Divine Demon's attack left everyone speechless. His technique didn't make any sense, and even King Elbas struggled to keep up with the theory behind it.
The rings depicted formations that went beyond his entire knowledge but that also featured parts of old schools. King Elbas had managed to gain an idea of ability's nature only due to those similarities, but the actual power or effects of the technique had left him dumbfounded.
Divine Demon's attack wasn't powerful. It didn't even carry destructive might. However, it featured energy that was the exact opposite of the laws on its path, and the impact made those true meanings directly disappear.
It was a proper annihilation generated by the impact between opposite energies, and everyone in the scene could understand that reaction. Still, only a few could realize how difficult it was to pull that off.
The laws moved, and the energy that flowed through the area made them everchanging. It was impossible to know exactly which true meanings would occupy one precise spot once an eventual attack arrived.
Still, Divine Demon wasn't alone. He had the world helping him. He didn't need formations, knowledge, and understanding when the energy in the sky allowed him to accomplish miracles.
The experts in the area snapped back to reality when the rings started to crumble. A disappointed expression appeared on Divine Demons' face when he noticed that his technique would disappear in a matter of seconds. Even the faint understanding obtained when building the formations began to vanish from his mind as the world stopped helping him.
King Elbas retracted his sensors and turned toward the maimed crackling giant. Alexander imitated him, and the two inspected how the storms had already started to send chaotic laws toward the creature.
Noah didn't immediately focus on the giant. His eyes remained on Divine Demon since his expressions felt off. They didn't match his usual resolute and uncaring face. Noah could see faint confusion and struggle there.
It was clear that Divine Demon was going through something. It was nothing too evident, but Noah didn't fail to miss it. The expert almost appeared unwilling to let go of his ability. He wanted to keep the techniques generated by the inscriptions in his mind.
'Is he taking steps toward the ninth rank?' Noah wondered, but the crackling noise in the area suddenly intensified and forced him to focus on the giant.
The chaotic laws were disregarding the massive opening in the world's fabric and were sending all their energy to the giant to rebuild its body. The creature gradually gained enough power to escape the cracks' pulling force, but Sword Saint did his best to slow down that process.
Alexander and King Elbas quickly arrived to help Sword Saint. The three experts started assaulting the giant with powerful abilities, but their efforts felt pointless since the storms continued to heal it. Sending the creature to the void also appeared impossible since it simply severed the lightning bolts that it couldn't drag out of the pulling force.
"Are you okay?" Noah asked after teleporting next to Divine Demon.
"It feels as if awakening from a dream," Divine Demon replied while inspecting the hand that had created the rings. "Some challenges are coming back."
"They never left you," Noah explained. "You have proven that twice even."
"Will the ninth rank give me access to everything I've created with the help of the world?" Divine Demon wondered without waiting for a real answer.
The cultivation journey was solitary and personal. Noah's answers probably wouldn't work for Divine Demon, and the same applied to every cultivator or existence trying to elevate their laws. Divine Demon had to find the answers on his own.
Noah dreaded the idea of Divine Demon gaining access to everything that the world had allowed him to create in the past. He would obviously be happy for his friend, but it also gave him a faint idea of what he had to accomplish to touch the peak.
His species and law probably made him the existence with the highest potential in the entire world. His friends were monsters who could keep up with him, but he had always known the he would surpass them.
Thinking about Divine Demon achieving perfect control over his ability gave Noah an idea of what he had to surpass to reach the peak. The matter suddenly appeared exceptionally hard, but everything worsened when he thought about the requirements of his centers of power.
Gaining power wasn't an issue for Noah. His existence would normally make him walk on paths that led to the very peak. The problem was with the cost of the journey. He could already eat rank 9 materials without feeling too ecstatic about it, and those requirements would only worsen as he progressed.
'Does this world even hold enough energy to make me surpass Heaven and Earth?' Noah wondered as he inspected the battlefield.
The three experts were slowly losing their ground as the storms continued to heal the giant. The Tribulation basically had unlimited fuel with all the chaotic laws in the environment. Destroying the lightning bolts wouldn't make it stop.
Noah heaved a helpless sigh before stepping forward. His figure disappeared as Divine Demon raised his hand to gather azure energy again.
The dark world suddenly expanded around the healing giant. The dark matter enveloped the three experts, and part of it even fell into the crack nearby.
"Let's destroy it thoroughly once," Noah announced as his ambition spread to his companions and enhanced them. "I'll handle the rest."
Snore, Night, Duanlong, and the parasite came out of the separate space as Alexander, Sword Saint, and King Elbas prepared their best abilities. Divine Demon soon entered the dark world with his amassed energy and did the same.
Noah raised his swords, and everyone inside the dark world released their attacks once his weapons descended to create a massive slash. The crackling giant could easily endure some of them, but it couldn't even try to stop the wave of abilities that fell on its body.
The giant exploded into a rain of sparks that destroyed the dark world during their flight. Many of them even fell into the void, but storms soon used the damages in Noah's technique to send chaotic laws and start rebuilding the Tribulation.
However, the nature of the dark world suddenly changed. Its dark matter became lighter and gained some ethereal properties before attacking the invisible will that drove the Tribulation.
Noah felt forced to close his eyes to endure the process. He had transformed the dark world into an extension of his mind and given the dark matter the same abilities as his mental energy. The technique could now devour the piece of Heaven and Earth's will that kept rebuilding the giant and put an end to that struggle.
The world seemed to scream in pain as the dark matter converged toward the few sparks that had managed to gather. They carried enough power to destroy most of the higher energy flying toward them, but Noah only needed small pieces of it to touch the will.
The will shrunk as the tiny chunks of dark matter that managed to get past the storms took bites at it. An immense pressure even spread inside Noah's mind and forced his mental walls to expand. Still, a figure also materialized inside his mind as that process continued. The crackling giant reappeared inside his sea of consciousness.
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Author's notes: This one has taken a while to come out. The next chapter will take far less.