Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah had resumed launching an endless wave of attacks while Alexander and the rank 9 cultivator started a long exchange that saw countless different weapons and abilities facing each other.

The deep destructive understanding built inside Noah during the year spent in the relentless offensive began to grow again. Each attack taught him more about the cauldrons' fabric and made his techniques more effective. Faint black lines even started to appear on the item's surface as his bloodlust led his destruction toward new levels.

The injuries suffered during the battle against the rank 9 cultivator healed quickly. Noah had expanded the dark world behind him, and the storms that didn't manage to escape his technique transformed into energy that his body used to heal.

The surge of energy that filled his body was also important to balance the drawbacks caused by his ambition and cursed sword. Noah couldn't go all-out forever, but his resilience and smart alternation between a weaker offensive and some of his strongest attacks allowed him to assault the cauldron non-stop.

His role felt relatively easy. Noah didn't have a real opponent, so he didn't have to keep the entirety of his concentration on his attacks. He did his best to provide his Demonic Deduction technique enough attention, but part of his focus still shifted toward other aspects of the battlefield.

King Elbas was still inside Shafu, which was inside his separate space. The expert was struggling to keep going, but he had so many items and resources inside his storage items that the ghosts' peculiar aura never managed to bring him to his limits.

Instead, Alexander was doing far better. The hybrid had been at the peak of the eighth rank for a while by then, but his base power was more than enough to face a rank 9 cultivator that had countless rank 9 weapons at his disposal.

Alexander had always been the closest to the ninth rank in Noah's group, but he needed more than expected to complete the requirements for the superior realm.

The problem came from his peculiar existence. After all, he was the strongest natural hybrid that the world had ever produced. His species had limitless potential due to its power. Alexander could learn an endless number of innate abilities and deploy them without taking into consideration normal limitations. The matching element and requirements that usually afflicted other hybrids and magical beasts didn't apply to him.

It was clear that such a powerful existence couldn't belong to Heaven and Earth's fairness without huge drawbacks. In theory, every member of Alexander's peculiar kind was fated to regress to the state of hungry beasts and fall prey to their instincts. That had also been his destiny, but the meeting with Noah had changed his life.

Noah had removed Alexander's drawback. He had cleared his mind from all the ghostly residual wills of the magical beasts and had brought clarity in an expert who had already absorbed countless innate abilities.

That process resulted in a monster who had a nigh-endless number of different attacks at his disposal. Alexander didn't even need Noah's help anymore at his current level since he had prioritized developing a technique that could clear his mind after achieving clarity. The hybrid basically belonged to a perfect species now, and he was making Heaven and Earth regret to have let him live for so long.

That change in his existence had inevitably increased his requirements and delayed his breakthrough, but the hybrid didn't care. Alexander would have paid any price to achieve his current clarity, but Noah had done everything freely.

Alexander's life had gone from being a living hell that required a periodic venting period to a stable, unreasonably powerful state. Divine Demon shared similar majestic abilities, but Alexander was better in terms of species and control over his immense might.

The rank 9 cultivator was doing his best. He used the right counters at the perfect time, but he never managed to seize the upper hand in the battle. Alexander deployed new abilities that worked against Heaven and Earth's weapons. The fight would have been already over if it weren't for the difference in their cultivation level.

Still, it was clear that the cultivator couldn't let the situation go on like that. He was only wasting Heaven and Earth's resources without managing to affect the battlefield. Noah and the others would destroy the cauldron at that pace, and the expert wouldn't weaken that side at all. The experts would even come out stronger than ever after that victory.

A series of spikes that released a toxic substance in the air shot toward the rank 9 cultivator, but a white light suddenly enveloped him and burnt the incoming attacks. The radiance didn't come from the sky at that time. It flowed out from his sleeves and covered his figure.

"I, Dwight, have served Heaven and Earth for hundreds of thousands of years," The cultivator's voice seeped through the whiteness. "I now request my reward from the mighty rulers."

The world seemed to stop after that statement. The storms didn't blow anymore, and even the other experts remained stuck in that peculiar state.

The event resembled a stronger version of Shandal's law, but it carried a far different vibe. It wasn't an attack or an ability. It was as if the world recognized it as a natural occurrence and made everyone stop moving to admire it.

The white light around Dwight was the only thing that moved on the scene. That glow flickered, rotated, and dimmed depending on the changes happening in its insides. Noah couldn't help but link those images to the chrysalis he experienced during some breakthroughs, but he could clearly feel Heaven and Earth's aura coming out of it.

The light didn't take much to complete its process. Dwight's robe soon reabsorbed it and revealed his new form. The cultivator didn't show any different features, and even his aura felt the same as before.

The world began to move again, and Alexander couldn't help but frown. He quickly activated one of his innate abilities to study Dwight, but his inspections didn't reveal anything. He was in front of the same expert that he had fought before.

"Is everything ok?" Alexander asked while scratching his head in confusion. "Do Heaven and Earth need some time to try again?"

"You always like to mock existences that you can't understand," Dwight sighed while revealing that his hands were now empty.

Alexander had never considered his weapons a threat, so he didn't notice that they had disappeared after the white chrysalis. Still, that gesture didn't solve his doubts about Dwight's power.

"Do we resume then?" Alexander asked as his confusion slowly transformed into helplessness.

"It's a bit disappointing that Heaven and Earth thought that my law wasn't enough to defeat you," Dwight revealed while ignoring his opponent's words.

His hands went inside his sleeves and took out a large cubical structure. The item was nothing more than a mass of smaller cubes attached through sparks. The weapon seemed able to open and reassemble itself at will, but it remained in its united form while it studied Alexander.

"Beware," Dwight announced in a proud tone. "Heaven and Earth have granted you the honor to be the first of your group to see your personal counter."

Those words alerted the experts in the distance, but movements suddenly happened inside the cauldron. Noah and the others couldn't help but take a step back when they saw dark figures coming out of its four edges. The item had completed its new batch of ghosts.

****

Author's notes: Okay, one hour should be enough for the third.