Noah dispersed the Demonic Form to hold Countless Wings' maimed corpse from its neck. His free hand then went for the remains of her low waist to find a shining organ that radiated an immense amount of energy.

An eerie silence spread through the battlefield. Every asset was busy fighting suitable opponents, but the death of a rank 5 cultivators didn't go unnoticed.

The eyes of the heroic cultivators went on Noah, who didn't hesitate to eat the organ right in front of everyone. There was no point in hiding his hybrid's habits anymore, and waiting would only spoil Countless Wings' dantian.

Noah felt an immense amount of "Breath" filling his body and fusing with his cells that broke it down until it became primary energy ready to nourish them. The burns caused by his reckless battle style started to heal when he absorbed those nutrients, and his hunger almost vanished in the short minute that it took him to make that energy his.

Not even the magical beasts in the middle tier of the fifth rank provided so much energy. The dantian of a rank 5 cultivator that was nearing the peak of the gaseous stage contained so much "Breath" that even stronger creatures found it hard to match that amount of energy.

Noah kept his consciousness on the battle, but he closed his eyes to enjoy the incredible sensation of having his hunger fulfilled. Also, as the nutrients became part of him, he started to sense the limits of the middle tier!

'It took me more than forty years!' Noah exclaimed in his mind when he understood that the breakthrough in the upper tier was drawing near. Yet, he couldn't help but feel slightly worried about the potential repercussion that such an improvement could have on his mental state.

His body improved faster than his other centers of power, almost too fast. He knew that its growth would eventually slow down due to the lack of suitable prey. Yet, his mind was still not ready to handle the power of the upper tier.

'I still need some years,' Noah thought as he reopened his eyes. 'It's time to resume devouring the wills of the magical beasts to push my mind as much as I can before the breakthrough.'

Noah couldn't think of any other solution at the moment, and he wasn't willing to slow down his growth when he could just train harder. Also, he didn't use the abilities of his mental energy at all in the last years, which gave to the walls of his sea of consciousness time to reach new levels of sturdiness.

His mind would be fine even if he abused those devouring abilities for a while.

Noah let Countless Wings' corpse go when he finished absorbing the primary energy. It would take a few days for all his tissues to grow according to the nutrients gained. Still, they had already improved by a lot in that short minute.

'Now they have even seen that I can split my strongest attack,' Noah thought as he moved his attention to the crowd of cultivators looking at him.

The truth was that the split version of the second form of his martial art wasn't too powerful, but Countless Wings had focused on dodging his attacks rather than blocking them.

For example, that split version wouldn't have been enough to pierce the entirety of Peaceful Storm's distorted space. Yet, it was perfect for Countless Wings, even if Noah had to take a significant risk when he decided to pursue that approach.

His mental energy had reached a critical condition. Using the Divine Deduction technique together with his other spells had weighed on his mind even worse than Noah had expected.

His mind felt quite sluggish now. He felt the need to rest, but it didn't seem that his enemies were willing to give him time to recover.

The cultivators of the Empire were shooting hateful gazes toward him, but their opponents quickly forced them to resume their battles. Noah had managed to kill the first asset in the fifth rank in the fight, so it was the perfect time to force the rest of the army into a corner.

A wave of casualties followed Countless Wings' death. Heroic cultivators had already started to die before the appearance of the blue light. Still, the defeat of one of their leaders further increased the numerical advantage of the invading forces.

The weaker rank 5 cultivators of the Empire found themselves against two enemies on their same level, which eventually led to substantial injuries. The defending assets in the fourth rank faced a similar issue too, even if it was harder to isolate cultivators when they were in the middle of an army.

Meanwhile, Noah waited for his mental energy to recover and analyzed the battlefield to see if he could help in some battles without wasting too much power.

The formation on the mountain chain lit up again at that point, and a series of shadows set off from the ground to join the fray.

Noah saw a shadow coming toward him and launching a series of black bullets that resembled the copy of a spell of the water element.

'It's inferior to the Copying technique,' Noah evaluated as he let his Demonic Sword handle the incoming shards.

The shadow seemed to have the power of a cultivator at the bottom of the fifth rank, but its attacks were so frail that the Demonic Sword alone could take care of them.

That was the second defensive method of the territory, and there wasn't a real way to counter it, according to the Council. The invading forces could only hold their ground until the Empire stopped providing energy to that part of the formation.

Something capable of making bad copies of rank 5 cultivators would deplete an incredible number of Credits to function, and even the Empire would have to stop at some point. The biggest issue with that defensive method was that it was quite weak and only meant to support the actual troops on the battlefield.

Also, there was a limit to how many cultivators it could copy, which turned out to be barely enough to make up for the numerical advantage of the invaders.

'It's similar to my new spell, but I don't think they have any awareness,' Noah thought as he watched the battle between his weapon and the shadow. 'They even repeat the same attack over and over. They can only be annoying in this situation.'

Such a defensive method would have been useful if both armies had a similar power, but the invaders were more numerous, and the Empire had already suffered some critical losses.

Noah remained still in the sky as the battles unfolded. He felt it necessary to study his potential opponents, but he didn't limit his analysis on the cultivators of the Empire. After all, that alliance was bound to end at some point.

Then, the ground shook, and a series of holes appeared on the sides of the mountains. Roars soon filled the battlefield as a series of powerful hybrids revealed themselves.

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