2192 2192. Ice

'That was quite quick,' Noah thought as he teleported outside the range of the exploding chrysalis.

Black shards flew everywhere and created dark clouds on the battlefield. It seemed that a Tribulation was about to fall on the area. Still, those lumps of energy didn't generate any spark. Instead, they carried Noah's unmistakable aura.

The clouds also radiated an intense feeling that only Noah recognized at first glance. His instincts reacted to the hunger carried by those lumps of energy. They were children of his influence, but they had transformed into something far different from his world.

The clouds claimed the experts' attention only for a few seconds. The giant figure that had come out of the chrysalis attracted Noah, Divine Demon, and Philto's gazes and forced them to study its new form.

Noah didn't expect the Eternal Snake to come out of the chrysalis so soon, but its appearance explained the reason behind that event.

The creature didn't experience significant changes, at least on its surface. Its scales had darkened ever further, almost devouring their green shades. Its size had virtually remained unaffected too. Yet, the aura that it radiated hinted at internal transformations that Noah couldn't study right away.

Previously, the Eternal Snake radiated nothing more than pride, hunger, and anger. Those feelings were in line with an ordinary magical beast, and they didn't change after the transformation.

Nevertheless, there was something more about those feelings now. Noah didn't know how to describe them with actual words. They felt stronger than before but also quieter.

'Did it finally gain some self-control?' Noah wondered in his mind, but the snake seemed ready to contradict his thoughts.

The Eternal Snake announced its exit from the chrysalis through an angry hiss that shattered the various clouds and forced them to disperse among the battlefield. Those structures carried valuable energy that no magical beast would have refused, but the creature didn't bother to eat them.

"Are you still angry at me?" Noah growled in a mocking tone.

"I told you that I'll make you regret this day," The Eternal Snake hissed in a low voice, "But that won't happen during this battle. Today, I will accept some shame as long as I can jump on the path that will allow me to eat all of you."

"It grew some sense!" Divine Demon laughed. "That's a speech worthy of a demon."

"Demons are imitations of magical beasts," The snake replied.

Divine Demon laughed loudly and crossed his legs to hover in the air. He didn't hide how pleased he was to hear such words, and Noah shared his feelings.

"What shame are you talking about?" Noah asked.

"My evolution isn't complete," The Eternal Snake explained. "I couldn't limit myself to your power. That would have only turned me into an eternal underling."

"But you still need my help for something, right?" Noah continued.

<br/>"Your arrogance knows no bounds," The snake responded.

"That doesn't make me wrong," Noah declared.

The snake remained silent for a few seconds before pointing its eyes at Philto and voicing a short answer. "It doesn't."

Noah and Divine Demon glanced at Philto, and understanding dawned upon their minds. The snake had stated that its evolution was incomplete, which revealed the need for new materials, and Philto's immortality sounded far too perfect.

"I hope you don't mind that I left a mark there," Noah joked.

"It won't matter once I absorb him into my core," The snake hissed, even if traces of anger seeped into its cry.

"You heard the snake," Noah announced while retracting his swords and pushing the potential that had refilled his ethereal blackness toward his body.

"Well, it's a fitting end for such a boring opponent," Divine Demon stated.

"What are you trying to do?" Philto asked without showing any fear.

Philto was ready to launch an attack, but a fissure in the space-time fabric suddenly opened in front of him. The event prevented him from realizing that someone had appeared behind him, but his lower body exploded before he could do anything.

A wave of silver energy left Philto's maimed figure, but a deafening roar resounded behind him and dispersed that attack. Noah proceeded to grab the expert from his nape, and Divine Demon didn't hesitate to join the offensive.

A series of blood-red tendrils shot toward Philto and entangled his figure into multiple defensive layers that prevented his energy from reaching the outside world. Divine Demon didn't stop there. He added a series of barriers that increased the power of that prison.

Noah retracted his hand and let Divine Demon complete the prison. Then, he ordered Snore to launch an attack that appeared directly inside Philto and destroyed his body.

Divine Demon perfected the prison even more as Philto came back to life. The expert wanted to do something to get out of that situation, but the Eternal Snake's mouth was already upon him.

The snake ate Philto but refrained itself from gulping. It filled its mouth with a slightly darker version of the silver liquid, which generated a vast amount of ice and froze the expert.

Philto's aura didn't disappear even if the ice covered the entirety of its figure and the prison. His power continued to shine brightly, but his existence dimmed as he remained in that state.

Flares of silver light slammed on the blood-red prison but failed to pierce it. Divine Demon had done an excellent job in evaluating Philto's peak power. The expert probably was one of the most unkillable privileged cultivators, but his attacks were subpar, so a simple prison could contain him.

The snake could take its time and freeze Philto's figure before moving to his world. The expert had left his mark deep into the universe, a place that a magical beast in the ninth rank couldn't usually reach. However, the creature knew what to do in that situation.

Noah widened his eyes in surprise when he saw the snake's scales growing clear. The creature was sending every trace of Noah's influence toward the ice to deepen its power and create a bridge that could lead toward Philto's world.

"Look at this," Noah sighed.

"It got you!" Divine Demon chuckled.

"At least it has developed the right character," Noah shook his head. "That's how a demon should behave."

"We should put it as the master for the entitled idiot," Divine Demon commented.

"You never get tired of teasing Elbas," Noah stated.

"Do you?" Divine Demon asked.

"As if," Noah laughed.

The process was extremely slow. The ice had required proper transformations to turn into something capable of reaching Philto's world, and the snake grew weaker as it gave up on Noah's energy.

Still, Philto couldn't do anything in that situation, so the snake could take all the time it needed. Meanwhile, Noah and Divine Demon acted as protectors and made sure that the shockwaves from the other battlefields never interrupted the process.

A change happened when the snake finally reached Philto's world. The expert's figure inside the ice turned silver and transformed into a statue that continued to radiate his power.

Philto didn't die. He met a fate worse than death. It remained frozen to his very world, and the snake didn't dare to destroy him. The creature slowly gulped the chunk of ice in its mouth while making sure that nothing broke.

The snake's belly inflated as the chunk of ice ran down its body. However, the process ended at some point, and silver smoke came out of the now-completely green scales. Another chrysalis formed, and Noah knew that the true transformation of his underling had begun.