Chapter 571 571. Debate
Noah was silently sipping his wine when he heard that question.
Daniel's words surprised him, he didn't expect to be questioned about matters that had happened almost twenty years ago.
"Yes."
In the end, he answered honestly.
He had decided to stop hiding, denying his deeds would only go against his individuality.
"Why?"
Daniel asked, and his eyes sharpened.
He didn't expect Noah to reveal the truth so quickly, killing heirs of large-size noble families wasn't a small matter after all.
"They were in my way, so I killed them."
A simple answer came out of Noah's mouth.
He was being honest, he had never hesitated in killing whoever stood in his path, and he had never felt guilty about it.
Power stood above notions of good and evil in his mind, and being weak would always put you on the wrong side.
Daniel couldn't bear the sight of Noah speaking about the death of his companions so casually, anger filled his mind and took control of his next words.
"Is there really nothing that matters to you? Does life have no value in your mind? Are you really the monster described in the reports!?"
Daniel shouted as he gave voice to those words, and a series of gazes went on Noah.
That was a discussion between heroic cultivators, every trait of someone's personality could show something about its individuality.
Noah felt the stares on him and the emotions behind them.
There was anger, curiosity, surprise, and also anticipation.
However, Noah felt only annoyed by that situation.
His training had been interrupted by political obligations, the same obligations that had forced him to let Adrian go.
It was as if the world tried to remind him that he wasn't strong enough to ignore all those matters that had no value in his mind.
Noah placed the cup that he was holding on the ground and fixed his reptilian eyes on Daniel before speaking in a tone that resembled a growl.
"Who do you think you are?"
At that moment, Daniel could clearly feel the immense difference in their power.
He felt those vertical pupils piercing his skin and reaching for his internal organs, it was as if his life was completely exposed to Noah.
Also, sweat ran down his forehead since he had to focus on fending off the pressure radiated by Noah's stare.
"I could kill you with one thought, how can you have any right to accuse me?"
Noah continued to speak, venting part of the anger that he felt toward that society that kept on interrupting his growth.
"Do you think you are my equal just because we share a rare element? You are delusional!"
Ian seemed about to interrupt the conversation, but he suddenly felt an enormous pressure stopping his movements, he could only turn his head toward the origin of that feeling.
"The Demon Prince of the Hive is speaking."
Elder Julia murmured those words, and Ian understood that he couldn't intervene.
It was Daniel's fault after all, he shouldn't have provoked a heroic cultivator while being only a rank 3 mage.
"You nobles are all the same. Your families give you power, techniques, resources, and a lofty status, but you always forget that all of that isn't part of your strength. My eyes can only see a void man who has deluded himself into believing that his borrowed power belongs to him! You are nothing without your family."
Noah's words were sharper than swords, they stabbed Daniel's pride and continued to injure his belief.
"Y-you are the same! What would be of you without the Hive behind your back? You would still be running for your life, doing the dirty work for some organization to obtain some quick gains before hitting the road again!"
Daniel had to use all his concentration to stutter those words, he wasn't ready to accept Noah's view as the truth.
Then, to his surprise, he felt the pressure that was pressing on his mind disappear.
He raised a confused gaze toward Noah only to see that a slight smile had appeared on his face.
"I see, your birthright made you blind."
Noah's words resounded in the hall, and Daniel felt chills running down his spine.
"You have misunderstood, I didn't reach this rank because the Hive has my back. Instead, it is the Hive that wouldn't be here if I hadn't appeared."
Shocking words came out of his mouth, and Elder Julia's nod further surprised the guests.
Noah was speaking the truth.
Divine Demon's inheritance would have fallen in the hands of an orthodox organization if it wasn't for him.
The Coral archipelago would have never claimed its independence without the copying technique, not so easily at least.
Without independence, there would be no Hive.
One of the underground organizations of the archipelago became the strongest country after the three big nations, and that fantastic growth was connected to Noah's appearance.
Noah had dispersed his pressure because he had realized that he was already too far away from Daniel.
He was a dragon, and Daniel was just a promising noble, why would he even care about his words?
Daniel was speechless, he couldn't believe that a rank 5 cultivator had actually agreed with Noah's statement.
In his mind, something like that was simply impossible!
After all, Noah was only a rank 2 cultivator when he reached the archipelago, how could his arrival influence its growth?
However, his amazement was interrupted since Noah began to speak again.
"You are right about the murder of those two nobles, my actions were evil and ruthless."
Noah wasn't lying, he clearly remembered the events in the Bare Dungeon.
His decision to kill Phoebe and Manuel came from the need to lower the threats in Daniel's group so that he could exploit that situation more easily.
"However, being right doesn't give you any power. Only power can give you power, and you simply don't have it."
Noah raised his hand and stretched his index to point at Daniel when he finished that phrase.
His eyes began to exude a suffocating pressure again, but Daniel felt that it was somewhat different from before.
There was cold anger before, but now Noah's pressure was calm and seemingly inevitable.
Daniel didn't feel that he was the target of that pressure, but he still realized that it could be destroyed in an instant.
That made him feel worse than before because he understood that Noah could kill him without even focusing on him.
Noah's words resounded once again in the hall while his mind experienced all those emotions.
"Answer me. Who would save you if I was to attack now? Would it be your power or your family?"
