The attack filled all the experts in Noah's organization with hope. Their leader didn't give up. There could be a path that their inferior minds couldn't see. Yet, their despair returned once the slash vanished.
Noah's attack had been stronger than before. He had strived for an even superior level of power due to the empowerment provided by his recent success. However, the sky didn't carry any trace of that event. Noah couldn't even make it shake.
Caesar sighed and shook his head before retreating toward his allies. Some of Noah's companions did the same as they flew toward the new lands or inscriptions. That single attack had been the last proof they needed. Nothing and no one in the higher plane could pierce the sky.
The outcome didn't demoralize Noah. His face lost any trace of emotion and revealed only coldness as he lifted his arms again to launch another attack.
An even bigger slash crashed on the sky. The attack seemed to express the utter peak of the ninth rank and the best aspects of Noah's world. It ran in a straight line for more than half of the white layer.
Nevertheless, the sky didn't move or shake, and the dispersion of the slash even revealed its perfectly intact surface. Noah's attack had been pointless once again, proving how his power couldn't touch that realm.
Noah truly didn't care about the outcome. His arms shot upward again, and another slash fell on the sky. The attack was even bigger than before but led to the same results.
"Your resolve is commendable," Caesar declared from a distance, "But you should understand when it's time to give up."
Caesar's words reached Noah's ears but didn't enter his mind. Noah completely ignored the privileged cultivator as he launched an even stronger slash. His power was increasing, becoming more effective with each exchange, but the sky didn't budge.
Noah pressed on even when most of his companions had left the sky to settle on the various lands. He appeared entirely captivated by his task. Only the white layer existed in his mind, and that determination pushed his power even further.
King Elbas remained near Noah during that offensive. He inspected each slash that crashed on the sky, and part of him even marveled at their increasing might. Still, the scene didn't change his opinion.
Noah wasn't actually getting stronger. He wasn't accomplishing any feat, so his world didn't expand. He was simply getting better at expressing his power, but that process had clear limits, and the sky wouldn't budge even at that point.
"Noah," King Elbas called, but Noah ignored his companion. His world depleted potential as more attacks left his figure, but he didn't care. Only the sky existed in his mind.
"Noah, enough," King Elbas called again. "Caesar is right."
Noah couldn't hear King Elbas. His entire being had turned into a machine built only to launch slashes. His attacks strived toward perfection as he continued to unleash them, but the sky didn't care. Its realm was too distant for that tiny ant.
"Noah!" King Elbas eventually shouted, teleporting before Noah and unleashing a sea of golden flames that blocked the path toward the sky.
However, a black slash shot out of Noah, pierced the golden sea, and landed on the sky anyway. The power that reached the white layer couldn't match the previous offensive due to the hindrance of the flames, but Noah didn't seem to care.
"You'll only shorten your life like this!" King Elbas pointed out, condensing his sea into a fiery spear that he aimed at Noah.
"So what?" Noah asked while another slash flew past King Elbas and landed on the sky. "What's your great plan?"
"We have materials and time," King Elbas explained. "I can come up with something."
"Don't lie to yourself," Noah snorted while launching another slash.
King Elbas felt invisible. Noah was attacking the sky, uncaring of the conversation. He didn't even want to discuss the topic, but King Elbas didn't have valuable answers.
The plan to use the new materials had multiple flaws. King Elbas' ability couldn't make him reach the tenth rank, and most of the new planes were Mortal Lands. They would burn before he achieved some form of enlightenment.
Still, the nature of the plan didn't make King Elbas completely wrong. He was right about Noah, and he couldn't leave him in that state when his organization desperately needed him.
"Stop," King Elbas threatened as his spear brightened, "Or I'll stop you."
Noah didn't answer. He launched another slash and gathered potential once again. In his mind, the conversation with King Elbas had already ended.
"Did you lose your mind?" King Elbas shouted. "Do you think you can destroy a rank 10 item all by yourself?"
"Help me then!" Noah growled without halting his offensive.
The growl expressed mostly coldness, but King Elbas recognized different feelings behind all of that. Noah's anger, pride, and determination were still there.
King Elbas frowned. He had initially believed that the defeat had been too hard on Noah. Any expert could go crazy after suffering such a major blow to their confidence. The event would even be reasonable in Noah's case due to how much he had invested in the final battle.
Yet, the growl revealed something different. King Elbas couldn't consider Noah crazy anymore after hearing that order, but he couldn't explain the reason behind that determination.
King Elbas' gaze fell on the new lands as he searched for answers, and scanners even came out of his body to help him. Slashes continued to fly past him to reach the sky, but his inspection never stopped. Noah had yet to give up, and he had to understand why.
Countless calculations happened in King Elbas' mind. He performed hundreds of simulations, but all of them led nowhere. The issue wasn't in the potential power of the higher plane. He simply didn't know the limits of a rank 10 item.
King Elbas eventually glanced at the sky before focusing back on Noah. His eyes shone, but that glow quickly disappeared. Part of him understood Noah's intentions. King Elbas couldn't call that a plan, but it was better than nothing.
Another slash fell on the sky, and a loud explosion of fake quasi-rank 10 energy soon followed. King Elbas had left his position to start a personal assault on a different area of the white layer. He didn't exchange words with Noah, but that didn't matter. He knew what he had to do.
"And here I thought you were really considering withering away as an option," Divine Demon laughed as he positioned himself in another area of the higher plane to start a personal assault on the sky.
"We are still alive," Alexander stated as he imitated his companions. "No point stopping now."
"Don't you dare leave me behind!" The Foolery squealed as it joined the offensive.
June limited herself to a snort, but she also approached the sky to launch her assault. Soon, more and more members of the core team reached the edges of the higher plane to summon their best attacks. The entire white layer was the target, and Noah's organization had enough experts for the task.
Caesar shook his head at that scene. The sole idea that a joint assault could work against a rank 10 material was simply ludicrous. The tenth rank would lose value if it could actually lose.
Nevertheless, Decumia and the privileged cultivators affected by Noah's ambition saw the situation differently. They could sense something faint building up inside the higher plane, but that force remained too weak to clear their minds.
****
Author's notes: Shoutout to Ian337 for the Magic castle!
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