Gloria had the aspect of a youthful woman. She had long blonde hair and green eyes, and her face had delicate features.
However, the leader's face had twisted into an unsightly expression. Her hatred toward her enemies had overcome her rage and had started to overflow.
Flares of energy shot out of her figure and cut the battlefield. Gloria appeared out of control. Her existence was attacking both friends and foes without caring about their cultivation level.
Gloria's existence was aflame. The whole sky seemed about to fall on the battlefield. The laws in the area condensed and shot toward her figure, applying pressure on every existence in her range.
"Did we break her?" Wilfred asked while veins burst on his bulging muscles.
'Is she crazy?' Noah wondered while relying on the unstable substance to fend off the pressure landing on his body.
Cultivators, magical beasts, and hybrids died whenever a flare cut the battlefield. Gloria's kill count had surpassed five hundred in a few seconds and kept increasing with every discharge of energy.
'We can't fight in these conditions,' Noah concluded before giving voice to a roar that managed to seep through the twisted space closing on the battlefield.
Everyone could understand the meaning behind his cry. The cultivators in his army even heard a translation into human words in their minds.
Noah had ordered a full retreat. He had expected to lose many underlings during the attack, but remaining near Gloria could lead to the destruction of his army.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEveryone except the rank 8 existences started to retreat. Noah and the other experts were the only ones who could prevent their opponents from chasing their underlings, so they had to be the last to leave.
The cultivators in Gloria's army didn't have any intention to chase their enemies. The flares of energy were too dangerous for them, and some of the weaker leaders even called for a retreat.
"Where do you think you are going?!" Gloria shouted while glaring at her opponents.
Her eyes moved between Noah and Wilfred. Her whole hatred came from those two hybrids, and a flare soon shot out of her figure to fly toward them.
"Go!" Noah roared, but Wilfred remained behind.
Divine Demon imitated him while the others left to escort the rest of the army away. The three experts promptly launched their strongest attacks to fend off that flare, but the exchange didn't go as planned.
Wilfred's long-distance punches exploded before reaching the flare. The aura carried by that dense energy destabilized the attack and made it waste its power.
Something similar happened to Divine Demon's white energy. The expert had gathered that mass of higher energy into a beam, but his attack ended up falling apart before reaching the flare.
Only Noah's slash could clash with the flare. A singularity opened at its center and cut its structure, but its remaining energy continued to fly toward the trio and eventually engulfed them.
Noah and the others felt as if their bodies were going to implode. Their skin caved in, and their bones released screeching noises as that pressure forced them to condense.
'Give me more!' Noah shouted in his mind before letting the Demonic Form absorb a massive amount of energy.
The parasite's corrosive aura began to fend off that pressure. Noah soon managed to free himself from that energy and could focus on his companions.
Wilfred was doing his best to endure the attack. His physical prowess was far above normal hybrids, so he could protect his centers of power for a while.
The situation was far different for Divine Demon. Noah saw his limbs transforming into a pulp. Gloria's flare didn't kill him on the spot because the expert had gathered all his energy around his important organs. Yet, his defenses were about to give in to the pressure.
Noah promptly grabbed Divine Demon and threw him toward the rest of his army. The expert suffered a few injuries during the flight due to the immense strength used by Noah, but that also helped to fend off Gloria's ended.
The roots then spread to cover Wilfred. The hybrid suffered a few injuries, but he quickly recovered once the corrosive aura helped him get rid of Gloria's energy.
"You come in here and decide to attack organizations that have lasted for eras!" Gloria shouted as another flare shot toward the duo. "You have no idea how strong we are. You don't know what kind of forces you have decided to fight."
Noah placed a hand on Wilfred's shoulder, and they disappeared before the flare could hit them. Then, they reappeared a few kilometers away in the direction of their army.
"What was-," Wilfred began to ask, but Noah threw him before he could complete his question.
Noah had to rely on the Shadow Domain to dodge the flare, and carrying Wilfred with him had almost depleted his stash of special darkness.
'Come closer,' Noah thought while watching Gloria walking through the air between them.
"Do you think I don't know about your dimensional ability?" Gloria asked as an ugly grin appeared on her face. "Come on! Show me what Defying Demon can do!"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm'It seems that I'm quite popular in the human domain,' Noah thought while taking a few steps back.
Gloria didn't hesitate to walk toward Noah, and she even accelerated. Another flare eventually shot out of her figure, and Noah quickly teleported away to resume his retreat.
Noah's attention remained on the piece of the sky behind him. Once Gloria reached a specific spot, Noah activated the Shadow Domain and teleported what it contained around her.
Gloria suddenly found thousands of spiked spheres around her. Noah's rank 8 Instabilities filled the sky and threatened to detonate as soon as she moved.
Of course, Noah didn't put any condition on those disposable weapons. He had already activated them, and they would explode in the following instant.
Noah flew as fast as he could. A series of detonations and a massive storm had appeared in the sky. The waves of power radiated by the explosions threatened to reach him, but his experience with Snore's feathers had taught him how to avoid them in time.
Those who had retreated before Noah and the others reached King Elbas and waited for him to finish the matrix. Frantic expressions filled their face, but they didn't dare say a word to let the expert concentrate.
Noah wasn't as polite as them. He began to shout as soon as he rejoined his army. "How long, Elbas?"
"I need to finish the detail," King Elbas replied. "This is the moment when I decided whether to reappear in one or many pieces."
"Send your puppets forward," Noah ordered before crossing his legs and sitting right outside his formation. "I believe she is alive and angry."
Gloria proved Noah to be right since the storm of spikes soon began to amass into a small metal orb. Some of the shockwaves even started to flow back to condense near her figure.
King Elbas ordered his puppets to gain some time. They were his powerful creations, but even they couldn't do anything against Gloria. She could destroy them with a single attack.
The puppets detonated before dying and made King Elbas gain a bit more time. All the existences in Noah's army began to attack Gloria at that point. They unleashed their strongest attacks in the hope of delaying her advance.
Yet, nothing seemed able to stop her. Gloria's power was useful both in attack and defense. She was invincible in that situation.
Gloria reached the enemy army and raised her remaining arm, but a golden light quickly covered the area. It took less than an instant, but Noah and the others saw a different scenery when the radiance generated by the teleport ran out.