Birth of the Demonic Sword

Euclio's battle had ended quickly, far before the other fights involving major players. Even Noah was still busy dealing with the red-haired privileged cultivator by the time Sword Saint disappeared from the battlefield.

The scene that unfolded in front of Euclio's vision was messy and disappointing. The sky had sent a precise number of experts to keep all the landmass' leaders busy, so he couldn't find any worthy opponent.

After a quick inspection, Euclio found only two paths worth pursuing. One saw him joining his peers to defeat the landmass' leaders, while the other involved slaughtering the weaker troops.

"I don't want to do either," Euclio muttered as he continued to caress his beard. "I guess dealing with the leaders will put an end to this mess quickly, but I don't want the troublesome ones."

Euclio diverted his gaze whenever he found King Elbas, Noah, Alexander, or Divine Demon. He didn't want anything to do with those four, but the others seemed suitable targets.

His attention eventually converged on Vesuvia. Euclio knew her power and role, so he felt that removing her from the battlefield would inflict a significant blow on the landmass' forces.

Nevertheless, as soon as Euclio turned toward Vesuvia, a bright white light flashed next to him before condensing into a humanoid figure. A liquid stage aura expanded in the area and enveloped the privileged cultivator, but the latter only showed disappointment.

"You are out of your league," Euclio commented.

"A leader must be where he needs to be," Daniel declared as his figure continued to unleash white light. "I can't let you bother the others."

Euclio inspected the white radiance around him before moving his attention back to Daniel. He knew a lot about that expert, and he didn't hold back from voicing honest praises. "Your actions are commendable, truly worthy of a leader. Though, that's not enough to survive."

Euclio closed his hand, and all the light released by Daniel vanished. The void reclaimed its darkness in an instant, and Daniel noticed how his radiance became unable to expand past his figure.

"You might be from Defying Demon's generation," Euclio continued. "But you are not him. You have never been able to consistently ignore the gaps among the stages, and your breakthrough is also recent. You can't win."

"Winning or losing has no meaning to me," Daniel uttered. "My very life can't influence this battlefield. However, I might be able to use it for someone else's victory."

"Heaven and Earth can learn a lot from you," Euclio sighed. "Maybe I can throw your world in the sky to affect their evolution."

"You can try," Daniel smiled.

"I thought you had thrown away your arrogance," Euclio snorted before teleporting in front of Daniel and touching his forehead.

Euclio almost stopped caring about Daniel after that gesture. He had activated his ability, so he felt confident that his opponent wasn't a problem anymore. However, pure shock appeared on his face when he noticed that nothing had happened to Daniel.

Euclio tapped his fingers on Daniel's forehead again, but nothing changed. His shock intensified, and Daniel forced a faintly mocking smile to appear on his expression.

"I see how it is," Euclio eventually announced as the shock left his face.

"Our worlds are similar," Daniel revealed. "You profess emptiness. I do the same with purity. I'm not someone you can send into your void."

"You are correct," Euclio exclaimed as he sealed his grasp on Daniel's forehead. "Still, you forgot the most important aspect in a battle between worlds. Our raw power is in different realms."

The area around Euclio's figure suddenly darkened. A second layer of emptiness expanded through the void and fused with it, deepening its nature.

The light radiated by Daniel's body dimmed until his skin completely stopped shining. It seemed that his world couldn't express its power anymore, and his figure even started to grow fainter under Euclio's influence.

"You also forgot something," Daniel sighed as he raised his almost ethereal arms to grab Euclio's wrists. "I'm not Noah, but my path is worthier than yours."

Nothing came out of Daniel's hands, but Euclio's eyes flickered when he saw that chunks of his arms vanished. They didn't teleport somewhere else or shatter. Their fabric simply transformed into part of the void all around him.

"Your void is wonderful," Daniel praised. "Your world is virtually boundless, but it will always be empty. Don't worry. I'll grant you the power you have always been too scared to seize."

Fear flashed in Euclio's eyes. He tried to retract his arms, but they broke as more chunks of his flesh vanished. Daniel soon had nothing else to grasp, but he promptly flew forward to chase his retreating opponent.

Euclio was faster than Daniel, but he couldn't avoid the new light that shot out of his opponent. The whole area soon lit up again, and Euclio saw other chunks of his body disappearing under that influence.

"You decided to show me your void," Daniel stated while reaching Euclio and grabbing his beard. "You made yourself unable to escape."

"Do you think I will lose over a technicality?!" Euclio snorted as he headbutted Daniel and kept his forehead pressed on his nose.

Daniel's body grew even more ethereal, but blinding light slowly refilled his insides. The glow forced his figure to regain weight on the world and interrupt Euclio's technique.

"You can't force me to disappear," Daniel declared. "I don't have anything you can send into your void."

"You will regret this," Euclio cursed as his beard started to vanish.

"Noah heard similar threats countless times," Daniel commented. "Do you think they would have been enough because you are against me?"

"No," Euclio responded. "Even Defying Demon will suffer after this. You can be certain about that."

Daniel didn't let the threat faze him. He continued to express his power until Euclio completely disappeared. His aura also slowly vanished and gave the void its natural emptiness.

Daniel heaved a heavy sigh as he retracted his aura. He felt exhausted after forcing his purity to influence a solid stage privileged cultivator. The effort had left him with virtually no energy, but the outcome had been worth it.

Sword Saint was the only aspect that worried Daniel. In theory, he didn't kill Euclio. He had only forced him to turn into a real version of the void, so Sword Saint had to be alive somewhere.

Daniel couldn't find Sword Saint on the battlefield, so he guessed that the expert had teleported somewhere in the void. Daniel didn't know if Sword Saint would be able to return to the higher plane, but that didn't matter. Even if he didn't come back, Daniel had taken care of fulfilling his role.

'How many do we have to sacrifice to win?' Daniel sighed in his mind as he tried to find spots where his power could help save lives.

Sadly for Daniel, his world struggled to remain in one piece. His purity wavered and hinted at the need for rest. He didn't want to leave the battlefield so soon, but the event appeared inevitable.

However, a sinister aura suddenly filled his surroundings, and a familiar voice gave birth to an echoing laugh. Daniel didn't know what was happening, but he understood that Euclio was behind it.