'How do I even kill him?' Noah wondered as he flew through his dimension.
He had chosen to rely on his movement technique to escape from the golden flames after seeing that his dark matter couldn't block Second Prince's attack.
The dark world had lasted long enough to create a path through the barrage of copies, and Noah had used that chance to fly above the battlefield.
Second Prince's copies turned toward him at the same time before turning into flames that flew in his direction. Noah couldn't understand how much energy the Royal had gathered after his last attack, but he didn't see any reason to change his approach.
The Royal was still in the liquid stage. Even after he created an army of copies, his overall power never reached the solid stage.
Noah felt confused about that, but he didn't have time to study his opponent's power. He couldn't divert his attention from the battle anymore. Second Prince had already proven that he was able to hurt him.
The trails of flames flew toward Noah, but he slashed before they could reach him. A wave of dark matter engulfed them and recreated the dark world, but Second Prince's aura didn't vanish.
Sparks appeared once again around the dark world, and the army of copies reformed. In less than an instant, the golden flames burned the dark matter and forced Noah to escape.
Noah reappeared in the sky and launched another slash, but the outcome was the same as before. Second Prince's presence didn't disappear even after the dark matter destroyed all its flames, and its copies reformed around the dark world again.
'This won't do,' Noah thought as Second Prince forced him to escape again.
Noah didn't have problems with his reserves of energy anymore, but he didn't believe that he could last more than Second Prince. The Royal had already admitted that he wasn't a normal cultivator, so Noah couldn't apply his knowledge to understand his limits.
Yet, Noah knew that there was a limit to how much King Elbas' creations could defy logic. Even as a masterpiece, Second Prince had to follow the laws of the world.
His energy had to come from somewhere. A regular liquid stage powerhouse couldn't fuel that ability so often, and even an inscribed item couldn't escape those restrictions.
There had to be drawbacks. The only problem was that Noah couldn't see them. Even his mind kept on telling him that Second Prince was cloning himself freely.
'I guess I had to reveal something,' Noah thought. He had to give up on his initial approach if he wanted to win that fight.
Noah didn't launch another attack when he reappeared in the sky. Second Prince's copies transformed into flames that flew toward him, but he waited until they were close to perform one of his new techniques.
Noah's ambition surged, and arrays of laws replaced the world in his eyes. His cultivation level grew as his individuality pushed his power toward peaks that he had yet to reach.
The Demonic Sword began to tremble as Noah's focused on the laws carried by Second Prince's flames. He saw King Elbas' arrogance inside that golden fire, but there were other meanings that he couldn't recognize.
However, Noah didn't need to understand his opponent's laws to cut them.
Noah's sword descended. The movement appeared slow in his eyes, but Second Prince didn't even notice it. The blade had completed the slash before the trails of flames could even reach their target.
Nothing seemed to happen after Noah attacked. The flames swept him and created a star in the area. Yet, countless fissures soon appeared in the fiery sphere's fabric.
Countless cuts covered the star. Its flames fell apart, and Noah didn't even bother to walk out of their range as he looked at the destruction that he had caused.
He didn't suffer any injury. His slash had severed the destructive properties of the flames, rendering them harmless. They weren't even warm anymore, and the sky could endure the energy they carried without shattering.
Cuts continued to appear on the flames that condensed into Second Prince's shape. The Royal didn't create any more copies, and he ignored Noah as he stared at his body.
Noah's attack didn't end even after Second Prince reformed. Cuts opened on his body, and golden flames came out of them. The Royal appeared made of fire, but that didn't slow down Noah's technique.
"What have you done to me?" Second Prince asked as injuries continued to appear on him.
The Royal tried everything. Golden runes began to shine on his skin, and potions came out of his space-rings to drop their contents on his body.
Second Prince used all his knowledge and healing methods to stop Noah's technique, but nothing seemed to work. Cuts continued to open on his body even if Noah didn't attack anymore.
'He can survive this too,' Noah thought as he inspected Second Prince. It didn't matter how many injuries the Royal suffered. His flames always fixed his body.
"Make it stop!" Second Prince shouted and launched a wave of flames toward Noah, but he easily dodged it with his movement technique.
Second Prince chased after him, but his body continued to fall apart and slowed him down. Noah didn't even need to rely on his movement technique to retreat at that point.
The Royal understood that his efforts were pointless as long as cuts continued to appear on his body. Determination appeared in his eyes before he blew himself up again.
Second Prince's presence disappeared for the first time since the beginning of the battle, but Noah didn't drop his guard. He knew that he had forced the Royal to execute some dangerous technique, but he didn't believe that Second Prince would give up on him.
As Noah had predicted, Second Prince's aura suddenly appeared in the area again, and sparks of flames formed near him before taking the Royal's shape.
Second Prince heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the technique had stopped, but Noah promptly slashed toward him again.
The Royal dodged the attack, but anger appeared in his expression when he saw that Noah had launched a simple slash at that time. The fear of the previous technique had made him perform an evasive maneuver to avoid something unable to hurt him.
"This one is real," Noah said as he reappeared on top of the escaping Royal and slashed toward him.
Second Prince tried to understand if Noah was speaking the truth, but everything had happened too fast. His consciousness didn't have enough time to analyze the attack, and he couldn't risk suffering from that threatening technique again.
The Royal turned into flames to dodge the slash, but a loud curse resounded in the area when he noticed that Noah had tricked him again. His attack didn't even launch the usual black lines. Noah didn't put any energy into his blow.
Second Prince was about to condense into a human form, but Noah appeared next to him again and slashed without saying anything. The Royal could only perform an evasive maneuver at that point, and he didn't even bother to curse when he noticed that Noah had tricked him again.
That chase continued for a while, and Noah didn't mind that trend. He was barely consuming any energy to follow the Royal, but the latter had to deplete a lot of "Breath" perform his evasive maneuvers.
Noah didn't know how vast Second Prince's reserves of energy were, but that approach gave him enough time to learn about the Royal's limits.
Second Prince understood Noah's intentions, and he eventually decided to stop dodging. His body divided itself into various strands of flames that condensed to create his copies, but a wave of dark matter engulfed them before they could attack.
The Royal reformed in a different spot of the sky after the attack, and he could only show an ugly expression when he saw that cuts had started to appear on his body again.