Noah escaped without even looking at his companions since he knew that they had no hope of catching up with King Elbas. Even his movement technique wasn't enough to match the acceleration created by the golden flames.
Noah's only hope was to reach the titan before the Royal could find him.
That was only a faint hope. King Elbas appeared able to follow Noah's movements while he was inside his dimension, and he didn't stop his chase for even a second.
Violent tongues of flames came out of the Royal's feet as he shot through the void. Noah's senses were far from perfect while he used his movement technique, but he could feel the immense dangerous sensation that his pursuer caused inside his mind.
Chasing Demon and the other experts had reacted to King Elbas' attack quickly. They had all begun to move toward him without giving up on their safe spots.
It would be pointless to save Noah while dying in the task. Chasing Demon was the only one that kept on flying, disregarding his safety.
Chasing Demon was about to lose his centers of power anyway. He would rather die saving the future leader of the Hive than survive as a maimed cultivator.
The fact that King Elbas had left the battlefield to chase Noah worsened the experts' overall situation. Chasing Demon would soon run out of fuel for his secret art, and their hopes would vanish at that moment.
King Elbas couldn't escape from the battle to deploy that tactic before. All his arrogance would be pointless if he couldn't deal with a gaseous stage powerhouse that had relied on a secret art.
Yet, Noah had given King Elbas an excuse to make Chasing Demon waste time. Noah had only himself to blame for that turn of events.
Noah exited from his dimension only to create another human-shaped crack. He couldn't stop for even a second with King Elbas following him, but the situation didn't look good for him.
King Elbas was too fast, and he had to take a long path to gather with the experts without meeting him. Crossing him was also out of the question since Noah knew that he couldn't dodge any of his abilities.
His mind understood that before Noah could even turn those instincts into thoughts. He wasn't fast enough to regroup with the others before King Elbas reached him.
The Divine Deduction technique was still active, and his dark star redirected all his energy toward his mental faculties. Noah was at his mental peak in that situation, but he couldn't think of any way to survive.
'Dammit!' Noah cursed as he continued to fly. 'Is this the end?'
Noah felt doomed. Nothing among his techniques and spells could help him survive that chase. King Elbas would reach him and kill him without any doubt.
The Demonic Sword, Snore, and Night felt his desperation. They were too close to his mind not to sense that intense emotion.
The Blood Companion and the living weapon remained silent. They knew that Noah needed to focus on finding a solution. Yet, Night wasn't as polite as his other assets.
"Why don't you just kill that shiny eyesore?" Night complained as if there was nothing wrong with what it said. "Go and kill him. Shut his light forever."
Noah heard those words inside his mind, and he couldn't believe how delusional the Pterodactyl could be.
"How can I even kill him?" Noah asked. "You are just a talking head in my ring, and I have nothing that can stop him. We are dead."
That was the truth. Noah had reviewed everything he had and could wield, but nothing could help him survive.
"Are you giving up?" Night asked, and Noah could only sigh at that question.
He had one last move available, but doing that would remove even luck from his chances. Still, Noah had never relied on luck in his life. His determination and ruthlessness were the only things that had made him reach his current peak.
The experts were flying while keeping an eye on King Elbas' movements, but they felt shocked when they saw Noah coming out of his dimension and stopping in the void.
He didn't escape. Noah turned toward his incoming opponent and released dark matter as he watched the Royal become closer.
Noah knew that his current spells couldn't save him. So, he decided to bet everything on his dark matter and the power it could release once he completed that path.
That was a gamble, but Noah had nothing to lose. He was dead anyway. He would use the danger caused by King Elbas to push his power forward at least.
The dark matter took the shape of the elements that Noah had managed to copy, and he tried to force the creation of light while his eyes remained on King Elbas.
The dark star spun faster than ever, and its rotation speed continued to increase as it tried to push Noah toward his survival.
The dark matter began to flicker, and surges of energy caused small flashes of light that went dim after a few seconds.
Noah couldn't keep the dark matter shining for long, and something told him that he wasn't executing the right approach. Making his higher energy sparkle wasn't the same as recreating the light element.
"What are you even doing?!" Night complained again when it saw the light coming from the dark matter.
The Demonic Sword and Snore roared and hissed at the Pterodactyl through their mental connection. They wanted it to shut up while Noah was in that dire situation.
Yet, Night didn't care about them and continued to complain. "Why are you forcing that wonderful darkness to shine?!"
Noah felt annoyed after his higher energy went dark. All the other elements were in front of him, but the light didn't want to form.
The Pterodactyl then made him even more irritated during those anxious moments, and Noah couldn't help but answer him to vent. "I need light, you stupid creature! The world has light as one of its core elements, and I need it to make my own."
Noah was about to make one last attempt before King Elbas reached him, but Night spoke again and disturbed his concentration. "Aren't you the creator? Can't you make a world without light?"
Noah was about to scold it again, but something inside him broke at its words. It was as if a veil disappeared from his mind and revealed to him the truth behind that matter.
'Have I ever needed the light element?' Noah questioned himself.
It had felt natural to attempt to copy all the elements after he had managed to reproduce the Heaven Tribulation's lightning. Noah wanted to create a world in the end, so he had to imitate the harmony around him.
However, Night was right. He was the maker. He could make any rule and harmony he wanted without limiting himself to the simple imitation.
Heaven and Earth had chosen to use seven elements to create the world, but Noah could make his with six. No one could stop him nor point out flaws in that project.
'Did my ambition blind me?' Noah thought as the dark matter in front of him began to transform.
Noah's ambition was boundless, so he had desired to complete his copy of the elements before attempting anything different in that field. He was so focused on taking everything that he couldn't see how he had never needed the light element in the first place.
King Elbas saw the changes happening in front of Noah while he flew toward him. The dark matter had taken the form of six elements, but they suddenly began to fuse.
The dark matter then expanded and enveloped Noah's figure in a thick cloud made of higher energy. King Elbas didn't hesitate for even a second before shooting right into it.
King Elbas flew through the dark matter before noticing that something was off. The higher energy took peculiar shapes that he recognized, and he even saw a proper building at some point.
The Royal didn't know what Noah was creating, but he could sense him at the center of the cloud, so he never stopped his flight. However, his eyebrows arched when a rank 6 aura spread inside the darkness.