Birth of the Demonic Sword

The light was giving birth to an exact copy of Otto. Noah didn't know how to react to that scene. His grasp tightened and relaxed as he waited to understand more about that event.

Otto condensed and opened his eyes. His aura spread through the sky and fused with the world. It seemed that his law could match the whiteness that filled the area.

'Is Heaven and Earth playing tricks with me?' Noah wondered, but his consciousness could barely sense anything.

The world was working as usual. The only strange feature came from the whiteness of the sky since part of it was transforming into Otto's law.

"That technique was quite tricky," Otto announced, and the white sky echoed his voice.

"Are you even alive?" Noah asked while pointing the Demonic Sword toward his opponent.

His previous victory wasn't an illusion. Noah had really killed Otto through his Shadow Domain. Still, Heaven and Earth had intervened.

"I'm part of Heaven and Earth's system," Otto explained. "My existence belongs to them. They have the power to rebuild me if the situation requires it."

That revelation left Noah speechless. He had never considered that aspect of Heaven and Earth's power, even if his life came from that ability.

Heaven and Earth were the only known existences that could deal with souls. They could perform proper resurrections even when it came to living beings that had yet to enter the cultivation journey.

Otto was a proper member of Heaven and Earth's system. His law belonged to them, so they could deploy him whenever they wanted. Seeing him again made Noah feel strange, but it also rekindled his determination.

Heaven and Earth were able to resurrect rank 8 cultivators. That news was incredible, especially when it came to experts that opposed them. Noah was among them, and his facial expressions were enough to describe his feelings.

Noah could barely accept that outcome, but he understood its functioning. Otto had sacrificed his individuality to fuse with Heaven and Earth's system. His law was part of the world now. Heaven and Earth could deploy it depending on the situation.

"Did you search for immortality?" Noah asked. "Did you sacrifice your whole existence to become part of these groups?"

His question wasn't all over the place, but Otto didn't answer anyway. He felt complete at his current level. Heaven and Earth had given him far more than he needed, but he had to wait for them to advance.

"You fail to understand Heaven and Earth's greatness," Otto exclaimed. "What can you even know about it? You lack the determination to enter their system and become an immortal existence."

"Nothing is immortal in this world," Noah snorted. "We are energies hanging around. Having a stronger backer doesn't make you better."

"And yet, here I am," Otto replied. "You might deny it, but Heaven and Earth are capable of giving you a second life. Moreover, I've never succeeded in escaping them. I'm nothing but a light cultivator with poor defense, so I don't have anything special to give."

'How do I even kill that thing?' Noah wondered while looking at the human figure in the sky.

Lumps of whiteness soon converged near the other, but Noah promptly stopped them through the dark world. His higher energy created currents that enveloped the area and crushed Heaven and Earth's power.

"This won't be enough," Otto laughed. "I'm in contact with the endless light now. My power is infinite!"

Light condensed outside of the dark world. Glowing spheres appeared around the technique and discharged their power in the form of piercing beams.

Holes appeared inside the dark world. Noah's dark matter couldn't do anything to stop those attacks. The beams didn't even damage Otto, who could simply laugh and float among that darkness.

Light soon spread through the dark world and dispersed the dark matter. The sky shone on Otto again and increased his power. His figure became a blinding humanoid shape that continued to absorb whiteness and transform it into his law.

"Light is everywhere in the world!" Otto shouted, and blinding spheres gathered around Noah. "You can't oppose it. You can't overcome it. It will exist as long as the sky hangs above us all!"

The spheres released beams that targeted Noah. He quickly pierced the dimension to enter the Shadow Domain, and his cursed sword promptly ended in his right hand once he was in a safe environment.

The beams crossed his position and allowed him to study them. Some of those attacks even pierced his figure, but he was in a different dimension now. Noah could inspect them while his many techniques covered his body and weapons.

'He is still in the liquid stage,' Noah sighed. 'These attacks are slightly stronger than before, but it seems that Heaven and Earth didn't increase his cultivation level. The issue is in the amount of energy at his disposal.'

Otto wasn't using his "Breath" to cast those attacks. The sky itself was providing the energy required to create that dense light. In theory, he could have an endless source of power.

'I will only lose my momentum if I start defending,' Noah concluded in his mind. 'Heaven and Earth might have memorized his law, but there must be a limit to how much it can endure before being permanently damaged.'

Noah shot forward. The dark environment ran past his vision before he arrived in front of his opponent. The Demonic Sword and the cursed sword quickly stabbed forward, and a crack opened in the spot where their tip converged.

The crack was inside Otto's head once again, but something strange happened at that time. A wave of blinding light came out of his injury and flung Noah backward, making the attack failed.

Rays of light also invaded the Shadow Domain through the crack. They spread inside the dimension and destabilized its structure. Fissures soon covered the edges of Noah's technique and destroyed them to bring everything back into the real world.

Otto had defeated the Shadow Domain. Experts on the other side of the Immortal Lands had found countermeasures to that technique in the past, but no one had ever come close to destroying the actual personal dimension.

Instead, Otto had utterly overwhelmed the technique, and Noah could only fly backward while countless thoughts filled his mind. It had been a long time since he had felt so lost. It seemed that nothing in his arsenal could make him defeat that expert.

Of course, Noah wouldn't admit defeat so easily. Otto appeared made of Heaven and Earth's light, but Noah had always desired to destroy those rulers. He actually felt happy about that chance to test his power.

Lumps of light filled the sky and released countless white beams. A rain of attacks covered entire regions and converged toward Noah, but he quickly entered the Shadow Domain again.

The beams were extremely fast. Some of them managed to reach Noah while he deployed his movement technique. Light invaded the Shadow Domain again, and part of it crashed on Noah's body.

Fuming holes appeared on Noah's back. The light created a scorching sensation that seemed about to reach his very existence. Part of his darkness vanished after those attacks seeped inside his body.

'Can it even affect my existence?!' Noah shouted in his mind without stopping his charge.

His instincts felt intense danger. Everything about Otto appeared meant to counter his existence. Noah was against a law belonging to Heaven and Earth's light!

****

Author's notes: The others on the discord already knew about this. I'm writing a second story. It will have a western setting and sci-fi elements. The name of the new novel is "Chaos' Heir". Give it a look if you want. Anyway, I'd like to point out that Demonic Sword will always have priority in my writing schedule, so don't worry about that.