Birth of the Demonic Sword

The peak middle tier puppet had remained still after its attack. The final energy sent against King Elbas had to destroy his existence, and it succeeded in its task reasonably easily. He had desired to shatter too at some point, which helped the whole procedure after the two fuels fused.

The puppet waited until it confirmed that King Elbas' existence was no more before starting its dispersion. Its task was over, so it didn't need to live anymore. The final energy dispersed in the sky would return to Divine Architect through special channels set by Heaven and Earth.

However, King Elbas' transformation lasted mere seconds, so the puppet stopped its dispersion to inspect the bean-sized golden energy that had replaced the expert. That fuel was about to disperse, but it suddenly started to shine with a new light.

The new aura that flowed out of the golden bean was intense, but it felt vaguely weak. The puppet recalled King Elbas' previous cultivation level, but the energy released by its target barely reached the peak of the eighth rank.

That didn't make any sense, especially after the puppet understood what had happened. King Elbas' existence had access to final energy in the middle tier. Its power might have fallen after destroying his law, but it remained in the ninth rank. Seeing it shine with power that barely touched the peak of the previous realm hinted at a significant loss of fuel, but that didn't seem to be the case.

The golden light expanded until it took King Elbas' previous shape. The expert returned to shine among the storms, and some of his iconic weapons reappeared on him.

The golden crown, the fiery spear, and the many runes that covered his skin shone as King Elbas adjusted them. He ignored his opponent completely as he tinkered with the fabric of those three items to adapt them to his new mental clarity.

"I've wasted so long inspecting others," King Elbas sighed as he waved his free hand to modify the fabric of those abilities.

The puppet felt conflicted. Its programming confirmed that it had reached its goal. It had killed King Elbas, but the expert had reappeared with the same existence that the final energy had shattered just a few seconds ago.

Moreover, King Elbas' current state felt strange. His cultivation level had slightly fallen, but he had never appeared stronger. That didn't even come from the new energy that made the entirety of his body and techniques. He only seemed like a more authentic version of himself.

That conclusion overrode the programming and gave it a new purpose. The puppet decided that its previous success had been a false positive since it could see a purer version of king Elbas right in front of its senses.

The puppet didn't hesitate to expand its artificial consciousness to inspect its opponent and come up with a counter that could destroy him once and for all. The process didn't take long since it had already developed something that could work during the previous exchange. The creature only needed to intensify its effects to be thorough.

King Elbas didn't even turn when the puppet waved its claws to launch another wave of final energy. The attack carried immense power, but the fabric of the Immortal Lands appeared immune to its pressure. The creature had built something that would only hurt its opponent, so everything else remained outside of its destruction.

Nevertheless, all the calculations made in those seconds crumbled when King Elbas waved his hand and destroyed that torrent of final energy. The attack directly shattered and transformed into fuel that fused inside his body without triggering any empowerment.

The puppet remained stunned. Its programming was simple, but it could grow along with its opponent. Its structure had flaws that even Divine Architect couldn't fix, but it remained something so strong that even solid stage cultivators would struggle to face.

King Elbas behaved as if nothing strange had happened. He continued to modify his items while deploying the new energy that had entered his body. Still, his tools didn't become stronger either. They continued to border the peak of the eighth rank as their light intensified.

The puppet understood that something was off, so it performed another inspection. It even relied on the flexibility of its final energy to turn into something that could enhance its senses and gain a complete understanding of its opponent.

That transformation didn't bring any physical change, but it turned the creature's artificial consciousness incredibly dense. Its fake senses almost suppressed the golden light radiated by King Elbas during the inspection, but their new power didn't bring any conclusion. Actually, they came up with the same answers that the puppet had found before.

King Elbas didn't change. He had only become a truer version of himself. In theory, the previous counters to his existence had to remain effective. However, the last exchange had proven the exact opposite, and the puppet couldn't understand the reason behind that event.

"Finally!" King Elbas eventually exclaimed while raising his spear. "I don't know if I should feel surprised that my weapon reached a decent state before my crown."

A laugh escaped King Elbas' mouth as he waved the spear and performed simple techniques. The weapon didn't release any wave of energy during those moves, and the scene confused the puppet even more.

King Elbas wasn't making any sense. His power had fallen for no reason, his weapons didn't release any energy, and the counters had stopped working against him.

The scene was so surprising that a crack opened on the puppet's featureless face and created a mouth from where Divine Architect's deep voice came out. "What have you done to yourself?"

King Elbas showed a seemingly genuine surprised expression. His confusion didn't come from Divine Architect's sudden return on the scene. He felt unclear about the very nature of her question.

"What do you mean?" King Elbas asked while spreading his arms. "I'm simply me. I've never been more me, actually."

"Don't try to use words to delay my inspection," Divine Architect threatened. "I know how to exploit loopholes in the fairness. I can move enough power to put a quarter of the sky in danger. Don't hide your new understanding from me. What have you done to the final energy?"

"Nothing much," King Elbas announced. "I didn't do anything at all even. I guess you can see it as a purification of my existence."

"Fine," Divine Architect snorted before the sky above the battlefield lit up.

Multiple connections to the sky opened as dense upper tier and solid stage auras flowed out of them. The storms shattered due to the pressure carried by those powers. King Elbas couldn't understand the sources of that might, but he felt reasonably sure that Divine Architect would have to pay an immense price to unleash everything on him.

"I didn't expect your need to understand everything to be such a massive flaw in your world," King Elbas commented while moving his eyes back on the puppet. "I guess you have the power to turn it into an advantage, but still. It's pretty lame for an inscription master with your fame."

"You wouldn't speak like this if you knew only a fraction of what I've created with Heaven and Earth's help," Divine Architect chuckled. "Your pride and rebellious attitude are what stops you from developing true devotion toward the inscription field. Now, I need answers."

"It's pretty simple, really," King Elbas laughed happily, but his gaze sharpened, and an arrogant smirk appeared on his face before revealing the secret of his current power. "Primary energy, "Breath", higher energy, and final energy are fuels that come from the world. Heaven and Earth have already proven how existences have to follow a different path, so I only applied the same theory to my law."