Chapter 1919 - 1919. Devotion

The crunching noises caused by Noah filled the area and left Camille speechless. She knew he was fighting against the brown avatar, but she didn't expect his battle to take that turn.

Camille could accept that Noah had defeated the avatar. The middle tier creature was the dogs' counter, but it didn't have any specific ability that targeted him. It was simply strong, but that wasn't enough against him.

The word surprising didn't apply to Noah. The unexpected became normal with him, and Camille knew that far too well. Her astonishment came from how easily he was eating the brown alloy. After all, Noah had a mere rank 8 body in the upper tier. That center of power probably represented the best possible structure that skin, flesh, muscles, and organs could gain, but it remained two tiers weaker than the avatar.

Camille had to inspect Noah's bites multiple times to understand what happened. Black lines would appear on the brown alloy in his hands while it neared his teeth. His destruction gave him the chance to eat a material in the middle tier as if it were a normal meal.

"You won't save him," Camille announced while pointing her palm toward Sword Saint. "I won't let you."

"He won't let me," Noah laughed before turning toward Sword Saint. "Am I right?"

"Why would I want to survive to live as a maimed law?" Sword Saint weakly snorted.

"See?" Noah asked while glancing at Camille. "You don't need to be worried about me, not until he lives at least."

A wave of coldness spread from Noah's consciousness and cleared the entire area from the storms. He bit the brown alloy again as he fixed his reptilian eyes on the rank 9 cultivator. Countless thoughts on how to destroy her filled his mind, and she felt able to hear all of them.

Camille felt an innate fear trying to take control of her mind. Her first instinct was to call Heaven and Earth, but her surroundings grew dark as Noah's consciousness tainted the whiteness. She could still reach her leaders through special methods, but they wouldn't be able to find her under that darkness.

"What's the issue?" Noah asked while turning toward Sword Saint. "I initially thought you would have been the first of us to reach the ninth rank. Now, Alexander is somewhere among the storms while you are about to die. Life sure is funny."

"She is right," Sword Saint coughed. "My path was wrong. I can't achieve perfection in my path."

Noah had missed most of the previous interaction between Camille and Sword Saint. He had been on his way back from the battle against the brown avatar when he sensed the two experts. His consciousness had managed to spread there during the last exclamation of the rank 9 cultivator, but that was it.

Seeing Sword Saint in that state surprised Noah. He had been honest before. He would have never expected that monster to face such bottlenecks before the ninth rank. His life was even in danger now, which made the whole situation far stranger.

"We all learnt that the path doesn't end in the ninth rank," Noah announced. "Maybe your perfection will come later. You aren't the type to give up due to the length of the journey."

"I had to achieve it now," Sword Saint explained, "And that doesn't solve the issue. Perfection doesn't exist."

Noah could immediately understand how he would approach far differently. He had never sought perfection and finding out that his path was longer than he had predicted would probably make him happy. Still, Sword Saint was different. The sole thought that he had chased after an impossible idea for countless years was turning his existence into dust.

"Can't you find a way to fix it?" Noah asked as his eyes fell on the brown alloy in his hands. "I won't appreciate your premature death."

"My law is deep but not vast," Sword Saint explained as he crouched among the sky due to the sense of weakness that filled his body. "I dedicated my everything to one field, which has turned out to be a lie. Nothing will remain of me after losing it."

Sword Saint's life was a mystery. He had spent so long fighting random experts met on his path and alone in the storms that the stories about him had turned into legends from a distant past in the old society of the Immortal Lands. Noah didn't know much about the expert's history either, but he was one of the few who had survived after crossing swords with him.

That meeting in the Outer Lands had taught Noah about Sword Saint's value. The expert was a monster who could match his existence with nothing more than sword arts. A law that featured only one aspect was able to defeat techniques that defied logic.

Still, Sword Saint's sheer power wasn't the only part of his existence that had left Noah surprised. The latter had been able to notice the expert's relentless efforts and steeled resolve. Noah actually believed that no one could remain behind in the cultivation journey with those two features.

"Your understanding of the sword path is so deep that the ground carries it even after falling into Mortal Lands," Noah reminded.

"An imperfect understanding," Sword Saint replied as his complexion paled and more flesh fell from his figure.

"How did you get that imperfect understanding?" Noah asked. "It didn't magically fall in your hands. I can find another feature that is as strong as your sword arts."

Sword Saint frowned. He could immediately understand what Noah meant, but everything felt pointless without his previous law. His determination was incredible, but that alone was meaningless for him.

"My determination came with a purpose," Sword Saint contradicted. "I'm just will without meaning now."

"Seize a meaning then," Noah suggested. "You didn't lose your understanding, and your determination is still there. The issue is with your desire to reach perfection. Just throw it away since it's killing you."

"I need it," Sword Saint whispered. "A desire is necessary to generate action, and I can't find it inside me."

Noah glanced at the sky before inspecting his surroundings. Storms in the distance created a vast, circular empty area. They hindered his vision and prevented him from gazing at the space now devoid of the Immortal Lands.

"Do you think that we left our mark in the world?" Noah asked as his mind wandered among deep thoughts. "I found your mark in the Mortal Lands. I think something of us will remain for a long time, if not forever."

"What are you saying?" Sword Saint asked as his body seemed to reach the breaking point.

"Your knowledge and determination made you reach the highest point under the sky," Noah explained. "The world has seen your devotion, and it has experienced its effects. Maybe it will help you."

Sword Saint was about to die. He had nothing to lose anymore, so he did what Noah had suggested. Of course, he had given a personal meaning to those words when they entered his mind.

Sword Saint let go of his attachment to perfection and mustered the entirety of his remaining strength to straighten his back and spread his arms. His legs shattered during that action, but he barely felt it. He let everything flow away from his figure until only two aspects of his old law remained.

The expert's knowledge about the sword arts and his determination fused to give birth to the feeling that had made his journey possible. Silver light shone from the cracks that filled his broken body and spread his deep dedication into the world.

Sword Saint was giving himself up. The world could do whatever it wanted with his feeling. The expert only wanted everything and everyone to understand how deeply his devotion was.

Camille was about to mock that effort. The world belonged to Heaven and Earth, and everything had entered the sky after the apocalypse. The marks that Sword Saint had left throughout his life had long since before part of a greater existence.

However, tears started to fall from Camille's eyes as that dedication moved her feelings. A monstrous roar then came out from the sky as rain engulfed the area. Everyone could see how each of those white drops had the shape of a sword.