There in the distance, the veiled lady stood in the sky; her former ragged clothes now replaced by a darker-than-black robe.
Her presence felt heavy like never before and her level situated too close to the fifth tier would be the reason for that.
She wasn't completely a fifth-tier cultivator, but at that level, she could consider herself the strongest tier 4 in the whole world. A bit more and she would land in the lower stage of the fifth tier.
Noah stood still on the platform of wind below him. The difficulty of the battle had just skyrocketed. His base power would never be capable of touching her. From her level to his level, he would consider her a full tier 5.
'So this is the power the servants of the immortals possess,' Noah thought to himself considering abandoning that situation.
The pressure she released remained unrivaled on the battlefield, but there were moments when it flickered. At the moment she was still trying to stabilize her new level.
Noah knew he couldn't take her at his base level, and also didn't want to have her pursuing him all over the place. There was real malice present now.
"Is this an empowerment that will last permanently, or something that'll die off and leave you in a state close to death?" Noah spoke without making his power carry his voice because he knew she could hear him. He could feel her influence all around him after all.
"It matters not which it is. All that you need to know is that only death remains for you," the lady spoke spreading her arms with confidence as high as it could get. Surely there was nothing he could bring up to match her power.
He could battle stages within the same tier, but crossing over to the next tier was an impossible feat.
Noah shook his head at her reluctance. He raised his hand even from that distance and called upon one of his many spells.
"Arrows of holy judgment."
[Arrows of Holy judgment[Active]: All darkness trembles before light. Judgment against thy enemies is passed out with the swiftness of the arrows of holiness and light. When activated, an innumerable amount of holy arrows within 30 seconds, descend from the sky with the fullness of the power of the caster. Dealing great damage to the environment and whoever they strike]
[Cost: 40% SE Pool. Duration: 30 seconds. Cool-down: 1 minute]
The sky trembled with terrible intensity and a blinding series of overlapping silver magical circles and triangles unfolded with power and might.
Noah remained in position even if a significant portion of his reserves vanished to give birth to that magical effect.
With his right arm still stretched, he watched a construct of pure silver light appear in his grip, a bow, and another object of pure silver light appeared in his second grip, an arrow.
Noah set the arrow in the bow and pulled upon its silver string. His aura intensified, but the lady simply watched that event occur with calmness. She sensed no danger from his actions.
Tens of small magical triangles appeared on the tip of the arrowhead pointed at the sky. Then Noah let go.
The arrow silently streaked across the sky until it reached the magical circles and triangles.
The sky shook again, this time the very world seemed to weep as a result of what was to come. Then they arrived.
The sound of roaring flooded into the world, as a rain of silver arrows descended from the immense magical circles and triangles. Each one of those arrows measured 2m in length.
The regions seemingly shook as that truly spectacular offensive rained upon the world, but mostly upon the veiled lady, who snorted at that sight.
Before even the arrows could reach her, a pillar of blackness shot up into the sky to slam into those magical circles and triangles.
The horrendously loud sounds of cracks spreading on those constructs filled the world and Noah watched his arrows vanish before they could even deal damage to the world below them.
"I am now beyond you. There's nothing you can do to me," she announced with disdain dripping from her tone. She felt safe. His existence had reached its clear limits, and truly she was glad.
Noah ignored her and took an Essence-recovery pill from his inventory to swallow it.
"Wind serpent." Another wave of magical triangles unfolded behind him and the figures of five wind serpents emerged from those magical circles. Noah took another pill and called upon more wind serpents before commanding them to fly toward his opponent.
Their huge figures shot towards the lady in the distance, but Noah watched a singular beam of darkness shoot out of her palm to decimate that force of ten serpents.
An explosion unfolded at that point as the beam cut through all ten of them at the same time.
Noah would not be deterred however, he took another pill, and felt his essence rush back into existence, he remained glad that he had such items.
[Elder frost Golem[Active]: The hierarchy of power ranges far and wider across many topics and subjects and beings. The commander of all frozen golems, a being capable of summoning an army of them according to how much essence is available]
[Cost: 30% SE pool. Duration: N/A. Cool-down: 60 seconds]
"Elder frost Golem," Noah announced sensing a series of silvery-blue magical triangles expand in front of him, and cold mist exploded forth into the environment, burying him in their fogginess.
A dense and heavy aura sprung up into existence as a tall 15m figure featuring blazing eyes revealed itself to the world.
Noah was quick to act immediately after even if his opponent had begun to laugh.
"It's all futile!" Her voice was blaring, and her laughter being carried by her power dealt damage to the world around her. Noah felt that simple expression push him back a few steps.
Commanding his golem to summon an army of frost golems, Noah had to take another pill for that event to occur, and in the span of a moment, an army of huge bulky figures unfolded into the world. The pressure that they carried remained stunning.
That force moved out immediately they appeared in the sky, and their movement caused loads of mist capable of covering a city, to manifest.
Nevertheless, the lady simply shook her head at what she considered a pitiful display. Stretching her palm forward at the truly mighty army she allowed darkness and wind to gather and condense in the form of an orb.
The event remained noisy and those vibrations even damaged the golems closest to her.
The lady let her attack go and the world saw an immense beam capable of swallowing even that large force barrel forth with horrendous speed.
Even Noah had to accelerate to his peak to escape that event. That singular attack would have been capable of wiping out a city!
Bits of the black beam touched the ground and those chunks directly disappeared. The area was already too messed up. Some of the buried items had even been uncovered by this point.
"No more of your weak attacks. It's time to end this," the lady announced after that casual display. She already wished she could stay at that level, but that would not be the case. After the empowerment ended she would face the worst backlash ever.
"Yes," Noah replied, finding no way out of that situation than his decision.
"Second nature, unleashed," he spake those words in a whisper, but they carried too significant a consequence.
Noah felt something within him snap and a harmless explosion of golden, white, and silver light unfolded, or rather, he began to shine, and the world literally shook! For the whole of Cregar took note of a presence far too unique to be missed.
Those knowledgeable and ignorant across the globe took note of the shaking of their planet. A global phenomenon that would lead to events not seen even since the beginning of Cregar.