Chapter 1761 - 1761. Stick
Noah"s army has prepared a few battle formations during the years that it had taken it to reach their destination. The experts from various organizations had tried to abandon part of the previous training to focus on common techniques that they could deploy without hurting the allied offensive. However, battles of that size were mostly chaotic, and they rarely followed a set course.
Only the weaker experts could try to stick to the plans and battle formations prepared beforehand since they fought on a lower part of the battlefield. Still, the chaos of the war would eventually win over them and create small fights handled by a limited number of experts.
Noah observed as his army split to take care of the different sides of the battlefield. Divine experts instinctively knew who to fight due to the danger felt by their senses, so the many cultivators, hybrids, and magical beasts flew toward suitable opponents.
Still, the experts in the enemy army could do the same and exploit that feature. They wouldn"t let their opponents gain the upper hand so easily, especially in a battle that would determine their very survival.
The experts on both sides performed feints, fake maneuvers, and battle formations hidden inside other battle formations to gain a slight advantage over their opponents, but the clash turned out to be a gory mess anyway.
Casualties happened as soon as the two frontlines crashed on each other. The sheer amount of power discharged by so many experts was enough to kill rank 8 cultivators. Some of the experts at that level suffered from that fate.
Rank 7 existences fell, burnt, crumbled, and flew away as if they were nothing more than pebbles placed among a clash of mountains. The surface shattered, and the sky bent, but s.p.a.ce remained stable enough to prevent the arrival of cracks.
Noah and a few other experts didn"t join the initial clash, but they remained inside its range out of respect for the lives lost during that exchange. The same happened with the other army, and a large group of powerful cultivators soon became visible among the bent whiteness.
"They had a few more solid stage cultivators under their sleeve," Noah commented in his mind.
Two more solid stage cultivators had appeared next to the six leaders from the Crystal City. A small group of liquid stage existences had also joined them, but the rest of the ent.i.ties in the eighth rank were in the army below.
Noah"s group counted more experts, but they didn"t seem to match their opponents in terms of cultivation level. Yet, they were all confident enough to take care of the solid stage experts on the other side.
"Just decide who you want," Noah sighed. "I think one of them already has his eyes on me."
An old man among the solid stage cultivators had never taken his eyes away from Noah. He was the expert who had released the blue fire that contained human faces. He didn"t have hair, beard, eyebrows, and eyelashes, and his eyes shone with the same shade as his flames.
King Elbas, Divine Demon, Robert, Steven, Elsie, and the other experts who had remained out of the army chose their opponent in an instant. They partially relied on their instincts, but most of that decision came from the obvious necessity to occupy one of the fighting spots.
The various fighters left the area to occupy different spots of the battlefield since they didn"t want their domains to clash with their allies. Only Noah and the hairless man remained there, but neither of them said anything for a while.
Noah revealed a cold smile as he inspected the destruction happening under him. His army was winning even if many casualties were happening on both sides. The rats soon joined the fight, and the event moved the scales of the battle even more in Noah"s favor.
"You enjoy destruction," The hairless man eventually exclaimed, "But you aren"t stupid. Can you understand why Heaven and Earth need to kill you?"
"I enjoy watching my enemies die," Noah replied without moving his eyes from the battlefield. "Death itself has no meaning for me, and Heaven and Earth"s needs do not weigh my mind."
"How can an existence grow without understanding the world?" The cultivator asked.
"I do understand them," Noah added. "I just don"t value them enough to bother thinking about their intentions."
"What are you for them then?" The cultivator continued. "Can you answer this simple question?"
"I"m one of the laws that they need to absorb," Noah laughed. "They will never achieve true perfection with a being like me sowing chaos through his mere existence. They still don"t understand that no amount of absorption can lead them to the tenth rank."
"Your arrogance is stunning," The cultivator announced.
"But not wrong," Noah continued to laugh. "What did they tell you? Am I a necessary curse? Was I an inevitable mistake that the world has placed between them and perfection?"
The cultivator remained silent, but his eyes inevitably flickered. He had actually heard one of those definitions, but Noah only laughed at that.
"Open your eyes, old law!" Noah shouted. "Look at me! What do you think I am? What do you think I was on the day I was born?"
Noah"s aura exploded outward. His ambition was still empowering every piece of his a.r.s.enal. He was the strongest he could ever be at his current level and with his potential.
"You were a monster!" The cultivator shouted.
"I was a man!" Noah laughed, and the world seemed to laugh with him since his ambition had taken control of most of the area. "The monster you see now is my creation. I built myself to seek and ama.s.s power."
"That"s why you must die," The man replied while taking out a long brown stick that had multiple inscriptions and drawings on its surface. "You corrupted yourself way too much. The world can"t tolerate your stench. I, Isaac, will take care of cleaning it."
"The world doesn"t give a f.u.c.k," Noah continued to laugh, but he prepared himself for the imminent battle. "Also, I"ve never corrupted the world. I"ve only removed Heaven and Earth"s control over pieces of it. You should be grateful to me if you really cared about the various planes."
Isaac couldn"t handle Noah"s sharp words anymore. He shot ahead and thrust his stick forward. The weapon created afterimages before materializing its tip in front of Noah.
The attack had been almost instantaneous. Isaac had moved, and the stick had reached Noah. Less than an instant had pa.s.sed between the two events.
Yet, Noah had managed to follow the movements of the weapon due to his instincts. He performed a sidestep to dodge the incoming attack, and his Demonic Sword descended to cut the stick.
His sword didn"t manage to hit anything. The stick had vanished before his weapon could cut it. It was back inside Isaac"s grasp.
"I have something similar!" Noah laughed, and Isaac"s eyes widened.
Countless Instabilities had materialized inside his body, but a wave of blue fire instantly swept him and burned all of them before they could explode. Isaac revealed a smile when he saw that his counter had worked, but a ma.s.sive power suddenly flung him toward the ground.
Isaac"s consciousness went dark for an instant, but he soon recovered his vision. He was on the ground, and a blue environment was surrounding him. His lifesaving technique had activated, but he didn"t recall why.