However, charging inside the puppet's range would give it the chance to inflict some damage with its technique.

He had to risk something to obtain benefits. Noah never hesitated to do that when it benefited him, but that battle would only help the organizations' political influence.

He didn't need to conquer those regions, but his battle intent became more intense as he kept watching the Titan. His instincts told him that he could defeat it if the other powerhouses kept on weakening the golden flames.

Noah glanced at the two Matriarchs before heaving a silent sigh. King Elbas had already proven that a single cultivator could defeat an entire world, so it was pointless to hold back when he desired to test himself.

"Don't stop attacking," Noah said as he broke his stance to sprint inside the Titan's range. "I'm going to try something different."