Divine Demon struggled, but his existence seemed useless against the dark-blue lines. King Elbas' inscriptions fed on his law and grew stronger as they restrained his powers.
Divine Demon couldn't contact the world anymore. The energy inside his body even stopped transforming his figure. The battle was over, but his mental instability continued to have control of his mind.
Noah and the others neared the expert. Fergie and Luke remained behind out of fear for an eventual outburst of energy, but they continued to hover above the battlefield.
"I won't remain behind!" The Foolery shouted as soon as it reached Noah.
"We'll talk about this later," Noah sighed before moving his focus on Divine Demon.
"Vict-!" Divine Demon wanted to shout, but the dark-blue lines covered his mouth and began to affect his insides.
His power fell as the inscriptions fed on his law. King Elbas' technique was scary. It resembled a parasite that existed only to suppress and devour Divine Demon's existence.
"You are one scary fella," Wilfred commented while patting King Elbas' shoulder.
"These are simple restraining measures created specifically for him," King Elbas explained. "It would normally take me far longer to make this technique, but Divine Demon has inspired this new power, so I could build something quickly."
"Yes, yes," Wilfred nodded and continued to pat King Elbas' shoulder, but he didn't even bother to hear the explanation.
"That's obvious," The Foolery said while imitating Wilfred.
The magical beast nodded and tried to put its short leg on King Elbas' other shoulder, but the latter shot a chilling glance toward the creature to stop it.
Noah ignored that idiotic scene and inspected Divine Demon. The expert slowly regained his clarity as the energy of the world left his existence. It seemed that his mental instability depended on that power.
Muffled noises came out of Divine Demon's mouth while the expert continued to struggle. Still, his efforts to break free of those restraints lost intensity as his mental instability vanished.
The experts watched as Divine Demon's craziness left his eyes. The cultivator began to inspect his surroundings while wearing a confused expression. He appeared unable to remember how he had ended up there.
King Elbas and Noah exchanged a glance before the cultivator waved his hand. The dark-blue lines that covered Divine Demon's mouth dispersed, so the expert could finally talk again.
"Did I win?" Divine Demon asked in a plain tone.
Wilfred felt the urge to punch him, but he restrained himself since Divine Demon was too weak to endure his attacks now.
"You lost control and tried to kill everyone," Noah explained.
"I do that at times," Divine Demon laughed. "I'm still trying to find a way to control that power."
"Did you live for millennia with that instability in your power?" King Elbas asked.
King Elbas felt shocked. He didn't expect Divine Demon to be aware of that power. It was even more surprising that the expert did nothing about it during his cultivation journey.
"What can I even do?" Divine Demon snorted. "Power is power. It doesn't matter if I can't control it. I might forget a lot of things, but my creations mark my existence. They become part of me, and they come out during these outbursts."
'I see,' Noah thought after the explanation. 'He can't possibly control something like that. That's the necessary flaw of the technique.'
Divine Demon could theoretically gain access to all the techniques created throughout his life. That alone was enough to explain how powerful the ability could be.
"Can you remove these things now?" Divine Demon asked. "Unless you want to challenge me to do it."
King Elbas quickly removed the inscriptions. He didn't want to hear the word "challenge" anymore.
"We have the final team then," Noah explained after everyone gathered around him. "I guess you really want to come along."
Noah turned toward the Foolery, and the latter nodded without showing any hesitation. The middle tier pig had already made his mind.
"I can feel that something great will happen!" The Foolery shouted. "I want to evolve!"
Noah studied the creature with his mental waves. The Foolery had been under the influence of his ambition for millennia already. It wouldn't be a surprise if its existence evolved into something more than a magical beast.
'That might be interesting to watch,' Noah thought before inspecting the experts that had to join the mission.
Luke, Fergie, the Foolery, Divine Demon, Wilfred, and King Elbas were waiting for his directives. They had yet to decide when to depart. They even had to warn the forces of the human domain about their mindset.
"The human organizations won't leave right away," Noah explained. "We can ask for a few decades to prepare. We might even stretch that period to a century since they want our power."
Noah could always recognize when he had the upper hand in a situation. The human forces had to be quite desperate to ask for his help, which meant that he could act as he wished.
"Elbas and Luke will take care of buying us time," Noah concluded. "The rest of us will immediately go in seclusion and handle our stuff. Say goodbye to friends and lovers. This mission might last for entire millennia."
Those words were mostly for himself. Noah knew that he had to talk with June. The couple had to separate again, but that event was inevitable due to their difference in power.
Noah didn't waste more time in pointless words. The experts separated and went toward their training areas to prepare for the imminent mission.
The excitement generated by the tournament soon dispersed. The various underlings resumed their usual routines, and many benefitted from the powers displayed during the battles.
Those who had managed to become part of the mission were monsters among existences. They were far stronger than normal experts, and their battle prowess also made no sense at times.
All of them could express liquid stage battle prowess, even if some were still in the gaseous stage. The various underlings obviously wanted to achieve the same with their power, and only a firm foundation could lead to those heights.
Noah found a familiar figure waiting for him inside his training area. June sat at the center of the blue plain that Noah had claimed for himself, and battle intent flowed out of her body.
"Do you want to attack me already?" Noah asked while wearing a smirk.
"That would be pointless," June sighed before calming down. "You are improving quickly. I can only be happy for you."
Noah inspected his lover, and a tinge of sadness appeared in his mind. June was about to approach the breakthrough to the eighth rank, but she was still too weak.
Part of Noah had already considered the worst possible outcome. There was a chance that June would never catch up with his power, and that difference could only lead to a separation.
Noah didn't want that, but he couldn't deny that possibility either. He would continue to shoot higher in the sky, so June might lose sight of him at some point.
"I think I'll also leave once your mission starts," June revealed while glancing at the sky.
"You can't come with us," Noah sighed. "The whole mission might even be a trap. You will only slow us down."
Noah didn't hold his words back, but June didn't mind that. They had always spoken the truth to each other, and that wasn't the time to start lying.
"I didn't mean that," June shook her head. "The Legion and your organization need more lands, but the human forces will soon start expanding again. I will fight them. I want to live the millennia without you on a battlefield."
****
Author's notes: Do you know the feeling when you turn your alarm off, close your eyes, and discover time travel? Well, the chapters will come out in a few hours. Sorry for the delay.