Birth of the Demonic Sword

King Elbas flew forward to seize his half of the tree. He then bickered a bit with Noah to divide the roots and branches, which gave the latter the chance to test the new power of the Cursed Sword.

The testing phase didn't last long. Noah slashed the ground to uncover the roots, and his attack managed to open an immense gorge that left him completely satisfied with the blade's new power. However, the drawbacks that it caused ended up being too harsh to deal with during that safe situation.

Noah had stopped using his ambition to empower his body and blade while he took care of eradicating the tree. He didn't even rely on the unstable substance since he wanted to see how deeply the Cursed Sword would hurt him, but he had miscalculated its power by a lot.

The Cursed Sword could make his torso explode even when it released a slash that didn't call upon the entirety of its bloodlust. Noah had to stop taking care of the tree and recover after a single attack that made him store his blade. He felt delighted to have gained another powerful asset, but he also realized how different his situation was from the past.

It had already happened that his assets had surpassed the level of his centers of power.. Noah had managed to balance the eventual drawbacks that some of his weapons brought, but the ninth rank revealed a new challenge.

Noah had forced the potential of his existence to increase, and that effect had spread on his companions. Night had become far stronger than it was supposed to be after the breakthrough, and the same happened with the Cursed Sword.

The addition of a technique to the Cursed Sword's existence had improved it to levels that Noah didn't predict. The current power of its drawbacks could turn his body into a bloody pulp instead of leaving him with deep cuts.

Noah had basically become unable to use the Cursed Sword without the unstable substance. Even his fantastic body couldn't withstand what the blade was capable of doing now.

The realization didn't stop Noah from helping King Elbas with the division of the tree. The latter stored the immense magical plant inside his figure while Noah directly devoured it. His body obtained an incredible boost, but it remained behind the dantian in terms of closeness to the ninth rank.

Heaven and Earth didn't react to the death of the magical plants. Their big plans for the tree didn't seem worthy of punishment. Noah and King Elbas could directly focus on their next move, and the atmosphere between them inevitably changed.

Sepunia almost felt the need to ask whether something was wrong when she saw the two experts reuniting with her, but she held back at the sight of their deep concentration. Noah and King Elbas had started to think about the liquid stage cultivator's world.

"What do you have?" King Elbas asked as the duo led Sepunia to the ground.

"She must lose part of her power," Noah explained. "It's impossible to leave her cultivation level intact with our methods. We simply don't know enough about worlds."

"What are we talking about?" King Elbas continued. "Should we work on a world or a law?"

"I think a world is better," Noah guessed. "Something at the bottom of the ninth rank might work, but I don't want to turn her into a puppet."

"She might still be a potential spy," King Elbas reminded.

"So what?" Noah asked. "Who cares about the risks. We'll kill her if she betrays us."

Sepunia listened to that conversation in silence. She didn't like to be the main topic of that ruthless talk, but she didn't voice her disagreement. She knew what types of existences Noah and King Elbas were. Everyone in the sky was aware of their cynical approach when it came to their projects.

"I don't think a simple purification can do the trick," King Elbas announced as he started filling the immense hole left by the tree with formations.

"That will just kill her," Noah replied. "We can't purify something that doesn't even belong to her. Her current world is nothing more than a copy created by Heaven and Earth, so everything about it is part of their system."

"We work on the core idea then," King Elbas exclaimed.

"Can we nurture an existence until it becomes a world?" Noah questioned.

"That might actually work," King Elbas revealed. "Your ambition must be a core part of the nutrients, but I can come up with something fitting."

The two experts were having entire speeches even if they were using short lines. They had been together for so long that a few words were enough to describe their ideas. Their knowledge of the inscription methods did everything else.

Noah unfolded the dark world to cover part of the hole and create an area Heaven and Earth couldn't inspect. King Elbas added formations to the outsides of the dense sea, which turned solid after those inscriptions spread their effects.

A large structure soon came to life as the two experts worked together to create an area capable of containing their project. Noah and King Elbas had to make sure that Heaven and Earth couldn't interfere, but they also had to add multiple protections to suppress eventual outbursts of power.

Noah and King Elbas led Sepunia inside a special room that still featured dark matter in its raw form. Noah wanted to leave some of his energy in that state since it could change its nature to face unexpected problems, which could appear due to what he and his friend were trying to do.

"Show us your world," King Elbas announced after he completed placing inscriptions in the solid black walls past the layers of dark matter.

"I think I've lost you," Sepunia smiled. "Do you mind explaining what you are about to do?"

"She even wants the explanation," King Elbas sighed. "Do you really want to preserve her potential?"

"We can't separate you from Heaven and Earth since your current world belongs to them," Noah explained without addressing King Elbas' question. "We can't retrieve your real world either, so we need to create something capable of mirroring the core idea contained in your current power."

"Isn't that what Heaven and Earth do?" Sepunia asked.

"Heaven and Earth perfect your power before leaving you with weaker versions," King Elbas snorted. "We are planning to make a better version of your current power without removing your potential. To do that, we need to create something that will fit you right away."

"In theory, it's impossible to come up with a suitable world when our example is a flawed version," Noah continued. "Yet, we can avoid the problem by using your current power as the foundation for your new existence. The only problem is growing it correctly."

"Growing?" Sepunia questioned as confusion filled her beautiful face.

"We can't directly create a world," King Elbas explained. "The product would never suit you since it would carry our influence. However, the situation would be different if we grow something from the very bottom of the divine rank with the right fuel."

"We need your world to create a fuel," Noah added. "It will have a mixture of your core idea and my ambition. Anything filled with those energies should fit you and preserve your potential."

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Author's notes: I was dead yesterday. Also, the others on discord and Chaos already know this, but I'm going to publish only two chapters today and tomorrow since a friend of mine is celebrating his master's degree (for those wondering, Chaos is getting only one). I'm writing the next chapter now btw.