Chapter 1944 - 1944. Light

Noah bathed in the ecstasy generated by absorbing the cultivator's energy. He had to rely on multiple techniques at the same time to achieve those effects, but everything felt worthy when his flesh cheered in joy.

The beam was fast, but Noah had slowed down the time around him to give a few more seconds to his mind to study the technique. His greed and hunger had activated at the same time to use the features obtained by Supreme Thief's ability and improve the inspection of that dense white light.

The small patch of dark world had adapted to the results of his inspection. Its dark matter had transformed into a substance that could remain in one piece after the beam hit it so that it could capture the attack in the stretched space.

Noah's destruction did the rest once he had enough time to apply his features. Black lines appeared on the beam while the dark world shattered it into a mass of energy that flew directly inside his body.

Noah had become able to analyze and counter the attack launched by a liquid stage cultivator in mere seconds. His abilities had basically transformed after deepening the aspects of his existence, and his opponent remained speechless in front of his power. In her eyes, Noah was still a rank 8 expert, but that power was far beyond the bottom of the ninth rank.

"What madness are you even trying to do with your existence?" The woman asked. "Don't you know that laws have limits? Do you have any idea what requirements you'll have to meet to advance now?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" Noah laughed before activating his ambition and unstable product. "Come on, mighty liquid stage expert. I hope you aren't another product that Heaven and Earth are willing to throw away at the first sign of weakness."

"It's funny to hear you mock the rulers for features that you normally approve," The woman smirked before pointing both her hands forward. "I'm Gratia, and Heaven and Earth have bestowed me with part of their light. Show me if you are more than words."

The light in the surroundings started to gather toward her palms, but complete darkness suddenly enveloped the entire area. Gratia felt unable to gather energy from the environment, but her aura promptly burst forward to destroy the dark world.

The dark matter fell apart, but an army of rank 9 six-armed dragons in the lower tier appeared around her. The workshops had built them during that short second that she had required to destroy the dark world.

"What should they even-?" Gratia began to mock Noah's attempt to hurt her but the dragons detonated before she could finish her line.

The workshops had used dark matter that had gained unique features meant to counter Gratia's light. The dragons were proper counters to her existence, but their goal wasn't to hurt her.

The dragons could probably come close to hurting Gratia if Noah invested his potential in them, but he found no point wasting his power on disposable puppets. It was better to use them as powerful sources of his destruction created specifically for his opponent.

A raging wave of dark matter engulfed Gratia, but blinding light seeped out of her skin to destroy that attack. However, black lines appeared on her figure whenever she entered the higher energy's range. It didn't take much before her entire body featured those details.

A massive shadow covered her while she tried to disperse those lines with her law. Gratia looked toward the sky and noticed that Snore had appeared above her. Its wings were already unfolded, and massive feathers were already falling toward her.

Each feather seemed to carry the power of the ninth rank. A dark aura that carried countless faces surrounded each feather and made their level reach realms that Snore had yet to touch.

Gratia felt the faint desire to dodge that attack, but an intense pulling force fell on her figure and delayed her reactions by a whole second. Duanlong had also joined the battle, and its innate ability had touched the ninth rank after Noah's empowerment.

The delay in her reactions made her unable to dodge the explosions of the feathers. Raging dark matter engulfed her and activated the destruction accumulated on her figure by the disposable dragons. Large wounds opened on her body as she felt overwhelmed by that darkness. She became almost unaware of the light in her surroundings while those attacks tried to ravage her.

The sky around the raging cloud of dark matter began to shine and prepared its energy for the expert, but a shadow flew at full speed through those spots. Night left a large dark patch wherever it passed, so the darkness continued to expand instead of shrinking.

It felt good to use all his companions against a cultivator in Heaven and Earth's system. Noah had always been too scared to make his assets face the rulers' counters, so he had rarely relied on them in those battles. However, the sky was silent now, so he could use every weapon in his arsenal without worrying about potential repercussions.

Noah shot through the raging storms of dark matter. His body was more than enough to survive in that environment. Some wounds would appear on his figure anyway, but he didn't care since his opponent was already enduring worse.

The world made of lines replaced the environment seen from inside the raging dark matter. Noah tampered with space and time to appear behind Gratia and slash both his swords at her back.

Gratia only saw a fissure connected to the void expanding in front of her before a sharp force landed on her back and tried to cut her into two parts. Her innate defensive ability had to act to save her from that unavoidable slash.

A blinding light came out of her skin as soon as Noah cut her back open. The wave of energy pushed him away and destroyed the darkness that had accumulated due to the various assets deployed by her opponent.

Gratia found herself under the sky. Her existence could finally express its true power again, and she didn't hesitate to turn toward her opponent. Noah had flown in the distance, but no injury had appeared on his body. She had clearly hit him, but Duanlong had never failed to give him energy meant to heal him.

Gratia pointed her hands at Noah, but the mirror-sized dark world material appeared on the path of her attack. She had launched two larger beams toward him, but the dark matter managed to stop them. However, the technique crumbled before he could gain power from them.

Noah let his bloodlust fill the environment and open cracks in the sky. He became the embodiment of destruction as his hunger overflowed. His aura became a heavy force that almost made Gratia take a step back, but she eventually decided to force herself to remain in her position.

Noah pointed both swords toward Gratia, and the latter did the same with her hands. Dark matter began to rotate around the weapons as roots grew above them, and something similar happened to the expert's arms. Light spun to transform her arms into a blinding force that soon discharged their attack.

Whiteness and blackness met mid-air, and their impact shook the very sky.

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Author's notes: One hour or so for the third chapter.