Birth of the Demonic Sword

The puppet appeared stronger than before, at least from King Elbas' perspective. The creature was the result of a long study of his existence and fusion of the final energy that fueled three golems previously. It was born to defeat its opponent.

King Elbas was out of everything. His body was on the verge of falling apart, even if higher energy made its fabric. He didn't have anything anymore. He had to use all his remaining materials and storage devices to hide his last attack in the void and gain the chance to infect the last puppet.

The failure in his tactic put him in a corner. King Elbas was out of plans and resources. He could buy himself some seconds for the last time, but that tactic appeared pointless since he didn't know what to do in that period.

His eyes remained fixed on the puppet as countless thoughts surged and fell apart inside his mind. King Elbas couldn't come up with anything decent. Everything was bound to fail even before starting since this current opponent had learnt everything there was to know about his existence.

The impending doom didn't make King Elbas despair. His companions had to reach that same state to learn how to step into the ninth rank. Enlightenment would descend once their situation turned desperate, so he had firmly believed that something similar would happen to him.

However, nothing happened even after seconds passed. King Elbas saw his hopes crumbling in the short instant that the puppet took to stabilize its new form and fix its attention on him.

The puppet raised its clawed hand and mustered its energy to launch an attack. Everything happened in slow-motion in King Elbas' vision. He didn't even need to think to know that the next exchange would kill him unless he relied on his last brim of final energy.

King Elbas dared to divert his attention from his opponent to stare at his palm. His jelly-like sphere had transformed into a golden bean after the recent exchanges. He had almost depleted the entirety of the final energy obtained during his enlightenment. What remained of it was too little to do anything.

King Elbas could use it to block the next attack, but he found no reason to do that. The short seconds that the final energy could buy him wouldn't lead to anything. He was out of everything.

A mocking smile appeared on his face when he thought about Noah. He had appeared when Sword Saint was about to die, and his words had managed to trigger the expert's breakthrough. King Elbas wondered if the same would happen to him, but that thought made him feel ashamed of himself.

King Elbas didn't need others to save his life. He was the one who did the saving. His team of brutes would have long since died if it weren't for his creations.

The power of his existence also came from the fact that he had never relied on anyone to improve. King Elbas had learnt from many experts, but he had always approached that understanding through personal methods. He never used mere imitations since he knew that his versions would be better.

'This is the lowest point of my existence,' King Elbas found himself thinking while the puppet's claws descended to launch a series of slashes. 'I have actually hoped that Noah could save me.'

King Elbas felt the desire to die after that realization. His existence wasn't worthy of the ninth rank if he had to rely on his friend to keep it alive. His arrogance would crumble after the event anyway, so he felt pure disgust toward that faint hope.

His mind crushed that feeling with all the anger that it could muster. King Elbas felt disgusted about himself. He used to be so strong that the joint power of the entire world had failed to kill him, but he was nothing more than a talented rebel now.

The brutes were advancing without showing any hesitation toward the path ahead, while King Elbas was still creating countermeasures for the many difficulties that the world could place in front of him. He had never seen a problem with that approach since his existence demanded it, but he could only see a lack of confidence now.

His foundation almost shattered during that reasoning. King Elbas felt unable to trust himself anymore. He didn't recognize what he had become even if he had never disrespected his existence. It simply seemed that his path was wrong.

'Fine then,' King Elbas sighed before closing his hand into a fist.

Truth be told, King Elbas had another option. It was the same method that he had been forced to use in the past. He had to replace his "Breath" with higher energy to face Noah's group and take control of the world, so he could do the same with his final energy.

King Elbas would have never resorted to that method unless his situation was so grim. His higher energy had been perfect, and he had already studied the possibility of turning it into his foundation before transforming. Instead, the final energy wasn't even close to being perfect, and King Elbas even struggled to guess what changes it would bring to his centers of power.

Moreover, King Elbas had founded his law on his higher energy. A change in the foundation would force his existence to crumble before allowing its reconstruction. He wouldn't completely die, but the process didn't sound any different from that in his mind.

The final energy fused with the flames that made his palm and infected his existence. A burning sensation spread from his very existence. King Elbas felt as if his curiosity and arrogance were on fire.

His consciousness darkened during the process. King Elbas couldn't control his thoughts anymore, and what remained of his body also expanded or shrunk on its own. It seemed unclear about the shape it wanted to take, but the incoming slashes didn't give it time to decide.

The slashes engulfed what remained of King Elbas and infected him with power meant to destroy him. The changes happening in his existence due to his final energy actually slowed down the effects of the foreign power, but it couldn't defend him from its might anyway. After all, he wasn't even trying to protect himself.

King Elbas wasn't completely aware of what was happening. He only saw flashes of his existence falling apart and transforming as two different versions of final energy tried to burn or destroy him.

Part of that fuel wanted to destroy everything King Elbas had been before, while the other tried to absorb his existence to transform it in ways that even he ignored. The process didn't even hurt. He barely could feel anything anyway.

The two different final energies even transformed to overcome their opponent. The fuel coming from the puppet was in the middle tier, but King Elbas' power had a deeper connection with his existence, so their influence was almost at the same level during the process.

The two versions of final energy couldn't decide a winner, so they decided to seal a deal. They would fuse and reach a conclusion after they transformed into a single fuel.