Birth of the Demonic Sword

'This isn't a fight that we can win,' Noah thought as he stared at the lightning storm surrounding Great Elder Diana.

The Royals took a few steps back, but Noah promptly warned them with his cold gaze. They had to remain there and help him in case of need.

Elder Regina wanted to get close to her Matriarch, but Noah shot a cold glance at her too. Great Elder Diana wasn't in a state where she could recognize her.

Great Elder Diana didn't advance, but she kept her eyes on Noah. She seemed set on making him the target for her anger.

Noah didn't have to guess why he was in that situation. Great Elder Diana had become addicted to the raw laws, and seeing him eating them had triggered her anger.

'I can't escape either,' Noah accepted in his mind as he evaluated the situation.

The range of Great Elder Diana's mind was too large for him to escape without having to clash with her at least once. He could sacrifice one of the experts with him to gain time, but none of them would be up for the task.

Moreover, Noah didn't want to escape alone only to remain lost in the void. The alliance also needed Great Elder Diana, and the Divine Cut was in her domain.

'I guess I can always throw the Royals at her if everything else fails,' Noah concluded as his expression became resolute. He would go against a liquid stage powerhouse.

"You two," Noah conveyed through his consciousness, uncaring that Great Elder Diana could hear him, "Deploy every protection you have and try to buy some time."

"Are you asking us to go against a liquid stage powerhouse?!" First Prince immediately complained. "You are a fool! Why should we even help her?"

"You either help her with me," Noah replied while pouring his coldness in his mental waves, "Or I'll leave and hunt you down if you manage to survive."

Noah's threat wasn't empty for the Royals. They had recently seen him overcoming what they thought to be mandatory limits, so they believed him when he said that he could escape the Matriarch.

First Prince went silent after the threat, and First Princess nodded at Noah to confirm their cooperation. They didn't like to work with him, but the Elbas family needed Great Elder Diana too.

King Elbas had already revealed that he had fallen prey to the addicting properties of the raw laws. If that happened again, the group of experts needed the second strongest cultivator's help.

"Give me your sedatives," Noah conveyed when looking at Elder Regina. She didn't hesitate to fly toward him and hand a few bottles containing a green liquid.

"Thank you for this," Elder Regina said, but Noah ignored her. He wasn't doing that for the Council or Great Elder Diana's sake. His interests and life were at stake there.

Great Elder Diana didn't attack during that interaction. Noah could sense some struggle in her consciousness, but he had no idea how to exploit it. It would be different if he had to face the Demons, but he didn't know the Matriarch enough to force her to regain control of her mental faculties.

"Go," Noah said at the Royals, "Launch something."

The duo from the Elbas family shot a surprised glance toward him, but they decided to follow his orders when they saw his cold reptilian eyes again.

They timidly took out a series of inscribed items meant to restrict their opponents and threw them at Great Elder Diana before retreating by a few hundred meters.

A series of golden runes and a black thread flew toward the lightning storm. The chord enlarged during the flight and began to move on its own as it encircled the powerful spell.

Great Elder Diana was far from her peak in that condition. Her centers of power were full of energy, but her mental state didn't allow her to express her individuality.

She was a violent addict angry at someone who had taken the last dose from her. Her surges of energy were chaotic, and her spells were a messy display of power.

Nevertheless, her attacks had liquid "Breath" as fuel. That alone gave her enough power to be above any gaseous stage powerhouse.

The lightning storm reduced the black thread into ashes, but the spell's intensity diminished in those spots. The golden runes approached those areas, and many of them fell apart. Still, a few managed to fly past that protection.

"My laws!" Great Elder Diana shouted through her mind and lifted her arm to deal with the incoming runes.

Sparks gathered in her palm, but a tremor rank through her consciousness and her spell dispersed the energy that it had accumulated.

That forceful interruption even caused a backlash. Deep cuts appeared on the Matriarch's arm as the "Breath" that had accumulated there left the limb in a hurry.

The golden runes successfully landed on her body and released a halo that restricted her movements. Even her consciousness shrunk under their effects.

"Go talk to her," Noah said to Elder Regina. "Use any topic that can make her regain focus."

It had become evident after the last exchange that Great Elder Diana was helping them in the battle. Part of her mind wanted them to win and restore her mental faculties.

Elder Regina nodded and flew on the opposite side of the lightning storm to tell a few stories that only she and her Matriarch knew. They were mostly tales about conversations shared while they restored the natural paradise on the western coast.

The struggles inside the Matriarch's consciousness became more intense as the runes and Elder Regina suppressed Great Elder Diana and made her cooperate.

Yet, the lightning storm still raged around her. That spell was a continuous defense that fed on her reserves of energy to expand.

Noah shot toward the array of lightning bolts at that point. A layer of dark matter covered his figure, and Snore formed before engulfing him in its massive body.

Layers of rocks and ice covered the Blood Companion and turned it into a statue. The void's unique environment allowed it to maintain its momentum even if Noah couldn't sprint since he was inside it.

The Royals controlled the runes to use all their power right before the snake statue crashed on the lightning storm. Elder Regina did the same by telling something more intimate about the Matriarch.

Great Elder Diana's consciousness shrunk even more, and the lightning bolts in her defensive spell slowed down while her confusion intensified.

The snake statue crashed on the storm then. The lightning bolts made massive holes inside Snore's defensive layers and destroyed every protection in only a round of attacks.

The Blood Companion suffered too, and its body fell apart as all those powerful attacks crashed on it.

Noah knew that Snore couldn't block the attacks, so he had relied on his iconic spell to cross that barrage. When the row of lightning bolts was about to fall on him, black smoke came out of his skin and covered him in a corrosive armor.

The lightning bolts had gone past many layers of protection, but they still destroyed the armor and unleashed their remaining power on Noah. Yet, he used that delay to sprint toward the other side of the storm.

Snore fell apart, but Noah reappeared in the defensive spell's insides with two long wounds on his back.

Gray smoke came out of the injuries, and some of his internal organs were visible, but Noah didn't care and pressed forward. Great Elder Diana was still too confused to react to his arrival.

Noah swiftly grabbed her chin and poured a bottle of the sedative that he had just taken out of his space-ring inside her mouth. The Matriarch gulped, and her expression quickly returned to a stern one.

The lightning storm disappeared when Great Elder Diana regained control of her mental faculties. Her consciousness unfolded again, but it didn't apply any pressure at that time.

"Noah Balvan," Great Elder Diana said as she straightened her position and adjusted her robe, "What can I do to thank you?"

Noah revealed a cold smile before replying in his usual manner. "Leave all the raw laws to me from now on."