Chapter 2069: Favor

The different features of the avatars didn't immediately surprise Noah. His focus was on the process that had given birth to them. He didn't miss how Heaven and Earth had used the chaotic laws that had survived the orange city to create those giant puppets, which clearly was an important aspect of the whole process.

Heaven and Earth didn't create the avatars out of random energy. Instead, they had built precise puppets using the surviving chaotic laws as their foundation. That had ensured a faint resistance against the old rulers' power since that energy had already proven itself capable of enduring the array of lightning bolts.

The different weapons expressed the unique features of the chaotic laws used in the process. Heaven and Earth had actually chosen to enhance the individuality of that surviving energy instead of forcing it to stick to something that represented them. That was another proof in favor of Noah's guesses, but he let those thoughts rest in the back of his mind as his inspection continued.

The avatars in their entirety weren't the usual perfect counters that Heaven and Earth deployed against troublesome beings once they hit the ninth rank. They appeared as something right before that step. They aimed to have specific effects against the old rulers without requiring complicated procedures for their creation.

The weapons were a strange addition. The individual aspects of the various waves of chaotic laws had taken the form of swords, bows, spears, whips, and sticks capable of different types of attacks that didn't necessarily match their shape.

Noah could sense a mace's destructiveness in a short sword, a blade's sharpness in the whip, and a hammer's heaviness in the bow. Everything felt rather odd, but that only explained how hurried the process had been. Heaven and Earth had basically decided to create imperfect counters to reduce their expenses and quicken the birth of assets that could annoy the old rulers.

'Interesting,' Noah couldn't help but comment in his mind.

Noah continued to wait. He didn't mind jumping into the battlefield to test those upper tier avatars, but he wanted to see how the orange city reacted to them first.

Noah didn't have to wait long to see some action. The avatars began to shoot forward, but the orange city reacted before they could go too far.

Precise lightning bolts shot out of the defensive array and hit every avatar at the center of their chests. Those attacks carried an unusual piercing power that left even Noah surprised, but the puppets managed to resist them. Only dark marks appeared on their bodies.

The orange city didn't stop there. The occasional attacks quickly turned into a storm that crashed on each avatar and slowed down their advance. The area transformed into an orange spectacle, and the real fabric of the world eventually started to shatter under the might released in the area.

It didn't take long before only the void, the orange city, and the avatars remained in the area. Noah remained on the sidelines without doing anything, but the situation had already reached the point when he would need to go all-out to affect the battle.

The clash between the two massive forces stood on a realm that Noah had become able to touch only recently. He wouldn't even feel too confident about his position in that battle if he didn't test his power against Caesar.

The avatars came to a complete stop as the piercing lightning bolts continued to crash on their chests. They felt unable to advance under that constant offensive, but their bodies also continued to endure the attacks.

The avatars changed approach when the lightning bolts started to push them back. They raised their weapons and activated their effects without performing any gestures. Different invisible forces immediately shot forward and crashed on the piercing attacks, destroying them in no time.

That felt normal in Noah's eyes, so he continued to watch. The lightning bolts returned as soon as the avatars resumed their advance, but they remained one of the most basic attacks the orange city could deploy. He wanted to see more, and the old rulers didn't disappoint him.

The avatars raised their weapons to destroy the lightning bolts, but a spherical wave of orange light suddenly shot out of the city. The puppets froze on their spot, and their fabric destabilized due to the power of the attack. Their state worsened so much that the piercing attacks finally broke their skin and started to expand inside their bodies.

Noah almost couldn't believe in his senses. Heaven and Earth had created partial counters of the orange city, but the old rulers had done the same toward the avatars. Moreover, the latter had only needed a few exchanged to find something that could destabilize those giant puppets.

Noah understood the nature of the situation after getting rid of his surprise. The old rulers didn't find a way to counter Heaven and Earth's assets so soon. They had already ended up in a similar situation, so they had decided which strands of chaotic laws let go.

The orange city obviously had to mix part of the chaotic laws let go on purpose with those that had survived the crackling defensive array. That reduced the number of avatars that the old rulers had to study and made Heaven and Earth's counters partially ineffective.

The avatars started to fall apart as the lightning bolts ravaged their insides. Their weapons couldn't stop the process, and their resistant nature turned out to be partially flawed. They didn't have the power to oppose the offensive, but Heaven and Earth didn't let them die like that.

Strands of white light stretched out of the distant sky as if they were the roots of a tree. They reached the avatars and fused with them to send energy that partially brought new stability. The lightning bolts still fought fiercely, but the puppets started to mutate while they endured their might.

Heaven and Earth added meanings that the simple chaotic laws from before couldn't have during the process. They filled the avatars with energy and new features meant to counter the orange city.

The avatars grew new arms, hideous spikes came out of their smooth skin, and white lightning bolts started to crackle in their mouths. Heaven and Earth didn't seem to care about the harmony of their creations as long as they succeeded in forcing the orange city's hand. Still, a series of giant black slashes suddenly fell on the roots and interrupted the empowerment.

"You owe me one," Noah sighed after reappearing above the orange city.

The old rulers didn't waste that chance. They sent more power on their lightning bolts and exploited the moment of instability created by Noah. The sudden surge of energy made all the avatars explode and fill the area with their giant shards.

Noah placed his swords on his shoulders as his ambition activated. The unstable substance was already empowering his body, but the black crystal made sure to add new black vessels to push his flesh and muscles past their limits. His potential also improved his physical features and ignored the rest.

The shards didn't disperse nor lose their connection with Heaven and Earth. Even their hovering among the void wasn't random. They floated until they took specific positions that created a spherical formation around the whole orange city. Then, the white roots returned and filled that structure with power.

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Author's notes: The third chapter should come in an hour or so.