Chapter 1245: 1245. Red rune

The victory was near for Noah. Both God's Left Hand and Great Elder Diana had suffered grave injuries. Instead, he was still at his peak when it came to his battle prowess.

The external layer of his body was also a mess, but he was an existence that surpassed the hybrids' realm. That damage didn't affect his movements nor abilities. It only hurt.

Cuts continued to open on the Matriarchs' bodies. Blood spilled everywhere in the area, and Noah soon aimed at his next target after he managed to stop.

Great Elder Diana's dantian was basically in the open since the Demonic Sword had severed her lower body in the last clash. Noah could charge at her and decide to suffer a few more injuries to retrieve that organ.

The battle would be over once the Council's Leader lost her dantian. God's Left Hand alone couldn't even come close to Noah's level of power. She had managed to survive for so long only because of the numerical advantage.

The pieces of the black tornado and sparks still converged toward Noah, but he reactivated the Demonic Form and covered his fiendish armor in a layer of dark matter to fend them off.

His two armors had already been enough to fend the two spells off when they were complete. They didn't even budge now that those abilities were in pieces.

Noah bent his legs as he prepared himself to sprint, but the Matriarchs acted before him. Their consciousness expanded, and the environment churned as they called upon their individualities to gather the remains of their spells.

Trails of energy gathered in the sky. "Breath" of the lightning and wind element converged toward the Matriarchs in the form of sparks and dense winds.

It was as if they were preparing a final attack, but Noah still had Night waiting nearby. There wouldn't be any last spell if the Matriarchs died before casting it.

While the cuts still filled the Matriarchs' bodies, Noah launched a series of slashes in their direction. He didn't use only the Demonic Sword to generate those attacks. Even his free hand and mind helped to create a threatening array of powerful blows.

Night attacked too. It could charge at the Leaders through the dark world and increase Noah's offensive power by cutting away one escape route.

The powerhouses didn't lose their inscribed scrolls. God's Left Hand had lost both her arms, but she had seized her space-ring with her mental waves before it fell toward the surface.

The scrolls appeared in front of them and lit up completely. The black tornado reappeared, and orange sparks crackled on its surface.

The slashes launched by Noah crashed on those spells, but they couldn't do anything against them. They even pushed the dark world back since they didn't carry the Leaders' laws.

Night had to retreat too. It could cut through those powerful spells, but it would remain in the open afterward. Completing an attack wouldn't cost its life, but it was a risky move, especially now that the Matriarchs gathered all the "Breath" that carried their aura.

Noah stepped back when he saw that spectacle. The black tornado expanded and blew more of his dark matter away, and the Matriarchs gained valuable time to create powerful spells.

Running inside the spells again wasn't doable anymore due to the dangerousness of the abilities prepared there. Noah didn't want to remain stuck in a tornado with an unavoidable attack.

His sharpness was still affecting the Matriarchs, so Noah knew that it was only a matter of time before the duo gave up on fighting or died. There was no actual counter to his endless cuts. A powerhouse would need to suppress his individuality to put an end to that technique.

Noah recalled the dark world as he continued to retreat. He eventually stopped escaping, and he pointed two fingers toward the faint trace of the two powerhouses.

His sharpness surged again as his consciousness expanded. Noah focused on establishing a connection with the other side of the tornado to launch the improved Dark Ray spell that he never had the chance to use due to his frenetic battle style.

However, a sudden event claimed his attention and made him put aside the idea of launching that attack now.

A divine aura spread in the world, but that didn't come from the beings in the Immortal Lands. A human figure was flying in the sky, and every powerhouse in the world knew who he was.

Shandal had made his appearance in the world after years of silence. His return gave birth to a wave of cheers from the weaker cultivators and other higher-ups. Even the Matriarchs stopped their offensive to observe him.

Of course, neither of them lowered their guard in that situation. Noah could very well decide to attack even if Shandal was respecting his side of the deal. After all, they didn't expect the god to interfere with matters that concerned heroic cultivators.

Shandal flew slowly toward the crack. He remained at the same height as the opening to prevent the divine beings in the Immortal Lands from noticing him.

Once he reached the crack, Shandal took out one of the divine items from his inventory and pointed it at the layers of silver ice that prevented that hole from closing.

Time appeared to slow down for the rest of the world. Shandal moved normally, but Noah and the others felt that they couldn't control their bodies properly after the god unleashed his aura.

The pressure that spread in the world was immense. That weight didn't faze Noah, but many weaker cultivators couldn't withstand being under the aura of a divine being. They had to retreat to the separate dimension or stop looking at inscribed items that transmitted images of that event.

The item that Shandal had taken out was a red rune that shone like as if it was an inscribed crystal. Its flickering light affected the silver ice every time it illuminated it.

The ice slowly melted under the effects of Shandal's rune, and the sky began to reform as soon as part of the crack's edges became free again.

Shandal had studied the situation thoroughly. The Eternal Snakes and the divine beings were too far away to notice something. They would only see the crack closing when it was too late to do anything about it.

That was Shandal's goal. He had to avoid angering the divine beings until the crack closed. His calculations told him that it was possible to succeed without any negative consequences, but those matters were complex when it came to creatures in the divine ranks.

The ice continued to melt under the influence of the red rune. Shandal's individuality accelerated that process for him while slowing down the world.

The crack eventually reached a critical state since most of the ice around its edges had disappeared. Shandal needed only a few more minutes to complete the procedure.

The divine beings noticed what was happening with the crack at that point. Closing the passage would force them to give up on the egg forever, and it would also make them lose all the weaker specimens deployed in that mission.

Shandal continued to remove the last bits of ice to let the sky heal. The process was almost over, but the divine beings wouldn't suffer that loss without fighting.