The battle between the trio raged on, and the skies of that region continued to witness huge attacks and powerful explosions that shook the area with their shock waves.
Noah remained on his toes, nimble. His attacks were incredible and his movement speed caused all who were on that battlefield to tremble. He accelerated to points that even they could not follow.
At some point it was clear that it was more than speed, there seemed to be something concerning his path that made for that immense detail.
James had never understood why speed was so important until he watched Noah unfold in a terrible display of power.
Suddenly, he felt nostalgic. Unfortunately, their opponent would not allow that state to last for too long.
The expert said a few words and the entire world seemed to tremble, even if it was only that area.
The expert set up a barrier blocking the events that happened there from reaching the outside world.
Normally they were too far from the city for most to take note of the battle. And truly no one did. Still, the expert felt pressed to activate that ability since it wasn't just a barrier but also a domain for his golden constructs.
Noah, James, and even the invisible lady had to start dodging attacks from all points due to that activation. The expert's earthen attacks also increased in frequency as he traveled across the battlefield unleashing attacks on the duo.
James felt his vitality and strength plunge during those minutes. The usage of his bloodline ability really did task his body, soul, and even his green core.
Still, Noah's display made him want to match up, but he couldn't. It quickly became clear that both of them were never on the same level.
How that was possible, he did not know. But in all his life he had never seen a middle-stage expert stand toe to toe with a peak-stage expert.
Even the man trembled whenever he saw Noah arrive too close to him.
Something happened at some point, though. Noah stretched forth his hand at the man, but the entire place around them shook.
James watched strange triangles and circles expand above them, lighting that area up with silver light whilst drowning the golden lights a bit.
James blinked and suddenly felt like he stood on a vast plain surrounded by oppressive mountains. He could hear the crashing of thunder and feel the quality of power around him. Simply astonishing.
"Descent of the crackling mountain." These words reverberated in the ears of those experts, but before they could gain a complete understanding of what Noah said, an unimaginable amount of pressure descended on the environment, so much so that James fell from the sky like lightning.
The higher-staged individuals bent their backs when that weight unfolded, but then the sky trembled again and a massive object descended from those huge triangles and circles.
The barrier the expert had set up flickered with violent intensity as the size and quality of what fell from the circles and triangles were on par with theirs.
A great amount of heat unfolded into the world as the pointed peak of a crackling mountain became evident to the eyes of those men.
Only then did the peak stage expert decide to move. Unfortunately, Noah was faster.
Chains of ice sprung into existence latching unto the very air around them like it was solid, then they wrapped around the expert.
Noah did not stop there, he allowed crackling chains to manifest before them and wrap around the chains of ice, enforcing their power.
After that, he sprinted out of the environment whilst encasing the area of that attack in a sphere of wind, sparks, and ice. Noah repeated the layers about thrice before standing to watch.
He had intentionally not told James of this. In the end, he didn't care if he died or not.
Despite the layers of elements, terrible shock waves still swept the world around them, shattering the grounds and causing the wind to blow violently in the area that they traveled towards.
They weren't strong enough to do much to Noah. But then he watched a shining crack appear on the outermost layer of the sphere and seconds later other cracks unfolded, and the construct began to fall apart and in the process terrible waves of electrical energy gushed into the world, spreading destruction.
Noah nodded his head at that scene, understanding why what happened had been so.
In a bid to save James, the invisible lady attacked the insides of the sphere. Helping the attacks the peak stage expert had unleashed.
Noah knew his magic could not handle the destructive power of two higher-stage experts.
Even he would struggle to fight them without calling on the power of his Speedling form.
Staying in his position Noah allowed the events to unfold before he decided on what next to do.
Soon enough he caught sight of James shooting outside of the range of that overflowing attack.
"Enough of all this!" The peak stage expert proclaimed. Throughout the battle he had managed to sustain heavy injuries, but only from Noah's hands. That crackling mountain had worsened his state, but he could still fight.
Another pillar of golden light tried to rise out of the expanding sea of sparks, and it did, only to shatter into nothingness soon after.
Noah put those sparks under his control and made them mess with the man's power. He saw a figure shoot out of the mess flying toward him, so he made two massive palms manifest from those terrible sparks and they clamped on the man's figure from up and down.
Noah clenched his fist to allow those two palms to remain in position, but the man exploded with power blowing up those crackling palms to continue to shoot toward Noah.
A battered James suddenly appeared on the man's path and he quickly stretched out his arms side by side.
Wings made out of purple flames flickered into existence by reason of his arms. Even if those flames did not directly come out of his limbs, but existed about a meter from them. They were huge.
Mimicking a flapping wing, James shattered the sound barrier to shoot towards the man with his wings of flames now burning with greater intensity.
Many meters before they collided, the peak staged expert allowed massive swords to shoot toward his incoming opponent, but he watched them miss due to James' sudden burst in agility and speed.
Right before the duo met, James abruptly came to a halt and his blade reappeared in his right hand.
Stretching his sword towards his left side, James swung, and his wings of fire swirled around his sword to unleash a gigantic slash born out of those deep purple flames.
The size of that attack and its close dangerously range made the incoming expert unable to evade it.
That attack landed on the expert and he voiced a scream of agony an instant later. The flames refused to pass him. Instead, the moment they came in contact with him, they began to burn on and around him.
James dropped to the ground after that attack. Void of all his strength.
Noah took this as a sign to move, and although James' strange attack had lit a flame of curiosity, he moved to end that man.
His daggers appeared in his hands and he poured essence into their fabric pushing their power up momentarily.
'I should try my best not to come in contact with those flames.' Noah commented inwardly.
Bending his knees he transformed into a streak with those heavy blades in his hands.
Due to the pain the man suffered, he would not stay still, so Noah couldn't directly stab his daggers into him. So he did something else.
Coming to a halt merely meters from the man's general position Noah raised his arms to unleash two huge slashes of purely withering power!
Thanks to their size they enveloped the man in their size, but instead of shooting toward the region before them, Noah caused both slashes to cease moving.
It looked like time had been ground to a halt since those slashes retained their shapes.
Noah didn't stop until a silver screen appeared before him notifying him of the man's death.