Chapter 2096: Temptation
"Tricked how?" Noah asked as he approached the battlefield. "How can Heaven and Earth even trick one of you?"
"We'll explain later," The time dragon announced through a roar. "Help us suppress it."
Noah still didn't understand why the dragons had requested specifically for him, but he didn't voice questions now that the crisis was still ongoing. The dark matter created temporary black vessels that the unstable substance didn't hesitate to fill, and the ethereal blackness sent potential to push his physical strength beyond its normal limits.
His opponent was an upper tier magical beast that inherited meanings connected to death from the very world. Noah instinctively felt that he couldn't match the dragon, so he pushed his everything into something that could allow him to survive the battle.
The death dragon had filled the area with black flames that radiated an ominous aura. Noah's instincts screamed in fear whenever he glanced at that terrifying fire, but that didn't stop his charge.
The space-time array replaced the world in his vision as he stepped forward. Noah reappeared on the death dragon's neck and delivered a punch that his opponent couldn't avoid.
The fist hit the scaled neck and flung the dragon downward. However, the creature promptly spread its wings and interrupted its descending momentum. Then, it raised its head to engulf Noah's position with its terrifying flames.
Noah prepared himself to dodge, but the flames slowed down their advance before they could reach him. He didn't need to deploy his best movement technique anymore, so he sprinted downward while dodging the black sea.
Noah landed on the death dragon again, but disbelief soon filled his mind. He recalled the spot where his punch had fallen. He could even notice a few cracks on that spot, but that was it. The peak of his physical strength had been unable to inflict severe damage.
The disappointing sight didn't stop Noah. Another punch fell on the death dragon and flung it further below. The attack even opened a crack in the fabric of space due to its sheer violence, but the creature's scales remained mostly intact.
The death dragon appeared livid. Flames came out of its mouth as it stopped its descent, and a dark aura seeped out of its scales. The fabric of space trembled under the pressure of that suffocating power, but it managed to remain intact.
'How can the world remain in one piece against such immense power?' Noah wondered before deciding to let his potential fill his mind.
The dynamics of the area became clear as his mind surpassed its natural level. Noah could quickly understand why the dragon didn't create fissures in the fabric of space. Its power was an expression of the previous world, so the space-time array could endure it.
Instead, Noah's destruction was different. His power had connections with the world, but he wielded it through his ethereal blackness. He wasn't part of the higher plane, which was why he could destroy it so easily.
"I might have to hurt it for real if I fight seriously," Noah eventually growled as he retreated to avoid the incoming dark aura.
"Do not worry about that," The time dragon roared. "We aren't so weak."
"I know," Noah sighed before continuing the rest of the line in his mind. 'That wasn't the point.'
The Demonic Sword and the Cursed Sword appeared in Noah's hands. Night, Duanlong, and the parasite also came out and started to release their power. The Pterodactyl vanished in the world, a pulling force came out of his figure, and roots wrapped themselves over the dark matter that had covered the two blades.
"My child, don't absorb its energy," The life dragon warned before Duanlong could affect the fuel inside the death dragon. "Heaven and Earth have tainted it. We need to force its dispersion."
Noah felt tempted to test the effects of the tainted energy on himself, but he eventually decided to listen to the life dragon's advice. Duanlong returned in the depts of the separate space and withdrew its power.
"What does that aura do?" Noah asked as a high-pitched noise came out of the Cursed Sword.
"It kills, obviously," The life dragon explained. "Still, I can create an opening. I find it hard to hurt my kind, but I can counter that aura."
"What about you?" Noah asked while glancing at the time dragon.
"Do you want to force me to fight seriously against my kind?" The time dragon asked.
"Fine, I'll handle the offensive," Noah stated as his ambition surged. "Support me."
The ethereal blackness sent potential to his dantian and black crystal, empowering his four centers of power at the same time. His companions also helped with their ambition, which brought him to his very peak.
Noah felt stronger than ever, but he didn't let those sensations cloud his mind. His opponent remained an upper tier specimen that had lived for countless years. That was his first real fight against a being that stood at the peak of the cultivation journey.
The death dragon sensed the presence of a real threat. It raised its head and stared coldly at Noah as its aura began to converge toward him. Yet, the life dragon promptly intervened with a pillar of white flames that destroyed the incoming attack.
Noah could shoot forward freely. He reached the death dragon's back in no time, but his instincts screamed in fear when he was about to land on the black scales. A terrifying membrane had appeared around the creature's figure, and something told him that he didn't have to touch it.
That wasn't enough to stop Noah's offensive. He stopped, but his blades continued to descend. The Cursed Sword went silent as it unleashed the entirety of its bloodlust, the Demonic Sword roared, and dark shades accompanied the giant slash that came out of the blades.
Bloodlust and corrosiveness fused with Noah's destruction to create a threatening attack that even solid stage cultivators would have to take seriously. A tinge of fear became clear in the death dragon's aura, but its movements slowed down before it could even begin to dodge.
The slash crashed at the center of the dragon's back, and strange events happened when it touched the dragon's defensive membrane. The two techniques shared part of their meanings. Their destruction fused and transformed into something that both Noah and the upper tier couldn't control.
An explosion happened, but Noah didn't have the chance to inspect it since he had to focus on his escape. He activated his movement technique to shoot higher in the sky, and the crack that opened on his trail absorbed part of the destructive energy released during the clash.
The death dragon didn't have the chance to dodge. The explosion had happened on its back, and the time dragon was still restraining its movements. The blast ended up shattering most of the scales on its back, leaving it with most of its insides in the open.
Noah didn't hesitate to study what remained of the new form of destruction generated during the clash. He had never seen anything so strong, and his desire to improve made him attracted to that force.
"Don't let it tempt you," The time dragon warned when it noticed Noah's mood. "There is power in fusing existences with the worlds, but you have seen how it ends."
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Author's notes: I know that I am one day behind. I'll do my best to recover those missing chapters, but I can't make promises.