Birth of the Demonic Sword

Heaven and Earth seemed to have just noticed Noah's presence. Actually, he could feel that new energy had flowed inside the clouds after destroying the avatars and the currents of lightning bolts.

'This feels familiar,' Noah thought as he recalled past Heaven Tribulations. 'These clouds are probably a program that targets packs of magical beasts once the conditions are right.'

Noah didn't know if Heaven and Earth had always had that program ready, but that didn't seem to be the case due to the different abilities that it expressed. The normal black clouds would have already thrown barrages of lightning bolts at him after his interference. Yet, that new version stood still and analyzed his figure to understand how to deal with him.

"I'll take you for a while," Noah growled and waved his hand to expand the dark world and retrieve it in the next instant.

The lizards saw the mass of black crystals filling their surroundings and dragging them inside Noah's separate space. They couldn't oppose the process, especially with the pride seeping out of that technique. Still, they didn't struggle too much after seeing that they were finally getting a chance to escape the Tribulation.

Noah didn't immediately attack after clearing the area. He waited as his eyes darted among the clouds, and the corners of his mouth curved upward to reveal a cold smirk. Destroying that Tribulation at his current level felt easy, but he wanted to study their abilities first.

The clouds appeared unwilling to fight Noah. He didn't know if that feeling came from their natural structure or the power that had filled them after his arrival. Yet, he continued to wait to see what decision they would make.

The battlefield eventually started to shrink. The clouds closed on Noah as their fabric shrunk to condense their power into something that could at least hope to hurt him. The new energy had no part in that event. The form that they were trying to achieve felt like an aspect of their programming.

Noah began to raise his hand, but he stopped before any attack could come out of it. He had initially thought about forcing Heaven and Earth to pick a stronger move, but he feared that his power would make them decide to give up on fighting him.

The clouds soon stopped condensing. Their crackling noises intensified as humanoid white figures started to come out of their gaseous fabric. They were giving birth to giant avatars that had the same shape deployed during the battle against the monster, but Noah felt disappointed when their auras expanded.

The avatars were in the lower and middle tier of the ninth rank. They were stronger than their previous versions, but Noah had become able to deal with them even before his last breakthrough. Heaven and Earth couldn't possibly hope to defeat him with that little power.

His initial idea that Heaven and Earth wanted to waste power on purpose began to shake, but he didn't give up on it yet. After all, the rulers had yet to influence the clouds properly, so Noah guessed that they were trying to test him.

The clouds continued to generate avatars until Noah couldn't find a spot without them on the black array. Sparks started to seep out of their white skin as they gathered power. The puppets then joined hands and created a circuit that allowed their energy to flow freely from body to body.

The energy grew stronger as it flowed through that battle formation. Each avatar acted as a core that forced the power obtained from the clouds to condense and improve.

Noah's eyes sharpened at that sight. He had seen a vast deal of formations throughout his journeys with King Elbas, but that scene reminded him of something else. He recognized the theory behind June's Perfect Circuit in that technique.

Some coldness inevitably began to seep out of his figure. The weaker avatars that happened to touch that feeling found their bodies severed into countless parts. Noah ended up destroying many of them before managing to retract his influence and let the technique continue.

Noah couldn't help but forget about his initial plan when June's techniques appeared in front of his eyes. That scene didn't necessarily mean that she was in danger, and he even trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't lose to Heaven and Earth so easily. Still, his reaction had been instinctive and intense anyway.

The clouds gave birth to avatars that filled the spots left behind by the destroyed puppets. They didn't seem to mind Noah's abrupt attack, and the new energy inside them also remained still. It didn't connect that reaction with his relationship with June, but he didn't know whether to consider that as a good sign.

The avatars continued to accumulate energy until a series of spheres gathered in front of their chests. Sparks tried to come out of them, but the pulling force generated by the formation forced that energy to remain in their place.

Noah sensed that the avatars were striving to deliver an attack with power in the upper tier. His instincts warned him about that potential threat, but he limited himself to deploying the unstable substance.

The fabric of space began to twist when the entirety of Noah's body went through that empowerment. His sole presence became too heavy for an environment that lacked the strengthening of Heaven and Earth's light.

The avatars eventually let go of each other's hands and released all the power accumulated in front of them. A series of white beams that transformed into lightning bolts when their energy began to disperse converged on Noah and engulfed him into Heaven and Earth's iconic aura.

The attacks continued to rage even after the initial explosions. Shockwaves spread from the impact and reached the clouds before bouncing back. The black array worked as a cage that made use of the power dispersed after the technique to increase its destructiveness.

'This won't do,' Noah sighed, and his gesture made the raging energy around him leave his figure before flowing inside his body in the form of nutrients.

Noah reappeared among the array of clouds. His body featured no injuries, and even the robe created through his dark matter was completely intact. The attack didn't manage to leave a single mark on him.

'Is this the power that stands at the peak of the cultivation journey?' Noah thought as he checked his hands in the hope of finding small marks.

Everything felt too weak now that Noah had reached the ninth rank and had become able to study Heaven and Earth's punishments properly. The last attack stood in the upper tier, but its quality wasn't nearly enough to injure him after deploying the unstable substance.

That realization left Noah disappointed. He had long since understood that he had gone past the normal labels set by past experts. Still, that was too much. He had seen magical beasts with bodies that theoretically stood at his level suffering from the same attack that didn't hurt him in the slightest.

"Shatter!" Noah roared, and intense destruction accompanied the soundwaves generated by his voice.

His anger and understanding of Heaven and Earth's power accompanied the roar and granted it the power to affect the clouds. Fissures appeared in the black array and the fabric of space around him as his voice flew. It didn't take long before everything fell apart and left only Heaven and Earth new energy in the area.

Noah inspected the energy. He could see that it had the potential to rebuild the clouds and push their power to a superior realm, but nothing similar happened.. Heaven and Earth lost interest in him and made its power go back inside the sky.