Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah returned inside the separate dimension after he witnessed the changes caused by the quasi-rank 7 Eternal Snake. It was time to make his body advance, so the hunts could wait until he came out of his seclusion.

Every breakthrough of his body would often force him into hibernation. Advancing from one rank to another would also create a chrysalis, but it was hard to calculate how long they would take.

It was the same with his dark matter. Noah's higher energy depended on his darkness, but it didn't have a clear behavior. His breakthrough to the solid stage didn't make it evolve.

Noah could guess that the dark matter would reach the next state when he advanced to the divine ranks. He could predict that his higher energy couldn't remain the same after his darkness went through that massive change.

It wouldn't make sense if the black hole didn't change at that point. Yet, Noah still couldn't be entirely sure about that due to the higher energy's peculiar properties.

The same applied to his body. After the many improvements, his center of power had reached an incredible state, so it was only normal for the periods of hibernation connected to his breakthroughs to be longer.

However, his black hole optimized most processes when it came to his existence. Noah almost expected his hibernation to take less time since his fourth center of power would help during the breakthrough.

The main issue was that the world had less than two hundred and fifty years left, according to Shandal's initial calculations. Noah had killed many rank 6 creatures, so he guessed that he had gained a few centuries in the process.

Yet, the world didn't remain calm in those years. The golden net had stopped part of the quasi-rank 7 Snake's first outbreak, but the plane had to endure the second one on its own.

The leader had tried to be gentle when it fused the two continents because its instincts had warned it about the dangers connected to its actions. Still, magical beasts didn't excel in controlling themselves, especially when it came to problems they couldn't understand.

Noah didn't stay put in those years either. He had hunted as many creatures as possible, and even all his precautions couldn't prevent him from spreading chaos in the world.

Those actions had shortened the lifespan of the world. Noah had made sure that the net of cracks was stable before returning inside the separate dimension, but some concern had inevitably remained inside him.

Still, that gave him some hope. His black hole reacted to his mindset, so it would feel his concern about the length of the hibernation.

Noah didn't expect the hibernation to last more than a century, especially if he stuffed his body with a lot of energy. He could still decide to wait for the world to stabilize fully before approaching the breakthrough, but he believed that he could avoid facing the quasi-rank 7 creature for now if he let his body improve.

Noah resumed his usual training routine after returning to the separate dimension, but he focused mostly on his body at that time.

Eating his new preys gave his body the boost needed to reach the peak of the middle tier, but that point always marked the beginning of his problems.

Reaching the peak wasn't enough for bodies, especially those that carried features belonging to the magical beasts' world. Noah needed to accumulate enough energy to advance, or he could end up failing the breakthrough.

The world had more rank 6 creatures, but they couldn't satisfy Noah. He had used the stuffed winged beast in the past, and he would do the same now that he was approaching the last part of the heroic ranks.

Drowsiness began to fill his mind, but Noah didn't let that feeling affect his power. He had enough experience in that process to know that he still had time to prepare.

Noah took out the stuffed winged beast from his space-ring. He could recognize the spots on its skin where he had previously sucked some "Breath", and he didn't hesitate to point his blade at them.

Sucking the "Breath" coming out of the stuffed creature's skin wouldn't be enough at his level. His instincts told him that he needed actual flesh to meet the requirements of his body.

The Demonic Sword trembled while Noah kept it pointed at the weakened spots on the stuffed creature's skin. The living weapon's tip touched those quasi-divine tissues and accumulated power as it prepared an attack.

Noah's ambition surged as he focused on his target. He knew that he could crack that skin. He had finally reached the level when he could start dealing with materials that carried some divine power.

The Demonic Sword didn't change shape during that accumulation of energy, but dark matter soon began to leak out of it. Noah understood that the weapon had reached its structural limits at that point, and he closed his eyes as he focused on his sharpness.

Both Noah and the Demonic Sword began to radiate an intense sharpness. Those auras fused and flowed through the weapon as Noah launched his attack.

The separate dimension trembled, but Noah kept his eyes closed during the attack. When he opened them, he ignored the destruction that his lunge had caused to focus on the stuffed winged beast.

Noah could see how a fist-sized opening had appeared on the creature's arm. The skin in that spot had shattered and fallen on the floor after the attack.

The broken winged beast's skin resembled dark shards of glass, but Noah didn't have time to appreciate it. The drowsiness had begun to fill his mind faster after the attack. It seemed that it had felt the temporary weakness that had followed his surge of ambition.

Noah stored the stuffed winged beast and sat on the ground to eat the pieces of skin. He ignored the surges of energy that those materials generated inside him and focused only on completing his meal.

His mind went dark as soon as he ate the last piece of skin. He laid back without even fully digesting that meal, but a smile appeared on his face as he fell asleep.

Noah had understood that he had met the requirements of his body as soon as he finished eating. He wanted to quantify how much energy was filing his insides, but his mind went dark before he could make any comparisons between the sixth and the quasi-seventh rank.

No dreams appeared in his vision during his sleep. Noah could only see images sent by his Demonic Sword and companions in his rare conscious moments.

His black hole absorbed the energy contained in the winged beast's skin and spread it through his body to make it reach the next tier. The fourth center of power quickened that natural process and improved it with its constant purification.

Noah smiled again when he reopened his eyes. The separate dimension was still in one piece, which meant that the outside world didn't crumble during his sleep.

An intense feeling of power began to fill his body as Noah became aware of the changes that happened during the breakthrough. His nails had become shorter, and his skin paler. He was abandoning the features obtained by the Light-devouring Dragons.

Except for those features, his appearance didn't change much. Noah felt that his eyes had become colder, but he guessed that the Eternal Snakes' bloodline was to blame for that. After all, his body now carried part of that species.

'I can't test my power here,' Noah thought after he gazed at the state of the separate dimension.

The lunge launched before falling asleep had enlarged part of the separate dimension and destroyed many buildings. Noah couldn't risk making it even larger for fear that Heaven and Earth could notice it, so he decided to study the condition of the world before planning his next move.

It was the same as the Demonic Sword. Noah couldn't test its new strength until the world stabilized.

Noah's smile widened when he came out of the separate dimension. He had yet to inspect the world, but the golden light that he saw from the bottom of the sea was enough to make him feel elated.