Chapter 1153: 1153. Determination

Divine Market city had remained mostly peaceful even after the alliance started its first invasion. Yet, a black cloud now hovered around the buildings belonging to the Elbas family.

The citizens had seen Noah arriving there and covering the area with his black smoke. That scene had initially made them panic, but they soon noticed that no shockwave came out of the cloud.

No sound echoed from there either, so the weaker cultivators didn't know what was happening inside the cloud. Only experts near the peak of the fifth rank or on the powerhouses' level knew about the reasons behind Noah's actions.

Second Princess didn't lose her cool. Noah had displayed an incredible prowess, but he was only one expert. His power went way above his cultivation level, but he had an entire array of formations against him.

The formations weren't simple defenses either. The Royals had made them for eventual new invasions, and they had amassed reserves of energy to make the inscriptions last for years.

Even if Noah could destroy many of them with his attacks, the region wouldn't fall in his hands anytime soon.

Noah was aware of that fact, but his drive went past what Second Princess could imagine. His unshakable determination had always been one of the main factors behind his growth, and now he had set his eyes on Divine Market city.

Second Princess witnessed how driven Noah was in that period. She had initially thought that he would give up after a few weeks, but a year passed by, and Noah was still assaulting the formations on his own.

Noah was relentless. He slashed continuously every other day and spent the rest of the time cultivating right in front of the formations.

If Second Princess decided to attack him while he trained, Noah summoned Snore and let it handle the defensive formations.

His stash of dark matter was virtually infinite, and Elders from the Hive entered the cloud every month to refill his space-ring with provision. The black hole in his chest would turn any energy he absorbed into nutrients anyway.

Noah even improved as his assault continued. He would treat his attack on the defensive formations as proper training for his sword arts, and Second Princess had to witness his growth.

Sword Saint's slashes represented the peak of the divine will's path, so Noah didn't improve much on them. His experience with blades couldn't match that mighty existence, and only centuries spent slashing would make Noah able to perform those attacks correctly.

On the other hand, Noah's martial arts improved by leaps and bounds. The Demonic Sword became more used to its new form as it kept on releasing slashes that relied on the dark world.

It also unlocked new abilities. The Demonic Sword already had a ductile structure, but fusing with the dark matter allowed it to transform into dense smoke if the situation required it.

On a structural level, the Demonic Sword had become almost indestructible. The dark matter reinforced and refilled eventual internal damages caused by excessive stress or pressure, so the blade never reached a critical condition.

The same went with Snore. Noah had yet to improve his Blood Companion, but the creature had reached incredible levels on its own when the dark matter evolved.

Its previous abilities had grown exponentially, and its elemental attacks resonated inside the dark world, becoming stronger and able to cover a larger area.

There were some drawbacks to Noah's driven assault. He never left the dark world, so he couldn't fly toward Chasing Demon's old quarters to train with the Seventh Kesier Rune.

Night complained too. Noah had yet to build a new body after the creature sacrificed its old one to defeat First Prince and First Princess.

Still, its protests came from its excitement. The Pterodactyl had seen how powerful Noah's dark matter had become, and it couldn't wait to obtain a body made of it.

The citizens became used to the dark cloud covering a third of Divine Market city after a year, but many weaker cultivators chose to leave anyway.

Their worries came from other cultivators' reports from the Royals' faction who had left the city already. Their description and stories of the events inside the cloud were enough to scare anyone away from the area.

The buildings inside the cloud had become deserted since Noah's attacks would land on them from time to time. Third Prince had even come there to assess the situation once, but there was nothing that he could do to help his sister.

The two Royals were too weak to join the efforts of the defensive formations. Noah was way above their level, so they could only allocate as many resources as possible and hope that he would eventually get tired.

Noah disappointed them. It didn't matter how many new defenses appeared inside the formations nor how time-consuming his attack was. He remained there, slashing madly with his Demonic Sword and making that region virtually uninhabitable for any expert.

Of course, the Elbas family wasn't willing to let go of that region. With most of their stronger assets gone or missing, the Royals needed to refill its ranks with new talents.

The Divine Stele was one of the best training areas in the new continent. Losing access to it would only worsen the already awful situation in which the Elbas family was.

Noah's assault didn't stop after the first year. He kept the dark world active even after two more years had passed, and the Royals could only grow more desperate about the situation.

The assault didn't inflict much structural damage. Noah's slashes would reach the buildings from time to time, but those structures' value wasn't high.

However, the siege depleted an immense amount of energy, and it also stopped most activities in that part of the city. The cultivators who would benefit the most from the Divine Stele couldn't walk on its streets because Noah was a constant threat.

The exchange of resources with the other factions wasn't possible, and the Royals didn't have anything to bargain to make Noah stop.

The dimensional portal wasn't even an issue anymore since King Elbas was out of the political scene. Only he could close it at will, so no one could affect it now that he was gone.

The Royals' desperation reached its peak after ten years spent in those conditions.

Noah had learnt to know the defensive formations so well that he managed to make his slashes land on the ground quite often. The power of his attacks had also increased, so that part of Divine Market city became even more unlivable.

Second Princess and Third Prince did their best to keep that land, but the resources spent were a heavy blow to the Elbas family's economy.

The region didn't produce anything and only consumed resources. Training cultivators was always an investment, but the Royals couldn't do that either in those conditions.

The situation was even worse since the Hive and the Council had severed every trade with the Elbas family. The Royals felt lucky that they still had territories in the other world in that political environment.

When Noah's assault entered its twentieth year, the Royals knew that they had to make a decision. Their options were quite limited, but they tried everything before going for the approach they had tried to avoid.

At first, Second Princess tried to contact other powerhouses of both Hive and Council, but she received no reply. Her focus then went on trying to negotiate an alliance with the Shandal Empire, but God's Left Hand limited herself to refuse them.

With the whole world ignoring them, the Royals had to give up on their claims over Divine Market city and relocate most resources and formations in the Royal Academy.

The event happened silently. One day the formations activated, and the other day they didn't shine anymore.

Noah had never managed to eradicate the defenses, but his relentless assault had driven the Elbas family away.