Birth of the Demonic Sword

The four humanoid crackling figures surrounded Noah from every side. The whiteness radiated by their sparks was blinding, but their halo dimmed when it entered Noah's range.

'Even this might not be enough,' Noah calculated while studying his opponents.

Noah had a vague idea of how much energy he needed to complete the breakthroughs. He had kept track of his ambition's efforts, which gave him a general understanding of his requirements.

Still, he had to add a few variables to his math. Noah didn't only need to gather enough energy to establish his cultivation level in the eighth rank. He also had to make up for his drawbacks and keep in mind that his current status didn't reflect the actual breakthroughs.

'I guess I need to make them angrier,' Noah thought while his cold smile broadened.

Heaven started the fight at that gesture. The four figures raised their arms and released white lightning bolts that converged on Noah. Those attacks carried the full power of the eighth rank, but they felt weak after the battle against Madame Canson.

Noah didn't even bother to perform a slash. He placed the Demonic Sword on his shoulder, and four singularities shot out of his figure. The attacks dug through the lightning bolts and reached Heaven's bodies, dividing them in half.

Noah shot forward before Heaven could do anything. He stabbed his free hand inside one of the crackling masses and bit at those white sparks. A wave of energy flowed inside his body before black flames covered the whole area.

Whiteness soon shone among that blackness, but Heaven noticed that Noah had disappeared once it fended off his flames. One of its figures had also vanished during that short exchange.

Noah reappeared behind one of the figures. Its sparks were slowly merging its two halves to recreate a whole humanoid body, but a punch forced them to separate again.

A storm of lightning bolts exploded, but those sparks didn't manage to escape in the environment. Duanlong had appeared next to Noah, and its innate ability forced that energy to converge in its mouth.

'I'll reward you later,' Noah said through the mental connection. 'I need even the slightest brim of energy now.'

Duanlong could use the energy absorbed by its innate ability to nourish its body, but it decided to send everything to Noah. The creature could sense how dire his situation was, so it didn't hesitate to forsake its greed for the time being.

Noah and Duanlong had yet to establish a proper friendship. The dragon had fought by his side for a long time, but its greed still made it take most of the absorbed energy for itself.

Yet, Duanlong wasn't stupid. Noah's death would also put an end to its life, so it prioritized his well-being for now. Moreover, every magical beast felt an innate hatred toward Heaven and Earth due to the restraints applied to their species. The dragon's desire to defy them even surpassed its greed.

The connection with Noah's existence also intensified that innate defiance. Duanlong shared Noah's feelings, and his desire to topple those rulers made it prioritize the greater good of its Master.

The two remaining humanoid figures tried to launch lightning bolts, but Noah teleported above one of them before they could complete their attack. His sword released a dark flash, and the sparks under him shattered into a storm of "Breath" and primary energy.

Flames covered the environment again and brought that energy back to Noah. The results of that absorption disappointed him, so he decided to resort to even sharper taunts to force Heaven and Earth's hand.

A lightning bolt crashed on Noah's chest, but his body endured the blow. The attack only managed to burn a piece of his torso, but it didn't reach his insides.

"I just finished healing this," Noah roared while shooting toward the last figure. "Don't bother attacking if you lack the power to kill me!"

A wave of dark matter enveloped the crackling humanoid figure while Noah sealed his grasp on its neck. The sparks tried to break free of that prison, but the liquid higher energy wasn't something that they could pierce at their current power.

Noah shot high in the sky, dragging the cracking figure with him. The whiteness of the world tried to weigh on his mind, but his mental waves weakened those effects and kept his mind safe.

When Noah reached the array of white sparks in the sky, he unfolded his ambition and forced the crackling figure in his grasp to evolve.

Black shades appeared on its white lightning bolts and destabilized its structure. Noah glanced at his prisoner before throwing it toward the barrage of sparks.

The instabilities accumulated in the figure reached their apex when they touched the sparks and generated an explosion. The detonation almost put an end to the Tribulation, but Noah was far from done.

"Come on!" Noah roared. "You should be the rulers of this world, but look at yourselves. How did you even seize your throne? Was the previous leader more incompetent than you?"

Noah's words seemed to trigger something. He didn't know if the change were the result of his offense or his actions. Still, dense energy began to flow into the sparks and transform their array.

The Tribulation's power skyrocketed. It quickly rose to the peak of the lower tier before barging into the next level. Noah's instincts couldn't help but scream at that sight.

Noah unfolded the dark world and deployed both Duanlong and Snore in his defense. The white sparks quickly condensed before a white flash blinded him and flung him back on the ground.

The liquid dark matter, Snore, and Duanlong were in pieces. Noah opened his eyes and saw that most of his chest and arms featured charred skin.

The Tribulation's power kept growing until it stabilized in the middle tier. The sparks then morphed into a human shape that looked more powerful than the previous ones.

Heaven's new form barely had empty spots. Dense arrays of lightning bolts ran through its body and gave them the appearance of proper skin. Some of them even took the faint shape of a long robe that hid its hands.

The laws of the world seemed to bend in front of that figure. Heaven's aura could force them to shatter and flow toward its body. That energy added power to its sparks, which made its shape even more human.

Heaven didn't appear as a dense mass of sparks anymore. It resembled a proper human being who shone with a blinding white light. Even the crackling noises didn't resound as often anymore. That form was almost entirely stable.

'Does it slowly gain its original form as I force it to express more power?' Noah thought while flames spread under him, and Duanlong activated its innate ability.

The last attack wasn't completely in the middle tier. Heaven had launched the lightning bolt only to gain enough time to complete that manifestation. Still, it had stabilized its power now. Its next ability would carry its full might.

The fall of Noah's cultivation level had slowed down after absorbing the energy contained in the three crackling figures, but it was picking up speed now. The injuries had forced his centers of power to recall how awful his condition was.

'I guess I have to destroy a rank 8 being in the middle tier without suffering severe injuries,' Noah concluded after a thorough inspection of his condition.