Birth of the Demonic Sword

"Do you really want to do that?" King Elbas asked without specifying the nature of the mission.

Noah and King Elbas had gone over the possibility of harnessing energy from the worlds connected to Heaven and Earth's system. The outsides of the sky had many Mortal Lands and other structures that gave power to the rulers. Gaining access to that fuel was only a matter of reaching them.

The conversation between the two didn't reach exact conclusions. Noah's plan was rough and lacked many details, but King Elbas felt confident in covering them if he had enough time to prepare.

Still, they didn't decide anything yet. Going past the sky was a crazy plan that King Elbas wanted to consider only as a last approach, but Noah seemed inclined to deploy it now.

"What can we even do?" Noah laughed as the group of experts moved their eyes between King Elbas and him. "The lands inside the sky are doomed. We can capture the surviving giants, but we'll gain an era at best, and we would have to live it here even. The time to be daring has arrived."

The experts had clearly heard Noah talking about the outsides of the sky, but they all hoped to have misheard him. Those areas had always been the last danger zone in the entire world, according to common knowledge. Adventures past the white layer never led to anything, and they often killed those who dared to approach them.

"We need a long time to prepare," King Elbas exclaimed while faint random words escaped his mouth. "We also need proper targets. Assaulting weak worlds is pointless for our cause. We must aim for large and rich lands that can fuel our home for a long time while hurting Heaven and Earth at the same time."

"We can't find them from here," Noah replied. "I suggest we start a systematic exploration and see what works. When can you start working on this?"

"The dome and generators of suction force can almost adjust themselves on their own by now," King Elbas revealed while continuing to talk with himself whenever he paused. "I don't need to wait. I can dive into this new quest immediately. Still, it will take a long time just to be ready for the first phases."

"It's fine," Noah laughed. "I have other matters to attend in the meantime. They might take a while, so don't rush anything."

"I never rush anything," King Elbas snorted. "My creations are never hurried. They are as perfect as they can be when they leave my hands."

"We need more than perfect here," Noah continued. "We are about to venture through uncharted territory. There is almost no record at all of those areas."

"Because no one ever goes too far," King Elbas added. "The entire matter about the void and the different dimensions is still unclear since Heaven and Earth make sure to cover their tracks."

"Or kill those who go too far," Noah sighed.

"Do you want to include us at some point?" Wilfred snorted when his curiosity was about to explode. "I thought this was a gathering, not a private conversation."

"He is right," King Elbas commented. "Even you can't do this on your own."

Noah sighed as his mind sorted different thoughts. He had understood the issue, and he had even found a solution. The problem was convincing his troops to support him.

'If only I could generate energy like Heaven and Earth,' Noah sighed in his mind as Snore materialized under his feet and made him rise higher in the air.

Noah sat on Snore's head as the experts followed him in the air. They didn't know the meaning behind that gesture, and Noah knew that he had done that for no special reason. He was only following his instincts before announcing his craziest plan yet.

"We aren't rank 9 existences," Noah eventually announced. "Our laws can't generate energy from nothing, and the storms are too dangerous. We must accept that our power can't make us save ourselves if we only keep our eyes in the world under the sky."

"How would going outside even help?"

"We can indict a selection and limit the consumption of energy,"

"Some of us have already calculated how many would have to immolate to stabilize the decline of the black landmass,"

The experts from the human organizations immediately gave voice to a series of ideas, but Snore hissed in anger after they interrupted its master and made them go silent.

Noah didn't like their proposal either. They were suggesting a systematic sacrifice of the troops on the black landmass to find an equilibrium between the absorption and consumption of energy.

However, that plan would fail once King Elbas' devices couldn't find more energy around the landmass. The experts could still move the black lands deeper near other giants at that point, but the approach would eventually lead to a complete failure.

Noah wanted a solution, not a slow defeat. Surviving wasn't enough when the opponents were Heaven and Earth. His organization had to strike back and carve its place into the world.

Moreover, Noah felt a bit disgusted at the idea that those cultivators preferred to sacrifice their companions rather than challenge Heaven and Earth.

His feeling didn't come from morals or ethics. He felt weak when he thought that his organization had gained such weak-willed experts, and a mental note slowly formed inside his mind. He had to remove that dirt sooner or later.

"Heaven and Earth's system has many worlds connected to the whiteness of the sky," Noah explained. "We know them as sources of new existences and laws, but some of them are only useful for their energy. I want to take them and use their power to fuel our survival."

"Are you crazy?" One of the cultivators who had proposed the sacrifice shouted. "The void is outside of our reach. That's Heaven and Earth's territory."

"Who said that?" Noah asked. "Who decided that the void belonged to the rulers?"

"The natural order of things," A second cultivator supported his companion's argument. "We can't absorb energy inside the void. I don't know where you heard these things about the other worlds, but I'm not sure you can rely on that information."

"We gained that knowledge when we resurrected a rank 9 cultivator," Alexander announced. "Do you remember Radiant Eyes, the expert who forced you all to abandon your homes? We defeated her through this dead existence and learnt about the structure of the world as a reward."

No one could speak after those lines. The cultivators knew that Alexander wasn't lying, and contradicting the knowledge of a rank 9 cultivator who had managed to come back to life would destroy the very foundation of their beliefs.

Rank 9 existences were the peak. They didn't have to be entirely correct, but their words had to be pretty close to the truth, close enough to found a crazy plan on them.

"It doesn't matter what you think is better," Noah continued as growls mixed with his voice. "You have opted to turn on yourselves rather than finding a path that hurt Heaven and Earth. I would normally consider you as failures, but our situation forces me to give you a second chance."

A series of gazes landed on the three cultivators who had tried to propose the sacrifice. The trio suddenly felt out of place, and worry even built in their minds.

"I need to fly across the Immortal Lands again," Noah announced while deploying the dark world and activating the workshop to create something worthy of his task. "A small team can follow me. The others have to remain here and help King Elbas with the preparations for the mission. He is in charge while I'm away."

"Wait," Alexander stepped forward. "What about the Legion? Do you have other orders for us?"

Noah had basically forgotten about the matter of the two organizations. He already considered everyone part of his force, but that seemed the right moment to clear everyone's doubts.

"The Legion will stop existing right away," Noah ordered. "We are the last stand in a broken world, and we plan to become parasites in a realm that doesn't belong to us. We are Heaven and Earth's cancer, and that will be our new name."