Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah knew the differences among stages and ranks far too well. After all, his greatest weakness was his lack of darkness in the sixth rank.

When Noah saw King Elbas bursting with incredible power, he immediately knew what had happened. The Royal had thrown away his "Breath" to make his centers of power run only on higher energy.

The transformation would generally need a long period of seclusion and invasive drugs to take effect, but King Elbas had completed it in a matter of instants.

It was as if his centers of power were ready for that moment. King Elbas only needed to set his mind for his entire being to transform.

The golden flames illuminated the void and spread around King Elbas. They didn't create a fiery sea, but they covered his figure, creating innate protections against any enemy attack.

The experts spread around the battlefield pressed on with their offensive. They didn't care that their centers of power were nearing a critical state. The only thing that mattered was that King Elbas couldn't leave that area alive.

Various attacks flew toward the Royal. Lighting bolts, dense gales, storms of ice-shards, puppets, and wind-slashes flew toward him. Yet, those spells could only burn when they touched the golden flames.

King Elbas' fire had changed. Even his previous golden flames couldn't destroy the enemy spells so quickly. Their overall destructiveness had increased in ways that the experts couldn't understand.

Chasing Demon didn't let King Elbas' new technique scare him. The titan swung his fists toward the Royal and clashed with the fire without showing any hesitation.

King Elbas didn't dodge. A golden flare spread through the void as both massive fists landed on his figure. A shining radiance filled the environment, and the result of that clash shocked everyone once the light dimmed.

The fists had clashed with the flames, but they didn't manage to close on King Elbas. His golden fire was so dense that even a divine item couldn't break through it with its sheer power.

Chasing Demon inspected the scene without revealing any emotion. However, those who knew him well could see the amazement in his eyes.

The Hive's leader had relied on a secret art to push his cultivation level to the liquid stage. That was the only way to unleash more of the titan's power.

Still, King Elbas' new form could block the titan's blow without relying on any particular technique or inscribed item. The golden flames had reached a level that ignored the widespread labels of the cultivation world.

The flames appeared incredibly strong, but their power was still in the solid stage of the sixth rank. The fact that they had blocked the titan's attack didn't make any sense for those who didn't know about the higher energy's unfathomable prowess.

Even Noah felt shocked about that outcome. The higher energy's power was exponential, and it increased by leaps and bounds along with the "Breath" level.

The golden flames had surpassed even his expectations. Stopping the titan's blow with their sheer power was something that no one would ever think to be possible.

Noah felt some helplessness watching that scene, but his ambition surged too. Seeing that the higher energy could have such might pushed him to focus his whole being on completing the last step needed for his breakthrough.

The lines of the Divine Deduction techniques illuminated the insides of Noah's mind as they consumed his mental energy. His dark star began to spin faster as his whole existence focused on overcoming the bottleneck that kept him stuck in the fifth rank.

Noah was flying on the edges of the battlefield when he saw the power of King Elbas' flames. He had continued to absorb any raw law in the environment while watching the main battle, and he had intervened without stopping his looting.

The sight of such prowess made him lose himself inside his ambition. Noah desired power so badly that his entire existence was trying to push his level to the next stage.

He didn't have any clue on how to complete his project with the dark matter. The light element was too distant from his existence, so he even lacked a starting point in that matter.

However, his mind had reached a state that benefited any enlightenment dawning upon him. His existence had become ready to advance. Noah only needed the trigger for the breakthrough now.

King Elbas laughed when he saw his flames stopping the fists. His aura surged as his arrogance reached its peak.

He had managed to stop a divine item without the help of inscribed weapons or secret arts. There were virtually no superior achievements that he could accomplish while in the heroic ranks.

His cultivation level increased on its own. King Elbas' advanced inside the solid stage without absorbing any energy from the environment. His individuality was striving for the status of law right in front of his enemies.

Chasing Demon couldn't let him continue. Allowing King Elbas to improve was foolish, and he didn't have much time left anyway.

The titan roared, and thick shockwaves spread through the battlefield. King Elbas' flames endured them, but Chasing Demon's attack had only begun.

An army of puppets came out of the dark-red massive figure. Chasing Demon spat a mouthful of blood as the clay-like material that made the titan began to morph.

One of the titan's arms transformed into a long hammer that the puppet grabbed with its free limb. Chasing Demon's right arm exploded as the giant ripped off the weapon to swing it toward the Royal.

King Elbas had to suppress his arrogance when he saw the hammer swinging in his direction. The dangerous sensation that he had felt at that sight forced him to focus on the battle.

A series of spears took form among the golden flames that surrounded his body. They shot toward the hammer and exploded into a violent surge of energy that slowed down the weapon.

The hammer continued in its trajectory even if it had lost part of its power, but King Elbas could stop it with its flames at that point.

'Strange,' Noah thought as he watched the battlefield. 'He should be able to push the titan away if he used techniques fueled on his higher energy.'

Noah could see details that others missed due to their lack of knowledge about higher energy.

He had created Snore and Night's body with the dark matter. His runes also used higher energy as their core material, and the same went for the Elemental Forging method.

June had adapted some of her old spells to her black sparks too. She had it easy since her diagrams had already seen heavy modifications to match her Perfect Circuit, but that didn't mean that King Elbas could do the same.

The higher energy was different from the "Breath". Regular diagrams didn't work with it, and even the core ideas behind those techniques couldn't fit the incredible power contained in it.

King Elbas had managed to fuel his centers of power with higher energy, but he had yet to use specific spells or techniques that relied on it. He was only controlling his golden flames with his mental waves, which was similar to what Noah did with his other elements.

'This might be his limit,' Noah thought as coldness filled his mind. His centers of power were full since he continued to absorb raw laws, so he could use the Divine Deduction technique without minding his mental sea.

He suddenly stopped flying around the battlefield, and his hand slashed the void. A black line appeared in front of him and created a portal where he slashed again before pouring dark matter.

King Elbas was using his golden flames to destroy the army of puppets when a black line appeared next to him. A wave of dark fire came out of it, and ice soon followed it.

A series of sharp rocky weapons came after them, and violent gales blew after those attacks. Darkness spread among King Elbas, but his flames barely felt any pressure. They were too strong to suffer from those attacks.