2354.Food

Groans, gasps, and other sounds filled the areas. Heaven and Earth's attack had left most of the main team tired, with some experts in desperate need of rest. Yet, nothing could distract Noah from what had entered his consciousness.

'What?' Noah couldn't help but exclaim in his mind before flying forward.

Noah's consciousness expanded far past its normal limits and allowed him to sense the entire higher plane. Every member of Heaven and Earth's army had disappeared. The higher plane now featured only his organization and that new sky.

The emptiness of the higher plane wasn't enough to distract Noah either. He continued to fly forward until he arrived in front of the white layer. The sky didn't hide anything from him, but he still struggled to evaluate its power.

Noah's instincts didn't cry in fear before the sky, but he still hesitated. He could feel the immense difference in power between him and the white layer. There was a high chance that his senses couldn't understand the type of danger it posed.

Yet, as seconds passed, Noah realized that the sky wasn't only harmless. It was also motionless and silent. Its fabric didn't belong to a lifeform or a world. That white layer felt like nothing more than an inscribed item.

'Is it empty?' Noah wondered as he stretched his arm to touch the sky.

The sensations that flowed through Noah's limb were impossible to describe. He could feel an amount of power far greater than the higher plane, and he also sensed that his mind couldn't see all of it.

The meanings contained in the sky were another topic altogether. Noah recognized something vaguely familiar to what Heaven and Earth had summoned during the final battle, but his senses were mostly in the dark. His mind couldn't reach the depths touched by the white layer.

'What does this even mean?' Noah cursed in his mind.

The matter was quite confusing. Noah didn't know how a mere item could contain such deep meanings, but he eventually threw those thoughts to the back of his consciousness. His mind might simply be unable to understand the type of lifeform that Heaven and Earth had become.

"What does this even mean?" King Elbas voiced, announcing his presence near Noah.

"I have no idea," Noah responded while more experts left their position to approach and study the sky.

"Can-?" King Elbas tried to ask before interrupting himself. His gaze went on Noah before moving it to the rest of his companions, but his expression only showed helplessness.

Noah could understand King Elbas' incomplete questions because similar thoughts ran through his mind. Noah's first instinct was to pierce the sky, but that urge vanished as soon as he touched it. The white layer was a proper rank 10 item. Rank 9 existences couldn't destroy it.

"What about Heaven and Earth?" Alexander asked in a weak voice while multiple healing abilities worked on his injuries.

"Heaven and Earth are dead!" A familiar voice resounded in the distance.

The entirety of Noah's organization turned toward the source of the voice only to see a pale radiance coming out of the sky. Caesar and the other members of Heaven and Earth's army appeared in the void, but the process didn't end there.

More and more patches of pale light appeared before the sky and teleported items into the world. Soon, planets, landmasses, and other types of planes filled the void and accumulated at its center.

Noah couldn't believe his eyes. Some landmasses only had materials and living beings in the human ranks. Others barely met the requirements to be higher planes. There were even a few dead creatures among them, and their level spanned between the heroic and divine ranks.

A sense of familiarity filled Noah, and he didn't need to think too hard to understand why. He had actually seen some of those planes before. They were the Mortal Lands and other landmasses that Heaven and Earth had imprisoned in their influence.

"Heaven and Earth are dead!" Caesar repeated while stepping forward to separate himself from the rest of the army. "Congratulations. Your survival marks your victory in the final battle."

"What exactly does that mean?" Noah asked, and growls mixed with his human voice.

"It means exactly what I said," Caesar stated, revealing his iconic broad smile. "You won. You defeated Heaven and Earth."

A black line suddenly ran through Caesar while connecting two opposites of the sky. The attack unleashed all its power on the marked area, so the weaker lands nearby didn't suffer any damage. Yet, the same went for Caesar. His body shattered into a white gas before reforming.

"You can't hurt me," Caesar happily revealed. "I won't die as long as the sky stands."

"What about your companions?" King Elbas threatened while summoning a mass of fake quasi-rank 10 energy in his right hand.

"They…," Caesar uttered before glancing at his underlings and moving his gaze back to his opponents. "They will have to decide where to stand. Heaven and Earth made an exception, but that won't happen again."

"How can they make an exception if they are dead?" Noah wondered.

"You should have understood this by now?" Caesar teased. "You have some of the best experts when it comes to higher forms of energy. The jump to Heaven and Earth's situation isn't too long."

Noah and King Elbas exchanged a glance before focusing back on the sky. Everything they knew about Heaven and Earth flowed through their minds, and understanding eventually dawned upon them.

"Exactly," Caesar exclaimed as soon as he noticed understanding appearing on the experts' faces. "Heaven and Earth are the children of a single path. The breakthrough would have always been impossible if they didn't eliminate that flaw."

Noah couldn't help but look at the sky again. The sensations from before were on point. The sky was nothing more than an item, but that wouldn't be true forever.

"Death and rebirth," King Elbas commented.

"Correct," Caesar declared. "The only way to cultivate as a being from two paths is to be born as one. Your efforts and Heaven and Earth's magnificence led us to this achievement. The rulers will die only to be reborn as the strongest type of rank 10 existence in the entire universe."

Everything made sense now. Noah gained a complete understanding of the situation. Heaven and Earth had never planned to win. They had never even cared about the final battle. They had always worked to reach that phase.

The struggles of Noah's organization had allowed Heaven and Earth to perfect their crystal energy. The severing of useless meanings had completed that procedure, pushing the rulers to their last state.

Now, Heaven and Earth had the right fuel, so they only needed to be born again. The rebirth would remove any latent weakness and turn them into a new, powerful being powered only by their crystal energy.

"What about these lands?" Noah asked.

"They are food for Heaven and Earth's rebirth," Caesar explained.

"What about us?" Noah wondered. "Rank 9 existences can live forever."

"Theoretically," Caesar pointed out. "World can survive on their own, but the absence of trials and external inputs can wither them. It might take eras, but Heaven and Earth aren't in a hurry."

The answer transformed inside Noah's mind. Caesar didn't explicitly say it, but Noah knew the truth. His entire organization and the lands inside the sky were nothing more than food now.