Noah's chest exploded, but he didn't let that injury slow him down. He quickly waved the cursed sword again, and a second singularity shot toward Gloria.
The cultivator appeared ecstatic. Gloria was in a frenzy. Her killing intent filled the area and affected her underlings.
Corpses began to fall toward the ground. Some of the rank 7 cultivators directly died under Gloria's pressure. Her influence even reached Noah's group, but his slash managed to dig a safe path among that energy.
The attack reached Gloria, but the space in front of her twisted and destroyed the singularity. She didn't even injure herself during the exchange, which wasn't something that Noah could claim.
A piece of Noah's skin disappeared. His spine was in the open now, but the dark matter quickly covered those missing parts and kept his organs still.
Noah knew that he couldn't express that battle prowess for long, but he didn't dare to hold back. His escape depended on his performance.
Wilfred and the others shot toward the army, and worthy opponents quickly appeared on their path. The other liquid stage cultivator didn't bother to fight those existences and flew directly toward King Elbas.
Noah gave voice to a roar when the unstable substance ran through his black vessels. A wave of black flames soon covered the army, but Gloria forced them to crumble before they could heal Noah.
"I have studied your abilities," Gloria explained. "You would be surprised by the number of reports that the Crystal City has gathered on you."
Noah barely listened to her. Bloodlust filled his mind, and pure power ran through his body. He had transformed into a weapon that surpassed the limits of his cultivation level.
Noah teleported above Gloria, but his technique ended up slamming on her twisted space. Noah had initially desired to appear a few meters from his opponent, but he had materialized far higher than expected.
Gloria turned and revealed a cruel smile. She pointed her hand at Noah, and the space began to twist. Noah tried to teleport away, but her attack reached him before he could perform the movement technique.
Pain spread through Noah's body. He had already suffered multiple injuries due to the cursed sword, and that attack ended up worsening his condition.
His skin caved in, and his centers of power started to condense. His fiendish armor couldn't fight that power, so it slowly retreated until it revealed his poor condition.
Duanlong activated its innate ability to absorb part of that energy. Noah was slowly managing to free himself from that energy, but Gloria attacked again.
A second wave of energy tried to engulf Noah, but Snore appeared on its path and blocked most of the attack. The Blood Companion crumbled, and cracks appeared on its ethereal figure, but it quickly reformed to launch its threatening feathers.
Explosions echoed through the sky and filled the area with raging black matter. Most of the underlings on the battlefield died due to the massive discharge of energy, but those shockwaves soon condensed in Gloria's palm.
"I acknowledge your power," Gloria exclaimed, "But you still can't fight me. You are paying too much to match my battle prowess. How many more exchanges can you even endure?"
Noah ignored her. He had finally got rid of Gloria's energy, so he didn't hesitate to wave his weapons. A curved singularity fell toward Gloria, but it vanished once it met the twisted space.
"Pointless," Gloria snorted before joining her hands.
The space around Noah twisted and began to close on his figure. Gloria had blocked his escape routes, so he had to slash again to open a path among that technique.
Noah teleported away, but a sense of weakness filled his mind. The last two attacks with the cursed sword and shattered the lower part of his body. His bloodlust was even about to take control of his thoughts.
'What can I even do?' Noah wondered while glancing toward King Elbas.
A series of puppets and inscribed weapons flew toward the liquid stage existence that had reached King Elbas, but his efforts only managed to delay the inevitable. His opponent's flames were slowly gaining ground. It wouldn't take much before the entire area burnt.
'I have two or three attacks left,' Noah thought. 'I guess I need to risk everything.'
Snore covered Noah's figure, but he used that chance to teleport away. He reappeared among the army and spat dense fireballs toward multiple rank 7 cultivators.
Gloria couldn't stop his entire innate ability at that time. A few flames eventually fused with Noah's body and started to rebuild pieces of his tissues.
A determined expression eventually appeared on Gloria's face. The expert pointed at all the cultivators affected by the flames and reduced their bodies into a bloody pulp. She would rather kill her allies than letting Noah recover.
Noah teleported again and reappeared above Gloria. The expert quickly waved her hand in his direction, but the space around her suddenly froze.
Shandal's ability didn't manage to stop Gloria completely. The expert's hand continued to move slowly. She was able to overpower Noah's spell with the energy contained inside her figure.
Noah didn't let that chance go to waste. He thrust his swords before activating the Shadow Domain. His initial idea was to fill Gloria with Instabilities, but her law prevented him from reaching her insides.
The Instabilities materialized around her after the singularity cut through her defenses. Gloria became able to move again at that point, but the explosions made her unable to focus on her opponent.
Noah quickly spat black fireballs toward a series of rank 7 experts while flying back toward King Elbas. The others noticed his retreat and followed him even if his destination featured a liquid stage expert.
King Elbas was using his stash of inscribed weapons to keep the cultivator away, but he was slowly losing ground. The wave of raging flames was almost on him. The heat generated by the attack almost managed to affect the inscriptions under him.
Yet, a roar soon spread through the area and forced the liquid stage expert to move his attention. The cultivator saw a singularity flying toward him, and danger quickly filled his mind.
The expert stopped firing flames under him and redirected his attack toward Noah's slash. The singularity burnt, but the fire also vanished during the process.
A shadow flew next to the cultivator. The expert quickly covered his figure with flames, but his arm fell anyway.
Night reappeared higher in the sky. Part of its black lines had disappeared during that short exchange, but the creature appeared prouder than ever.
"Out of my way!" Noah roared before slashing again.
The other experts also attacked, and a multicolored wave of spells and techniques soon flew toward the liquid stage cultivator. He had to resort to his best defensive measures to stop that assault. A heatwave soon shot out of his figure and melted the abilities flying toward him.
The cultivator wanted to make Noah pay for his arm, but the assailants had disappeared from his vision. Noah and the others had directly flown toward King Elbas after their offensive. They had never prioritized defeating the expert.
"Activate the teleport now!" Noah shouted.
"It's not ready!" King Elbas replied while continuing to add inscriptions.
"Do it anyway!" Noah roared. "We can't hold them back anymore."
The liquid stage cultivator quickly threw a wave of flames, and King Elbas gave voice to a loud curse at that sight. Then, the inscriptions under him activated, and a golden light covered the entire group.
Noah and the others disappeared before the flames could hit them, but their expressions didn't relax after the golden light vanished. They had teleported in the wrong location. Storms of raging chaotic laws filled the sky and forced them to activate their defenses.