Birth of the Demonic Sword

'Its body is only a channel for its innate ability,' Noah thought as the Demonic Sword flew back in his hand.

Generally speaking, his body had long since surpassed the standards of magical beasts and hybrids. His physical strength was far superior to those creatures, and it allowed him to deal with stronger beings at times.

The Fog Demons had a weak body, but they focused all their power on their innate ability. Since Noah's opponent was in the middle tier, his physical strength and casual slashes didn't manage to eradicate its foggy armor.

'I should take this a bit more seriously,' Noah concluded, and a series of saber-shaped runes came out of his palm before surrounding his figure.

Noah knew that the fastest way to deal with the creature was to summon the dark world and rely on his strongest slash. Still, he had other abilities that he didn't test in a proper battle yet.

The black fire kept on burning, but the beasts' armor enlarged as more fog gathered inside it. The gas also became denser, and the flames couldn't pierce it anymore after that.

The beast molded the fog around it to create a series of giant Hyenas that ran toward Noah. They were fast, but Noah slashed a few times with the Demonic Sword to launch multiple black lines that divided the copies in half.

He then sprinted forward, and the array of saber-shaped runes shot in front of him to create a rotating drill that vibrated together with his living weapon.

The primary energy that had gathered in the battlefield flowed inside them and improved their power. Noah's new sabers were in the liquid stage of the sixth rank, but they grew further as his destruction nourished their form.

The Fog Demon tried everything to stop his charge. It launched other Hyenas copies, spikes, and it even created dense walls. However, the array of sabers pierced everything and made Noah reach his opponent in a blink.

The beast roared as its armor exploded outward. That condensed gas destroyed the saber-shaped runes that had lost a lot of their power during the charge, but it wasn't enough to fling Noah away.

Noah almost placed a knee on the ground as he stopped right under the two meters long ant that had come out of the fog and focused his momentum on the Demonic Sword. Then, he performed an upward slash that reached the creature.

His blade touched the creature and dug in its exoskeleton before severing it in half. The Fog Demon couldn't do anything against Noah's direct blow. His physical strength alone was enough to pierce its natural armor!

Noah's sharpness and the power contained inside the Demonic Sword did the rest. The blade had yet to reach the middle tier, but it could express might far superior to its level when Noah wielded it.

The ant didn't die after Noah cut its body in half. It screeched, and all the fog in the area flowed toward its position, creating a wild storm that made Noah lose track of his opponent.

The gales continued to blow until the sunlight illuminated the destroyed bottom of the mystical fog. The beast had accumulated so much fog that the sun managed to shine on that region.

Noah expanded his consciousness to search for his opponent, and he found it in a spot among gales that converged mid-air. His first instinct was to attack, but he remained still when he saw the new form taken by the Fog Demon.

A humanoid giant grew from the converging gales. That new foggy armor wielded a blade with one hand, and it had facial features that vaguely resembled Noah.

The Fog Demon had tried to imitate Noah since he was the strongest opponent that it had ever faced. As an expert in the magical beasts' field, Noah couldn't help but be interested in that creature and its innate ability.

The giant raised its blade and slashed toward Noah. Its lower body dispersed into the fog as the weapon descended, and another storm spread through the environment.

The ground broke as the storm spread. Numerous debris and large boulders flew in every direction, but Noah let those coming toward him crash on his body as he kept his eyes on the descending sword.

A smile had appeared on his face when he saw the attack. He felt as if a magical beast was challenging him on sword arts!

Noah crouched as he drew the Demonic Sword backward. If the creature wanted to fight with blades, he would show it a proper technique.

His aura surged as the sharpness radiated by his existence gathered on his blade. His eyes moved toward a spot inside the giant's chest as he prepared one of his strongest attacks.

Noah unleashed Sword Saint's lunge before the foggy blade could hit him, and a chasm opened as his sharpness flew toward the giant.

The foggy blade fell apart as Noah's lunge pierced its base and created a large hole in the giant's chest. A second of silence followed the exchange, but the fog gathered by the innate ability soon dispersed.

A small and maimed corpse fell on the ground as the fog filled the area again.

Noah walked toward the Fog Demon's remains and scratched his head when he saw the poor state in which it had ended. Only a small part of its body had remained intact. Everything else had disappeared in the might of the lunge.

'I got carried away,' Noah thought as he collected the small remains of the beast together with the half body that he had severed before.

'I need to use more spells the next time,' Noah thought while reviewing the battle. 'The saber-shaped runes are good. I should test the other ability now.'

His hunt had only begun. The Fog Demon had one of the weakest bodies among the world's various species, so Noah had never taken that challenge seriously.

It had been enough for him to use one of his strongest attacks to deal with the threat. For a magical beast that supposedly was on his level, its actual prowess had been quite disappointing.

Noah knew that the labels of the cultivators couldn't describe his prowess accurately. There was nothing about him that matched the standards of the power system of the world.

His body was in the lower tier, but it was an evolution of the hybrid status. His physical prowess and healing properties were off the charts, and the black hole could enhance all his innate skills.

His dantian was at the beginning of the liquid stage, but it didn't contain "Breath". Noah had severed every connection he had with Heaven and Earth's system and used only energies that suited his individuality to improve.

His mind was above both dantian and body in terms of progression inside the sixth rank, but it didn't have the azure mental sea like other cultivators.

Noah's mental energy was dark-brown, and it carried features of both magical beasts and humans. His mind didn't have limits connected to species, and it could express more pressure than others on the same level.

In the end, Noah had a black hole in his chest. His fourth center of power improved his functions and gave him access to various new abilities that culminated with his dark world.

In the liquid stage, powerhouses could face rank 6 magical beasts in the middle tier, so Noah was entirely at ease in those hunts. The difficulties would come when he found creatures that neared the tier's peak, but part of him wished to see some of them.

It wasn't only a matter of nutrients. Noah wanted to fight. He desired to face struggles that forced him to advance on his path, and his only hope now was in the rank 6 magical beasts in the two worlds.

'Next is the mountain chain,' Noah thought before flying away from the mystical forest.

He left behind a destroyed environment and earthquakes that spread until the inhabited regions on both Papral nation and central territories. Still, those were the natural after-effects of a battle between rank 6 beings.