2227 2227. Respec

Saving power wasn't part of Noah's style. He usually went all-out in every battle, especially since they often featured opponents that his normal level couldn't handle.

The red-haired privileged cultivator was no exception, but Noah had to keep in mind the last stages of the final battle. Winning fights against powerful experts would refill his ethereal blackness quickly, but he preferred to remain on the battlefield as long as possible.

"Dissecting my power?" The red-haired cultivator wondered. "Why don't you give it a try?"

Noah didn't need his opponent to ask twice. He waved his hand to send a rain of slashes forward, and Night also disappeared into the void during the attack.

The privileged cultivator laughed in the face of the offensive. Multiple lights came out of his body as a series of barriers and a vast white halo expanded from his figure.

The slashes crashed on the barriers and infected them with Noah's destruction. Black lines expanded on their surfaces as they crumbled into countless pieces. Even their shards couldn't survive the influence that had invaded them.

Still, nothing managed to reach the privileged cultivator. His last barriers even attacked Noah's destruction and transformed it into energy that gathered before his chest.

Meanwhile, the white halo illuminated the void as its radiance brightened. It didn't take long before that light condensed into a relatively small spot that flew around the privileged cultivator at high speed.

Noah didn't need to inspect the area to understand what was happening. The privileged cultivator had transformed his destruction into fuel for an attack, while the white halo had the sole purpose of locating Night.

Night cried in anger as the white light condensed around its body and made it unable to hide in the space-time fabric. The Pterodactyl already had a hard time fusing with the void, but the red-haired cultivator's halo made that action impossible.

Of course, Night wouldn't let that light stop its attacks. It actually angered it to the point that Noah felt his potential flowing toward its strange body.

The brighter area around Night shattered as multiple black lines shot out of its body. The damage spread through the halo and forced the privileged cultivator to divert the accumulated energy toward the incoming attacks.

The accumulated energy was different from the previous offensive. It wasn't a messy wave of various attacks, so the black lines couldn't replicate the effects of Noah's destructive thoughts.

However, Night had some of the most unstoppable abilities in Noah's arsenal. They severed part of the raw wave of energy crashing on them before causing an explosion that affected the whole white halo.

The privileged cultivator lost track of Night while the explosion unfolded, and Noah made sure to exploit that opportunity. He waved his blades, and another rain of slashes converged toward his opponent, forcing him to address the threat.

<br/>The red-haired expert summoned his barriers again, but a shadow flew through his figure during the process. His body suddenly split in half, and the damage spread to his defenses, which became unable to stop the incoming slashes.

Noah doubled down on that new opportunity, and Night didn't hold back either. The two launched a series of attacks that dispersed what remained of the barriers and filled the area with a messy mass of destructive power.

The fabric of the void bent as the destructive power continued to accumulate, but Noah and Night barely kept track of that event. Their offensive was relentless since they aimed to kill their opponents without wasting too much potential.

That trend didn't last long since another detonation soon took control of the spot occupied by the privileged cultivator. Night returned on Noah's head, and the two waited to see what their opponent was up to. They both knew that their attacks didn't cause that reaction.

"I have the fifth and seventh-best defensive abilities of the sky," The red-haired cultivator's hoarse voice echoed past the dark and grey energy released by the explosion. "I have the sixth-best technique when it comes to absorbing energy. I have the fourth-best converting ability. Do you think this is enough to kill me?"

The dark and grey energy began to condense when the announcement ended. Those chaotic waves of power shrunk until the privileged cultivator' maimed figure became visible. He was nothing more than a skeleton with only a few patches of muscles and skin left, but his red eyes continued to shine brightly.

"I know what you are doing," The red-haired cultivator continued as all the energy that had flowed into his figure began to rebuild skin, muscles, and organs. "I even expected you to try something like this. I won't remain silent while you underestimate me."

The red-haired cultivator fixed his body in no time, but the matter didn't end there. His skin started to shine with a scarlet color until it created an immense domain. Noah couldn't avoid ending inside it, but dark matter promptly covered his figure to prevent eventual harmful effects.

"Defying Demon!" The privileged cultivator shouted. "Noah Balvan! You are one of the greatest monsters in the higher plane, but you aren't there yet. I'm carrying the worlds of experts who have survived Heaven and Earth's attempts to absorb them for entire eras. Show me some respect!"

Multiple waves of energy shot out of the privileged cultivator's body and blended with the scarlet domain. The expert was trying a different approach. He was adding his personal influence to all the worlds in his existence to increase his ability to control them.

A spectacle of lights unfolded. Each wave of energy carried different colors, but they all began to add power to the scarlet radiance. They began to work together with the expert's world as they converged before his figure to fuse into an unstable sphere.

"Keep holding back!" The red-haired cultivator mocked. "Cut this attack. Cut the next one too. I'll only grow stronger while your attention remains on the sky."

'I guess it's still too early to take solid stage cultivators lightly,' Noah sighed in his mind while his expression remained cold. He had hoped to exploit the expert's flaws to end the battle quickly, but the matter had turned out to be far more troublesome.

'Night, are you ready for that?' Noah asked through the mental connection.

'I don't want to use that power,' Night complained. 'It's demeaning to rely on something so brainless.'

'It's not that power,' Noah pointed out. 'Your power is our power, and the same applies to all the others. Don't you want to kill the light? We won't get the chance to face Heaven and Earth at this pace.'

'I know. I know,' Night snorted. 'Though I'm still the best at cutting stuff.'

'We are the best,' Noah laughed.

More potential flowed inside Night as dark tendrils came out of its peculiar body. Those odd features quickly went back under its edges, but the privileged cultivator noticed them anyway. Still, that didn't change his approach.

The privileged cultivator unleashed the chaotic mass of energy in front of his figure, and Night shot forward. As for Noah, he stored his swords and crossed his arms as he waited for the clash to unfold.

Night disappeared right before meeting the wave of chaotic energy, but the event didn't cause any change. The cultivator's ability continued to fly forward until it engulfed Noah in its violent might.