Noah didn't know how strong the old rulers were in their current form, but he felt pretty sure that their joint power wouldn't be enough against the team of privileged cultivators. Dinia alone wasn't an issue. Actually, Noah even wanted to test his current might against him. Yet, the other experts with him made the situation impossible to overcome.

Noah didn't recognize the other privileged cultivators, but their power was enough to raise doubts in his mind. Some of those experts were in the solid stage, which only reminded him of his fight against Caesar. The latter was an elite even among assets at the peak of the cultivation journey, but Noah couldn't hurt him at all, and something told him that something similar would happen against his current opponents.

The Cursed Sword and the Demonic Sword appeared in his hands even if he had no intention to fight. Noah prepared himself for the battle while he waited for the old rulers to make their move. He knew that they had prepared something for that situation, but he wasn't privy to the plan's details.

"You made a mess now," Dinia coldly announced as the cultivators around him expanded their worlds to prepare for the battle. "The sky will close, and you won't get the chance to escape. Honestly, I expected more from you."

Noah didn't answer. His face remained cold as he waited for something to happen. The black crystal and his companions became ready for the imminent wave of attacks, and the space-time array replaced the world in his eyes.

"Puppets never know their place," The old rulers spoke through their incomplete body. "You all are a rare breed, but most of your power comes from the flawed mindset that made you bow your heads in front of a superior entity."

"You sure talk a lot," Dinia scoffed. "I'm surprised you managed to survive after Heaven and Earth cut you away. Your current personality also comes from that troublesome individual."

A series of gazes fell on Noah. The privileged cultivators didn't seem to care about the old rulers, but he knew the real reason behind that behavior. Those experts probably had orders to leave his ally to Heaven and Earth.

"We don't have much time," The old rulers announced while taking something out of their orange body. "We are afraid this conversation must end now."

The cultivators instinctively prepared themselves to defend against the old rulers' weapon, but confused expressions appeared on their faces when they noticed the nature of the item. The orange avatar had taken out a black sphere that didn't seem to emit any power. Even Noah failed to understand its might.

The sphere clearly had dark metal in its fabric, but its lack of aura was destabilizing for experts that relied so heavily on their senses and minds. Even the monster with its non-world radiated effects that rank 9 experts could study. However, the old rulers' weapon appeared empty. Noah even struggled to inspect it since it didn't seem to exist at all.

"What's that?" Dinia asked.

"This is the current apex of the inscription field," The old rulers explained. "Gaze and marvel at the fusion between existence and non-existence."

The old rulers threw the sphere forward while the privileged cultivators tried to find some sense in their words. It was easy to connect that statement to the capture of the injured non-world, but the weapon didn't seem to carry its destructive and unique properties.

The sphere floated slowly among the sky. The old rulers didn't hold back when they threw the weapon, but it seemed to struggle to move through the whiteness.

That odd feature didn't give much hope to Noah, and even the privileged cultivators felt tempted to lower their guards and disregard the weapon. Still, none of them underestimated its power, especially after hearing such a bold statement.

The sphere stopped moving altogether when it reached a seemingly random spot between Noah and the cultivators' group. It stood among the sky before starting to rotate. A strange aura eventually began to leak from its figure, and everyone finally became able to understand its power.

Noah widened his eyes in shock. The array of darker lightning bolts had been a spectacular attack that stood at the very peak of the ninth rank. It had been able to dig a massive tunnel inside the sky, allowing Noah and the old rulers to reach the other side of the white layer without meeting any hindrance.

The old rulers were a few steps ahead of Noah, but that felt normal after considering their past. They were existences that had managed to touch the very peak of the world, and they had even become strong enough to attempt the leap to the tenth rank.

Their second weapon only highlighted the old rulers' immense power. The sphere showed its might as a peak rank 9 weapon during its rotation. It seemed to have even more energy than the dark crackling array, and it was also able to condense it in that small form.

The discharge of so much power would naturally have devastating consequences on the area. Dinia and the others felt the need to retreat, but they didn't leave their position. They were defending the best resource in the entire sky. Mere energy and constant safety barely had any value compared to what they could witness due to the transparent layer.

Instead, nothing stopped Noah from retreating, so he began to take a step back, but the rulers promptly turned their featureless face toward him to voice a warning. "You won't be able to take your glance if you back out any further."

The statement left Noah a bit stunned. He knew that the old rulers intended to blow the place up for a chance to gaze at the arrays. Still, that was too much. The explosion could kill everyone who dared to remain in the area.

Noah suddenly felt that the whole plan had been a bad idea. Even his instincts were warning him about the deadliness of the sphere. His best defenses might not be enough in that situation, but he wouldn't gain a similar chance anytime soon. It was now or never, and getting injured seemed a fair price to pay for that potential reward.

The black crystal started creating countless dark vessels inside his body, and the unstable substance quickly filled them. The pure potential inside his ethereal world forced his flesh to reach a level of power that it wouldn't achieve even if he spent millennia eating rank 9 resources. Dark matter covered his figure as his swords disappeared.

Roots soon wrapped themselves around the fiendish armor, and pulling forces came out of his figure to prepare the energy necessary to fix his injuries. Duanlong also got ready to use its new innate ability. Everything about Noah focused on a simple but necessary aspect of the mission. He had to survive the imminent explosion and keep his eyes open for the arrays.

The sphere's rotation accelerated until the items started releasing a high-pitched noise that intensified as the seconds passed. A dark light that carried orange shades also started spreading in its surroundings. Then, a loud, deep noise filled the area and made everything go dark.

Noah gave the order, and Duanlong's head came out of his chest to absorb part of the immense wave of energy that was flying toward him. However, the old rulers suddenly started to glow with orange light that fended off the incoming attack.

The old rulers weren't using any specific technique. It seemed that the massive wave of energy naturally avoided their glow. It was clear that they had planted a flaw in the weapon so that they could exploit it in that situation, and Noah ended up benefitting from it.

The path opened by the orange glow stretched forward. It pierced the dense sea of energy easily and created an opening that reached the transparent piece of sky. The explosion had made that unique chunk fall apart, but its shards still enhanced the distant void as they shot past the edges of the higher plane.

Noah fixed his gaze on the images that felt familiar to him, and his mind lost itself in the deep meanings that he saw.

****

Author's notes: Special thanks to Jakob_Voogd for the Spacecraft!

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