2248 2248. Resolve

"Not a great plan," King Elbas commented while inspecting the outcome of the assault on the landmass. "Though I believe you were only testing our creation."

"Why do you feel the need to speak if you already know the answer?" Divine Architect sighed before waving her hand.

The cracked floor of the balcony quickly fixed itself and suppressed the golden flames coming out of the various cracks. The multiple tiles even improved and adapted themselves to King Elbas' power during the process.

The castle didn't remain still after Divine Architect's answer. Its nine towers rotated on themselves until they pointed at the landmass. Multiple inscriptions lit up on their surface as their overall structure turned ethereal and allowed them to shoot at high speed through the higher plane.

"Predictable," King Elbas sneered before snapping his fingers.

The parts of the now-golden city that had turned ethereal due to Pellio's power escaped the technique and flew around the landmass to get in the towers' trajectory. Multiple buildings filled the void and regained their solid fabric, creating a barrier that occupied a fifth of the battlefield.

The nine towers tried to fly through the blockade, but an ethereal barrier appeared on their path before they could reach those structures. King Elbas had prepared for that sudden attack and had unleashed suitable countermeasures.

The ethereal barrier appeared impossible to pierce for the towers, but Divine Architect's buildings didn't give up there. They rotated on themselves again before spreading over the blockade of golden structures and summoning their power.

The nine towers created nine different oval shields that expanded from their surfaces and isolated safe areas where various assets could deploy multiple battle formations.

More inscribed creatures, items, and actual cultivators left the towers to set up workshops where they prepared inscriptions and weapons. They were proper teams that acted independently without Divine Architect's supervision.

King Elbas didn't lose in that field. The countless buildings in the blockade opened to reveal entire packs of modified magical beasts and avatars that didn't hesitate to shoot forward.

A messy battle immediately unfolded. King Elbas' troops attacked recklessly and relied on the influence of the buildings behind them to avoid deadly attacks. Meanwhile, Divine Architect's assets focused on defending and counterattacking while adapting their offensive to the threat.

No one dared to affect that part of the battlefield. Both sides let King Elbas and Divine Architect have their personal challenge while they focused on other fights.

Noah and Alexander continued to spread chaos on the battlefield. Alexander mainly aimed to absorb energy, while Noah tried to destroy strategic targets to help contain the losses.

Their efforts obviously added chaos to the battlefield. The experts on Heaven and Earth's side felt unable to put the entirety of themselves into their fights since Noah and Alexander could come for their lives at any moment.

<br/>That gave a sharp advantage to Noah's side, but the numerical disadvantage often prevented Noah's underlings from exploiting that situation. Everyone did their best, but Heaven and Earth's forces appeared genuinely endless.

Heaven and Earth's army was a bright sea capable of covering the entirety of the higher plane. The areas right past the sky felt crowded due to the incredible number of assets stuffed there.

The strongest assets in that army only worsened the situation. The various privileged cultivators, the structures, the special platoons, and the giant avatars required large chunks of space to express their power, which naturally affected their underlings.

Nevertheless, those assets soon had new problems to take care of. Noah flew left and right, using Night to launch deadly attacks and plant seeds that gave birth to branches of the parasite.

It didn't take long before multiple forests made of corrosive roots took control of different parts of the battlefield. The parasite had every intention to expand as long as it found energy, and Noah redirected most of his potential to his mind to endure the pressure generated by that growth.

The parasite didn't only spread destruction. Noah added multiple aspects of his world to the plant to improve its corrosiveness and defense.

The roots ended up launching slashes, spreading dark-red and dark-purple liquid, and discharging beams made of destructive dark matter. The parasite was using multiple powers freely, without endangering its structure, but Noah had to face heavy pressure as it expanded.

Noah didn't care about the pressure falling on his mind. He used the entirety of his experience to compensate for that heavy force. He turned into an untouchable shadow that flew everywhere on the battlefield to gather energy and plant even more seeds.

Needless to say, Noah was more than enough to turn the tides of that battle. He had always excelled at killing weaker beings, especially in chaotic environments, and the only ones capable of stopping him found themselves unable to intervene.

One of the four privileged cultivators that had stood out during Noah's inspection eventually decided to address the issue caused by the expanding roots. The young-looking man crossed his arms as he teleported before one of the largest forests, and a simple wave of power released by his figure managed to turn it into dust.

The privileged cultivator didn't stop there. He teleported in front of another forest to eradicate the parasite, but a yellowish light abruptly materialized between him and the roots.

"You seem too strong to be left alone," Great Builder announced while teleporting before the privileged cultivator.

The young-looking expert glanced at Great Builder before focusing on the giant structure under him. Great Builder was sitting on top of a huge pyramid that reeked upper tier power filled with multiple meanings.

The privileged cultivator's cold grey eyes quickly went back on Great Builder before a shockwave left his figure. Still, some bricks in the pyramid moved to reveal an opening that absorbed that energy and nullified the attack.

"Why don't we move elsewhere and let these roots expand?" Great Builder asked while wearing a calm smile.

The privileged cultivator remained silent as he stretched an arm forward to point at the pyramid. Grey energy gathered before his fingers to create a small sphere that quickly released a beam.

The pyramid struggled to deploy a defensive ability. The beam slammed on one of the bricks and pierced it before disappearing inside the structure.

The cultivator's cold face flickered when he saw that the beam didn't pierce the entirety of the pyramid, but Great Builder couldn't keep his calm expression either. Faint sounds of explosions came out of his structure, and grey fumes eventually seeped out from the spaces among the bricks.

"I knew you were strong," Great Builder chuckled. "Who are you?"

The privileged cultivator didn't break his silence. He kept his arm stretched as more grey energy gathered in front of his fingers. However, Great Builder soon noticed that the expert wasn't limiting himself to a single sphere.

A vast array of grey spheres expanded past the privileged cultivator's fingers. Great Builder saw that each orb contained as much power as the previous attack, so he quickly sent energy to his pyramid.

The privileged cultivator didn't delay his offensive. The many spheres unleashed hundreds of grey rays that created an array too vast to block. Great Builder was ready to face those attacks head-on, but he eventually opted for a different approach.

The pyramid and Great Builder disappeared in an instant, and the grey rays flew forward to land on the forest of roots. That branch of the parasite crumbled among shrill cries and multiple explosions. The event was so massive that a proper storm took control of that part of the void.

Great Builder reappeared at the privileged cultivator's side. He was still sitting on his pyramid, but his expression had also turned cold. Meanwhile, the expert disregarded his presence and prepared to teleport toward another forest.

The pyramid suddenly released humming noises that filled the area with its yellowish radiance. The void lit up as the structure unleashed its power, and the privileged cultivator saw his movement technique losing energy before deactivating.

"You won the first round," Great Builder exclaimed. "You might win the next. You won't win the last."

The privileged cultivator exploded with power as his heavy aura expanded forward. Dense waves of energy flared in every direction and shook the pyramid as the expert tried to force his way out of that domain.

However, Great Builder added energy to the pyramid to multiply the power running through the yellowish halo. A battle of sheer power unfolded as the privileged cultivator and Great Builder did their best to overwhelm each other's techniques, and no one felt able to affect that clash.

The pyramid soon became a blinding item that left no space for the void's darkness. The yellowish halo it radiated suppressed the waves of energy unleashed by the privileged cultivator and forced him to give up on escaping. Still, a chill ran down Great Builder's spine when the expert finally glanced at him again.

"You want my name," The privileged cultivator eventually whispered in an emotionless voice. "I don't have one. I only have a title. I'm the Rulers' Resolve."