Birth of the Demonic Sword

Everyone noticed Noah's return among the streets of the city. His companions had also spent a long time in seclusion, but they had come out of their training areas long before Noah. Many had even gone on solitary trips, while others had started to help the old rulers with the battle between magical beasts and punishments.

King Elbas had secluded himself longer than the others due to the immense knowledge available inside the city, but he had also interrupted his training before Noah. Most of his efforts had gone in helping the old rulers modifying the magical beasts at that point, but he didn't choose to do that out of his antagonism with Heaven and Earth. He only wanted to apply what he had learnt.

Noah's return alerted everyone, be it magical beats, Kesier apes, cultivators, or hybrids. His companions had done their best to keep themselves busy during that period, but excitement built inside them when their leader reappeared.

Their decision to wait for Noah didn't come from their status as underlings. They would have probably left without even saying goodbye if something major happened or appeared. The world lacked challenges suitable for their level. They were out of adventures that could benefit their state substantially and that weren't impossible for now.

The experts wanted to wait for Noah because he was their source of crazy plans, but he had to disappoint them at that time. He didn't have anything strange or incredible at hand, but he believed that his return among the storms would change something and give him the chance to come up with one of his unreasonable ideas.

Still, the reunion made all the experts throw questions at Noah since his cultivation level didn't respect what they had learnt about the ninth rank. It actually went against their knowledge, so they wanted to hear his explanations on the matter to make sure that they were approaching their path ahead correctly.

Even the old rulers showed their interest in the matter. They had advised Noah against that project, but everything seemed to have gone well. He had even gained more power than they had initially predicted.

"The matter isn't as complicated as it sounds," Noah explained as the group sat in the white separated dimension inside the orange mineral. "I had two paths in front of me, the easy and the crazy. You can guess which I picked."

"How did you stabilize the breakthrough of a single center of power without affecting the potential of your existence?" The old rulers asked two spots on their face started to glow with more intensity. "The path to the ninth rank is personal, but it still has restrictions that cause heavy repercussions to who breaks them. You even became stronger."

The experts didn't miss the slight hesitation in the last part of the old rulers' statement. Even the mighty existences who had managed to put the world into their clutches appeared stunned in front of Noah's achievement.

Noah obviously wouldn't reveal every detail of his feat to the old rulers. It didn't matter how much their structures had helped him in the project. He still didn't trust them enough to share information that could end up hurting him in the future.

However, they had probably already learnt something since Noah had used their inscriptions. Moreover, his friends were there, so he wanted to do what he could to help them. It might be too late to apply eventual modification if he waited until the group left the city.

"I built it," Noah revealed while taking a sip from the cup in front of him. "My mind required something else to advance, and I didn't like what I would naturally develop, so I built a center of power that suited my requirements."

The experts and the old rulers didn't initially realize how massive and dangerous that task had been. Still, they slowly began to understand the complexity behind the project, and astonishment inevitably filled their minds.

Noah had tinkered with the potential of his very existence. He had basically decided that he could achieve more than what his centers of power prospected.

"You won't know if it worked until all your centers of power reach the ninth rank," King Elbas stated as disbelief seeped into his voice.

"Something like that," Noah laughed. "Better that reach the peak only to understand that your power isn't enough to advance. I don't want to become like them, and you all know that I would probably follow that path in that case."

The experts couldn't argue. They knew Noah and their own madness enough to understand that stopping wasn't an option. They would continue on their path even if they failed because that was the very essence of their life. Everything would simply be messier in Noah's case due to his troublesome ambition. There was a high chance that he could end up like Heaven and Earth.

"I can't walk the same path," King Elbas quickly concluded.

"Me neither," Sword Saint revealed.

"I think that's the whole point," Divine Demon explained. "Alexander had to acknowledge the nature of his species to advance. Instead, my heir is built to break the rules. It's as if he can reveal his true potential only when he leaves the safe path. We'll probably experience something similar but personal."

The experts had started to grow used to Divine Demon's serious moments. The expert was slowly gaining more and more of his lost awareness. His personality had remained uncaring and overbearing, but he didn't seem to have the same crippling forgetfulness, not all the time at least.

"Built to break the rules," The old rulers repeated as the two lights on their face seemed to take the shape of eyes. "Is it only a matter of laws then?"

"Don't offend me," Noah snorted as his mental waves leaked out of his figure due to the faint anger that those words had generated inside him. "I built my existence piece by piece. You don't get to disregard my success as a simple matter of laws."

The intense pride that accompanied his dark mental waves threatened to affect the separate space. Large black patches appeared among the whiteness of that area and destabilized its structure. It almost seemed that his existence wanted to steal that dimension.

"Forgive us," The old rulers quickly responded. "It wasn't our intention. We still struggle to differentiate between existences and laws."

Noah glared at the orange figure, but he eventually managed to calm down. He didn't expect such a violent reaction to his feelings either, but the event wasn't entirely in his control. His instincts had long since fused with his mind, so they had also intensified with the breakthrough, and that made it hard to suppress them.

'I might be a bit unstable,' Noah realized in his mind, and the lack of questions coming in his direction made him decide to stand up.

"What's the plan then?" Wilfred asked.

"The same as always," Noah announced. "We keep fighting until Heaven and Earth throws something powerful at us."

"What happens after we kill it?" Steven questioned.

"We continue until all of us are in the ninth rank," Noah explained. "Then, we keep going until we reach the peak, and Heaven and Earth are forced to throw themselves at us. Killing them will open the path to the tenth rank."

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Author's notes: The last chapters should come out in an hour or so.