Chapter 1470 1470. Azure
'I'm almost there,' Noah thought as he evaluated the power behind his attacks.
His slashes in the six-armed form granted Noah the upper hand in the battle, but he remained unable to injure his opponent. His battle prowess had bordered the solid stage in terms of power, but he still couldn't breach the innate defenses of the experts at that level.
He was close. He could use a combination of techniques, spells, and higher energy to force his current power to barge into the next stage. Still, he lacked a core feature that all the experts in the solid stage had.
Noah's energy lacked density. His law was powerful and defied logic, but it couldn't influence the world as the solid stage cultivators did. It was a simple but immense difference in power that he was attempting to fill with his vast accumulation and incredible techniques.
'If only my companions could help,' Noah thought as his fake arms and swords grew unstable.
His workshops' products could reach the peak of the middle tier due to his higher energy, but they remained inferior assets in battles at that level.
The workshop had copied his body after Noah activated the "embodiment of power". His arms contained enough energy to match a solid stage cultivator, but they lacked the stability needed to remain at that level.
Noah could express solid stage battle prowess, but his power had a limited duration. Even his sturdier black vessels would eventually crumble under the violent energy released by the unstable substance, and the same went for his fake arms.
A tinge of annoyance surged in Noah's mind. He had slowly realized that he would probably need to rely on the Shadow Domain again to win that battle.
His constant improvement didn't satisfy Noah since his trump card was the only attack that could lead him to victory. He didn't want his achievements to depend on a technique created by someone else. He desired his battle prowess to reach that level on its own.
Noah joined his arms as they continued to show signs of instability. The dark matter contained in their fabric fused with his actual limbs and created a third layer of armor that carried the physical strength contained in the workshop's product.
A defensive layer also appeared on the two real swords while Noah raised them above his head. His next attack had to contain the full power of his technique. He didn't want any special effect or trick attached to it.
Blanche was still busy deflecting the endless storm of slashes. Her situation seemed poor, but her complexion remained perfectly healthy. Noah's technique was unable to exhaust her energy.
When Blanche saw Noah's gesture, her instincts began to scream. She instantly understood that he was about to launch something far stronger than his previous techniques. She had to change tactics to defend from that blow.
Noah performed a simple slash. The space between him and Blanche bent as his energy shot forward and flew toward his opponent.
The storm of slashes on the attack's path exploded into clouds that spread the different aspects of Noah's individuality in the sky. His last blow appeared invisible, but both King Elbas and Blanche could sense it flying.
His sharpness, destruction, creation, and dark matter gave birth to violent currents as they flew through the sky. Yet, they didn't touch the path traveled by Noah's final slash. It was as if that piece of the sky had become an untouchable domain.
Blanche's eyes widened, but determination soon filled her face. Veins bulged on her neck and hands as an azure aura filled the sky and converged toward her closing palms.
Noah's attack hit when Blanche's palms touched. Noah and King Elbas' vision went dark at that point. Even their mental waves crumbled under the violent energy that the clash caused.
Blanche's attack had released a condensed shockwave that had clashed with the invisible slash. Noah's blow became visible when the two offensives touched, revealing its pitch blanch and curved body.
The slash was so dark that even the white light in the environment struggle to illuminate it. Its edges were unclear, and the amount of energy that it contained was immense.
However, Blanche's attack was capable of a similar might. Her shockwave carried violence that surpassed the destructiveness of Snore's dark beam. It could shatter anything it touched.
Noah's slash managed to fight Blanche's attack back for a few seconds, but it eventually crumbled. The raw power contained in his blow seemed to surpass the shockwave, but it lacked the harmony carried by the offensive of every solid stage cultivator.
An attack created from different techniques piled together couldn't compare with pure expressions of a stronger expert's law. It could lose even if it surpassed the latter's blow in terms of raw energy.
Still, the explosion caused by the clash between the two attacks didn't leave Blanche unaffected. Noah and King Elbas were at some distance from the center of the impact, so they only had to deal with the force that flung them away. Yet, Blanche had to endure that power up close.
When Noah managed to expand his consciousness again, he noticed that his fake limbs had disappeared. King Elbas' figure also appeared unstable, but the expert quickly fixed his condition. As for Blanche, her robe had transformed into pieces of rags that failed to cover her body.
A few injuries had also appeared on her. Blood flowed from a few cuts on her cheeks and neck, and she had lost some fingers during the explosion.
'My best attack for a few fingers,' Noah thought as his annoyance grew. 'This is too little.'
Noah could forcefully raise his cultivation level with his ambition. Still, he already knew that he would be better than any other cultivator once he grew.
He didn't want to beat them on an even field. Noah wanted to be stronger than them while his cultivation level remained in the liquid stage. His same ambition was begging him to go beyond the greatness reached through his long accumulation.
Blanche was livid. Violent energy flared out of her body when she looked at her fingers. A liquid stage expert had managed to injure her. She felt as if her entire cultivation journey had been useless!
"Awesome techniques, strange powers, and annoying laws," Blanche said in a low voice. "You can throw anything you want at me, but the result will always be the same. The might of my waters will destroy you anyway."
An azure aura leaked out of her body and spread through the sky. The white light vanished as that brilliant color covered the entire battlefield and reached even the fights happening in the distance.
Noah and King Elbas couldn't escape the expansion of Blanche's aura. Her influence began to appear directly from the space around them at some point. No acceleration could make them dodge that.
The duo felt as if they were underwater when the azure aura illuminated their figures. A pressure also fell on them. Blanche was using the sheer power contained in her law to restrain them.
Noah roared and kicked the air, but he failed to leave that spot. His body contained enough physical power to fend off that aura, but the watery properties in Blanche's law made it hard to counter by bare fists.
Azure light filled the spots destroyed by Noah's attacks. He couldn't escape that prison and the pressure applied on his body affected the power of his slashes.
"Crumble," Blanche said, and the azure aura began to converge toward Noah and King Elbas.