Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah and Moira went on opposite sides of the training area. Harold and the other leaders remained on the sidelines, near the black walls, but they still activated defensive spells to prepare for the imminent exchanges.

"Do what you want," Moira shouted. "I won't be the first to attack against a gaseous stage existence."

'How much should I hide?' Noah wondered before waving his hand.

A torrent of slashes came out of his fingers. Still, the attacks transformed into singularities while they flew toward their target. Noah's sharpness also intensified and filled the training area, creating an environment where his blows could reach their peak.

The singularities surprised the leaders. Noah's slashes were peculiar attacks that featured a strange structure. They seemed empty, but they contained Noah's broad law.

The leaders felt strange at that sight. They could sense that Noah's law didn't only contain sharpness. It featured multiple details that they couldn't understand during that short exchange.

The fact that Noah had reached the eighth rank even if his law were so complex spoke for his talent. Everyone knew how arduous the cultivation journey was, so Noah immediately became a genius in their eyes.

Moira had to deploy a defensive spell to block the singularities. She snapped her fingers, and a series of sparks appeared in front of the attacks. She seemed able to generate them directly in front of the slashes, and a loud explosion followed the impact.

The sparks stopped the singularities before dispersing into the training area. The black metal absorbed the energy that flowed toward them, and peace returned on the battlefield.

"You definitely are worthy of the gaseous stage," Moira commented. "However, I don't see how you hoped to defeat all of us with this little power. We are leagues above you."

'She sure likes to taunt,' Noah sighed in his mind before crouching forward.

His figure suddenly disappeared. Noah didn't deploy his new movement technique. The sheer power discharged by his legs had been enough to make him disappear from the experts' senses.

Noah's figure reappeared above Moira. He slashed his leg downward and launched a straight singularity that fell toward his opponent.

Moira had managed to sense Noah after he stopped to attack. She promptly snapped her fingers, and sparks gathered in front of the singularity to stop its descent.

The slash and the sparks dispersed, but Noah moved in front of Moira during the clash. His hands took the shape of swords while he thrust them forward.

That was a finishing move. Noah only needed to touch Moira to destroy her figure. However, a crackling noise suddenly filled the training area. His hands had clashed with a series of sparks that floated in front of his opponent.

The sparks ravaged his skin and opened long cracks on his fingers, but his hands remained mostly intact. Noah didn't even retract them. He used his physical strength to push them deeper into the crackling defensive array in an attempt to reach his opponent.

The sheer strength contained in Noah's body left Moira speechless. She had fought many middle tier magical beasts throughout her life, but none of them featured such sturdy skin.

Her cultivation level fueled that defensive spell. Her sparks were techniques with power in the liquid stage. In theory, they had to blow away Noah's arms at that distance.

Yet, Noah's limbs remained intact. He was even succeeding in pushing them deeper into the crackling array. His physical strength and resilience didn't seem to belong to the middle tier at all!

"That's as far as you'll go," Moira snorted as the sparks that protected her grew unstable.

The crackling noise intensified until a massive wave of energy exploded outward and engulfed Noah. He found himself back on the other side of the training hall when his vision recovered, and a series of cracks now covered his whole body.

"I hope you don't mind my previous attack," Moira politely explained. "I knew that you would be able to endure it."

Noah scratched the side of his head before pointing at her cheek. Moira's attention suddenly went on that spot. A cut had opened on her face, and a few drops of blood were flowing out of it.

"I hope you don't mind that I've decided to hold back until you take me seriously," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "I could have taken your head before. It's simply too easy when my opponents underestimate me."

Three different auras surged forward. The leaders on the sidelines immediately deployed their laws when they saw that Noah could actually kill their companion, but Moira waved her hand to make them stop.

"Don't dishonor me like this!" Moira shouted to her companions. "This is my fault. I didn't think that he could be so strong."

The three leaders shot hateful glances toward Noah before retracting their auras. The latter laughed at that gesture, but a cold expression soon appeared on his face.

Moira wasn't weak, but she didn't use even a quarter of her power during those exchanges. She didn't feel the need to rely on all her abilities against an expert in the gaseous stage.

It didn't even matter that Noah was a hybrid. Moira was ready for his physical attacks. Yet, she had to rethink her whole strategy after Noah showed that he wasn't a normal expert.

Moira glanced toward Harold before focusing on Noah again. The expert didn't try to do anything when the other leaders released their auras. Harold had no intention to help Noah, and she saw that as proof of his power.

Of course, she couldn't know that Harold still had doubts about Noah and his organization. He would probably help him in specific situations, but the fight with the leaders wasn't something that concerned him.

The misunderstanding made Moira take the matter more seriously. Her consciousness expanded and covered the entire training hall. Her dense mental waves enveloped Noah, but they couldn't go past his skin.

"What do you even hope to find?" Noah asked while stretching his fingers to taunt his opponent.

"I want to know how much of your existence you are holding back," Moira replied.

"You can find it out if you are as strong as you promised," Noah added.

His last reply put an end to the time for words. Moira's consciousness grew unstable before a series of sparks appeared above Noah's skin. The attack discharged lightning bolts before he could even think about dodging the attack.

Moira wasn't holding back now. The lightning bolts pierced Noah's skin and tried to dig inside his body. Yet, the black hole promptly filled his insides with dark matter and stopped that foreign energy.

The parasite also helped in the matter. Its roots attacked the lightning bolts that fought against the dark matter and absorbed their power. The magical plant wouldn't let go of the chance to obtain free energy.

Moira felt surprised once again. She couldn't understand what Noah had done, but she knew that his insides contained powerful defenses. He could get rid of some of her strongest attacks at ease.

"I'm inclined to think that you don't belong to Heaven and Earth's system," Moira announced.

"How so?" Noah asked while inspecting his injuries.

"You are far too strong for your level," Moira explained. "Heaven and Earth would never let someone like you roam freely through their world."

"Right, the speech about Heaven and Earth's fairness," Noah replied as the unstable substance flowed inside his black vessels and filled his body with power. "I think they will invent a new name for that once I reach the ninth rank."