Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah didn't use an overbearing tone when giving his orders, but his companions could only focus on the pride that leaked out of his figure during the scene and add intensity to his words anyway.

The experts could barely help themselves in that situation. They couldn't see Noah's front, but he had just endured the attack of a rank 9 cultivator with his bare chest. The two swords in his hands covered his figure with an ominous aura, and the smoke released by his charred skin highlighted his innate pressure.

No one dared to say anything after his order. The group shot toward the cauldron and resumed their relentless offensive. They even tried their best to make their attacks converge on the same spot to maximize their destructive effects.

All of them had reached Noah's conclusions. Even those who couldn't understand much became aware of the cauldron's flaws after listening to the plan. They could connect their offensive with the sudden arrival of Heaven and Earth's follower and move their focus on damaging the item.

The cultivator couldn't help but follow the group with his eyes before gazing at Noah again. His broad smile remained on his face, but something had changed in his overall aura. It seemed that his confidence had taken a blow.

"The cauldron can last for entire millennia under such a weak offensive," The cultivator scoffed.

"Me too," Noah growled as the fiendish armor covered his figure.

"Do you plan of being my punching bag for a few millennia?" The cultivator laughed before raising his hand and creating a mass of white flames.

Meanwhile, his free hand went inside his sleeve to pick another flask containing the dangerous white liquid. The expert didn't hesitate for even a second before picking another counter.

'Do I really have to reveal something?' Noah wondered as some hesitation spread inside his mind.

Shafu was busy containing King Elbas and the ghosts, so Noah only had one trump card at his disposal. Yet, he didn't want Heaven and Earth to learn about it already. He would rather reveal his final slash once he could cause substantial losses in the rulers.

On the other hand, death was an outcome that he had to avoid. Noah didn't feel threatened enough to go all-out, but he didn't want to risk falling for traps that would make the entire mission fail.

Also, stalling didn't benefit him since the ghosts would eventually overwhelm his group. King Elbas might be able to contain them for a long time, but more of them would soon come out of the cauldron, and Noah couldn't put them inside Shafu with the cultivator's interference.

Defeating the cultivator and taking care of the battlefield without external influences was the best option, but Noah didn't know if he could succeed. Still, he had the chance to test his limits for a few exchanges before it would be too late to make up his mind about an approach.

His time spent with the four dragons' spheres deepened the features of his law connected to space, creation, and destruction. The problem was that his abilities didn't evolve with those improvements. They had only experienced slight improvements that only involved their sheer power.

'Let's see if these counters can keep up with me,' Noah thought before disappearing from his position.

The cultivator smirked before throwing the flash behind him. Noah materialized in its trajectory, and the item exploded before threatening to cover him with its dangerous fluid.

The helmet of the fiendish armor opened and allowed Noah to spat his flames without mixing them with dark matter. His fire burnt the liquid easily, but the energy that it brought back to his body damaged his flesh instead of healing it. Moreover, it continued to carry the white fluid features, so the layer of higher energy that covered his figure opened in multiple spots.

The cultivator didn't let that chance go to waste. He threw the mass of flames that had accumulated above his figure, and the fiery attack reached Noah in an instant.

Noah was still busy dispersing the toxic energy injuring his flesh, so he couldn't dodge the attack in time. However, a wave of dark matter shot out of his figure and ignored that holes opened in its structure while it clashed toward the incoming flames.

The black hole had acted on its own, but that turned out to be a mistake. The dark matter tried to use the abilities of Noah's flames to absorb energy from the cultivator's technique. Yet, more toxic aura ended up flowing inside his body. It seemed that the entirety of the expert's existence could counter Noah.

The dark matter around Noah eventually vanished as the effects of the liquid continued to spread. He tried to restore his armor, but he discovered that the white fluid had left a trace of its aura on his skin which continued to activate its power. Noah found himself unable to keep higher energy above his skin, and even his Demonic Sword had to give up on using that power while it remained in his grasp.

'This is annoying,' Noah thought before the cultivator's sudden movements claimed his attention.

The rank 9 expert didn't shoot after Noah right away. He turned toward the cauldron and pointed his arm at the experts launching attacks relentlessly.

An annoyed expression appeared on the rank 9 cultivator's face when he launched his flames and saw them exploding before reaching their targets. Noah appeared among the dispersing white fire and made sure to let the attack go over most of his skin.

The white fire left large red patches on his figure. Some denser patches of fire even succeeded in digging through his skin and reaching his muscles, but that amount of damage was nothing for Noah.

"What are you even doing?" The cultivator asked once Noah started chasing after the dispersing flames to let them burn more parts of his skin.

The answer to his question arrived quickly. The cultivator's expression grew solemn when he saw the fiendish armor covering Noah's figure again. The latter had used his opponent's attack to remove the effects of the white liquid. He could protect his skin with dark matter again.

'This won't do,' Noah thought while making sure to irritate his opponent by making the fiendish armor wear a devilish grin. 'I can't even start attacking in this condition. What limits should I even test?'

Noah felt sure that the cultivator could counter all his other known abilities. After all, the expert could already deal with some of his best attacks. It felt only normal that his companions couldn't do anything either.

'How is it going down there?' Noah asked through the mental connection.

Shafu played his thoughts inside its separate space and filled the battlefield where King Elbas was fighting the ghosts. His eyes were bloodshot, and pieces of his body transformed into golden flames from time to time, but he seemed to be alone and without opponents.

The situation was quite different from how it appeared. King Elbas didn't have problems dealing with the ghosts since they were pretty weak without their illusions, but their auras had remained in the separate space around him.

King Elbas was slowly disposing of the aura, but the process had started to affect him. He couldn't even ask Noah to push it outside of Shafu since the battlefield had to remain clear of illusions, so he was only doing his best to endure that situation.

"You should worry about yourself!" King Elbas shouted when Noah's voice resounded inside the separate space.

'That's the issue,' Noah revealed. 'I can go all-out, but it might take a while to defeat him anyway. I need to know for how long you can survive.'

"Is he so strong?" King Elbas asked in a surprised tone.

'He is quite weak actually,' Noah explained, 'But he has items meant to counter my abilities. I need to show something new to defeat him.'

"Why bother?" King Elbas snorted. "Just throw someone else at him. Alexander should be perfect for the task."

Noah fell silent, but a curse resounded in his mind. He suddenly realized that pride had played a trick on him. It had made him believe that he would lose control of the battlefield if he didn't fight against the cultivator, but that assumption didn't reflect the truth.