"Don't announce yourself!" Noah shouted inside the dark world.
His hand was on the black handle that had begun to come out of his chest. The cursed sword had announced itself as soon as Noah had summoned it. Its voice had even leaked out of the dark matter.
Charles didn't understand what had happened, but Noah scolded the cursed sword anyway. He couldn't let the weapon announce itself in every battle. It was better to get rid of that habit now.
The cursed sword fell silent, and Noah let go of the matter once he sensed its regret. He drew the blade from the separate space and held it firmly in his right hand.
After the training with Sword Saint, Noah had abandoned his dual-wielding. The expert's techniques didn't require him to use multiple weapons. Yet, it was time to diverge from those arts.
Noah wasn't Sword Saint. The expert's training had been helpful to unify his individuality, but he had to travel on a different path now. His law was already in harmony. Noah could finally surpass the peak reached through those arts.
Red shades began to shine among Noah's mental sea. His bloodlust slowly seeped into his thoughts, and an intense desire to kill Charles filled his mind.
His instincts reacted to that bloodlust. Desires that Noah had abandoned after he surpassed the hybrid status returned and tried to make him lose control of his body.
Noah felt like a hungry beast, with the only difference that he desired blood instead of food. He wanted to kill everything that lived. He craved to cut any living being on his path.
Of course, that wasn't his first time drawing the cursed sword. Noah had already tested its effects and gained experience in its handling. He didn't let his mind fall prey to the bloodlust. He reached an almost frenzied state, but he remained in control of his body.
'Go all out,' Noah ordered through his mind, and his companions followed his directives.
The dark world also obeyed. A different blueprint lit up in Noah's mind. The finished dragons broke up and dispersed into strands of dark matter that the workshop used to create a different beast.
Snore's head peeked out of the dark world to launch its dark beam. Charles waved his fingers and launched a slash that pierced the attack and cut the Blood Companion into two parts.
A snort came out of his mouth before he blew toward his side. His sharpness intensified, and the figure of the big Pterodactyl soon appeared next to the expert.
Charles had started to sense Night, and his mere breathing was enough to stop its charge. The Pterodactyl didn't suffer any injury during the attack, but it was clear that the expert outclassed it.
'I have five to seven attacks depending on how much my body can take now,' Noah thought as he lifted the Demonic Sword and the cursed sword above his head.
His bloodlust intensified, and the Demonic Sword started to generate dark matter. The dark world resonated with the two blades, and its higher energy transformed to support those weapons.
Part of the dark world began to glow with a red light, and vortexes appeared on other spots. Noah's technique supported the two blades by enhancing their influence and the power that they could unleash.
Snore and Night had kept Charles busy while Noah prepared the attack, but their assault was starting to lose its effects. The solid stage expert was too strong. It had learnt the limits of the two companions after a few exchanges, and his counterattacks had become more threatening after that.
Night had suffered injuries. Charles had limited himself to blow toward the Pterodactyl whenever he sensed its presence, and the sharpness carried by his breath had slowly started to affect the creature's body.
Snore was better off. The Snake was virtually indestructible, but its ethereal figure had grown unstable after Charles severed its head into two parts multiple times.
The two companions were slowly reaching their limits, but Charles had yet to fight seriously. He was only playing with those two creatures as he waited for Noah to make his move.
A tentacle suddenly shot out of the dark world. Charles destroyed it with a simple hand gesture, but he soon realized that the threat was far from over.
Countless tentacles shot out after the expert destroyed the first one. Charles quickly clapped his hands to create the sharp soundwave, but some of those limbs survived the attack and entangled themselves on the cultivator's body.
Noah didn't know if Charles had really fallen for that trick or if he was only pretending. Still, he couldn't hesitate anymore. He had to join the battle and risk exposing his new abilities.
The two blades descended, and the dark world followed the energy that they released. Two massive slashes, one black and one dark-red, flew through the sky and crashed on Charles' figure.
The power released by the attack surpassed what liquid stage cultivators could wield. The two slashes together were a blow that could win against spells cast by solid stage experts!
When the two slashes hit Charles, Noah felt a stabbing pain spreading from his chest. A spiderweb of wounds opened on his torso and reached his shoulders. Blood immediately flowed out of them, and a sense of weakness filled his mind.
Noah roared as a wave of flames came out of his mouth and spread in the environment. His fire burned magical plants and weak spots of terrain to bring energy back to his body and heal his injuries.
The many wounds closed in an instant, but a cross-shaped slash suddenly cut through the two clouds that had formed in Charles' position and forced Noah to focus on his opponent again.
The Demonic Sword liquefied and covered the cursed sword. It acted as an armor that protected the blade and enhanced its power. Noah quickly pulled the weapon back and performed a lunge as soon as enough dark matter had accumulated inside its fabric.
Charles had yet to come out in the open again, but Noah attacked anyway. The space of the Immortal Lands bent due to the power carried by the lunge. No cloud came out of it, but a thin black line appeared between Noah's weapon and his opponent.
When the line hit the cloudy spot where Charles was, an explosion resounded in the area, and the smoke dispersed instantly. The expert became visible again, and his fingers were trying to fend Noah's attack off.
Charles couldn't believe his eyes when the black line cut the upper part of his forefinger and middle finger to land on his flat belly. His robe dispersed the energy that remained in the attack, but that sight didn't make the expert any happier.
Even if Charles wasn't fighting seriously, Noah had still managed to win in a direct clash between their sharpness. Noah's superior power came from an inscribed item and multiple techniques, but Charles couldn't accept that defeat.
His law wasn't so special if any inscribed item could defeat it. The expert behind that victory was even weaker than him. Charles began to have doubts about his true meaning after that exchange.
Noah spat flames again to heal himself. He had almost lost his entire arm after that lunge, but his fire restored his body to its peak. He was ready to fight again.
"You aren't simple," Charles said. "You are worthy of seeing my blade."
A white sword with two sharp sides appeared in Charles' hand. His sharpness flowed inside the weapon, and a series of purple marks became visible on its structure.
When the sharpness expanded through the environment, Noah saw how a series of cuts suddenly appeared on his body. Charles didn't even attack him, but he had suffered injuries anyway.