2339.Echoes

The black curtain remained in its place for a while. No violent wave, explosions, or other types of destructive forces spread past the slash's structure, but no one dared to underestimate its power.

Sword Saint wanted to praise the attack, but he remained silent. Noah had reached the solid stage. The final battle had truly begun now, so the time for jokes was over.

The curtain slowly dispersed without shattering or crumbling. Holes opened in its structure as its energy reserves became empty until the entirety of the attack simply vanished.

The disappearance of the slash didn't bring new light to the higher plane. Everything remained dark, but that didn't prevent the audience from finding Heaven and Earth. The crystal figure was still on the sky, and the cut on its chest had transformed into a deep fissure that revealed its insides.

Everyone's eyes fell in the opening. Noah had finally removed the annoying crystals that prevented the experts from studying Heaven and Earth's insides, but the scene didn't bring clear answers.

The crystal figure had a core, but its shape was strangely familiar. The item was a white sphere with the same shades as the sky. The meanings it radiated also matched those of the white layer.

Sparks, lightning bolts, and other strands of energy left the white core to enter the crystals and fill them with different meanings. Heaven and Earth could decide the type of power to send to their body, and their options appeared limitless.

The white core didn't stay still. It spun, but its seamless shades made it appear motionless. Each complete rotation released a thunderous sound, and the crystals around it echoed it.

The crystal figure was more than a simple avatar. It was closer to a proper living being than a weapon. Heaven and Earth didn't spare resources to build that body, but now it carried damage.

"A replica of the sky," Noah exclaimed.

"Don't pretend to understand us, Noah Balvan," Heaven and Earth declared while straightening their position. "We are outside your understanding. We stand in a realm that no being from the cultivation journey can see."

"You walk two paths," Noah responded. "That's your greatest power and flaw."

"Our path is our own," Heaven and Earth stated. "We express the cultivation journey and the structure of the universe. We are a being and a world, but no division exists inside us."

Noah's eyes flickered as understanding dawned upon him. King Elbas and some of his companions also reached similar conclusions and started to pay attention to their surroundings. They could almost predict that the sky was about to act.

The white core eventually completed another rotation, and a thunderous heartbeat came out of it. Still, that sound didn't stop at the crystals. It seeped past Heaven and Earth and reached the sky.

The entirety of the white layer echoed the thunderous noise and intensified it. The sky seemed to come to life as an ominous aura seeped out of its surface and enveloped it. Its light also brightened and pushed back part of the darkness created by Noah's presence.

King Elbas and the others understood that the sky had joined the fight. The pillars from before had only hinted at what that white layer could do, but Heaven and Earth would hold anything back now.

"We have to thank you," Heaven and Earth eventually continued. "Your rebellion pushed us toward this form, and your death will complete it."

Ten pairs of giant hands came out of the sky as soon as Heaven and Earth spread their arms. Immense energy gathered inside them while the crystal figure joined their wrist to imitate the technique. The rulers and the white sky were performing the same movements simultaneously.

Nevertheless, a giant figure materialized next to a pair of hands before they could release their attack. Snore bit down on those structures and spat a black sea that turned them into dust.

Something similar appeared on another pair of hands. A series of black lines materialized on their palms until the entire structure crumbled. The white rain didn't reveal anything until Night decided to step up and show its new might.

A seed teleported between another pair of hands and seeped through their fabric to feed on it. Soon, multiple roots pierced the structures and absorbed their energy, making them vanish from the higher plane.

A high-pitched noise came out of Noah's figure, and dark-red light engulfed a pair of hands before unleashing pure violence on them. Black lines spread while cracks opened and enlarged to destabilize the structures. Needless to say, the latter didn't last long.

A giant slash fell on another pair of hands and covered them into a black cloud. That gas didn't linger in the area for too long, and an empty space appeared when it dispersed.

Fiendish figures and six-armed dragons materialized on two more pairs of hands before self-destructing. The explosions filled the area with intense sharpness that pierced the structures and turned them into broken items.

A pair of hands suddenly vanished, and a burping noise came out of Noah's figure. Duanlong then peeked past Noah's shoulder to inspect the area, and its strange mouth opened to absorb another piece of that technique.

Shafu roared at that point. New power flowed through its body and replaced the weak chunks of its body to bring its figure to the utter peak of the ninth rank.

The roar didn't seem to carry any attack, but the last pair of hands closed under the effects of an invisible force. The clash between the two palms opened cracks in both of them, and energy seeped out of those openings, turning the structures useless.

All of that happened at the same time and in the span of a second. The entirety of Noah's world had shown its new might. Snore and the others had instantly countered Heaven and Earth's massive technique, but the offensive wasn't over.

Heaven and Earth suddenly slammed on the sky. The impact released a soundwave that suppressed the thunderous noises that had filled the higher plane, but the rulers ignored that outcome. Their attention never left the figure standing above their damaged chest.

Noah stood on the crystal figure with a foot pressed on the joint wrists. His physical prowess wasn't enough to damage that body, but he promptly pointed his swords downward to unleash an attack.

Two black lines came out of the blades and disappeared in the next instant. The attack had been incredibly fast, and two holes opened on Heaven and Earth's shoulders.

Those small openings appeared inconsequential, but the power accumulated in Heaven and Earth's palms started to disperse. Noah didn't only pierce the crystals. He had also damaged critical parts of the avatar to scatter its technique.

"Your destruction can see us," Heaven and Earth commented.

Snore, Night, the parasite, and Duanlong materialized behind Noah to stare menacingly at heaven and Earth. Shafu imitated that behavior without getting close, but the rulers remained able to sense its angry gaze.

"I told you to get serious," Noah repeated.

Tension spread through the higher plane. Noah's words were impossible to misunderstand. Heaven and Earth's previous massive display of power didn't express their peak.

Heaven and Earth remained silent for a few seconds, but the corners of their crystal mouth soon turned upward. A laugh eventually came out of it, and the entire sky echoed their voice.

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Author's notes: 1 Snore, 1 Night, 1 parasite, 2 army, 2 Duanlong, 1 Shafu, 1 Demonic Sword, 1 Cursed Sword. Ten pairs of hands. I'll leave this here in case someone has doubts.